Robust output feedback control for the lateral dynamics of a railway car

In this paper the problem of lateral dynamics control of a railway car is addressed. A full dynamic model, including car, bogies and wheelsets dynamics is considered, leading to a 34-th order linear system. Two different sensor/actuator configurations are considered and corresponding performances are critically compared. The control strategy is based on a MIMO high order sliding manifold approach, which provides high robustness with respect to system uncertainties and exogenous disturbances. The design procedure yields a MIMO controller in terms of LMFD description. Simulations are used to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and to carry out the comparisons among the two considered solutions.