Addis Ababa University

Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Title: Modeling and Controller Design for an Inverted

Pendulum System

Advisor name: Dr. Mengesha M.

Date of submission: oct 16, 2017

Done by: Tesfaye Meberate

ID: GSR/7671/09
 Abstract
The problem of balancing an inverted pendulum has been a benchmark problem in demonstrating
various control design techniques. The principal reasons for its popularity are its nonlinear and
unstable characteristics. The Inverted Pendulum System is an under actuated, unstable and
nonlinear system. Therefore, control system design of such a system is a challenging task. To
design a control system, first obtains the nonlinear modeling of this system. Then, a linearized
model is obtained from the nonlinear model about vertical (unstable) equilibrium point. This
project presents the design and simulation of two-dimensional inverted pendulum system. The
design of the system is done in MATLAB environment. The selection of the controller is the core
of this study. for this linearized system, an LQR controller is designed. Also, PID controller is
designed via pole placement method where the closed loop poles to be placed at desired locations
are obtained through the above LQR technique. PID controller has been chosen as the generic
control loop feedback to control the system. In the simulation of inverted pendulum, PID controller
is used to control both the position of the cart and the pendulum and also the pendulum angle to
ensure the pendulum stands in upright position when the simulation is running. The design of the
system is implemented using Simulink block diagram. From the working simulation of inverted
pendulum, analysis for the factors contributing in stability of the system is carried out. The analysis
covers the parameters of the system, PID controller simulation, set point method and stability of
the system. Full working simulation was not able to carry out due to motion equation error but
analysis is done using existing data from Simulink environment. The best combination of PID
controller and the lowest settling time give the best result for inverted pendulum stability.
Generally, The PID controller has been implemented on the experimental set up. And These two
controllers are compared.

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 Table of content
Content pages
Abstract ... I
1. Introduction....1
2. Problem of statements2
3. Scope of the project ...2
4. Objective and Methodology ..3
5. Literature Review...3
6. Project schedule .4
7. Reference ...5

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1. Introduction
Research in the field of science and technology is widening throughout the world. Its aim is to
produce products that are able to reduce human energy in doing work. All researches in this field
also aim to investigate phenomena that occur in the engineering field. One of the continuous
researches that is being undertaken in the engineering field is as the control of inverted pendulum.
Extensive research on the balancing of inverted pendulum has been done throughout the world
using various techniques. Based on the research, scientist found that inverted pendulum is one of
the well-known example used to illustrate various control techniques. This system is widely
applied in area such as rocket control, crane operation, and antiseismic control of buildings. Non-
linear control is a sub-division of control engineering which deals with the control of non-linear
systems. Non-Linear system is investigated with respect to the dynamics of the inverted pendulum.
The inverted pendulum is an example of an unstable highly non-linear system. This problem has
been a research interest of control engineers. Consequently, it has received much attention, as it
is an extremely complex and challenging control problem.
If we remember ever trying to balance a broom-stick on our index finger or the palm of our hand,
we had to constantly adjust the position of our hand to keep the object upright. An Inverted
Pendulum does basically the same thing. But in case of an Inverted Pendulum the motion is
restricted to one dimension only, where as in case of a broom-stick the hand is free to move in any
directions. Inverted Pendulum is a very good platform for control engineers to verify and apply
different logics in the field of control theory. Most of the modern technologies use the basic
concept of Inverted Pendulum, such as attitude control of space satellites and rockets, landing of
aircrafts, balancing of ship against tide, Seismometer (which monitors motion of the ground due
to earthquake and nuclear explosions) etc.
An Inverted Pendulum has its mass above the pivoted point, which is mounted on a cart which can
be moved horizontally. The pendulum is stable while hanging downwards, but the inverted
pendulum is inherently unstable and need to be balanced. In this case the system has one input the
force applied to the cart, and two outputs position of the cart and the angle of the pendulum, making
it as a SIMO system. There are mainly three ways of balancing an inverted pendulum i.e.
(i) by applying a torque at the pivoted point
(ii) by moving the cart horizontally
(iii) by oscillating the support rapidly up and down.
Just like the broom-stick, an Inverted Pendulum is an inherently unstable system. Force must be
properly applied to keep the system intact. To achieve this, proper control theory is required. The
Inverted Pendulum is a non-linear time variant open loop system. So, the standard linear

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techniques cannot model the non-linear dynamics of the system. This makes the system more
challenging for analysis. The dynamics of the actual non-linear system is more complicated. But
this non-linearized system can be approximated as a liner system if the operating region is small,
i.e. the variation of the angle from the norm.
In an overall way the controllers can be divided in to two parts:
1. Conventional Controller
Proportional Integral Derivative (PID)
Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR)
2. Artificial Intelligence Controller
Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC)
Artificial Neural Network Controller (ANN)
In this proposal a light is put on the Conventional Controller, i.e. Linear Quadratic Regulator
(LQR) and Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller. The discusses the choice of state
variables which influence the stability properties of the designed closed loop system.it describes
the experimental setup of the system to be modeled and controlled, shows the development of the
linear model, the LQR controller design, the PID controller design and the last about the
experimental results.
2. Problem of statements
The problem of balancing an inverted pendulum has been a benchmark problem in demonstrating
and motivating various control design techniques. The principal reasons for its popularity are its
nonlinear and unstable characteristics, uncertainty in friction terms, lack of state variable
measurements, and the easy way disturbances are introduced in the process. In addition, the
problem is also representative of some other well-known control problems, such as that rocket
taking off, cranes with hanging loads, and the apparatus also has the attraction of inexperienced
people who attempt to control using hand motion. The inverted pendulum is among the most
difficult systems to control in the field of control engineering. There is a need for a control method
which addresses the non-linearity of an operating system, incorporating an adaptation capability.
Due to its importance in the field of control engineering, it has been a task of choice to be assigned
for students to analyze the inverted pendulum model and propose a linear compensator according
to the PID and LQR control law and in the MATLAB environment.
3. Scope of the project
The scope of this project is to design a two-dimensional inverted pendulum using MATLAB
software. This project will focus on the design of the inverted pendulum controller using LQR
and PID (proportional integral derivative) close loop system. The design also can able to control
the inverted pendulum in the upright position when the working control model is achieved. PID
controller needs to stabilize the angle of inverted pendulum in the simulation environment.

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4. Objective and Methodology
4.1 Objectives of the project
The aim of this project is to design and build a working control model that can balance two-
dimensional inverted pendulum in an upright position by using MATLAB software. Throughout
this project, the following objectives will be achieved:
1. To conduct literature study on existing controller designs for the inverted pendulum.
2. To find out the mathematical model of the Inverted Pendulum System.
3. To get the transfer functions.
4. Feedback gains are to be obtained from the state-space matrices for LQR controller, and then
a Matlab Simulink model is to be designed.
5. Values of Proportional(Kp), Integral(Ki) and Derivative (Kd) gains are obtained using Pole-
Placement method for PID controller, then a Matlab Simulink model is to be designed.
4.2 Working Methodology
1. To know the basic concepts of an Inverted Pendulum by literature review.
2. To derive the mathematical model.
3. To take some assumptions for linearizing the model.
4. To design transfer function and state space form.
5. The LQR and PID controller is to be studied, and a model is to be designed for each of them.
6. The theoretically obtained models are then implemented in real time control action.
7. Discussion on the result.
8. Conclusion.

5. Literature Review
A cart mounted inverted pendulum is relatively simple mechanical system which is inherently
unstable and defined by highly nonlinear dynamic equations (Hauser, Alessandro, and Ruggero,
2005). The inverted pendulum model has been widely used as a teaching aid and in research
experiments around the world. As a teaching aid, the inverted pendulum used because its an
imaginable unstable nonlinear dynamics problem commonly discussed in control engineering
(Hauser et al., 2005), and various control algorithms, ranging from conventional through to
intelligent control algorithms, has been applied and evaluated (Jung and Kim, 2008). There are a
number of associated control problems that can be derived from the inverted pendulum models
such as rocket control, the dynamic balance of skiing, bicycle/motorcycle dynamics (Hauser et al.,
2005). Recently, a mobile inverted pendulum model with two wheels has been applied to various
robotic problems such as designing walking or legged humanoid robot, robotic wheelchairs and
personal transport systems (Kim et al., 2006).

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6. Project schedule
Sequ Activity 2017 2018
ence
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oc
Oct t
1 Problem statement
identification

2 Research scope
identification
3 Finding literature
4 Selection
softwares,
controllers
5 Report
writing
for proposal
6 Presentation
preparation
For proposal
7 Report review
8 Report submission
9 Presentation for
proposal
10 Data collection and
Design
consideration
11 Project
implementation
12 Result analysis
13 Reflections
14 Final
Report writing
15 Report submission
16 Preparation for
presentation
17 Presentation
18 Hard copy submits

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Reference
1. Research methods and methodology slide material prepared by Dr. Mengesha mamo,
AAIT, Electrical and Computer Engineering staff
2. Research methodology methods and techniques by C.R KOTARI
3. Introduction to research methods prepared by AAU Press.
4. www.sildeshare.com/research
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pendulum
6. http://ctms.engin.umich.edu/CTMS/index.php?example=InvertedPendulum&section=Sys
temModeling