Robust controller design for position tracking of nonlinear system using back stepping-GSA approach

Abstract

Electro-hydraulic actuator (EHA) system is highly non-linear system with uncertain dynamics in which the mathematical representation of the system cannot sufficiently represent the practical system. Nonlinearities of the system come from either the system itself or external disturbance signals. These dynamic characteristics are the reasons that cause the controller design for the system to be quite challenging. In this paper, back-stepping controller design for tracking purpose of this system is presented based on Lyapunov stability condition. Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) technique is then used to optimize the control parameters in order to achieve a predefined system performance. The performance is evaluated based on the tracking output and the tracking error between reference input and the system output. The results show that the system's output follow the reference input given but the tracking performance is influenced by the condition of the system and number of agents and iteration in the algorithm.