Browsing by Author "Machaba, Martin I"

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    Investigation into iterative feedback control
    (2004) Machaba, Martin I; Braae, Martin
    The Iterative Feedback Tuning (IFT) method is investigated in this dissertation, starting with the history and origin of this algorithm. The objective of this thesis was to apply the IFT algorithm to a physical system and the system chosen was a DC motor configured for speed control. The inertia of the load for the DC motor is varied to ensure that the algorithm will make the necessary adjustments to compensate for changes in load. Since the IFT is closely related to the well known Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) method application that uses the gradient approach to its adaption. The equations for the MRAC gradient approach method are presented and applied to a DC motor for a speed control. The purpose of this application was to investigate how the MRAC gradient approach will behave in practice in order to give a base case against which to compare the IFT method. The differences between the theoretical and experimental responses of the MRAC are explained by simulation study and modification of the basic MRAC equations. The one degree of freedom controller was chosen for IFT application to a DC motor system for its simplicity since it requires only two experiments to be carried out on the DC motor instead of three as in the case of the two degree of freedom controller. The appropriate signals were generated in experiment 1 and 2 of the IFT algorithm and the control parameters updated in the third step, the values of the controller parameters for which the quadratic criterion is a minimum were produced. The iterations were repeated for a different load.