Meta-Heuristic Tuning of the LQR Weighting Matrices Using Various Objective Functions on an Experimental Flexible Arm Under the Effects of Disturbance

Abstract

In this paper, meta-heuristic tuning of LQR weighting matrices using various objective functions on the experimental flexible arm under the effects of disturbance is investigated. The use of flexible and lightweight systems provides certain advantages such as high operating speeds, low electricity consumption, and low initial investment costs. However, such systems are more prone to vibration-related problems than their rigid and heavyweight counterparts. One of the closed-loop control methods used to suppress these vibrations is LQR control, but the success of the controller depends on the choice of the gain and regulator matrices. In this study, the Bees algorithm, a meta-heuristic search algorithm, is used to determine LQR matrices. The system performance is compared with similar studies in the literature. The proposed objective function reveals an improvement of 3.1% in rotor maximum overshoot compared to studies in the literature. Flexible link maximum overshoot has been reduced from 17.8 to 7.1%. In order to validate the applicability and repeatability of the proposed method under the noise and disturbance in real systems, experimental verification tests were conducted using the Quanser Flexible Link system. As a result, the proposed method has been experimentally validated and it is estimated that it may well be a very useful controller design approach in various engineering systems and related control system developments.