ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the integrator backstepping technique to develop full state feedback, position tracking controllers for a brush DC motor driving a mechanical load. In this approach, an intermediate tracking objective can be formed between the electrical and mechanical partitions of the control problem, allowing the propagation of the controller, designed for the mechanical subsystem by traditional nonlinear control techniques, back through the electrical subsystem in order to formulate a voltage control input. The motor is viewed as a torque source and a torque control input is designed to ensure that the mechanical load follows a desired position trajectory. To illustrate the use of the backstepping technique, an exact model knowledge controller is first designed to yield global exponential position tracking. The exact model knowledge is then redesigned under the guise of an adaptive controller to compensate for parametric uncertainty while yielding global asymptotic position tracking.
