Hardware Implementation of an ADRC Controller on a Gimbal Mechanism

Active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) is applied to a one-axis gimbal mechanism. The dynamic model of the system is derived and validated from mathematical modeling and practical experiments. Disturbances acting on the complete model of the gimbal mechanism are introduced via base lateral acceleration and angular motion. The ADRC is designed by utilizing an extended state observer for observing and suppressing the effects of external disturbances and internal parameter uncertainties. A PID controller is used to form a basis of comparison for set-point tracking and disturbance rejection performance. The effects of identification errors and observer bandwidth are experimentally investigated. Based on simulation and experimental results, the effectiveness of ADRC in the presence of external disturbances and parameter uncertainties is illustrated.