Development of a sliding mode controller and higher-order structure-based estimator

Accurate and robust control methodologies are critical to the reliable and safe operation of engineering systems. Sliding mode control (SMC) is a form of variable structure control and is regarded as one of the most effective nonlinear robust control approaches. The control law is designed so that the system state trajectories are forced towards the sliding surface and stays within a region of it. The switching gain in the control signal brings an inherent amount of stability to the control process. However, the controller is only as effective as the knowledge of critical system states and parameters. Estimation strategies, such as the Kalman filter or the smooth variable structure filter (SVSF), may be employed to improve the quality of the state estimates used by control methods. A recently developed SVSF formulation, referred to as the second-order SVSF, offers robustness and chattering suppression properties of second-order sliding mode systems. It produces robust state estimation by preserving the first- and second-order sliding conditions such that the measurement error and its first difference are pushed towards zero. This paper aims to combine the SMC with the second-order SVSF in an effort to develop and offer an improved control strategy. It is proposed that this controller will offer an improvement in terms of controller accuracy without affecting its inherent stability and robustness. An electro hydrostatic actuator will be used for proof of concept, and future work will extend the application to automotive power trains.