Proceedings of the 7th Asian Control Conference,

Hong Kong, China, August 27-29, 2009

ThC1.1

Trajectory Tracking Control of Ball and Plate System Based on

Auto-Disturbance Rejection Controller
Huida Duan ,Yantao Tian,and Guangbin Wang, Member, IEEE

AbstractIn this paper a novel control strategy, the active

disturbance rejection control (ADRC) is applied to the trajectory
tracking design of ball and plate system. In the ADRC framework,
the disturbance and coupling are treated as an additional state
variable, which is then estimated and compensated for in real
time. In addition, the using of a new nonlinear state error
feedback control law in the ADRC reduces the number of
parameters. The result of simulation and experiments indicate
the proposed scheme have better dynamic, robust characteristics
and perfect trajectory tracking effect.
Index Terms - Ball and plate system .Active disturbance rejection
control (ADRC). Coupling. Trajectory tracking

I. INTRODUCTION

he ball and plate system is a typical nonlinear dynamic

problem of path planning and trajectory tracking control
for unconstrained mobile [1]. Ball and plate system commonly
created for control system modeling, design, implementation,
and verification as a training tool for science and engineering
practice. Though dynamical equations of ball and plate system
are obtained using Lagarange equation, it still has some factors
can not been considered in modeling. To achieve high
precision trajectory tracking control, these factors must been
considered, such as uncertainty, nonlinear problem, recoupling
and disturbance of the system. Some approaches focused on
the model-free methods, such as T-S type fuzzy control [2],
supervisory controller with single input rule modules fuzzy
logic [3] and fuzzy controller with online learning capability
[4]. Although methods above need no accurate mathematical
model, determination of fuzzy logic
rules and fuzzy membership functions is complicated and
relaying on the experiences,furthermore, tuning of fuzzy logic
parameters is time-consuming . In [5, 6], the problem were
tacked through techniques of linearization and simplification.
A lead controller was established using root-locus design
technique in [5], and sliding mode control was used to cope
with system uncertainties such as variations of plate surface,
size and mass of the ball [6]. As nonlinearity
grows with higher tracking velocity, precision of position
control may be degraded with linearized models. Backstepping

design was employed for the problem requiring knowledge of

exact system mathematical model [7]. Different from above
methods, consider of the uncertainty, nonlin earity, coupling
and disturbance of ball and plate system, a new nonlinear
control methods active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC)
is presented in this paper. The purpose of choosing active
disturbance rejection controller is to mainly resolve the
problems of recoupling, disturbance rejection and tracking
rapidity. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section
II introduces mathematical model of the ball and plate system
using Lagarange equation. Active disturbance rejection
controller design for trajectory tracking control is presented in
Section III. Simulation results with soft of Matlab are shown in
section IV.
II.

To derive the motion equations for the proposed system,

assuming that the ball remains in contact with the plate only
rolling but not sliding. The mathematical model for ball and
plate system is shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1. The mathematical model for ball and plate system

Applying the Euler-Lagranges equation the mathematical

model for ball and plate system is shown as:

Ib
& & + mg sin = 0
x mx& 2 my
) &&
r2
I
& & + mg sin = 0
( m + b2 ) &&
y my & 2 mx
r
(m +

( I p + I b + mx2 )&& + 2mxx&& + mxy&& + mx&y&

+ mxy&& + mgx cos = x
( I + I + my 2 ) && + 2myy& & + mxy&& + mx&y&
p

The project was supported by Chinese College Doctor Special Scientific

Research Fund ( 20060183006).
Huida Duan is with the school of Communication Engineering, Jinlin
University, Changchun130025, China and Electric and Information
Engineering School , Beihua University, Jilin. 132021, China
(e-mail:huida_duan@163.com).
Yantao Tian is with the school of Communication Engineering, Jilin
University , Changchun 130025, China and The Key Laboratory for Bionic
Engineering of Ministry of Education, Jilin University Changchun 130025 ,
China (e-mail: tianyt@jlu.edu.cn).
Guangbin Wang is with the school of Communication Engineering, Jilin
University , Changchun 130025, China((e-mail: Guangguang-wgb@163.com)
Corresponding author: Yantao Tian

978-89-956056-9-1/09/2009 ACA

MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE BALL AND PLATE SYSTEM

+ mxy& & + mgy cos = y

(1)
(2)
(3)

(4)

In these equations, m (kg) is the mass of the ball; r is the

radius of the ball ; x (m) is the ball position at X-axis; y (m) is
the ball position at Y-axis ; (rad) is the plate deflection
angle at X-axis; x is the plate deflection angular velocity for
X-axis. (rad) is the plate deflection angular at Y-axis.
x (Nm) is the torque exerted on the plate in x-axis and

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7th ASCC, Hong Kong, China, Aug. 27-29, 2009

y (Nm) is the torque exerted on the plate in the y-axis.

Equations (1)and(2) describe the movement of the ball on
the plate, show how the effects of ball acceleration rely on
plate deflection angular and plate deflection angular velocity.
Equations (3)and(4) show how the dynamics of plate
deflection rely on exterior drive and ball position. In fact, the
system inputs are and ,not are x and y ,because load
moment can not affect the position of motor. For this
assumption, study on ball on the plate only using (1)and(2).
In addition, the range of plate deflection angle is 5 degree, so
(1)and (2) can been shown as:

&x& = m(&&y + & 2 x) /(m + I b / r 2 )

&x& = f ( x, x& , w x (t ), t ) + k

&y& = f ( y, y& , w y (t ), t ) + k

2
mg /(m + I b / r ) = k

Where, w x (t ), w y (t ) are synthesis function of coupling and

disturbances.
Assuming that

= k ( f ( x , x& , w x (t ), t ))

= 1 ( f ( y , y& , w (t ), t ))
1
y
k

(6)

[mg /( m + I b / r 2 )]

DESIGN OF TRAJECTORY TRACKING CONTROLLER BASED

ON ADRC

ADRC is independent of the mathematical expression of the

object. It consists of the following parts [8,9,10,13]:
a. Tracking differentiator (TD)
b. Nonlinear state error feedback (NLSEF)
c. Extended state observer (ESO)
A tracking differentiator is responsible for the arrangement
of an appropriate transient process and provides proper
differential signals of each order; The NLSEF block
determines control input by tracking error signal and its
different formats (derivatives/integrals) for optimal
combination with nonlinear algorithms for output; The
extended state observer is the essential part of an ADRC. It is
capable of observing state variables of each order and the
extended state, which includes the combined unpredictable
(model uncertainties and external disturbances) in real-time
and fed them back for system compensation.
Many control objects model can be simplified as two-order
system as follows:

&x& = f ( x, x& , w(t ), t ) + b(t )u

y = x

is

magnification

&x& =

&y& =

factor, y is

(10)

From the above deduction, recoupling and disturbance

rejection problems of the system can been well resolved, if
wx (t ), w y (t ) can been observed by ESO.
The controller of the ADRC for trajectory tracking is
designed. A new NLSEF is used to resolve the problem of too
many turning parameters for ordinary ADRC. Through the
improvement of ADRC, the numbers of turning parameters are
decreased and easy to adjust.
Structure of ADRC is shown as Fig. 2.

v1

e1

v2

e2

z1

z2

u0

z3

Fig. 2 Structure of ADRC

(7)

The discrete algorithm realizations of the ADRC are as

follows:

Where, w(t ) is external disturbance variable, u is control

Variable, b(t )

(9)

then the system can been redescribed as:

Considering the position control symmetry, position controller

along the x-axis using ADRC method is designed as below.
III.

wx (t ), w y (t ) can been observed by ESO as

internal disturbances, select

(5)

[mg /(m + I b / r 2 )]
&y& = m(&&x + & 2 y ) /(m + I b / r 2 )

(8)

output

1) TD

v1 (k + 1) = v1 (k ) + hv 2 (k )

v 2 (k + 1) = v 2 (k ) + hfhan(v1 (k )

v(k ), v 2 (k ), r0 , h)

variable, f ( x, x& , w(t ), t ) is the total external and internal

disturbances function.
From the above discussion, mathematical model for ball and
plate can been shown as:

(11)

Where, fhan() is a time optimal integrated function, which

detailed expression is described as (11).

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7th ASCC, Hong Kong, China, Aug. 27-29, 2009

d = rh 2 , a 0 = hv 2 ( k )

y = v1 ( k ) + a 0
a1 = d ( d + 8 y )

a 2 = a 0 + sign ( y )( a 1 d ) / 2

s y = ( sign ( y + d ) sign ( y d )) / 2
a = (a 0 + y a 2 )s y + a 2

s a = ( sign ( a + d ) sign ( a d )) / 2
fhan = r ( a / d sign ( a )) s rsign ( a )
a

adjust are
simply.

IV.

(12)

m = 0.11kg , g = 9.81 / s 2 , r = 0.02m, I b = 1.76e 5kgm 2

The radius of desired circle is 0.4m.The circle is described
as:

x = 0.4 sin(t ) = 0.4 sin( t / 15)

y = 0.4 sin( t / 15 / 2) = 0.4 cos( t / 15)

B. The Simulation parameters
Set the control cycle as 0.01s and simulation time as 40s. Set
the ADRC parameters as:

(13)

r0 = 1 r = 100 , h = 0.01 , 01 = 100 , 02 = 300 ,

03 = 1000 , h1 = 0.05 , c = 0.5 , b0 = 1 .

Where h is control cycle,and fal ()

e sign ( e ), e >
fal ( e, , ) =
1
e
e / ,
Where the function sign() is the symbolic function. And the
meanings of the other parameters can be found in [ 9, 10].
3) NLSEF
The new NLSEF using function fhan()
Synthesis of Control Value

e1 (k + 1) = v1 (k + 1) z1 (k + 1)
e (k + 1) = v (k + 1) z (k + 1)
2
2
2
u
(
k
1
)
fhan
(
e
(
k
1), ce2 (k + 1), r , h1 )
+
=
+
0
1

u (k + 1) z 3 (k + 1)
u (k + 1) = 0
b0

SIMULATIONS

A.. Simulation object

The simulation object is to make the ball start from origin
and track the desired circle. Model parameters are as follows:

2) ESO

(k ) = z1 (k ) y (k )
z (k + 1) = z (k ) + h( z (k ) (k ))
1
2
01
1
z 2 (k + 1) = z 2 (k ) + h( z 3 (k )
fal ( (k ),1 / 2, h) + b u (k ))
0
02
z 3 (k + 1) = z 3 (k ) h 03 fal ( (k ),1 / 4, h)

c, h1 , b0 .So the parameters adjusting becomes more

(14)

C. Simulation results and analyses

Simulations were done in five typical conditions:
1) no measurement noise, the results are shown in Fig.3-Fig.6;
2) adding measurement noise, random sequence whose
amplitude is 1.5mm,the results are shown in Fig.7 - Fig.8;
3) adding controller output disturbances at 20s,pulse signal
whose amplitude is 0.02 rad, lasting time is 1s,the results with
no measurement noise are shown in are shown in Fig.9 - Fig.
10 and the results with measurement noise are shown in
Fig.11- Fig.12;
4) adding external disturbances of direction x, pulse signal
whose amplitude is 0.02m , lasting time is 1s, the results with
no measurement noise are shown in Fig. 13-Fig. 14 and the
results with measurement noise are shown in Fig. 15- Fig. 16;
5) changing the angle velocity to / 3 , no measurement
noise, the simulation result with ADRC is shown in Fig.17 and
the simulation result with fuzzy controller is shown in Fig.18;

Where parameters r0 , 01 , 02 , 03 , r , c, h1 and b0 are

turning parameters of ADRC.
Parameter r0 depends on speed of Transition Process and
enduring ability of system. Parameter 01 , 02 and 03 depend
on sample step. Many simulation study indicate that
01 , 02 , 03 can be homology for different systems when
sample step are the same value[11][12].Thus, the turning
parameters of the controller are control variable gain
r ,damping coefficient c ,precision factor h1 and

Fig.3. Circular trajectory tracking

compensation factor b0 .Control variable gain r increase with

a certain range in general case, so the last parameters need to

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Fig.8. Trajectory Tracking for x,y Axis with measurement noise

Fig.4. Trajectory Tracking for x,y Axis

Fig.9. Circular trajectory tracking when add controller output disturbance

Fig. 5. ADRC output

Fig.10. Trajectory Tracking for x,y axis when add controller output
disturbance

Fig.6. System output error

Fig.11. Circular trajectory tracking when add controller output disturbances

and measurement noise

Fig.7.Circular trajectory tracking with measurement noise

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Fig.16. Trajectory tracking for x,y axis when add external

Fig.12. Trajectory tracking for x,y axis when add controller output
disturbances and measurement noise

Disturbance and measurement noise

Fig.17. = / 3 ,Circular trajectory tracking with ADRC

Fig.13. Circular trajectory tracking when add external disturbance

Fig.18. = / 3 , Circular trajectory tracking with

Fig.14. Trajectory tracking for x,y axis when add external disturbance

fuzzy controller

From these simulation results, it can be seen that:

1)simulation analysis with Fig. 3toFig. 8
No matter whether there is measurement noise, both the
dynamic accuracy and the static accuracy of the trajectory
tracking are all high.
2)simulation analysis with Fig. 9 to Fig. 16
When adding the disturbances to the system , ADRC has better
dynamic, robust characteristics and perfect trajectory tracking
effect.
3) simulation analysis with Fig. 17and Fig. 18
when changing the angle velocity of the ball, because of
control difficulty increasing , but the effect of trajectory
tracking with ADRC is still well . Contrastively, the result
with fuzzy controller is unsatisfied. This demonstrates that
control speed of ADRC is satisfied.

Fig.15. Circular trajectory tracking when add external disturbance and

measurement noise

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V. Conclusion
To mainly resolve the problems of recoupling, disturbance
rejection and tracking rapidity for ball and plate system, a new
nonlinear control methods ADRC is presented in this paper. In
addition, the using of a new nonlinear state error feedback
control law in the ADRC reduces the number of parameters.
Thus, it makes the improved ADRC easy to adjust. The results
of simulation indicate the proposed scheme have better
dynamic, robust characteristics and perfect trajectory tracking
effect. Therefore, the ADRC controller is very suitable for
trajectory tracking and especially when there is disturbance
and characteristic changing. The process of simulation also
shows that the ADRC itself also has perfect robust character
because of the great adaptation range of parameters in ADRC.
Though the effect of simulation is satisfied, many experiments
should be done to verify the effect. Otherwise, dynamic
parameter adjusting rule should be explored.
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