Design of a PD Position Controller for a Ball and Beam

Abstract

This paper contains the procedural information for the development of a first-order linear system PD controller called “Ball and Beam.” The software Proteus was used for the design of the electronic circuit, and MATLAB’s ‘sisotool’ to tune the controller using the classic method of the root locus to stabilize the system. A current cascade controller was used for positioning, and a laser sensor to know the position of the ball on the axis. Additionally, the programming codes are shown for the tuning of both controllers.