Experimental Benchmarking of Energy-saving Sub-Optimal Sliding Mode Control

Abstract: The recently introduced energy-saving extension of the sub-optimal sliding mode control allows for control-off phases during the convergence to second-order equilibrium. This way, it enables for a lower energy consumption compared to the original sub-optimal sliding mode (SM) algorithm, both commutating a discontinuous control signal. In this paper, the energy-saving sub-optimal SM control is experimentally benchmarked against a standard second-order SM controller which also has a discontinuous control action. Here the so-called terminal second-order SM algorithm is used. The controlled plant is affected by the matched bounded disturbances which are unknown, and the output is additionally subject to the sensor noise. Moreover, a first-order actuator dynamics can lead to chattering, which is parasitic for SM applications. For a fair comparison, the same quadratic terminal surface is designed when benchmarking both SM controllers. Both experimentally compared SM algorithms have the same (bounded) control magnitude and states initial conditions.