Control of inverted pendulum system with variable cart reference

In this study, a single-input and two-output inverted pendulum system was designed, implemented and controlled. At the startup of the system, the pendulum, which is at the downright equilibrium point was first lifted up to the upright equilibrium point by swing-up, and then the system was stabilized by PID algorithm which controls both the pendulum angle and the cart position. Proportional, integral and derivative constants of the PID controller are heuristically determined for the pendulum and the cart by tests performed on the physical system and satisfactory results are obtained. While the steady state errors of the pendulum and the cart are at acceptable levels, disturbance rejection performance of the system is also quite high. In order to use the entire track during the control, position reference of the cart is preferred to be variable. Thus, the cart can be moved to a desired point on the track without disrupting the steady state of the system.