1

Antenna Azimuth Position Control System:

Analysis and Design with Lead, Lag, PID and LQR
Controllers
Complex Engineering Problem, Maximum Marks 10
EE360: Control Systems, Spring 2019
Deadline for Report Submission: June 10, 2019
Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering
University of Management and Technology, Lahore
c Jameel Ahmad & Muhammad Asim Butt

Objectives of Complex Engineering Problem

A position control system converts an input position command to an output position response. Antennas, computer disk drives
and robotic arms are some of the applications of position control system. The radio telescope antenna is a typical application of
position control systems. In this Complex Engineering Problem for EE360:Control Systems course, students will analyze, design
and control antenna azimuth position. The response of the system will be analyzed for the open loop and closed loop characteristics
of the system and the most stable and implementable controller for the system will be determined. Specifically results will be
drawn by using Lead, Lag and PID controllers. The results of PID controller will be further compared with Linear Quadratic
Regulator (LQR), another type of controller and conclusions will be drawn. Finally, a summary report will be submitted by each
student with findings and recommendations.

Index Terms
LQR; PID controller; system response; azimuth position control; MATLAB /SIMULINK/LabVIEW simulation.

I. I NTRODUCTION
Control systems are an integral part of modern society. Numerous applications are all around us: The rockets fire, and the
space shuttle lifts off to earth orbit; in splashing cooling water, a metallic part is automatically machined; a self-guided vehicle
delivering material to workstations in an aerospace assembly plant glides along the floor seeking its destination. These are
just a few examples of the automatically controlled systems that we can create. We are not the only creators of automatically
controlled systems; these systems also exist in nature. Within our own bodies are numerous control systems, such as the
pancreas, which regulates our blood sugar. In time of “fight or flight,” our adrenaline increases along with our heart rate,
causing more oxygen to be delivered to our cells. Our eyes follow a moving object to keep it in view; our hands grasp the
object and place it precisely at a predetermined location.
Even the nonphysical world appears to be automatically regulated. Models have been suggested showing automatic control
of student performance. The input to the model is the student’s available study time, and the output is the grade. The model
can be used to predict the time required for the grade to rise if a sudden increase in study time is available. Using this model,
you can determine whether increased study is worth the effort during the last week of the term. A control system consists of
subsystems and processes (or plants) assembled for the purpose of obtaining a desired output with desired performance, given
a specified input(Nise, 2010). An example of control system is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Control System.

II. A NTENNA A ZIMUTH P OSITION C ONTROL S YSTEM

A position control system converts a position input command to a position output response. The system is well described by
its components, that is the motor, gears, load, preamplifier, power amplifier, potentiometers and voltage references. The system
normally operates to drive the error to zero. When the input and output match, the error will be zero, and the motor will not
turn. Thus, the motor is driven only when the output and the input do not match. The greater the difference between the input
 2

TABLE I
S YSTEM C ONFIGURATION PARAMETERS .

Parameter Definition Value

V Voltage across potentiometer(V) 10
N Turns of potentiometer 10
k preamplifier gain -
k1 Power amplifier gain 10p× last three digit of your student ID,p is an adjustable parameter
a1 Power amplifier pole 100
Ra Motor resistance[ohms] 8
Ja Motor inertia constant[kg − m2 ] last two digit of your student ID/100 +0.01
Da Motor damping constant[N-ms/rad] last two digit of your student ID/100+0.01
Kb back emf constant[V-s/rad] 0.5
KT Motor torque constant[N-m/A] 0.5
N1 Gear teeth 25
N2 Gear teeth 250
N3 Gear teeth 250
JL Load inertia constant[kg − m2 ] 1
Da Load damping constant[N-ms/rad] 1

and the output, the larger the motor input voltage, and the faster the motor will turn. The position of antenna is controlled by
using gears and feedback potentiometer. Antenna azimuth is also fine controlled by using some control mechanism meeting
certain specifications for desired system’s transient and steady state response. Getting the output angle of the antenna θo (t)
from the reference angle of potentiometer θi (t) as input is the purpose of this scheme. System concept for controlling the
position of antenna azimuth is shown in Fig. 2 (Okumus et al., 2012).

Fig. 2. Antenna Azimuth Position Control System.

III. P ROBLEM S TATEMENT

The antenna azimuth control system currently available in the market is described as a servo controlled antenna through
the use of gears and feedback potentiometers. The current design lacks any sort of compensator controller that would provide
stable control. Each student doing this complex engineering problem is expected to analyze the system for stability. System
configuration parameters are defined in Table I. Once the current configuration is analyzed, student will be able decide on an
appropriate compensator/controller to provide ample stability and realistic responses to inputs. The proposed controller design
must not saturate the components in the current system, yet control the system in a reasonable manner.There are three parts
to the original given problem statement. These are summarized below.
1) Determine the associated transfer function of the whole system.
2) Find the system responses, both open loop and closed loop, to check if the system is stable.
 3

3) Analyze the system either in time domain or frequency domain if the system meets certain design specifications.
4) Given the desired system configuration, design a suitable controller (Lead, Lag, Lead-Lag PID,LQR) to achieve the
desired system response while ensuring system stability.
In summary, then, our design objectives and the system’s performance revolve around the transient response, the steady-state
error, and stability. Gain adjustments can affect performance and sometimes lead to trade-offs between the performance criteria.
Compensators can often be designed to achieve performance specifications without the need for trade-offs.

IV. S TUDENT S UBMISSIONS FOR G IVEN S PECIFICATIONS

Students are expected to submit following in their final report for Complex Engineering Problem.
1) Derivation of Transfer function of whole system using system configuration parameters given in Table I.
2) Design details of cascade compensators ( lead, Lag or Lead-Lag) to meet the following requirements: (a) per cent
overshoot=last two digit of your student ID, (b) settling time 5 sec, steady state error less than 2 per cent
3) Design details of PID controller to meet the following specs:(a) per cent overshoot=last two digit of your student ID,
(b) settling time 5 sec, steady state error less than 2 per cent
4) Design details of an LQR( Linear Quadratic Regulator) controller and comparing its performance with a PID type
controller designed above.
5) Tabulating the transfer functions of proposed Lead, Lag and PID controllers.
6) Plotting the step responses of all controllers on a single graph using a step input and determining which controller gives
the best performance to meet the given specifications. Use of MATLAB and/or SIMULINK or LabVIEW for analysis
and demonstration.
7) Writing a summary report less than 10 pages, double column, font: Times New Roman, 12 point with all details and
findings.
8) Explanation of how a digital control for Antenna Azimuth Position Control System can be implemented.
Students must check, before submitting soft and hard copies of the report, that required deliverables given in Table II
are included.

TABLE II
D ELIVERABLES AND A SSESSMENT C RITERIA FOR E VALUATING S TUDENT ’ S P ERFORMANCE (M AX . M ARKS :10).

Assessment Criteria CLO Outstanding Effective Inadequate

Derivation of Transfer function of the whole system CLO 1 1 0.5 0.3
Open Loop and closed loop system response CLO 1 1 0.5 0.3
Analysis in time and frequency domain (Root Locus,Bode Blots, State-space methods) CLO 2 1 0.5 0.3
System Stability CLO 3 1 0.5 0.3
Quality of Report, Literature Review on Compensators and Controllers, References - 1 0.5 0.3
Transfer function for Lead-Lag Compensator CLO 1 1 0.5 0.3
PID Controller Design and Tuning Gains CLO 4 1 0.5 0.3
LQR Analysis and Design CLO 4 1 0.5 0.3
System Responses for Lead-Lag, PID and LQR CLO 4 1 0.5 0.3
Performance comparison of various controllers CLO 4 1 0.5 0.3

Fig. 3 is a representative step response and final outcome of the complex engineering problem. Student’s step responses will
be far better than this graph in accordance with configuration provided in Table I and given specifications in Section IV.

Fig. 3. A sample step response of a close loop control system.