2015 International Conference on Smart Technologies and Management

for Computing, Communication, Controls, Energy and Materials (ICSTM),

Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, T.N., India. 6 - 8 May 2015. pp.526-531.

Model Development and Adaptive Control Implementation of a 3-Axis Platform

Stabilization System
Sanjoy Paik1, M.P. Nandakumar2 and S. Ashok3

Department of Electrical Engineering, NIT Calicut

Email: sanjoy.paik8@gmail.com1

Abstract— Inertial stabilized platform is one of the most
important parts of modern tracking system. There are lots of
applications such as in the field of defense, aerial photography,
satellite imaging, industrial measurements, etc. In platform
stabilization system the platform where any desired object can
be placed is to be maintained at a fixed reference level
although there is change in system dynamics. This paper uses
an adaptive methodology to stabilize the platform according to
the changes in the situation. Design and development of the 3-
axis platform system model is shown. This includes the
relevant system dynamic model of the platform and the
successful control of three degree of freedom is presented for
the application of steering and stabilizing the platform
mounted on dynamic system. Non-linear simulations are
performed to see the behavior of the system model as well as
control simulation for compensating the external disturbances.
Keywords— Platform stabilization system, 3-axis stabilized
platform model equations, Adaptive fuzzy control system, Self-
tuning PID control.
states for estimating the uncertainty, so the number of fuzzy
rules is reduced and the controller will gives no oscillation,
zero steady state error and smaller settling time than
obtained using Ziegler Nichols tuned PID controller and
fine tuned PID controller. So the proposed fuzzy controller
design approach and smaller rule base can provide better
performance comparing with the conventional PID
controller and fine tuned PID controller so that it can be
achieved a stable image throughout the observation period.
II. OVERALL SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM
The proposed overall system block diagram to stabilize the
platform is shown in fig.1. The whole system can be
considered as two sections- modeling and controlling where
the modeling part deals with kinematic model and dynamic
gimbals equation and the controlling part deals with control
technique to stabilize the platform in a better way.

I. INTRODUCTION

For the application of Aerial photography to obtain a stable

image from a camera mounted on an aerial vehicle, it is
essential to decouple the movement of the vehicle from the
camera. Dynamic separation from the vehicle movement
can be obtained by designing the interconnected 3-axis
gimbal structure platform model. The 3-axis platform
system consists of sensors, which will measure the
deviation of the platform and corresponding an error will be
generated with regard to the reference point. According to Fig. 1. Block Diagram of Platform Stabilization System
the error signal the controller will give the control signal to
the actuators, which rotate the platform to compensate the
disturbances due to vehicle movement. The proposed III. DYNAMIC SYSTEM MODEL
system consists of two types of controllers- conventional
PID controller and fuzzy-PID controller where fuzzy This section begins by defining the relevant coordinate
controller will tune the parameters of the conventional PID systems along with a method to transform vectors from one
controller according to the error and change in error[1]. The coordinate system to another. The derivation of Euler's
advantage of the proposed adaptive fuzzy system is to use a equations of motion is then presented, which lead to a
non-complicated structure and without applying all system mathematical model of the stabilized platform.

978-1-4799-9855-5/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 526

 Model Development and Adaptive Control Implementation of a 3-Axis Platform Stabilization System

platform can be evaluated. The three axes of gimbal

rotations are 1, 2, and 3.The inner gimbal rotates about
1-axis, the middle gimbal rotates about 2-axis and the
outer gimbal rotates about 3-axis.

B. Platform Orientations
The orientation of a body rotating about a fixed point can be
described using three angles, called Euler
angles. Using the Euler angles, a coordinate transformation
that maps vectors in one reference frame to another can be
defined. This is done by three consecutive rotations that is
Fig. 2. 3-Axis Platform Structure Euler 3-2-1 rotation sequence. The gimbal angles
are simply the Euler angles for the platform
A. Coordinate Systems
axis system when the body axis system is aligned with the
In order to describe the system model and control the inertial axis system[3]. Beginning with a vector
orientation of the platform, four sets of coordinate coordinated in O − XIYIZI is transformed to , then is
systems[1] are as follows:
transformed to and again transformed to
a) The inertial axis system coordinated in O − XPYPZP after the rotation of ZI axis at
b) The body(base) axis system an angle , rotation of YI axis at an angle rotation of
XI axis at an angle respectively. These can be described
c) The platform axis system
mathematically as
d) The gimbal axis system
( ) (1)
a) Inertial axes— An inertial reference frame is a set of
axes which remains constant with time. The attitude of a ( ) (2)
body can uniquely be determined by evaluating the
orientation of the body frame relative to the inertial ( ) (3)
frame. The inertial axis system, OI − XIYIZI, is then
defined as a set of right-hand orthogonal axes oriented
north for the positive XI-axis, east for the positive YI- Where ( ) [ ] (4)
axis and down for the positive ZI-axis.
b) Body axes— The body axis, OB −XBYBZB, as defined
is a fixed right-hand orthogonal coordinate system with
the positive XB-axis, the positive YB-axis to the right of ( ) [ ] (5)
the positive XB-axis and the ZB-axis orthogonally
downward from the XBYB-plane. The origin, OB, is at
the centre of mass of the body.
( ) [ ] (6)
c) Platform axes— The platform axis system is defined as
a right-hand orthogonal coordinate system, with origin
at the intersection of the gimbal axis of rotation and the A vector coordinated in the inertial axis system, O −
spin axis of the gyroscope. With reference to Fig. 2, the XIYIZI, can now be transformed to the platform axis
XP -axis is defined as the axis of rotation of the inner system, O − XPYPZP, by
gimbal, the YP -axis is to the right of the XP –axis in the
plane of rotation of the flywheel of gyroscope and the AP  M 321 AI (7)
ZP -axis is pointing orthogonally downward from the
XPYP -plane. The ZP -axis is now aligned with the Where ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (8)
angular momentum vector generated by the flywheel.
This coordinate system is fixed in the stabilization The total angular velocity of the platform in terms of the
plane[2].
Euler angles can be written as
d) Gimbal axes— It is necessary to define a set of axes
  
wherein the dynamic equations of motion of the 3-axis    G Z I  G YI  G X I (9)

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2015 International Conference on Smart Technologies and Management for Computing, Communication, Controls, Energy and Materials

Applying Eqs. (1), (2) and (3) the total angular velocity can P  J  p (22)
be written in terms of platform axes, as
where p is the angular momentum of the gyroscope spin
Z I   sin G X P  sin G cos G YP  cos G cos G Z P axis, which is constant. again the eq.(21) can be written as
YI  cos G YP  sin G Z P (10), (11), (12)
X I  X P J d
dt
 T  dh
dt
    J  p (23)

Now the total angular velocity of the platform in platform Now the equation of motion of a rigid body equipped with
coordinates is then an element that produces a constant angular velocity will be

  X X P  Y YP  Z Z P
P P P
(13) J d
dt
 T     j  p  (24)

Where To obtain a dynamic model of the 3-axis platform structure,

we need to evaluate Eq. (24) along each of the gimbal
 
 X   G  sin G  G rotation axes. Each gimbal is a separate rigid body and
P

 
(14),(15),(16) requires a set of three Euler equations to describe its
Y   G cos G  G sin G cos G
P motion[5]. To simplify the analysis we will assume that

Z    G sin G  G cos G cos G

each gimbal has a spherical moment of inertia tensor, so
P
that cross coupled inertia effects can be ignored. That is
C. Equations of Motion of the Platform
 J 11 0 0 
The time rate of change of angular momentum of a rigid J   0 J 22 0  (25)
body is related to the torques applied to the body through  0 0 J 33 
Newton's second law for rotational motion[4] as
So the dynamic equations along each of the gimbal rotation
dP
dt
T (17) axes can be evaluated through eq. (24)

where T is the torque vector acting on the body and P is the J111  T  2 p cos G  3 p sin G cos G
angular momentum vector of the body defined as
J 222  T  1 p cos G  3 p cos G sin G
P  J (18) J 333  T  1 p sin G cos G  2 p cos G sin G

Where  is the total angular velocity of the body and (26), (27), (28)

 J xx J xy J xz  Equations (26), (27) and (28) are the dynamic gimbal

  equations of motion for stabilized platform.
J   J yx J yy J yz  (19)
 J zx J zy J zz  D. Model Simulation


is the moment of inertia of the body.

Euler’s equation of motion for a rigid body along body axes

 dtd body  a    dtd inertial  a      a  (20)

where a is any arbitrary vector. Applying eqs.(17) and (18)

into eq.(20) yields Fig. 3. Simulink Model of the Dynamic System

J d
dt
 T   J (21) The accuracy of the mathematical model and the model
parameters must be evaluated before the design of
for a body equipped with gyroscope controllers for the platform can be investigated. In this

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 Model Development and Adaptive Control Implementation of a 3-Axis Platform Stabilization System

simulink model a step torque is applied to the outer gimbal (VH). The variation range of input, error (E) [-1 1] and
of the platform. change in error (CE) [-1 1], for the three output ranges
are [0 40], [0 20], [0 25] for respectively.

IV. ADAPTIVE FUZZY BASED CONTROL b) Fuzzy rules— The fuzzy rules are obtained according to
the knowledge of experiment to get the better
The conventional PID controller is one of the most useful performance of the system and these fuzzy rules can
controllers that is still being used in many applications,
change depending on the type of system characteristics.
while there are some conditions in which it doesn’t show
Properties of PID controller, type of disturbances,
proper response, like when there is nonlinear and uncertain
conditions[6]. When there are such problems one of the best system behavior, characteristics of actuator and gimbals
ways to solve, is tuning the PID gains manually but, that is orientation are the impact factors to make these rules.
not possible always. In this paper a fuzzy logic method has The fuzzy inference system method used in this paper is
been used to tune the gains , and according to error MAX- MIN and the defuzzification method is
e (t) that is the difference between reference input and gyro centroid[9][10]. The rules for are shown
output signal, and derivative of error de (t) that is change in in table1, 2 and 3 respectively.
error, so the system controller is self-tuned PID using fuzzy
controller[7]. The general block diagram of the control Table 1. Fuzzy Rules for
system is shown in figure 4. CE
BN MN SN Z SP MP BP
E
BN VH VH MH MH H H L
MN VH VH MH MH H L L
SN MH MH MH H L ML VL
Z MH H H L ML VL VL
SP H H L MH ML VL VL
Fig. 4: Adaptive Fuzzy Logic Control System MP L L ML VL VL VL VVL
BP L ML ML VL VL VVL VVL
The system involves two type of controller namely:
conventional PID controller and fuzzy controller[8][9]. The Table 2. Fuzzy rules for
fuzzy controller which will tune the parameters of the PID
controller where the control output of the PID controller in CE
BN MN SN Z SP MP BP
time domain is E
BN VVL VVL VL VL ML L L
( )
( ) ( ) ∫ ( ) (29) MN VVL VL VL ML ML L L
SN VVL VL VL ML L H H
Where is proportional gain, is integral gain and is Z VL VL ML L H H MH
derivative gain. Now tuning the parameters of the PID SP ML L H H MH VH VH
controller a fuzzy inference system is to be designed where
MP L L H H MH VH VH
error ( ) and change in error ( ) are the inputs of fuzzy
controller and corresponding outputs are . BP L L H MH MH VH VH

A. Fuzzy Controller Table 3. Fuzzy rules for

For designing the fuzzy controller there are several steps as CE

BN MN SN Z SP MP BP
follows- E
BN H H L H L MH VH
a) Linguistic variable— There are two inputs and three MN ML ML ML L L H H
outputs and 7 classes are chosen for both the input and
SN VL VL ML ML H H MH
output variables namely- big negative (BN), medium
negative (MN), small negative (SN), zero (Z), small Z VVL VL VL VL L MH MH
positive (SP), medium positive (MP), big positive SP VL VL ML ML ML H H
(BP),very very low (VVL), very low (VL), medium low MP VVL ML ML VL L MH H
(ML), low (L), high (H), medium high (MH), very high BP MH L ML L L VH MH

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2015 International Conference on Smart Technologies and Management for Computing, Communication, Controls, Energy and Materials

The output parameters of fuzzy controller has to be

renormalized[11] before feeding to the conventional PID
controller for high inference efficiency using following
equations

( ) (30)

( ) (31)

( ) (32) Fig. 6. Simulated Step Response of Angle for a Step Torque to

the Platform
The minimum and maximum value of , and are
taken as [1 5], [0.1 1.5] and [0.001 0.1].

B. Control Simulation of Overall System

In this part, by using the Matlab simulink the proposed
control system is implemented and shown in fig 5. In this
simulink model only pitch angle of the platform is
controlled. According to the dynamic gimbal equations of
the platform rotation, the applied torque T is given to the
system by using the equ.(27). The gyroscope sensor will Fig. 7. Simulated Step Response of Angular Rates for a Step
sense the output that is angular speed and corresponding Torque to the Platform
error signal will be generated based on given reference
input. According to the error and change in error fuzzy The platform deviates from its pointing reference due to
controller will tune the parameters of the PID controller. applied torque disturbances. Gimbal 3 experiences angular
Comparison between self-tuning fuzzy PID controller and rate of up to 0.6 rad/s and gimbal 1 and 2 experience
conventional PID controller are presented and shown that angular rates of up to 0.2 rad/s due to torque disturbances.
how new self-tuning fuzzy PID controller will be effective So the controller should be designed to compensate for
to improve stability of the system. these disturbances.

B. Platform Stabilization using Fuzzy-PID Controller

and Conventional PID Controller
In the simulation model shown in fig.5 the reference input
angular velocity is taken as 50deg/sec. As in this paper only
study of pitch gimbal axis so the movement of the base is
considered only on j axis and that base movement is given
as 60deg/sec and 2deg/sec. The simulation result of simple
tuned PID controller and self-tuned fuzzy PID controller are
shown in fig 8 and fig 9,10 respectively.
Fig. 5. Simulink Model of Self-Tuning Fuzzy PID Control
System

V. SIMULATION RESULTS & DISCUSSION

A. Platform Orientation Characteristics

The simulation model of dynamic gimbal equation of
motion to stabilize the platform is show in fig.3. The
simulation result shows the orientation of the platform in
terms of gimbal angles and angular rates. The variation of
gimbal angles and angular rates due to step torque are
Fig. 8. Simulated Response of Pitch Angular Speed with Tuned
shown in fig.6 and fig.7 respectively. PID Controller

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 Model Development and Adaptive Control Implementation of a 3-Axis Platform Stabilization System
Fig. 9. Simulated Response of Pitch Angular Speed Self-Tuned
Fuzzy PID Controller for the Base Movement of 60deg/Sec
Fig. 10. Simulated Response of Pitch Angular Speed with Self-
Tuned Fuzzy PID Controller for the Base Movement of
2deg/Sec
VI. CONCLUSION
The mathematical model of the 3-axis platform shows the
characteristics of the platform orientation and provided
dynamic equation of gimbals so that the controller can be
designed accordingly. The presence of nonlinear conditions
in the system, the performance of the conventional or tuned
PID controller is not well as expected. It can be seen that
when nonlinear disturbance occurs due to base movement,
then the PID controller makes the system less stable while
the fuzzy tuned PID controller shows better response. So by
the use of adaptive fuzzy control method, rise time
decreases, settling time increases, maximum peak overshoot
and steady state error both becomes zero and the system is
more stable than a conventional PID controller. Therefore,
to stabilize the platform instead of using a conventional PID
controller the fuzzy based PID controller will be preferable.
In this paper the 3-axis platform stabilization system
531
modeling has done and use of this model best suited
controller is designed to stabilize the platform.
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