Data Driven Sliding Mode Control: A Model-Free
approach
Hanna Aboukheir
Colegio de Ciencias e Ingenierı́as
Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ
Campus Cumbayá, Quito 170901, Ecuador
Hanna2k2@gmail.com
Abstract—Sliding mode control (SMC) is a robust control
strategy that is effective against disturbances, delays and model
uncertainties; but similar to other control strategies, SMC is
a model-based control method, and the complexity of certain
industrial processes makes model estimation a highly difficult
task. Furthermore, the growing interest on Industry 4.0 and the
new requirements for control loops raise some questions about the
future role of this controller in the industrial field. In this work
a design methodology for sliding mode control based on data-
driven control concepts is presented. Beginning with an extended-
state Kalman filter for unknown output estimation, with this
information the discrete-time reachability law is derived for the
calculation of the control law. Finally, the proposal is evaluated
in a simulated mixing plant and implemented on the TCLAB
process.
Keywords—Sliding mode control, Kalman Filter, State estima-
tion, model-free, data-driven systems.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Manufacturing industry is the primary engine for worldwide
economy; in USA for example, represents 75% of the private
sector and is responsible for 32% of the total electric con-
sumption [1].This issue has led to a change of paradigm in
how a control system should be designed.
For instance, consider Fig. 1 a typical multi-domain con-
trol system, which could be found in many process control
applications
Fig. 1. A multi-domain control system
Where C could be a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC),
a SCADA, etc. Different types of signals are considered:
(Blue) continuous, (Red) Discrete, (Green) Discontinuous, and
(Black) Control Network.
This work was supported by Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ
(Ecuador), through the Decanato de Investigación
979-8-3503-3823-2/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE
In previous years, controller C just had to provide setpoint
tracking, loop stability and disturbance rejection; however,
changes in global markets has introduced new requirements
as described by [2] which are: Individualization of demand,
volatility of the market and resource efficiency.
Previous requirements involves an increase of productivity,
reliability, and quality while minimizing energy consumption
and waste of raw materials [1], but all of this has arrived
together with the development of sensor technology and infor-
mation sciences allowing to produce and process large amount
of data generated from the industrial environment, these issues
has motivated the development of data-driven control theory
as an urgent topic for theory and applications [3]. Data-driven
control synthesizes a controller using merely online input and
output data of the control system without explicitly using its
mathematical model [3].
In the other hand, sliding mode control is a widely studied
control strategy with many of the reaching laws derived in
continuous time, citing [4] as an example; but more recently,
the study of discrete sliding mode controllers allows the
establishment of new reaching laws in discrete time [5], that
does not require a switching element as presented in [6],
this approach is considered for the proposed strategy which
combines the concepts of Data-Driven control and SMC.
The Data-Driven Sliding Mode Control presented on this
work follows the precepts established by [7], [8]. The proposed
approach takes some ideas from Active Disturbance Rejection
Control (ADRC) introduced in [9], Model-Free control pre-
sented by [3], [10]–[12] mixed with Sliding Mode Control
as given by [4], [5], [13], [14]. Furthermore, it transforms
the Extended State Observer in discrete time presented by
[15] into the Extended State Kalman Filter (ESKF) using [16]
as a starting point, providing the necessary information for
the control law calculation without an explicit model of the
process.
The paper is structured as follows: First, the Extended State
Kalman Filter is presented in Section II; the Data-Driven
Sliding Mode Controller design is described in Section III,
Section IV illustrates the application in two different nonlinear
temperature control processes, one through simulation and the
other implemented on TCLAB; finally, conclusions are shown.
 II. T HE E XTENDED S TATE KALMAN F ILTER Where Φ, Γ and C are the parameters of the linear state-
Consider a nonlinear plant described by the following space model with (Φ, C) observable and (Φ, Γ) controllable,
differential equation: the parameter 0 < b0 ≤ 1 is selected by the designer in order
to minimize the prediction error [9] . Using (7) as a starting
ẋ(t) = f [x(t), u(t)] with x(t0 ) = x0 (1) point, the one-step-ahead predictor presented in [18] is:
The system presented in (1) is unknown but is assumed to have x̃(kT + 1) = Φx̃(kT ) + Γu(kT ) + KE e(kT )
a BIBO (Bounded Input Bounded Output) performance, this (11)
ỹ(kT ) = C x̃(kT )
means that, although a model of the process is not available
both input and output signals are bounded. For this reason, Where ỹ(kT ) and x̃(kT ) are the estimated output and the
an Extended State Kalman Filter is introduced using [15] as estimated states respectively and KE is the gain of the Kalman
starting point, this filter is used to estimate the unknown states Filter obtained using the Ricatti Equation [18] and [19], the
of the process; this idea requires that a second-order transfer resulting solution of the Ricatti equations allows to obtain KE
function with unknown parameters a1 and a0 be considered which is calculated as follows:
following [9]:
−1 ∗T
b0 u(s) KE = R + C ∗T P C ∗ C P Φ∗ (12)
y(s) = 2 (2)
s + a1 s + a0 With (.)∗ denoting the conjugate transpose; with this in mind,
rewriting (2) in differential equations: the measured data is used to estimate and predict the instanta-
neous data required for the SMC for the control calculations,
ÿ = −a0 y − a1 ẏ + b0 u (3) as presented in the following section.
Following [9] and using phase plane transformation [17] to III. DATA - DRIVEN SLIDING MODE CONTROL SYNTHESIS
transform (3) into a state-space description as follows:
Consider the following sliding surface based in the one
x1 = y ẋ1 = ẏ = x2 presented in [7] in discrete time:
x2 = ẏ → ẋ2 = ÿ = w(t) + b0 u (4)
S(kT ) = λe(kT ) − e(kT − 1) (13)
x3 = w(t) ẋ3 = 0
With λ a design parameter and e(kT ) the error signal between
With w(t) = −a0 y − a1 ẏ ≈ 1, this is assumed according
setpoint r(kT ) and the estimated output ỹ(kT ) obtained from
to [15] because is unknown and is estimated by the Kalman
the estimation provided by the ESKF in (11) .
Filter; with this in mind, the continuous-time state-space
According to [5] Utkin’s reaching law is selected for the
representation is obtained:
    design of the controller, this means that:
0 1 0 0
ẋ = 0 0 1 x + b0  u (5) S(kT + 1) = 0 (14)
0 0 0 0 Displacing in time (13) it is possible to obtain S(kT + 1):
 
y= 1 0 0 q S(kT + 1) = λe(kT + 1) − e(kT ) (15)
The expressión (5) could be rewritten as: replacing e(kT ) = r(kT ) − ỹ(kT ) in (15) it is possible to
ẋ = Ax + Bu (6) obtain:

y = Cx S(kT +1) = λ[r(kT +1)− ỹ(kT +1)]−[r(kT )− ỹ(kT )] (16)

Now, using [15], [16] [18] and [19], the equivalent discrete- According to [20] r(kT + 1) = r(kT ). Following the idea
time state-space representation using a zero order hold (ZOH) presented in [11] the estimated output ỹ(kT + 1) is calculated
with sampling period T is: by using the ultra model proposed for this work in discrete
time following [3]:
x(kT + 1) = Φx(kT ) + Γu(kT )
(7) ỹ(kT + 1) = F + w∆u(kT ) (17)
y(kT ) = Cx(kT )
with: With w a tuning parameter selected by the designer, the pa-
T 0.5T 2
 
1 rameter F = ỹ(kT ) is obtained from the estimation provided
Φ = eAT = 0
1 T  (8) by the ESKF in (11) and ∆u(kT ) = u(kT ) − u(kT − 1) [21],
0
0 1 introducing (17) in (16):
0.5T 2
 
Z T 0 = λ[r(kT ) − ỹ(kT ) − w∆u(kT )] − [r(kT ) − ỹ(kT )] (18)
Γ= eAt dtB =  T  b0 (9)
0 0 with some mathematical manipulation, the expression (18)
  becomes
C= 1 0 0 (10) wλ∆u(kT ) = (λ − 1)e(kT ) (19)
 λw
Applying Z transform in (19) it is possible to obtain: But e(z) = (λ−1) ∆u(z) if (19) is used, resulting in:
(z − 1) 2
wλ u(z) = (λ − 1)e(z) (20) λ2 wz

λw
z − ∆u(z) − ∆u(z) < 0 (29)
(λ − 1) (λ − 1)
clearing for u(z):
(λ − 1)z Finally:
u(z) = e(z) (21) w(λ2 z − λ) > 0 (30)
wλ(z − 1)
It is possible to rearrange (21) as follows to obtain the total To fulfill part (c) in Definition 1, and therefore proves
control law of the Data-Driven Sliding Mode Control as: stability of the reaching law, λ > 1 and w > 0, this implies
z that α > 0.
u(z) = α e(z) (22) With all this in mind, it is necessary to select the value
(z − 1)
of λ close to 1, this is done to guarantee that S(kT ) → 0
(λ−1)
where α = wλ > 0. in (13) when k0 T → kf T , the parameter w is a different
story, this parameter is selected to guarantee loop stability
A. Stability Analysis
and setpoint tracking, but is not limited to this, the designer
To select the parameters that guarantee that the reaching law could include constraints to minimize energy consumption or
will provide loop stability, disturbance rejection and setpoint individualization of the controller for individualization of the
tracking consider [22] and [18] for a given equilibrium point demand according the needs of the process, this is the source
(x0 , y0 ): of future research using the proposed method with Unfalsified
Definition 1: Be V (kT ) a real scalar Lyapunov function and Control Theory [23].
Ξ a closed function bounded into region Rn contained in the The proposed control architecture is presented in Fig. 2:
origin, then a function is considered stable in the Lyapunov
sense if:
a) V (kT ) is a continuous function
b) V (kT ) is positive definite
c) ∆V (kT +1) = S(kT +1)2 −S(kT )2 is negative definite
Using Definition 1 as starting point, consider the following
Lyapunov candidate function:
V (kT ) = S(kT )2 (23)
S(kT ) is a scalar function defined by (13), applying Z
transform in (13) and (23) it is possible to obtain:
Fig. 2. Data Driven SMC control architecture
 2
(λz − 1)
V (z) = >0 (24)
z IV. A PPLICATIONS
To fulfill part (b) in Definition 1; and using Jury stability
A. First Experiment
criterion [18], λ > 1 .
In order to evaluate part (c) in Definition 1, consider For the first experiment, the process to be analyzed is the
∆V (kT + 1) as: mixing process presented in [13]; a hot water stream F1 (t) is
manipulated to mix with a cold water stream F2 (t) to obtain
∆V (kT + 1) = S(kT + 1)2 − S(kT )2 < 0 (25) an output flow F0 (t) at the desired temperature T0 (t). The
Being S(kT ) and S(kT + 1) as presented in (13) and (15) temperature transmitter is located at a distance L from the
respectively, both are introduced on (25): mixing tank bottom. This highly nonlinear system has the
main characteristic of a variable time delay dependent on
[λe(kT + 1) − e(kT )]2 − [λe(kT ) − e(kT − 1)]2 < 0 (26) the fluctuations of F1 (t) and F2 (t); this process is shown as
follows in Fig. 3.
Remembering that e(kT ) = r(kT ) − ỹ(kT ), and ỹ(kT + 1)
The first step is the design of the ESKF, selecting a sampling
is given by (17) then (26) is rewritten as:
period of T = 0.1seg the following model is obtained using
(7):
[(λ − 1)e(kT ) − λw∆u(kT )]2 − [λe(kT ) − e(kT − 1)]2 < 0    
1 0.1 0.005 0.005
(27)
q(kT + 1) = 0 1 0.1  q(kT ) +  0.1  b0 u(kT )
Applying Z transform in (27) results in:
0 0 1 0
(31)
z 2 [(λ − 1)e(z) − λw∆u(z)]2 − [λze(z) − e(z)]2 < 0 (28) y(kT ) = [1 0 0]q(kT )
 obtaining the following results shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7,
the model used for tuning the PID is obtained in [13].

Fig. 5. Disturbance signal Cold water flow F2 (t)

Fig. 3. Mixing Tank with parameters variations of Gain, time constant and
time delay [13]

Selecting b0 = 1 The gain of the Kalman Filter using (12)

is obtained by solving the Ricatti Equation and is:
 
0.7848
KE = 1.1018 (32)
0.5680
Fig. 4 presents the comparison with noise between the
output of the real process and the estimated output provided
by the ESKF:
Fig. 6. Closed loop response of the mixing tank with PID controller

Fig. 4. Output Comparison with noise (dotted red) Open Loop mixing tank
(green) ESKF
Where is possible to note that the ESKF estimate the output
of the system with great precision even when no explicit model
of the process is available for its design.
With the ESKF designed the next step is the design of the
controller; using (22), the value of λ = 1.01 is selected to
guarantee that S(kt) → 0 for a given k0 T → kf T the value
of w = 12.3762 is selected to reach setpoint tracking and
disturbance rejection.
The closed loop system should keep the variable %T0 =
40.46, against fluctuations of cold water F2 (t) which is shown
in Fig. 5. The proposed controller is compared for the same
requirements with a PID tuned with Dahlin’s method [24]
Fig. 7. Closed loop response of the mixing tank with Data-Driven SMC
From Fig. 6 it is possible to note that the PID controller
cannot reject the large disturbance introduced into the system,
causing that the closed loop is unable to reach the desired
trajectory; on the other hand, the DDSMC with no explicit
model of the process rejects the large disturbance in the
presence of noise guaranteeing setpoint tracking as presented
in Fig. 7, showing the effectiveness of the proposal in a
simulated process, in the following example the controller is
implemented on a real system.
B. Second Experiment
For the second experiment, the selected process is the
temperature control lab (TCLAB) from APMONITOR, this
process is connected with Matlab/Simulink where the pro-
posed controller is installed, Fig. 8 shows the connection used
for this test.

Fig. 10. Total Error Signal

As seen in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, the Extended State Kalman

Fig. 8. Temperature control lab connected with simulink
Filter estimates the output of the system with great accuracy,
With the dynamic of the plant unknown a sampling period taking into account that no explicit model of the process is
of T = 1seg. is selected, and using equation (7), the following available for these calculations.
model for the Extended State Kalman Filter is obtained: The next step is the controller design; according to Defini-

1 1 0.5
  
0.5 tion 1, the values selected were: λ = 1.01 and w = 2.8289
q(kT + 1) = 0 1 1  q(kT ) +  1  b0 u(kT ) (33) which implies that α = 0.0035. The closed-loop response of
0 0 1 0 the system and the total control signal are presented in Fig.
11 and Fig. 12 :
y(kT ) = [1 0 0]q(kT )
Selecting b0 = 1 The gain of the Kalman Filter is obtained by
solving the Ricatti Equation and is:
 
1.8595
KE = 1.1013 (34)
0.3017
Fig. 9 presents the comparison between the output of the
real process and the estimated output provided by the ESKF,
for an input signal u(kT ) = 25 and later changed to u(kt) =
45 at time t = 400seg:

Fig. 11. Temperature control system (blue) Output of the controlled system
(dotted red) Setpoint

It is possible to note from Fig. 11 that the controller effec-

Fig. 9. Output comparison (red) Temperature control system (blue) ESKF
The total error signal between the measured signal and the
output of the Extended State Kalman Filter is presented in Fig.
10.
tively rejects the disturbance and provides setpoint tracking,
with no further information than the information provided
by the ESKF, and no explicit model of the process for the
control design, the control signal presented in Fig. 12 does not
present noise, this is because the DDSMC minimize the noise
of the real process, proving the effectiveness of the proposed
controller over this real system.
V. C ONCLUSIONS
In this work, a Data-Driven Sliding Mode Control is pre-
sented. First, an Extended State Kalman Filter (ESKF) is built
to estimate the outputs of the unknown process. The results
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