Methodology to assess quality of estimated disturbances in active disturbance rejection control structure for mechanical system

A methodology to assess the quality of estimation of disturbances in mechanical systems, by state observers, in the control structure with active compensation of disturbances (ADRC) is presented. Evaluation is carried out by four performance indices that depend on the steady-state error between reference signals and output of the plant. These indices are related with the accuracy and precision of the closed loop system in the sense of norms L2 and L∞, for a set of reference signals representing the typical operating conditions of the mechanism. The effectiveness of the methodology is illustrated with the quality assessment of the estimated disturbance of five state observers to control of a simple pendulum and validated on a SCARA robot arm.