Pole placement control of a ball and beam system a graphical user interface (GUI) approach

The ball and beam (B&B) system is widely used as a laboratory equipment to study control systems engineering since it represents one of the most easy to understand and important system. In this work, a step by step Lagrangian model for the B&B system has been obtained. Afterward, a pole placement controller has been designed for trajectory tracking and disturbance rejection purpose. The derived model and the controller has been demonstrated in Simulink environment. The paper also investigates the controller robustness in the existence of sensor noise and external disturbances. For the purpose of better understanding of the relationship between the set of placed poles, the system response plot and the physical system behavior, a visualized model for the B&B system has been built using Matlab graphical user interface (GUI) platform. The GUI platform present a helpful tool in understanding the ball and beam system mechanical behavior with different placed poles' positions. It will also minify the need for an actual B&B laboratory experimental set.