Safe Reference Following on the Inverted Pendulum

This work discusses methods to obtain reference following on unstable systems. The task is critical; introduction of refernce signal might cause instability in some cases. It is thus interesting to develop strategies that offer acceptable reference following, but also guarantees stability. In practice similiar problems arises in flight control systems for unstable fighter aircrafts. Experimental verifications of the discussed strategies have been carried out on a Furuta pendulum, i.e. an inverted pendulum. The system is ustable and thus well suited for the task. A few different strategies for achieving have been examined and experimentally evaluated.