Nonlinear Robust Control by a Modulating-Function-Based Backstepping Super-Twisting Controller for a Quadruple Tank System

In this paper, a robust nonlinear approach for control of liquid levels in a quadruple tank system (QTS) is developed based on the design of an integrator backstepping super-twisting controller, which implements a multivariable sliding surface, where the error trajectories converge to the origin at any operating point of the system. Since the backstepping algorithm is dependent on the derivatives of the state variables, and it is sensitive to measurement noise, integral transformations of the backstepping virtual controls are performed via the modulating functions technique, rendering the algorithm derivative-free and immune to noise. The simulations based on the dynamics of the QTS located at the Advanced Control Systems Laboratory of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (PUCP) showed a good performance of the designed controller and therefore the robustness of the proposed approach.