An Autotuning Method for a Fractional Order PD Controller for Vibration Suppression

Fractional order controllers are receiving an ever-increasing interest from the research community due to their advantages. However, most of the tuning procedures for fractional order controllers assume a fully known mathematical model of the process. In this paper, an autotuning method for the design of a fractional order PD controller is presented and applied to the vibration suppression in airplane wings. To validate the designed controller, an experimental unit consisting of a smart beam that simulates the behaviour of an airplane wing is used. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the designed controller in suppressing unwanted vibrations.