On the Design of Digital Tracking Controllers

This paper describes my work on the design of digital tracking controllers over the past two decades. In tracking control, the control object must be moved along a time varying desired output and the transient path error must be minimized. Tracking control is discussed for the following two typical situations: one is the situation where the desired output is known in advance and the other is where the desired output itself is not known but has a certain known property, e.g., it is periodic with a known period. Control algorithms for dealing with these situations will be reviewed and applications to mechanical systems are discussed.