Control of a Magnetic Levitation System Using Modified Super Twisting Sliding Mode Control under Inductance and Resistance Uncertainties

Alfian Ma'arif; Oyas Wahyunggoro; Adha Imam Cahyadi

doi:10.48084/etasr.16773

Authors

Alfian Ma'arif Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia | Department of Electrical Engineering, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Oyas Wahyunggoro Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Adha Imam Cahyadi Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Volume: 16 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 36037-36044 | June 2026 | https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.16773

Received: 7 December 2025 | Revised: 1 February 2026 and 9 April 2026 | Accepted: 9 April 2026 | Online: 6 June 2026
Corresponding author: Oyas Wahyunggoro

Abstract

This paper examines the position regulation of a nonlinear Magnetic Levitation System (MLS) in the presence of coil resistance and inductance uncertainties due to temperature-dependent variations. First, a nonlinear MLS model is formulated and rewritten via a nonlinear coordinate transformation into an equivalent canonical form to facilitate controller synthesis. Then, a Modified Super-Twisting Sliding Mode Control (MSTSMC) scheme is developed by combining an equivalent control component with a continuous higher-order sliding switching law to achieve robust tracking with reduced chattering. All results reported in this study are obtained from MATLAB/Simulink simulations. Under nominal conditions, the proposed MSTSMC achieves fast transient performance (a rise time of 0.0665 s, a settling time of 0.115 s, and an overshoot of 0.1761%) with negligible steady-state error. Robustness is further assessed by varying the resistance and inductance within specified uncertainty ranges. In these conditions, the MSTSMC maintains stable tracking with bounded error. Compared with Conventional Sliding Mode Control (CSMC), MSTSMC provides improved quantitative tracking performance, as reflected by lower error indices- Integral of Absolute Error (IAE), Integral of Squared Error (ISE), Integral of Time-weighted Absolute Error (ITAE), and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)- and yields smoother control actions with reduced chattering. This is confirmed through control-effort and chattering-related measures (RMS control and energy-like measures). These results suggest that the MSTSMC is a practical and effective approach for MLS regulation under electrical parameter uncertainty.

Keywords:

Magnetic Levitation System (MLS), sliding mode control, nonlinear control, super twisting, uncertainty

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