IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO.

1, FEBRUARY 2007

671

Sliding Mode Neuro-Adaptive Control of

Electric Drives
Andon Venelinov Topalov, Member, IEEE, Giuseppe Leonardo Cascella, Member, IEEE, Vincenzo Giordano,
Francesco Cupertino, and Okyay Kaynak, Fellow, IEEE

AbstractAn innovative variable-structure-systems-based approach for online training of neural network (NN) controllers as
applied to the speed control of electric drives is presented. The
proposed learning algorithm establishes an inner sliding motion
in terms of the controller parameters, leading the command error
towards zero. The outer sliding motion concerns the controlled
electric drive, the state tracking error vector of which is simultaneously forced towards the origin of the phase space. The equivalence
between the two sliding motions is demonstrated. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed control scheme and its
practical feasibility in industrial settings, experimental tests have
been carried out with electric motor drives. Crucial problems such
as adaptability, computational costs, and robustness are discussed.
Experimental results illustrate that the proposed NN-based speed
controller possesses a remarkable learning capability to control
electric drives, virtually without requiring a priori knowledge of
the plant dynamics and laborious startup procedures.
Index TermsAdaptive control, electric drives, neural networks
(NNs), variable structure systems.

I. INTRODUCTION
HE POSSIBILITY of achieving high-performance goals
when controlling dynamic systems is usually directly related to the degree of the model accuracy that can be achieved.
In those applications where the knowledge of the system to
be controlled is fragmentary or obtainable only in a costly
way through complex offline experiments, artificial neural
networks (NNs) can be an effective instrument to learn from
inputoutput data and efficiently catch information about the
most appropriate control action to apply [1]. However, the
application of NNs in feedback control systems requires the
study of their properties such as stability and robustness to
environmental disturbances and structural uncertainties before
drawing conclusions about the performances of the overall

Manuscript received July 9, 2004. Abstract published on the Internet

November 30, 2006. The work of A. V. Topalov was supported in part by
the Bogazici University Research Fund Project 03A202 and in part by the
TUBITAK Project 100E042. The work of O. Kaynak was supported by
the Ministry of Education and Science of Bulgaria Research Fund Project
BY-TH-108/2005.
A. V. Topalov is with the Control Systems Department, Technical University
of Sofia, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria (e-mail: topalov@tu-plovdiv.bg).
G. L. Cascella, V. Giordano, and F. Cupertino are with the Dipartimento
di Elettrotecnica ed Elettronica, Politecnico di Bari, via Re David 200-70125
Bari, Italy (e-mail: cascella@deemail.poliba.it; cupertino@deemail.poliba.it;
giordano@ deemail.poliba.it).
O. Kaynak is with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Mechatronics Research and Application Center, Bogazici University, Bebek,
34342 Istanbul, Turkey (e-mail: okyay.kaynak@boun.edu.tr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2006.888930

system [2], [3]. Moreover, in neuro-adaptive systems, in order

to compensate for the existing variable and unpredictable disturbances and changes in the plant parameters, robust and fast
online learning of the neural controller is a key issue. It is, therefore, essential to provide a tuning mechanism that guarantees
stability and ensures high speed of convergence and robustness.
Gradient-based learning methods have been frequently used in
NN-based control applications [4][7], but they can very often
lead to suboptimal performances in terms of the convergence
speed, robustness, and computational burden. Furthermore, the
stability of the learning process is not guaranteed.
Recently, variable structure systems (VSSs)-based algorithms have been proposed for online tuning of NNs.
Implementations on several NN and fuzzy inference system
models have appeared in the literature [8][15], showing very
interesting properties and proving to be faster and more robust
than the traditional techniques. One of the first studies on
adaptive learning in simple network architectures known as
adaptive linear elements (ADALINEs) is due to Ramirez et
al. [8], in which the inverse dynamics of a Kapitsa pendulum
is identified by assuming constant bounds for uncertainties.
Yu et al. [9] extend the results of [8] by introducing adaptive
uncertainty bound dynamics and focus on the same example
as the application, the drawback of the strategy being the
existence of noise on the measured variables. In another paper
[10], the existence of a relation between the sliding surface for
the plant to be controlled and the zero learning error level of the
parameters of the ADALINE neurocontroller is discussed and
the control applications of the method considered in [8] and [9]
are studied with constant uncertainty bounds.
Differently from [8][10], the sliding mode algorithms proposed in [11] and [12] are for online training of multilayer NNs.
As is well known, multilayer feedforward networks structures
(MFNNs) are commonly used for online modeling, identification, and adaptive control purposes in case variations in process
dynamics or in disturbance characteristics are present. They
do not have the limited approximation capabilities of the early
proposed Perceptron and ADALINE networks [16]. In the approach presented in [11], separate sliding surfaces are defined
for each network layer, taking into account the learning error
variable and its time derivative. In [12], the ideas developed in
[8] are further extended to allow online learning in MFNNs,
with one sliding surface being defined using only the learning
error, which makes it computationally simpler and suitable for
real-time applications. The online learning capabilities of these
algorithms in applications demanding adaptation to constantly
changing environmental parameters, such as adaptive real-time
control, are investigated in [13][15].

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Although the results presented in [12] are quite encouraging,

they have been obtained through simulation analysis only.
The main goal of this work is to prove experimentally the
effectiveness of the proposed approach for online training
of MFNN-based controllers in nonlinear feedback control
systems. The initial results obtained in [10], on the relation
between the sliding surface for the plant to be controlled and the
zero learning error level of an ADALINE neurocontroller, have
been also extended and proved to be valid for the MFNN-based
controller case.
The control application studied is the speed control of a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). In industrial applications, PMSM drives are widely used, due to their inherent
features such as versatility, ruggedness, and precision. However, in some applications, when uncertainties and disturbances
are appreciable, traditional control techniques are not able to
guarantee optimal performances or can require a considerably
time-consuming and plant-dependent design stage. This has recently motivated a considerable amount of research in the field
of NNs-based control of electric drives, in order to exploit the
property of NNs to learn complex nonlinear mappings [4][6],
[17], [18]. In industrial settings, the most widely used controller
is still the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) one and the
spread of neural controllers for electric drives is contingent on
the satisfaction of some critical requirements. Apart from guaranteeing good performance in a wide range of operating conditions, the computational burden presented by the neural controller should be low enough to allow its implementation on
low-cost microcontrollers. Furthermore, even in the presence of
a fragmentary knowledge of the plant parameters, the startup
procedure (choice of the learning rate, number of the neurons
and the network layers, inputs and outputs, as well as the desired NN output) should be fast, straightforward, and as general
as possible, i.e., applicable for different motors and drives, and
thus reducing the necessary installation time, with remarkable
and captivating cost savings.
Starting from these considerations, the experimental part of
this work is carried out aiming at three main objectives. First, it
investigates the feasibility of the proposed VSS-based learning
algorithm in control problems, verifying its potentialities from
a practical point of view, in terms of robustness and stability.
Second, the design of the MFNNs-based controller is conducted
to reach an optimal tradeoff between performance and complexity, since a simple control architecture would result in lowcost microcontroller implementations and in a faster and easier
design stage for industrial practitioners. Finally, it is studied
whether the same controller, despite its simplicity, is able to
guarantee good performances in different operational conditions
by automatically adapting its parameters.
The main body of this paper contains five sections. Section II
gives the definitions and the formulation of the problem in the
framework of the applied VSS-based learning algorithm and
the proposed neuro-adaptive control scheme. Section III introduces the equivalency constraints on the sliding control performance for the plant and sliding mode learning performance for
the controller. Section IV presents the experimental application
of the proposed speed control scheme to PMSM drives. Finally,
Section V summarizes the results of this investigation and discusses further improvements.

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the sliding mode neuro-adaptive control system.

II. BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AND PROBLEM FORMULATION

Consider a MFNN-based controller
where the vector of the time-varying input signals
states for the nonis augmented by the bias term. Let
linear, differentiable, activation function of the neurons in the
hidden layer and its time derivative is considered bounded.
denotes the vector of the
output signals from the neurons in the hidden layer and
is the vector representing the time-varying output
signals of the neurons in the hidden layer before applying the
activation functions (the vector of the net input signals). The
neuron in the output layer is considered with a linear activation
is the scalar signal of the controller output.
function and
The matrix of the connections weights for the neurons
, where each
in the hidden layer is denoted by
means the weight of the connection of the
element
neuron from its input .
is the vector of connections weights between the neurons
in the hidden layer and the output node. Both
and
are considered augmented by including bias
weight components.
of the th neuron from the hidden layer
The output signal
can be defined as
and the output signal of the controller
(1)

(2)
The MFNN-based controller is assumed to operate within an
adaptive control scheme, the general structure of which is presented in Fig. 1, [10]. It has to be noted that although, for simplicity, the controller in Fig. 1 is depicted as having two inputs only, depending on the design strategy implemented, it may
have more inputs.
A VSS-based learning algorithm is applied to the controller.
for the system under control and the
The sliding surface
for the MFNN-based
zero adaptive learning error level
and
controller are defined as
, respectively, with being a constant determining the
slope of the sliding surface. The desired control input, which is
generally unknown, is denoted with . The sliding manifold
for the system to be controlled is adopted as a first-order mode
based on the assumption that the dynamics of the system under
control (the electric drive) can be modeled using second-order
differential equation [20], [21].

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TOPALOV et al.: SLIDING MODE NEURO-ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF ELECTRIC DRIVES

The input vector of the MFNN-based controller and its time

and
derivative are assumed to be bounded, i.e.,
with
and
being known positive constants. Due to the physical constraints, it is also assumed that
constituting the matrix
the magnitude of all vectors row
and the elements of the vector
are bounded, i.e.,
and
for some known
constants
and
, where
. The desired
and its time derivative
are considered
control input
also as bounded signals, i.e.,
,
,
where
and
are positive constants.
Definition 2.1: A sliding motion is said to exist on a sliding
, after a hitting time
if the condition
surface
is satisfied for all in some nontrivial semi-open
subinterval of time of the form
.
Theorem 2.1: If the adaptation law for the controller paramand
is chosen, respectively, as
eters

673

(5)
,
, is the derivative of the neurons activation function
, and
corresponds to its maximum value.
The inequality (5) means that the controlled trajectories of the
converge to zero in a stable manner. It
learning error level
will now be shown that such a convergence takes place in finite
time. Let us consider the differential equation that is satisfied
which is as
by the controlled learning error trajectories
follows:
where

(3)
with

being sufficiently large positive constant satisfying

then, given an arbitrary initial condition
, the learning error
converges to zero in
a finite-time estimated by
(6)

(4)
for all
.
and a sliding motion is sustained on
Proof 2.1: Consider
as a Lyapunov function
candidate. Then, differentiating
yields

For any
condition

, the solution
at
satisfies

of this equation, with initial

(7)
At time

, the solution takes zero value, and therefore

(8)
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By multiplying both sides of the equation with

,
the estimate of in (4) can be obtained using the inequality (9)

III. RELATION BETWEEN THE SLIDING MODE CONTROL

OF THE PLANT AND SLIDING MODE LEARNING
OF THE NEURAL CONTROLLER
and the
The differential relation between the sliding line
zero adaptive learning error level
may be specified by the
following general equation:

(11)

(9)

Obviously, for all times

sliding mode controller gain

, taking into account the chosen

in (3), it follows from (5) that:

The values of the integers and characterizing the relation

are difficult to obtain if the system dynamics is unknown. If asthen, qualitatively, this means that if
sumed that
the value of tends to zero, goes to zero too. On the physical level, the controlled system will achieve perfect tracking
because the controller produces the desired control inputs or
vice versa. It will also be true that if the learning error vector
is getting away from the origin, that is begins to increase in
magnitude, the corresponding divergent behavior in will take
place or vice versa.
Let us then analyze the following three conditions that the
function must satisfy [10].
1) Region Condition: The desired control input must drive
the state tracking error of the controlled plant to the sliding manifold. This means that as the control input approaches its desired
value for the current conditions, the plant state tracking error
vector is driven toward the sliding manifold
(12)

(10)

for
.
and a sliding motion exists on
As it has been already mentioned, the desired control input
is generally unavailable and this consists the main
signal
problem in applying directly the presented learning algorithm to
the MFNN-based controller. If the command error is not available, cannot be constructed. To overcome this difficulty several different approaches can be implemented.
1) A forward NN plant predictive model may be used, as in
[13] and [14], to calculate the predicted command error
named as the virtual error of the control input .
2) The well-known feedback-error-learning approach
which is based on the parallel work of a neural, plus a
secondary proportional plus derivative (PD) controller
offers another possibility which has been investigated in
[15]. The PD controller is provided both as an ordinary
feedback controller to guarantee global asymptotic stability in compact space and as an inverse reference model
of the response of the system under control.
3) Different approach, which is characterized with a decrease
of the computational burden and is based on an existing
relation between the and , has been initially proposed
in [10] for training of ADALINE neural controllers.
The third approach is further extended and applied to the
sliding mode learning of the MFNN-based controller in this investigation.

The two equivalent limits and their consequences can be

rewritten as follows:
(13)
(14)
From the above statements it follows that
following condition:

must satisfy the

(15)
After analyzing the signs of
and on the different sides
of
line, it follows also that the relation must satisfy
the requirement
(16)
2) Compatibility Condition: The tracking performance of the
feedback control system can be analyzed by introducing the following Lyapunov function candidate:
(17)
has
It is to be noted that a similar Lyapunov function
been introduced for the controller performance evaluation. Evidently, only the choice of a relation leading to a simultaneous minimization of both Lyapunov functions introduced can

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TOPALOV et al.: SLIDING MODE NEURO-ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF ELECTRIC DRIVES

be considered suitable since, otherwise at least one of the design

objectives will be violated.
3) Invertibility Condition: Let us consider a family of lines
for
drawn in accordance with the equation
different . Obviously, the tracking error vector will fall onto
one of these subsets of the phase space at each instant of time.
and , each line
However, based on the relation between
from this family corresponds to a different situation entailing
different values. It may be also concluded that simultaneously
with the increase of the amplitude of , the magnitude of must
also increase, because of the increasing distance to the sliding
line. Consequently, the relation must be invertible, or
for
.
The above three conditions clearly specify that, in order to
achieve simultaneous minimization of the two quadratic funcand , the relation must be such to perform a maptions
ping between their horizontal axes.
Theorem 3.1: If the adaptation strategy for the adjustable
parameters of the MFNN-based controller is selected as in
equation (3), choosing any continuous, monotonically inrelation, satisfying the
creasing function to serve as a
conditions 3.13.3, will ensure the negative definiteness of the
time derivative of the Lyapunov function in (17).
Proof 3.1: Evaluating the time derivative of the Lyapunov
function in (17) yields

675

TABLE I
PMSM NAMEPLATE

In the above, the invertibility condition

is used
to rewrite the argument of the Lyapunov function. The partial
derivative
is positive due to the monotonically
increasing behavior of the relation , and
since is defined on the first and the third quadrants of versus
coordinate system.
Evidently from (18), an equivalence between the sliding
mode control of the plant and the sliding mode adaptive
learning inside the MFNN-based controller will have place.
The obtained result means that, assuming the sliding mode control task is achievable, using the adaptation law of (3) together
with relation, satisfying the conditions 3.13.3 enforces the
desired reaching mode followed by a sliding regime for the
system under control. It is straightforward to prove that the
hitting occurs in finite time (see Proof 2.1).
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

(18)

In this section, results from experimental studies are presented aiming to prove the performance of the MFNN-based
control structure with sliding mode learning as a speed
controller for electric motor drives in the presence of very
demanding nonlinear disturbances.
The experimental setup is made up of a 350 W three-phase
PMSM (whose nameplate data are presented in Table I), a threephase inverter, and a dSpace DS1103 controller board which has
been designed for rapid prototyping of real-time control systems and is fully programmable in Matlab/Simulink environment through real-time workshop (RTW). The speed sensor is
an incremental encoder, while two Hall-effect transducers are
used for current feedback. The speed controller has been implemented with a Simulink block diagram using a sampling time of
0.2 ms. The dSpace code generator compiles the Simulink program and the real-time executable code is then downloaded to
the DSP memory. During motor operation, the DSP receives the
feedback from the encoder and commands the appropriate control action to the inverter. The code of the implemented MFNNbased speed controller takes up a very small part of the DSP
memory and can be, therefore, simply embedded in an industrial
drive without any extra hardware. The design of user friendly
control panels and virtual instruments for online monitoring and
parameter tuning has been realized with Control Desk.

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control replaces the corrective one when the system is inside

this layer. Since when applying the second method a finite
steady-state error would always exist, most of the approaches
use the saturation or the sigmoid function to replace the sign
function. In order to reduce the chattering effect in the sliding
mode, the function in (20) has been used in this investigation
instead of the sign function in the dynamic strategy described
in (3)
(20)

A. Speed Control of a PMSM

Fig. 2. Control architecture for vector control strategy.

In this study, a three-layer feedforward NN with one hidden

layer of hyperbolic tangent neurons and a linear scalar output
layer is employed. The input of the neural controller has been
chosen to be identical to a conventional PD controller. In this
perspective, no biases are used so that the output depends on
the chosen inputs only. In order to show that the existence of
a priori knowledge about the NN configuration is not essential, every experiment has been carried out with all the network
weights initialized to random values. Several tests have been
conducted to choose the parameters of the neural controller, i.e.,
number of neurons in the hidden layer and the design parameter , aiming at reaching the simplest configuration to alleviate
the computational costs and to shorten the design stage. Thanks
to the remarkable speed of learning of the proposed algorithm,
even only one hidden neuron is enough to guarantee good results. The parameter has been chosen with a trial and error
procedure, but there is no need for fine tuning. It is sufficient
to gradually increment it to increase the dynamic response of
the network until rotor speed oscillations start appearing. As a
general rule of thumb, if the feedback error is big, the network
should adapt more quickly so a higher value of is needed,
whereas if oscillations around the set-point arise, the network is
adapting too fast and the value of should be reduced.
is evalBased on the tracking error, first the value of
uated and this quantity is passed through the function to get
the value of , which is used in the dynamic adjustment mechanism. In evaluating the value of the quantity , the slope pahas been set to 40. As the
rameter of the switching line
relation, the following selection is made parallel to the conditions discussed in the third section
(19)
The adopted relation has been previously successfully applied
in [7] and [10].
It is well-known that sliding mode control suffers from
high-frequency oscillations in the control input, which are
called chattering. Chattering is undesired because it may
excite the high-frequency response of the system. The common
methods to eliminate the chattering are usually classified into
two groups [19]: 1) Using a saturation function to replace the
sign function. 2) Inserting a boundary layer so an equivalent

In Fig. 2, the block diagram of a vector controlled PMSM is

shown. The structure of the control scheme is based on the dynamic equations of the motor in the rotor flux reference frame
( ) [20]. The flux and the torque of the motor are separately
and
. For the PMSM, the
controlled by the references
is used to operate
zero-direct-axis-current strategy
up to the rated speed [21]. In this condition, the PMSM behaves
like a DC motor in which the main flux is provided by the perma[20].
nent magnets and the armature current corresponds to
,
The electromagnetic torque produced is given by
is the torque constant. The MFNN-based speed conwhere
and
troller using the speed and acceleration feedbacks
together with their references
and , is in charge to give the
that forces actual speed to the reference one.
reference
set to zero and , are diThe stator current references,
rectly impressed by the action of the built-in control of the inverter that uses as feedbacks the rotor position , and the stator
and .
currents
B. Low- and High-Speed Test
The experimental setup used for all the experiments is shown
in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows the speed and torque response in p.u. to
this test. In order to provide a nonlinear disturbance, a second
controlled PMSM motor is mechanically coupled to the first.
The second PMSM is torque-controlled by a standard PI-based
control system, and the torque-load reference is chosen equal to
(21)
where
is the rotor speed,
and
are the rated speed
is initially set equal to
and torque (Table I), and finally,
1.1. It means that when the motor operates at the rated speed,
the load torque will be 10% more than the rated torque. The idea
is to stress the motor and its controller with a nonlinear varying
load that slightly exceeds the normal working conditions.
s, the speed reference is set to 20% of the rated
At
speed. After a short-time interval equal to 0.015 s, in which
the NN parameters are initially adapted and the static friction is
overcome, the speed starts changing. After the first steady-state,
s, a second speed command is given to reach the
at
rated speed. As the speed response shows (Fig. 4), the overshoots, the transients, and the ripple in steady-state are negligible, proving that the controller ensures high rate of convergence of the rotor speed to the reference speed despite the
changing operating conditions.

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677

Fig. 6. Speed and torque response to the speed-reversal test with k

= 1:1.

Fig. 7. Speed and torque response to the speed-reversal test with k

= 1:6.

Fig. 3. Experimental setup.

Fig. 4. Speed and torque response of the vector-controlled PMSM.

Fig. 5. Phase space behavior.

Fig. 4 also highlights a satisfactory behavior of the motor in

terms of torque response. Both the two speed steps do not cause
large oscillations of the torque. After the smooth peak between
0.15 and 0.22 s (first transient), the torque is close to zero due
to the very low torque-load at low speed (see (21)). The motor
performances are also satisfactory in response to the second step
input, despite a 10% extra load during the steady-state.

In order to analyze into details the behavior of the control

system, Fig. 5 shows the trajectory of the state in the
plane with
during the same experiment
of Fig. 4 together with the sliding line. For sake of clarity, just
the second transient is reported and both error and its derivative
are expressed in per unit. Before the speed step, between 0.65
and 0.75 s, the system is in steady-state and both error and its
derivative are close to zero, and the working point is indicated
with (1) in Fig. 5. Due to the applied step input, the error increases, its derivative has a pulse, and after a sampling period
moves to (2). Then, the acceleration (and
the point
the absolute value of the speed error) increases and reaches its
s (point (3) in Fig. 5). From now on
maximum value in
the state moves towards the sliding line with maximum accelers to
s the state
ation and reaches it in (4). From
moves on the sliding line until the speed reaches the set-point.
Note that the time needed to reach the sliding line is limited by
the maximum acceleration of the drive.
C. Speed Reversal Test
This subsection shows the results given by the proposed control to two reversal speed tests, in order to again evaluate the
neural controller in very demanding conditions.

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The speed and torque responses to the first test are shown in
Fig. 6. While the motor is at the rated speed, after 0.15 s, the
full-speed reversal is commanded, i.e., plus/minus rated speed.
s. It has to be noted
The speed reversal is repeated at
that the reversals are performed with the nonlinear disturbance
. As shown in Fig. 6, the
previously used, (21) with
motor operates the reversal in about 0.3 s with negligible overshoot and ripple; moreover, the motor crosses the zero-speed
condition without being influenced by static friction. Also, this
demanding test does not cause oscillation in the torque response.
In order to further prove the effectiveness of the proposed
solution, the speed reversal test has been repeated with a greater
. It means that
torque load, specifically (21) with
when the motor operates at the rated speed the load torque is
60% more than the rated torque. In spite of this very demanding
nonlinear load, the reversals are well performed, as shown in
Fig. 7.
The authors underline that this work aims at experimentally
validating the theory discussed above. It means that, at the
present stage of our research, a PI-based control system after a
time-consuming calibration can be optimized to outperform our
neural controller, but this supposes that the motor parameters,
as well as the load, are known. On the contrary, the proposed
neural controller does not use any a priori knowledge of the
plant, consequently, it can also be used with different motors
and different operating conditions without any tuning.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper discusses the main characteristics and the potentialities of a MFNN-based controller, perpetually trained online
with an algorithm based on the VSS theory. Its performance has
been evaluated in the speed control of electric drives. The experimental results obtained indicate that the proposed NN-based
controller possess a number of interesting features, namely:
good performances in several operating conditions without
requiring any information about the parameters of the electric drive;
high speed of convergence of the algorithm that does not
need an initial setup stage before being applied to the actual
system;
no need for a priori knowledge of the desired output of the
NN for the adaptation process;
possibility of implementation on low-cost microcontrollers;
no skilled operator required for the tuning and maintenance
stage.
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Andon Venelinov Topalov (M02) received the

M.Sc. degree in control engineering from the Faculty
of Information Systems, Technologies and Automation, Moscow State University of Civil Engineering
(MGGU), Moscow, Russia, in 1979 and the Ph.D.
degree in control engineering from the Department
of Automation and Remote Control, Moscow State
Mining University (MGSU), Moscow, in 1984.
From 1985 to 1986, he was a Research Fellow
in the Research Institute for Electronic Equipment,
ZZU AD, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. In 1986, he joined
the Department of Control Systems, Technical University of Sofia, Plovdiv,
where he is presently an Associate Professor. He has held long-term visiting
Professor/Scholar positions at various institutions in South Korea, Turkey,
Mexico, Greece, Belgium, U.K., and Germany. He has coauthored one book
and authored or coauthored more than 70 research papers in conference
proceedings and journals. His current research interests are in the fields of
intelligent control and robotics.

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TOPALOV et al.: SLIDING MODE NEURO-ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF ELECTRIC DRIVES

Giuseppe Leonardo Cascella (S96M96) was

born in Bari, Italy, in September 1975. He received
the Laurea degree (Honors) and the Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering from the Technical University
of Bari, Bari, Italy, in 2001 and 2005, respectively.
In 2003, he was awarded the Marie Curie Fellowship at the School of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham,
U.K., where he worked for one year on the research
project Self-Commissioning of Electric Drives
with Genetic Algorithms. Currently, he is Research
Assistant with the Converters, Electrical Machines and Drives Research Group,
Technical University of Bari, and his main interests include modeling and
control of electromechanical systems and machine vision.

Vincenzo Giordano was born in Bari, Italy, in 1977.

He received the M.S. degree (Honors) in electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in control engineering
from the Polytechnic of Bari, Bari, in 2001 and 2005,
respectively.
In 2004, he was a Visiting Ph.D. student with the
Automation and Robotics Research Institute, University of Texas, Arlington, under the supervision of
Prof. F. Lewis. In 2005, he was a Visiting Researcher
with the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing
Technology, Singapore. As a Ph.D. student, he was
co-responsible for the organization and startup of the Robotics Laboratory at the
Polytechnic of Bari. He has published more than 20 international journal and
conference papers. His research interests include intelligent control techniques
applied to industrial automation, robotics, and discrete-event systems.

679

Francesco Cupertino was born in Italy in December

1972. He received the Laurea degree and the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering from the Technical
University of Bari, Bari, Italy, in 1997 and 2001,
respectively.
From 1999 to 2000, he was with the PEMC
Research Group, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, U.K. Since July 2002, he has been an
Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical
and Electronic Engineerin, Technical University of
Bari. He teaches several courses in electrical drives
at the Technical University of Bari. He is the author or coauthor of more than
50 scientific papers on these topics. His main research interests cover the
intelligent motion control and fault diagnosis of electrical machines. He is the
author or coauthor of more than 50 scientific papers on these topics.

Okyay Kaynak (SM90-F03) received the B.Sc. degree with (First Class Honors) and the Ph.D. degree
in electronic and electrical engineering from the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, U.K., in 1969
and 1972, respectively.
From 1972 to 1979, he held various positions
within the industry. In 1979, he joined the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, where he is
presently a Full Professor. He has served as the
Chairman of the Computer Engineering and the
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Departments and as the Director of
the Biomedical Engineering Institute, Bogazici University. Currently, he is
the UNESCO Chair on Mechatronics and the Director of the Mechatronics
Research and Application Centre. He has held long-term (near to or more than
a year) Visiting Professor/Scholar positions at various institutions in Japan,
Germany, the U.S., and Singapore. His current research interests are in the
fields of intelligent control and mechatronics. He has authored three books
and edited five and authored or coauthored more than 200 papers that have
appeared in various journals and conference proceedings.
Dr. Kaynak has served as the President of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (20022003) and as an Associate Editor of both the IEEE TRANSACTIONS
ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS and the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL
NETWORKS. He is now the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS. Additionally, he is on the Editorial or Advisory
Boards of a number of scholarly journals.

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