Attitude control of inverted pendulums using reaction wheels: Comparison between using one and two actuators

The attitude control using reaction wheels as actuators has been one of the most popular ways to stabilize and repel external disturbances in aerospace devices. From the controlled change of the angular momentum rate of change using reaction wheels, it is possible to control the oscillation and direction rates of change of rigid bodies in space. Thus, the main idea of this article is to present a case study with different configurations of the well-known reaction wheel pendulum. The first is based on the classical configuration, and the second, a new one, a pendulum with two reaction wheels. For both configurations, proportional–integral–derivative controllers were designed and experimental devices were built to perform real-time controllers using low-cost hardware. The simulated and experimental results have shown that the pendulums were controlled using a simple controller in the inverted position and the results were satisfactory. Four performance indices were calculated to evaluate the results for each configuration. They showed that the pendulum with two reaction wheels worked better than the pendulum with one reaction wheel. Two actuators made it easier to move and control the pendulum in the inverted position.