The Control and Systems Engineering Department Awards a Doctorate Degree in Control Engineering

The postgraduate doctoral student (Nasser Ahmed Felfel) from the Control and Systems Engineering Department received a doctorate degree in (Control Engineering) for his thesis entitled (Active Disturbance Rejection Control for Exoskeleton System).

 The discussion was held on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in the discussion Hall (Hall No. 9) in the department, and the discussion committee consisted ofProf:

1- Prof. Dr. Shibly Ahmed Hameed / Chairman

2- Prof. Dr. Safanah Mudheher Raafat / Member

3- Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahim Dhiyab Hammoud / Member

4- Prof. Dr. Saleem Khalefa Kadhim / Member

5- Asst. Prof. Dr. Iyad Qasim Hussein / Member

6- Prof. Dr. Amjad Jaleel Humaidi / Member and Supervisor 

The students' thesis aims to propose and validate a robust control approach for lower extremity orthoses. This orthosis has been studied to aid knee flexion/extension movements for people with knee joint deficiency. In the proposed knee evaluation model, the disturbance rejection control (ADRC) technique was employed. ADRC is an emerging control technology that has the ability to reject all internal and external disturbances that occur during knee flexion and extension. In addition, this prosthesis has been utilized to help individuals who have difficulties standing and walking by incorporating a dual-degree-of-freedom model. Different linear and non-linear control approaches were considered, such as fractional control, sliding mode control, and proportional derivative control. A set of new strategies were proposed to improve the performance of the proposed controller in terms of modifying its structure and enhancing its performance. Several scenarios were used to analyze performance and different types of external influences after exposing the external structure to a medical trace signal. The results showed the quality of the controller’s performance in terms of removing the disturbances within the design specifications and the required torque. There was a significant reduction of 92 % in hip errors and 87% decrease in knee errors when using the root mean square error metric. Finally, the thesis concluded that the exoskeleton is capable of providing humans with the necessary assistance under different conditions. The defense was attended by the Assistant Head of the Department for Scientific Affairs and Postgraduate Studies (Prof. Dr. Abbas Hussein Issa) along with a group of professors in the department. On this occasion, we congratulate the student (Nasser Ahmed Felfel) and wish him success and prosperity.