Tuning guidelines for fractional order PID controllers: Rules of thumb

Today, fractional order proportional integration derivative (FO-PID) controllers have attracted much attention from academia and industry. Despite FO-PID controllers outperforming integer order (IO) ones in many cases, the latter continues to dominate industrial utilization. One of the big barriers which confine adoption of FO-PID controllers is the complexity of the current tuning methods for industrial application. In this paper, a practical tuning method for FO-PID controllers is introduced. In this line, classical loop-shaping tools are utilized to propose this new simple tuning rule. A rule of thumb and a guideline are given for non-expert and industrial users for controlling motion systems. Finally, the tuning method is validated in a high-tech precision positioning system.