IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 59, NO.

11, NOVEMBER 2012

4197

Real-Time Implementation of Bi Input-Extended

Kalman Filter-Based Estimator for Speed-Sensorless
Control of Induction Motors
Murat Barut, Member, IEEE, Ridvan Demir, Emrah Zerdali, and Remzi Inan

AbstractThis paper presents the real-time implementation of

a bi input-extended Kalman filter (EKF) (BI-EKF)-based estimator in order to overcome the simultaneous estimation problem of
the variations in stator resistance Rs and rotor resistance Rr
aside from the load torque tL and all states required for the
speed-sensorless control of induction motors (IMs) in the wide
speed range. BI-EKF algorithm consists of a single EKF algorithm
using consecutively two inputs based on two extended IM models
developed for the simultaneous estimation of Rr and Rs . Therefore, from the point of real-time implementation, it requires less
memory than previous EKF-based studies exploiting two separate
EKF algorithms for the same aim. By using the measured stator
phase voltages and currents, the developed estimation algorithm
is tested with real-time experiments under challenging variations
of Rs , Rr , and tL in a wide speed range; the results obtained from
BI-EKF reveal significant improvement in the all estimated states
and parameters when compared with those of the single EKFs
estimating only Rr or Rs .
Index TermsExtended Kalman filter, induction motors (IMs),
load torque estimation, rotor and stator resistance estimation,
sensorless control.

I. I NTRODUCTION

HE performance of speed-sensorless control of induction

motors (IMs) relies upon how accurately state estimations
of IM are performed. In fact, these estimations are adversely
affected by the temperature and frequency-dependent variations
of Rr and Rs as well as unknown load torque. Thus, for a successful speed-sensorless control application of IM, estimation
algorithms must be robust against those variations; this fact
can be discovered by inspecting the excellent papers such as
[1][3].
Various estimation methods based on modified conventional
methods [4], model reference adaptive system [5], neural network [6], sliding mode [7], and adaptive full-order Luenberger
Manuscript received November 1, 2010; revised August 5, 2011 and
September 13, 2011; accepted October 27, 2011. Date of publication
December 7, 2011; date of current version June 19, 2012. This work was
supported by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (Trkiye
Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastrma KurumuTBTAK) under the research grant
of EEEAG-108E187.
M. Barut, E. Zerdali, and R. Inan are with the Department of Electrical
and Electronics Engineering, Nigde University, 51245 Nigde, Turkey (e-mail:
muratbarut27@yahoo.com; mbarut@nigde.edu.tr; ezerdali@nigde.edu.tr;
rinan@nigde.edu.tr).
R. Demir is with the Electrical and Energy Department, Bor Vocational School, Nigde University, 51700 Nigde, Turkey (e-mail: ridvandemir@
nigde.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.2011.2178209

observer [8] have been proposed very recently in the literature.

Among these studies, [4][6] are sensitive to the variations in
Rr and Rs , while [7] and [8] are easily affected by the Rs
or Rr variations, respectively; thus, they still need improved
performance under both resistance uncertainties. On the other
hand, Faiz and Sharifian [9] declare that the simultaneous
estimation of Rr and Rs causes instability.
Considering the studies [10][13], which attempt to perform
both Rs and Rr estimations in a speed-sensorless case, reported
so far, Karanayil et al. [10] do not present the result of Rr
estimation together with that of Rs and angular velocity, m ,
in the speed-sensorless case. In [11], Rs and m estimations
cannot be simultaneously conducted at no load or when the load
torque is not sufficiently high, and a high-frequency signal is
also injected on the magnetizing current command in order to
perform Rr estimation. Moreover, the estimation algorithms in
[12] and [13] are only applicable whenever the speed-sensorless
control system is in steady state, which is declared by authors.
On the other hand, extended Kalman filter (EKF)-based
solutions have been also investigated by the studies such as
in [14][17] for the simultaneous estimation problem of Rr ,
Rs , and m regardless of load conditions. For the solution
of the problem, Barut et al. [14] and Bogosyan et al. [15]
use braided EKF algorithms tested with real-time experiments
while Barut et al. [16] utilizes switching EKF algorithm confirmed by simulations. For the same purpose, Barut [17] also
introduces a novel estimation technique called as bi inputEKF (BI-EKF) which is only verified by some simulation tests.
Both braided/switching EKF and BI-EKF provide an accurate
estimation of an increased number of parameters than would
be possible with a single EKF algorithm, but braided/switching
EKF uses two separate EKF algorithms in a braided/switching
manner while BI-EKF includes a single EKF algorithm with
the consecutive operation of two inputs obtained from two extended IM models developed for the simultaneous estimation of
Rr and Rs . In other words, BI-EKF includes a single standard
EKF with consecutive use of two inputs calculated from the
two extended IM models. Thus, it differs from the past EKFbased studies [14][16] involving the successive utilization of
two EKF algorithms. Thus, BI-EKF technique has an important
advantage over those studies [14][16] because it reduces by
approximately two times the required memory area of the
studies in [14][16] for embedding observer algorithm and it
provides easier debugging and design than the studies in [14]
[16]. These advantages make BI-EKF more attractive from the

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engineering and real-time implementation points of view. As

it is well known, nonideal behavior of inverters, processing
errors of data acquisition devices, modeling errors, parameter
uncertainties, and noise adversely affect the performance of any
estimation algorithm in real-time experiments; thus, the realtime validation of BI-EKF algorithm is also important.
The major contribution of this study is to verify BI-EKF algorithm in real time for the simultaneous estimation of Rr , Rs ,
and tL in addition to all states required for the speed-sensorless
control of IMs via measuring stator phase voltages and currents.
From this point of view, this is the first known study to perform
the real-time application of the BI-EKF technique. Moreover,
differently from [17], in this study, BI-EKF is conducted in
a switching manner since the better results are obtained in
this kind of manner, particularly during real-time experiments.
For a more realistic approach, ac voltages are applied to the
IM via a vector-controlled ac drive. The effectiveness of the
BI-EKF technique is demonstrated not only by the real-time
experiments but also by comparing its performance with single
EKFs including only Rr or Rs estimation, without the need for
signal injection.
This paper is organized as follows. After the review of past
studies related to the simultaneous estimation of Rr and Rs
for speed-sensorless control of IMs in Section I, Section II
presents the derivation of the extended IM models developed
for Rr or Rs estimation. Next, Section III describes the BIEKF technique. The hardware configuration is explained in
Section IV. Section V gives the experimental results and observations. Finally, the conclusions are listed in Section VI.

the states and inputs, Aei is the system matrix, ue is the control
input vector, B e is the input matrix, wi1 is the process noise,
hei is the function of the outputs, H e is the measurement
matrix, and wi2 is the measurement noise. Based on the general
expression in (1) and (2), the detailed state space representation
of the extended IM models can be given as follows.
1) Model-1: The extended IM model developed for Rs
estimation (Model-Rs )

a1 0
is (k)
is (k + 1)
is (k) 0 a1
is (k+1)

r (k) 0 0 
r (k+1)

vs (k)
+w11
r (k+1) =Ae1 r (k) + 0 0

vs (k)
m (k) 0 0 

m (k+1)

ue
tL (k+1)
tL (k)
0 0
Rs (k+1)
Rs (k)
0 0

 


Be

xe1 (k)

(3)
where Ae1 is defined as shown at the bottom of the page.
The measurement equation is

1
is (k)
=
0
is (k)

 

0
1

0
0

0 0
0 0

0
x (k) + w12 . (4)
0 e1


0
0

He

Z(k)

2) Model-2: The extended IM model developed for Rr

estimation (Model-Rr )

a1 0
is (k)
is (k+1)
is (k) 0 a1
is (k+1)

r (k) 0 0 
r (k+1)

v (k)
+w21
r (k+1) =Ae2 r (k) + 0 0 s

vs (k)
m (k) 0 0 

m (k+1)

ue
tL (k+1)
tL (k)
0 0


Rr (k+1)
Rr (k)
0 0

 


II. E XTENDED M ATHEMATICAL M ODELS OF THE IM

BI-EKF algorithm uses two extended IM models in order
to solve the simultaneous estimation problem of Rs and Rr
together with m . The two rotor flux-based extended models in
the discrete form, called Model-1 and Model-2, developed for
this purpose can be given (as referred to the stator stationary
frame) in the following general form:

(5)

xei (k + 1) = f ei (xei (k), ue (k)) + wi1

= Aei (xei (k)) xei (k) + B e ue (k) + wi1

(1)

Z(k) = hei (xei (k)) + wi2 (Measurement equation)

= H e xei (k) + wi2 .

(2)

Here, i = 1 or 2 represents each model, xei is the extended

state vector for both models, f ei is the nonlinear function of

1 a1 Rs (k) a3
0

a9

Ae1 =

a11 r (k)

0
0

Be

xe2 (k)

0
1 a1 Rs (k) a3
0
a9
a11 r (k)
0
0

where Ae2 is defined as shown at the bottom of the next

page.
The measurement equation is

1
is (k)
=
0
is (k)

 


Z(k)

a4
a5 m (k)
1 a7
a10 m (k)
0
0
0

0
1

0
0

0 0
0 0

0
0

0
x (k) + w22 . (6)
0 e2


He

a5 m (k)
a4
a10 m (k)
1 a7
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1 a12
0
1
0
0

0
0

0
1

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The coefficients in both models are as follows:

a1 =

L2
T
a3
, a2 = a1 m
, a3 = a2 Rr , a4 =

L
Lr
Lm

a5 =

a1 Lm pp
T
, a6 =  , a7 = a6 Rr , a8 = a6 Lm
Lr
Lr

a9 = a8 Rr , a10 = pp T, a11 = a8

a12 =

1.5pp
JT

T
a2
, a13 =
, a14 = a1 Rs
JT
Lm

where pp is the number of pole pairs, L = Ls is the stator

transient inductance, = 1 (L2m /Ls Lr ) is the leakage or
coupling factor, Ls and Lr are the stator and rotor inductances, respectively, r and r are the stator stationary axis
components of rotor fluxes, vs and vs are stator stationary
axis components of stator voltages, is and is are the stator
stationary axis components of stator currents, JT is the total
inertia of the IM and load, m is the rotor angular velocity, and
T is the sampling time.
In both models, the following conditions are true.
1) The main difference occurs due to the constant states Rs
and Rr in xe1 and xe2 , respectively.
2) w12 in (4) and w22 in (6) are equal because of using the
same measured state variables, is and is .
III. D ESCRIPTION OF BI-EKF A LGORITHM
BI-EKF algorithm in this study uses a single EKF algorithm
with switching between two inputs based on Model-Rr and
Model-Rs for the simultaneous estimation of Rr and Rs aside
from the unknown load torque, velocity, rotor fluxes, and stator
current components; therefore, it significantly reduces the timeconsuming design stages and memory requirement, compared
with previous studies such as in [14][16] which utilize two
separate EKF algorithms. In other words, BI-EKF algorithm
combines two separate EKF algorithms with two different IM
models in a single EKF algorithm with consecutive switching
of the inputs/terms of EKF equations which must be calculated
for and special to each of the two different IM models in order
to increase the number of parameter estimations that would
be carried out by a single-standard EKF. Namely, the BI-EKF
technique operates a single EKF algorithm via successively
switching its input terms associated with the two IM models;
That is why it is called BI-EKF. Here, input does not refer to
the measurements. It refers to the inputs in switch1 in Fig. 1.

1 a14 a2 Rr (k)

0

a8 Rr (k)

Ae2 =

a11 r (k)

0
0

0
1 a14 a2 Rr (k)
0
a8 Rr (k)
a11 r (k)
0
0

Fig. 1. Schematic view of the BI-EKF-based estimation technique.

Considering computation costs of both BI-EKF and past

studies [14][16], although there is a little but not significant
difference in favor of BI-EKF in simulations shown in [17],
in real time, almost no difference is observed between their
computation times due to the observer code conversion process
from MATLAB/Simulink to the DS1104 controller (real time),
which is automatically done by the universal experiment and
instrumentation software of DS1104 known as ControlDesk
in this study. It is also worth to note that the realization way of
both BI-EKF and the other algorithms [14][16] will affect their
computation times. However, from the engineering (or realtime implementation) point of view, BI-EKF has superiority
over past studies using braided EKF or switching EKF in [14]
[16]. In particular, in spite of not showing significant difference
between their computation burdens in real-time experiments,
BI-EKF definitely has advantages in the following issues.
1) The cost of hardware platforms such as microprocessor,
digital signal processor, and field-programmable gate array increases with the increase of the memory size/area
required for embedding software algorithm. Thus, it is a

a13 Rr (k)

a5 m (k)
1 a6 Rr (k)
a10 m (k)
0
0
0

a5 m (k)
a13 Rr (k)
a10 m (k)
1 a6 Rr (k)
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1 a12
0
1
0
0

0
0

0
1

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 59, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2012

big gain to appreciably reduce the memory requirements

for braided or switching EKF via BI-EKF.
2) BI-EKF provides easier debugging and less time in the
design stages than braided or switching EKF does since
it includes fewer command lines than the others.
On the other hand, BI-EKF such as the braided EKF in
[14] and [15] or the switching EKF in [16] performs the
simultaneous estimation of Rr and Rs in a speed-sensorless
case, which is desired in the literature and industry. That shows
why BI-EKF is important from the scientific point of view.
In order to describe the BI-EKF technique, standard EKF
equations can be given as follows:

f ei (xei (k), ue (k)) 

(7a)
F ei (k) =

xei (k)
x
(k),u (k)
ei

N i (k)

= F ei (k)P i (k)F Tei (k)

+ Qi

Experimental setup used for verifying BI-EKF algorithm.

values of is , is , r , r , m , and tL are updated to both

inputs as initial values. Moreover, P i (k + 1) is stored as P i (k)
for the usage of the next switching time.

(7b)

P i (k + 1) = N i (k) N i (k)H Te
1

D + H e N i (k)H Te
H e N i (k) (7c)
xei (k), ue (k)) + P i (k + 1)
x
ei (k + 1) = fei (
ei (k))
H Te D1
(Z(k) H e x

Fig. 2.

(7d)

where F ei is the function used in the linearization of the

nonlinear models (3, 5). Qi is the covariance matrix of the
system noise, namely, model error. D is the covariance matrix
of the output noise, namely, measurement noise. P i and N i
are the covariance matrix of the state estimation error and
extrapolation error, respectively.
BI-EKF algorithm is constructed by examining the EKF
equations (7a)(7d) and using the following three remarks [17].
Remark 1: Equations (7b)(7d) constitute the prediction and
correction steps of the EKF algorithm.
Remark 2: The inputs of (7b)(7d), which must be changed
for Model-1 or Model-2, are F ei , Qi , and fei because the
elements of those matrices are calculated from each model.
Remark 3: The inputs of (7b)(7d), which must be the
same for both models, are D and H e due to using the same
measurements (is and is ). Moreover, the dimensions of N i ,
ei are identical for both models because of utilizing
P i , and x
the same-order models.
Considering the aforementioned remarks, the schematic view
of the BI-EKF-based estimation technique is given as in Fig. 1.
The BI-EKF algorithm (see Fig. 1) consists of three parts: inputs for Model-Rr , inputs for Model-Rs , and standard EKF. In
other words, the BI-EKF technique includes a single-standard
EKF algorithm utilizing consecutively two different inputs
derived from the extended models, Model-Rr and Model-Rs ,
one for the estimation of Rr and one for the estimation of Rr
in this paper. The consecutive operation is performed at every
n sampling time (n T ) which is called as switching time,
tswitch . During each tswitch , the same group of states (is , is ,
r , r , m , and tL ) are simultaneously estimated aside from
one of the resistances. At the end of tswitch , the estimated value
of Rr or Rs is used as a constant parameter in the other input
for the estimation of the other resistance while the estimated

IV. H ARDWARE C ONFIGURATION

The experimental setup used for verifying the BI-EKF algorithm is given in Fig. 2. Here, the IM is a squirrel-cage type
of three phase, six pole, 380 V, 5.9 A, 2.2 kW, 22 N m, and
940 r/min, the other specifications of which are presented in
the Appendix. In order to load the IM, a Foucault brake of
30 N m manually driven by a steplike variable dc source is
utilized. The BI-EKF algorithm is implemented on a power
PC-based DS1104 controller board processing floating-point
operations at a rate of 250 MHz. The torque transducer of
50 N m and the encoder of 5000 lines/rev are only used for the
validation of tL and m (nm r/min) estimations, respectively;
they are not utilized in the estimation algorithm. The phase
voltages and currents are also measured by LV100-400 and
LA55-P/SP1, respectively. For the performance evaluation of
Rs estimation, a three-phase array resistor is connected in series
to the stator windings of the IM; thus, it is aimed to show
that the variations in Rs generated manually by the three-phase
resistor are estimated via the BI-EKF algorithm.
For a realistic evaluation, the IM is fed by an ac drive so
that the BI-EKF algorithm is tested by taking the pulse-width
modulated ac voltages and currents as inputs. Fig. 3 shows the
ac voltages and currents referred to the stator stationary frame.

V. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS AND O BSERVATIONS

To initialize the BI-EKF algorithm and achieve a desired
estimation performance, the values of P i and Qi are determined
experimentally by a trial-and-error method, which is usually
done in previous studies such as [14], [15], [18], and [19],
while D is calculated by considering the measurement errors
of the current sensors and the quantization error such as in
[20]. For more clarification, the calculation of the elements of
D in this paper includes two steps in [20]: First, one is to
determine the standard deviation of the stochastic noise/error
of the current sensors, sensor . For this purpose, data acquisition
(measurement) with no current is done by one of the three samecurrent sensors, and then, a sensor of 4.7 104 (A) is calculated by using the measured data which have almost Gaussian

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Fig. 3. Stator voltages applied to the IM through ac drive and the depicted
stator currents. (a) Variation of vs . (b) Variation of vs . (c) Variation of is .
(d) Variation of is .

distribution with zero mean. The second step is to obtain the

standard deviation of the quantization noise/error
of the 16-b
analogdigital converters (ADCs), ADC = (1/ 3) LSB =
5
16
7.35 10
(A), where LSB equals to (1/2 ) Imax , and
Imax = 2 5.9 is the maximum value of the current accepted
by the current sensor. Finally, the resulting standard deviation,
measurement , is obtained as
2
2
2
measurement
= sensor
+ ADC
= 2.26 107 (A2 ).

(8)

In the light of the aforementioned evaluations, P i , Qi , and

D are given as follows:

Q1=diag 1011 A2 1011 A2 1012 (V.s)2 1012 (V.s)2

1012 (rad/s)2 1013 (N.m)2 1016 2

Q2=diag 1018 A2 1018 A2 1018 (V.s)2 1018 (V.s)2

1014 (rad/s)2 1014 (N.m)2 1015 2

P i=diag 9A2 9A2 9(V.s)2 9(V.s)2

9(rad/s)2 9(N.m)2 92
 2

2
D=diag measurement
(A2 ) measurement
(A2 ) .
To demonstrate the effectiveness of the BI-EKF algorithm,
several scenarios are considered as follows:
1) performance of the conventional single EKFs using both
Model-Rr and Model-Rs ;
2) performance of BI-EKF under Rs variations at 50% of
the rated speed;
3) performance of BI-EKF under velocity and load torque
reversal at the rated speed;
4) very low speed operation of the BI-EKF algorithm under
Rs variations.
Most of the scenarios are focused on the simultaneous estimation of Rr , Rs , and m together with tL specifically at and
below 50% of the rated speed since estimation performances
are usually deteriorated with decreasing angular velocity in the
speed-sensorless case. In those scenarios, all initial values of
the estimated states and parameters are taken as zero, and the

Fig. 4. Experimental results of EKF-Rr for step-type Rs variations.

(a) Variation of tind and tL . (b) Variation of nm and n
m . (c) Variation of
 . (d) Variation of
r and
r . (e) Variation of is and is .
R
r

sampling time is 130 s. The resulting estimation performances

are given in Figs. 48. In these figures, tind and tL , nm and
 , and R
s represent the induced
n
m , is and is , r , r , R
r
torque obtained from the torque transducer and estimated load
torque, the measured and the estimated velocity, the measured
and estimated components of stator current, the estimated
and components of the rotor flux, the estimated rotor
resistance, and the estimated stator resistance, respectively.
Note that only is is demonstrated in all scenarios since the
estimation performance of is is similar that of is .
A. Scenario IPerformance of the Conventional Single EKFs
Using Both Model-Rr (see Fig. 4) and Model-Rs (see Fig. 5)
In this scenario, the single EKF using Model-Rr , which
is called as EKF-Rr , is tested under Rs variations while the

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Fig. 5. Experimental results of EKF-Rs for step-type Rr variations.

m . (c) Variation of
(a) Variation of tind and tL . (b) Variation of nm and n
s . (d) Variation of
R
r and
r . (e) Variation of is and is .

Fig. 6. Experimental results of BI-EKF for step-type Rs variations at 50%

m.
of the rated speed. (a) Variation of tind and tL . (b) Variation of nm and n
 and R
s . (d) Variation of
(c) Variation of R
r and
r . (e) Variation of is
r
and is .

other EKF utilizing Model-Rs , which is referred to as EKFRs , is examined with the variations in Rr . In Fig. 4, illustrating
the estimation performance of EKF-Rr , Rs is stepped up to
its rated value (Rsn ) plus 2.5 at 15.6 s by adding serial
resistances externally to the stator windings and down to Rsn
at 29 s, while the IM is running at 466 r/min under 14.3 N m.
Since EKF-Rr assumes Rs to be constant, notably high error
 , as seen in Fig. 4.
occurs, particularly in n
m , tL , and R
r
On the other hand, EKF-Rs is given a start with the proper
value of Rr which is obtained from EKF-Rr including the
accurate Rr value, and then, Rr is abruptly increased to its

) at 11.2 s and back to its proper one at 25.7 s,
rated value (Rrn
as seen in Fig. 5. The estimation errors occur in this figure

) used in EKF-Rs ; thus, it is
because of the constant Rr (Rrn
very clear that EKF-Rs needs the exact Rr values varying with

the rotor temperature and frequency in a squirrel-cage-type IM.

Both real-time experiments, Figs. 4 and 5, show that EKF-Rr
and EKF-Rs simultaneously require for precise values of Rs
and Rr , respectively.
B. Scenario IIPerformance of BI-EKF Under Rs Variations
at 50% of the Rated Speed (see Fig. 6)
This scenario aims to test the BI-EKF algorithm for steptype Rs variations, as seen in Fig. 6. For this purpose, Rs is
instantaneously increased to Rsn + 2.5 at 12.7 s by adding a
three-phase resistor externally to the stator side in series while
the IM is loaded to 16.3 N m and operating at 460 r/min;
then; the resistor is removed from the stator windings at 30.1 s.
s tracks the actual value of Rs
Under these variations, since R

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Fig. 8. Experimental results of BI-EKF for very low speed operation under
Rs variations. (a) Variation of tind and tL . (b) Variation of nm and n
m.
s . (d) Variation of the estimated position of the rotor
 and R
(c) Variation of R
r
flux with reference to the stator stationary axis. (e) Variation of is and is .

Fig. 7. Experimental results of BI-EKF for the velocity and load torque
m.
reversals. (a) Variation of tind and tL . (b) Variation of nm and n
s . (d) Variation of fs and fr (e) Variation of
 and R
r
(c) Variation of R
r
and
r . (f) Variation of is and is .

very quickly, consequently, all estimated states and parameters

converge to the real ones. Thus, it is concluded that BI-EKF
performs quite well in spite of the step-type variations in Rs .
Fig. 6(c) also shows the switching nature of the BI-EKF
 is constant while Rs is estimated by
algorithm; namely, R
r
using Model-Rs as an input in BI-EKF during tswitch and vice

versa, but the other estimations, for example, tL and n

m , are
continuously conducted for each tswitch as seen in Fig. 6(a) and
(b). The blue 0 and 1 in Fig. 6 are compatible with the
switch positions in Fig. 1, and each of them represents tswitch
which is determined as 0.26 s (n T = 2000 130 s) based
on the following procedure.
1) Tune P i and Qi until the desired estimation performance
is achieved by using the BI-EKF algorithm with each
input derived from Model-Rr or Model-Rs .
2) Then, increase tswitch = n T (where n = 1, 2, 3 . . .
and T is the sampling period) by increasing n until over
all estimation performance is satisfied.

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C. Scenario IIIPerformance of BI-EKF Under Velocity and

Load Torque Reversals at the Rated Speed (see Fig. 7)
The effectiveness of the BI-EKF algorithm during reversing
transients of the velocity and the load torque is demonstrated in
this scenario, which also includes a very short term operation
at zero speed. The resulting estimation performances are given
in Fig. 7. The scenario is generated by changing linearly the
input frequency from 50 to 50 Hz and vice versa, while the
IM is operating at 956 r/min under 16.4 N m. The duration
of the transient is adjusted by the acceleration/deceleration rate
of the ac drive. The obtained results illustrate that the BI-EKF
algorithm follows very closely the velocity and load torque
reversals as seen in Fig. 7(a) and (b). Also, the estimated Rr
[see Fig. 7(c)] varying inherently with the variation of the load
torque is in agreement with that of previous results in [21] and
[22] which present Rr -rotor/slip frequency, fr , relationship.
The variation of the load torque in Fig. 7(a) is due to the typical
torquespeed characteristics of the Foucault brake used in the
experiment.
According to Proca and Keyhani [21], Rr varies as a function
of fr (skin effect) and rotor temperature. To observe the rotor
resistance dependence on fr in this study, slip compensation
is also disabled in the ac drive. Later, fr is calculated for this
scenario by using the measured stator frequency (fs ), nm , and
the well-known equality as follows:
nm
.
fr = fs pp
60

(9)

Finally, the variation of fr and fs is shown in Fig. 7(d) which

r
verifies Rr fr relationship, and Fig. 7(d) also reveals that R
is a function of fr .
D. Scenario IVVery Low Speed Operation of the BI-EKF
Algorithm Under Rs Variations (see Fig. 8)
This scenario addresses the performance of BI-EKF under
imposed Rs variations at 9 r/min which is 1% of the rated
speed, as shown in Fig. 8. Here, Rs is stepped up to Rsn +
1.5 at 16.5 s and down to Rsn at 33.2 s by connecting
or disconnecting the serial three-phase array resistor to the
stator windings, respectively, while the IM is operating at
9 r/min under 1.5 N m. Later, the velocity ramps up from 9
to 703 r/min at 48 s, and consequently, the IM is also almost
linearly loaded to 17.8 N m in order to show the estimation
performance of BI-EKF during the transition from very low
speed to the high speed. In spite of this challenging scenario,
the BI-EKF algorithm satisfactorily estimates step-type Rs
variations and the rotor frequency-dependent Rr variations
[21], [22] aside from the velocity, the load torque, and the
rotor fluxes. Although the load torque is defined as a constant
parameter in the extended IM models [see (3) and (5)], the IM
is applied to the almost linearly varying load torque during the
transition in order to force and see how the BI-EKF algorithm
behaves; because of this challenge, it is observed that tL affects
s , particularly at low speeds. On the other hand, because
R
of the torquespeed characteristics of the Foucault brake, the
IM cannot be applied to high load torque at very low speed

operation (for example, at zero speed, eddy currents are not

induced in the brakes disk, and thus, no torque occurs); that
is why no result is presented for this type of operation in this
paper.
In summary, the obtained results from Scenarios II, III, and
IV prove the real-time feasibility of the BI-EKF algorithm
and also reveal the superiority of BI-EKF over the conventional single EKFs which demand exact Rs or Rr values in
Scenario I. Moreover, in the context of this study, it is observed
that the BI-EKF technique enables observation of the uncertainties in both Rs and Rr as well as is , is , r , r , m ,
and tL in the speed-sensorless case for IMs without performing
further theoretical analysis, as in [14] and [15]. However, it
does not mean that BI-EKF leads to multiple parameter estimations for every IM model; this reality can only be discovered
after simulation and/or real-time-based experiments which are
mostly done in the literature of the standard EKF. It is also
noticed that the switching order between Rr and Rs in Fig. 1
is not important at the beginning of the consecutive operation;
however, the BI-EKF algorithm is given a start with Model-Rr
in this study since the Rs value is more easily obtained from dc
test than that of Rr .
VI. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, the BI-EKF-based estimation technique introduced very recently in one of the authors previous study [17]
has been verified in real-time experiments to accomplish the
following:
1) to solve the simultaneous estimation problem of the
uncertainties associated with Rr and Rs , in addition to
the load torque and all states required for the speedsensorless control via measuring stator phase voltages
and currents;
2) to overcome the limited number of state and parameter
estimations that would be possible with a single EKF
algorithm.
Each of the issues stated earlier is a persisting challenge in
the literature of the speed-sensorless IM control and EKF, respectively. Inverter switching effects, signal acquisition errors,
uncertainties in parameters, modeling errors, and noise are also
known to give rise to performance deteriorations in the speedsensorless real-time control of IMs, particularly at very low
speed range. Thus, under these concerns, it is really essential
for validating the BI-EKF algorithm in real-time experiments.
Moreover, this study experimentally confirms utilizing a single
EKF algorithm with consecutive execution of two different
inputs obtained from the extended models developed for the
Rr and Rs estimations, instead of using two individual EKF
algorithms, which has been done in the previous studies such as
in [14] and [15] for the solution of the same problem.
On the other hand, it takes time to determine the proper
values of Qi used in the BI-EKF algorithm. In fact, the optimal
determination or tuning [23] of the values of Q is still an
open area to research in the literature of Kalman filter in order
to avoid trial-and-error time-consuming tuning [24]; thus, the
solution of this issue is currently in our consideration.

BARUT et al.: REAL-TIME IMPLEMENTATION OF BI-EKF-BASED ESTIMATOR FOR SPEED-SENSORLESS CONTROL OF IMs

TABLE I
RATED PARAMETERS OF THE IM

A PPENDIX
The rated parameters of the IM used in the real-time experiments are given in Table I.
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Murat Barut (S06M09) was born in Gaziantep,

Turkey, in 1973. He received the B.Sc. degree
in electronics engineering from Erciyes University,
Kayseri, Turkey, in 1995, the M.Sc. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Nigde University, Nigde, Turkey, in 1997, the Ph.D. degree (with
Siemens Excellence Award) in computer and control engineering from Istanbul Technical University,
Istanbul, Turkey, in 2005, and the Ph.D. degree in
electrical and computer engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, in 2006.
He is currently an Assistant Professor and the Head of Electrical Machine Division as well as the Head of Power Control Research Laboratory
at Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Nigde University.
His current research interests include motion control, electrical drives, power
electronics, mechatronics, and nonlinear observer and estimator design for
electromechanical systems.
Dr. Barut has been a Reviewer of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS since 2007 as well as of several other journals.

Ridvan Demir was born in Samsun, Turkey, in 1986.

He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical
and electronics engineering from Nigde University,
Nigde, Turkey, in 2007 and 2011, respectively.
From 2009 to 2011, he was a Researcher with
the Power Control Research Laboratory, Department
of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Nigde
University, and he is currently a Lecturer with the
Department of Electrical and Energy, Bor Vocational
School, Nigde University. His main research activity is focused on observer and estimator design for
induction motor drive systems.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 59, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2012

Emrah Zerdali was born in Izmir, Turkey, in

1987. He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical and
electronics engineering from Pamukkale University,
Denizli, Turkey, in 2009 and the M.Sc. degree in
electrical and electronics engineering from Nigde
University, Nigde, Turkey, in 2011, where he has
been working toward the Ph.D. degree in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering since
September 2011.
He is currently a Research Assistant with the
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, Nigde University.

Remzi Inan was born in Denizli, Turkey, in 1987. He

received the B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronics
engineering from Pamukkale University, Denizli, in
2009 and the M.Sc. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Nigde University, Nigde,
Turkey, in 2011, where he has been working toward
the Ph.D. degree in the Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering since September 2011.
He is currently a Research Assistant with the
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, Nigde University.