Enhanced Control of Overhead Cranes with Input Shaping Integrated Proportional Derivative Sliding Mode Control

Overhead cranes play a crucial role in industrial applications such as construction, manufacturing, and logistics, where precise and safe load transportation is required. However, due to their underactuated dynamics and the coupling between trolley motion and payload swing, achieving fast and accurate positioning with minimal oscillation remains a challenging problem. This paper proposes a hybrid control approach that integrates conventional input shaping with a Proportional Derivative Sliding Mode Control (PDSMC) scheme for a two-dimensional overhead crane system. The PDSMC ensures accurate and robust trolley motion control, while input shaping serves as a feedforward compensator to suppress residual payload oscillations without using swing angle sensors. Distinct from existing hybrid or model-based controllers, the proposed method adopts a simplified, model-free structure, which minimizes dependence on system parameters and reduces implementation complexity. Simulation results confirm that the proposed strategy achieves superior performance in positioning accuracy, vibration suppression, and disturbance rejection under varying operating conditions.