The principle of vector control of AC machine
enables the dynamic control of AC motors, and induction motors
in particular to a level comparable to that of a DC machine. The
vector control of currents and voltages results in control of
spatial orientation of the electromagnetic fields in the machine
and has led to term field orientation [1]. Field oriented control
schemes provide significant improvement to the dynamic
performance of ac motors. The usual method of induction motor
position and torque control, which is becoming an industrial
standard [2], uses the indirect field orientation principle in
which the rotor speed is sensed or estimated by rotor position
and slip frequency is added to form the stator impressed
frequency. Sliding-mode control has gained wide attention
because of its simple design and implementation, fast dynamic
response, and robustness to parameters variations and load
disturbances. This paper proposes a performance comparison
between sliding mode-control and field oriented control using
synchronous reference applied to a small squirrel-cage induction
motor using space vector pulse width modulation(SVPWM) for
position and torque control and a digital signal processor and
relay feedback method to evaluate the controller parameters