2011 4th International Conference on Mechatronics (ICOM), 17-19 May 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Design of Fuzzy Based Controller for Modern
Elevator Group with Floor Priority Constraints
1
M.M. Rashid, Banna Kasemi, Alias Faruq, AHM Zahirul Alam
Department of Mechatronics Engineering,
International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia
1
Email. mahbub@iium.edu.my
Abstract- The elevator technologies are developed to
serve the requested passenger’s floors with high
consideration of passengers’ satisfaction and elevator
optimal performance. Responding to the issue, this
paper focuses on development of an elevator group
controller based on fuzzy algorithm. By introducing a
fuzzy controller in an elevator system, this project is
developed to manage the required passenger traffic
density keeping passenger waiting times within
reasonable limits. To increase the performance of the
elevator group three major linguistic variables are
introduced within a set of fuzzy rules. These include the
average waiting time (AWT), power consumption (PC),
and floor traffic (FT). When the passenger traffic is
high, the low fuzzy control values reduce the
importance of priority of floors rather the estimated
arrival time is to be minimized. The simulation was
accomplished to check the priority of fuzzy system
graphically while the actual prototype of elevator
system is programmed by PIC device as a controller. As
a result a set of fuzzy rules was drawn based on
practical considerations; mainly minimization of
waiting time and energy consumption. When a few hall
requests are registered, the elevator controller will
decide which one of the elevators will serve which of the
incoming hall requests. In order to manifest the work
with actual elevator service, a computer simulation of a
four-cars-elevator controller in a twenty storied
building is accomplished by using MATLABTM fuzzy
logic toolbox and implements the prototype
experimental model.
Key-Words: Average waiting time, Floor traffic, Floor
priority, Hall requests
1. INTRODUCTION
In the contemporary world today, the intelligent
elevator control system is badly needed for the fast
development of high rise building and skyscrapers in
order to obtain optimum performance. In fact, an
elevator system is a prominent system that transports
passengers from one floor to another in a building. In
this circumstance, the elevator controller responds to
the passengers’ requests through press buttons which
consist of hall calls and car calls. Hall call is referred
to a passenger’s request who wishes to go to another
floor, from elevator foyer of the current floor.
Whereas, the Car call indicates as the request made
inside the elevator. Fundamentally, an elevator
system is controlled by a two level control hierarchy.
978-1-61284-437-4/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
The lower level task plays function in commanding
each elevator to move up or down, to stop or start and
to open and close the door. The higher level
coordinates the movement of elevator group via a set
of logical rules crafted to improve the system
performance [1].
The primary function of an elevator group control
system is providing a decision on the most suitable
car to be dispatched in response to a registered hall
call, and simultaneously ensuring that all cars in the
group work together for the group’s overall, rather
than the cars’ individual. As a result, this approaching
system directly able to minimize the waiting time and
riding time spent by passengers, maximize passengers
capacities in a given time as well as optimize power
consumption of elevator system.
Elevator group control systems (EGCS)
systematically manage one or more elevators in high-
rise buildings to efficiently transport passengers from
one oor to another. Industrial investigation had
started at late Eighties especially in USA and Japan
[2–4] which is considered as the start point of
implementation stage. Numerous studies have already
been published since mid Nineties [5-7]. Many of
these studies have focused on call assignment method
based on evaluation function [8]. After that the
researchers have experimented with the impulse of
the largest multinational companies [9–12]. By the
end of the Nineties the research in vertical trans-
portation was a reality and the collaborations among
the private companies and the re-search centres were
reinforced, some examples are the Systems Analysis
Laboratory in the Helsinki University of Technology
with the KONE Corporation [13] or the Konrad-
Zuse-Zentrumfür Informations technik of Berlin [14]
In modern buildings, the vertical transport of
passengers is implemented by an elevator group
control system and many micro-processed sub-
systems implementing local control for each elevator
(LCS, local control system) [15–16]. Advances in
EGCSs have been developed at the same time that
artificial intelligence techniques began to be explored
in real situations. FPGA devices are widely used
among industrial automation, health, automotive and
toy industry, digital signal processing, video and
audio applications and home appliance, among
others. These devices can be effectively applied to the
realization of complex systems, with good
performance and flexibility, meeting the requirements
of every process in a customized way [17].
The overall performance of an EGCS is measured
by several criteria such as low average waiting time
of passengers, low power consumption of the of the
elevator system, the smallest number of passengers
waiting at each oor. Unfortunately, it is difficult to
satisfy all of these criteria at the same time. This is
because as the number of oors (N) and the number
of elevator groups (M) increases, the system
complexity increases dramatically. For instance, if
there are two call-buttons (up and down) at each
oor, the number of possible assignments for M cars
is M.N!.(2N)!. A total of all possible states
M.N!.(2N!).C(N, M) has to be considered [18]. If P
hall calls come, the controller has to consider
MPcases to make a decision for the most suitable car.
All these cases cannot be evaluated within a limited
time for decision making. In addition there are
several uncertainties such as the time of hall call, the
number of people who make the calls, the destination
of the passengers who make the hall call, the number,
physical conditions and age of passengers, etc. With
the excessive number of states and uncertainty
factors, it is not possible to achieve an optimal
decision [1]. To overcome all these difficulties, fuzzy
approach has been extensively used for hall call
assignments in elevator groups.
Approaches based on fuzzy logic methods which
are capable to prescribe a correct assignment to a car
given a new hall-call are described in [18] and [19].
Well-known criteria as Average and Residual
Waiting Time are discussed in [20]. Also, techniques
based on discrete-state Markov chains and Markov
decision problem formulation have been presented in
[20-22], local control system (LCS) based Field-
programmable Gate Array (FPGA) algorithm using
Fuzzy approach is in [23] and others based on AI,
neural networks and genetic algorithms in [24-28].
This study presents the prototype designing,
development and simulation of a fuzzy control
algorithm for managing the traffic of elevator system
Figure 1.A general structure of an elevator group supervisory control system
prototype for a building with 5 floors and 3 elevator
cars. The elevator cars are assigned accordingly in
response to hall calls, so as to optimize waiting time,
riding time, power consumption, passengers’ comfort,
etc. It has utilized the ordinal structure fuzzy logic
algorithm on a revolutionized elevator system, where
instead of using the simple up and down hall call
buttons, destination oriented keypads at each floor is
used.
2. ELEVATOR GROUP CONTROLLER
Technically, whenever a few hall requests are
registered, the elevator controller will cooperatively
decide the most suitable elevator among others for
serving the incoming hall requests that are registered.
So, the main requirements of a control system in
serving both, car and hall calls, should be effective in
providing service to every floor in a building,
minimizing the waiting time spent by passengers,
minimizing the riding time spent by passengers to
move from one floor to another and optimizing the
capacity of lift. The Fig. 1 depicts a general
architecture of an elevator group control system.
An elevator from floor 1 can pass N-1 floors in
respond to hall calls or car calls. Combining all the
possible movements of an elevator from every floor,
an elevator path for a building with 6 floors as shown
in Fig. 2 can be developed as example.
In Fig. 2, the path from A1 to A2 depicts the
movement of elevator A from floor 1 to floor 2
(upward movement), and the path from A2’ to A1’
illustrates the movement from floor 2 to floor 1
(downward movement). Most of the elevator group
control systems have used the hall call assignment
method which assigns elevators in response to a
passenger’s call. The hall call assignment method
assigns a new hall call to an elevator having the
smallest evaluation function value among all the
elevators [29]. The evaluation function for the k-th
elevator is represented by the following formula:
 Generally, in high rise buildings, elevator systems
with multiple elevator cars have to be used to ensure
users’ comfort and convenience. Therefore, fuzzy
algorithm is employed to achieve these following
visions of the elevator group controller as:
Minimizing waiting time of passengers, Minimizing
riding time of passengers, Minimizing loading of
elevator cars, Optimizing power consumption of an
elevator system. Fuzzy Inputs to satisfy multiple
Figure 2. Possible movements of elevator A from every floor objectives as mentioned above, the following inputs
are considered for decision making process of the
supervisory controller. A total of six inputs are
(1) [29]
chosen to solve the elevator dispatch problem. Fuzzy
Inputs are Waiting Time (Second), Riding Time
Where, estimated arrival time of the k-th
(Second), Loading (Floor), Traveling Distance
elevator, area value,  = area-weight, (Floor), Hall Call Area Weight, Destination Area
elevator’s status value. The area-weight is Weight
one of the most important variables in the evaluation
function which affects the system performance. The
fuzzy system is employed to determine the area-
weight used the following fuzzy inputs: Up-going
traffic, Down-going traffic, Average waiting time,
Long wait probability, Power consumption values
The traffic generation for this elevator system is
basically divided into three different modes. The
passenger demand rate and the request generation are
shown in Fig. 2 and Table. 2 respectively. The modes
are-
Up-Peak Mode: These conditions exists when the
dominant and only traffic flow is in an upward
direction, with all, or the majority of passengers
entering the lift system at the main terminal of the
building. Figure 3. Traffic Pattern of Elevator System
Down-Peak Mode: These conditions exist when the Table 1. Standard Specification of Elevator Prototype design
dominant or only traffic flow is in downward
direction with all, or the majority of passengers Features Values
leaving the lift system as the main terminal of the Floor no. 5
building. Height of each floor 100mm
Busy Mode This pattern is called two-way traffic No. Elevators available 3 cars
Timings:
whenever normally there are two combination sets of i) Time to open the door 1 sec
up-peak and down-peak modes. This represents a ii) Time to close the door 1 sec
situation where the occupants of the building take iii) Time for each passenger to get 5sec
two distinct lunch periods (i.e 12.00 to 13.00 and in
13.00 to 14.00). Speed 1.5m/s
Acceleration 1m/s2
A. Visions of Fuzzy Implementation in Elevator Maximum Load 300g
Group Control Design Passenger Capacity 10 Persons

Table 2. Modes of Traffic Generation

Interval Hall request Car Request

Traffic Mode Arrival Rate
generation Generation
1 hall request in every 10 – 25 hall requests floor 1 floor 2-20
Up–peak
12–30 seconds per 5 minutes
1 hall request in every 10 – 25 hall requests floor 2-20
Down-peak floor 1
12–30 seconds per 5 minutes
1 hall request in every 25 – 38 hall requests floor 1-20
Busy floor 1-20
8–12 seconds per 5 minutes
Interval is selected Arrival rate ranging
floor 1- 20 floor 1-20
Constant manually ranging from from 5 – 38 hall
8–60 Seconds request per 5 minutes
 Figure 4. : Membership functions of inputs and output.
A. Membership Functions.
In fuzzy logic algorithm, real world input values
will be converted to fuzzy values in the fuzzification
process. The membership functions for the inputs and
output are shown in Fig 4. For simplicity, triangular
membership functions are used for both inputs and
output fuzzification.
B. Hardware Development And operation Control
After completion of simulation process, the
implementation of hardware or physical system of
elevator group controller was done, the prototype of
elevator system was developed.
C. Elevator Specification Design
iii. As the elevator moves between floors, the arrival
The specifications design of elevator’s prototype
is given in Table 1.
 whether the elevator should stop at this floor. If
3. WORKING PRINCIPLE
The elevator group controllers principally work
according to designed fuzzy algorithm. This
algorithm is very essential to manage the group of
elevator cars in complex situation in order for
fulfilling the satisfaction of passenger’s requests
either hall calls or car requests within short waiting
time. Therefore, this project initially implemented
MATLAB fuzzy toolbox as simulation process to
adapt the complex situations during real operation.
Then, the realization of fuzzy algorithm was applied
to Programmable Interface Controller (PIC) by
means of compiled source code. This algorithm (Fig.
5) was designed its basic operation as follows:
i. When user presses an elevator button to go up.
The elevator button sensor sends the elevator
button request to the system, identifying the
destination floor the user wishes to visit.
ii. The new request is added to the list of floors to
visit. If the elevator is stationary, the system
determines in which direction the system should
move in order to service the next request. The
system commands the elevator door to close.
When the door has closed, the system commands
the motor to start moving the elevator, either up or
down.
sensor detects that the elevator is approaching a
floor and notifies the system. The system checks
so, the system commands the motor to stop. When
the elevator has stopped, the system commands
the elevator door to open. If there are other
outstanding requests, the elevator visits these
floors on the way to the floor requested by the
user. Eventually, the elevator arrives at the
destination floor selected by the user.
In Fig.6 the CAD design and experimental
prototype design is given. Table 3 gives the
specification data of DC geared motor.
 START FROM CASE 2

CASE 3
Initial Stage

UP request &
MEDIUM distance CASE 4
Receiving Input
Hall Request YES
NO DOWN request
& MEDIUM
CASE 5 distance
UP request & NO
SHORTEST distance CASE 2
YES
YES UP request
NO Down request &
YES & FAR
SHORTEST
distance
NO
distance
CASE 1 CASE 6
CASE 3 YES

DOWN YES
request & FAR
Receiving Input distance
Floor Request
NO

Motor rotates Motor rotates

counterclockwise Remain At Static State
clockwise (CW)
(CCW)

Elevator Car moving Elevator Car moving

UPWARD DOWNWARD

moving status = 1 moving status = 2

Floor_Request status= 1 for Floor_Request status= 1 for
requested floor requested floor
waiting time = |hall_request –
waiting time = |hall_request car_position|
– car_position| Distance= 3 x hall_request Receiving Input Hall Request
Distance= 3 x |hall_request- car_position| Hall request generated by pressing UP or DOWN button
car_position|

Stop the Motor when reach Figure 5. Fuzzy Algorithm of Elevator group controller
at requested floor

Table . 3. DC Geared motor specification

Set Floor Request status= 0
for fulfilled floor Specification Values
Input voltage(v) 12
Speed(RPM) 103
Read updated floor
Torque(mNm) 127.4
Weight 160
YES
If elevator car fulfilled Power(w) 1.1
all floor request Diameter(mm) 37
L(mm) 27
NO
Motor rotates at previous direction

For UPWARD case For DOWNWARD case

 Table 4. Assigning Elevator cars according to initial position of
cars

Investigation Cases Elevator Cars

From Hall Floor

Request Request 1 2 3
UP 2 9 X X
FLOOR 1 UP 3 9 X X
UP 4 9 X X
UP 5 9 X X
UP 3 9 X X
UP 4 9 X X
FLOOR 2
UP 5 9 X X
DOWN 1 X 9 X
UP 4 X 9 X
FLOOR 3 UP 5 X 9 X
DOWN 2 X 9 X
DOWN 1 X 9 X
UP 5 X 9 X
a) CAD Design DOWN 3 X X 9
FLOOR 4
DOWN 2 X X 9
DOWN 1 X X 9
DOWN 4 X X 9
DOWN 3 X X 9
FLOOR 5
DOWN 2 X X 9
DOWN 1 X X 9

b) Experimental Design 1
Figure 6. CAD design and experimental design of the prototype

Figure 7. Initial Position of Elevator Cars: (1 3 5). one elevator car

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION (right one) is a dummy

A. Evaluation of Assigning Elevator Cars

Based on Initial Position.

During system testing process, the elevator system

was initialized the position of every elevator cars at
floor 1, floor 3, and floor 5 for elevator car 1, 2, and 3
respectively. It was assumed that the elevator car 4
was designed as technical and backup purpose so that
only three elevators working at networked operation.
Elevator assignments are shown in table 5 below.
Where,
9 Elevator Car was assigned
X Other elevator cars were not selected
Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 shows the position of the elevators.
Fig. 9 to Fig. 14 are showing that how priority
depends upon waiting time, riding time, loading
tome, destination area weight, hall call area weight Figure 8. Position of elevators (4 1 5).
and travelling distance. Fig. 15 shows the Fuzzy
Rules’ viewer includes all Membership Functions
Figure. 9. 3D Surface Analysis of Priority (Z) vs. Waiting Time Figure. 12. 3D Surface Analysis of Priority (Z) vs. Destination
(X) and Riding Time (Y) Area Weight (X) and Hall Call Area Weight (Y).

Figure. 10. 3D Surface Analysis of Priority (Z) vs. Waiting Time

Figure. 13. 3D Surface Analysis of Priority (Z) vs. Loading Time
(X) and Loading (Y)
(X) and Riding Time (Y)

Figure. 11. 3D Surface Analysis of Priority (Z) vs. Destination Figure. 14. 3D Surface Analysis of Priority (Z) vs. Waiting Time
Area Weight (X) and Travelling Distance(Y). (X) and Destination Area Weight (Y)

Figure. 15. Fuzzy Rules’ Viewer includes all Membership Functions

 5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
A fuzzy logic-based controller of a four-car elevator
(one is used as dummy) has presented in this paper. A set
of fuzzy rules was also drawn based on practical
considerations which mainly minimize the waiting time
riding time as well as energy consumption. The analysis
and design, fuzzy logic controller (FL) has been used to
make an approximate model when a system is very
complex due to stochastic environment of traffic pattern.
The simulation and experimental studies of this
research showed that the performance of the controller in
minimizing the waiting time and power consumption is
better compared to the existing system. The system
performance can be improved by using high speed DSP
board instead of microcontroller.
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