Control of the chaotic driven pendulum

Abstract

A method of controlling chaos (due to Ott, Grebogi, and Yorke) is illustrated with a simulated chaotic pendulum. The method consists of stabilizing a previously unstable periodic orbit through a feedback mechanism that periodically adjusts the damping parameter of the pendulum. The presentation is pedagogical and describes the method in more detail than is typical of the research literature on controlling chaotic systems.