Pneumatic systems have been widely used in industrial applications because of their well-known advantages. However, pneumatic systems have disadvantages that include strong non-linearity and low natural frequency. These drawbacks make it difficult to obtain satisfactory control performances in comparison to hydraulic systems. In this research, the fundamental characteristics and nonlinear synchronous control strategy of pneumatic systems are studied. The two-layer sliding mode synchro system with feedback linearization based on friction compensation is applied to electro-pneumatic cylinders and synchro PID controller is applied to these position systems. To validate the developed strategies, experiments with two-cylinder electro-pneumatic systems are performed. The experimental results show that the synchronous position control design is effective in both accuracy and robustness.