Automatica 

About: Automatica is an academic journal published by Elsevier BV. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Nonlinear system & Linear system. It has an ISSN identifier of 0005-1098. Over the lifetime, 12533 publications have been published receiving 868032 citations.

Survey Constrained model predictive control: Stability and optimality

Abstract: Model predictive control is a form of control in which the current control action is obtained by solving, at each sampling instant, a finite horizon open-loop optimal control problem, using the current state of the plant as the initial state; the optimization yields an optimal control sequence and the first control in this sequence is applied to the plant. An important advantage of this type of control is its ability to cope with hard constraints on controls and states. It has, therefore, been widely applied in petro-chemical and related industries where satisfaction of constraints is particularly important because efficiency demands operating points on or close to the boundary of the set of admissible states and controls. In this review, we focus on model predictive control of constrained systems, both linear and nonlinear and discuss only briefly model predictive control of unconstrained nonlinear and/or time-varying systems. We concentrate our attention on research dealing with stability and optimality; in these areas the subject has developed, in our opinion, to a stage where it has achieved sufficient maturity to warrant the active interest of researchers in nonlinear control. We distill from an extensive literature essential principles that ensure stability and use these to present a concise characterization of most of the model predictive controllers that have been proposed in the literature. In some cases the finite horizon optimal control problem solved on-line is exactly equivalent to the same problem with an infinite horizon; in other cases it is equivalent to a modified infinite horizon optimal control problem. In both situations, known advantages of infinite horizon optimal control accrue.

Paper: Modeling by shortest data description

Abstract: The number of digits it takes to write down an observed sequence x"1, ..., x"N of a time series depends on the model with its parameters that one assumes to have generated the observed data. Accordingly, by finding the model which minimizes the description length one obtains estimates of both the integer-valued structure parameters and the real-valued system parameters.

Model predictive control: theory and practice—a survey

Abstract: We refer to Model Predictive Control (MPC) as that family of controllers in which there is a direct use of an explicit and separately identifiable model. Control design methods based on the MPC concept have found wide acceptance in industrial applications and have been studied by academia. The reason for such popularity is the ability of MPC designs to yield high performance control systems capable of operating without expert intervention for long periods of time. In this paper the issues of importance that any control system should address are stated. MPC techniques are then reviewed in the light of these issues in order to point out their advantages in design and implementation. A number of design techniques emanating from MPC, namely Dynamic Matrix Control, Model Algorithmic Control, Inferential Control and Internal Model Control, are put in perspective with respect to each other and the relation to more traditional methods like Linear Quadratic Control is examined. The flexible constraint handling capabilities of MPC are shown to be a significant advantage in the context of the overall operating objectives of the process industries and the 1-, 2-, and ∞-norm formulations of the performance objective are discussed. The application of MPC to non-linear systems is examined and it is shown that its main attractions carry over. Finally, it is explained that though MPC is not inherently more or less robust than classical feedback, it can be adjusted more easily for robustness.

Generalized predictive control—Part I. The basic algorithm

Abstract: Current self-tuning algorithms lack robustness to prior choices of either dead-time or model order. A novel method—generalized predictive control or GPC—is developed which is shown by simulation studies to be superior to accepted techniques such as generalized minimum-variance and pole-placement. This receding-horizon method depends on predicting the plant's output over several steps based on assumptions about future control actions. One assumption—that there is a “control horizon” beyond which all control increments become zero—is shown to be beneficial both in terms of robustness and for providing simplified calculations. Choosing particular values of the output and control horizons produces as subsets of the method various useful algorithms such as GMV, EPSAC, Peterka's predictive controller (1984, Automatica, 20, 39–50) and Ydstie's extended-horizon design (1984, IFAC 9th World Congress, Budapest, Hungary). Hence GPC can be used either to control a “simple” plant (e.g. open-loop stable) with little prior knowledge or a more complex plant such as nonminimum-phase, open-loop unstable and having variable dead-time. In particular GPC seems to be unaffected (unlike pole-placement strategies) if the plant model is overparameterized. Furthermore, as offsets are eliminated by the consequence of assuming a CARIMA plant model, GPC is a contender for general self-tuning applications. This is verified by a comparative simulation study.