Model Predictive Control Relevant Identification

Model predictive control (MPC) is a multivariable feedback control technique used in a wide range of practical settings, such as industrial process control, stochastic control in economics, automotive and aerospace applications. As they are able to handle hard input and output constraints, a system can be controlled near its physical limits, which frequently results in performance superior to linear controllers (Maciejowski, 2002), specially for multivariable systems. At each sampling instant, predictive controllers solve an optimization problem to compute the control action over a finite time horizon. Then, the first of the control actions from that horizon is applied to the system. In the next sample time, this policy is repeated, with the time horizon shifted one sample forward. The optimization problem takes into account estimates of the system output, which are computed with the input-output data up to that instant, through a mathematical model. Hence, in MPC applications, a suitable model to generate accurate output predictions in a specific horizon is crucial, so that high performance closed-loop control is achieved. Actually, model development is considered to be, by far, the most expensive and time-consuming task in implementing a model predictive controller (Zhu & Butoyi, 2002).