Real-Time Position Control of a Pneumatic System Using Model Predictive Control

Studies on the precise control applications with pneumatic systems have been growing in recent years.In addition to this, due to the complexity and non-linearity of the system the expected performance will only be gained by applying modern control strategies. So the subject of this paper is identification and real-time model predictive control of a pneumatic system. In order to realise system identification, a white noise signal is sent to the plant and the displacement outputs are stored. Afterwards these data are digitally processed and the parametric single-input single-output step response model is obtained. In the previous study on this system with a PD controller, a steady-state error is observed. In order to eradicate this, a Model Predictive Control – Dynamic Matrix Control algorithm is applied. To run this, in real-time, a programme is written in Matlab Simulink and by using the code generated by Matlab Real-Time Workshop, the real-time position control of the system is performed.