Efficient building energy management using distributed model predictive control

This work presents a distributed model predictive (DMPC) scheme for the efficient management of energy distribution in buildings. The energy demanded by the building's residents is supplied by a renewable power system whose capacity is limited and sometimes cannot fulfill the energy requirements of the residents, depending on the availability of renewable resources. Extensions are proposed for the distributed controllers aiming to overcome difficulties that arise from the direct application of a standard DMPC formulation. The alternative formulation retains desirable features like the ability to perform energy saving, when demand does not exceed supply, and to effectively distribute energy without disproportionally harming any of the building users, when the system experiences a shortage of energy supply. Simulation and experimental results obtained in a solar energy research center located in Almería, Spain, are reported and discussed, showing promising results for the proposed control strategy.     

A robust distributed model predictive control algorithm

Although distributed model predictive control (DMPC) has received significant attention in the literature, the robustness of DMPC with respect to model errors has not been explicitly addressed. In this paper, a novel online algorithm that deals explicitly with model errors for DMPC is proposed. The algorithm requires decomposing the entire system into N subsystems and solving N convex optimization problems to minimize an upper bound on a robust performance objective by using a time-varying state-feedback controller for each subsystem. Simulations examples were considered to illustrate the application of the proposed method.     

Distributed model predictive control of an experimental four-tank system

A distributed model predictive control (DMPC) framework is proposed. The physical plant structure and the plant mathematical model are used to partition the system into self-sufficient estimation and control nodes. Local measurements at the nodes are used to estimate the relevant plant states. This information is then used in the model predictive control calculations. Communication among relevant nodes during estimation and control calculations provides improvement over the performance of completely decentralized controllers. The DMPC framework is demonstrated for the level control of an experimental four-tank system. The performance of the DMPC system for disturbance rejection is compared with other control configurations. The results indicate that the proposed framework provides significant improvement over completely decentralized MPC controllers, and approaches the performance of a fully centralized design.     

DISOPE distributed model predictive control of cascade systems with network communication

A novel distributed model predictive control scheme based on dynamic integrated system optimization and parameter estimation （DISOPE） was proposed for nonlinear cascade systems under network environment. Under the distributed control structure, online optimization of the cascade system was composed of several cascaded agents that can cooperate and exchange information via network communication. By iterating on modified distributed linear optimal control problems on the basis of estimating parameters at every iteration the correct optimal control action of the nonlinear model predictive control problem of the cascade system could be obtained, assuming that the algorithm was convergent. This approach avoids solving the complex nonlinear optimization problem and significantly reduces the computational burden. The simulation results of the fossil fuel power unit are illustrated to verify the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed algorithm.     

An iterative scheme for distributed model predictive control using Fenchel's duality

We present an iterative distributed version of Han's parallel method for convex optimization that can be used for distributed model predictive control (DMPC) of industrial processes described by dynamically coupled linear systems. The underlying decomposition technique relies on Fenchel's duality and allows subproblems to be solved using local communications only. We investigate two techniques aimed at improving the convergence rate of the iterative approach and illustrate the results using a numerical example. We conclude by discussing open issues of the proposed method and by providing an outlook on research in the field.     

Non-fragile observer-based output feedback control for polytopic uncertain system under distributed model predictive control approach

In this paper, a non-fragile observer-based output feedback control problem for the polytopic uncertain system under distributed model predictive control (MPC) approach is discussed. By decomposing the global system into some subsystems, the computation complexity is reduced, so it follows that the online designing time can be saved.Moreover, an observer-based output feedback control algorithm is proposed in the framework of distributed MPC to deal with the difficulties in obtaining the states measurements. In this way, the presented observer-based output-feedback MPC strategy is more flexible and applicable in practice than the traditional state-feedback one. What is more, the non-fragility of the controller has been taken into consideration in favour of increasing the robustness of the polytopic uncertain system. After that, a sufficient stability criterion is presented by using Lyapunov-like functional approach, meanwhile, the corresponding control law and the upper bound of the quadratic cost function are derived by solving an optimisation subject to convex constraints. Finally, some simulation examples are employed to show the effectiveness of the method.     

Robust distributed model predictive control of linear systems with structured time-varying uncertainties

In this work, synthesis of robust distributed model predictive control (MPC) is presented for a class of linear systems subject to structured time-varying uncertainties. By decomposing a global system into smaller dimensional subsystems, a set of distributed MPC controllers, instead of a centralised controller, are designed. To ensure the robust stability of the closed-loop system with respect to model uncertainties, distributed state feedback laws are obtained by solving a min–max optimisation problem. The design of robust distributed MPC is then transformed into solving a minimisation optimisation problem with linear matrix inequality constraints. An iterative online algorithm with adjustable maximum iteration is proposed to coordinate the distributed controllers to achieve a global performance. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed robust distributed MPC algorithm.     

Nash-optimization enhanced distributed model predictive control applied to the Shell benchmark problem

This paper presents an efficient distributed model predictive control scheme based on Nash optimality, in which the on-line optimization of the whole system is decomposed into that of several small co-operative agents in distributed structures, thus it can significantly reduce computational complexity in model predictive control of large-scale systems. The relevant nominal stability and the performance on single-step horizon under the communication failure are investigated. The Shell heavy oil fractionator benchmark control problem is illustrated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.     

Distributed model predictive control of constrained nonlinear systems with communication delays

Distributed model predictive control (MPC), having been proven to be efficient for large-scale control systems, is essentially enabled by communication network connections among involved subsystems (agents). This paper studies the distributed MPC problem for a class of continuous-time decoupled nonlinear systems subject to communication delays. By using a robustness constraint and designing a waiting mechanism, a delay-involved distributed MPC scheme is proposed. Furthermore, the iterative feasibility and stability properties are analyzed. It is shown that, if the communication delays are bounded by an upper bound, and the cooperation weights and the sampling period are designed appropriately, the overall system state converges to the equilibrium point. The theoretical results are verified by a simulation study.     

Rapid distributed model predictive control design using singular value decomposition for linear systems

The issue of model predictive control design of distribution systems using a popular singular value decomposition (SVD) technique is addressed. Namely, projection to a set of conjugate structure is dealt with in this paper. The structure of the resulting predictive model is decomposed into small sets of subsystems. The optimal inputs can be separately designed at each subsystem in parallel without any interaction problems. The optimal inputs can be directly obtained and the communication among the subsystems can be significantly reduced. In addition, the design of distribution model predictive control (DMPC) with constraints using the SVD framework is also presented. The unconstraint inputs are checked in parallel in the conjugate space. Without solving the QP problem of each subsystem, the suboptimal solution can be quickly obtained by selecting the bigger singular values and discarding the small singular values in the singular value space. The convergence condition of the proposed algorithm is also proved. Two case studies are used to illustrate the distribution control systems using the suggested approach. Comparisons between the centralized model predictive control method and the proposed DMPC method are carried out to show the advantages of the newly proposed method.     

Advanced-multi-step nonlinear model predictive control

Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) has gained widespread attention due to its ability to handle variable bounds and deal with multi-input, multi-output systems. However, it is susceptible to computational delay, especially when the solution time of the nonlinear programming (NLP) problem exceeds the sampling time. In this paper we propose a fast NMPC method based on NLP sensitivity, called advanced-multi-step NMPC (amsNMPC). Two variants of this method are developed, the parallel approach and the serial approach. For the amsNMPC method, NLP problems are solved in background multiple sampling times in advance, and manipulated variables are updated on-line when the actual states are available. We present case studies about a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and a distillation column to show the performance of amsNMPC. Nominal stability properties are also analyzed.     

Evaluating a new communication protocol for real-time distributed control

The recent trend in distributed automation and control systems has been towards event-triggered system architectures such as UML and IEC 61499. Although existing communication protocols (e.g., Ethernet) can support high-level communication within these systems, there is contention as to which low-level protocol to use, or if any exist that meet the requirements of being event-triggered and hard real-time. This paper proposes a new way to measure communication performance. The goal of the new measurement method is to stress the necessity that a real-time communication protocol needs to be both efficient and fair. This is illustrated by comparing three communication strategies: Controller Area Network (CAN), Time-Triggered CAN (TTCAN) and Escalating Priority CAN (EPCAN). The first two represent the extremes between event-triggered and time-triggered communication strategies; the third is introduced to illustrate the benefits of a new event-based communication protocol proposed by the authors.     

Spacecraft attitude control using explicit model predictive control

In this paper, an explicit model predictive controller for the attitude of a satellite is designed. Explicit solutions to constrained linear MPC problems can be computed by solving multi-parametric quadratic programs (mpQP), where the parameters are the components of the state vector. The solution to the mpQP is a piecewise affine (PWA) function, which can be evaluated at each sample to obtain the optimal control law. The on-line computation effort is restricted to a table-lookup, and the controller can be implemented on inexpensive hardware as fixed-point arithmetics can be used. This is useful for systems with limited power and CPU resources. An example of such systems is micro-satellites, which is the focus of this paper. In particular, the explicit MPC (eMPC) approach is applied to the SSETI/ESEO micro-satellite, initiated by the European Space Agency (esa). The theoretical results are supported by simulations.     

A formulation of nonlinear model predictive control using automatic differentiation

An efficient algorithm is developed to alleviate the computational burden associated with nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC). The new algorithm extends an existing algorithm for solutions of dynamic sensitivity from autonomous to non-autonomous differential equations using the Taylor series and automatic differentiation (AD). A formulation is then presented to recast the NMPC problem as a standard nonlinear programming problem by using the Taylor series and AD. The efficiency of the new algorithm is compared with other approaches via an evaporation case study. The comparison shows that the new algorithm can reduce computational time by two orders of magnitude.     

Model predictive control using an extended ARMarkov model

The original ARMarkov identification method explicitly determines the first μ Markov parameters from plant input–output data and approximates the slower dynamics of the process by an ARX model structure. In this paper, the method is extended to include a disturbance model and an ARIMAX structure is used to approximate the slower dynamics. This extended ARMarkov model is then used to formulate a predictive controller. As the number of Markov parameters in the model varies from one to P (prediction horizon)+1, the controller changes from generalized predictive control (GPC) to dynamic matrix control (DMC). The advantages of the proposed ARM-MPC are the consistency of the Markov parameters estimated by the ARMarkov method, independent tuning of the controller for servo and regulatory responses and the ability to combine the characteristics of GPC and DMC. The theoretical results are illustrated through simulation examples.