Least-restrictive move-blocking model predictive control

Move-blocking lowers the computational complexity of model predictive control (MPC) problems by reducing the number of optimization variables. However, this may render states close to constraints infeasible. Thus move-blocking generally results in control laws that are restrictive; the controller domains may be unacceptably and unnecessarily small. Furthermore, different move-blocking strategies may result in controller domains of different sizes, all other factors being equal. In this paper an approach is proposed to design move-blocking MPC control laws that are least-restrictive, i.e. the controller domain is equal to the maximum controlled invariant set. The domains of different move-blocking controllers are then by design equal to each other. This allows comparison of differing move-blocking strategies based on cost performance only, without needing to consider domain size also. Thus this paper is a step towards being able to derive optimal move-blocking MPC control laws.     

MPC of constrained discrete-time linear periodic systems — A framework for asynchronous control: Strong feasibility, stability and optimality via periodic invariance

State-feedback model predictive control (MPC) of discrete-time linear periodic systems with time-dependent state and input dimensions is considered. The states and inputs are subject to periodically time-dependent, hard, convex, polyhedral constraints. First, periodic controlled and positively invariant sets are characterized, and a method to determine the maximum periodic controlled and positively invariant sets is derived. The proposed periodic controlled invariant sets are then employed in the design of least-restrictive strongly feasible reference-tracking MPC problems. The proposed periodic positively invariant sets are employed in combination with well-known results on optimal unconstrained periodic linear-quadratic regulation (LQR) to yield constrained periodic LQR control laws that are stabilizing and optimal. One motivation for systems with time-dependent dimensions is efficient control law synthesis for discrete-time systems with asynchronous inputs, for which a novel modeling framework resulting in low dimensional models is proposed. The presented methods are applied to a multirate nano-positioning system.     

State‐space approach to interpolation in MPC

Interpolation between unconstrained optimal input trajectories and feasible trajectories forms the basis for a computationally efficient predictive control algorithm but lacks robustness in that uncertainty can destroy the guarantee of feasibility. To overcome this problem it is possible to introduce into the interpolation process a further input trajectory which is referred as ‘mean level’. This has been accomplished in an input–output setting and the purpose of the present paper is to show that it is possible to get a considerably simpler algorithm by recasting the problem into state‐space form. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stochastic MPC with inequality stability constraints

Stochastic uncertainty is a common feature of many control engineering problems, and is also present in a wider class of applications, e.g. finance and sustainable development. Recent work proposed a constrained MPC approach that took explicit account of the distributions of uncertain model parameters but used terminal equality constraints to ensure stability. The present paper reformulates the problem in order to relax the stability constraints by invoking appropriate terminal inequalities. The application of the proposed strategy and its advantages over earlier work are illustrated by means of a numerical example.     

An MPC approach to the design of two-layer hierarchical control systems

A methodology for the design of two-layer hierarchical control systems is presented. The high layer corresponds to a system with slow dynamics, whose control inputs must be provided by subsystems with faster dynamics placed at the low layer. Model Predictive Control laws are synthesized for both layers and overall convergence properties are established. The use of different control configurations is also considered by allowing the switching on/off of the subsystems at the low layer. A simulation example is reported to witness the potentialities of the proposed solution.     

Resource-aware MPC for constrained nonlinear systems: A self-triggered control approach

In systems with resource constraints, such as actuation limitations or limited communication bandwidth, it is desired to obtain control signals that are either sparse or sporadically changing in time to reduce resource utilization. In this paper, we propose a resource-aware self-triggered MPC strategy for discrete-time nonlinear systems subject to state and input constraints that has three important features: Firstly, significant reductions in resource utilization can be realized without modifying the cost function by input regularization or explicitly penalizing resource usage. Secondly, the control laws and triggering mechanisms are synthesized so that a priori chosen performance levels (in terms of the original cost function) are guaranteed by design next to asymptotic stability and constraint satisfaction. Thirdly, we address the co-design problem of jointly designing the feedback law and the triggering condition. By means of numerical examples, we show the effectiveness of this novel strategy.     

A line search improvement of efficient MPC

A recent efficient Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy uses a univariate Newton-Raphson procedure to solve a dual problem, but is not amenable to warm starting or early termination. By solving a primal problem, the current note proposes a strategy which is more efficient than the Newton-Raphson method and which enables warm starting and early termination. Performance improvements are demonstrated over the Newton-Raphson method and alternative approaches based on quadratic programming or semidefinite programming.     

Least-restrictive robust periodic model predictive control applied to room temperature regulation

State-feedback model predictive control (MPC) of constrained discrete-time periodic affine systems is considered. The periodic systems’ states and inputs are subject to periodically time-dependent, hard, polyhedral constraints. Disturbances are additive, bounded and subject to periodically time-dependent bounds. The objective is to design MPC laws that robustly enforce constraint satisfaction in a manner that is least-restrictive, i.e., have the largest possible domain. The proposed design method is demonstrated on a building climate control example. The proposed method is directly applicable to time-invariant MPC.     

A new optimization algorithm with application to nonlinear MPC

This paper investigates application of SQP optimization algorithms to nonlinear model predictive control. It considers feasible vs. infeasible path methods, sequential vs. simultaneous methods and reduced vs. full space methods. A new optimization algorithm coined rFOPT which remains feasibile with respect to inequality constraints is introduced. The suitable choices between these various strategies are assessed informally through a small CSTR case study. The case study also considers the effect various discretization methods have on the optimization problem.     

Enlarging the domain of attraction of MPC controllers

This paper presents a method for enlarging the domain of attraction of nonlinear model predictive control (MPC). The usual way of guaranteeing stability of nonlinear MPC is to add a terminal constraint and a terminal cost to the optimization problem such that the terminal region is a positively invariant set for the system and the terminal cost is an associated Lyapunov function. The domain of attraction of the controller depends on the size of the terminal region and the control horizon. By increasing the control horizon, the domain of attraction is enlarged but at the expense of a greater computational burden, while increasing the terminal region produces an enlargement without an extra cost.In this paper, the MPC formulation with terminal cost and constraint is modified, replacing the terminal constraint by a contractive terminal constraint. This constraint is given by a sequence of sets computed off-line that is based on the positively invariant set. Each set of this sequence does not need to be an invariant set and can be computed by a procedure which provides an inner approximation to the one-step set. This property allows us to use one-step approximations with a trade off between accuracy and computational burden for the computation of the sequence. This strategy guarantees closed loop-stability ensuring the enlargement of the domain of attraction and the local optimality of the controller. Moreover, this idea can be directly translated to robust MPC.     

Convergence properties of constrained linear system under MPC control law using affine disturbance feedback

This paper shows new convergence properties of constrained linear discrete time system with bounded disturbances under Model Predictive Control (MPC) law. The MPC control law is obtained using an affine disturbance feedback parametrization with an additional linear state feedback term. This parametrization has the same representative ability as some recent disturbance feedback parametrization, but its choice together with an appropriate cost function results in a different closed-loop convergence property. More exactly, the state of the closed-loop system converges to a minimal invariant set with probability one. Deterministic convergence to the same minimal invariant set is also possible if a less intuitive cost function is used. Numerical experiments are provided that validate the results.     

A practical approach for hybrid distributed MPC

This paper presents a framework to deal with distributed optimization problems composed by binary and continuous variables. Instead of using a mixed integer quadratic programming (MIQP), the approach proposed here transforms the MIQP into a set of quadratic programming's (QP) that are easier to solve. In this way an instance of the controller related to each feasible combination of binary variables is created. The distributed controller performs an iterative process where the set of agents must agree on the value of continuous interconnection variables, while each agent must decide the values of local binary variables. During the iteration procedure the instances are rated according to a performance index and the instances with best performance are selected until the best one is obtained. The proposed methodology is applied to economic optimization of networked microgrids.     

Computation of the constrained infinite time linear quadratic regulator

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for computing the solution to the constrained infinite-time, linear quadratic regulator (CLQR) problem for discrete time systems. The algorithm combines multi-parametric quadratic programming with reachability analysis to obtain the optimal piecewise affine (PWA) feedback law. The algorithm reduces the time necessary to compute the PWA solution for the CLQR when compared to other approaches. It also determines the minimal finite horizon , such that the constrained finite horizon LQR problem equals the CLQR problem for a compact set of states . The on-line computational effort for the implementation of the CLQR can be significantly reduced as well, either by evaluating the PWA solution or by solving the finite dimensional quadratic program associated with the CLQR for a horizon of .     

Incorporating state estimation into model predictive control and its application to network traffic control

Model predictive control (MPC) is of interest because it is one of the few control design methods which preserves standard design variables and yet handles constraints. MPC is normally posed as a full-state feedback control and is implemented in a certainty-equivalence fashion with best estimates of the states being used in place of the exact state. This paper focuses on exploring the inclusion of state estimates and their interaction with constraints. It does this by applying constrained MPC to a system with stochastic disturbances. The stochastic nature of the problem requires re-posing the constraints in a probabilistic form. Using a gaussian assumption, the original problem is approximated by a standard deterministically-constrained MPC problem for the conditional mean process of the state. The state estimates’ conditional covariances appear in tightening the constraints. ‘Closed-loop covariance’ is introduced to reduce the infeasibility and the conservativeness caused by using long-horizon, open-loop prediction covariances. The resulting control law is applied to a telecommunications network traffic control problem as an example.     

A gradient-based strategy for the one-layer RTO + MPC controller

In the process industries model predictive controllers (MPC) have the task of controlling the plant ensuring stability and constraints satisfaction, while an economic cost is minimized. Usually the economic objective is optimized by an upper level Real Time Optimizer (RTO) that passes the economically optimal setpoints to the MPC level. The drawback of this structure is the possible inconsistence/unreachability of those setpoints, due to the different models employed by the RTO and the MPC, as well as their different time scales. In this paper an MPC that explicitly integrates the RTO structure into the dynamic control layer is presented. To overcome the complexity of this one-layer formulation a gradient-based approximation is proposed, which provides a low-computational-cost suboptimal solution.     

Reduction of the QP-MPC cascade structure to a single layer MPC

Some commercial MPC packages are implemented in two layers, the QP static layer and the MPC dynamic layer. In the absence of an upper Real Time Optimization layer, the static layer solves a simplified economic optimization problem, which defines optimum feasible targets for the dynamic layer. Since the LP/QP static layer and the MPC dynamic layer are usually executed within the same sampling period, it is not trivial to guarantee that the interaction between the two layers will not disrupt the stability of the whole structure. In this paper, it is proposed an approach to reduce the two-layer structure of some commercial MPCs to a single dynamic layer where the control cost function is extended to include the economic objective. In the proposed approach the convergence and stability of the closed-loop system can be obtained if the economic term of the cost function is properly weighted. A simulation example of a simple industrial system shows the efficiency of the proposed strategy.     

Estimation of Attractive Regions of Nonlinear MPC Controller-A Feasible Solution based Method

A new model predictive control (MPC) algorithm for nonlinear systems is presented, its stabilizing property is proved, and its attractive regions are estimated. The presented method is based on the feasible solution, which makes the attractive regions much larger than those of the normal MPC controller that is based on the optimal solution.     

Optimal control of grinding mill circuit using model predictive static programming: A new nonlinear MPC paradigm

The recently developed reference-command tracking version of model predictive static programming (MPSP) is successfully applied to a single-stage closed grinding mill circuit. MPSP is an innovative optimal control technique that combines the philosophies of model predictive control (MPC) and approximate dynamic programming. The performance of the proposed MPSP control technique, which can be viewed as a ‘new paradigm’ under the nonlinear MPC philosophy, is compared to the performance of a standard nonlinear MPC technique applied to the same plant for the same conditions. Results show that the MPSP control technique is more than capable of tracking the desired set-point in the presence of model-plant mismatch, disturbances and measurement noise. The performance of MPSP and nonlinear MPC compare very well, with definite advantages offered by MPSP. The computational speed of MPSP is increased through a sequence of innovations such as the conversion of the dynamic optimization problem to a low-dimensional static optimization problem, the recursive computation of sensitivity matrices and using a closed form expression to update the control. To alleviate the burden on the optimization procedure in standard MPC, the control horizon is normally restricted. However, in the MPSP technique the control horizon is extended to the prediction horizon with a minor increase in the computational time. Furthermore, the MPSP technique generally takes only a couple of iterations to converge, even when input constraints are applied. Therefore, MPSP can be regarded as a potential candidate for online applications of the nonlinear MPC philosophy to real-world industrial process plants.     

A robust gradient-based MPC for integrating real time optimizer (RTO) with control

A gradient-based model predictive control (MPC) strategy was recently proposed to reduce the computational burden derived from the explicit inclusion of an economic real time optimization (RTO). The main idea is to compute a suboptimal solution, which is the convex combination of a feasible solution and a solution of an approximated (linearized) problem. The main benefits of this strategy are that convergence is still guaranteed and good economic performances are obtained, according to several simulation scenarios. The formulation, however, is developed only for the nominal case, which significantly reduces its applicability. In this work, an extension of the gradient-based MPC to explicitly account for disturbances is made. The resulting robust formulation considers a nominal prediction model, but restricted constraints (in order to account for the effect of additive disturbances). The nominal economic performance is preserved and robust stability is ensured. An illustrative example shows the benefits of the proposal.