ROBUST CONTROL

Traditional Control
Does not address plant/model mismatch issues in a systematic manner.

Performance initially may be satisfactory, i.e. performance good for nominal model, but

it may deteriorate or even become unstable when process dynamics vary with time.
Response obtained
y
during sunny days
Why do dynamics change?

Process throughput change

Response obtained
during rainstorm
Feed quality change
u t
Ambient temperature

Equipment efficiency

etc

t
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 What is Robustness?

Robustness is the ability to control under changing operating conditions.

As plant drifts from current conditions and process dynamics change, a robust controller
will provide the best performance under different conditions.

Robustness vs. Performance

PID Z-N Tuning C-C Tuning Direct Robust Control

Ad Hoc Synthesis

Model partly partly invertible a set of models

Information parts

Sensitivity uncertainty
Information description

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 Feedback Principle d
+
+ +
y GK y 1 y GK r K G y
= = =
r 1 + GK d 1 + GK 1 + GK +
+
r

G ( s) K ( s) : loop-gain

1
= S (s) : sensitivity function
1 + GK

GK
= T (s) : complementary sensitivity function
1 + GK

S +T =1

3
1. Set-Point Tracking

A
If r =
s
y GK G ( 0) K ( 0)
= = T y (t ) = A G (0) K (0) should be large or T (0) = 1
r 1 + GK 1 + G ( 0) K ( 0)

Note PI control => no steady-state offset => G(0)K(0)=? T ( j )

1 2
If r = A sin t 1
1
r y
T 2

y (t ) = A T ( j ) sin[t + (T ( j ))] b1 b2
y

T ( j ) 1 and (T ( jw)) 0 when G ( j ) K ( j )

2

High loop gain is required for good set-point performance,

1
or T ( j ) = 1 over a large frequency range.
time
4
 1 1 1
Example G = , K 1 = 1.5(1 + ), K 2 = 0.75(1 + )
s 2 + 3s + 2 s s

1 1.2

1
0.8

0.8
0.6
T
0.6

0.4
0.4

0.2
0.2

0 -3 -2 -1 0 1
0
10 10 10 10 10 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
frequency time

5
2. Disturbance Rejection

y 1
= =S
d 1 + GK
'
For a step disturbance, (t = ) = 0 => large G (0) K (0) or small S (0)
y

Note PI control => no steady-state offset => S(0) = ?

If d = A sin t

y(t ) = A S ( j ) sin[t + ( S ( j ))]

It is clear that G( j ) K ( j ) >> 1 implies that S ( j ) => 0 .

Again, high loop gain is required for good disturbance performance,

or S ( j ) = 0 over a large frequency range.

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Summary of Performance Requirements
1
(a) Good disturbance rejection S ( j ) = 0 or GK ( j ) >> 1,
1 + GK ( j )
GK ( j )
(b) Good set-point tracking T ( j ) = 1 or GK ( j ) >> 1,
1 + GK ( j )
where is the frequency range that covers the frequency content of disturbances and set-
point changes. Typically band-width of the control system is used, i.e. = [0 b ]. In general,
the larger b is, the better control performance is. Any trade-off between (a) and (b) ?

y GK
3. Measurement Noise = = T ( s )
1 + GK
T ( j) 1 (for good performance) => y 1, i.e. no suppression of noise

y
= 0 T = 0
On the other end, (what is the implication on performance ?)

7
 Trade-off exists between the noise suppression and set-point tracking (or disturbance
rejection).

4. Plant/Model Mismatch

In process control, noise is not the major limitation because it is either small or its
frequency falls outside the bandwidth of interest. Bandwidth becomes limited usually by
modeling error before it is limited by noise.

T Modeling error becomes significant

noise

Design Objective

How to achieve high loop-gain (i.e. performance) while maintaining closed-loop stability
in the presence of uncertainty ?

8
9
10
The performance weight is normally chosen as

s / M + wB
wp ( s) =
s + wB A

A =?

M =?

wB = ?

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Various sources of model uncertainty may be grouped into three classes:

1. Parametric uncertainty. The model structure is known, but its parameters are uncertain.

G p ( s ) = kG ( s ), k min k k max
k max + k min k max k min
k = k (1 + r k r ), k = , rk = , r 1
2 k max + k min

2. Neglected and unmodelled dynamics. The modelling errors occur either through deliberate
neglect or because of a lack of understanding of the physical process. This class of uncertainty
is normally described as the complex perturbations in the frequency domain, which is

normalized as
1.

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13
14
The disc-shaped uncertainty can be described by multiplicative uncertainty description:

G p ( s ) = Gm ( s )[1 + lm (s ) m (s )], m ( jw) 1

or
G p ( jw) Gm ( jw) = Gm ( jw)lm ( jw) m ( jw) Gm ( jw)lm ( jw)

Nyquist Plot Nyquist Band

|Gm(jw1)|

|Gm(jw2)| Gp(jw1)
Gm(jw1) Gm(jw2)
Gm(jw2) Gm(jw1)
Gp(jw2)
|Gm(jw1)lm(jw1)|
|Gm(jw2)lm(jw2)|

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18
 1 s + 1
Example G m = , Gp = , 1 1
2s + 1 ( s + 1)(2 s + 1)

G p ( 1 ) s s 2s
| l m ( j ) | Max 1 = Max = 2 => l m ( s ) =
Gm s +1 s +1 s +1

Now, apply RS condition to controller designs K = 10 and K = 2 .

2 2
10 10

1 1
10 10

0 0
10 10

-1 -1
10 10

-2 -2
10 -2 -1 0 1 2
10 -2 -1 0 1 2
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

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 Performance Robust Stability

T21 l m ( )
Mp
T ( j1) T1 1
M 1
p
T11 ( j )
T2

T1 violates RS condition

T2 satisfies RS condition by detuning, i.e. at the expense of performance loss

This problem is inherent in feedback control (why ?) and cannot be overcome by any clever
controller design.

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21
22
23
 1 s + 1
Example G m = , Gp = , 1 1
2s + 1 ( s + 1)(2 s + 1)

2 7s + 1
The weights are l =
1 + 2 (from previous discussion) and W p = 0.25 7 s
m

Case 1: K = 2.
6 12

1
5 T 10

NP 4 1
RP 8
Wp
+
3
RS 6
lm
2 4

1 2
S

0 0
-3 -2 -1 0 1
10 10 10 10 10 10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
10
0
10
1

frequency
frequency

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 2 1.5

1 1 1
Case 2: K = 1 + 1
1.5 s 0.5
0 s +1 0.5s + 1
Gp = 0 Gp =
( s + 1)(2s + 1) ( s + 1)(2s + 1)
-1 -0.5
0 20 40 0 20 40

1.5 1.5

1 1

0.5 0.5
1 1
Gp = Gp =
0 ( s + 1)(2s + 1) 0 2s + 1
-0.5 -0.5
0 20 40 0 20 40
6 1

1
5 T
0.8
NP
1
+ 4 W
p RP 0.6
RS 3
l
m 0.4
2

0.2
1
S
0 0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 -3 -2 -1 0 1
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

frequency frequency
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 50 2

1 1
Case 3: K = 21 + 1
1. 5 s 0
s +1 0 0 .5 s + 1
Gp = Gp =
( s + 1)(2s + 1) ( s + 1)(2 s + 1)
-50 -1
0 20 40 0 20 40

1.5 1.5

1 1

0.5 0.5
1 1
0 Gp = 0 Gp =
( s + 1)(2 s + 1) 2s + 1
-0.5 -0.5
0 20 40 0 20 40
6 1.4

1 1.2
5 T
1
NP 4
1
W RP 0.8
+ p
3
RS l 0.6
m
2
0.4
S
1 0.2

0 0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 -3 -2 -1 0 1
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
frequency frequency
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 3 2
1
Case 4: K = 1 + 2
1
1.1s 1
0 0 .5 s + 1
0 s +1 Gp =
Gp = ( s + 1)(2 s + 1)
( s + 1)(2 s + 1)
-1 -1
0 20 40 0 20 40

1.5 1.5

1 1

0.5 0.5
1
0 Gp = 0 1
( s + 1)(2 s + 1) G p[ =
2s + 1
-0.5 -0.5
0 20 40 0 20 40
6 1.2

5 1 1
T
NP 4
RP 0.8
+ 1
W
RS 3 p 0.6

2
lm 0.4

1 0.2

S
0 0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 -3 -2 -1 0 1
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
frequency frequency

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