Decoupled Model-Free Adaptive Control with Prediction Features Experimentally Applied to a Three-Tank System Following Time-Varying Trajectories

Abstract

In this paper, the performance of three model-free control approaches on a multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear system with constant and time-varying references is compared. The first control algorithm is model-free adaptive control (MFAC). The second is a modified version of MFAC (MMFAC) designed to handle delays in the system by incorporating the output error difference (over two sample time steps) in the control input. The third approach, model-free adaptive predictive control (MFAPC) with a one-step-ahead forecast of the system input, is obtained by using predictions of the outputs based on the data-based linear model. The experimental device used is an MIMO three-tank system (3TS) assumed to be an interconnected system with multiple coupled single-input, single-output (SISO) subsystems with unmeasurable couplings. The novelty of this contribution is that each coupled SISO partition is assumed to be controlled independently using a decoupled control algorithm, leading to fewer control parameters compared to a centralized MIMO controller. Additionally, both parameter tuning for each controller and performance evaluation are conducted using an evaluation criterion considering energy consumption and accumulated tracking error. The results demonstrate that almost all the proposed model-free controllers effectively control an MIMO system by controlling its SISO subsystems individually. Moreover, the predictive features in the decoupled MFAPC contribute to more accurate tracking of time-varying references. The utilization of tracking error differences helps in reducing energy consumption.