A NEW NYQUIST―BASED TECHNIQUE FOR TUNING ROBUST DECENTRALIZED CONTROLLERS

Abstract

An original Nyquist-based frequency domain robust decentralized controller (DC) design technique for robust stability and guaranteed nominal performance is proposed, applicable for continuous-time uncertain systems described by a set of transfer function matrices. To provide nominal performance, interactions are included in individual design using one se-lected characteristic locus of the interaction matrix, used to reshape frequency responses of decoupled subsystems; such modified subsystems are termed “equivalent subsystems”. Local controllers of equivalent subsystems independently tuned for stability and specified feasible performance constitute the decentralized controller guaranteeing specified perfor-mance of the full system. To guarantee robust stability, the M − ∆ stability conditions are derived. Unlike standard robust approaches, the proposed technique considers full nominal model, thus reducing conservativeness of resulting robust stability conditions. The devel-oped frequency domain design procedure is graphical, interactive and insightful. A case study providing a step-by-step robust DC design for the Quadruple Tank Process [8] is included.