Model Predictive Control is an important technique used in the process control industries. It has developed considerably in the last few years, because it is the most general way of posing the process control problem in the time domain. The Model Predictive Control formulation integrates optimal control, stochastic control, control of processes with dead time, multivariable control and future references. The finite control horizon makes it possible to handle constraints and non linear processes in general which are frequently found in industry. Focusing on implementation issues for Model Predictive Controllers in industry, it fills the gap between the empirical way practitioners use control algorithms and the sometimes abstractly formulated techniques developed by researchers. The text is firmly based on material from lectures given to senior undergraduate and graduate students and articles written by the authors.

Thepastthree decadeshaveseenrapiddevelopmentin the areaofmodelpred- tive control with respect to both theoretical and application aspects. Over these 30 years, model predictive control for linear systems has been widely applied, especially in the area of process control. However, today’s applications often require driving the process over a wide region and close to the boundaries of - erability, while satisfying constraints and achieving near-optimal performance. Consequently, the application of linear control methods does not always lead to satisfactory performance, and here nonlinear methods must be employed. This is one of the reasons why nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) has - joyed signi?cant attention over the past years,with a number of recent advances on both the theoretical and application frontier. Additionally, the widespread availability and steadily increasing power of today’s computers, as well as the development of specially tailored numerical solution methods for NMPC, bring thepracticalapplicabilityofNMPCwithinreachevenforveryfastsystems.This has led to a series of new, exciting developments, along with new challenges in the area of NMPC.

Converse Lyapunov function theory guarantees the existence of strict Lyapunov functions in many situations, but the functions it provides are often abstract and nonexplicit, and therefore may not lend themselves to engineering applications. Often, even when a system is known to be stable, one still needs explicit Lyapunov functions; however, once an appropriate strict Lyapunov function has been constructed, many robustness and stabilization problems can be solved through standard feedback designs or robustness arguments. Non-strict Lyapunov functions are often readily constructed. This book contains a broad repertoire of Lyapunov constructions for nonlinear systems, focusing on methods for transforming non-strict Lyapunov functions into strict ones. Their explicitness and simplicity make them suitable for feedback design, and for quantifying the effects of uncertainty. Readers will benefit from the authors’ mathematical rigor and unifying, design-oriented approach, as well as the numerous worked examples.

The advantage of model predictive control is that it can take systematic account of constraints, thereby allowing processes to operate at the limits of achievable performance. Engineers in academia, industry, and government from the US and Europe explain how the linear version can be adapted and applied to the nonlinear conditions that characterize the dynamics of most real manufacturing plants. They survey theoretical and practical trends, describe some specific theories and demonstrate their practical application, derive strategies that provide appropriate assurance of closed-loop stability, and discuss practical implementation. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

With a simple approach that includes real-time applications and algorithms, this book covers the theory of model predictive control (MPC).