Optimal Tunings for Fractional P I D Controllers

Concepción A. Monje1 , Blas M. Vinagre1 , YangQuan Chen2 ,

Vicente Feliu3 , Patrick Lanusse4 and Jocelyn Sabatier4
1 Escuelade Ingenierías Industriales,
Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
{cmonje,bvinagre}@unex.es
2 CSOIS,

Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA

yqchen@ece.usu.edu
3 EscuelaTécnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales,
Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain
Vicente.Feliu@uclm.es
4 Equipe CRONE-LAPS
UMR 5131 CNRS
{lanusse,sabatier}@laps.u-bordeaux1.fr

Abstract — The objective of this work is to nd out optimum settings for a frac-
tional P I D controller in order to ful l ve different design speci cations for the
closed-loop system, taking advantage of the fractional orders, and . Since these
fractional controllers have two parameters more than the conventional P ID con-
troller, two more speci cations can be met, improving the performance of the system.
For the tuning of the controller an iterative optimization method has been used, based
on a nonlinear function minimization. Illustrative examples are presented and simu-
lation results show the effectiveness of this kind of controllers.

1 Introduction
The PID controller is by far the most dominating form of feedback in use today. Due to
its functional simplicity and performance robustness, the proportional-integral-derivative
controller has been widely used in the process industries. Design and tuning of PID
controllers have been a large research area ever since Ziegler and Nichols presented their
methods in 1942 (see [1]). Speci cations, stability, design, applications and performance
of the PID controller have been widely treated since then (see [2] and [3] for additional
references).
On the other hand, in recent years it is remarkable the increasing number of studies
related with the application of fractional controllers in many areas of science and en-
gineering. This fact is due to a better understanding of the fractional calculus (F C)
MONJE, VINAGRE, CHEN, FELIU, LANUSSE, SABATIER

potentialities revealed by many phenomena such as viscoelasticity and damping, chaos,

diffusion and wave propagation, percolation and irreversibility.
In what concerns automatic control theory the F C concepts were adapted to frequency-
based methods. The frequency response and the transient response of the non-integer in-
tegral and its application to control systems was introduced by Manabe (see [4]) and more
recently in [5]. Oustaloup studied the fractional order algorithms for the control of dy-
namic systems and demonstrated the superior performance of the CRON E (Commande
Robuste d'Ordre Non Entier) method over the P ID controller (see [6] and [7]). More
recently, Podlubny (see [8]) proposed a generalization of the P ID controller, namely
the P I D controller, involving an integrator of order and a differentiator of order :
He also demonstrated the better response of this type of controller, in comparison with
the classical P ID controller, when used for the control of fractional order systems. A
frequency domain approach by using fractional P ID controllers is also studied in [9].
Further research activities are running in order to develop new tuning rules for fractional
controllers, studying previously the effects of the non integer order of the derivative and
integral parts to design a more effective controller to be used in real-life models. Some
of these technics are based on an extension of the classical P ID control theory. To this
respect, in [10] the extension of differentiation and integration order from integer to non
integer numbers provides a more exible tuning strategy and therefore an easier achieving
of control requirements with respect to classical controllers. In [11] an optimal fractional
order P ID controller based on speci ed gain margin and phase margin with a minimum
ISE criterion has been designed by using a differential evolution algorithm.
An experimental investigation has been presented in [12], where a fractional P ID con-
trol has been applied for active reduction of vertical tail buffeting. A fractional order
control strategy has also been successfully applied in the control of a power electronic
buck converter (see [13] and [14]), more concretely a fractional sliding mode control.
Another approach is the use of a new control strategy to control rst-order systems with
delay (see [15]) based on a D I controller with fractional order integral and derivative
parts. Besides, it is being developed another method for plants with long dead-time based
on the use of a P I controller with a fractional integral part of order (see [16]). From the
results obtained, it can be concluded that the system controlled with this type of controller
is more robust to gain changes.
In this work it is studied the problem of designing a non integer order P I D controller
of the form:
ki
C(s) = kp + + kd s (1)
s
The interest of this kind of controller is justi ed by a better exibility, since it exhibits
fractional powers ( and ) of the integral and derivative parts, respectively. Thus, ve
parameters can be tuned in this structure ( ; ; kp ; ki and kd ), that is, two more parameters
than in the case of a conventional P ID controller ( = 1 and = 1). The fractional
orders and can be used to ful l additional speci cations of design or other interesting
requirements for the controlled system.
However, if the controller is designed using the form de ned by (1), it is obvious that its
time-domain simulation or implementation will require to band-limit its fractional effects.
Low and high frequency band-limitations avoid the use of an in nite number of rational
 OPTIMAL TUNINGS FOR FRACTIONAL P I D CONTROLLERS

modes to approximate the fractional parts, and furthermore, the high-frequency band-
limitation of the derivative effect limits its high-frequency gain and thus the control effort
provided by the controller.
The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews different design speci cations of
interest for a closed-loop system, justifying the ve speci cations required in our case and
formulating the compensation problem using a fractional P I D controller. In section 3,
the optimization method used for the tuning of the fractional controller is commented,
describing shortly the problem of nonlinear minimization. In section 4 some illustrative
examples are presented, concluding with some remarks in section 5.

2 Design Speci cations and Compensation Problem

In this paper, the following speci cations to be met by the fractional controlled system
are proposed:
– No steady-state error. Properly implemented a fractional integrator of order k +
; k 2 N; 0 < < 1; is, for steady-state error cancellation, as ef cient as an integer
order integrator of order k + 1 (see [17]).
– Phase margin ( m ) and gain crossover frequency (! cg ) speci cations. Next con-
ditions must be ful lled:
Arg(F (j! cg )) = Arg(C(j! cg )G(j! cg )) (2)
= + m
jF (j! cg )jdB = jC(j! cg )G(j! cg )jdB (3)
= 0dB
where F (s) is the open-loop transfer function of the system.
– Gain margin (gm ) and phase crossover frequency (! cp ) speci cations. Next con-
ditions must be ful lled:
1
= gm (4)
jC(j! cp )G(j! cp )j
Arg(F (j! cp )) = Arg(C(j! cp )G(j! cp )) = (5)
– Robustness to variations in the gain of the plant. To this respect, the next con-
straint must be ful lled (see [2]):
d(Arg(C(j!)G(j!)))
=0 (6)
d! !=! cg

With this condition the phase is forced to be at at ! cg and so, to be almost constant
within an interval around ! cg : It means that the system is more robust to gain changes
and the overshoot of the response is almost constant within the interval.
– Robustness to high frequency noise. To ensure a good measurement noise rejec-
tion, it must be ful lled the condition:
C(j!)G(j!)
T (j!) = AdB; (7)
1 + C(j!)G(j!) dB
8 ! ! t rad=s ) jT (j! t )jdB = AdB
MONJE, VINAGRE, CHEN, FELIU, LANUSSE, SABATIER

where A is the desired noise attenuation for frequencies ! ! t rad=s:

– To ensure a good output disturbance rejection. The next constraint must be
reached:
1
S(j!) = BdB; (8)
1 + C(j!)G(j!) dB
8 ! ! s rad=s ) jS(j! s )jdB = BdB
with B the desired value of the sensitivity function for frequencies ! ! s rad=s
(desired frequency range).
A set of ve of these six speci cations can be met by the closed-loop system, since
the fractional controller C(s) has ve parameters to tune. In our case, the speci cations
considered are those in equations (2), (3), (6), (7) and (8), ensuring a robust performance
of the controlled system to gain changes and noise and a relative stability and bandwidth
speci cations. The condition of no steady-state error is ful lled just with the introduction
of the fractional integrator properly implemented, as commented before.
The method proposed to solve this set of nonlinear equations is commented in section
3.

3 The Problem of Nonlinear Minimization

From the speci cations above, a set of ve nonlinear equations (2, 3, 6, 7 and 8) with
ve unknown parameters ( ; ; kp; kd and ki ) is obtained. The complexity of this set of
nonlinear equations is very signi cant, specially when it is used a P I D controller and
fractional orders of the Laplace variable s are introduced. That is the reason why it is
not trivial to solve this set of equations in an easy and direct way. Thus, the optimization
toolbox of Matlab has been used to reach out the better solution with the minimum error.
The function used for this purpose is called FMINCON, which nds the constrained minimum
of a function of several variables. It solves problems of the form MINX F(X) subject to:
C(X)<=0, Ceq(X)=0, LB<=X<=UB, where F is the function to minimize; C and Ceq represent
the nonlinear inequalities and equalities, respectively (nonlinear constraints); X is the
minimum looked for; LB and U B de ne a set of lower and upper bounds on the design
variables, X.
In our case, the speci cation in equation (3) is taken as the main function to minimize,
and the rest of speci cations (2, 6, 7, 8) are taken as constrains for the minimization, all
of them subjected to the optimization parameters de ned within the function FMINCON.

4 Illustrative Examples
This section shows the results obtained when using the fractional P I D controller to
control a rst-order plant, a rst-order plant plus an integrator and a rst-order plant with
a time delay. The reason why these three plants have been selected is that a lot of process
can by modelled by them.
4.1 First-Order Plant
The plant to control is G1 (s) = s+1k 0:55
= 62s+1 ; typical of a velocity servo. The design
speci cations required for the controlled system are the following ones:
 OPTIMAL TUNINGS FOR FRACTIONAL P I D CONTROLLERS

– Gain crossover frequency, ! cg =1rad=sec (equation (3)).

– Phase margin, m = 0:44 80 deg (equation (2)).
– Robustness to variations in the gain of the plant must be ful lled (equation (6)).
– jT1 (j!)jdB 20dB; 8 ! ! t =10rad/sec (equation (7)).
– jS1 (j!)jdB 20dB; 8 ! ! s =0.01rad/sec (equation (8)).
Setting all these speci cations and using the tuning optimization method commented
above, the fractional P I D controller to control this system is:
98:1268
C1 (s) = 15:2864 + + 1:1625s1:0148 (9)
s0:1578
As it can be observed, this controller behaves similarly to a P D controller, since the
order of the integral part is very low ( = 0:1578). However, the fractional integral part
guarantees a null steady state error.
Though the nal value theorem states that the fractional system exhibits null steady
state error if > 0; the fact of being < 1 makes the output converge to its nal value
more slowly than in the case of an integer controller. Furthermore, the fractional effect
need to be band-limited when it is implemented. Therefore, the fractional integrator must
be implemented as s1 = 1s s1 ; ensuring this way the effect of an integer integrator
1=s at very-low frequency. In this particular example of application, as well as in the
following ones, the fractional integral and derivative parts have been implemented by
the Oustaloup continuous approximation of the fractional integrator (see [18] and [19]),
choosing a frequency band from 0:01Hz to 100Hz and an order of the approximation
equals to 5 (number of poles and zeros).
The Bode diagrams of the open-loop system F1 (s) = C1 (s)G1 (s) are shown in gure
1. As it can be seen, the gain crossover frequency speci cation, ! cg =1rad=sec; and the
phase margin speci cation, m = 80 deg; are ful lled. Besides, the phase of the system
is forced to be at at ! cg and so, to be almost constant within an interval around ! cg . It
means that the systems is more robust to gain changes and the overshoot of the response
is almost constant within this interval, as it can be seen in gure 2.
The magnitudes of the functions T1 (s) and S1 (s) are shown in gures 3 and 4, respec-
tively. As it can be observed, jT1 (j!)jdB 20dB for ! ! t = 10rad= sec; and
jS1 (j!)jdB 20dB for ! ! s = 0:01rad= sec; ful lling the speci cations.
4.2 First-Order Plant Plus an Integrator
Now the plant to control is G2 (s) = s( s+1)
k 0:25
= s(s+1) ; typical of a position servo. The
following design speci cations for the controlled system have been considered:
– Gain crossover frequency, ! cg =1rad=sec.
– Phase margin, m = 0:27 48:5 deg.
– Robustness to variations in the gain of the plant must be ful lled.
– jT2 (j!)jdB 20dB; 8 ! ! t =10rad/sec.
– jS2 (j!)jdB 20dB; 8 ! ! s =0.01rad/sec.
MONJE, VINAGRE, CHEN, FELIU, LANUSSE, SABATIER

Figure 1: Bode plots of the open-loop system F1 (s)

Figure 2: Step responses of the closed-loop system with controller C1 (s) for 0:2 k
0:9

Figure 3: Magnitude of T1 (s)

 OPTIMAL TUNINGS FOR FRACTIONAL P I D CONTROLLERS

Figure 4: Magnitude of S1 (s)

Figure 5: Bode plots of the open-loop system F2 (s)

In this case, the fractional P I D controller to control this system is:

2:1199
C2 (s) = 3:8159 + + 2:2195s0:8090 (10)
s0:6264
The implementation of the fractional integral and derivative parts is carried out as com-
mented in the previous example.
The Bode diagrams for the open-loop system F2 (s) = C2 (s)G2 (s) are shown in gure
5. As it can be seen, the gain crossover frequency speci cation, ! cg =1rad=sec; and the
phase margin speci cation, m = 48:5 deg; are ful lled. Besides, the robustness of the
controlled system is ensured since the condition of at phase is met, keeping the overshoot
constant to variations of the gain of the plant, as it can be seen in gure 6.
The magnitudes of the functions T2 (s) and S2 (s) are shown in gures 7 and 8, respec-
tively, ful lling the speci cations.
4.3 First-Order Plant with a Time Delay
Finally, the plant G3 (s) = s+1
k 0:55
e Ls = 62s+1 e 1s will be controlled, which corresponds
to the pH dynamic model of a real sugar cane raw juice neutralization process (see [20]).
The design speci cations required are:
MONJE, VINAGRE, CHEN, FELIU, LANUSSE, SABATIER

Figure 6: Step responses of the closed-loop system with controller C2 (s) for 0:08 k
0:5

Figure 7: Magnitude of T2 (s)

Figure 8: Magnitude of S2 (s)

 OPTIMAL TUNINGS FOR FRACTIONAL P I D CONTROLLERS

Figure 9: Bode plots of the open-loop system F3 (s)

– Gain crossover frequency, ! cg =0:08rad=sec.

– Phase margin, m = 0:44 80 deg.
– Robustness to variations in the gain of the plant must be ful lled.
– jT3 (j!)jdB 20dB; 8 ! ! t =10rad/sec.
– jS3 (j!)jdB 20dB; 8 ! ! s =0.01rad/sec.
In this case, the fractional P I D controller to control this system is:
0:2299
C3 (s) = 7:9619 + 0:9646
+ 0:1504s0:0150 (11)
s
From the expression of C3 (s) it can be concluded that this controller behaves almost
like a P I controller, which is very typical in the case of a rst order plant. However, the
introduction of the fractional derivative part, though of low order ( = 0:0150), compen-
sates the effect of the delay of the system.
The implementation of the fractional integral and derivative parts is carried out as com-
mented before.
The Bode diagrams for the open-loop system F3 (s) = C3 (s)G3 (s) are shown in gure
9. Again, all the design speci cations are ful lled, together with the at phase condition,
keeping almost constant the overshoot of the closed-loop system (see gure 10).
The magnitudes of the functions T3 (s) and S3 (s) are shown in gures 11 and 12, re-
spectively, ful lling the speci cations.

5 Concluding Remarks
In this paper a synthesis method for fractional order P I D controllers has been proposed
to ful l ve different design speci cations for the closed-loop system, that is, two more
speci cations than in the case of a conventional P ID controller. An optimization method
to tune the controller has been used, based on a nonlinear function minimization subject
to some given nonlinear constraints. Simulation results show that the requirements are
MONJE, VINAGRE, CHEN, FELIU, LANUSSE, SABATIER

Figure 10: Step responses of the closed-loop system with controller C3 (s) for 0:2 k 1

Figure 11: Magnitude of T3 (s)

Figure 12: Magnitude of S3 (s)

 OPTIMAL TUNINGS FOR FRACTIONAL P I D CONTROLLERS

totally ful lled for the three different plants proposed. Thus, it has been taken advantage
of the fractional orders and to ful l additional speci cations of design and other
interesting requirements for the controlled system, ensuring a robust performance of the
controlled system to gain changes and noise.
It would be of interest to apply this kind of controllers to other types of plants, such
as nonlinear plants, for instance, and to study other interesting design speci cations that
could be required for each plant in particular. These and other aspects will be taken into
account in further works.

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About the Authors

Concepción A. Monje received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electronics Engineering
in 1999 and 2001, respectively, from the Industrial Engineering School of the University of Ex-
tremadura, in Spain. Her research focuses on control theory and applications of fractional calculus
in control.
Blas M. Vinagre received the MSc. degree in Telecommunications Engineering and the PhD.
degree in Industrial Engineering in 1985 and 2001, respectively. His research focuses on control
theory and applications of fractional calculus in control, robotics and signal processing.
YangQuan Chen is presently an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering De-
partment and the Acting Director for CSOIS (Center for Self-Organizing and Intelligent Systems)
at Utah State Univ., developing his research in it. He obtained his Ph.D. from Nanyang Tech.
Univ. (NTU), Singapore in 1998.
Vicente Feliu is Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering by the Polytechnical University of Madrid (1982).
His research interests include robotics, computer control, and computer vision.
Patrick Lanusse is working on CRONE Control and fractional derivative systems. He received
the Ph.D. degree in Automatic Control from Bordeaux I University, in 1994. Since 1995 he has
been Associate-Professor of Automatic Control at ENSEIRB (Graduate Engineering School of
Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Telecommunication) of Bordeaux.
Jocelyn Sabatier is Ph.D. in Control Theory by Bordeaux I University. He is actually Assistant
Professor at the Institute of Technology of Bordeaux1 University. His research interests are in
the area of systems (fractional systems,distributed parameter systems, time varying systems, non
linear systems) and control theory.