Outline

Adaptive Control
Lecture 1: Introduction

1 Adaptive control – motivation, working principles and definitions

Maciej M. Michałek
Institute of Automatic Control and Robotics (IAR)
Poznan University of Technology (PUT)
maciej.michalek@put.poznan.pl
2 Adaptive control – design stages, properties, and applicability

3 Adaptive techniques covered by the AC course and course organization

Lecture notes available at: http://maciej.michalek.pracownik.put.poznan.pl/teachingPageMod.html

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 1 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 2 / 23

Outline Conventional (SISO) control system and a design problem

1 Adaptive control – motivation, working principles and definitions

2 Adaptive control – design stages, properties, and applicability

3 Adaptive techniques covered by the AC course and course organization

Controller design stages:
specification of the expected/desired control performance
derivation/computation of the plant (process) model
selection of a controller structure and computation of its parameters to meet the prescribed
control performance

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 3 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 4 / 23
Why adaptive control? Why adaptive control?

1 Conventional control systems (with fixed controllers) work well under conditions of constant 1 Conventional control systems (with fixed controllers) work well under conditions of constant
or only slightly varying plant dynamics / disturbance characteristics or only slightly varying plant dynamics / disturbance characteristics
2 Satisfaction of the prescribed control performance in conventional control systems requires 2 Satisfaction of the prescribed control performance in conventional control systems requires
good knowledge of plant dynamics and disturbance characteristics good knowledge of plant dynamics and disturbance characteristics

BUT BUT

3 Often plant dynamics / disturbance characteristics, even if time-invariant, are not known a
priori. . .
4 Sometimes plant dynamics substantially vary in time. . .
5 Sometimes disturbance characteristics substantially vary in time. . .
6 Variability of plant dynamics / disturbance characteristics may be unpredictable and
unmeasurable. . .

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 5 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 5 / 23

Why adaptive control? Varying process dynamics or disturbance properties - examples

1 Conventional control systems (with fixed controllers) work well under conditions of constant
or only slightly varying plant dynamics / disturbance characteristics
2 Satisfaction of the prescribed control performance in conventional control systems requires
good knowledge of plant dynamics and disturbance characteristics

BUT

3 Often plant dynamics / disturbance characteristics, even if time-invariant, are not known a
priori. . .
4 Sometimes plant dynamics substantially vary in time. . .
5 Sometimes disturbance characteristics substantially vary in time. . .
6 Variability of plant dynamics / disturbance characteristics may be unpredictable and
unmeasurable. . .

Corollary: Conventional control systems with fixed controllers may not guarantee satisfaction of
the prescribed control performance under conditions mentioned in points 3-6.

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 5 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 6 / 23
Possible remedy – Adaptive Control Conventional (SISO) control system and a design problem

adaptation – behavior adjustment to conform to new/changing conditions

Adaptive Control covers a set of techniques which provide a systematic approach for
automatic adjustment of controllers in real time, in order to achieve or to maintain a
desired level of control system performance when the parameters of the plant dynamic
model [or disturbance properties] are unknown and/or change in time.*

Note: Alternative remedy is robust control, but it requires knowledge of a size of dynamics uncertainty, and usually copes with

smaller variability/uncertainty of plant/disturbance dynamics than adaptive control.

Controller design stages:

specification of the expected/desired control performance
*Based on: I.D. Landau, R. Lozano, M. M’Saad, A. Karimi: Adaptive control. Algorithms, Analysis and Applications. 2nd Ed., derivation/computation of the plant (process) model
Springer, London, 2011
selection of a controller structure and computation of its parameters to meet the prescribed
control performance

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 7 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 8 / 23

Adaptive (SISO) control system and its working principles Definition of an adaptive control system

Definition (I.Adaptive control system*)

Control system in which the controller parameters or/and controller structure are
changing according to the explicitly given strict adjusting rules. The adjusting process
aims at accomplishing the control task with the expected control performance despite
variability of the process dynamics or disturbance properties.
(control in the conditions of uncertainty)

*Based on: Adaptive control. Second Edition, K. J. Aström, B. Wittenmark, Addison Wesley, 1995

Parametric synthesis of a controller – automatically performed in real time by adaptation scheme.

Level I – conventional feedback loop (Tc ) (fast control loop)
Level II – adaptation loop (Ta ) (adjusting/updating loop)
Level III – safety loops (Ts ) (supervision loops)
(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 9 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 10 / 23
T ≤T ≤T
Adaptation scheme – general structure Definition of an adaptive control system (cont.)

Definition (II.Adaptive control system**)

An adaptive control system measures a certain performance index of the control
system using the inputs, the states, the outputs and the known disturbances. From the
comparison of the measured performance index and a set of given ones, the
adaptation mechanism modifies the parameters of the adjustable controller and/or
generates an auxiliary control in order to maintain the performance index of the control
system close to the set of given ones (i.e. within the set of acceptable ones).

**According to: I.D. Landau, R. Lozano, M. M’Saad, A. Karimi: Adaptive control. Algorithms, Analysis and Applications. 2nd Ed.,

Springer, London, 2011

In the adjustable controller adaptation may apply into the feedback part, feedforward part or both.
(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 11 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 12 / 23

Outline General design stages of an adaptive controller

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(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 13 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 14 / 23
Features of an ideal adaptive control system Features of an ideal adaptive control system

F1. Fully black box working principle (a priori knowledge unnecessary) F1. Fully black box working principle (a priori knowledge unnecessary)

F2. Capability of full adaptation to every possible changes in the plant dynamics and in F2. Capability of full adaptation to every possible changes in the plant dynamics and in
the disturbance characteristic the disturbance characteristic

F3. Guarantees of the closed-loop stability and an acceptable transient performance F3. Guarantees of the closed-loop stability and an acceptable transient performance
during the adaptation process during the adaptation process

F4. Capability to track every type of a reference signal and to attenuate every F4. Capability to track every type of a reference signal and to attenuate every
disturbance without any intervention of a human-operator disturbance without any intervention of a human-operator

F5. Ready to use immediately after connection (plug-and play ) F5. Ready to use immediately after connection (plug-and play )

An ideal adaptive control system does not exist in practice. . .

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 15 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 15 / 23

Features of real adaptive control systems Features of real adaptive control systems
Benefits
◮ adaptation as a manifestation of intelligence
◮ allow keeping desired control performance despite (limited) variability of plant dynamics
and/or disturbance characteristic
◮ plant/disturbance modeling and controller parametric synthesis are automated Limitations
◮ after finishing the adaptation process often provide faster and less oscillatory transients ◮ highly nonlinear dynamics of a closed-loop system
of a controlled signal when compared to systems with fixed controllers: (interaction of loops I i II and time-variability of controller parameters)
(ability to work closer to state boundaries ⇒ better yield)
◮ difficult closed-loop stability analysis
◮ possible hard or dangerous transients during the adaptation process
(supervisory and safety nets are required in practice)

◮ commissioning and maintenance may be a sophisticated task in practice

(qualified engineering staff is needed)

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 16 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 17 / 23
Applicability of adaptive control systems When to use adaptive control? – decision scheme

Adaptive techniques belong to advanced control schemes

A priori knowledge about plant dynamics and/or disturbance properties usually
increase a success-rate of adaptive control utilization
In practice, efficient adaptive control system requires implementation of
supervision and safety nets
In conventional cases (time-invariant plant dynamics/disturbance characteristics)
fixed controllers are recommended

HENCE

Adaptive control systems are recommended in JUSTIFIED cases

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 18 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 19 / 23

Outline Adaptive techniques covered within AC course

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(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 20 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 21 / 23
Bibliography Final exam and final rating

1. Robust and Adaptive Control with Aerospace Applications, E. Lavretsky, K. Wise,

Springer-Verlag, London, 2013
(electronically available for free trough PUT computers) Exam in the form of a selection test:
2. Adaptive Control. Second Edition, K. J. Aström, B. Wittenmark, Addison Wesley, 1995 ◮ 30 questions
3. System identification, T. Söderström, P. Stoica, Prentice Hall International, Cambridge, 1989* ◮ four answers (A,B,C,D) for each question – among them always two are correct
◮ max. 1 point for a single question when two positive answers marked
4. Adaptive control. Algorithms, analysis and applications, Second Ed., I. D. Landau, R.
Lozano, M. M’Saad, A. Karimi, Springer, London, 2011 ◮ duration = 45 min. (that is, 1.5 min for a single question)

8. Robust Adaptive Control, P. Ioannou, J. Sun, Dover Publications, New York, 2012
◮ positive rating (≥ 3.0) if a number of points ≥ 15.5

9. Adaptive control tutorial, P. Ioannou, B. Fidan, Advances in Design and Control, SIAM,
◮ final rating is a rounded value of the rating from the test
Philadelphia 2006

*Polish version: Identyfikacja systemów , T. Söderström, P. Stoica, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa, 1997

(M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 22 / 23 (M. M. Michałek, PUT – IAR) AC Introduction 23 / 23