On Iterative Feedback Tuning and Disturbance Rejection Using Simple Noise Models

The objective of this contribution is to discuss three basic control design methods for disturbance rejection. The key idea is to use a simple fixed continuous time noise model as a design variable to specify the desirable closed loop properties, e.g., the closed loop bandwidth. We will study three closely related controller design methods based on the noise model, namely minimum variance control, weighted minimum variance control and a loop shaping design procedure proposed by Skogestad and Postlethwaite. All these methods lead to simple controller structures, where the transfer function of the input/output relation is the only unknown part. The main motivation of this study has been tuning of controllers for disturbance rejection by means of iterative feedback tuning (IFT). Here, the controller parameters are found by minimizing a specified cost function using gradient search techniques. The gradients are estimated using data from iterative experiments. This is a rather difficult problem if no external input excitation is allowed. Import factors for good results are the controller parametrization and the choice of cost function. We propose an IFT cost function based on a simple output signal weighting tailored to the fixed noise model controller structure. This leads to robust procedure for iterative feedback tuning of a controller for disturbance rejection. The approach is illustrated on a simple example. Copyright c © 2005 IFAC