Toward a low cost and high performance MPC: The role of system identification

The high cost of model predictive control (MPC) technology has hampered its wide application in process industries beyond the refining/petrochemical industry. This work aims to increase the efficiency of MPC deployment. First a semi-automatic MPC system is introduced. It consists of three modules: an MPC control module, an online identification module and a control monitor module. The goal of the MPC technology is twofold: (1) to considerably reduce the cost of MPC commissioning and maintenance; and (2) to increase control performance. System identification plays important roles in all the three parts of the MPC system. In the identification module, the so-called ASYM method of identification is used. It is demonstrated with an industrial application. In the control module, adaptive disturbance model identification is developed for improving control performance; in the monitor module, a method of model error detection method is developed. Industrial applications and simulations are used to demonstrate the ideas. Finally, we comment on some industrial needs on MPC research and development.