Distributed controller design for open water channels

Abstract

In the design of an automatic controller to achieve water-level set-point regulation and off-take load-disturbance rejection for an open water channel, a key concern is an inherent trade-off between local performance and the way water-level errors propagate due to control action. Here a structured optimal controller synthesis problem is formulated to systematically manage this trade-off, using H1 loop-shaping ideas. The loop-shaping weights can be scalably designed and the imposed structure ensures the controller only involves local information exchange. Importantly, the distributed control structure we consider confines water-level error propagation to upstream pools, with corresponding ben..