Embedded controller implementation of a new multi-valued control law

Many industrial plants with high parametric uncertainties, both for constructive simplicity and/or in order to minimize the operation cost, usually are commanded with signals that may only assume a finite number of values. The paper presents the realization of a prototypal embedded system, realized through a microprocessor, which implements a new control law characterized by a fixed and quantized control set. The proposed control algorithm is robust with respect to disturbances and plant uncertain parameters and consents the plant output to practically track a given reference trajectory, with preassigned maximum values of the tracking error and its first derivative. This paper deals with the digital realization of this new multi-valued control law and the key issues associated with its microprocessor implementation. The efficiency of the design method and of the technology utilized for the realization are shown through a very interesting application: a temperature control system of a ceramic kiln.