Auto-Tuning, Adaptation and Expert Control

The paper addresses some key problems that arise in applications of adaptive control to industrial processes, prior knowledge, design based on simplified models, initialization and start up. Different ways of solving the problems are discussed. A new technique for automatic tuning of simple control loops is presented. The method has the advantage of automatically generating test signals whose properties are tuned to the process. A novel approach to the adaptive problem is proposed where an expert system orchestrates auto-tuning, conventional adaptive control, on-line diagnosis, and table based gain scheduling.