PERFORMANCE OF GENERALIZED PREDICTIVE CONTROL WITH ONLINE MODEL ORDERDETERMINATION FOR A HYDRAULIC ROBOTIC MANIPULATOR

The research results described present the performance of the Generali zed Predictive Control (GPC) algorithm with a changing estimator and p redictor model order for a specific application. The application is a hydraulically actuated heavy duty manipulator. Hydraulically actuated robotic manipulators, used in the large resource based industries, hav e a complex dynamic response in which, primarily due to the hydraulic actuator subsystems, the order of the dynamic model is not initially k nown and can change as the manipulator is operated. A nonlinear simula tion model of the manipulator system is utilized in the work and the G PC controller is implemented with a CARIMA estimator together with an on-line, gradient based estimator model order determination technique. The results given show that with proper use of the order determinatio n technique cost function and tuning of the GPC parameters, good perfo rmance and stability can be achieved.