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THE ACT CLUB NEWSIssue 16 December 1998

THE ADVANCED CONTROL TECHNOLOGY CLUB50 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1QE. Tel.: (+44) 0141 553 1111 Fax: (+44) 0141 553 1232

e-mail: [email protected]

Inside This Issue:• Forthcoming Events• New Predictive Control

Toolbox• New ACT Club Reports• ACT Club WWW Site• ACT Club in London• Conference News• Energy SIG• ACT Club Training

Courses & Deliverables

elcome to this bumper issue ofthe Advanced Control

Technology Club News. It is filledwith details of our forthcomingevents and activities, as well as theusual conference reports and othernews articles.

I hope you enjoy reading theNewsletter. If you have anycomments (or criticisms!) we will bedelighted to hear from you.

Andy Clegg ACT Club Manager

Forthcoming Events forACT Club Members

5th Marine SIG Meeting8th February 1999

The next Marine Special InterestGroup Meeting will be held on 8th

February 1999 at Lloyd’s Register ofShipping in Croydon. The theme ofthe meeting will be Fault Monitoringand System Integration with guest

speakers describing recentdevelopments in these areas.

The ACT Club will report on theLloyd’s study into the use of FibreOptic Cabling and also launch theupdated Ship Modelling andSimulation package which nowworks in Matlab/Simulink.

Process Control andSCADA Systems Meeting,

9th February 1999

Bailey Automation in Telford ishosting this event which will bringtogether speakers from bothacademia and industry. It should be avery interesting day especially as wehave the renowned researcher Prof.Jacques Richalet, who will give thekey presentation, entitled “IndustrialApplications of PFC PredictiveControl”.

Other speakers from the Oil and GasIndustry and Systems Suppliersperspective will make this a very wellrounded day. A tour around BaileyAutomation is also included.

Predictive ControlToolbox Launch Event

14th April 1999

The Industrial Control Centre hasdeveloped a Predictive ControlToolbox, which is being madeavailable to Club members. The mainpurpose of the Toolbox is to enableengineers to try out Model BasedPredictive Control without the needto understand the underlying theoryand algorithms. The Toolbox makesextensive use of Graphical UserInterfaces to guide the user throughthe design process. The algorithms

implemented in the toolbox,including current state-of-the-arttechniques, are accessible if required.A full description of the Toolbox andits features can be found on Page 2.

The official launch of the PredictiveControl Toolbox will be on 14th April1999 at the University of Strathclyde.The programme for the day willconsist of:

• Theoretical introduction toPredictive Control

• Detailed presentation of theToolbox capabilities

• Hands-on sessions.

Interested Club members can requesta beta version of the Toolbox forevaluation. If you are interestedplease contact Andy Clegg.

Events for 1999:• 5th Marine SIG Meeting,

Croydon, 8th February• Process Control & SCADA

Systems, Telford, 9th February• Energy, Oil & Gas Event,

Aberdeen, March (tbc)• Predictive Control Toolbox

Launch, Glasgow, 14th April• Steering Group Meeting, 19th

May (evening)• PID Control Day, University of

Sussex, 20th May• Applications of Advanced

Control, CambridgeUniversity, mid-September(tbc)

W

The ACT Club News

THE ADVANCED CONTROL TECHNOLOGY CLUB

• Improving the Quality ofControl in Cold Rolling MillsTraining Course, October (tbc)

Energy, Oil & GasMeeting, March 1999

The ACT Club recently hosted ameeting targeted at the Oil and GasIndustry (see report on Page 3) whichfocused on the performance and costbenefits improvements that have beenachieved through the use of advancedcontrol.

This future event is intended toexpand on the interest generated bythe previous event and will coincidewith the commencement of ourEnergy Special Interest Group. Wehope to follow the same structure asthe previous event and include anumber of company presentations.

This meeting will be held inAberdeen to attract a strongparticipation from the North Sea Oiland Gas Industry and is scheduled forMarch 1999.

PID Control Day,20th May 1999

This meeting will report on recentadvances with the commonest formof controller, the PID, including newauto-tuning techniques. It will behosted by Prof.. Derek Atherton atthe University of Sussex.

Improving Control inCold Rolling Mills

The success of the Hot Rolling Millcourse (see Page 3) has encouragedus to develop a Cold Mill course for1999. The course will again be aimedat plant engineers concerned with theoperation and maintenance of ColdMills. The course will therefore be atquite an introductory level.

It is hoped that the same type ofinternational representation will bepresent at this course as was presentat the previous event. A number ofcompanies have already expressed aninterest in promoting the course. Thearrangements have yet to be finalised,but following feedback, it is likely tobe a little shorter than the full-weekof the previous event. Club memberswill again receive two free places,whilst non-members will pay a fee of£2,700 per delegate.

We hope to establish these courses asan annual event and that this willform the beginning of a MetalProcessing Special Interest Group.

Further details of this course can beobtained from Reza Katebi in theICC, (tel.: 0141 548 4297 or email:[email protected]).

Full details of all the aboveevents will be circulated to Clubmembers 6-8 weeks prior toevents taking place

Steering Group Report

The ACT Club Steering Group met atBG Technology on the 26th October,featuring the usual discussions ondefining future Club activities andpriorities. Prof. Ron Leigh of BrunelUniversity was present and hedescribed the shape of the newLondon based Centre.

We are always willing to accept newmembers onto the Steering Group,and at the moment we are looking fornominations for the position ofChairman.

The next Steering Group meetingwill take place on the evening of the19th May, prior to the meeting on PID

Control. It is likely to be held in oneof the nearby hotels and willhopefully combine both work andpleasure.

New ACT Club PredictiveControl Toolbox

The long awaited ACT ClubPredictive Control Toolbox forMatlab is now available in a pre-release evaluation form. ThisToolbox is a very user-friendlymeans of trying predictive controlalgorithms without the need for adetailed understanding of the theory.The user interacts with the designentirely through Graphical UserInterfaces and dialog boxes. TheToolbox includes the followingfeatures:

• A state-space system description isused allowing multivariablesystems to be handled easily.

• The new algorithms, developed inthe ICC, provide better stabilityand robustness properties, and arepresented along with the moretraditional algorithms

• Constraints on both plant inputand output signals can be handled

• The designed controllers can betested using both linear and non-linear models developed withinSIMULINK.

• A demonstration example of a gasturbine model is provided.

The toolbox nature of this packageenables the user to take the variouselements within the toolbox andincorporate them into their ownsimulations in a very convenientmanner. It is the most professional ofthe ACT Club packages to date.

This toolbox will be launchedformally on the 14th April asmentioned previously in thisnewsletter. The pre-release versionToolbox is fully functional and isbeing made available to companiesfor comment and evaluationpurposes. If any Club member wouldlike to evaluate this software before

The ACT Club News


its formal release then please contactAndy Clegg at the usual address.

Recent ACT Club Events

Introduction to QFT

A very successful meeting onQuantitative Feedback Theory washosted by CEGELEC at Rugby inresponse to requests from Clubmembers for an introduction to thissubject. In addition to the tutorialintroduction, a range of applicationswas considered and the benefits andadvantages of QFT outlined.

QFT extends classical frequencydomain design approaches to providetruly robust solutions. It is applicableto many systems, ranging fromprocess control to aerospace. Themeeting attracted over twentydelegates and an introductory reportwas issued. This report has now beenissued as an Educational Note.

Applications ofKnowledge Based Systems

This one-day meeting held at BGTechnology, Loughborough broughttogether speakers from manyindustrial sectors. Their commoninterest was in the application ofKnowledge Based Systems and theydescribed their own particularexperiences: Applications included:-

• Hydro-Electric generation• Gas distribution and forecasting• Electric-arc furnace scheduling• Gas-turbine monitoring• Process plant diagnostics• Intelligent product manuals

The meeting was very interesting andalso included a tour around BGTechnology’s site and areas of work.

ETSU supported Oil andGas Day

This was a very successful eventsupported by the Energy TechnologySupport Unit (ETSU), which lookedat Advanced Control for the Oil andGas Industry. The aim was topromote the benefits that AdvancedControl can provide throughpresentations discussing real-lifeexperiences.

The meeting was attended by thirtyparticipants from many InternationalOil and Gas companies as well asACT Club members.

Joint ACT Club/ICCHot Rolling Mill Controland Technology Course

The above event, held 14th-18thSeptember at Strathclyde University,attracted both Club members andpaying non-Club members frommany different countries, making thisa truly international event. Thelectures and practical sessions werewell received and overall the courseproved very worthwhile for delegatesand lecturers alike. The coursebanquet was held at the CharlesRennie Mackintosh designed “Housefor an Art Lover” and proved a fittingend for our first such course.

If any member would like copiesof the material distributed at theabove meetings then pleasecontact Lorna Fleming at theusual address.

New ACT ClubMembers

Alstom have recently joined theACT Club, primarily to undertake aCase Study on the application ofFault Tolerant Control for GasTurbines.

Kodak became the first company tojoin through the new London Centre(see article on Page 5). Kodak areprimarily concerned with processcontrol for their film production, andas such are heavily involved inChemical engineering and batchprocesses.

Cerestar (food stuffs producer) andOmron (PLC manufacturer) areboth looking to follow in Kodak’sfootsteps and join through theLondon Centre early next year.

Hot Rolling Mill Course Delegates at the Mackintosh inspired House for an Art Lover

The ACT Club News


New ACT ClubReports

“Introduction to QFT”

The recent ACT Club event onQuantitative Feedback Theorydemonstrated the interest that Clubmembers have in this subject. ThisEducational Note is a basicintroduction to QFT and describesthe design process and underlyingtheory in a very easy to digest form.

The bulk of the report presents atutorial example for a Single-InputSingle-Output control system. Itshows how plant uncertainty isrepresented and is incorporated intothe QFT design. It then goes on tolook at stability, disturbance andtracking bounds that ensure thatclosed loop stability and trackingperformance requirements are met.

The report shows that QFT is a verypractical method for controller designand that for many industrialapplications it can yield significantbenefits over classical control designmethods.

“Supply ChainDynamics” Case Study

This Case Study was undertaken forUnilever Research and wascommissioned to establish the stateof knowledge of applying controlsystems theory to supply chains. Theterm supply chain refers to the linksand feedback interactions betweenproduction, distribution and retailingcentres associated with the supply ofmanufactured goods.

The report looks at the differentmethods of modelling these supplychains and also how these can beenhanced so that control theory canbe applied to what is essentially afeedback system.

The report makes very interestingreading for anybody and should be ofparticular value to anyone involvedin manufacturing and distributionproblems.

“Fibre Optics and theiruse in Field Trials

Measurements Systems”

This Technical Report was theoutcome of a short study undertakenfor Lloyd’s Register of Shipping toexamine the potential use of fibreoptic cables within their field trialsmeasurement systems. The reportlooks at the major characteristics offibre optics cabling and it’sapplicability for temporary fieldinstallations.

The report looks at the different typesof fibre optic cables available, howthey are tested and the variouscomponents that constitute a fibreoptic data communications network.A comparison with conventionalcopper cabling pertaining to Lloyd’sparticular application is alsoincluded.

The report should be of interest toanyone considering using fibre opticsfor data communications whether in apermanent or temporary installation.

“Introduction toMathematica”

This Educational Note introduces theworld of symbolic manipulation as itdescribes the new Control SystemProfessional toolbox thataccompanies Mathematica, thesymbolic computation package. TheControl System Professional allowscontrol system designs to be carriedout utilising the power of symbolicequations.

The report is presented as a brieftutorial into the use of Mathematicaand it’s wide range of capabilities. Itthen goes onto describe the variousfunctions that are available under the

CSP and demonstrates the benefits ofsymbolic manipulation.

If any ACT Club member wouldlike additional copies of any ofour reports then please get intouch at the usual address.

A full list of the Club Case StudyReports, Technical Reports andEducational Notes can be foundon the last two pages of thisnewsletter.

ACT Club WWW Site

The ACT Club WWW Site is nowattracting many people. We hope toincrease the usefulness of thisresource very soon by introducing anextensive library of resources bothwithin the Club and on the Internet.This should establish the ACT ClubWWW Site as a key resource for anyengineers wanting to find out moreabout either particular controltechniques or specific applications.

We are also in the process of makingthe Club reports and softwareavailable over the Internet so thatClub members can download theseitems as and when needed.

The development of our WWW Siteis a continuous process and majorimprovements will occur during nextyear. Any comments and ideas abouthow we can improve the WWW Sitewill be gratefully received.

Remember, our WWW site is at:

http://isc.eee.strath.ac.uk/actclub.html

The ACT Club News


New ACT Club LondonBased Centre

Recently the benefits of the ACTClub were extended both technicallyand geographically with theestablishment of the London centre.

London Centre forTechnology Transfer off

to a Flying Start

• The newly launched LondonCentre provides specialistexpertise in Process Control,Monitoring and Control ofBiotechnological Processes,Electrical Power Systems andNetworks and Control of FoodProcessing Plants.

• Members of the London Centresimultaneously obtain access to allof the facilities and events of theACT Club.

Technology Transfer consistsof supplying:

Awareness of latest technologies,particularly in the areas of: DataAnalysis, Applied Computation,System Modelling, Simulation andControl, Process Diagnostics,Robotics, Knowledge Handling andSystems Implementation.

Expert and Informed Assistance tohelp industrialists choose the mostappropriate technology for specificapplications.

Practical Assistance translating thechosen technologies to efficient plantimplementations.

Another Geographical contact pointto augment the ones alreadyestablished by the ACT Club.

The London centre provides:

• A programme, chosen by theCentre’s Industrial Members,including:• Customised training workshops• On-plant visits and assistance• Case Studies• Opportunities for interaction

and meeting other industrialists.• Link to all ACT Club facilities

and events• A priority position from which to

participate in and benefit fromcollaborative research projectsthat complement the TechnologyTransfer activities.

The London Centre already hasMembers from the Process, Food andSystems Supplier Industries and theprogramme of events will commencein early 1999.

Activities already scheduled for theLondon Centre include:

• Assistance with a ProcessValidation project in which largevolumes of data are interpretedon-line, possibly using parallelprocessing techniques.

• Assistance with a project RobotsOn The Food Production Line.

• Provision of short courses onPower Distribution Networks AndThe Effects Of Harmonics.

We are moving swiftly to take onfurther Members, so if yourCompany wishes to participate pleasemake your interests known to us assoon as possible.

London Centre for TechnologyTransfer: Enabling andUnderpinning Research

• Useful information from large datasets

• Systems Integration (EPSRCinitiative)

• Research to underpin CIM, SAP,ERM etc [large scale factoryautomation]

• Underpinning of use of AI tools• Where's the flair-Forum for new

ideas

In the first instance please contact:

Prof. Ron LeighDept. of Electrical Engineering andElectronicsBrunel UniversityUxbridge,MiddlesexUB8 3PHTel.: 01895 274000 ext. 2144Fax.: 01628 540823Email:[email protected]

MemberCompanies

STRATHCLYDE ACT CLUBprovides a programme of:• Awareness workshops• How to do it workshops• Free software

LONDON CENTRE provides• Specialist expertise• On-plant assistance• Custom training• Link to all Strathclyde facilities

EPSRC, BBSRCDTI, MAFF &LINK schemes

The ACT Club News


CONFERENCE NEWS

Liberty, Fraternity andthe American Control

Conference.

The 1998 American ControlConference was held inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania home ofthe famous Liberty Bell.

The high point of this year’s ACCwas the presentation by Prof. RudolfKalman on Mathematical SystemsTheory in the 21st Century. His talkwas mostly philosophical in naturewith quotes from Cicero to MarkTwain. The quote from Ciceroseemed particularly appropriate“those who don’t know the past,cannot imagine the future”. Kalmanpointed to the importance of basicscientific research and distinguishedbetween this and the other possibleresearch routes such as goal oriented,commercial and popular research.

A number of awards were made atthe meeting and the most prestigiouswas that to Lotfi Zadeh who waspresented with the Bellman ControlHeritage Award. Prof. Zadeh is verywell known for his contribution tofuzzy set theory. He was able toamuse the audience with hisreminiscences regarding previouscomments made on the value of hisapproach. One of his transparenciesincluded a quote from Prof. Kalmanin 1972, which went “His proposalscould be severely, ferociously evenbrutally criticised from a technicalpoint of view. This would be out ofplace here. But a blunt questionremains Is Prof. Zadeh presentingimportant ideas or is he indulging inwishful thinking”. He also quotedfrom an NSF Grant Application in1989 where the reviewersrecommended: delete all material onfuzzy sets; it has been proved to lacka sound mathematical basis. Prof.Zadeh noted that from a quick surveyof the number of papers with fuzzy inthe title in Mathematical Journals

over the last three years 3,240 werefound. Prof. Zadeh enjoyed beingable to say I told you so.

Amongst the other outstandingawards was that to Prof. IoannisKanellakopoulos who received theEckman Award and Prof. PeterDorato who obtained the RagazziniEducation Award. Both Prof.Kanellakopoulos and Prof. Doratoare very well known for their work intheir respective fields of adaptive androbust control, and theircontributions have been significant.It was particularly pleasing to seeCharles Cutler recognised throughthe Control Engineering PracticeAward. His contributions to thedevelopment of dynamic matrixcontrol were fundamental and hasfound extensive application in thepetrochemical industry. Hedeveloped one of the outstandingproducts (DMC) that has introducedadvanced control into a range ofindustries, demonstrating the realcost savings that can be achieved.

The main industrial Plenary of theweek was by Dr. Ogunnaike ofDuPont who discussed the control ofchemical processes. His objectivesfor a successful control system were:

1. The process should operate safely.2. The specified production rate must

be achieved.3. Desired product quality must be

maintained.

He noted that the chemical processindustry worldwide is worth about 1trillion dollars. However, there arerelatively slim profit margins on hugevolumes. One of the distinguishingcharacteristics seems to be the verylong-term capital investmentprogrammes required and the factthat each plants is unique. Hepointed to the need for more efficientutilisation of these very expensiveassets and the role that improvedcontrol systems can play. He showedthat it is possible to improve product

quality and yield, whilst at the sametime reducing product variability. Healso stated that competitive benefitswere often only achieved bysqueezing the performance of thecontrol system to get closer tooperating limits.

Dr. Herbert Hanselmann, who isPresident of dSPACE, considered therelatively hot topic of real-timecontrol. dSPACE is the hardwarethat enables MATLAB to be usedright from the design stage through toimplementation with real plant. Hestated that code-generation tools canremove the bottlenecks and optimisethe whole development process. Hisexamples were taken from theautomotive industry where there aresevere pressures on emissionstandards and fuel consumption, andadditional control loops are nowrequired for many additionalautomotive functions.

One of the most interesting sessionsconcerned control education over theWorld Wide Web. Christian Schmid(Ruhr University) described a virtualcontrol laboratory and Molly Shor(Oregon State University) describeda Netscape control laboratoryfacility, which enabled remote accessto a robot arm. This enabled studentsto remotely conduct experiments inthe laboratory. The robot arm ishoused in a secure and safeenvironment and the student whologs in first gains access to theexperiment. There is real-time videodisplay so that the behaviour of therobot in the laboratory can beobserved and time-domain plots canbe obtained.

One of the new topics to emerge atthe Conference is the subject of non-fragile controllers. There can be pit-falls when implementing advancedcontrollers, which may appear tohave better properties, but whenimplemented in a real DCS systemmay give rise to unpredictableperformance.

The ACT Club News


There was a lot of interest in thesubject of fault detection. JasonSpeyer (University of California)gave a particularly interestingpresentation of game theory fordecentralised fault detection filtering.Jakob Stoustrup (Aalborg University)described the related approach ofmulti-objective design techniques forfault detection and isolation. MikeRank (Technical University ofDenmark) considered the problem ofthreshold selection for faultdetectors.

The Sessions on model predictivecontrol were very well attended andJames Primbs (CALTEC) discussedthe use of nonlinear control with areceding horizon and Lyapunovcontrol functions. Although theresults were a little academic they didtackle a very difficult problem whereresults are needed. BasilKouvaritakis (Oxford University)described a computationally efficientconstrained predictive control law tohandle rate constraints.

A number of sessions wereconcerned with metal processing andHarutoshi Ogai (Nippon Steel)considered the use of fuzzy set theoryfor dynamic set-up of hot strip mills,roll pressure modelling in cold stripmills and edge drop set-up systems incold mills. Their experience withfuzzy set theory is encouraging sinceit has led to so many applications.Anke Xue (Zhejiang University)described a real time expert system,which was integrated with a GPCcontrol law for cold strip millcontrol. It seems the expert system isused to optimise set points of thepredictive control loops. Juan FeiQiao (Northeastern University)described a new method of flatnesscontrol in cold rolling. The methodhe proposed involved fuzzyrecognition with a more conventionalself-tuning controller. It wasinteresting that in all of theseexamples of real applications therewas a need to combine some form ofintelligent control with moreconventional model based oradaptive control methods.

Greg Stewart (Honeywell-MeasurexDeveron Inc) presented animpressive paper on the use of robustgeneralised minimum variancecontrol for paper machines. A paperby Brian White (CranfieldUniversity) on Robust Flight Controlconsidered the use of EigenstructureAssignment type methods. He wasable to provide convincing evidencethat low interaction between channelscould be achieved and robustnessimproved. Lin Chujen (IntelligentAutomation, Inc) considered the useof neural networks in submarine pitchand depth control. One of the mainbenefits of his solution was theability to accommodate the nonlinearvariations in submarine dynamics.

It may only be a temporary changebut this year’s ACC seemed to beemphasising industrial applicationsmuch more strongly. The standard ofthe applications papers certainlyseems to be improving, although alittle of the excitement that comeswith some rapid theoretical advances,may have been missing.Nevertheless this was a valuableevent which had the virtuousoutcome of bringing academics andpractitioners an improved mutualunderstanding.

Italian Style and ControlEngineering

The 1998 IEEE Conference onControl Applications was held inTrieste, Italy, 1-4 September 1998. Itwas held in the Stazione Marittima,which is on the sea front. In fact thisis the first conference I have attendedwhere warships moored at one sideand ferries the other side of the event.

A number of plenary papers werepresented of which the presentationby Manfred Morari (ETH, Zurich) onthe control of systems withcontinuous dynamics, logic andconstraints was particularlyimpressive. Morari's talk centred onmodel predictive control, which has

been spectacularly successful in thepetrochemical and chemicalsindustries. His contention was thatthis was the only technique whichwas really suitable for integratingtogether logic systems, continuousdynamics and system constraints. Hedescribed AspenTech's success whichhas grown in fifteen years to aturnover of $180 million has beenmainly due to the use of thisapproach. They have apparently1400 application of truemultivariable control but he notedonly 10% of these needed some typeof non-linear control (usually asimple non-linear transformation)and less than 5% required multiplemodels or gain scheduling.

Morari asked why predictive controlis so popular and widely used. Heconcluded that for tough systemsinvolving multivariable dynamics andmultiple constraints, there was noreal alternative approach. One of thetechnological developments hepointed to was the convergence inperformance of DCS systems andPLCs. It was his belief that by theyear 2000 these systems would bevery similar and provide newopportunities for control.

Morari stated that the above diagram,which is shown in many processcontrol books, would not beapplicable in the future sinceadvances in computer science areblurring these boundaries. Even withtoday's systems real-timeoptimisation with model predictivecontrol gives rise to fluentboundaries. Tomorrow he believedthere would be smart manufacturingthrough the integration of plantcontrol and business systems. He

Measurement/ActuationRegulation

Planning

Optimisation

Scheduling

The ACT Club News


quoted British Petroleum whoseinterest is in the integration of theiroperation from oil well to the petrolstation. New paradigms will beneeded for integrating these layers.

His theoretical conclusion was thatmore general system descriptions areneeded to mix together these logicaland continuous time dynamicproblems. He gave numerousindustrial examples of illustrating themixture of requirements. Forexample, the gas supply system forKawasaki Steel uses very complexrules for boiler operation, regardingthe time it should be switched on, thesequencing involved and what shouldhappen if the type of fuel shouldchange. Future integrated systemsmust be able to deal with this type ofmixed sequencing and continuouscontrol problem. His other examplesincluded hydroelectric power plant,automotive active levelling systemsand fault detection systems for steelrolling mills. He described onepossible way forward combininglogic and artificial intelligence, andutilising linear programming typetechniques. His quadratic objectivefunctions combined continuous andinteger variables. He noted that thebranch and bound strategies forsolving mixed integer quadraticproblems are very effective. In factthe Kawasaki Steel plant, gas supplyproblem involved a controlcomputation time of just 1.2 secondson a Sun SPARC 4 computer.

Jean-Jacques Slotine (MIT)described a practical approach tonon-linear control applications in hisplenary presentation. The approachhe introduced was contractionanalysis, which he explained could beconsidered a generalisation of lineareigenvalue analysis. The approachseemed particularly relevant to hisown area of robotic control but therewere also aerospace, underwater andprocess control applications whichcould utilise such results.

The third plenary presentation wasgiven by Jim McWha (Boeing) whodescribed the development of the 777aeroplane, which is a very

technologically advanced aeroplanewhere the control engineeringproblems are challenging.

Tariq Samad (Honeywell TechnologyCentre) organised a session entitled“what is new and exciting in control”.Not surprisingly this attractedconsiderable interest and hepresented the first talk called“Control in an age of complexity”.In some respects his talk supportedthe plenary presentation by Morarisince it drew attention to the widersystems problems control engineersmust now consider. Frank Lewis(University of Texas) gave aparticularly stimulating presentationon new developments in neuro-control. There is continuingdevelopment in the area of neuralnetworks with researchers stillproposing their use within the controlloop.

Nunzio Bonavita (Elsag-Bailey)described improvements in processcontrol through the use of modelbased techniques from a controlsystems vendor’s perspective. Hedrew attention to the fact that controlsystem suppliers deal with a muchlarger range of problems than simplycontrol algorithms. He alsoreminded us of the obvious butimportant lesson that any new controltechnique that is developed, must betransparent and easy to use andapply.

Haniph Latchman (University ofFlorida) described recent work on aperturbation radius used in the robustdesign of H∞ controllers. To someextent this measure is ageneralisation of the idea of gain andphase margin. However, it takes intoaccount the form of the uncertaintyand in particular, the vector directionof the uncertainty, relative to thecritical point for stability. Thecriterion he defined enabled systemsto be designed with H∞ weightingsthat would not be so conservative.

Masanori Yukitomo (Toshiba)described a new PID controllertuning approach with application toFlue gas temperature control in gas

turbine power plant. His approachwas to calculate a linear quadraticoptimal controller and then calculatethe open loop frequency response. Hethen approximated this responseusing an open loop characteristicbased on a PID controller. The PIDcoefficients were then chosen tominimise the error between these twofrequency characteristics. Such anapproximation of the open-loopfrequency response does notguarantee stability but it did providea simple and easy to use method ofcomputing the PID controllercoefficients.

Conference Proceedingson CD-ROM

Both the above Conferences havetheir proceedings on CD-ROM,copies of which are held within theIndustrial Control Centre. Thisprovides a convenient means ofstoring and retrieving the manypapers as well as providing apowerful search facility.

The programme for these events canbe obtained from Lorna Flemingfrom which you can then determineany papers that may be of interest.

Energy SpecialInterest Group

The ACT Club News


The actions towards establishing theEnergy SIG have been progressing inthe ACT Club for some time andhave included:

• Tutorial Session “Improving theQuality of Control in the PowerIndustry 25th August 1998,Glasgow

• Meeting on “Process Control forProfit and Energy Efficiency forthe Oil and Gas, Power andUtilities”, 14th October 1998,Glasgow, supported by ETSU.

• MSc Project highlighting theproblems and procedures formultivariable control in theprocess industry. This work iscontinuing as a PhD project andmay result in an Energy SIGCase Study

• Meetings and discussions withcompanies such as MarathonOil, British Energy, ScottishHydro and National Grid.

It is our intention that the Energy SIGis formally established during theEnergy, Oil and Gas meeting beingheld in March next year.

The possible topics of interest of thisSIG may include:

• Multivariable control foroptimisation of energy andmaterial consumption.

• Dynamic simulation of energysystems for improved on-lineassessment of performance.

• Hardware and implementationissues for control in the energy, oiland gas industries.

• Benchmarking control practice inthe energy, oil and gas industries.

• Safety critical design and reliablecontrol.

Of course, the specific actions to beundertaken will be decided by theinterested members at the kick-offmeeting. Therefore the above list aremerely suggestions.

Also, there are several on-goingactivities in the Industrial Control

Centre that may be of interest to theEnergy SIG and may help in definingthe SIG’s programme. These are:

• THERMIE – implementation ofadvanced voltage regulation.Partners: ENEL, ABB and RedElectrica.

• IN-CONTROL – benchmarkingadvanced control algorithms.More details in the next article.

• Process Control Room Simulator– submitted to JREI. Partners:Elsag-Bailey, Scottish Power,COGSYS, Feedback Instruments,ACT Club.

• Multiphase Flow Modelling forImproved Control Performance ofOil Platform – under discussion.

• PhD Project on AdvancedMultivariable Predictive ProcessControl – just started.

• Joint project with OxfordUniversity on Predictive Control –under discussion.

We believe that the forthcomingmeeting in Aberdeen and theformation of the Energy SIG willgenerate a substantial interest amongthe Club members. Of course we willkeep you informed on thedevelopment of this initiative. In themeantime, we will be canvassing theopinion of the Club members bysending a letter and a questionnaireto companies who potentially may beinterested. Also, any form offeedback on the above from any Clubmember would be very muchwelcomed.

European UnionSupported Benchmarking

Project

How well are your control systemsperforming relative to your mosteffective competitors? This questionis the subject of a new project withinthe ICC, which is concerned withbenchmarking. The aim of the projectis to develop procedures and tools

that will enable effectivecomparisons to be made with currentbest practice.

It is difficult to even compare twosimilar plants owned by differentcompanies. However, there aremethods of establishing whether thecontrol systems are well tuned. MikeJohnson in the Industrial ControlCentre is investigating one suchmethod that uses contour maps todetermine how well PID systems aretuned. This is an old idea brought up-to-date through the use of newtechnology and techniques.

This benchmarking project issupported by the EU and involvesElsag Bailey (Italy), Red Electrica(Spain), Deutsche Babcock and theUniversities of Aalborg (Denmark),Genoa (Italy), Bocam (Germany) andStrathclyde University. The projectmanager is Dr Andrzej Ordys and heis able to invite contributions at thevarious meetings. If you would liketo contribute to such an event, whichwould usually be a two-day meeting,then please contact either Andrzej orMike Grimble.

Professorial Appointmentfor Mike Johnson

I am sure all Club members will bevery pleased to hear that theUniversity of Strathclyde hasappointed Mike Johnson as aProfessor of the University with atitle of Professor of IndustrialControl.

The ACT Club News


ACT Club Control Engineering Training Courses

The training courses described beloware standard courses availablethrough your company’s membershipof the ACT Club. The courses can befocused on your specific needs andapplications and individual modulesfrom different courses can be mixedto form a client specific course. Inaddition the courses can be aimed attechnician to research engineer level.

Should your company require coursemodules which are not listed then ourrelationship with StrathclydeUniversity can be exploited to ensurethat tuition on virtually any controltechnique can be provided. Coursesare generally run as and whenrequired and can be conducted onyour own premises or here inGlasgow.

All of our courses are eligible forCPD (Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment) as recognised by themajor Engineering Institutes.

Course 1: ClassicalControl and PID Tuning

Methods (One Day)

The course covers basic concepts ofclassical control and providespractical guidelines inimplementation and tuning of PIDcontrollers. The course is aimed attechnician level.

Course 2: PredictiveControl (One Day)

The course provides overview ofPredictive Control techniques andthen gives guidelines for analysis andtuning of predictive controllers.

Course 3: Control TheoryFundamentals (Two Day)

The course provides training on anengineering level in Classical Control

Theory and Control System Design.The course presents frequency andtime domain analysis of linearcontrol systems. The PID controllerand tuning methods are also covered.

This is the most popular trainingcourse that we offer. It is especiallyuseful to those engineers who maynot have had specific theory teachingduring their electrical or mechanicalengineering degrees. It also providesan excellent refresher course in basiccontrol engineering for practisingengineers.

Course 4: Overview ofModern Control DesignTechniques (Two Day)

The course provides an overview ofmodern control design techniquesranging from Robust (H∞) toPredictive Control, Adaptive Controland Fuzzy Logic Control.

Course 5: MATRIXx(Three Day)

This is a basic training course forcontrol design and simulation usingthe MATRIXx family of analysis,simulation and realisation tools. Thisresults orientated course providesknowledge and skills that can beapplied immediately.

Course 6: ControlFundamentals for

Engineers (Six Day)

The course starts from basic conceptsof signals, systems and computersimulation. The course coversClassical Control Systems DesignMethods, PID control, MultivariableControl design, Robust Controltechniques, Adaptive Control,Predictive Control and Optimal

Control. The course is focused on useof advanced computer tools tocontrol system design and simulation.The theoretical material is supportedwith numerous tutorial examples inMATRIXx.

Course 7: KalmanFiltering (One Day)

This course gives a detaileddescription of Kalman Filter theoryand implementation.

Course 8: SystemIdentification and Self-

tuning control (One Day)

This course presents methods forSystem Identification and design ofSelf-tuning Controllers.

Course 9: RobustController Design (Two

Day)

The basic concepts of robustness ofcontrol system are introduced. Thoseare analysed using classical designmethods (for both single-input single-output systems and multivariablesystems) and compared with modern(H∞) approach. Available computerdesign packages are discussed.

The ACT Club News


ACT Club Services and Deliverables to Members

The ACT Club provides its members with access to a very wide range of control technologies. This is accomplishedthrough the various services that are listed below and which are FREE to members of the ACT Club.

• Regular Plenary meetings, training courses and awareness days on both basic and advanced subjects. Typically 2-3 per annum, held centrally.

• An annual training course at the company premises. This can be selected from our standard range coveringvirtually all topics in control, or tailored to meet your exact requirements. Typically 1-2 days duration.

• Case Studies proposed by members are undertaken to investigate the usefulness of new technologies. Typically 3-4 case studies are undertaken per annum.

• Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that focus our efforts onto particular sectors of industry. Typically 1-2 meetingsper annum.

• Annual visits to provide consultancy advice at company premises.• Instant access to consultants is available over the telephone, fax or email.• The ACT Club’s own range of user-friendly software packages and toolboxes designed to make advanced control

more accessible.• Access to commercial software and hardware rapid prototyping systems.• Detailed technical reports and easy to understand educational notes.• Regular conference reports from most of the major events worldwide on latest technology and results.• Regular mailings and newsletters.

Case Studies

Case Studies investigate theapplicability of advanced controltechnologies to specific industrialproblems as proposed by the ACTClub members. These studies usuallytake the form of a 1-3 month study,which can be either simulation basedor use real hardware to interfacedirectly to the members’ plant.

The following Case Studies havebeen carried out and the associatedreports can be made available to Clubmembers.

ROLLS ROYCE: Control of a GasTurbine Engine (CS01/1992)

BRITISH GAS: Self-Tuning Controlof a Furnace Temperature(CS02/1992)

BRITISH AEROSPACE: PitchControl of a Generic Canard DeltaAircraft (CS03/1992)

BRITISH STEEL: Control ofReheat Furnace (CS04/1993)

BRITISH STEEL: Gauge Controlfor Cold Rolling (CS05/1993)

ROCHE PRODUCTS: Non-linearModel Based Control for pH(CS06/1993)

MARINE SIG: Design of RobustShip Positioning Systems andAdvantages of Feedforward/Feedback Control (CS07/1995)

BRITISH AEROSPACE: Classicalversus Modern Control DesignMethods for Safety Critical ControlEngineering Practice (CS08/1995)

BRITISH STEEL: MultivariableDecoupling Control of CollectorMain Pressure on Coke Ovens(CS09/1995)

ROCHE PRODUCTS: RocheVitamin C Modelling Report(CS10/1995)

BRITISH GAS: British GasMaintenance Reduction (CS11/1996)

BRITISH PETROLEUM:Introduction to Predictive Controlwith Application to a HydrogenReformer (CS12/1996)

T&N TECHNOLOGY: GaugeControl of Cold Rolling Mill(CS13/1996)

ROYAL ORDNANCE: AnOperational Planning Tool for theRoyal Ordnance Nitro-CelluloseProcess (CS14/1995)

BARR & STROUD: Control of aHigh Resolution Laser Scanner(CS15/1996)

MARINE SIG: ImplementationProblems and Design of ShipAutopilots (CS16/1996)

MARINE SIG: Advanced andClassical Control of Non-linear ShipPositioning Systems (CS17/1996)

ROYAL ORDNANCE: ExpertSystem Based Training Simulator:Picrite Process Application(CS18/1997)

UNILEVER RESEARCH:Supply Chain Management IntoThe Year 2000 (CS19/1998)

SCOTTISH NUCLEAR: ControlRoom Alarm Analysis Toolkit (OnGoing)

The ACT Club News


Technical Reports

Technical Reports provide a detailedtheoretical description of specificadvanced control techniques. Thesenotes are written to be a concise andcomplete source of information thatany engineer working in thatparticular field will find invaluable.

The following list gives all the ACTClub Technical Reports:

Application of Expert Systems inIndustrial control (ACT Report1/1990)

A Tutorial of Polynomial LQG/H∞Optimal Control for Industrial Users(ACT Report 2/1990)

A Tutorial of Digital LQG and H∞Self-Tuning Control for IndustrialApplications (ACT Report 3/1990)

µ-Analysis and Synthesis (Anoverview of an Optimisation - BasedMethodology for MultivariableControl Design) (ACT Club Report4/1990)

Weighting Functions in H∞ Control(ACT Report 5/1991)

Introduction to Non-linear SelfTuning Control (ACT Report 6/1992)

An Introduction to the Control ofNon-linear Processes (ACT Report7/1993)

Mathematical Notations and Glossary(TR07/1993)

On the Performance of GenericModel Control (TR09/1993)

An introduction to Neural Networks(TR10/1994)

Long Range Predictive Control: AReview (TR11/1994)

Introduction to the Benefits ofController with Several Degrees of

Freedom and the Use of FeedforwardControl (TR12/1995)

Applications of Fuzzy Logic Control(TR13/1995)

Tutorial Introduction to l1 Analysisand Synthesis (TR14/1996)

Comparison of the Design of aMarine Autopilot using H∞ Designand Quantitative Feedback Theory(TR15/1997)

Advances in Autotune Methods(TR16/1998)

Fibre Optics and their use inField Trials MeasurementsSystems (TR17/1998)

Educational Notes

Educational Notes are a simpleintroduction to the various controlsubject areas that are becomingincreasingly prominent and relevantto industry. These introductory textsare aimed at engineers with no priorknowledge of the subject describedand provide a basic understanding ofthe techniques involved.

The following list gives all the ACTClub Educational Notes:

What is H∞ Optimal Control ?(EN01/1990)

What is Robustness ? (EN02/1990)

Typical Robust Control DesignProblems ? (EN03/1990)

What is Self-Tuning Control ?(EN04/1990)

A Note on Smith Predictor for theControl Process Plants withSignificant Transport Delays(EN05/1993)

Tutorial on Variable StructureControl for Industrial Users(EN06/1995)

Simple Introduction to KalmanFiltering (EN07/1996)

An Introduction to Discrete EventSimulation (EN08/1997)

Mathematica and the ControlSystem Professional(EN09/1998)

Tutorial Introduction toQuantitative FeedbackTheory (EN10/1998)

ACT Club Software

The software packages listed belowprovide intuitive user friendly toolsfor many of the common controldesign laws. Comprehensive manualsand examples are provided andcomplementary training courses oftenexists.

H∞∞∞∞ Robust Control Toolbox forMATLAB

Robust H2 Feedback/FeedforwardControl Design Toolbox forMATLAB (Polynomial Approach)

Multivariable Robust ControlToolbox for MATLAB

Self-Tuning Control Software

Nonlinear Self-Tuning ControlSoftware

EASY_KIT Toolbox for MATLAB

4 DoF Non-linear Ship ModellingPackage for MATRIXX

Multivariable State-SpacePredictive Control Toolbox forMatlab

If you require more copies of The ACT Club News, then please complete the form below and return by to Lorna Fleming at 50George Street, Glasgow, G1 1QE. tel.: (+44) 0141 553 1111, fax: (+44) 0141 553 1232, email: [email protected].

Please send more copies of this newsletter.

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