Decentralized adaptive predictive control of multi-reach irrigation canal

This paper presents the design of a predictive controller for decentralized control of an irrigation canal. The overall canal is decomposed into N subsystems (reaches) separated by the control structure (gate). The subsystems are interdependent because flow through the structures depends on both the upstream and downstream water level. In this paper, predictive control theory is used to formulate a set of local controllers for the automatic operation of each reach gate. The control scheme presented explicitly takes into account the interactions among subsystems. The objective of each controller is to maintain the downstream end water level of each reach at a constant target value under external perturbation. To evaluate the controller performance in realistic conditions, it is tested on an open-canal flow nonlinear model. The case study considered deals with 8 canal reaches.