Implementation of hierarchical control of drinking water supply system: Didactic project — Computer controled system

The paper presents the outline of the didactical project of a complex computer controlled system realized by the first degree students of the Automatics and Robotics on the Faculty of Electrical and Control Engineering (FoEaCE) in Gdansk University of Technology (GUT). The synthesis, implementation and analysis of a multilayer hierarchical control system for drinking water supply system (DWSS) are main topics of that project. The scope of the project covers many aspects of automation: mathematical modeling, dynamic object identification, real-time simulation, acquisition and scaling of signals, estimation, PID control, definition of optimization criteria, predictive control technology, control synthesis, SCADA and HMI application development, OPC communication, hardware-in-the-loop technology, and many others tools and methods needed to obtain a functional control system structure. The DWSS system model is simulated with quasi-real time using the Simulink RealTime Desktop toolbox of Matlab/Simulink environment. The proposed control system structure consists of three layers — direct control layer with PLC/PAC controller, supervisory control layer with SCADA/HMI system and optimization control layer with Optimization toolbox of Matlab/Simulink environment for optimizing control purposes with MPC controller. The undoubted advantage of presented project is the integration into one coherent, functional system many previously separately recognized during the studies methods and tools.