MIMO model predictive controller design for a twin rotor aerodynamic system

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a viable control strategy for Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) systems owing to its capability of handling multivariable interactions and constraints on input, output as well as state. MPC design for MIMO systems generally resort to decoupling the system and adopting the Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) design approach. In this paper, the SISO MPC design approach is extended to a MIMO system without compromising on the system dynamics by decoupling it. The effectiveness of the designed controller is validated in simulation using a benchmark MIMO system, the Twin Rotor Multi-Input Multi-Output System (TRMS). The control objective is to stabilize the system in a coupled condition and make its beam to track a specified reference trajectory accurately or reach desired positions in two degrees-of-freedom (2 DOF). Simulation results in presence of external disturbances and parameter variations are presented to corroborate the robustness and effectiveness of the control strategy.