Centralised and decentralised configurations for panels with piezoelectric actuators

This paper discusses configurations for controlling broadband noise using piezoelectrically excited panels. The configurations can be distinguished by the physical layout and by the control structure. The physical layout of the system has some influence on the complexity of the control algorithms. For particular actuator/sensor combinations and a particular control objective, the control architecture can be decentralized, using very simple feedback or feedforward controllers, at small performance loss when compared to a centralized architecture. For some applications that require a different control objective, an additional centralized or possibly distributed architecture could be beneficial. A hardware realization with an associated control framework that allows the implementation of such a combined centralized-decentralized architecture is shown. Examples that are given are an embedded central control unit with all electronics in a single module and a centralized-decentralized architecture with partly decentralized hardware that is integrated with structural parts

Stability analysis tool for tuning unconstrained decentralized model predicitive controllers

Some processes are naturally suitable to be controlled in a decentralized framework: centralized control solutions are often infeasible in dealing with large scale plants and they are technologically prohibitive when the processes are too fast for the available computational resources. In these cases, the resulting control problem is usually split in many smaller subproblems and the global requirements are guaranteed by means of a proper coordination. The unconstrained decentralized case is here considered and a coordination strategy is proposed for improving the global control performances. This paper present a tool for setting up and tuning a nominally stable decentralized Model Predictive Controller. Numerical examples are proposed for testing and validating the developed technique

Algorithms for output feedback, multiple-model, and decentralized control problems

The optimal stochastic output feedback, multiple-model, and decentralized control problems with dynamic compensation are formulated and discussed. Algorithms for each problem are presented, and their relationship to a basic output feedback algorithm is discussed. An aircraft control design problem is posed as a combined decentralized, multiple-model, output feedback problem. A control design is obtained using the combined algorithm. An analysis of the design is presented

A coordination mechanism with fair cost allocation for divergent multi-echelon inventory systems

This paper is concerned with the coordination of inventory control in divergent multiechelon inventory systems under periodic review and decentralized control. All the installations track echelon inventories. Under decentralized control the installations will decide upon replenishment policies that minimize their individual inventory costs. In general these policies do not coincide with the optimal policies of the system under centralized control. Hence, the total cost under decentralized control is larger than under centralized control.\ud To remove this cost inefficiency, a simple coordination mechanism is presented that is initiated by the most downstream installations. The upstream installation increases its base stock level while the downstream installation compensates the upstream one for increased costs and provides it with additional side payments. We show that this mechanism coordinates the system; the global optimal policy of the system is the unique Nash equilibrium of the corresponding strategic game. Furthermore, the mechanism results in a fair allocation of the costs; all installations enjoy cost savings