Human-in-the-Loop Model Predictive Control of an Irrigation Canal

Until now, advanced model-based control techniques have been predominantly employed to control problems that are relatively straightforward to model. Many systems with complex dynamics or containing sophisticated sensing and actuation elements can be controlled if the corresponding mathematical models are available, even if there is uncertainty in this information. Consequently, the application of model-based control strategies has flourished in numerous areas, including industrial applications [1]-[3].Junta de Andalucía P11-TEP-812

Role of N-acetylcysteine in the management of COPD

The importance of the underlying local and systemic oxidative stress and inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has long been established. In view of the lack of therapy that might inhibit the progress of the disease, there is an urgent need for a successful therapeutic approach that, through affecting the pathological processes, will influence the subsequent issues in COPD management such as lung function, airway clearance, dyspnoea, exacerbation, and quality of life. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a mucolytic and antioxidant drug that may also influence several inflammatory pathways. It provides the sulfhydryl groups and acts both as a precursor of reduced glutathione and as a direct reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger, hence regulating the redox status in the cells. The changed redox status may, in turn, influence the inflammation-controlling pathways. Moreover, as a mucolytic drug, it may, by means of decreasing viscosity of the sputum, clean the bronchi leading to a decrease in dyspnoea and improved lung function. Nevertheless, as successful as it is in the in vitro studies and in vivo studies with high dosage, its actions at the dosages used in COPD management are debatable. It seems to influence exacerbation rate and limit the number of hospitalization days, however, with little or no influence on the lung function parameters. Despite these considerations and in view of the present lack of effective therapies to inhibit disease progression in COPD, NAC and its derivatives with their multiple molecular modes of action remain promising medication once doses and route of administration are optimized

Human in the Loop Model Predictive Control: an Irrigation Canal Case Study

53rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. 15-17 Dec. 2014 Los Angeles, CA, USAIn this work, we propose to expand the application of model predictive control (MPC) to problems in which there are human agents involved in the sensing and actuation processes. To this end, a new configuration of a control system structure that combines centralized predictive control and local operations is presented. Additional constraints are included in the optimization problem to take into account the mobility and the role of the operators over the prediction horizon. This new type of control system structure, referred to as Mobile Model Predictive Control (MoMPC), is tested on a linear model of a large scale irrigation canal and its performance is compared to centralized MPC and manual operation

Predictive Control of a Human–in–the–Loop Network System Considering OperatorComfort Requirements

We propose a model-predictive control (MPC)-based approach to solve a human-in-the-loop control problem for a network system lacking sensors and actuators to allow for a fully automatic operation. The humans in the loop are, therefore, essential; they travel between the network nodes to provide the remote controller with measurements and to actuate the system according to the controller’s commands. Time instant optimization MPC is utilized to compute when the measurement and actuation actions are to take place to coordinate them with the network dynamics. The time instants also minimize the burden of human operators by tracking their energy levels and scheduling the necessary breaks. Fuel consumption related to the operators’ travel is also minimized. The results in a digital twin of the Dez Main Canal illustrate that the new algorithm outperforms previous methods in terms of meeting operational objectives and taking care of human well-being, but at the cost of higher computational requirements.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Water ResourcesDelft Center for Systems and Contro

A virtual structure approach to formation control of unicycle mobile robots using mutual coupling

In this article, the formation control problem for unicycle mobile robots is studied. A distributed virtual structure control strategy with mutual coupling between the robots is proposed. The rationale behind the introduction of the coupling terms is the fact that these introduce additional robustness of the formation with respect to perturbations as compared to typical leader–follower approaches. The applicability of the proposed approach is shown in simulations and experiments with a group of wirelessly controlled mobile robots