Proceedings of the American Control Conference

San Diego, California June 1999

AN ADAPTIVE AND ITERATIVE SCHEME FOR PID
AUTOTUNING BASED ON DESIGN FORMULAE
Cs. BhyBsz and L. Keviczky

Computer and Automation Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

H-1111, Budapest, Kende U 13-17, HUNGARY
Phone: +36-1-4467-483 Far: +36-1-4647-503
e-mail: banyasz@sztaki.hu, hlOkev@ella.hu

ABSTRACT continuous process given by the transfer function

G , = He-sF/ G , the zero order holding (Z.O.H.) element
The first classical design principle for PID regulators was to and the discrete transfer function G , of the regulator. Here
cancel the two major time constants of a plant and tune the
integrating action to the remaining low order time delay T is the time delay of the process.
process. This paper renew the original approach introducing
a stochastic-deterministic iterative or recursive adaptive
scheme, estimating the process parameters and the time 2. THE APPLIED PROCESS MODEL
delay at the same time and using design formulas for
automatic tuning of the regulator parameters. In the industrial practice it is a good approximation to use a
second order time delay lag as continuous process transfer
Keywords: Adaptive PID regulator, time delay estimation, function in most of the cases, i.e.
recursive estimation.

1. INTRODUCTION
Discrete PID regulators can be implemented in many
different ways. Different structures correspond to different
continuous PID regulators. The most common sampled data
PID regulator is given by the discrete transfer function
Please note that the PID regulator was first introduced for
this class of processes historically. There are several ways
to obtain the discrete time equivalent transformation of
G,, . The step response equivalent (SRE) transformation of
Gpc is (see, e.g., in Keviczky (1979)):

GR(z-l) = Po + PlZ -1 + P X 2 = -
p(2-l)
(3)
1- z-I 1- z-1

where z-' is the backward shift operator. The gain, the and using Gpc(s) given by (2),
integral and derivative time constants of the corresponding
continuous regulator can easily be obtained by applying
different approximations for the integral and derivative
bi (' Y z-')
+
( ) = 1+ a; z-I + a; z-2
C i D Z-' Z-d'
(4)
actions. This form includes a PI regulator, too using
p 2 = 0. (In case of an integrating plant GR = P should be where the discrete time delay of the process is
applied.)
d' = d + 1 = entier($) +1 (5)
DISCRETE PID REGULATOR CONTINUOUS PROCESS
with the applied sampling time h . The argument of GiD
corresponds to the ordinary z-transform and
z-'x(t) = x(t - 1) (the meaning of the backward shift
operator, where the integer argument t is discrete time of
the sampled system).
Fig. 1 The block scheme of the closed-loop system SFlE
PID REGULATOR SECOND ORDER PROCESS MODEL
Many rules exist for tuning continuous and discrete time
PID regulators, which procedures are, however, in many
cases non-trivial. Therefore, the automatic tuning of PID I-z-'
regulators has a great practical importance.

In our investigation the PID regulator is applied in a closed- Fig. 2 Second order plant by SRE transformation
loop system given in Fig. 1. This figure shows the

0-7803-4990-6199$10.00 0 1999 AACC 4358

The GiD computed by the SRE principle ensures an exact
matching between the continuous and discrete time (sampled
by h ) transient processes of the system, if a step input
excitation is applied. This is the case if a Z.O.H. is used,
which is the general industrial practice. Thus a SRE GiD
gives an exact discrete time modeling of the closed loop in
the sampling instants. Such system is shown in Fig. 2,
where y,(t), e ( t ) , u(t) and y(t) are the reference signal,
control error, process input and output, respectively.
Another approach to compute the discrete transformation of
G,, is based on the so-called 6 -transformation introduced
by Goodwin and coworkers (1986). Avoiding a detailed
analysis, this approach is used here only to compute an
equivalent G& discrete transfer function. The 6 -
transformation is a simple substitution of the Laplace
variable s by 6, i.e.:
where q is the forward shift operator: q x ( t ) = x(t + 1). It
can be well seen that 6 is a forward difference operator
corresponding to the well-known first order Euler-
approximation. Applying (6) for (2), the discrete transfer
function
(7)
3. THE APPLIED REGULATOR DESIGN METHOD
The process is assumed to be a stable, second order dead-
time lag whose discrete transfer function has the form
bo#O k>O
The above process model needs four parameters to be
estimated if the time delay is apriori known or available
from preliminary investigations.
If the continuous process is a stable, non-integrating plant,
then the poles of a SRE GiD are inside the unit circle. If
the continuous process is a minimum phase, second order
lag, then the zero (-y) of GiD is also within the unit
circle. For higher order minimum phase continuous
processes we can get the zero outside the unit circle, because
of the approximating character (and the necessarily occurred
bias) of the second order model. This can also happen, if the
time delay of the process is not an integer multiple of the
sampling interval, which is the general case. In case of a
non-minimum phase continuous process the zero is always
outside the unit circle. Note that the 6 -transformation based
G& has no zero. In case of a parameter estimation
procedure the applied structure of B / A makes only
difference, how to obtain GGD or G& .

is obtained. Because the different notation by q has
importance only in the theoretical analysis and q-' has the
same sense as z-' ,therefore
Most of the optimal regulator design algorithms are based
on the inverse of the process model. This is valid for
advanced and classical tuning procedures, too. In case of
noninvertable models, a good approximation is preferred
ensuring acceptable robustness for plant parameters and
regulator realization sensitivities.

Since the process is stable and a second order model is used,

can also be written at the practical investigations, where
d" = d + 2 = entier(;) +2
SECOND ORDER PROCESSMODEL
P ~ ~ G U ~ T O RBY 6 TRANSFORMATION
a very good robust design idea is to choose P proportional
to the denominator of the estimated process model:
(9)

i.e., to use

Fig. 3 Second order plant by 6 transformation
While GbD gives an exact matching in all sampling
instants, G;D ensures an exact approximation only at
h + O , which is the continuous case itself. (See the
corresponding closed-loop system in Fig. 3.)
PI =Peal ; P2 = P o Q 2 (12)
which means all poles cancellation and is applicable for
stable processes only. One should note that this was the
original design idea connected to the invention of the PID
regulators. In the tuning practice it meant that the regulator
cancels the two largest time constants in the process
dynamics. Following this idea, the resulting simple closed-
loop is easy to be handled from the designer's point of view.
The reduced closed-loop consists of a serially-connected
integrator and a pure delay z - ~and sometimes a serial

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compensator GF, which is easy to realize in digital control
systems, see Fig. 4. 1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6
Fig. 4 The reduced closed-loop system for optimal design 0.4

In this simple closed-loop system there is a strong 0.2

relationship between the overshoot of the unit step response 0
and the prescribed phase-advance aa, as our earlier -0.5 0 0.5 I

investigations showed (see Bfinyfisz and coworkers Fig. 5 The optimal KI in the function of d and y
(1982,1985)).
Formerly the case y = 0 was investigated by BBnyBsz and
Introducing the integral gain
Keviczky (1982), when the nonlinear equation has an
Kl =Po& (13) explicit solution
the solution of the absolute value

(14) and it was shown that the optimal gain gives nice step
responses with overshoot values between 1% and 5%.
and phase It should be noted that for y < 0 a serial filter
R oh ysinoh
-- + -- arctg - odh = -IC + $o (15)
2 2 1+ ycosoh
equations for GF 1, ensuring the prescribed can also be applied together with Eq. (20). In this case the
step response will have the same shape as for KI = KI0,
Qa = 1.07 = 60' results in an implicit nonlinear however, the transient will be slower, depending on the
relationship time constant represented by GF via y. (These
modifications are suggested only for inverse stable discrete
1-2arctg- 1+pinr
x=
( ycosx )l(ld-l)=&) (16) models: IyI < 1)

It can be shown that for the poorly-damped zero and for a

of type x=g(x), which generally has only iterative
solution. This iterative solution can be performed in many
ways, however, the simplest, so called relaxation type
algorithm has the form
~ i + l = [ x i + g(xi)]/2
Having obtained the solution, the optimal integral gain is
KI = 1--
The solution of Eqs. (16) and (18) is plotted in Fig. 5 for
different values of d in the function of y .
Using the serial expansion of (16) and (18) the design
formula
K, = x = 1/[2d(l+y)-(l-y)] (y > 0)
can be obtained, which gives a very good approximation for
y > 0 values.
wide range of unstable zero it only slightly modifies the
required step response. However, for nonminimum phase
processes with a zero (zll>l it may be desirable to
compensate the undershoot caused by a zero close to 1 by
(17) introducing a closed-loop pole pl. This design technique,
based on the fact that an unstable zero z1 can optimally be
compensated by the stable pole p1 = l/zl ,was analyzed in
(18)
Bfinyisz, Hetthtssy and Keviczky (1985) and resulted in a
simple additional serial filter
which is very easy to compute and realize. At the beginning
of these investigations the first and simplest case y = 0
(19)
seemed to have a theoretical value only with probability
zero. The further studies investigating the applicability of
the &-transformation showed that for h + 0 the GPD
ensures very good approximation of the continuous
transient processes. On the basis of the above the best
applicable design rule should be based on the form (7),

4360
which results in the optimal gain
KI = 1/(2k - ')Ik=d** = 1/[2(d + 2) - = 1/(2d + 3) (23)3'
using (9) and bo = b:.
It is interesting to see that in case of
lim K I / h -- lim 1/(22 + 3h) = 1/(22)
h+O h+O
we obtain the well known classical design rule of thumb
back, available for integrators, compensating dead-time
processes. It is important to note that the most important
advantage of using GFD is that decreasing the sampling
interval the overall design goal can always be obtained by
the application of (23). (The other advantage will be seen at
the adaptive delay estimation.)
4. ADAPTIVE TUNING OF REGULATOR
PARAMETERS IN CASE OF APRIORI KNOWN
PROCESS DELAY
Practically all methods published for adaptive regulators
assume the apriori knowledge of the time delay. This was
the case in our former studies, too. Repeat the s h e strategy
for the model structure determined by the 6-transformation.
Introducing the estimated parameter vector
i = [it,cittl, 64'
of the process approximated by GFD given in (8) and the
observation vector
the well-known RLS method is formulated by the formulae
i t =i t 4 + Rtf ( t - l ) [ Y ( t )- f 0
' -1 ) L ]
and
which is applied for the on-line adaptive parameter
estimation. (The closed-loop identifiability condition is
fulfilled and the persistently excitation must be ensured
through the reference signal y , ( t ) .) Here 0 < w I 1 is the
exponential forgetting factor and (28) stands for the so-called
naive programming form (in the practice a U-Dfactorization
algorithm is preferred to use). Note that k (corresponding
to d") is apriori known.
In case of noisy measurements different versions of the
recursive EL,!?,IV or ML methods can be applied, which are
not treated here. (In our practice the recursive IV method
proved to be most powerful and less sensitive to the
different problems concerning closed-loop identification.)
Having obtained the estimated process parameters, the PID
regulator parameters can finally be computed by the
application of the following formulae
K,,= K I = 1/(2k-l) ; jof
jl,= j o f c;; -
KI ; j 2 ,= io,q,= I,,KI~,,
(30)
b: 6: bo %r
The above regulator parameters correspond to the following
integral and derivative time constants:
These parameters correspond to an equivalent realizable
continuous PID regulator if 0 < 6; < 1 .
If the process itself has an integrator (i.e., z = 1 is a pole in
the discrete model), then the following regulator
G;(z-') = po + p1z-l + p2 z-2 = P(z-1) (32)
should be applied instead of (1). In this case a discrete model
GpDis identified between u(t) and Ay(t) = y ( t ) - y(t - 1) as
(25) input and output, instead of u(t) and y ( t ) , respectively.
5. ADAPTIVE TUNING OF REGULATOR
PARAMETERS IN CASE OF UNKNOWN TIME
DELAY
In spite of the several possible ways, how the process time
delay can be included into the parameter estimation, only
very few references are known suggesting estimation
(27) algorithms (see e.g. Habermayer and Keviczky (1989, Kurz
(1979), Kurz and Goedecke (1981)).
The direct estimation of the discrete time (integer) delay
makes the LS estimation strongly nonlinear which is very
sensitive for the initial conditions and for the selected
recursive technique. (Practically this is the case at a
continuous time estimation, however, a rational fraction
approximation (e.g., low order Pade in Agarwal and
coworkers (1986)) can improve the linearity, while the
higher order derivatives makes the method noise sensitive.)
The most widely suggested method estimates a
i i M ( z - l ) = i o + i l z - I + ...+6, z-M (33)
instead of z-kh with an assumed delay k^. Here M is the
possible maximum value of k^ . The best approximating
and k^ can be found by probing different values of in a
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second estimation phase. This phase can be based upon the
best approximating impulse responses (see Kurz (1979)) or
on the best statistical significance of the estimated
parameters in a window determined by k^ and the order of B
(see Habermayer and Keviczky (1985)). In these methods the
order of h is n , i.e., equals to the order of A.
(Assuming a
second order process this means two 6; parameters are to be
estimated for SRE models.)
The special structure of G& in (8) allows to introduce a
very simple new method to estimate b: and d ” . This
method also estimates the parameters of Bu. For this
reason the RLS equations (25)-(28) can be used with the
modified
and
f ( t - 1) = [u(t),U(t - 1))...,u(t - M),-y(t - l), -y(t
(35)
parameter and observation vectors. Having obtained
i M ( z - ’ ) , the equivalent
numerator (parameter and delay) will be determined by a
model matching at zero frequency. For the determination of
the two unknown parameters: b: and k , the zero and first
order derivativesof i M ( j o )and h”(jo) will be required to
be equal at w = 0. First the equation
gives
i=l
Then
results in
where (38) was also used. Note that i is not an integer
number yet here. In a practical application the best integer
approximation of (40) should be used, i.e.
(41)
In the following design steps the formulae (29)-(30) can be
used with 6: and k^ for the determination of the optimal
regulator parameters.
6. ITERATIVE SCHEME FOR AUTOTUNING
It is very simple to modify the adaptive versions of sections
3 and 4 to form an iterative regulator refinement scheme,
similarly to the combined method suggested by Keviczky
(1995) for general controller design. Such scheme needs the
off-line process of N samples, i.e. the so-called batch
identification of the process parameters. The iterative
procedure means the sequential application of the closed-
(34) loop identification and the above regulator design method
repeating while a proper stop condition is fulfilled.
REFERENCES
T
- 2)]
Agarwal, M. and C. Camidas (1986). On-line estimation of
time delay and continuous-time process parameters.
American Control Conference, Seattle, 728-733.
BBnyhz, Cs. and L. Keviczky (1982). Direct methods for
self-tuning PID regulators. 6th IFAC Symp. on Ident.
and Syst. Par. Est., Washington D.C. (USA),1249-
1254.
BBnyBsz, Cs., J. Hetthessy and L. Keviczky (1985). An
adaptive PID regulator dedicated for microprocessor
based compact controllers. 7th IFAC Symp. on Ident.
and Syst. Par. Est., York (UK),1299-1304.
Goodwin, G.C., R. Lozano Leal, D.Q. Mayne and R.H.
Middleton (1986). Reapproachment between continuous
and discrete model reference adaptive control.
Automatica, 22,199-207.
Habermayer, M. and L. Keviczky (1985). Investigation of
an adaptive Smith controller by simulation. 7 t h
Conference on Digital Computer Applications to
Process Control, Vienna.
Keviczky, L. (1979). On the transfer functions of sampled
continuous systems. Technical Report, University of
Minnesota, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Minneapolis (USA).
Keviczky, L. (1995). Combined identification and control:
Another way, (Invited plenary paper.) 5th IFAC
(39) Symp. on Adaptive Systems in Control and Signal
Processing ACASPPS, Budapest, Hungary, 13-30.
Kurz, H. (1979). Digital parameter-adaptive control of
processes with unknown or time-varying dead-time. 5th
IFAC Symp. on Ident. and Syst. Par. Est., Darmstadt,
1187-1194.
Kurz, H. and W. Goedecke (1981). Digital parameter
adaptive control of processes with unknown dead-time.
Automatica, 17, 245-252.
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