Decoupled Control of Two Tank System via

Algebraic -Synthesis

M. Dlapa
*

*
Department of Automation and Control Engineering,
Faculty of Applied Informatics,
Tomas Bata University in Zlin,
Zln, Czech Republic



AbstractThe paper deals with design of a robust controller
via algebraic -synthesis for two tank system, which is a well
known benchmark problem. The controller is designed by
decoupling two-input two-output system into two identical
SISO (Single-Input Single-Output) plants. The task of
designing the robust controller is then performed by finding
a suitable pole placement for the SISO systems with the
robustness assessed by structured singular value denoted
for generalized plant. The final controller is compared with
D-K iteration as a standard tool for -synthesis through
simulation for nominal plant and plant perturbed by the
worst case perturbation.
I. INTRODUCTION
Algebraic methods ([7]; [12]) are well known and easy
to use for SISO (single-input single-output systems)
systems described by continuous or discrete transfer
functions. However, if applied to MIMO (multi-input
multi-output) systems computational difficulties are
increasing. In this paper the problem of MIMO system
design is utilized via decoupling the MIMO system into
two identical SISO plants, which are then approximated
by transfer functions with simple structure. This
guarantees decoupled result control, and simplifies
derivation of pole placement formulas.
In order to evaluate the robust stability and performance
structured singular value denoted is used ([5], [6]) as a
tool for the assessment of controller quality. The algebraic
-synthesis [2] overcomes some difficulties connected
with the D-K iteration, namely the fact that it does not
guarantee convergence to a global or even local minimum,
which leads to non-optimality of the resulting controller
[11]. Moreover, the controllers obtained via the algebraic
approach can have simpler structure because there is no
need of absorbing of the scaling matrices into the
generalized plant, and hence no need of further
simplification causing deterioration of the frequency
properties of the controller.
In this paper the algebraic -synthesis is applied to the
control of two tank system [1], which is a classical
benchmark for robust control design. As a reference
method the D-K iteration is used, and the results are
compared through simulations for nominal and perturbed
plant.
The procedure used in this paper is similar to the
approach described in [4]. This is, however, another step
in verification of functionality of the method supporting
results presented in the previous article.
The following notation is used:

denotes H

norm,
R and C
nm
are real numbers and complex matrices,
respectively, and I
n
is the unit matrix of dimension n.
II. EXPERIMENTAL DESCRIPTION
Two tank system is a benchmark problem showing
efficiency of controller design. Detailed description is in
[1] and other papers (e.g. [8], [9], [10]). In this paper only
points that are important for controller design are
presented.
The system consists of two water tanks in cascade and
is shown schematically in Figure 1. The upper tank (tank
1) is fed by hot and cold water via computer controllable
valves. The lower tank (tank 2) is fed by water from an
exit at the bottom of tank 1. A constant level is maintained
in tank 2 by means of an overflow. A cold water bias
stream also feeds tank 2 and enables the tanks to have
different steady-state temperatures.















Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the two tank system
Tank 1 is 5 inches in diameter and 30 inches in
height. Tank 2 is 7 inches in diameter and the overflow
maintains the water level at 7 inches. This configuration
maintains the water level in tank 2 at 4 inches below the
base of tank 1. Flow control is obtained via linear
electropneumatic actuators with a C
V
of 1.0. One hundred
inches of -inch piping runs from each valve to the top of
Proceedings of the 15th Mediterranean Conference on
ControI & Automation, JuIy 27 - 29, 2007, Athens - Greece
T31-014
tank 1. Approximately 36 inches of pipe connect the
tanks, from the base of tank 1 to the base of tank 2. The
tank 2 cold water bias stream is manually adjustable
between 0.015 and 0.3 gpm. Thermocouples are mounted
inch above the base of each tank. A pressure sensor (0
to 5 psig) provides a measurement of the water level in
tank 1.
All measured signals are filtered with fourth order
Butterworth filters, each with a cutoff frequency of 2.25
Hz.
III. MODEL DESCRIPTION
The two tank system is a MIMO system with two
measured signals: t
1
, t
2
and two inputs f
h
and f
c
. The
quantities t
1
, t
2
represent temperatures of tank 1 and 2
respectively. The input signals are commands to hot flow
(f
hc
) and cold flow (f
cc
) actuators, which are transformed to
hot water flow f
h
and cold water flow f
c
. Third measured
signal is water level in tank 1 (h
1
), which is not controlled.
This quantity is, however, important for assessment of
controller performance.
Due to linearization quantities h
1
and t
1
should be in a
prescribed range:
0.25 h
1
0.75 (1)
0.25 t
1
0.75 (2)
Nominal model from the inputs f
h
, f
c
to the outputs t
1
, t
2

can be written in two dimensional transfer matrix

+ + +
+
+ + +
+
+ + +
+
+ + +
+ +

6 - 2 3
4 - 4 -
6 - 2 3
6 - 2
6 - 2 3
6 -
6 - 2 3
7 - 2
22 21
12 11
10 3.0684 0.0007 0.0491
10 0.0187 10 0.1562
10 3.0684 0.0007 0.0491
10 -2.3447 0.0004 - 0.0109 -
10 3.0684 0.0007 0.0491
10 4.6643 0.0004
10 3.0684 0.0007 0.0491
10 7.8157 0.0001 0.0036
) ( ) (
) ( ) (
) (
s s s
s
s s s
s s
s s s
s
s s s
s s
s P s P
s P s P
s
nom
P
(3)
Differences from the nominal model are utilized by
multiplicative perturbations at the outputs of measured
quantities (Figure 2).









Figure 2. Schematic representation of the perturbed, linear, two tank
model
The perturbation weights are transfer functions of the
form:

1 25 . 0
5 . 0
01 . 0
1
+
+ =
s
s
W
h
(4)

1 2 . 0

20
1 . 0
1
1
+
+ =
s
s h
W
t
(5)

21
100
1 . 0
2
+
+ =
s
s
W
t
(6)
where 75 . 0

1
= h is steady state value of h
1
. For details on
nominal models of tank 1 and 2 see [1].
Sensor noise is modelled by adding unknown weighted
input to h
1
, t
1
, and t
2
. The appropriate weights are
W
h1noise
= 0.01 (7)
W
t1noise
= 0.03 (8)
W
t2noise
= 0.03 (9)
IV. DESIGN USING D-K ITERATION
The problem considered is the control of t
1
and t
2
for
command response. The desired closed-loop configuration
is illustrated in Figure 3. The controller has access to both
the reference inputs and the temperature measurements.
This configuration is less restrictive than design using
only error between the temperature and the setpoints.







Figure 3. Closed-loop interconnection for D-K iteration
The layout of the interconnection structure for D-K
iteration is in Figure 4.










Figure 4. Interconnection structure for D-K iteration
The error weights are first order low pass filters, with
W
t1per
weighting the t
1
tracking error and W
t2per
weighting
the t
2
tracking error. These are given by,

1 400
40
1
+
=
s
W
perf t
(10)

1 800
20
2
+
=
s
W
perf t
(11)
The majority of the water flowing into tank 2 comes
from tank 1, which means that changes in t
2
are dominated
by changes in t
1
. It makes more sense to express the
reference weighting in terms of t
1
and t
2
t
1
. This allows us
to express the fact that t
2
is normally commanded to a
value close to t
1
. This is done by using the following
weighting approach.

Tank
System K
1
h
1
t
2
t
hc
f
cc
f
cmd
t
1
cmd
t
2

pert.
model
reference
weights

actuator
model
+
error
weights
+
noise
weights
actuator
weights
1
e
2
e
1
w
2
w
v z

cmd
cmd
t
t
2
1

meas
meas
t
t
2
1

cc
hc
f
f
Proceedings of the 15th Mediterranean Conference on
ControI & Automation, JuIy 27 - 29, 2007, Athens - Greece
T31-014

2
1
2
1
0
0
1 1
0 1
1
w
w
W
W
t
t
diffcmd
cmd
t
t
cmd
cmd
(12)
In this case,
1 . 0
1
=
cmd
t
W (13)
01 . 0 =
diffcmd
t
W (14)
In the case of the actuation weights we would like to
weight both the amplitude and the rate of the actuator.
This can be done by weighting f
hc
(and f
cc
) with a function
that rolls up at high frequencies.
Using f
hc
as an example; the approach is to create an
actuator model with f
h
and df
h
/dt as outputs. These can then
be separately weighted with constant weights. This
approach has the advantage of reducing the number of
states in the interconnection structure. Figure 5 illustrates
the form of such a weighted actuator model.









Figure 5. Model of the flow valve actuator including magnitude and
rate weightings
The actuator bandwidth, denoted by BW in Figure 5, is,
BW = 20 radians/sec. (15)
The weights selected for the design were,
W
hact
= 0.01 (16)
W
cact
= 0.01 (17)
W
hrate
= 50 (18)
W
crate
= 50 (19)
Each weighted actuator model contributes only one state
to the interconnection structure, and allows independent
weighting of
h
f and
h
f
&
(and
c
f and
c
f
&
).
V. ALGEBRAIC APPROACH
For the purposes of the algebraic -synthesis the MIMO
system is decoupled into two identical SISO plants. For
decoupling the nominal plant P
nom
it is satisfactory to have
the controller in the form

1
11
2
)] ( [
) (
1
)] ( det[ ) ( ) (

= s
s P
s s K s
nom nom
P P I K (20)
The choice of decoupling matrix prevents the controller
from cancelling any poles or zeroes in the right half-plane
so that the internal stability of the nominal feedback loop
is held. The MIMO problem is now transformed into
finding a controller K(s), which is tuned via setting the
poles of the nominal feedback loop with the plant

2
11
1
11
)] ( det[
) (
1
) ( )] ( )][ ( det[
) (
1
) (
I P
P P P P
s
s P
s s s
s P
s
nom
nom nom nom dec
=
=

(21)
Let
)] ( det[
) (
1
11
s
s P
P
nom dec
P (22)
Then the transfer function P
dec
can be approximated by 2
nd

order system

0.0001 0.0164
0.0001 -0.0017s 0.0027
) (
) (
) (
2
2
+ +
+ +
= =

s s
s
s a
s b
s P
dec
dec
dec
(23)
and the controller
M
N
K = is obtained by solving the
Diophantine equation
1 = + N B M A
dec dec
(24)
where A
dec
, B
dec
, M, N R
ps
(the ring of Hurwitz-stable
and proper rational functions).
It can be shown that the asymptotic tracking of
reference signal is achieved if and only if A
dec
M is
divisible by F
r
and disturbance is suppressed if A
dec
M is
divisible by F
d
, where F
r
and F
d
are the Fourier transforms
of the reference and disturbance respectively. By the
analysis of the polynomial degrees of a
dec
and b
dec
the
transfer functions A
dec
, B
dec
, M and N is chosen so that the
number of closed loop poles is minimal and the
asymptotic tracking for step reference signal is achieved:

=
+
=
2
1
) (
i
i
dec
dec
s
a
A

=
+
=
2
1
) (
i
i
dec
dec
s
b
B

(25)

=
+
=
4
3
) (
i
i
s
m s
M

=
+
=
4
3
) (
i
i
s
n
N

(26)
and degrees of polynomials m and n are:
m = 1, n = 2 (27)
Thus the characteristic polynomial of the nominal closed
loop has 4 poles -
i
, which represent the tuning
parameters. The resulting controller K has the structure:

m s
n
s K = ) ( (28)
The open-loop interconnection is the same as for the D-K
iteration but the performance weights are changed:

hrate
W
hact
W
1/s BW +
error
outputs
f
h
(input to plant)
h
f
h
f
&
hc
f
Proceedings of the 15th Mediterranean Conference on
ControI & Automation, JuIy 27 - 29, 2007, Athens - Greece
T31-014

1 400
1 130
1
+
+
=
s
s
W
perf t
(29)

1 800
5 . 0 130
2
+
+
=
s
s
W
perf t
(30)
1
1
=
cmd
t
W (31)
1 =
diffcmd
t
W (32)
and input to the controller is tracking error of the
measured temperatures t
1err
, t
2err
.










Figure 6. Interconnection structure for algebraic approach
The relaxed performance weight is justified by the
additional postulate of decoupled result control for the
nominal loop, which is not present in the D-K iteration
case, and which makes the task of achieving the robust
performance and stability more difficult. However, this
modification of interconnection does not degrade the
uncertainty model, and the resulting performance can be
observed by simulation for nominal and perturbed plant.
The design of controller is then reduced to
minimization of the peak of the -function. The cost
function is then defined as

)] , ( [ K G F
l
(33)
In order to overcome its multimodality an evolutionary
algorithm, Differential Migration (e.g. [3]), was used for
searching the optimal values of
i
. Rough results obtained
from DM were then tuned up by the Nelder-Mead simplex
method. The poles were constrained to the interval 0 to
-300.
VI. SIMULATION STUDIES
In order to assess performance of the controllers
simulations of response to a ramp reference signal were
done. By D-K iteration a controller with 42 states was
obtained. Algebraic approach yields controller with 14
states which guarantees decoupled control result for
nominal plant. The robust stability and performance can
be observed by -plots in Figure 7. The -plots for both
controllers are lower than 1, which implies that the robust
stability has been achieved. Simulation of response to
ramp reference signal for D-K iteration and nominal plant
is in Figure 8. Simulation for the same setpoint and
nominal plant for algebraic approach is in Figure 9. It
follows from the graphs that D-K iteration has slower
response and steady state error is present. Algebraic
approach is approximately 7 times faster with no steady
state error. Moreover, the response for algebraic approach
is monotonous for both the measurements and the actuator
signals.















Figure 7. Comparison of -plots




























Figure 8. Response to reference signal which ramps (from 80 to 100
seconds) t
1
from 0.75 to 0.57, and t
2
from 0.67 to 0.47 for D-K iteration





10
-10
10
-8
10
-6
10
-4
10
-2
10
0
10
2
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
mu comparison
F d/
Polynomial approach
D-K iteration

Frequency (rad/s)

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.75
0.8
Time: seconds
Design kmu, step response
h1
t1
t2
Time (seconds)

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Time: seconds
A
c
t
u
a
t
o
r
s
Design kmu, step response
fhc
fcc
Time (seconds)

pert.
model
reference
weights

actuator
model
+
error
weights
+
noise
weights
actuator
weights
1
e
2
e
1
w
2
w
v z

err
err
t
t
2
1

cc
hc
f
f
+
G
Proceedings of the 15th Mediterranean Conference on
ControI & Automation, JuIy 27 - 29, 2007, Athens - Greece
T31-014




























Figure 9. Response to reference signal which ramps (from 80 to 100
seconds) t
1
from 0.75 to 0.57, and t
2
from 0.67 to 0.47 for algebraic
approach

Similar results are obtained for plant perturbed by the
worst case perturbation (Figure 10 and 11). For algebraic
approach there is no steady state error and faster tracking
than for the D-K iteration, and the measurements and the
actuator signals are monotonous, which is not held for the
reference method.






























Figure 10. Response to reference signal which ramps (from 80 to 100
seconds) t
1
from 0.75 to 0.57, and t
2
from 0.67 to 0.47 for D-K iteration
and perturbed plant





























Figure 11. Response to reference signal which ramps (from 80 to 100
seconds) t
1
from 0.75 to 0.57, and t
2
from 0.67 to 0.47 for algebraic
approach and perturbed plant
VII. CONCLUSION
The paper has presented another application of the
algebraic approach to a MIMO system. The plant was

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.75
Time: seconds
M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t
s
Polynomial approach, step response
h1
t1
t2
Time (seconds)

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Time: seconds
A
c
t
u
a
t
o
r
s
Polynomial approach, step response
fhc
fcc
Time (seconds)

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.75
0.8
Time: seconds
M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t
s
Design k3, step response (perturbed plant)
h1
t1
t2
Time (seconds)

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Time: seconds
A
c
t
u
a
t
o
r
s
Design k0, step response
fhc
fcc
Time (seconds)

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Time: seconds
A
c
t
u
a
t
o
r
s
Polynomial approach, step response for perturbed plant
fhc
fcc
Time (seconds)

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.75
Time: seconds
M
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t
s
Polynomial approach, step response for perturbed plant
h1
t1
t2
Time (seconds)
Proceedings of the 15th Mediterranean Conference on
ControI & Automation, JuIy 27 - 29, 2007, Athens - Greece
T31-014
decoupled into two identical SISO systems and the
controller was designed via optimization of the poles for
the nominal plant. The performance and robustness were
evaluated by the H

norm of the function. Besides its

simpler structure, the resulting controller satisfies the
robust performance condition and guarantees the robust
stability. Simulation proved that algebraic approach has
monotonous step response and significantly faster set
point tracking for ramp reference signal than the D-K
iteration. Moreover, the asymptotic tracking is achieved,
which is not held for the reference method. The better
performance of the controller is due to the fact that the
algebraic method implements decoupled control for the
nominal closed loop. This scheme cannot be used in the
scope of the D-K iteration. The classical procedure makes
a trade-off between robust stability and performance.
Therefore the D-K iteration has higher robustness as it
fully utilizes the MIMO structure of the controller.
However, the higher stability is achieved at the expense of
worse performance.
Although it is apparent that generally the presented
method cannot substitute the D-K iteration, in this case,
the algebraic approach proves better performance than the
standard procedure, which verifies the results in [4].
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the project
MSM7088352102.




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th
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Proceedings of the 15th Mediterranean Conference on
ControI & Automation, JuIy 27 - 29, 2007, Athens - Greece
T31-014