On the Feasibility of Adaptive Control Without Identification

Abstract

<p> One of the two basic philosophies underlying adaptive control is that the transfer function of the plant must be first determined and then the values of an adjustable controller varied for optimizing a given index of performance. The process of identifying the plant characteristics is popularly known as Identification Problem and constitutes a major problem in the realization of an adaptive system of this type.</p> <p> The other philosophy is that a complete knowledge of the plant is not necessary for the optimum adjustments of the parameter of control. The system is caused to measure its own performance against a figure of merit and drives its performance towards optimum. This approach is becoming popular because of the many difficulties associated with the identification problem and a number of "hill climbing" techniques have been proposed based on this philosophy.</p> <p> In this thesis, three such techniques (steepest descent, conjugate gradients and parallel tangents) have been analysed with a view to determine the most efficient and quickest way to determine the parameters of a controller for optimum performance.</p>