IMC based feedforward controller framework for disturbance attenuation on uncertain systems

This paper presents a generalization of the Internal Model Control (IMC) approach to feedforward control action generation. As is well known, one of the distinctive features of the IMC formulation is the possibility to distinguish between the nominal and uncertain situations. However the consideration of the presence of uncertainty for the feedforward part of the controller is not as simple as that for the feedback one. in this sense, what is proposed in this paper provides a more systematic way of addressing a robust feedforward design. In addition, being one of the major drawbacks of the Internal Model Control to have to deal with stable systems, the generalization presented here allows for unstable plants as well as unstable disturbance models. (C) 2009 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.