Adaptive model predictive control for actuation dynamics compensation in real-time hybrid simulation

Hybrid simulation is used to obtain the dynamic response of a system whose components consist of physical and numerical substructures. The coupling of these substructures is achieved by actuation systems, which are commanded in closed-loop control setting. To ensure high fidelity of such hybrid simulations, performing them in real-time is necessary. However, real-time hybrid simulation poses challenges since the inherent dynamics of the actuation system introduce time delays, thus modifying the dynamic response of the investigated system. Therefore, a tracking controller is required to adequately compensate for such time delays. In this study, a novel tracking controller is proposed for dynamics compensation in real-time hybrid simulations. It is based on adaptive model predictive control, a linear time-varying Kalman filter, and a real-time model identification algorithm. Within the latter, auto-regressive exogenous polynomial models are identified in real-time to estimate the changing plant dynamics. A parametric virtual case study, encompassing a virtual motorcycle, is used to validate the performance and robustness of the proposed controller. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller for real-time hybrid simulations.ISSN:0094-114