On the synthesis of the least sensitive control

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the synthesis of the least sensitive control. It presents the concept of sensitivity in the synthesis of control policy when the controlled process is subjected to unpredictable environmental changes. It discusses the possible effects of small parameter perturbations, the missing of the desired state of the process and change of the process performance index. In the subsequent considerations these effects are used as a quantitative measure of process performance. By imposing the requirement that the control policy should be chosen so as to minimize the effects of parameter perturbations, a reduced sensitivity can be attained. The compound control that is obtained by combining the sensitivity criterion with some other criteria of optimality is optimal and less sensitive to small parameter variations.