Multivariable control by individual channel design: an automotive gas turbine case study

Individual channel design is an application-oriented approach driven by cutomer specification of plant dynamical performance. It is an interactive design process-that seeks to solve multivariable design problems in a manner which is transparent, flexible and economical but above as well-suited to the specific engineering context. The individual signal transmission channels arise naturally from customer specification on selected plant outputs and describe the signal transmission between each specified output and its associated reference signal. Advantage is taken of the fact that each individual channel is single-input single-output to permit classical design chiefly of the Nyquist-Bode type. Thus, individual channel design is not a design method per se; rather, it is a global structural framework wherein the possibilities and limitations for local loop shaping design of a particular plant are made apparent from the outset. The paper illustrates the main ideas of individual channel design by way of an automotive gas turbine control case study.