Design of neural network predictive controller based on imperialist competitive algorithm for automatic voltage regulator

This paper proposes the neural network (NN) predictive controller that combines the advantages of NN and predictive control for the automatic voltage regulator (AVR). The NN predictive controller is suggested as a new intelligence controller rather than the conventional controllers for the AVR. This is the first application of the NN predictive controller for AVR. There are five parameters of the NN predictive controller which need a proper tuning to get a good performance by using the NN predictive controller. In recent papers, the parameters of NN predictive controller are typically set by trial and error or by the designer’s expertise. The imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) is introduced in this paper as a new artificial intelligence technique instead of the trial-and-error or the designer’s expertise methods to get the optimal parameters of NN predictive controller in order to overcome the deviations of the voltage. The performance of the designed NN predictive controller based on the ICA is compared with the designed NN predictive controller based on the genetic algorithm and the conventional proportional–integral–derivative controller based on Ziegler–Nichols technique. The comparison emphasizes the superiority of the suggested NN predictive controller based on the ICA.