Two-degree-of-freedom dead-beat control system with robustness: multivariable case

Abstract A design procedure for two-degree-of-freedom (TDF) dead-beat controllers for multivariable systems is presented. Based on the parametrization of all stabilizing TDF controllers, a minimal-time dead-beat control system with optimal robustness is constructed for an arbitrary reference input. The optimal robustness is achieved under the constraint of robust tracking. A comparison of a TDF system with a one-degree-of-freedom (ODF) system reveals that, under the same robustness criterion, the optimal robustness of the TDF system is always superior to that of the ODF system irrespective of its settling time. It is also shown that the optimal robustness of the ODF system becomes identical to that of the TDF only when the settling time of the ODF system goes to infinity. Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results.