Sharif Digital Repository

A comparison of three common controllers for stabilising a vertical take-off and landing air vehicle is presented. RMIT is a small sized tail-sitter ducted fan air vehicle with a particular configuration layout, multiple control surfaces, low weight, and high-speed flight capability. The main problem here is control effectiveness at low flight speeds and transition manoeuvres because of the inherent instability. In the current study, a comprehensive nonlinear model is firstly developed for RMIT, followed by a validation process. Subsequently, linear, adaptive and model predictive controllers are designed in vertical flight. Based on the simulation results, it is shown that the linear... 

Special attention is given to vertical takeoff and landing air vehicles due to their unique capabilities and versatile missions. The main problem here is control effectiveness at low flight speeds and transition maneuvers because of the inherent instability. RMIT is a small sized tail-sitter ducted fan air vehicle with a particular configuration layout, multiple control surfaces, low weight, and high-speed flight capability. In the current study, a comprehensive nonlinear model is firstly developed for RMIT, followed by a validation process. This model consists of all parts including aerodynamic forces and moments, control surfaces term together with the gravity and driving fan forces.... 

The objective of this paper is to expand the concept of hybrid modeling and control in power electronics area. A new precise and non-averaged model of a DC-DC boost converter is developed on the basis of Mixed Logical Dynamical (MLD) systems, and the approach is extended by a new version of such systems which is called as Extended Mixed Logical Dynamical (EMLD) systems in this paper. A Model Predictive Controller (MPC) based on the Mixed Integer Quadratic Programming (MIQP) is designed for the MLD and EMLD models of the DC-DC boost converter considering all possible dynamics in Continuous and Discontinuous Conduction Modes of operations (CCM-DCM). The simulation results show the satisfactory... 

In this paper, an autonomous orbit control of a satellite in Low Earth Orbit is investigated using model predictive control. The absolute orbit control problem is transformed to a relative orbit control problem in which the desired states of the reference orbit are the orbital elements of a virtual satellite which is not affected by undesirable perturbations. The relative motion is modeled by Gauss's variational equations including J2 and drag perturbations which are the dominant perturbations in Low Earth Orbit. The advantage of using Gauss's variational equations over the Cartesian formulations is that not only the linearization errors are much smaller, but also each orbital element can be... 

Servo drive systems require a fast dynamic response for position control applications. Conventional cascade control structure has sluggish response due to bandwidth limitations on speed and current control loop. To achieve a fast output response, model reference adaptive control methods can be used to remove the dynamics of inner control loops. In this paper, feed-forward signals are generated using model predictive control which is combined with the conventional cascade structure. Using this approach, a fast transient response and satisfactory tracking ability can be achieved. The proposed control configuration is verified by the simulation results  

This paper proposes a hierarchical outage management scheme to enhance the resilience of a smart distribution system comprised of multi-microgrids against unexpected disaster events. In this regard, after identifying the main features and requirements for a resilient outage management scheme, an appropriate framework is devised and the roles and tasks of different management entities in a multi-microgrids system are introduced. Based on this framework, the microgrids schedule their available resources in the first stage using a novel model predictive control-based algorithm. In the second stage, distribution system operator coordinates the possible power transfers among the microgrids and... 

This paper investigates the operation of a smart distribution system comprised of multiple microgrids during emergency conditions. It proposes a two-stage hierarchical scheme for outage management in such a system to enhance the security of supply during contingencies. This goal is achieved through sharing the available generation and storage capacities among different microgrids. In doing so, a well-organized framework is devised in order to introduce the roles and tasks of each player in operation stage of a multi-microgrids system. Based on this framework, the general optimization model that needs to be evaluated at each stage of the proposed outage management scheme is formulated. In... 

Modular multilevel converter (MMC) is among the promising topologies used in high-voltage/power purposes, especially for high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission systems. In this paper, a modified model predictive control (MPC) strategy for an MMC-HVDC system is presented. In the proposed MPC strategy, output current, circulating current and capacitors voltage are controlled separately. In order to reduce the computational burden of the controller, the output current is controlled directly without any optimization. For suppression of the circulating current, capacitors voltage variations are employed to settle the converter arms voltages to their reference values. In addition, the... 

This paper develops a general framework for reliability assessment of multi-microgrid (MMG) distribution systems. It also investigates reliability impacts of coordinated outage management strategies in a MMG distribution network. According to the proposed reliability evaluation framework, which is based on sequential Monte Carlo simulation method, distribution system is divided into smaller sections/microgrids based on protection system configuration and operating measures are efficiently simulated considering different operation modes. In order to demonstrate the role of outage management strategy in reliability performance of MMG distribution systems, at first, the required features of an... 

This paper proposes an enhanced hybrid modular multilevel converter (MMC), which utilizes a combination of half-bridge submodules (HBSM) and at least one full-bridge submodule (FBSM). In the proposed structure, FBSMs work with half of the HBSMs nominal voltage in each arm. Due to the presence of FBSMs, HBSMs switching frequency drops significantly, which reduces the converter power loss compared to half-bridge based MMCs. Furthermore, because of redundant FBSMs, (2N + 1)-modulation can be employed to generate the output voltage without increasing the circulating current, thus, the converter performance is improved notably. Besides, with the redundant FBSMs, the converter can continue its... 

Attitude control of a satellite having only two reaction wheels is a challenging issue. To address this problem, previously published researches considered some simplifying assumptions on the satellites such as diagonality of the moment of the inertia matrix. On the other hand, in some works, the total angular momentum of the satellite is assumed to be zero. In this paper, a linear time-variant model predictive control (LTV MPC) is designed to control a satellite with two reaction wheels. This control method can be applied to a satellite with a non-diagonal inertial matrix in the presence of external torques, to rotate the satellite toward the desired directions in the space and orbit. The... 

In this paper, a robust multivariable Model based Predictive Control (MPC) is proposed for the solution of load frequency control (LFC) in a multi-area power system. The proposed control scheme is designed to consider multivariable nature of LFC, system uncertainty and generation rate constraint, simultaneously. A constrained MPC is employed to calculate optimal control input including generation rate constraints. Economic allocation of generation is further ensured by modification of the predictive control objective function. To achieve robustness against system uncertainty and variation of parameters, a linear matrix inequality (LMI) based approach is employed. To validate the... 

The problem of controlling an all-thruster spacecraft in the coupled translational-rotational motion in presence of actuators fault and/or failure is investigated in this paper. the nonlinear model predictive control approach is used because of its ability to predict the future behavior of the system. The fault/failure of the thrusters changes the mapping between the commanded forces to the thrusters and actual force/torque generated by the thruster system. Thus, the basic six degree-of-freedom kinetic equations are separated from this mapping and a set of neural networks are trained off-line to learn the kinetic equations. Then, two neural networks are attached to these trained networks in... 

Several attempts have been made to design suitable controllers for DC-DC converters. However, these designs suffer from model inaccuracy or their inability to desirably function in both continuous and discontinuous current modes. This paper presents a novel switching scheme based on hybrid modeling to control a buck converter using mixed logical dynamical (MLD) methodologies. The proposed method is capable of globally controlling the converter in both continuous and discontinuous current modes of operation by considering all constraints in the physical plant such as maximum inductor current and capacitor voltage limits. Different loads and input voltage disturbances are simulated in MATLAB...