New algorithms for adaptive control

In this paper, we present the windsurfer approach for the design of adaptive robust control systems. In section 1 we review the weakness of traditional adaptive control systems. In section 2 we illustrate the idea of the windsurfer approach by considering an adaptive model matching problem. In section 3, we show how a closed-loop system identification problem associated with the windsurfer approach can be transformed into an open-loop system identification procedure. In section 4 we show that the system identification procedure can be carried out effectively for the case where the controller is designed by the internal model control (IMC) method. It is shown in section 5 that the method is applicable to a class of plants that occur in many industrial systems - those which, except for a pole at the origin, are strictly stable. Encouraging simulation results are presented in section 6 and we conclude in section 7 that the windsurfer approach is an effective method for designing adaptive robust control systems.