Benchmark challenge at control 2004 [control system design]

The second ALSTOM Benchmark Challenge on gasifier control was held during a special session at the recent UKACC Control 2004 conference in Bath. This article presents the C&CE reports on the technical discussions and debates. The organisers of the challenge event had in mind that it would achieve two things: (i) to provide an opportunity for participants to present, compare, discuss and debate a number of control system design approaches on an industrial plant model; (ii) to provide control engineers from academia and industry with a chance to evaluate a range of control techniques on a level footing.