Networked control strategies for a 3 dimensional crane

T In this paper we propose two networked control strategies for a 3 dimensional crane system. The purpose of this approach is enabling the use of Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and Model Predictive Control (MPC) for a fast system by using parallel data acquisition and actuation. By fast systems we understand those which must be sampled at short time rates due to the high dynamics in the system. We first implement an LQR controller which however is not able to keep the physical constraints of the system between the imposed boundaries. Then, we specialized our network control architecture to an MPC scheme such that it is able to take into account the time spent on solving online the optimal solution to an optimization problem. In order to validate our proposed control strategies we have used a laboratory system (a 3 dimensional crane) and the Ethernet communication network. The results show that our network control architecture enables the use of LQR and MPC for fast systems and moreover the desired performances are achieved..