Digital adaptive control of a human blood pressure model containing time delay

Explicit parameter-adaptive control strategies are compared with regard to their performance in controlling a blood pressure model for hypertensive patients by computer controlled infusion of a vasoactive drug, nitroprusside. Four algorithms for estimating time delays from least squares parameter estimates are introduced. They are combined with two well known control laws, minimum variance control and deadbeat control, to determine which adaptive control strategy yields the best results. Satisfactory performance was obtained for a wide range of process model parameters.