System Identification and Control of the Broken River

In this paper, control system designs are proposed for the Broken River in Victoria, Australia. The aim of the control system is to improve water resource management and operation for the benefit of irrigators and the environment. Both centralized and decentralized control schemes are considered. The decentralized scheme consists of a number of PI and I controllers, while the centralized scheme is a model predictive controller. The controllers are designed based on simple models obtained using system identification methods. In a realistic simulation scenario, the control systems compared very favorably with current manual operation offering increased operational flexibility with a significant potential for substantial water savings, improved level of service to irrigators, and improved environmental benefits.