Time-variant robust model predictive control under limited capacity communication constraints

This paper is concerned with robust model predictive control (MPC) of an input and state constrained system, when the system and controller are separated by a digital communication channel of limited capacity. To achieve performance and robustness, in the presence of time-variant uncertainty due to a dynamic coding/decoding policy employed to communicate state information across the channel, a time-variant robust MPC policy is employed. The rationale behind the time-variant nature of the control law of this paper is to provide a time-variant adjustment mechanism for achieving a good balance between performance (i.e. small minimal achievable costs) and robustness (i.e. stability and constraint satisfaction) achieved by the controller. The presented theory is illustrated with a simulation example. Some conclusive remarks are made regarding future work and extensions of the results of this paper.