Distributed predictive control for tracking constant references

This paper presents a Distributed Predictive Control (DPC) method for tracking piecewise constant reference signals. The system under control is assumed to be composed by a number of non-overlapping subsystems interconnected through states and inputs. The algorithm is non cooperative, based on neighbor-to-neighbor communication, does not require an iterative exchange of information among neighbors and relies on the robustness properties of the “tube-based” approach developed of the design of robust model predictive controllers. Convergence results are stated and a simulation example is reported to illustrate the performance of DPC.