Fractional-Order Predictive PI Controller-Based Dead-Time Compensator for Wireless Networks

Abstract

Wireless technology is increasingly significant in today’s industrial landscape. Standards like WirelessHART, ZigBee, and ISA100.11a are being widely used. However, despite their widespread use, wireless networks may sometimes be susceptible to packet loss or drops, making closed-loop systems vulnerable and resulting in system failure. To prevent such issues, dead-time compensation is necessary. The conventional techniques of predictive PI are commonly used for this purpose. Still, they must perform optimally for wireless networks with dead time, and set-point variations can affect network stability. To address this, a fractional calculus-based predictive PI compensator is proposed in this paper for wireless networks in process industries to improve the performance of these compensators. Industrial processes that involve wireless measurement and control actions in the pressure process model are used to evaluate the proposed compensator. The wireless network’s performance is assessed for packet loss, reduced throughput, and increased latency, and the proposed compensator outperforms traditional ones to achieve better set-point characteristics.

Keywords

• wireless networks
• dead-time compensation
• predictive PI
• fractional calculus
• process industries