| Most modern control theories presume the existence of a control configuration and focus instead on control law design, in spite of the fact that complexity of a control system is largely determined by the underlying control configuration. This work seeks to address this important gap in the theory of control system design. First, a paradigm for control system design is proposed: minimize control system complexity subject to the achievement of accuracy specifications in the face of uncertainty. Next, the problem of control configuration design is formulated. The paradigm is then addressed through a comprehensive approach to control configuration design.;The comprehensive approach begins with a practical theory for control configuration design. The theory employs quantitative, efficient necessary conditions for viability of a control configuration to reduce the number of candidate configurations to a manageable level. The comprehensive approach then develops this theory into a systematic methodology for control configuration design. An indirect synthesis method is proposed, where candidate control configurations are postulated, then subjected to a viability assessment followed by a complexity assessment. Next, tools for computer-aided control configuration design are presented. Finally, the systematic methodology is demonstrated via two complex industrial case studies. |
