Input-Delay Model Predictive Control of Inland Waterways Considering the Backwater Effect

Inland waterways are large-scale systems, generally characterized by negligible bottom slopes and large time delays. These features pose challenging problems at the modeling and controller design stages. A control-oriented model is derived in this work, which allows to handle these issues in a suitable manner. A predictive control scheme is developed to ensure the coordination of the control actions and their delayed effects in the system. The proposed approach is tested on a case study to highlight its performance, and it is shown that it is possible to guarantee the navigability condition of the waterways as well as other operational goals.