A practical guideline to control structure selection for MIMO processes

This paper dedicates to developing a unified framework for control structure selection for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) processes. Five basic types of MIMO PID control structure are abstracted including decentralized control, sparse control, and decoupling control with/without decoupling compensator. Based on a novel interaction index calculated via relative normalized gain, loop interactions are evaluated directly from the process transfer function, and then a practical algorithm is given to determine which control structure should be selected. The proposed methodology can be used as a guideline for PID control system design, and it is readily available to industrial practitioners. Simulation results demonstrate its effectiveness.