A two-phase optimization algorithm in controller synthesis

A controller synthesis algorithm is developed in this paper. The algorithm employs the genetic algorithm for parameter optimization and Taguchi method for the planning of trails in applying the genetic algorithms. The resulting two-phase algorithm explores the orthogonal array in Taguchi method to conduct a series of experiments so that key parameters pertaining to the control factors, noise factors, and quality factors can be determined. In the first phase, a matrix-type experiment is conducted to determine the configuration for parameter optimization. The second phase then applies parameter optimization method to determine the controller parameter that leads to robust performance. The combined two-phase approach is effective and efficient in controller synthesis. The proposed algorithm is applied to a control-design benchmark problem. The resulting design is shown to have a superior performance to other existing controllers.