A new modified Smith predictor: the concept, design and tuning

The paper presents a new modified Smith predictor (MSP) for processes with a long time delay. The MSP appears as an extension of the double controller-scheme (DCS) proposed by Tian and Gao. The important feature of the MSP is that the trade-off between disturbance rejection and robustness to variations in process parameters can be adjusted by means of a single free parameter. The main contribution of the paper concerns tuning of the MSP, which relies on a combination of magnitude optimum criterion with process parameterisation based on multiple integrals of the open-loop step response. In a simulation study the performance of the MSP is compared with that of two known controllers for time delay systems, i.e. DCS of Tian and Gao and Hägglund's predictive PI controller. The results show the advantage of the MSP compared to the two other controllers.