An MPC-based reference governor approach for offset-free control of constrained linear systems

This paper presents a model predictive control (MPC) based reference governor approach for control of constrained linear systems. A nominal closed-loop system is first designed to guarantee that, in the unconstrained case, asymptotic zero-error regulation for (piecewise) constant reference signals is achieved. Then, a couple of exogenous signals are added to the reference signal and to the control variable and their value is determined by formulating a MPC problem in order to guarantee that (i) when the state and control constraints are not active, the nominal closed-loop system is recovered, (ii) in transient conditions the constraints are always satisfied and the difference of the performances between the real and the nominal closed-loop systems is minimised, and (iii) when the reference signal is infeasible, the output is brought to the nearest feasible value. A simulation example is reported to witness the potentialities of the approach.