Least-restrictive move-blocking model predictive control

Move-blocking lowers the computational complexity of model predictive control (MPC) problems by reducing the number of optimization variables. However, this may render states close to constraints infeasible. Thus move-blocking generally results in control laws that are restrictive; the controller domains may be unacceptably and unnecessarily small. Furthermore, different move-blocking strategies may result in controller domains of different sizes, all other factors being equal. In this paper an approach is proposed to design move-blocking MPC control laws that are least-restrictive, i.e. the controller domain is equal to the maximum controlled invariant set. The domains of different move-blocking controllers are then by design equal to each other. This allows comparison of differing move-blocking strategies based on cost performance only, without needing to consider domain size also. Thus this paper is a step towards being able to derive optimal move-blocking MPC control laws. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.