Abstract
Data-Driven Control (DDC) and Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) are two emerging research fields rooted in the same fundamental belief: thatthe science of automatic control cannot be built on the presumption of a detailed and accuratemathematicalmodel of the physical process. This is a ground rule established in 1954 by H.S. Tsien in his seminal book, Engineering Cybernetics, but largely not followed, unfortunately, in the ensuing developments of the modern control theory.It is shown in this talk that the intricate connection between the fields of DDC and ADRC can be explored in terms of how the critical information is selected and extracted from data. It is a question which has been recognized and contemplated by the previous generations of Chinese scholars such as H.S. Tsien, Z. Guan, and J. Han, who left us with a rich heritage of original ideas and wisdom. In particular, the need for the DDC like ”°continuous sensing and measuring”± suggested by Tsien as the basis for the control action was taken in heart and eventually materializedsome 40 years later by Han in the form of ADRC. The ensuing dualistic paradigm of controller-rejector design, with ADRC as but one embodiment, led to the birth of a new generation of industrial control technologies and their standardization, where the longstanding problems of disturbances and controller tuning are finally resolved.It is no accident that the developments of DDC and ADRC type ideas have been intertwined throughout history, but before the meaningful cross channel dialogue can take place, before we can engage in the debate about the possibility of model-free control for example, basic concepts such as model, state, and disturbance must be reexamined and clarified, as will be attempted in this talk.
Biography
Prof. Zhiqiang Gao received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1990 and he has taught at Cleveland State University ever since. Faced with ever widening chasm between control theory and practice, Dr. Gao returned to the roots of controls by collaborating extensively with practicing engineers in solving real world problems, from which the foundation and authenticity of research were rebuilt. Collaborating with Prof. Jingqing Han, Dr. Gao has worked on active disturbance rejection control for nearly 20 years, nurturing it from its early, conceptual stage to a maturing and emerging industrial control technology. In doing so, he made an obscure idea clear and a new general purpose industrial controller possible, often with staggering improvements in performance and energy saving. Asking basic, rudimentary question in research and in teaching, Dr. Gao and his team find creative solutions in practice and vitality in classrooms. Dr. Gao has written extensively on the subject of ADRC and, recently, of Engineering Cybernetics, reintroducing, interpreting and preserving the original ideas of H.S. Tsien and J. Han.
