Reconfigurable Plug-and-play Distributed Model Predictive Control for Reference Tracking

Abstract: A plug-and-play model predictive control (PnP MPC) scheme is proposed for varying-topology networks to track piecewise constant references. The proposed scheme allows subsystems to occasionally join and leave the network while preserving asymptotic stability and recursive feasibility and comprises two main phases. In the redesign phase, passivity-based control is used to ensure that asymptotic stability of the network is preserved. In the transition phase, reconfigurable terminal ingredients are used to ensure that the distributed MPC problem is initially feasible after the PnP operation. The efficacy of the proposed scheme is evaluated by applying it to a network of mass-spring-damper systems and comparing it to a benchmark scheme. It is found that the novel redesign phase results in faster PnP operations, whereas the novel transition phase increases flexibility by accepting more requests.