On the precise and efficient representation of industrialcontrollers in Modelica
This paper highlights some still-open issues in the Modelica representation of industrial controllers, particularly when simulation efficiency must balance with fidelity to their real-world implementation as digital components of cyber-physical systems. The treatise focuses on PID controllers due to their predominant role, though the ideas readily extend to virtually any other control structure. The aim is to stimulate discussion around this important yet often overlooked topic, while also suggesting directions for future development.
Alberto Leva is Professor of Automatic Control at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy. His main research interest concern methods and tools for the automatic tuning of industrial controllers and control structures, process modelling, simulation and control, particularly within the object-oriented paradigm, object-oriented modelling and control of energy systems with particular reference to large grids, and advanced tolls and methods for control education. In recent years, he has been concentrating on control and control-based design of computing systems, addressing in a system- and control-theoretical manner problems like scheduling, resource allocation, time synchronisation in wireless sensor networks, thermal and power/performance management, performance-driven software adaptation, and service composition.