ADAPTIVE FEEDBACK/FEEDFORWARD PID CONTROLLER

A system and method for adaptively designing self-tuning controllers, specifically PID controllers for process control systems. The method is based on a model-parameter interpolation, according to which a candidate process model is defined by a predetermined, limited set of models. Each of the models is characterized by a plurality of parameters, and, for each model, each of the parameters has a respective value that is selected from a set of predetermined initialization values corresponding to the parameter. Evaluation of each of the models includes computation of a model squared error and computation of a Norm that is derived from the model square errors calculated for the models. The Norm value is assigned to every parameter value represented in the model that is represented in an evaluation scan. As repeated evaluations of models are conducted, an accumulated Norm is calculated for each parameter value. The accumulated Norm is the sum of all Norms that have been assigned to the parameter value in the course of model evaluations. Subsequently, an adaptive parameter value is calculated for each parameter. The adaptive parameter value is a weighted average of the initialization values assigned to the respect parameters. The set of adaptive process parameter values are then used to redesign a process controller.