System Representation and Optimal Control in Input-Output Data Space

Optimal control is considered for a linear time-invariant plant in the input-output data space. The proposed control strategy does not employ any traditional mathematical model such as a transfer function or a state-space equation. Instead, the plant dynamics is represented as a set of basis vectors whose elements are input-output data of the plant. Using this system representation, two optimal control problems are solved. One is to find the control input which minimizes a quadratic performance index. The other is to find the control input which minimizes a quadratic performance index subject to achieving dead-beat tracking.