Electronic control is a pervasive technology that affects the quality of modern life in many respects. Control is used in everything from car breaking systems to cameras, from petroleum refineries to home refrigerators and from aeroplanes to air conditioners.

Some basic concepts in control, including advanced control, are summarised below.

To understand the potential for the ParOS Controller it is important to recognise that although fast, accurate and efficient advanced control can be achieved using Model Predictive Control 'MPC', this is both expensive and time consuming to install. MPC traditionally involves repeated on-line optimisation by a PC to determine the best control action, given current sensor measurements and a desired target value for these measurements.

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ParOS's patented control technology combines the benefits of PI/PID control (simple, cheap, fast) and Model Predictive Control (accurate, multi-variable, handles constraints).

The ParOS approach involves the use of its parametric optimisation techniques off-line, to shift the computational burden associated with MPC from the process or device.

The full-explicit control law takes the form of a set up look-up functions. The lookup functions can be hardwired in silicon ("hardware-based control") or downloaded in C-code onto a chip. The look-up function takes as input the system measurements and outputs the optimal control action. The resulting control action is identical to what would be achieved using traditional MPC approaches, but without the computational overhead.

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The ParOS solution to the customer is an electronic look-up function tailor-made for their application. It can be retrofit on to existing control hardware, or on new hardware. The look-up function takes as input the system measurements and gives as outputs the optimal control action. The resulting control action is identical to what would be achieved using traditional MPC approaches, but without the computational overhead.

Figure 1 summarises the key steps behind the ParOS invention. The original MPC problem is recast as a multi-parametric optimization problem, where the sensor measurements act as "parameters". Solving this off-line using the ParOS algorithms yields the full explicit control law in the space of these parameters.

Fast and accurate control can now be achieved using simple hardware and in applications where the cost, size or weight of a PC would be restrictive. By taking the computational burden offline, ParOS can now target applications that were previously off limits for model-based control, opening up exciting new markets and applications.

ParOS has a patented control technology that delivers advanced control at a fraction of the cost of existing technologies. Furthermore, online computation times are so small that the ParOS controller enables advanced control to be achieved on small, embedded devices with fast dynamics.

Fast and accurate control can now be achieved with the customised ParOS Controller using simple hardware and in applications where the cost and size of a PC would be restrictive. This opens up exciting new opportunities for the application of advanced control, particularly in high-volume industries, such as automotive, and, devices & appliances that require sophisticated control performance at low costs.

For further technical information and references please contact the ParOS technical team on info@parostech.com

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