MATLAB real-time two-level fuzzy control of nonlinear plant

The aim of the recent paper is to develop a real-time system for a fuzzy two-level control of an electrical model of a nonlinear plant. The real world plant is the anaerobic digestion of organic waste in wastewater treatment, where the biogas production rate is to be controlled via the input dilution rate under variable organic loading and plant parameters. The plant characteristics in different operating points are modelled on an electronic FESTO trainer, based on operational amplifiers. The fuzzy controller is designed using Fuzzy Logic Toolbox of MATLAB and completed in Simulink. The electrical plant model is controlled in MATLAB real-time environment, using electronic board PCI-6014 to connect the plant model output to the Simulink fuzzy controller via analogue input block, and the controller's output - to the plant model input via analogue output block. The main contributions are: a developed two-level Mamdani real-time controller for a nonlinear plant, a real-time control of electrical model of the plant and study of the fuzzy system performance improvements by comparison with the performance of a system with PI controller.