Real-Time Switched Model Predictive Control for a Cyber-Physical Wind Turbine Emulator

The high complexity and nonlinearity of wind turbine (WT) systems impose the utilization of rigorous control methods such as model predictive control (MPC). MPC algorithms are computationally intensive requiring investigation of real-time implementability and feasibility in addition to control performance metrics. In this article, a switched model predictive controller (SMPC) is developed, implemented, and investigated for control objectives performance and real-time metrics. This article has two main contributions. First, embedded real-time SMPC is developed using qpOASES as an embedded solver for the online optimal control problem. Second, a cyber-physical real-time emulator for variable-speed variable-pitch utility-scale WT is developed and implemented on an xPC target machine using a high-fidelity linear parameter-varying model. The SMPC is evaluated on the fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence (FAST) design code and the real-time emulator. The analysis and investigation of results highlight the feasibility and capability of SMPC for handling control objectives of WT systems within real-time using short control periods.