Linear quadratic output tracking and disturbance rejection

This article introduces the problem of linear quadratic tracking (LQT) where the objective is to design a closed-loop control scheme such that the output signal of the system optimally tracks a given reference signal and rejects a given disturbance. Different performance indices that have been used to address the tracking problem are discussed and an appropriate new form is introduced. It is shown that a solution to the proposed optimality index exists under very mild conditions of stabilisability and detectability of the plant state-space equations. The solution is formulated based on converting the LQT problem to a standard linear quadratic regulation problem. The method is applied to two examples, a first-order plant and a third-order plant, and their simulation results are presented and discussed.