Non-linear constrained MPC: Real-time implementation of greenhouse air temperature control

This work describes the application of model predictive control (MPC) for temperature regulation in agricultural processes. The main objective is to achieve temperature control of a greenhouse built in the Institute for Horticultural and Agricultural Engineering (ITG) at the University of Hannover (Germany). The MPC algorithm used here takes in account the constraints in both manipulated and controlled variables using an on-line linearisation with a very low computational burden. Several important advantages of the MPC algorithm, primarily performance and energy savings, are shown by means of a real-time experiment using a soft optimal control effort. This MPC scheme is compared with an adaptive PID controller.