Research ArticleController design based on μ analysis and PSO algorithm

•Present a different approach to solve μ synthesis problem in order to obtain more practical controllers.•Use a simple evolutionary algorithm to solve μ synthesis problem as an optimization problem.•Use a benchmark system to show effectiveness of the proposed approach to solve μ synthesis problem.•Compare the proposed controller with H∞ and μ synthesis controllers designed in Robust Control Toolbox of Matlab Software.

In this paper an evolutionary algorithm is employed to address the controller design problem based on μ analysis. Conventional solutions to μ synthesis problem such as D-K iteration method often lead to high order, impractical controllers. In the proposed approach, a constrained optimization problem based on μ analysis is defined and then an evolutionary approach is employed to solve the optimization problem. The goal is to achieve a more practical controller with lower order. A benchmark system named two-tank system is considered to evaluate performance of the proposed approach. Simulation results show that the proposed controller performs more effective than high order H∞ controller and has close responses to the high order D-K iteration controller as the common solution to μ synthesis problem.