English

ARRTOC: Adversarially Robust Real-Time Optimization and Control

Systems and Control 2024-03-06 v2 Systems and Control

Abstract

Real-Time Optimization (RTO) plays a crucial role in the process operation hierarchy by determining optimal set-points for the lower-level controllers. However, at the control layer, these set-points may be difficult to track due to challenges in implementation as a result of disturbances, measurement noise, and actuator performance limitations. To address this, in this paper, we present the Adversarially Robust Real-Time Optimization and Control (ARRTOC) algorithm. ARRTOC addresses this issue by finding set-points which are both optimal and inherently robust to implementation errors at the control layers. ARRTOC draws inspiration from adversarial machine learning, offering a novel constrained Adversarially Robust Optimization (ARO) solution applied to the RTO layer. By integrating controller design with RTO, ARRTOC enhances overall system performance and robustness by ensuring the chosen set-points are tailored to the underlying controller designs. To validate our claims, we present three case studies: an illustrative example, a bioreactor case study, and a multi-loop evaporator process. The proposed approach is found to improve RTO objectives, such as profit, by as much as 50%50\% in some case studies compared to RTO formulations which ignore the performance of the control layers.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.04386,
  title  = {ARRTOC: Adversarially Robust Real-Time Optimization and Control},
  author = {Akhil Ahmed and Ehecatl Antonio del Rio-Chanona and Mehmet Mercangoz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.04386},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T12:16:23.322Z