On Average Performance and Stability of Economic Model Predictive Control

Control performance and cost optimization can be conflicting goals in the management of industrial processes. Even when optimal or optimization-based control synthesis tools are applied, the economic cost associated with plant operation is often only optimized according to static criteria that pick, among all feasible steady states, those with minimal cost. In mathematical terms, an economic cost functional differs from stage costs commonly adopted in model predictive control (MPC) as it need not be minimal at its best equilibrium. This note collects and illustrates some recent advances in receding horizon optimization of nonlinear systems that allow the control designer to simultaneously and dynamically…