An Intelligent Fuzzy-GPC Control for Agricultural Sprayers: Comparison Between GPC and PID Fuzzy Controllers

Abstract

The application of pesticides is an important stage in food production in the agroindustry. In this process, adequate regulation and control of flow and pressure via automatic control technologies plays a fundamental role in reducing costs and biological risks. The dynamics of spraying systems have nonlinearities due to variation of the sprayer fluidic resistance and the presence of dead zone in the electrohydraulic actuators. Therefore, it is necessary to develop adaptive control solutions to deal with parametric uncertainties and nonlinearities in this type of systems. In this research work, an adaptive fuzzy-GPC controller is proposed to regulate the flow and pressure of a boom spraying system. Hence, a basic modeling of the sprayer system and a development methodology for the application of the fuzzy-GPC controller are presented. Additionally, a comparative analysis with a conventional GPC and a fuzzy-PID controllers is carried out. The results obtained show the reduction in the control action oscillations with the proposed controller which can reduce the wear of the actuators, as well as an increase in the stability robustness in the presence of variations in the parameters of the sprayer.