A novel ADP based model-free predictive control

Dynamic programming is a very useful tool in solving optimization and optimal control problems. Here, the Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP) and the notion of neural networks based predictive control are combined with a model-free control method based on SPSA (Simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation), and a novel ADP based model-free predictive control strategy for nonlinear systems is proposed. Dynamic programming is used to adjust the control parameters in the novel model-free control method and the notion of predictive control is introduced to modify the whole control structure. Finally, the proposed ADP based model-free predictive control strategy is applied to solve nonlinear tracking problems and the effectiveness of this novel control method is fully illustrated though simulation tests on two typical nonlinear systems.