Experimentally validated analytical single parametric FOTID control for time-delayed fractional order processes

In current studies, non-integer order (NIO) plants with dead time have gained the significant attention of many researchers in the area of control theory. However, the design methods for fractional order controller tuning suffer from a lack of direct systematic tuning strategies due to a higher number of tuneable parameters. Most of the works on such design are optimisation-based whereas the analytical solutions are achieved with assumptions and approximations leading to compromised closed-loop robustness. This paper proposes a simple analytical design of a fractional-order tilt-integral-derivative (FOTID) controller for time-delayed NIO processes with a single tuneable parameter. Explicit tuning rules in terms of plant parameters are derived with user-defined stability margins. To prove the efficiency of the proposed control law, simulation comparisons with recently developed tuning rules are included. Lastly, the proposed control law is tested through experiments in a two-tank level loop for real-time validation.