Controller validation

The unfalsified control concept provides a theoretical basis for directly validating closed‐loop controller performance from open‐loop experimental data, or even from closed‐loop data acquired while another controller was in the feedback loop. It allows this to be accomplished without making any prior assumptions about the plant or noise. This approach to experimental controller validation avoids the conservatism inherent in indirect two‐step validation approaches that require one to first identify a plant model and uncertainty‐bounds from experimental data before analysing control system robustness. Controller valida tion is shown to be the feedback generalization of open‐loop model validation concepts that form the basis of various control‐oriented system identification theories. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.