Model Predictive Control of Industrial Trucks with AI-based Plant Model Selection

In this paper, a new control concept for automatic track guidance of forklifts within a heterogeneous logistics fleet is presented. The proposed control scheme is universally applicable and based on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The lateral control is realized using a Model Predictive Controller (MPC). In order to take into account the diversity of the industrial truck variants, a multi-model approach is used. Therefore, a plant model for each truck variant is integrated into the MPC. In a practical application, the most suitable model has to be selected. This decision is based on AI in the form of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). It is able to distinguish the different truck variants based on that part of the plant's state vector, which represents the vehicle dynamic characteristics. Thus, the appropriate model can be used, which significantly improves the control quality and guarantees an accurate track guidance of different forklifts. Due to the AI-based selection of the model, the computational effort can be kept low and real-time capability can be ensured. In order to classify the performance of the proposed control concept, its simulation results are compared to the closed-loop behavior, using a classical MPC.