PID Controller Tuning

Automatic PID tuning is the process of tuning controller gains based on a plant model or plant data. Use Simulink Control Design™ for tuning PID gains in a Simulink model, or deploy a PID autotuning algorithm for tuning in real-time against a physical plant.

Model-based PID controller tuning lets you automatically tune controller gains based on a Simulink model of the control system. Tools for model-based tuning include PID Tuner, which lets you interactively tune PID gains while examining relevant system responses to validate performance. By default, PID Tuner works with a linearization of your plant model. For models that cannot be linearized, you can tune PID gains against a plant model estimated from simulated or measured response data. For more information about available tools for model-based controller tuning, see Choose a Control Design Approach.

Real-time PID Autotuning lets you deploy an embedded automatic tuning algorithm as a standalone application for model-free tuning against a physical plant. The Simulink Control Design PID autotuning algorithm injects test signals into the plant to estimate plant frequency response near your target control bandwidth. It uses the resulting response to compute PID controller gains to balance robustness and performance. For more information about real-time PID autotuning, see When to Use PID Autotuning.