Real-Time Wireless Centralized Control of the Level-Temperature Process in a Multipurpose Tank

In this work, a centralized MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) integer-order control and a centralized MIMO fractional-order control, both wireless, are implemented in order to simultaneously control the water level and temperature of the upper tank in a multipurpose plant located in the Automation Laboratory of the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC), in Peru. For the implementation of the wireless control systems, Siemens SCALANCE W774 and W734 devices were used, which operated with the Profinet communication protocol. The results obtained in the experiments demonstrate that the fractional-order centralized control approach exhibits better performance in level control compared to the integer-order centralized control approach, especially in terms of overshoot percentage and settling time. Regarding temperature control, the fractional-order centralized control approach shows a lower overshoot percentage and a lower steady-state error. However, in terms of settling time, the integer-order centralized control was better compared to its fractional counterpart.