A Simulative Study on Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) as a Control Tool for Practitioners

As an alternative to both classical PID-type and modern model-based approaches to solving control problems, active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) has gained significant traction in recent years. With its simple tuning method and robustness against process parameter variations, it puts itself forward as a valuable addition to the toolbox of control engineering practitioners. This article aims at providing a single-source introduction and reference to linear ADRC with this audience in mind. A simulative study is carried out using generic first- and second-order plants to enable a quick visual assessment of the abilities of ADRC. Finally, a modified form of the discrete-time case is introduced to speed up real-time implementations as necessary in applications with high dynamic requirements.