PID controllers: recent tuning methods and design to specification

PID control is a control strategy that has been successfully used over many years. Simplicity, robustness, a wide range of applicability and near-optimal performance are some of the reasons that have made PID control so popular in the academic and industry sectors. Recently, it has been noticed that PID controllers are often poorly tuned and some efforts have been made to systematically resolve this matter. In the paper a brief summary of PID theory is given, then some of the most used PID tuning methods are discussed and some of the more recent promising techniques explored.