Gravitational search algorithm for determining controller parameters in an automatic voltage regulator system

Abstract

This paper presents optimal tuning of the controller parameters of a proportional-integral-derivate (PID) controller for an automatic voltage regulator (AVR) system using a heuristic gravitational search algorithm (GSA) based on mass interactions and Newton's law of gravity. The determination of optimal controller parameters is considered an optimization problem in which different performance indexes and a performance criterion in the time domain have been used as objective functions to test the performance and effectiveness of the GSA. In the determining process of the parameters, the designed PID controller with the proposed approach is simulated under different conditions and the performance of the controller is compared with those reported in the literature. From the numerical simulation results it is clear that the GSA approach is successfully applied to reveal the performance and the feasibility of the proposed controller in the AVR system.