The interest in fractional-order (FO) control can be traced back to the late nineteenth century. The growing tendency towards using fractional-order proportional-integral-derivative (FOPID) control has been fueled mainly by the fact that these controllers have additional 'tuning knobs' that allow coherent adjustment of the dynamics of control systems. For instance, in certain cases, the capacity for additional frequency response shaping gives rise to the generation of control laws that lead to superior performance of control loops. These fractional-order control laws may allow fulfilling intricate control performance requirements that are otherwise not in the span of conventional integer-order control systems. However, there are underpinning points that are rarely addressed in the literature: (1) What are the particular advantages (in concrete figures) of FOPID controllers versus conventional, integer-order (IO) PID controllers in light of the complexities arising in the implementation of the former? (2) For real-time implementation of FOPID controllers, approximations are used that are indeed equivalent to high-order linear controllers. What, then, is the benefit of using FOPID controllers? Finally, (3) What advantages are to be had from having a near-ideal fractional-order behavior in control practice? In the present paper, we attempt to address these issues by reviewing a large portion of relevant publications in the fast-growing FO control literature, outline the milestones and drawbacks, and present future perspectives for industrialization of fractional-order control. Furthermore, we comment on FOPID controller tuning methods from the perspective of seeking globally optimal tuning parameter sets and how this approach can benefit designers of industrial FOPID control. We also review some CACSD (computer-aided control system design) software toolboxes used for the design and implementation of FOPID controllers. Finally, we draw conclusions and formulate suggestions for future research.

A stunning outcome of fractional calculus for control practice are fractional-order PID (FOPID) controllers. Based on their experimental and numerical results, several studies have reported improvements in control performance of closed loop control systems by FOPID controllers compared to classical PID controllers. However, the industry at large is still cautious about adopting FOPID controllers because of the lack of concrete data about the related cost-benefit trade-off. Main concerns arise at the point that there have not been a quantitative evaluation scheme that clearly demonstrates for which concrete cases FOPID controllers can provide considerable improvements in control. Therefore, there is a need for more thorough theoretical and quantitative demonstrations. To that end, this study presents a plant function independent evaluation methodology to reveal inherent advantages of FOPID control. Impacts of two additional controller coefficients, namely fractional orders of differentiator and integrator, are analyzed in the frequency domain and their contributions to open loop gain maximization, phase margin and Reference to Disturbance Rate (RDR) performance are investigated.

The interest towards using Fractional-order (FO) PID controllers in the industry is mainly fueled by the fact that these controllers have two additional “tuning knobs” that can be used to adjust the control law in a way that would benefit the control loop. However, there are certain points that are rarely addressed in literature, namely: (1) What are the particular advantages (in concrete numbers) of FOPID controllers versus conventional, integer-order (IO) PID controllers in the light of complexities arising in the implementation of the former? (2) For real-time implementation of FOPID controllers, approximations are used that are equivalent to high order linear controllers. What, then, is the benefit of using FOPID controllers? In the present paper, we attempt to address these issues by reviewing recent literature in the field and by providing relevant analysis and recommendations.