Potentials of constrained sliding mode control as an intervention guide to manage COVID19 spread

Biomed Signal Process Control. 2021 May:67:102557. doi: 10.1016/j.bspc.2021.102557. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Abstract

This work evaluates the potential of using sliding mode reference conditioning (SMRC) techniques as a guide for non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) to control the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, for the epidemiological problem addressed here, it is used to compute the contact rate reduction requirement in order to limit the infectious population to a given threshold. The SMRC controller allows the desired output variable limit and its approaching rate to be tuned explicitly. Implementation issues are taken into account and a periodically update of the NPI is proposed for the real life application. The strategy is evaluated under different scenarios where its distinctive features are exhibited.

Keywords: COVID-19; Control; Lockdown; Pandemic.