Soft sensor design for restricted variable sampling time

Difficult-to-obtain variables in industrial applications have led to the rise of soft sensors, which use prior system information and measurements to estimate these difficult-to-obtain variables. In real systems, the measurements that need to be estimated by a soft sensor are often infrequently measured or delayed. Sometimes, these delays and sampling time are variable in time. Though there are papers considering soft sensors in the presence of time delays and different sampling times, the variation of those parameters has not been considered when evaluating the adequacy of the soft sensors. Therefore, this paper will evaluate the impact of such variations for a data-driven soft sensor and propose modifications of the soft sensor that increase its robustness. The reliability of its estimate will be shown using the Bauer-Premaratne-Durán Theorem. Furthermore, the soft sensor will be simulated applying it to a continuous stirred tank reactor. Simulation showed that the modified soft sensor gives good estimates, whereas the traditional soft sensor gives an unstable estimate.