‘Model-free control’and the corresponding ‘intelligent’ PID controllers (iPIDs), which already had many successful concrete applications, are presented here for the first time in an unified manner, where the new advances are taken into account. The basics of model-free control is now employing some old functional analysis and some elementary differential algebra. The estimation techniques become quite straightforward via a recent online parameter identification approach. The importance of iPIs and especially of iPs is deduced from the presence of friction. The strange industrial ubiquity of classic PIDs and the great difficulty for tuning them in complex situations is deduced, via an elementary sampling, from their connections with iPIDs. Several numerical simulations are presented which include some infinite-dimensional systems. They demonstrate not only the power of our intelligent controllers but also the great simplicity for tuning them.

ALINEA, which was introduced almost 30 years ago, remains certainly the most well-known feedback loop for ramp metering control. A theoretical proof of its efficiency at least when the traffic conditions are rather mild is given here, perhaps for the first time. It relies on tools stemming from the new model-free control and the corresponding ‘intelligent’ proportional controllers. Several computer experiments confirm our theoretical investigations.