Linear optimal control model for felling the oil palm trees

Abstract

The increases of operational felling cost have prompted the oil palm industry to look at the current practices. The felling activity is considered as the main aspects to improve and maintain palm oil production through the provision of effective and agronomic practices. To support this success and achieve minimum cost of operation, this study aims to develop a time-invariant linear quadratic optimal control model for controlling the felling and harvest rate of the oil palm plantation. The proposed model involves two state variables which are biomass and crude oil. The optimal parameters for the model are estimated using a set of real data collected from Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). The study analyzes the solution of the resulting control problem within a limited time frame of 30 years and the results provide an optimal feedback control for the felling and harvest rates.