Supporting Temporal Coordination in Wirelessly Networked Control Systems: Fundamental Theory, Algorithms, Architecture, and Experimentation

智能优点：当联网的计算机与物理世界交互时，传感器测量的一致时间戳和执行器的时间协调的问题成为高性能的核心技术问题。在控制系统中，状态估计器需要精确的时间戳信息，分布式控制动作必须在时间上协调。这对于传感器网络和通信网络也很重要，例如基于飞行时间的定位，在通信网络中，时隙同步和分组调度导致更大的吞吐量。然而，时钟同步有基本的限制。这个项目研究在时钟同步中什么是基本可行的，什么是不可行的。它还研究了随系统规模进行良好扩展的算法。广泛影响：控制系统在工业中广泛使用，包括过程控制和制造，以及汽车和飞机等平台。我们正处于第三代网络控制系统的尖端，该系统结合了自数字控制出现以来40年来取得的所有技术进步--强大的计算硬件、复杂的软件和联网系统。它将带来易于部署和重新配置的大规模控制系统，预计将对智能交通系统或能源电网等未来大型项目以及汽车工业等关键行业的更高效率具有重要意义。在汽车工业，汽车已经配备了大约50台嵌入式计算机。该项目将培养研究生，在一年一度的工程学开放日招待数百名当地高中的学生，并在开放文献中传播成果。

Intellectual Merit: When networked computers interact with the physical world, the problem of consistent time-stamping of sensor measurements, and temporal coordination of actuators, emerges as a core technical problem for high performance. In control systems, state-estimators need accurately time-stamped information, and distributed control actions must be coordinated temporally. It is also important for sensor networks, e.g., localization based on time of flight, and communication networks, where slotted synchronization and packet scheduling lead to greater throughputs. However, there are fundamental limitations to clock synchronization. This project investigates what is fundamentally feasible or infeasible in clock synchronization. It also investigates algorithms that scale well with system size.Broader Impact: Control systems are widespread in industries, including process control and manufacturing, and platforms such as cars and aircraft. We are on the cusp of a third generation of networked control systems that combines all the technological advances made in the forty years since the advent of digital control -- powerful computational hardware, complex software, and networked systems. It will lead to large scale control systems that are easily deployable and reconfigurable, and expected to be of great importance for future large scale projects such as smart transportation systems or energy grids, as well as for greater efficiencies in critical industries, such as the automobile industry, where cars already feature about 50 embedded computers. This project will train graduate students, host hundreds of students from local high schools at the annual Engineering Open House, and disseminate results in the open literature.