CAREER: Scalable and Optimal Co-Design of Control and Communication Protocols in Cyber-physical Systems

信息物理系统（CPS）-跨通信网络交互的复杂动态系统-是下一代工程系统，其应用涵盖关键基础设施控制，远程医疗，交通控制，先进的汽车系统，过程控制，节能，环境监测和分布式机器人。目前的框架设计的算法，一方面控制的动态系统，另一方面，通信和网络协议，是不同的，不足以保证这种系统的可靠性，可扩展性和效率。针对这一需求，本项目提出了一种可扩展的和最佳的方法，在CPS的控制和网络协议的协同设计。特别是，通过融合控制和网络技术，设计控制感知通信协议、明确考虑网络约束的控制器以及为分布式控制和评估优化分配通信资源的算法。更广泛的影响：信息物理系统是21世纪工业的基础。通过解决其设计中的一个根本瓶颈，这项研究将以深刻的方式直接影响社会。一个新的跨学科的研究生课程，通过新的实验和EE高级论文项目课程的新项目的本科控制实验室课程的更新是课程开发计划的一部分，将这些观点纳入教育。还概述了激励国内高中生从事工程职业和增加少数民族学生和女生参与工程的具体计划。

Intellectual Merit:Cyber-physical systems (CPS) - complex dynamical systems interacting across communication networks - are the next generation of engineering systems, with applications spanning critical infrastructure control, tele-medicine, traffic control, advanced automotive systems, process control, energy conservation, environmental monitoring, and distributed robotics. Current frameworks for designing the algorithms for controlling the dynamical systems on one hand, and the communication and networking protocols on the other, are disparate and insufficient to guarantee reliability, scalability and efficiency in such systems. In response to this need, this project proposes a scalable and optimal approach for the co-design of control and networking protocols in CPS. In particular, by using a fusion of techniques from control and networking, the project will design control-aware communication protocols, controllers that explicitly consider network constraints and algorithms to optimally allocate communication resources for distributed control and estimation.Broader Impact:Cyber-physical systems are the foundation of the 21st-century industry. By addressing a fundamental bottleneck in their design, this research will directly impact the society in profound ways. A new inter-disciplinary graduate course, an update of the undergraduate control laboratory course through new experiments and new projects for the EE senior thesis project course are part of a curriculum development plan to incorporate such perspectives into education. Concrete plans to motivate domestic high school students to pursue engineering careers and to increase the participation of minority and female students in engineering are also outlined.