Robust and Optimal Control of Physical Systems with Networked Communication Structures

毫无疑问，我们现在处于一个网络化的世界。许多物理、虚拟或混合（混合物理和虚拟）系统通过不同种类的网络结构（无线或有线）进行操作、通信或控制。例如：互联网系统、电力网、汽车系统、各种传感器网络等。这些联网系统的共同性质是它们表现为动态系统和网络，即，具有动态系统和网络的特征，这带来了两种优势（例如降低布线和维护成本，增强系统和网络级别的灵活功能等）。和挑战（诸如系统或系统组件之间的交互的复杂性增加、由于联网通信而导致的时间敏感的性能折衷等）。例如，在优点方面，人们已经看到，通过采用控制器局域网（CAN）总线用于诸如发动机控制的关键应用，以及采用局域互连网络（LIN）总线用于诸如电动车窗/座椅控制的非关键应用，现在每辆汽车中的布线成本都大大降低;另一方面，在挑战方面，已经认识到分布式传感器，控制器，和底层对象系统往往会降低被控系统的瞬态动态性能，如果不加以认真解决，可能会导致整个系统的不稳定。已经确定，通信网络所带来的挑战对于许多实际的时间敏感的工业系统（例如，电网、汽车发动机控制系统和传感器网络等）具有极大的兴趣。尽管最近在大量公开文献中对该挑战进行了攻击，但是许多重要问题仍然是开放的，例如，到目前为止，人们仍然不知道如何设计能够同时解决网络通信信道中的量化和噪声效应并且调节受控目标系统的各种期望的动态行为的控制器。同时，还讨论了网络通信对多智能体系统性能的影响，网络通信对分布式控制系统估计性能的影响，以及网络通信对具有时间和事件触发机制的控制系统性能的影响等重要问题。仍然没有触及，但这些问题在各个行业的'最想要的'名单上。在这项发现补助金提案中，重点将放在开发系统设计工具，以解决具有网络通信结构的物理控制系统的时间敏感性能。特别是，有人认为，信息论和控制理论应该整合产生概念上的新方法来解决上述问题，并设计鲁棒性和最优的控制和管理机制的网络动态系统。有人还认为，开发的方法将是工业需求为导向，因此会找到自己的方式是友好的应用在实践中。

There is no doubt that we are in a networked world right now. Many physical, virtual, or hybrid (mixed physical and virtual) systems operate, communicate, or are controlled through different kinds of network structures, wireless or wired. Examples can be given as: internet systems, electric power grids, automotive systems, various sensor networks, etc. The common nature of these networked systems is that they are exhibited as both dynamical systems and networks, i.e., carrying the features of both dynamical systems and networks which brings in both advantages (such as cost reduction for wiring and maintenance, enhanced flexible functions at both system and network levels, etc.) and challenges (such as increased complexities in the interaction among systems or system components, time-sensitive performance compromise due to networked communication, etc. ). For example, on the advantage side, people have seen tremendous reduction of the wiring costs in every automobile nowadays by adopting the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus for critical applications such as engine control and the Local Interconnected Network (LIN) bus for noncritical applications such as power window/seat control; on the challenge aspect, on the other hand, it has already been realized that the networked communication of data among distributed sensors, controllers, and underlying plant systems tends to downgrade the transient dynamical performance of the controlled systems which, if not carefully addressed, could result in the instability of the whole systems. It has been identified that the challenge posed by the communication network is of great interest to many practical time-sensitive industrial systems such as electric power grids, automotive engine control systems, and sensor network, etc. Although this challenge has been attacked in great number of published literature most recently, many important questions remain open, for example, so far one still does not know how to design a controller that could simultaneously address quantizing and noise effects in the network communication channels and regulate the various desired dynamical behaviors of the controlled target systems. Also, some important questions, such as what the networked communication means to the performance of multi-agent systems, how the networked communication would affect the performance of estimation in distributed control systems, and how the networked communication affect the performance of control systems with both time and event-triggered mechanism, etc., still remain untouched, yet these questions are on top of the ‘most-wanted’ list in various industries. In this Discovery Grant proposal, the focus will be on developing systematic design tools to address the time-sensitive performance in physical control systems with networked communication structure. In particular, it is argued that the information theory and control theory should be integrated to generate conceptually new methods to address the said problems and to design robust and optimal control and management mechanisms for the networked dynamical systems. It is also argued that the methods developed would be industrial needs oriented and hence would find their way to be friendly applied in practice.