Scalable Decentralized Control over Ad Hoc Sensor Actuator Networks

摘要：该项目研究了传感器和执行器的自组织网络可用于实现大规模反馈控制系统的程度。密集的自组织网络受到严重的容量限制，这表明只有当我们将自己限制在本地化的网络流量模式时，才能实现可扩展性。此外，这种传感器-执行器网络具有大量共享同一通信通道的客户端，因此不同客户端之间的争用将大大减少传感器和执行器之间的数据流。在这样一个不确定的环境中维持特定水平的整体控制系统性能是极具挑战性的，我们认为只有采用跨层方法才能实现，在这种方法中，应用程序（即控制）算法和网络协议密切了解彼此的能力和局限性。本项目研究控制系统性能与网络服务质量（QoS）之间的基本关系。该项目将使用这些关系来开发分散的控制算法和支持网络中间件服务，这些服务可以保证在超大的自组织传感器-执行器网络上的应用（控制）性能。所提出的工作的智力价值在于它精确地描述了网络中间件影响控制系统性能的方式。该项目将在物理测试平台上演示这些算法和服务，在物理测试平台上，通过嵌入式处理器的特设无线电（RF）网络以分散的方式控制空间分布的物理工厂。该项目的广泛影响将通过其对圣母大学本科教育的影响，以及与圣母院内外的土木、环境和机械工程研究人员的持续合作来体现。特别是，该项目提议的测试平台将与电气和机械工程的本科课程联系在一起，从而为学生提供一个为正在进行的研究项目做出贡献的新机会。此外，我们正在与土木/环境工程师合作开发传感器-执行器网络，以解决美国中西部和东部许多城市面临的联合下水道溢流（CSO）问题。该项目的结果有可能降低与解决CSO问题相关的预期成本。因此，这个项目的成果将产生广泛的社会影响，远远超出项目的直接目标。

Title: Scalable Decentralized Control over Ad Hoc Sensor-Actuator NetworksSummary: This project studies the extent to which ad hoc networks of sensors and actuatorsmay be used to implement large-scale feedback control systems. Dense ad hoc networks suffer fromsignificant capacity limitations that suggest scalability may only be achieved if we restrict ourselvesto localized network traffic patterns. Moreover, such sensor-actuator networks have a large numberof clients sharing the same communication channel, so that contention between different clients willgreatly reduce the amount of data that can be streamed between sensors and actuators. Maintain-ing specified levels of overall control system performance in such a non-deterministic environment isextremely challenging and we feel that it can only be achieved if we adopt a cross-layer approach inwhich application (i.e., control) algorithms and networking protocols are intimately aware of eachothers capabilities and limitations. This project investigates fundamental relationships betweencontrol system performance and network quality-of-service (QoS). The project will use these rela-tionships to develop decentralized control algorithms and supporting network middleware servicesthat can guarantee application (control) performance over extremely large ad hoc sensor-actuatornetworks. The intellectual merit of the proposed work lies in its precise characterization of theway in which network middleware impacts control system performance. The project will demon-strate these algorithms and services on a physical testbed in which a spatially-distributed physicalplant is controlled in a decentralized manner over an ad hoc radio (RF) network of embeddedprocessors.The project's broader impacts will be felt through its impact on undergraduate education atNotre Dame as well as through on-going collaborations with civil, environmental, and mechanicalengineering researchers both in and out of Notre Dame. In particular, the project's proposed testbedwill be tied to undergraduate courses in electrical and mechanical engineering, thereby providingstudents with a novel opportunity to contribute to an on-going research program. Moreover weare collaborating with civil/environmental engineers to develop sensor-actuator networks that canaddress the combined-sewer overfow (CSO) problem faced by a number of municipalities acrossthe Midwest and Eastern United States. The results from this project have the potential to reduceanticipated costs associated with solving the CSO problem. The results from this project willtherefore have a broad societal impact extending well beyond the immediate project objectives.