Structural Properties,LQG Control and Scheduling of a Networked Control System with Bandwidth Limitations and Transmission Delays

The problem of simultaneous LQG control and scheduling of a Networked Control System (NCS) with constant network induced delays at input and output and bandwidth limitations is investigated. Delays are considered at plant as well as controller side. Sufficient conditions for controllability, stabilizability, reconstructibility and detectability of the underlying networked control system are drawn. The proposed conditions extend previous works on structural properties of NCS by capturing both plant and controller side delays together with bandwidth limitations. A framework for computing the optimal LQG controller for the NCS with a fixed scheduling is provided. The proposed modeling approach facilitates use of LQG as well as other control methods for NCSs with delays and bandwidth limitations. In order to optimize performance, a semi-online scheduling procedure is proposed based on an offline look up table. The look up table assigns an optimal schedule with associated optimal LQG controller to initial conditions. The proposed scheme improves previous results by online deployment of schedule and LQG control with stability guarantees and very low computational overhead. A simulation example with communication delays, packet losses and bandwidth limitations in both sensor and actuator sides is included. Static optimal periodic communication sequence, Optimal Pointer Placement (OPP) approach proposed in previous works, a random access scheduling method representing contention based access policies and the proposed method are simulated and compared.      

Structural Properties of Networked Control Systems With Bandwidth Limitations and Delays

The structural properties of networked control systems with both bandwidth limitations and delays are investigated. Sufficient conditions are given for controllability (stabilizability) and reconstructibility (detectability). Our results enhance previous works by capturing bandwidth limitations and delays simultaneously. The adopted modeling framework could be readily used in control and estimation methods, including optimal and predictive schemes. It also facilitates the use of scheduling optimization algorithms in conjunction with the control scheme presented.     

基于流量控制的Docker容器网络带宽控制机制

针对Docker容器缺乏对网络带宽资源进行限制的能力的问题,提出了一种基于流量控制（TC）的Docker容器网络带宽控制机制。首先,基于CGroups文件系统的实时监测机制,利用Linux内核的虚拟文件系统（VFS）作为媒介,将Docker容器创建时设置的网络控制参数传递给Linux内核流量控制器TC;然后,通过引入IFB模块实现上下行带宽控制,并使用rate、ceil及prio参数进行空闲带宽共享及容器优先级控制;最后,控制TC执行具体的网络限制,以实现容器之间灵活的网络资源控制。实验结果表明,该机制在容器独占带宽场景下可有效地将实际容器带宽限制在2%的波动范围内,而在共享空闲带宽场景下可在平均误差0.5%的范围内精准限制容器带宽,同时该机制能够基于优先级弹性地管理资源。该机制具有提供更为原生的接口且无需额外工具配合的优势,可为基于Docker的云平台的细粒度弹性网络资源控制提供便捷有效的解决思路。     

Trading quantization precision for update rates for systems with limited communication in the uplink channel

In many situations, control applications have to exchange information through limited bandwidth communication channels, which affect their behavior. For that reason, there is a strong need for methods that maximize the relevancy of the exchanged control signals. In general, increasing control signals’ update frequency improves the disturbance rejection abilities whereas increasing their quantization precision improves the steady state performance. However, when the bandwidth is limited, increasing the update frequency necessitates the reduction of the quantization precision and vice versa. Motivated by these observations, and focusing on the uplink bandwidth limitations, an approach for the dynamical online state feedback assignment of control inputs’ quantization precision and update rate is proposed. This approach, which is based on the model predictive control technique, enables us to choose the update rate and the quantization levels of control signals from a predefined set, in order to optimize the control performance. Practical stability properties of the approach are then studied. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated on a simulation example.     

Robot impedance control and passivity analysis with inner torque and velocity feedback loops

Impedance control is a well-established technique to control interaction forces in robotics. However, real implementations of impedance control with an inner loop may suffer from several limitations. In particular, the viable range of stable stiffness and damping values can be strongly affected by the bandwidth of the inner control loops (e.g., a torque loop) as well as by the filtering and sampling frequency. This paper provides an extensive analysis on how these aspects influence the stability region of impedance parameters as well as the passivity of the system. This will be supported by both simulations and experimental data. Moreover, a methodology for designing joint impedance controllers based on an inner torque loop and a positive velocity feedback loop will be presented. The goal of the velocity feedback is to increase (given the constraints to preserve stability) the bandwidth of the torque loop without the need of a complex controller.     

多通道约束下的网络控制系统的最优跟踪性能

本文针对双通道约束下的线性时不变网络控制系统的随机信号跟踪性能极限问题进行了研究.网络通信包含通信噪声和通信带宽两种信道因素.被控系统考虑是非最小相位和不稳定系统,并且系统包含多个不同的非最小相位零点和多个不同的不稳定极点.对上行通道和下行通道都存在通信带宽约束及高斯白噪声影响的情形,从频域角度,通过采用双自由度控制器和尤拉参数化方法,获得了此类网络控制系统的最优可达的跟踪性能.研究结果表明网络控制系统的跟踪性能极限完全由被控对象的结构特征(非最小相位零点、不稳定极点以及被控对象的系统增益),参考输入信号和网络特性(高斯白噪声的统计特征、通信信道带宽)所决定.最后,仿真结果检证了所得结果的正确性.     

Improving effective bandwidth through compiler enhancement of global cache reuse

The performance of modern machines is increasingly limited by insufficient memory bandwidth. One way to alleviate this bandwidth limitation for a given program is to minimize the aggregate data volume the program transfers from memory. In this article we present compiler strategies for accomplishing this minimization. Following a discussion of the underlying causes of bandwidth limitations, we present a two-step strategy to exploit global cache reuse—the temporal reuse across the whole program and the spatial reuse across the entire data set used in that program. In the first step, we fuse computation on the same data using a technique called reuse-based loop fusion to integrate loops with different control structures. We prove that optimal fusion for bandwidth is NP-hard and we explore the limitations of computation fusion using perfect program information. In the second step, we group data used by the same computation through the technique of affinity-based data regrouping, which intermixes the storage assignments of program data elements at different granularities. We show that the method is compile-time optimal and can be used on array and structure data. We prove that two extensions—partial and dynamic data regrouping—are NP-hard problems. Finally, we describe our compiler implementation and experiments demonstrating that the new global strategy, on average, reduces memory traffic by over 40% and improves execution speed by over 60% on two high-end workstations.     

基于精确流量控制的局域网网关出口管理策略

局域网应用越来越广泛,鉴于网络宽带的有限性,提出了基于精确流量控制的局域网网关出口管理策略,网络出口管理的优化控制得以实现,有效改善了局域网络拥塞问题.     

Decentralized control of sequentially minimum phase systems

Fundamental limitations in decentralized control of systems with multivariable zeros are considered. It is shown that arbitrary bandwidth can be obtained with a stable block-diagonal controller, if certain subsystems of the open-loop system fail to have zeros in the right half-plane and a high-frequency condition holds. Implications on control structure design and sequential loop-closuring methods are discussed     

Optimal regulation performance of discrete time-delay systems based on quantization and input energy constraints

In this paper, we study the optimal regulation problem of networked control systems and propose a new performance index for a given discrete time-delay system. The regulation performance of the controlled plant is investigated by considering the effects of various constraints on the communication channel such as quantization, bandwidth, and packet dropouts using frequency domain methods and two-degree-of-freedom control techniques. The results show that the regulation performance is not only related to the location and direction of the non-minimum phase zeros and unstable poles of a given system but also related to the internal time delay of the controlled plant. Packet dropouts, quantization, and bandwidth limitations can also negatively affect the optimal performance. In addition, the trade-off of the input energy constraint can also make the optimal regulation performance suffer. Finally, the reliability of this innovative result is illustrated by some simulation examples.     

A high‐performance robust control method based on the gain and phase information of uncertainty

The well‐known small‐gain and passivity approaches to robust control only make use of either the gain or the phase information of uncertainty in system design. This results in a limitation on the achievable control bandwidth in practical applications. To relax the limitations associated with these approaches, we explore the possibility of utilizing both the gain and the phase information of uncertainty in robust control design. In this paper, the modeling of uncertainty accounting for both gain and phase is discussed first. Then conditions for robust stability and robust performance (sensitivity and bandwidth) are derived respectively. These robustness conditions are described as phase or gain constraints on the nominal system in different frequency bands. Further, it is revealed, both theoretically and via a hard disk drive benchmark, that a much higher robust performance can be achieved by using the gain and phase information of uncertainty. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

QFT design of multi‐loop nonlinear control systems

In control practice, one of the fundamental limitations of feedback is given by the sensor noise effect. This problem is still more important in uncertain nonlinear control systems. This work extends the previous multi‐loop QFT technique, specifically designed to accommodate bandwidth limitation, to the nonlinear case. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fundamental limitations in control over a communication channel

Fundamental limitations in feedback control is a well established area of research. In recent years it has been extended to the study of limitations imposed by the consideration of a communication channel in the control loop. Previous results characterised these limitations in terms of a minimal data transmission rate necessary for stabilisation. In this paper a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) approach is used to obtain a tight condition for the linear time invariant output feedback stabilisation of a continuous-time, unstable, non minimum phase (NMP) plant with time-delay over an additive Gaussian coloured noise communication channel. By working on a linear setting the infimal SNR for stabilisability is defined as the infimal achievable H₂ norm between the channel noise input and the channel signal input. The result gives a guideline in estimating the severity of the fundamental SNR limitation imposed by the plant unstable poles, NMP zeros, time-delay as well as the channel NMP zeros, bandwidth, and channel noise colouring.     

Advances in the development of a virtual car driver

Fundamental approaches to modeling the control of a car by a driver are reviewed briefly. The context of the work presented is explained. Then previous research on the application of optimal linear preview control to aspects of driving road vehicles is extended. This prior research treated the tracking of a roadway by a vehicle and driver at constant forward speed and the tracking of a speed demand while running straight. The two previously separate problems are now combined, so that longitudinal and lateral path demands are considered in parallel. A new feature is that low-pass filters are included in the driver modeling to represent driver bandwidth limitations. This feature enables the finding of the influence of the driver’s control bandwidth on the optimal strategies and on the closed-loop system performance, by way of frequency-response calculations. A new optimal preview control toolbox is employed. Simulations of the virtual driver-controlled car are shown to demonstrate the closed-loop system following longitudinal and lateral position demands.     

Signal-to-noise ratio fundamental limitations in the discrete-time domain

Fundamental limitations in feedback control are a well established area of research. In recent years it has been extended to the study of limitations imposed by the consideration of a communication channel in the control loop. Previous results characterised these limitations in terms of a minimal data transmission rate necessary for stabilisation. In this paper a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) approach is used to obtain a tight condition for the linear time invariant output feedback stabilisation of a discrete-time, single-input-single-output (SISO) unstable, non-minimum phase (NMP) plant with arbitrary relative degree over an additive Gaussian coloured noise (ACGN) communication channel with memory. The obtained result gives a guideline in estimating the severity of the fundamental SNR limitation imposed by the plant unstable poles, NMP zeros and relative degree as well as the channel NMP zeros, bandwidth, and noise colouring. We then characterise the output feedback sensitivity function for the infimal SNR solution and follow up by quantifying the extra SNR imposed by suboptimal solutions (for example due to plant modelling errors).     

Time-optimal control with finite bandwidth

Time-optimal control theory provides recipes to achieve quantum operations with high fidelity and speed, as required in quantum technologies such as quantum sensing and computation. While technical advances have achieved the ultrastrong driving regime in many physical systems, these capabilities have yet to be fully exploited for the precise control of quantum systems, as other limitations, such as the generation of higher harmonics or the finite response time of the control apparatus, prevent the implementation of theoretical time-optimal control. Here we present a method to achieve time-optimal control of qubit systems that can take advantage of fast driving beyond the rotating wave approximation. We exploit results from time-optimal control theory to design driving protocols that can be implemented with realistic, finite-bandwidth control fields, and we find a relationship between bandwidth limitations and achievable control fidelity.     

适用于文字书写教学教室系统的嵌入式局域网协议

针对以文字书写教学装置为终端的教室系统的数据传输要求和特性,分析已有协议处于该环境下所面临的局限性,提出一种适合该类教室系统的嵌入式局域网协议CSELP。在以太网帧的基础上扩展8个字节实现确认、超时重传、流量控制等功能,提供面向连接的可靠传输服务,简化数据处理和状态机制;采用改进的带宽预估算法估计可用带宽大小,在拥塞避免阶段根据预测的窗口大小变化调整拥塞窗口;设计重传队列实现面向组的确认机制,从而提高系统的实时性和传输效率。实验结果表明,该协议能满足文字书写教学教室系统的应用需求,并且可推广到非文字书写教学的教室系统。     

Best tracking and regulation performance under control energy constraint

This paper studies optimal tracking and regulation control problems, in which objective functions of tracking error and regulated response, defined by integral square measures, are to be minimized jointly with the control effort, where the latter is measured by the plant input energy. Our primary objective in this work is to search for fundamental design limitations beyond those known to be imposed by nonminimum phase zeros, unstable poles, and time delays. For this purpose, we solve the problems explicitly by deriving analytical expressions for the best achievable performance. It is found that this performance limit depends not only on the plant nonminimum phase zeros, time delays, and unstable poles-a fact known previously-but also on the plant gain in the entire frequency range. The results thus reveal and quantify another source of fundamental performance limitations beyond those already known, which are nonexistent when only conventional performance objectives such as tracking and regulation are addressed without taking into account the control energy constraint. Among other things, they exhibit how the lightly damped poles, the anti-resonant zeros, as well as the bandwidth of the plant may affect the performance.     

Optimal stabilization of constant power loads with input LC-filters

This contribution examines fundamental performance limitations of active stabilization of constant power loads with input LC filters. In terms of the load input admittance, stabilization is posed as a linear H_∞ optimization problem, where the influence of stabilization on power control performance is minimized while meeting stability and robustness constraints. It is shown that the bandwidth of power control is upper limited by the resonance frequency of the input filter and that additional feedforward controllers can be used to individually shape reference tracking and disturbance rejection. Optimal results are verified through simulations using two different stabilization schemes.     

A quality-of-service specification for multimedia presentations

The bandwidth limitations of multimedia systems force trade-offs between presentation-data fidelity and real-time performance. For example, digital video is commonly encoded with lossy compression to reduce bandwidth, and frames may be skipped during playback to maintain synchronization. These trade-offs depend on device performance and physical data representations that are hidden by a database system. If a multimedia database is to support digital video and other continuous media data types, we argue that the database should provide a quality-of-service (QOS) interface to allow application control of presentation timing and information-loss trade-offs. This paper proposes a data model for continuous media that preserves device and physical data independence. We show how to define formal QOS constraints from a specification of ideal presentation outputs. Our definition enables meaningful requests for endto-end service guarantees, while leaving the database system free to optimize resource management. We propose one set of QOS parameters that constitute a complete model for presentation error, and we show how this error model extends the opportunities for resource optimization.