Cooperative Wireless Model Based Predictive Networked Control Systems: Design, Implementation and Analysis

Owing to their distributed architecture, networked control systems are proven to be feasible in scenarios where a spatially distributed control system is required. However, basic networked control systems cannot operate over general purpose wireless networks since the stability of the system is compromised due to unbounded delays and unpredictable packet losses that are typical in the wireless medium. Approaching the wireless networked control problem from two perspectives, this book introduces a novel wireless networked control system and a realistic cooperative medium access control protocol implementation that work jointly to achieve decent control even under unbounded delay, bursts of packet loss and ambient wireless traffic. The proposed system is implemented and thoroughly evaluated on a dedicated test platform under numerous scenarios and is shown to be operational under bursts of packet loss and ambient wireless traffic levels which are intolerable for basic networked control systems. The methods covered in this book should assist in developing various wireless networked control systems and should be especially useful to practicing control engineers.