Optimal Design of Distributed Control and Embedded Systems focuses on the design of special control and scheduling algorithms based on system structural properties as well as on analysis of the influence of induced time-delay on systems performances. It treats the optimal design of distributed and embedded control systems (DCESs) with respect to communication and calculation-resource constraints, quantization aspects, and potential time-delays induced by the associated communication and calculation model. Particular emphasis is put on optimal control signal scheduling based on the system state. In order to render this complex optimization problem feasible in real time, a time decomposition is based on periodicity induced by the static scheduling is operated. The authors present a co-design approach which subsumes the synthesis of the optimal control laws and the generation of an optimal schedule of control signals on real-time networks as well as the execution of control tasks on a single processor. The authors also operate a control structure modification or a control switching based on a thorough analysis of the influence of the induced time-delay system influence on stability and system performance in order to optimize DCES performance in case of calculation and communication resource limitations. Although the richness and variety of classes of DCES preclude a completely comprehensive treatment or a single “best” method of approaching them all, this co-design approach has the best chance of rendering this problem feasible and finding the optimal or some sub-optimal solution. The text is rounded out with references to such applications as car suspension and unmanned vehicles. Optimal Design of Distributed Control and Embedded Systems will be of most interest to academic researchers working on the mathematical theory of DCES but the wide range of environments in which they are used also promotes the relevance of the text for control practitioners working in the avionics, automotive, energy-production, space exploration and many other industries.

Today, many embedded or cyber-physical systems, e.g., in the automotive domain, comprise several control applications, sharing the same platform. It is well known that such resource sharing leads to complex temporal behaviors that degrades the quality of control, and more importantly, may even jeopardize stability in the worst case, if not properly taken into account. In this thesis, we consider embedded control or cyber-physical systems, where several control applications share the same processing unit. The focus is on the control-scheduling co-design problem, where the controller and scheduling parameters are jointly optimized. The fundamental difference between control applications and traditional embedded applications motivates the need for novel methodologies for the design and optimization of embedded control systems. This thesis is one more step towards correct design and optimization of embedded control systems. Offline and online methodologies for embedded control systems are covered in this thesis. The importance of considering both the expected control performance and stability is discussed and a control-scheduling co-design methodology is proposed to optimize control performance while guaranteeing stability. Orthogonal to this, bandwidth-efficient stabilizing control servers are proposed, which support compositionality, isolation, and resource-efficiency in design and co-design. Finally, we extend the scope of the proposed approach to non-periodic control schemes and address the challenges in sharing the platform with self-triggered controllers. In addition to offline methodologies, a novel online scheduling policy to stabilize control applications is proposed.

This book is the first of a series which focuses on the interpolation and extrapolation of optimal designs, an area with significant applications in engineering, physics, chemistry and most experimental fields. In this volume, the authors emphasize the importance of problems associated with the construction of design. After a brief introduction on how the theory of optimal designs meets the theory of the uniform approximation of functions, the authors introduce the basic elements to design planning and link the statistical theory of optimal design and the theory of the uniform approximation of functions. The appendices provide the reader with material to accompany the proofs discussed throughout the book.

This edited monograph includes state-of-the-art contributions on continuous time dynamical networks with delays. The book is divided into four parts. The first part presents tools and methods for the analysis of time-delay systems with a particular attention on control problems of large scale or infinite-dimensional systems with delays. The second part of the book is dedicated to the use of time-delay models for the analysis and design of Networked Control Systems. The third part of the book focuses on the analysis and design of systems with asynchronous sampling intervals which occur in Networked Control Systems. The last part of the book exposes several contributions dealing with the design of cooperative control and observation laws for networked control systems. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field of control theory, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

An alternative, distributed, control describes behavioral tasks independently according to a control and data communication model that allow mapping to a variety of physical resources. Supporting this model are latency-insensitive interfaces that allow composition of behavioral tasks with guaranteed system correctness. Designer effort is reduced by extending the latency-insensitive model up to the specification level, where a rule-based language allows functional design reasoning without the overhead of specific temporal constraints. A semi-automated design flow enables design realization in a number of technologies in both hardware and software. These designs potentially exhibit fewer synchronization points than their conventional counterparts, improving performance and power efficiency, while simultaneously increasing execution parallelism. Added parallelism motivates a practical need for exploration of architectures and added physical resources.

Embedded systems now include a very large proportion of the advanced products designed in the world, spanning transport (avionics, space, automotive, trains), electrical and electronic appliances (cameras, toys, televisions, home appliances, audio systems, and cellular phones), process control (energy production and distribution, factory automation and optimization), telecommunications (satellites, mobile phones and telecom networks), and security (e-commerce, smart cards), etc. The extensive and increasing use of embedded systems and their integration in everyday products marks a significant evolution in information science and technology. We expect that within a short timeframe embedded systems will be a part of nearly all equipment designed or manufactured in Europe, the USA, and Asia. There is now a strategic shift in emphasis for embedded systems designers: from simply achieving feasibility, to achieving optimality. Optimal design of embedded systems means targeting a given market segment at the lowest cost and delivery time possible. Optimality implies seamless integration with the physical and electronic environment while respecting real-world constraints such as hard deadlines, reliability, availability, robustness, power consumption, and cost. In our view, optimality can only be achieved through the emergence of embedded systems as a discipline in its own right.