Quantization and Event-Triggered Policy Design for Encrypted Networked Control

This paper proposes a novel event-driven encrypted control framework for linear networked control systems(NCSs),which relies on two modified uniform quantization policies,the Paillier cryptosystem,and an event-triggered strategy.Due to the fact that only integers can work in the Pailler cryptosystem,both the real-valued control gain and system state need to be first quantized before encryption.This is dramatically different from the existing quantized control methods,where only the quantization of a single value,e.g.,the control input or the system state,is considered.To handle this issue,static and dynamic quantization policies are presented,which achieve the desired integer conversions and guarantee asymptotic convergence of the quantized system state to the equilibrium.Then,the quantized system state is encrypted and sent to the controller when the triggering condition,specified by a state-based event-triggered strategy,is satisfied.By doing so,not only the security and confidentiality of data transmitted over the communication network are protected,but also the ciphertext expansion phenomenon can be relieved.Additionally,by tactfully designing the quantization sensitivities and triggering error,the proposed event-driven encrypted control framework ensures the asymptotic stability of the overall closedloop system.Finally,a simulation example of the secure motion control for an inverted pendulum cart system is presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Fundamental Issues in Networked Control Systems

Abstract--This paper provides a survey on modeling and theories of networked control systems （NCS）. In the first part, modeling of the different types of imperfections that affect NCS is discussed. These imperfections are quantization errors, packet dropouts, variable sampling/transmission intervals, vari- able transmission delays, and communication constraints. Then follows in the second part a presentation of several theories that have been applied for controlling networked systems. These theories include： input delay system approach, Markovian system approach, switched system approach, stochastic system approach, impulsive system approach, and predictive control approach. In the last part, some advanced issues in NCS including decentral- ized and distributed NCS, cloud control system, and co-design of NCS are reviewed. Index Terms--Decentralized networked control systems （NCS）, distributed networked control systems, network constraints, net- worked control system, quantization, time delays.

Ultimately Bounded Output Feedback Control for Networked Nonlinear Systems With Unreliable Communication Channel: A Buffer-Aided Strategy

This paper concerns ultimately bounded output-feedback control problems for networked systems with unknown nonlinear dynamics. Sensor-to-observer signal transmission is facilitated over networks that has communication constraints.These transmissions are carried out over an unreliable communication channel. In order to enhance the utilization rate of measurement data, a buffer-aided strategy is novelly employed to store historical measurements when communication networks are inaccessible. Using the neural network technique, a novel observer-based controller is introduced to address effects of signal transmission behaviors and unknown nonlinear dynamics.Through the application of stochastic analysis and Lyapunov stability, a joint framework is constructed for analyzing resultant system performance under the introduced controller. Subsequently, existence conditions for the desired output-feedback controller are delineated. The required parameters for the observerbased controller are then determined by resolving some specific matrix inequalities. Finally, a simulation example is showcased to confirm method efficacy.

Delay-dependent stability and stabilization criteria of networked control systems with multiple time-delays

This paper deals with the problem of delay-dependent stability and stabilization for networked control systems（NCSs）with multiple time-delays. In view of multi-input and multi-output（MIMO） NCSs with many independent sensors and actuators, a continuous time model with distributed time-delays is proposed. Utilizing the Lyapunov stability theory combined with linear matrix inequalities（LMIs） techniques, some new delay-dependent stability criteria for NCSs in terms of generalized Lyapunov matrix equation and LMIs are derived. Stabilizing controller via state feedback is formulated by solving a set of LMIs. Compared with the reported methods, the proposed methods give a less conservative delay bound and more general results. Numerical example and simulation show that the methods are less conservative and more effective.

A Control Scheme Based on Online Delay Evaluation for a Class of Networked Control Systems

A control scheme that integrates control technology with communication technology to solve the delay problem is introduced for a class of networked control systems: Networked Half-Link Systems (NHLS). Concretely, we use the master-slave clock synchronization technology to evaluate the delays online, and then the LQ optimal control based on delays is adopted to stabilize the controlled plant. During the clock synchronization process, the error of evaluated delays is inevitably induced from the clock synchronization error, which will deteriorate the system performances, and even make system unstable in certain cases. Hence, the discussions about the clock error, and the related control analysis and design are also developed. Specifically, we present the sufficient conditions of controller parameters that guarantee the system stability, and a controller design method based on the error of delays is addressed thereafter. The experiments based on a CANbus platform are fulfilled, and the experimental results verify the previous analytic results finally.

Semantic web-based networked manufacturing knowledge retrieval system

To deal with a lack of semantic interoperability of traditional knowledge retrieval approaches, a semantic-based networked manufacturing （NM） knowledge retrieval architecture is proposed, which offers a series of tools for supporting the sharing of knowledge and promoting NM collaboration. A 5-tuple based semantic information retrieval model is proposed, which includes the interoperation on the semantic layer, and a test process is given for this model. The recall ratio and the precision ratio of manufacturing knowledge retrieval are proved to be greatly improved by evaluation. Thus, a practical and reliable approach based on the semantic web is provided for solving the correlated concrete problems in regional networked manufacturing.

Delay-dependent robust stability of uncertain networked control systems with multiple state time-delays

In this paper, delay-dependent robust stability for a class of uncertain networked control systems （NCSs） with multiple state time-delays is investigated. Modeling of multi-input and multi-output （MIMO） NCSs with networkinduced delays and uncertainties through new methods are proposed. Some new stability criteria in terms of LMIs are derived by using Lyapunov stability theory combined with linear matrix inequalities （LMIs） techniques. We analyze the delay-dependent asymptotic stability and obtain maximum allowable delay bound （MADB） for the NCSs with the proposed methods. Compared with the reported results, the proposed results obtain a much less conservative MADB which are more general. Numerical example and simulation is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Time-stamped predictive functional control for networked control systems with random delays

The random delays in a networked control system (NCS) degrade control performance and can even destabilize the control system.To deal with this problem,the time-stamped predictive functional control (PFC) algorithm is proposed,which generalizes the standard PFC algorithm to networked control systems with random delays.The algorithm uses the time-stamp method to estimate the control delay,predicts the future outputs based on a discrete time delay state space model,and drives the control law that applies to an NCS from the idea of a PFC algorithm.A networked control system was constructed based on TrueTime simulator,with which the time-stamped PFC algorithm was compared with the standard PFC algorithm.The response curves show that the proposed algorithm has better control performance.

Book Review:The Socially Networked Classroom:Teaching in the New Media Age

This book is greatly appreciated for its collection of various innovative activities which could be applied in different levels of technology-savvy classrooms.It is regarded as guidance to show paths for language educators to teach in digital age,although most of the teachers today are digital immigrants who "have become fascinated by and adopted many,or most aspects of the new technology are,and always will be compared to them"(Prensky,2001).They have to attempt to equip themselves with the knowledge of new media,which aims to provide the current students with their needs to become fully literate in this digital age.However,when the Internet began to arrive in schools,it was embraced by educators already seasoned in the challenges of change.

A Dual-Channel Secure Transmission Scheme for Internet-Based Networked Control Systems

Two significant issues in Internet-based networked control systems （ INCSs）, transport performance of different protocols and security breach from Internet side, are investigated. First, for improving the performance of data transmission, user datagram protocol （UDP） is adopted as the main stand for controllers and plants using INCSs. Second, a dual-channel secure transmission scheme （DCSTS）based on data transmission characteristics of INCSs is proposed, in which a raw UDP channel and a secure TCP （transmission control protocol） connection making use of SSL/TLS （secure sockets layer/transport layer security） are included. Further, a networked control protocol （NCP） at application layer for supporting DCSTS between the controllers and plants in INCSs is designed, and it also aims at providing a universal communication mechanism for interoperability of devices among the networked control laboratories in Beijing Institute of Technology of China, Central South University of China and Tokyo University of Technology of Japan. By means of a networked single-degree-of-free- dom robot arm, an INCS under the new protocol and security environment is created. Compared with systems such as IPSec or SSL/TLS, which may cause more than 91% network throughput deduction, the new DCSTS protocol may yield results ten times better, being just 5.67%.

Research on robust fault-tolerant control for networked control system with packet dropout

A kind of networked control system with network-induced delay and packet dropout, modeled on asynchronous dynamical systems was tested, and the integrity design of the networked control system with sensors failures and actuators failures was analyzed using hybrid systems technique based on the robust fault-tolerant control theory. The parametric expression of controller is given based on the feasible solution of linear matrix inequality. The simulation results are provided on the basis of detailed theoretical analysis, which further demonstrate the validity of the proposed schema.

Networked Control Systems:A Survey of Trends and Techniques

Networked control systems are spatially distributed systems in which the communication between sensors, actuators,and controllers occurs through a shared band-limited digital communication network. Several advantages of the network architectures include reduced system wiring, plug and play devices,increased system agility, and ease of system diagnosis and maintenance. Consequently, networked control is the current trend for industrial automation and has ever-increasing applications in a wide range of areas, such as smart grids, manufacturing systems,process control, automobiles, automated highway systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The modelling, analysis, and control of networked control systems have received considerable attention in the last two decades. The ‘control over networks’ is one of the key research directions for networked control systems. This paper aims at presenting a survey of trends and techniques in networked control systems from the perspective of ‘control over networks’, providing a snapshot of five control issues: sampled-data control, quantization control, networked control, event-triggered control, and security control. Some challenging issues are suggested to direct the future research.

Guaranteed cost control for networked control systems

The guaranteed cost control problem for networked control systems (NCSs) is addressed under communication constraints and varying sampling rate. First of all, a simple information-scheduling scheme is presented to describe the scheduling approach of system signals in NCSs. Then, based on such a scheme and given sampling method, the design procedure in dynamic output feedback manner is also derived which renders the closed loop system to be asymptotically stable and guarantees an upper bound of the LQ performance cost function.

Fault-Tolerant Control Research for Networked Control System under Communication Constraints

Implementing a control system over a communication network induces inevitable time delays that may degrade performance and even cause instability. One of the most effective ways to reduce the negative effect of delays on the performance of networked control system (NCS) is to reduce network traffic. In this paper, adjustable deadbands are explored as a solution to reduce network traffic in NCS. A method of fault-tolerant control of networked control system is presented, which takes into account system response as well as network traffic. The integrity design for a kind of NCS with sensor failures and actuator failures is analyzed based on robust fault-tolerant control theory and information scheduling. After detailed theoretical analysis, the paper also provides the simulation results, which further validate the proposed scheme.

Distributed Nash Equilibrium Seeking for General Networked Games With Bounded Disturbances

This paper is concerned with anti-disturbance Nash equilibrium seeking for games with partial information.First,reduced-order disturbance observer-based algorithms are proposed to achieve Nash equilibrium seeking for games with firstorder and second-order players,respectively.In the developed algorithms,the observed disturbance values are included in control signals to eliminate the influence of disturbances,based on which a gradient-like optimization method is implemented for each player.Second,a signum function based distributed algorithm is proposed to attenuate disturbances for games with secondorder integrator-type players.To be more specific,a signum function is involved in the proposed seeking strategy to dominate disturbances,based on which the feedback of the velocity-like states and the gradients of the functions associated with players achieves stabilization of system dynamics and optimization of players'objective functions.Through Lyapunov stability analysis,it is proven that the players'actions can approach a small region around the Nash equilibrium by utilizing disturbance observerbased strategies with appropriate control gains.Moreover,exponential(asymptotic)convergence can be achieved when the signum function based control strategy(with an adaptive control gain)is employed.The performance of the proposed algorithms is tested by utilizing an integrated simulation platform of virtual robot experimentation platform(V-REP)and MATLAB.

Improved H_∞ control for networked control systems with network-induced delay and packet dropout

The H_∞ performance analysis and controller design for linear networked control systems(NCSs) are presented.The NCSs are considered a linear continuous system with time-varying interval input delay by assuming that the sensor is time-driven and the logic Zero-order-holder(ZOH) and controller are event-driven.Based on this model,the delay interval is divided into two equal subintervals for H_∞ performance analysis.An improved H_∞ stabilization condition is obtained in linear matrix inequalities(LMIs) framework by adequately considering the information about the bounds of the input delay to construct novel Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals(LKFs).For the purpose of reducing the conservatism of the proposed results,the bounds of the LKFs differential cross terms are properly estimated without introducing any slack matrix variables.Moreover,the H_∞ controller is reasonably designed to guarantee the robust asymptotic stability for the linear NCSs with an H_∞ performance level γ.Numerical simulation examples are included to validate the reduced conservatism and effectiveness of our proposed method.

Stability of singular networked control systems with control constraint

Based on bounded network-induced time-delay, the networked control system is modeled as a linear time-variant singular system. Using the Lyapunov theory and the linear matrix inequality approach, the criteria for delay-independent stability and delay-dependent stability of singular networked control systems are derived and transformed to a feasibility problem of linear matrix inequality formulation, which can be solved by the Matlab LMI toolbox, and the feasible solutions provide the maximum allowable delay bound that makes the system stable. A numerical example is provided, which shows that the analysis method is valid and the stability criteria are feasible.

A Matrix Approach to the Modeling and Analysis of Networked Evolutionary Games With Time Delays

Using the semi-tensor product method, this paper investigates the modeling and analysis of networked evolutionary games(NEGs) with finite memories, and presents a number of new results. Firstly, a kind of algebraic expression is formulated for the networked evolutionary games with finite memories, based on which the behavior of the corresponding evolutionary game is analyzed. Secondly, under a proper assumption, the existence of Nash equilibrium of the given networked evolutionary games is proved and a free-type strategy sequence is designed for the convergence to the Nash equilibrium. Finally, an illustrative example is worked out to support the obtained new results.

Robust model predictive control with randomly occurred networked packet loss in industrial cyber physical systems

For a class of linear discrete-time systems that is subject to randomly occurred networked packet loss in industrial cyber physical systems, a novel robust model predictive control method with active compensation mechanism was proposed. The probability distribution of packet loss is described as the Bernoulli distributed white sequences. By using the Lyapunov stability theory, the existing sufficient conditions of the controller are derived from solving a group of linear matrix inequalities. Moreover, dropout-rate with uncertainty and unknown dropout-rate are also considered, which can greatly reduce the conservativeness of the controller. The designed robust model predictive control method not only efficiently eliminates the negative effects of the networked data loss in industrial cyber physical systems but also ensures the stability of closed-loop system. Two examples were provided to illustrate the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Modeling Delay and Packet Drop in Networked Control Systems Using Network Simulator NS2

Wireless Networked Control Systems (WNCS) are used to implement a control mechanism over a wireless network that is capable of carrying real-time traffic. This field has drawn enormous attention from current researchers because of its flexibility and robustness. However, designing efficient WNCS over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET) is still a challenging topic because of its less-predictable aspects, such as inconsistent delay, packet drop probability, and dynamic topology. This paper presents design guidelines for WNCS over MANET using the Network Simulator version 2, NS2 software. It investigates the impact of packet delay and packet drop under the AODV and DSR routing protocols. The simulation results have been compared to MATLAB results for validation. Keywords Adhoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing - Dynamic Source routing (DSR) - Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANET) - Wireless Networked Control Systems (WNCS) Mohammad Shahidul Hasan received his BSc and first MSc in Computer Science from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He obtained his 2nd MSc in Computer & Network Engineering from Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK. Currently he is pursuing his PhD under the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology, Staffordshire University, Stafford, UK in Networked Control Systems over MANET.Chris Harding received his BSc in Computing Science and Masters by Research from Staffordshire University, UK. Currently he is pursuing his PhD in Wireless Networked Control Systems, specifically looking at NCS over MANETs, with research interests in this area concentrating on the network routing and effect of routing protocols on the NCS system.Hongnian Yu is Professor of Computer Science at Staffordshire University. He was a lecturer in Control and Systems Engineering at Yanshan University, China in 1985–1990, did his PhD in Robotics at King’s College London (1990–1994), was a research fellow in Manufacturing Systems at Sussex University (1994–1996), a lecturer in Artificial Intelligence at Liver-pool John Moore’s University (1996–1999), a lecturer in Control and Systems Engineering at the University of Exeter (1999–2002), and a Senior Lecturer in Computing at the University of Bradford (2002–2004). He now leads the Mobile Computing and Distributed Systems Research Group at Staffordshire University. He was a founding member of the Modeling Optimisation Scheduling and Intelligent Control research group at the University of Bradford. He has extensive research experience in neural networks, mobile computing, modeling, control of robot manipulators, and modeling, scheduling, planning, and simulations of large discrete event dynamic systems with applications to manufacturing systems, supply chains, transportation networks, and computer networks. He has published over 100 research papers focusing on the following: neural networks, computer networks, adaptive and robust control of robot manipulators, analysis and control of hybrid machines, control of timed delay systems, predictive control, manufacturing system modeling and scheduling, planning, and supply chains. He has held several research grants from EPSRC, the Royal Society, and the EU, as well as from industry. He was awarded the F.C. William Premium for his paper on adaptive and robust control of robot manipulators by the IEE Council in 1997. Professor Yu is an EPSRC college member, a member of IEEE, and a committee member of several conferences and journal editorial boards.Alison Griffiths has been a Senior Lecturer in Telecommunications at Staffordshire University since 2003. She was a lecturer in Computing at Staffordshire University in 2002–2003. She was a Research Associate on an EPSRC funded project whilst doing her PhD on the convergence of Mobile Computing and Telecommunications at Staffordshire University (1999–2003). The investigation consisted of the communication of different types of media (voice, video conferencing, web browsing, and downloading) over a common network, using a mobile device. Problems considered were the complications that occurred when a user moves, and consequently changes their end-point in the network during communication, with respect to the type of service the user is provided with (delays and losses). She obtained both her MEng and 1st Class BEng (Hons) from Staffordshire University in 1999 and 1998 respectively. She is now part of the Mobile Computing and Distributed Systems Research Group at Staffordshire University. She has published 8 research papers focusing on quality of service and access between cellular and IP packet switched networks. Future directions include mobile agents and control of mobile wireless ad-hoc networks. Her current research interests have extended to Wireless Networked Control Systems, specifically looking at NCS over MANETs, with research interests in this area concentrating on the network routing and effect of routing protocols on the NCS system.