A New Three-Level Hierarchical Control Algorithm for Large-Scale Systems

This paper presents a new three-level hierarchical control parallel algorithm for large-scale systems by spatial and time decomposition. The parallel variable metric (PVM)method is found to be promising third-level algorithm. In the subproblems of second-level, the constraints of the smaller subproblem requires that the initial state of a subproblem equals the terminal state of the preceding subproblem. The coordinating variables are updated using the modified Newton method. the low-level smaller subproblems are solved in parallel using extended differential dynamic programmeing (DDP). Numerical result shows that comparing with one level DDP. the PVM /DDP algorithm obtains significant speed-ups.

Group-Consensus of Hierarchical Containment Control for Linear Multi-Agent Systems

The existing containment control has been widely developed for several years, but ignores the case for large-scale cooperation. The strong coupling of large-scale networks will increase the costs of system detection and maintenance. Therefore, this paper is concerned with an extensional containment control issue, hierarchical containment control. It aims to enable a multitude of followers achieving a novel cooperation in the convex hull shaped by multiple leaders. Firstly, by constructing the three-layer topology, large-scale networks are decoupled. Then,under the condition of directed spanning group-tree, a class of dynamic hierarchical containment control protocol is designed such that the novel group-consensus behavior in the convex hull can be realized. Moreover, the definitions of coupling strength coefficients and the group-consensus parameter in the proposed dynamic hierarchical control protocol enhance the adjustability of systems. Compared with the existing containment control strategy, the proposed hierarchical containment control strategy improves dynamic control performance. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed hierarchical control protocol.

Multi-level access control model for tree-like hierarchical organizations

An access control model is proposed based on the famous Bell-LaPadula （BLP） model.In the proposed model,hierarchical relationships among departments are built,a new concept named post is proposed,and assigning security tags to subjects and objects is greatly simplified.The interoperation among different departments is implemented through assigning multiple security tags to one post, and the more departments are closed on the organization tree,the more secret objects can be exchanged by the staff of the departments.The access control matrices of the department,post and staff are defined.By using the three access control matrices,a multi granularity and flexible discretionary access control policy is implemented.The outstanding merit of the BLP model is inherited,and the new model can guarantee that all the information flow is under control.Finally,our study shows that compared to the BLP model,the proposed model is more flexible.

NEURAL NETWORK PREDICTIVE CONTROL WITH HIERARCHICAL GENETIC ALGORITHM

A kind of predictive control based on the neural network(NN) for nonlinear systems with time delay is addressed.The off line NN model is obtained by using hierarchical genetic algorithms (HGA) to train a sequence data of input and output.Output predictions are obtained by recursively mapping the NN model.The error rectification term is introduced into a performance function that is directly optimized while on line control so that it overcomes influences of the mismatched model and disturbances,etc.Simulations show the system has good dynamic responses and robustness.

Hierarchical Control of Ride Height System for Electronically Controlled Air Suspension Based on Variable Structure and Fuzzy Control Theory

The current research of air suspension mainly focuses on the characteristics and design of the air spring. In fact, electronically controlled air suspension （ECAS） has excellent performance in flexible height adjustment during different driving conditions. However, the nonlinearity of the ride height adjusting system and the uneven distribution of payload affect the control accuracy of ride height and the body attitude. Firstly, the three-point measurement system of three height sensors is used to establish the mathematical model of the ride height adjusting system. The decentralized control of ride height and the centralized control of body attitude are presented to design the ride height control system for ECAS. The exact feedback linearization method is adopted for the nonlinear mathematical model of the ride height system. Secondly, according to the hierarchical control theory, the variable structure control （VSC） technique is used to design a controller that is able to adjust the ride height for the quarter-vehicle anywhere, and each quarter-vehicle height control system is independent. Meanwhile, the three-point height signals obtained by three height sensors are tracked to calculate the body pitch and roll attitude over time, and then by calculating the deviation of pitch and roll and its rates, the height control correction is reassigned based on the fuzzy algorithm. Finally, to verify the effectiveness and performance of the proposed combined control strategy, a validating test of ride height control system with and without road disturbance is carried out. Testing results show that the height adjusting time of both lifting and lowering is over 5 s, and the pitch angle and the roll angle of body attitude are less than 0.15°. This research proposes a hierarchical control method that can guarantee the attitude stability, as well as satisfy the ride height tracking system.

A Fuzzy Logic Based Supervisory Hierarchical Control Scheme for Real Time Pressure Control

This paper describes a supervisory hierarchical fuzzy controller （SHFC） for regulating pressure in a real-time pilot pressure control system. The input scaling factor tuning of a direct expert controller is made using the error and process input parameters in a closed loop system in order to obtain better controller performance for set-point change and load disturbances. This on-line tuning method reduces operator involvement and enhances the controller performance to a wide operating range. The hierarchical control scheme consists of an intelligent upper level supervisory fuzzy controller and a lower level direct fuzzy controller. The upper level controller provides a mechanism to the main goal of the system and the lower level controller delivers the solutions to a particular situation. The control algorithm for the proposed scheme has been developed and tested using an ARM7 microcontroller-based embedded target board for a nonlinear pressure process having dead time. To demonstrate the effectiveness, the results of the proposed hierarchical controller, fuzzy controller and conventional proportional-integral （PI） controller are analyzed. The results prove that the SHFC performance is better in terms of stability and robustness than the conventional control methods.

Game-theoretic approach to power and admission control in hierarchical wireless sensor networks

Power efficiency and link reliability are of great impor- tance in hierarchical wireless sensor networks （HWSNs）, espe- cially at the key level, which consists of sensor nodes located only one hop away from the sink node called OHS. The power and admission control problem in HWSNs is comsidered to improve its power efficiency and link reliability. This problem is modeled as a non-cooperative game in which the active OHSs are con- sidered as players. By applying a double-pricing scheme in the definition of OHSs＇ utility function, a Nash Equilibrium solution with network properties is derived. Besides, a distributed algorithm is also proposed to show the dynamic processes to achieve Nash Equilibrium. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the effec- tiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Distributed Fault-Tolerant Containment Control for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems Under Directed Network Topology via Hierarchical Approach

This paper investigates the distributed fault-tolerant containment control(FTCC)problem of nonlinear multi-agent systems(MASs)under a directed network topology.The proposed control framework which is independent on the global information about the communication topology consists of two layers.Different from most existing distributed fault-tolerant control(FTC)protocols where the fault in one agent may propagate over network,the developed control method can eliminate the phenomenon of fault propagation.Based on the hierarchical control strategy,the FTCC problem with a directed graph can be simplified to the distributed containment control of the upper layer and the fault-tolerant tracking control of the lower layer.Finally,simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control protocol.

Design and evaluation of a hierarchical control architecture for an autonomous underwater vehicle

This paper researches on a kind of control architecture for autonomous undelwater vehicle （AUV）. After describing the hybrid property of the AUV control system, we present the hierarchical AUV control architecture. The architecture is organized in three layers： mission layer, task layer and execution layer. State supervisor and task coordinator are two key modules handling discrete events, so we describe these two modules in detail. Finally, we carried out a series of tests to verify this architecture The test results show that the AUV can perform autonomous missions effectively and safely. We can conclude the control architecture is valid and practical.

Controllable preparation of hierarchical NiO hollow microspheres with high pseudo-capacitance

Nickel oxide(NiO)hollow microspheres with hierarchical structure were fabricated through a process consisting of a self-assembling,hydrothermal reaction and calcination.The prepared NiO hollow microspheres composed of many nanoflakes,are about 2-3μm in diameter.The length of the NiO flakes,having clear edges,is about 500-700 nm,while the thickness is only about 40-50 nm.This indicates that the NiO microspheres possess a hierarchical structure that can provide porous channels to facilitate the transmission of both electrons and electrolyte ions.NiO microspheres exhibit a high specific capacitance of about 1340 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g and high capacitance retention about 96.5%after 1000 cycles.What’s more,the conductive mechanism of nickel oxide for electrochemical capacitor electrodes was also studied.

Movability of the tracked pipeline-robot based on hierarchical fuzzy control

The turning motion of a tracked pipeline-robot implemented by skid steering is a nonholonomic dynamic problem with intrinsic nonlinearity, to which the classical control method is inappropriate and cannot be applied. This paper presents a novel path tracking control method based on hierarchical fuzzy structure. The controller consists of three sub-level low dimensional fuzzy control systems： fuzzy supervisory control, fuzzy steering and fuzzy velocity control. As a result, establishing the bases of rules for the fuzzy control becomes feasible and simplified, and the related controller can be adapted to complicated ground and environment. Using this method, the number of fuzzy controt rules is greatly decreased so that the curse of dimensionality causing the multivariable problem does not occur. Simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method with satisfied performance on path tracking. Autonomous navigation of the caterpillar-inspired pipeline-robot is also implemented based on the sensor feedbacks.

Compensation/consumption hierarchical control strategy based on wind-solar-hydrogen coupling grid connection

In the process of grid-connected wind and solar power generation,there are problems of high rate of abandoning wind and light and insufficient energy.In order to solve these problems,we construct a grid-connected wind-solar hydrogen storage(alkaline electrolyzer(AE)-hydrogen storage tank-battery-proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC))coupled system architecture.A grid-connected compensation/consumption hierarchical control strategy based on wind-solar hydrogen coupling is proposed.During the grid-connected process of wind and solar power generation,the upper-level control allocates power reasonably to the hydrogen energy storage system by dispatching the power of wind and solar power generation.At the same time,the control strategy ensures that the pressure of the hydrogen storage tank is within the safety range limit,and the lower control completes the control of the duty cycle of the converter in the system.Due to the randomness of wind and light,the hydrogen energy storage system is divided into three working conditions,namely compensation,balance and consumption,and five working modes.The simulation results show that the hydrogen energy storage system compensates for 40%of the power shortage,and consumes 27.5%of the abandoned wind and solar energy,which improves the utilization rate of clean energy.

Hierarchical Distributed Control Design for Multi-agent Systems Using Approximate Simulation

在这份报纸，我们基于近似模拟为多代理人系统考虑一个层次控制图案。到还原剂复杂性，我们首先构造一个简单抽象系统指导代理人，然后，我们讨论在抽象系统和多重代理人之间的模拟关系。在这个抽象系统的帮助下，分布式的层次控制被建议完成一项协作任务。由普通 Lyapunov 功能的优点，我们与考虑到模拟功能交换多代理人拓扑学分析集体行为。

Multivariable Adaptive Decoupling Controller Using Hierarchical Multiple Models

To solve the problem such as too many models, long computing time and so on, a hierarchical multiple models direct adaptive decoupling controller is designed. It consists of multiple levels. In the upper level, the best model is chosen according to the switching index. Then multiple fixed models are constructed on line to cover the region which the above chosen fixed model lies in.In the last level, one free-running and one re-initialized adaptive model are added to guarantee the stability and improve the transient response. By selection of the weighting polynomial matrix, it not only eliminates the steady output error and places the poles of the closed loop system arbitrarily, but also decouples the system dynamically. At last, for this multiple models switching system, global convergence is obtained under common assumptions. Compared with the conventional multiple models adaptive controller, it reduces the number of the fixed models greatly. If the same number of the fixed models is used, the system transient response and decoupling result are improved. The simulation example illustrates the power of the derived controller.

Adaptive state-constrained/model-free iterative sliding mode control for aerial robot trajectory tracking

This paper develops a novel hierarchical control strategy for improving the trajectory tracking capability of aerial robots under parameter uncertainties.The hierarchical control strategy is composed of an adaptive sliding mode controller and a model-free iterative sliding mode controller(MFISMC).A position controller is designed based on adaptive sliding mode control(SMC)to safely drive the aerial robot and ensure fast state convergence under external disturbances.Additionally,the MFISMC acts as an attitude controller to estimate the unmodeled dynamics without detailed knowledge of aerial robots.Then,the adaption laws are derived with the Lyapunov theory to guarantee the asymptotic tracking of the system state.Finally,to demonstrate the performance and robustness of the proposed control strategy,numerical simulations are carried out,which are also compared with other conventional strategies,such as proportional-integralderivative(PID),backstepping(BS),and SMC.The simulation results indicate that the proposed hierarchical control strategy can fulfill zero steady-state error and achieve faster convergence compared with conventional strategies.

Hierarchical-control-based output synchronization of coexisting attractor networks

This paper introduces the concept of hierarchical-control-based output synchronization of coexisting attractor networks. Within the new framework, each dynamic node is made passive at first utilizing intra-control around its own arena. Then each dynamic node is viewed as one agent, and on account of that, the solution of output synchronization of coexisting attractor networks is transformed into a multi-agent consensus problem, which is made possible by virtue of local interaction between individual neighbours; this distributed working way of coordination is coined as inter-control, which is only specified by the topological structure of the network. Provided that the network is connected and balanced, the output synchronization would come true naturally via synergy between intra and inter-control actions, where the rightness is proved theoretically via convex composite Lyapunov functions. For completeness, several illustrative examples are presented to further elucidate the novelty and efficacy of the proposed scheme.

Hierarchical Control for Large-Scale Systems

A class of large-scale systems, where the overall objective function is a nonlinear function of performance index of each subsystem, is investigated in this paper. This type of large-scale control problem is non-separable in the sense of conventional hierarchical control. Hierarchical control is extended in the paper to large-scale non-separable control problems, where multiobjective optimization is used as separation strategy. The large-scale non-separable control problem is embedded, under certain conditions, into a family of the weighted Lagrangian formulation. The weighted Lagrangian formulation is separable with respect to subsystems and can be effectively solved using the interaction balance approach at the two lower levels in the proposed three-level solution structure. At the third level, the weighting vector for the weighted Lagrangian formulation is adjusted iteratively to search the optimal weighting vector with which the optimal of the original large-scale non-separable control problem is obtained. Theoretical base of the algorithm is established. Simulation shows that the algorithm is effective.

Efficient Rate Control Algorithm for Hierarchical Video Coding

For rate control (RC) of hierarchical structure coding, an independent rate-quantization (R-Q) model was proposed based on mean absolute differences (MADs) in different temporal levels (TLs). In the proposed R-Q model, a novel MAD model was developed according to the hierarchical structure. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm provides better performance, in terms of average peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and quality smoothness, than the H.264 reference model, JM14.2, under various sequences.

Hierarchical hybrid control network design based on LON and master-slave RS-422/485 protocol

Aiming at the weaknesses of LON bus, combining the coexistence of fieldbus and DCS (Distribu ted Control Systems) in control networks, the authors introduce a hierarchical hybrid control network design based on LON and master slave RS 422/485 protocol. This design adopts LON as the trunk, master slave RS 422/485 control networks are connected to LON as special subnets by dedicated gateways. It is an implementation method for isomerous control network integration. Data management is ranked according to real time requirements for different network data. The core components, such as control network nodes, router and gateway, are detailed in the paper. The design utilizes both communication advantage of LonWorks technology and the more powerful control ability of universal MCUs or PLCs, thus it greatly increases system response speed and performance cost ratio.

Controlled moderative sulfidation-fabricated hierarchical heterogeneous nickel sulfides-based electrocatalyst with tripartite Mo doping for efficient oxygen evolution

An electrocatalyst with heterogeneous nanostructure, especially the hierarchical one, generally shows a more competitive activity than that of its single-component counterparts for oxygen evolution reaction(OER), due to the synergistically enhanced kinetics on enriched active sites and reconfigured electronic band structure. Here this work introduces hierarchical heterostructures into a NiMo@NiS/MoS_(2)@Ni_(2)S_(2)/MoO_(x)(NiMoS) composite by one-pot controlled moderative sulfidation. The optimal solvent composition and addition of NaOH enable NiMoS to own loose and porous structures, smaller nanoparticle sizes, optimal phase composition and chemical states of elements, improving the OER activity of NiMoS. To achieve current densities of 50 and 100 mA cm^(-1), small overpotentials of 275 and 306 mV are required respectively, together with a minor Tafel slope of 58 mV dec^(-1), which outperforms most reported sulfide catalysts and IrO_(2). The synergistic effects in the hierarchical heterostructures expose more active sites,adjust the electronic band structure, and enable the fast charge transfer kinetics, which construct an optimized local coordination environment for high OER electrocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the hierarchical heterostructures suppress the distinct lowering of electrical conductivity and collapse of pristine structures resulted from the metal oxidation and synchronous S leaching during OER, yielding competitive catalytic stability.