Modeling and Controller Design for a Class of MIMO Networked Control Systems

This paper introduces a new NCS framework protocol, in which the plant and controller forgo the use of ZOHs, and instead choose to "ignore" the actuators and sensors that are not actively communicating. "Communication sequences" are used to describe the instantaneous medium access status of the sensors and actuators. The effect of medium access constraints can be modeled by cascading the underlying plant with a pair of "communication sequence matrices". We study the stabilization of NCSs under periodic medium access scheduling. One can always find (via a simple algorithm) periodic communication sequences that preserve the reachability and observability of a reversible linear plant. Using these effective communication sequences, an NCS can be exponentially stabilized by an observer-based controller.