Robust stabilization of uncertain process networks with scheduled communication

This work addresses the problem of robust stabilization of a class of networked process systems subject to external disturbances and communication constraints. A quasi-decentralized control framework that aims to balance the intrinsic tradeoff between the control and communication objectives is developed by bringing together ideas from model-based networked control and sensor transmission scheduling. The networked scheduled closed-loop plant is analyzed, and an explicit condition that ties together the closed-loop stability and performance properties with the communication rate, the transmission schedule, the disturbance size and the disturbance attenuation level, is obtained. The results are applied to a reactor-separator plant example to illustrate the potential benefits of the integrated control, communication and scheduling framework.