Remote control of mechatronic systems over communication networks

This paper presents different techniques for the remote control of mechatronic systems over communication networks. The first part is devoted to a virtual laboratory for educational purposes. This system can be activated at distance, but the control loop itself runs locally. The second part of the paper describes a new approach for the control of dynamical systems with a stochastically varying delay in the input, caused by the signal transmission over the network. The delay is described by a probability distribution model, and some simple control laws are proposed. Furthermore, the properties (asymptotic stability, sensibility mechanism with respect to parameters' variations) are analyzed for the corresponding closed-loop system. An illustrative example (simplified helicopter model) ends the paper.