Analysis of communication losses in vehicle control problems

In this paper we study the effect of communication packet losses in the feedback loop of a control system. Our motivation is derived from vehicle control problems where information is communicated via a wireless local area network. For such problems, we consider a simple packet-loss model for the communicated information and note that results for discrete-time linear systems with Markovian jumping parameters can be applied. The goal is to find a controller (if one exists) such that the closed loop is mean square stable for a given packet loss rate. A linear matrix inequality (LMI) condition is developed for the existence of a stabilizing dynamic output feedback controller. This LMI condition is used to study the effect of communication losses on a vehicle following problem. In summary, these results can be used not only to design controllers but also give a 'worst-case' performance specification (in terms of packet-loss rate) for an acceptable communications system.