Mitigating Communication Delays in Remotely Connected Hardware-in-the-Loop Experiments

This paper introduces a potential approach for mitigating the effects of communication delays between multiple, closed-loop hardware-in-the-loop experiments which are virtually connected, yet physically separated. The approach consists of an analytical procedure for the compensation of communication delays, along with the supporting computational and communication infrastructure. The control design leverages tools for the design of observers for the compensation of measurement errors in systems with time-varying delays. The proposed methodology is validated through computer simulation and hardware experimentation connecting hardware-in-the-loop experiments conducted between laboratories separated by a distance of over 100 km.