Investigating new classes of sampling sequences: Application to the stability analysis of decentralized sampled-data systems

In this work, the stability problem of a decentralized control system where different sensors and actuators may communicate independently in an aperiodic and asynchronous manner is investigated. In order to conduct the analysis, we shift the focus from the decentralized system to the sampling sequence induced by several components communicating independently from each other. First it is shown how those sampling sequences at the level of the local component combine with each other when considering the overall system. Then the results obtained on the sampling sequence are applied, along with Lyapunov stability arguments in order to study the stability of decentralized sampled-data systems. Some experimental results obtained on an inverted pendulum benchmark are presented, to show the usefulness of the approach.