Networked Control Applications Research Articles

Application of Fuzzy Control and Neural Network Control in the Commercial Development of Sustainable Energy System

Sustainable energy systems (SESs) occupy a prominent position in the modern global energy landscape. The purpose of this study is to explore the application of fuzzy control and neural network control in photovoltaic systems to improve the power generation efficiency and stability of the system. By establishing the mathematical model of a photovoltaic system, the nonlinear and uncertain characteristics of photovoltaic system are considered. Fuzzy control and neural network control are used to control the system, and their performance is verified by experiments. The experimental results show that under the conditions of low light and moderate temperature, the fuzzy neural network control achieves a 3.33% improvement in power generation efficiency compared with the single control strategy. Meanwhile, the system can still maintain relatively stable operation under different environmental conditions under this comprehensive control. This shows that fuzzy neural network control has significant advantages in improving power generation efficiency and provides beneficial technical support and guidance for the commercial development of SESs.

Fuzzy H∞ robust control for T-S aero-engine systems with network-induced factors under round-robin-like protocol

Communication behavior characterization, signal scheduling and robust control are the main challenges for networked control applications in aero-engine. To address these difficulties, this paper proposes a synthesis and analysis scheme for Takagi–Sugeno (T-S) aero-engine systems subject to scheduling strategies and network-induced factors, in which the multi-node round-robin protocol (MN-RRP) is introduced to coordinate communication resources. Considering the effects of time delay and packet loss, the whole signal transmission model is established to describe the nonlinear characteristics of aero-engine networked systems. Then, a novel H∞ fuzzy proportional-integral-derivative-like (PID-like) controller is developed to improve the response performance without sacrificing robustness. Sequentially, the stability conditions are derived in terms of the token-dependent Lyapunov function. Moreover, an optimization algorithm is designed to intelligently solve the controller parameters, which allows the user to flexibly adjust performance requirements. The numerical simulations show that the designed synthesis scheme has good robustness to flight envelope changes and incomplete signals, and ensures that the controlled aero-engine system achieves rapid response, disturbance suppression and considerable tracking performance simultaneously.

A RYU-SDN Controller-Based VM Migration Scheme Using SD-EAW Ranking Methods for Identifying Active Jobs in the 5G Cloud Framework

The presented scheme focuses on active jobs live migration among VMs in 5G cloud framework depending on the software defined networks (SDN) to improve QoS in cloud framework. In this approach, RYU SDN controller is employed, which provides software components that allows software developers to extend network management and control applications for utilizing the features of SDN controller. It currently supports variety of southbound protocols such as OpenFlow, OF-Config, NETCONF, etc., whereas the proposed system uses Mininet prototype network. The destination server selection in the data centre is based on the server distinction based equivalent active weights (SD-EAW) ranking methods. The weight computation necessitate was to recognize non-active and active jobs. A presented SD-EAW scheme utilizes Pareto distribution for the recognition of active and inactive jobs in both continuous and discrete intervals of time. The presented SD-EAW algorithm functions well over all traditional approaches and in turn offers an optimum solution through minimizing the cloud environment's make span.

Publisher Correction to: Application of long short-term memory neural network and optimal control to variable-order fractional model of HIV/AIDS

Publisher Correction to: Application of long short-term memory neural network and optimal control to variable-order fractional model of HIV/AIDS

Application of long short-term memory neural network and optimal control to variable-order fractional model of HIV/AIDS

Application of long short-term memory neural network and optimal control to variable-order fractional model of HIV/AIDS

Hybrid Synchronous–Asynchronous Execution of Reconfigurable PLC Programs in Edge Computing

In edge computing, heterogeneous automation tasks, such as networked motion control and reconfiguration management, have diverse weights on determinism and flexibility. Such heterogeneities escalate the demands on the runtime environments (RTEs) of programmable logic controllers to provide the best-suited rather than one-size-fits-all execution policies for reconfigurable programs. This article presents the proposal and implementation of a novel IEC 61499-based RTE capable of offering hybrid synchronous and asynchronous execution models for function block (FB) based programs. We also construct a runtime reconfigurable FB-type repository by realizing a just-in-time FB-type definitions compiler in the RTE. Finally, we evaluate and compare the proposed RTE and state-of-the-art works by running a set of synthetic benchmark programs and a realistic networked motion control kernel and application. Experiment results from the benchmark programs have shown a maximal 40% faster execution speed in our RTE. Furthermore, our RTE can ensure fewer jitters during distributed motion control with a 1-ms cycle time on a realistic motion control testbed.

Design and Implementation of SDN IP Based on Open Network Operating System and Border Gateway Protocol

The development of computer network technology in the form of Software Defined Networking (SDN), provides many facilities for users to be able to develop network control applications, which can separate the data plane function from the control plane. The existence of this separation on routers and switches makes it easy for developers to centrally develop software and devices according to what is needed by users. However, there were obstacles to implementing SDN on IP networks in a short time. For this reason, it is necessary to implement SDN in stages by adding SDN to the existing IP network in the form of SDN IP, so that SDN can be connected and exchange routing information autonomously. This study focuses on the design and implementation of SDN IP using the Open Network Operating System (ONOS) on the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). The results show that the design and implementation of SDN IP based on ONOS and BGP can be done well, where SDN can connect and exchange routing information with the Autonomous System (AS) native BGP-based network.
 
 Key word(s):
 Autonomous System (AS)
 Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
 Open Network Operating System (ONOS)
 Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
 SDN IP

Discovery of Random Delay Distribution Based on Complex WSNs Clock Synchronization

With the rapid development, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) technology has been widely applied in many fields, such as military intelligence detection, medical condition detection, urban facility construction and smart home, etc. Clock synchronization is one of the key technologies in WSNs, precise node time synchronization is critical for many networked control applications in WSNs. Once the clock of sensor nodes loses synchronization, the information collected by nodes will lose timeliness and value for users. Therefore, the key technology of clock synchronization plays an important role in WSNs. The main purpose of clock synchronization is to control the interval time that between sending and receiving timestamps of wireless sensor nodes within acceptable clock synchronization accuracy. However, because there are many kinds of link delays in the process of information transmission, the transmission time is prolonged and the time precision is reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to study the exact causes and effects of these errors. In ZigBee wireless sensor network, through theoretical model and data experimental analysis, we got the result that the random delay distributions of the uplink and downlink obey normal distribution when the sensor nodes exchange some information.

Application of information communication network security management and control based on big data technology

SummaryWith the continuous development of communication technology and computer network technology and the continuous progress of social economy, information technology has penetrated into all aspects of people's lives. The basic task of communication network is to ensure the reliability and security of information transmission. Based on the above background, the purpose of this study is to study the application of information communication network security management and control based on big data technology. Based on the concept and management and control structure of information communication network, combined with the data collection and preprocessing in big data technology, this study analyzes the feasibility of big data technology applied in communication network management and control and expounds the specific application of big data technology from the four aspects of troubleshooting, security protection, business management, and resource allocation. At last, the test environment of information communication network security management and control platform based on big data technology is built in the laboratory to test the network management performance and routing transmission performance of the system. The experimental results show that the communication success rate of the information communication network security management and control platform based on big data technology remains to 91.78%. It can be seen from the test results that the information communication network security management and control platform based on big data technology can not only accurately collect sensor data but also have the function of real‐time monitoring network status and reconfiguration of nodes.

Time Synchronization Between EtherCAT Network and External Processor

We employ an external processor to distribute the master computing load in the EtherCAT networked control system and develop a method for time synchronization between the Linux on the external processor and EtherCAT network. The synchronization between the Linux on the external processor and EtherCAT master is performed by using general-purpose input/output and shared memory, and the synchronization accuracy is significantly improved by compensating for the system time setting latency and general-purpose input detection latency in the EtherCAT master. The developed method is implemented as part of the master application without modifying the EtherCAT protocol or requiring an excessive computational load. By performing extensive experiments and analyzing the results, we demonstrate that the developed method achieves the synchronization error means less than 1 μs with standard deviations less than 5 μs between the external processor and EtherCAT network. This synchronization accuracy can be acceptable for various networked control applications based on Linux.

Application of Wireless Network Control to Course-Keeping for Ships

In view of the network security and reliability of the steering control system, redundant wired control networks are adopted in some ships. To solve the problems of redundant wired networks in ships, the paper designs a wireless network as a redundant network for a ship's control system. The paper applies wireless network control to course-keeping for ships in order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed ship wireless communication network. However, there are some problems, such as time delay and packet loss, in the wireless network control system (WiNCS). In view of the above problems, the codesign of a communication protocol and control algorithm is studied in the paper. From the aspect of communication, the design is based on the concurrent and disjoint multipath routing ZigBee network, which can ensure the effective application of the control algorithm. From the aspect of control, the design of the ship course-keeping controller combines an improved gray model with the nonlinear robust controller based on the nonlinear decoration and integrator backstepping method, which can compensate for time delay and packet loss. In this paper, a simulation platform is designed to study the application of a wireless network control to course-keeping for ships. The experimental results also prove that the scheme is feasible and effective on a simulation platform. It is a beneficial attempt to apply the WiNCS to course-keeping for ships.

Network Topology Inference Using Higher-Order Statistical Characteristics of End-to-End Measured Delays

Network topology is important information for many network control and management applications. Network tomography infers network topology from end-to-end measured packet delays or losses, which is more feasible than internal cooperation-based methods and attracts many studies. Most of the existing methods for network topology inference usually function under the assumption that the distribution of packet delay or loss follows a given distribution (e.g., Gaussian or Gaussian mixture), and they estimate network topology from the parameters of the given distribution. However, these methods may fail to obtain an accurate estimation because the real distribution of packet delay or loss usually cannot be described by a certain distribution. In this paper, we present a novel network topology inference method based on the unicast end-to-end measured delays. The method abandons the assumption of packet delay distribution and constructs network topology by inferring the higher-order cumulants of internal links from the end-to-end measured delays. The analytical and simulation results show that the proposed method offers over 10% improvement in accuracy compared with that of the state-of-the-art works.

Exact Takagi-Sugeno descriptor models of recurrent high-order neural networks for control applications

This work presents an exact Takagi-Sugeno descriptor model of a recurrent high-order neural network arising from identification of a nonlinear plant. The proposed rearrangement allows exploiting the nonlinear characteristics of the neural model for $$\mathcal H_\infty $$-optimal controller design whose conditions are expressed as linear matrix inequalities. Simulation and real-time results are presented that illustrate the advantages of the proposal.

Robust MPR: A Novel Algorithm for Secure and Efficient Data Transmission in VANET

A major issue in VANETs is the high mobility of the nodes. Broadcasting helps in improving the performance of the VANETs in terms of secure routing. However, broadcasting is a major overhead in VANETs. Broadcasting is still a widely used technique in wireless ad hoc networks and is mainly used to transmit network control information and application oriented data. The Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR) uses a multipoint relay scheme (MPR) to flood the network with control messages involving topology and other technical data. The method generally adopted is flooding which sometimes may lead to congestion in the network. The OLSR technique also has the capability of reducing retransmissions that are redundant and obsolete. We have proposed a MPR selection technique for a robust broadcast in VANETs. Our proposed method tries to cover all the 2-hop MPR nodes ‘m’ times. It also considers the weaker 2-hop MPR nodes set and compensates by providing an alternate solution to counteract the same. In fact, the proposed method determines the strength of the 2-hop MPR set before the start of the transmission and also tries to control the flooding of the transmission control messages. The proposed method is capable of recovering faster when there are broken communication links using the concept of friend MPR nodes. This is made possible with the help of the control packets which carry information regarding the RMPR and the Friend MPR nodes. The RMPR nodes are analyzed using a network simulator (NS2) and mathematical modeling. The values were obtained from the graph readings that were supplied to the simulator. The performance analysis has been tabulated in the results and discussion section. We have studied the performance of the proposed RMPR–OLSR protocol with the existing MMPR–OLSR and the OLSR protocols. The protocols were assessed by studying the network performance when the number of nodes was increased. It was assessed based on the nature of the traffic within the network. The delay for the proposed RMPR–OSLR was lesser than the other two methods (even with an increase in the number of nodes). Similarly, the packet drop for RMPR–OLSR was lesser than MMPR–OLSR and OLSR. The throughput of the RMPR–OLSR was found to increase by than the other existing protocols. The channel utilization was found to be more improved than the other protocols. In fact, the packet delivery ratio (PDR) of the proposed protocol was more than the other two protocols. Thus, the proposed protocol is capable of improving the overall throughput of the network and also helps in maximizing the PDR with respect to the MPR selection technique employed by OLSR.

Constraint-Coupled Distributed Optimization: A Relaxation and Duality Approach

In this paper, we consider a general challenging distributed optimization setup arising in several important network control applications. Agents of a network want to minimize the sum of local cost functions, each one depending on a local variable, subject to local and coupling constraints, with the latter involving all the decision variables. We propose a novel fully distributed algorithm based on a relaxation of the primal problem and an elegant exploration of duality theory. Despite its complex derivation, based on several duality steps, the distributed algorithm has a very simple and intuitive structure. That is, each node finds a primal-dual optimal solution pair of a local relaxed version of the original problem and then updates suitable auxiliary local variables. We prove that agents asymptotically compute their portion of an optimal (feasible) solution of the original problem. This primal recovery property is obtained without any averaging mechanism typically used in dual decomposition methods. To corroborate the theoretical results, we show how the methodology applies to an instance of a distributed model-predictive control scheme in a microgrid control scenario.

Performance evaluation of industrial Ethernet protocols for networked control application

Boosted by trends such as Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0, industrial Ethernet networks (EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT and PROFINET IRT as top-3 players) have been commonly deployed in industrial automation. The aim of this paper is to provide a practical guideline for selecting the right protocol in industrial networked control systems (NCSs) by comparing the performance of these protocols. Communication delays are discussed, formulated and evaluated with a study of a typical NCS. Simulation results demonstrate that with different frame packing, media access scheme, etc., EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT and PROFINET IRT offer different levels of real-time capabilities which lead to different control performance.

X-l ap

Networked control applications for cyber-physical networks demand predictable and reliable real-time communication. Applications of this domain have to cooperate with network protocols, the operating system, and the hardware to improve safety properties and increase resource efficiency. In consequence, a cross-layer approach is necessary for the design and holistic optimisation of cyber-physical systems and networks. This paper presents X-L ap , a cross-layer, inter-host timing analysis tool tailored to the needs of real-time communication. We use X-L ap to evaluate the timing behaviour of a reliable real-time communication protocol. Our analysis identifies parts of the protocol which are responsible for unwanted jitter. To system designers, X-L ap provides useful support for the design and evaluation of networked real-time systems.

Security Solutions for Local Wireless Networks in Control Applications based on Physical Layer Security

The Design of new wireless communication systems for industrial applications, e.g. control applications, is currently a hot research topic, as they deal as a key enabler for more flexible solutions at a lower cost compared to systems based on wired communication. However, one of their main drawbacks is, that they provide a huge potential for miscellaneous cyber attacks due to the open nature of the wireless channel in combination with the huge economic potential they are able to provide. Therefore, security measures need to be taken into account for the design of such systems. Within this work, an approach for the security architecture of local wireless systems with respect to the needs of control applications is presented and discussed. Further, new security solutions based on Physical Layer Security are introduced in order to overcome the drawbacks of state of the art security technologies within that scope.

UMIICA: A Model-Driven Integrated Development Environment for Industrial Control Applications

With the growing complexity of software-based industrial control applications, the demand for reliable software in the industrial control domain has also been increasing. Although the robustness of complex industrial control applications can benefit from formal modeling and verification, there remains a significant gap between formally verified models and real implementation. A model-driven development approach can be a solution to this problem. This paper aims to introduce a full-fledged model-driven integrated development environment, called UMIICA, for developing reliable industrial control applications. For this goal, we first determined the requirements imposed by the model-driven development process of networked industrial control applications. Based on these requirements, we analyzed the problems to be solved and designed the UMIICA tool according to the problem statements. Our proposed UMIICA tool is a full-fledged development environment for better productivity and software quality in our target application domain in that it incorporates whole model-driven development phases with cross-platform support and preserves the verified model behavior on the final implementation. As a case study, we constructed a three-axis cartesian robot testbed and developed an application for the testbed via the UMIICA tool. The evaluation results on our testbed also proved the effectiveness of UMIICA regarding the functional correctness and real-time performance guarantee of the resulting target application.

Distributed dynamic simulations of networked control and building performance applications.

The use of computer-based automation and control systems for smart sustainable buildings, often so-called Automated Buildings (ABs), has become an effective way to automatically control, optimize, and supervise a wide range of building performance applications over a network while achieving the minimum energy consumption possible, and in doing so generally refers to Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) architecture. Instead of costly and time-consuming experiments, this paper focuses on using distributed dynamic simulations to analyze the real-time performance of network-based building control systems in ABs and improve the functions of the BACS technology. The paper also presents the development and design of a distributed dynamic simulation environment with the capability of representing the BACS architecture in simulation by run-time coupling two or more different software tools over a network. The application and capability of this new dynamic simulation environment are demonstrated by an experimental design in this paper.