Networked Control Systems

Networked control systems (NCS) consist of sensors, actuators and controllers the operations of which may be distributed over geographically disparate locations and coordinated by the exchange of information passed over a communication network. The communication network may be physically wired or not. The widespread applications of the Internet have been a major driving force for research and development of NCS. NCS have advantages in terms of cost reduction, system diagnosis and flexibility, minimizing wiring and making the addition and replacement of individual elements relatively simple; efficient data sharing makes taking globally intelligent control decisions easier with an NCS.

The applications of NCS are very wide, from the large scale of factory automation and plant monitoring to the smaller but complicated networks of computers in modern cars, places and autonomous robots.

Networked Control Systems presents the most recent results in stability and robustness analysis as well as new developments related to networked fuzzy and optimal control. Many of the chapters contain details of case-studies, experimental, simulation and/or other application-related work showing how the theories put forward can be implemented in real systems.

The state-of-the art research reported in this volume by an international team of contributors will make Networked Control Systems an essential reference for researchers and postgraduate students in control, electrical, computer and mechanical engineering and computer science.