Incorporating communication delays in the guidance of a moving actuator/sensor for performance enhancement of controlled distributed parameter systems

This paper examines the effects of position-dependent delays of mobile actuator/sensor pairs when employed for the control of spatially distributed systems. It is assumed that a collocated pair moves freely within the spatial domain in order to minimize the effects of a moving source. A time delay that depends on the distance of the actuator/sensor pair from the base station is incorporated into the guidance scheme and the supervisor has to manage conflicting objectives: that of stability robustness by keeping the moving agent close to the base station in order to minimize position-dependent delays, and of performance enhancement by commanding the mobile agent to the spatial region with the largest deviation from equilibrium, and inadvertently increasing the time delays. An algorithm that contains a time-delay management along with performance enhancement is proposed and extensive numerical studies that examine the delay effects on controller performance and agent trajectory are included.