Real-time checking of linear control systems using analog checksums

In the recent past, there has been a proliferation of complex control problems in sensor network design, multi-agent systems such as autonomous vehicles and robotics, to name a few. While prior research has focused on the design of optimal controllers for real-time systems, in the future it will become increasingly difficult to perform periodic maintenance of such systems due to their mobile and autonomous nature. Moreover, in safety-critical real-time applications it will become increasingly necessary to perform real-time monitoring of the plant as well as its controller functions for reasons of reliability and safety. In this paper, we develop, for the first time, a theory for implementing low-overhead and high coverage detection of transient errors and permanent faults in linear control systems consisting of the plant and its controller using analog checksums. The approach is demonstrated on a servo-motor control problem. It is shown that small parametric perturbations as well as transient errors are detected in real-time using the proposed checking methodology.