Real-time decentralized control with CAN

This paper deals with two important concerns in decentralized control: (1) communication over field bus and (2) the transition from a single powerful, centralized controller to many smaller, distributed controllers. The former requires real-time network scheduling for the field bus to ensure that messages get delivered in a timely manner, while the latter requires a low-overhead real-time operating system to cater to the specific needs of distributed control. We present solutions to both of these problems in the form of a network scheduling scheme for the controller area network (CAN) field bus and the EMERALDS real-time operating system which we have designed with the needs of the decentralized control application designer in mind