Design of sampling and transmission rates for achieving control and communication performance in networked agent systems

When sensory and actuation agents in a control system are exchanging data through one common communication medium, the sharing of communication bandwidth will induce unavoidable data latency and might degrade the control performance. In this paper, we analyze the performance of control actions over distributed networks, and propose a design methodology of achieving control and communication performance in a networked agent system. In particular, we study the relationship between the sampling rates of a control system, and the transmission rates of a communication network, and then utilize an integrated network control design chart to help select design parameters and visualize overall system performance at different sampling and transmission rates. Based on the design parameters selected, several estimation algorithms are also implemented to achieve both control and communication performance. Simulation studies are conducted in a network-and-control simulator to demonstrate the networked control systems characteristics investigated.