Multiple input/output delays compensation for networked MIMO systems

With the ever increasing complexity of Networked Control System, system integration is becoming much more challenging. It is because the individual controller designed in delay-free environment may not work properly in networking environment, especially when interconnected coupling between distributed nodes are involved. To address such a challenge, this paper proposes a virtual observer to realize multiple delays spin-off from the closed-loop system. To this end, input/output delays are firstly combined and allocated to the output side, and the resulting system is equivalent to the original one in terms of input-output relationship. Then a virtual observer is utilized based on the derived virtual plant with combined output delays, and delay-free states can be retrieved for feedback. Since the resulting closed-loop characteristic equation is equivalent to that of the delay-free system, the original controller can still achieve a comparable performance in networking environment. Finally, the 2D helicopter is utilized to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology through software simulations and hardware experiments.