Simulation of networked control systems with applications to telerobotics

Real-time telerobotic systems connected through packet networks belong to the broader family of Networked Control Systems, and can be easily destabilized by communication delay and packet losses, when they are not properly compensated. The solutions available in the literature are mainly based on Control Theory. This classical approach could be improved by the joint design of the network, e.g., the introduction of quality-of-service guarantees as currently done in teleconference applications. Control/network co-design needs a simulation framework where both aspects are properly and jointly addressed. The paper faces this topic starting from the discussion of its critical issues, and proposes a co-simulation tool based on SystemC for the network simulation and Matlab/Simulink.