Joint Design of Control and Communication in Wireless Networked Control Systems: A Case Study

The control performance of wireless networked control systems is a complex function of control system parameters such as control algorithms, controller gains, sampling period and communication system parameters such as communication protocols, network bandwidth, transmission rate, and transmission power. In order to predict and optimize the control performance of wireless networked control systems, a joint design of both the control system with appropriate control structures and algorithms and the communication system with appropriate communication structures and protocols is intended. In this contribution a wireless networked control system where sensors, controller, and actuator share data over a dedicated wireless communication network is analyzed and implemented. We show in a practical case study how different control algorithms in conjunction with dedicated communication protocols can be used to stabilize and optimize the performance of an inverted pendulum equipped with low power low energy wireless nodes.