Optimal dropout compensation in networked control systems

This paper examines optimal compensation for dropped feedback measurements in a networked control system. A common policy for handling such lost data is to simply use the past data. This case was treated in [8]. This paper extends that prior work to cover a more general class of dropout compensation. The paper's principal result shows that determining the optimal dropout compensator can be posed as a constrained generalized regulator problem. An example compares the performance of a networked control system using the optimal dropout compensator against more commonly used heuristic dropout policies. The comparison shows that the optimal compensator works better than these heuristic policies.