Stability analysis of interconnected event-based control loops*

In event-based control the feedback link within a control loop is only closed when an event indicates the need for information exchange among the sensors, controller and actuators to maintain a required loop performance. The event-based control loop is a hybrid dynamical system, which is characterized by a sequence of continuous state flows and discontinuous state jumps at the event times. This paper analyzes the stability of interconnected decentralized event-based control loops where events are triggered asynchronously. A stability criterion is derived using the comparison principle. It is shown that conditions that are sufficient to prove the stability of the continuous control system imply ultimate boundedness of the event-based state-feedback loop. The conservatism of the proposed stability test is evaluated for a thermofluid process.