Control structure design of networked control systems based on maximum allowable delay bounds

In this work, we present a control structure based on the maximum allowable delay bound of networked control systems that takes the network-induced delay into account. Control structure design deals with the structural decisions of the control system including where to place the controllers and how to harmonize them. We construct a hierarchical control structure that consists of a main controller and a local closed-loop system consisting of a family of control configurations. Based on the maximum allowable delay bound for each local configuration, the local supervisor orchestrates switching between the constituent configurations. The stability condition is derived based on common Lyapunov function technique. An example is presented to demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed approach.