1,507 research outputs found
Probabilistic Message Passing for Decentralized Control of Stochastic Complex Systems
This paper proposes a novel probabilistic framework for the design of probabilistic message passing mechanism for complex and large dynamical systems that are operating and governing under a decentralized way. The proposed framework considers the evaluation of probabilistic messages that can be passed between mutually interacting quasi-independent subsystems that will not be restricted by the assumption of homogeneity or conformability of the subsystems components. The proposed message passing scheme is based on the evaluation of the marginal density functions of the states that need to be passed from one subsystem to another. An additional contribution is the development of stochastic controllability analysis of the controlled subsystems that constitute a complex system. To facilitate the understanding and the analytical analysis of the proposed message passing mechanism and the controllability analysis, theoretical developments are demonstrated on linear stochastic Gaussian systems
Evolutionary swarm robotics: a theoretical and methodological itinerary from individual neuro-controllers to collective behaviours
In the last decade, swarm robotics gathered much attention in the research community. By drawing inspiration from social insects and other self-organizing systems, it focuses on large robot groups featuring distributed control, adaptation, high robustness, and flexibility. Various reasons lay behind this interest in similar multi-robot systems. Above all, inspiration comes from the observation of social activities, which are based on concepts like division of labor, cooperation, and communication. If societies are organized in such a way in order to be more efficient, then robotic groups also could benefit from similar paradigms
Extensible FlexRay communication controller for FPGA-based automotive systems
Modern vehicles incorporate an increasing number of distributed compute nodes, resulting in the need for faster and more reliable in-vehicle networks. Time-triggered protocols such as FlexRay have been gaining ground as the standard for high-speed reliable communications in the automotive industry, marking a shift away from the event-triggered medium access used in controller area networks (CANs). These new standards enable the higher levels of determinism and reliability demanded from next-generation safety-critical applications. Advanced applications can benefit from tight coupling of the embedded computing units with the communication interface, thereby providing functionality beyond the FlexRay standard. Such an approach is highly suited to implementation on reconfigurable architectures. This paper describes a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based communication controller (CC) that features configurable extensions to provide functionality that is unavailable with standard implementations or off-the-shelf devices. It is implemented and verified on a Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA, integrated with both a logic-based hardware ECU and a fully fledged processor-based electronic control unit (ECU). Results show that the platform-centric implementation generates a highly efficient core in terms of power, performance, and resource utilization. We demonstrate that the flexible extensions help enable advanced applications that integrate features such as fault tolerance, timeliness, and security, with practical case studies. This tight integration between the controller, computational functions, and flexible extensions on the controller enables enhancements that open the door for exciting applications in future vehicles
BeSpaceD: Towards a Tool Framework and Methodology for the Specification and Verification of Spatial Behavior of Distributed Software Component Systems
In this report, we present work towards a framework for modeling and checking
behavior of spatially distributed component systems. Design goals of our
framework are the ability to model spatial behavior in a component oriented,
simple and intuitive way, the possibility to automatically analyse and verify
systems and integration possibilities with other modeling and verification
tools. We present examples and the verification steps necessary to prove
properties such as range coverage or the absence of collisions between
components and technical details
Fast and Reliable Primary Frequency Reserves From Refrigerators with Decentralized Stochastic Control
Due to increasing shares of renewable energy sources, more frequency reserves
are required to maintain power system stability. In this paper, we present a
decentralized control scheme that allows a large aggregation of refrigerators
to provide Primary Frequency Control (PFC) reserves to the grid based on local
frequency measurements and without communication.
The control is based on stochastic switching of refrigerators depending on
the frequency deviation. We develop methods to account for typical lockout
constraints of compressors and increased power consumption during the startup
phase. In addition, we propose a procedure to dynamically reset the thermostat
temperature limits in order to provide reliable PFC reserves, as well as a
corrective temperature feedback loop to build robustness to biased frequency
deviations. Furthermore, we introduce an additional randomization layer in the
controller to account for thermostat resolution limitations, and finally, we
modify the control design to account for refrigerator door openings.
Extensive simulations with actual frequency signal data and with different
aggregation sizes, load characteristics, and control parameters, demonstrate
that the proposed controller outperforms a relevant state-of-the-art
controller.Comment: 44 pages, 17 figures, 9 Tables, submitted to IEEE Transactions on
Power System
On the analysis of stochastic timed systems
The formal methods approach to develop reliable and efficient safety- or performance-critical systems is to construct mathematically precise models of such systems on which properties of interest, such as safety guarantees or performance requirements, can be verified automatically. In this thesis, we present techniques that extend the reach of exhaustive and statistical model checking to verify reachability and reward-based properties of compositional behavioural models that support quantitative aspects such as real time and randomised decisions.
We present two techniques that allow sound statistical model checking for the nondeterministic-randomised model of Markov decision processes. We investigate the relationship between two different definitions of the model of probabilistic timed automata, as well as potential ways to apply statistical model checking. Stochastic timed automata allow nondeterministic choices as well as nondeterministic and stochastic delays, and we present the first exhaustive model checking algorithm that allows their analysis. All the approaches introduced in this thesis are implemented as part of the Modest Toolset, which supports the construction and verification of models specified in the formal modelling language Modest. We conclude by applying this language and toolset to study novel distributed control strategies for photovoltaic microgenerators
Hybrid performance modelling of opportunistic networks
We demonstrate the modelling of opportunistic networks using the process
algebra stochastic HYPE. Network traffic is modelled as continuous flows,
contact between nodes in the network is modelled stochastically, and
instantaneous decisions are modelled as discrete events. Our model describes a
network of stationary video sensors with a mobile ferry which collects data
from the sensors and delivers it to the base station. We consider different
mobility models and different buffer sizes for the ferries. This case study
illustrates the flexibility and expressive power of stochastic HYPE. We also
discuss the software that enables us to describe stochastic HYPE models and
simulate them.Comment: In Proceedings QAPL 2012, arXiv:1207.055
A Fully Probabilistic Decentralised Control Design for Complex Stochastic Systems
Computational and communication complexity call for robustness of controlled systems as well as for distributed control. The proposed technical solutions in this paper are bottom up solutions where simple controllers are designed to care about individual nodes either completely independently or within various structures like cascade control. Cheap computational resources allow now the improvement of the overall behaviour of the network of such controlled loops by allowing the individual ânodesâ to share information with their neighbours without aiming at hopeless global solution. The current paper inspects this proposed method on a linearised version of coupled map lattice with spatiotemporal chaos yielding close to linear quadratic design which gives insight into possible behaviours of such networks
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