Stabilization and Performance over a Gaussian Communication Channel for a Plant with Time Delay

Two problems that have received much attention are those of finding the minimum channel signal to noise ratio compatible with closed loop stability, and of finding the optimal performance, in terms of disturbance attenuation, for a channel with specified signal to noise ratio. In this paper, we study these problems for the case in which the plant has relative degree greater than one, and thus introduces a delay greater than one time step. We show that, unlike the relative degree one case, for the problem of stabilization linear time varying control and communication strategies may have advantages over linear time invariant strategies. We derive a lower bound on optimal disturbance response at a fixed terminal time. If the encoder has access to the state of the plant, then this bound is achievable using linear time varying communication and control

Minimum Variance Control over a Gaussian Communication Channel

We consider the problem of minimizing the response of a plant output to a stochastic disturbance using a control law that relies on the output of a noisy communication channel. We discuss a lower bound on the performance achievable at a specified terminal time using nonlinear timevarying communication and control strategies, and show that this bound may be achieved using strategies that are linear

Eureka and beyond: mining's impact on African urbanisation

This collection brings separate literatures on mining and urbanisation together at a time when both artisanal and large-scale mining are expanding in many African economies. While much has been written about contestation over land and mineral rights, the impact of mining on settlement, notably its catalytic and fluctuating effects on migration and urban growth, has been largely ignored. African nation-states’ urbanisation trends have shown considerable variation over the past half century. The current surge in ‘new’ mining countries and the slow-down in ‘old’ mining countries are generating some remarkable settlement patterns and welfare outcomes. Presently, the African continent is a laboratory of national mining experiences. This special issue on African mining and urbanisation encompasses a wide cross-section of country case studies: beginning with the historical experiences of mining in Southern Africa (South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe), followed by more recent mineralizing trends in comparatively new mineral-producing countries (Tanzania) and an established West African gold producer (Ghana), before turning to the influence of conflict minerals (Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone)

Stabilization with Disturbance Attenuation over a Gaussian Channel

We propose a linear control and communication scheme for the purposes of stabilization and disturbance attenuation when a discrete Gaussian channel is present in the feedback loop. Specifically, the channel input is amplified by a constant gain before transmission and the channel output is processed through a linear time invariant filter to produce the control signal. We show how the gain and filter may be chosen to minimize the variance of the plant output. For an order one plant, our scheme achieves the theoretical minimum taken over a much broader class of compensators

Feedback control performance over a noisy communication channel

We consider the problem of minimizing the variance in the output of a plant that is driven by a Gaussian disturbance using measurements of the plant output obtained from a Gaussian channel. For the special case in which only the variance at the terminal time is penalized, we derive an optimal linear timevarying communication and control strategy, and argue that nonlinear strategies cannot achieve better performance

Stabilization and Performance over a Gaussian Communication Channel for a Plant with Time Delay

Two problems that have received much attention are those of finding the minimum channel signal to noise ratio compatible with closed loop stability, and of finding the optimal performance, in terms of disturbance attenuation, for a channel with specified signal to noise ratio. In this paper, we study these problems for the case in which the plant has relative degree greater than one, and thus introduces a delay greater than one time step. We show that, unlike the relative degree one case, for the problem of stabilization linear time varying control and communication strategies may have advantages over linear time invariant strategies. We derive a lower bound on optimal disturbance response at a fixed terminal time. If the encoder has access to the state of the plant, then this bound is achievable using linear time varying communication and control

Minimum Variance Control over a Gaussian Communication Channel

We consider the problem of minimizing the response of a plant output to a stochastic disturbance using a control law that relies on the output of a noisy communication channel. We discuss a lower bound on the performance achievable at a specified terminal time using nonlinear timevarying communication and control strategies, and show that this bound may be achieved using strategies that are linear

Minimum Variance Control over a Gaussian Communication Channel

We consider the problem of minimizing the response of a plant output to a stochastic disturbance using a control law that relies on the output of a noisy communication channel. We discuss a lower bound on the performance achievable at a specified terminal time using nonlinear timevarying communication and control strategies, and show that this bound may be achieved using strategies that are linear