The paper proposes a general network based
analysis and design guidelines for teleoperation systems. The
electrical domain is appealing because it enjoys proficient analysis
and design tools and allows a one step higher abstraction
element, the network. Thus, in order to analyze the system by
means of network elements the mechanical system must be first
modeled as an electric circuit. Only then power ports become
apparent and networks can be defined. This kind of analysis
has been previously performed in systems with well defined
causalities, specially in the communication channel. Indeed,
a communication channel exchanging flow-like and effort-like
signals, as for instance velocity and computed force, has a
well defined causality and can thus be directly mapped as a
two-port electrical network. However, this is only one of the
many possible system architectures. This paper investigates how
other architectures, including those with ambiguous causalities,
can be modeled by means of networks, even in the lack of
flow or effort being transmitted, and how they can be made
passive for any communication channel characteristic (delay,
package-loss and jitter). The methods are exposed in the form
of design guidelines sustained with an example and validated
with experimental results
