Joint optimization of control network design in time and space domains

Control networks are widely deployed on mass produced mobile systems such as automotive systems, airplanes, and mobile robots. Previous works on control networks have focused on guaranteeing controllability, predictability, and dependability in the time domain because control networks manipulate actuators directly, and hence are highly related to safety. However, in contrast to data networks, control networks severely affect the manufacturing cost, fuel efficiency, and space effectiveness of mobile systems due to additional network devices, control unit (CU) arrangements, and task assignments. These problems have become more important as CUs have been extensively deployed in real systems in the pursuit of intelligence and energy efficiency. Therefore, system design using control networks must be considered with respect to the time and space domains simultaneously. We propose a design method to minimize space resources due to control networks in the target system while satisfying time constraints. We formulate this problem as a matching problem and provide an effective solution. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate that our methodology is very effective and scalable, and saves significant time, space, and cost in control networks.