Delay Compensation in Integrated Communication and Control Systems: Part I -- Conceptual Development and Analysis

Large-scale dynamical systems, such as advanced aircraft, spacecraft, and autonomous manufacturing plants, require high-speed and reliable communications between the individual components and subsystems for decision-making and control. This can be accomplished by Integrated Communication and Control Systems (ICCS) which use asynchronous time-division-multiplexed networks. However, these networks introduce randomly varying delays. The two-part paper presents the concept, analysis, implementation, and verification of a method for compensating delays that are distributed between the sensor(s), controller, and actuator(s) within a control loop. In this paper, which is the first of two parts, the delay compensation algorithm is formulated and analyzed. The above algorithm is implemented in the second part, and it is verified by experimentation at an IEEE 802.4 network testbed as well as by simulation of the flight control system of an advanced aircraft.