Control over communication networks: Trend and challenges in integrating control theory and information theory

With the development of theories of control, communication and information, networked control systems have attracted increasing interests of researchers and engineers. In this paper, we emphasize that there is an inevitable trend towards a joint design of communication and control in networked control systems. The basics of communication and information theory and some recent developments in networked control are summarized. In particular, our focus is on network requirements such as channel capacity and data rate for stabilization over unreliable channels with limited communications. The challenges in filling in the gap between control theory and information theory are highlighted.