High-confidence control: Ensuring reliability in high performance real-time systems

Technology transfer is an especially difficult proposition for real-time control. To facilitate it, we need to complement the "high performance" orientation of control research with an emphasis on demonstrating "high confidence" in real-time implementation. Two particular problems are discussed and recent research directed at their solutions presented. First, the use of anytime algorithms requires dynamic resource management technology that is not generally available today in real-time systems. Second, complex algorithms have unpredictable computational characteristics that nevertheless need to be modeled; statistical verification is suggested as a possible approach. In both cases, a synthesis of control engineering and computer science is required if effective solutions are to be devised.