Pure Time Delay Analysis for Decentralized Networked Control Systems

The network disturbance effect can be considered as either a perturbation or as a pure time delay for the exchanged signals. The network-induced time delay is one of the main challenges when a network is inserted in the feedback loops of a control system. In this paper, our objective is to improve the behavior of a Networked Control System (NCS) by analyzing the time-delay given that the decentralized control design method is adopted. First, we review an observer-based control method for decentralized control systems. Second, we establish a map between the decentralized non-networked system, and the typical NCS state-space representation. The main idea the mapping is to put the Decentralized Networked Control System (DNCS) in a general form and then map the resulting system to the typical NCS form. Third, we derive the global dynamics of the DNCS. Fourth, an upper bound for the time-delay is derived that guarantees the stability of LTI DNCSs. Finally, we present a numerical example that illustrates the applicability of the derived bound.