Title
MinMax: A Sampling Interval Control Algorithm for Process Control Systems
Abstract
The traditional sampling method in process control systems is based on a periodic task model. This is because controllers are executed in a strictly periodic manner. Sensors sample the process data and send it periodically to the appropriate controllers through a communication system such as the field bus. Since the field bus is shared by multiple sensors, there is some delay (control loop latency)between the sampling and control actions. In order to minimize the control loop latency, a higher than necessary sampling frequency is typically adopted, which results in unnecessary waste of energy. In this paper, we propose Min Max: a sampling interval control algorithm for tackling this problem. In Min Max, sampling tasks are not periodic but have both maximum and minimum distance constraints. This sampling model has advantages that are especially important in the domain of wireless control for industrial automation. We shall then discuss the jitter property of sampling schemes under this model and propose algorithms for controlling the sampling intervals of sensors in terms of the Min Max problem (UMin Max) which we shall introduce. Though this problem is NP-hard in general, even for special case of unit-time tasks, we show how to reduce Min Max to well-studied scheduling models such as Liu and Layland-type periodic models and pinwheel models, at the expense of some loss of schedulability. These reductions allow us to derive efficient schedulability tests that can be used to solve the sampling interval control problem in practice. Simulations are used to compare the performance of different UMin Max schedulers in two key figures of merit: the acceptance ratio and the jitter ratio. Simulation of a process control system model also shows that UMin Max can reduce about 40% of the traffic load on the communication system which is especially important for energy-aware wireless process control applications.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.1109/RTCSA.2012.33
RTCSA
Keywords
Field
DocType
traffic load,control loop latency minimization,delay,minimum distance constraints,schedulability tests,process control,sampling interval control algorithm,maximum distance constraints,energy-aware wireless process control,telecontrol,np-hard problem,min max,jitter,energy-aware wireless process control applications,field buses,necessary sampling frequency,real-time scheduling,uminmax,periodic task model,acceptance ratio,minmax problem,delays,jitter ratio,minimax techniques,industrial automation,process data,process control systems,pid control,process control system,communication system,sensors,sampling methods,minimum separations,control loop latency,unit-time tasks,sampling interval,fieldbus,control action,process control system model,umin max,wireless communication,data models,actuators,schedules
PID controller,Computer science,Scheduling (computing),Automation,Real-time computing,Schedule,Sampling (statistics),Process control,Control system,Jitter
Conference
ISSN
ISBN
Citations 
1533-2306 E-ISBN : 978-0-7695-4824-1
978-0-7695-4824-1
1
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.35
11
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Xiuming Zhu118012.73
Pei-Chi Huang2649.92
Song Han355354.94
Aloysius K. Mok490978.90
Deji Chen566944.92
Mark Nixon635826.24