Distributed Control of Multiple Plants over Embedded Network

Abstract

This paper describes the distributed control of multiple plants over an embedded network. The effect of network protocol on the stability and performance of a control system whose feedback loop is closed over a network. The comparison of Networked Control System (NCS) using Controller Area Network (CAN) and Ethernet (802.3) is performed while considering the system without the network as a benchmark performance scenario. The overall simulation is done using Matlab/Simulink whereas; the NCS is simulated by using TrueTime. It is found that the plant dynamics becomes slower and overshoot decreases when it is converted into NCS. As far as the stability of the system is concerned, the performance of CAN is found better than the Ethernet. Whereas, the Ethernet protocol outperforms in the case of increasing error probability on the communication bus.