A Quality-of-Service (QoS) based approach for the communication support in network-based control systems: an on-going project

Abstract

Due to the increased availability of low cost network technology, the implementation of Network-based Control Systems (NCS) is becoming widely accepted. Current NCS are usually supported by small-dedicated communication networks (known as fieldbus networks) operating in access-controlled mediums, which are able to guarantee the delivery of control data within known and bounded delays. It is however foreseeable that, access-uncontrolled networks (such as packet-based networks) will play an important role in future NCS. In this paper, we present an ongoing project, proposing the use of a QoS architecture to implement NCS built upon shared networks with uncontrolled access, i.e., considering communication environments subject to unknown disturbances. Within this project, several QoS architectures for packet-based networks are looked at carefully, such as the IntServ and the DiffServ architectures and the Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and the Constraint Based Routing strategies. Such multiple QoS architectures will be evaluated through the use of an experimental platform enabling the implementation and evaluation of network-based control systems .