Diversos trabalhos relacionados ao desenvolvimento de dispositivos robóticos biomecatrônicos estão sendo realizados em vários laboratórios no mundo. Apesar desta crescente tendência, devido a uma falta de padronização nas tecnologias utilizadas, em especial no sistema de sensoriamento e controle, há uma grande divergência nos sistemas resultantes. De forma a se conseguir atender os requisitos dos projetos, muito tempo é despendido no desenvolvimento de sistemas de sensoriamento e controle dedicados. Dentro deste cenário, neste trabalho foi projetado e implementado um sistema de sensoriamento e controle modular específico para sistemas robóticos. Este foi desenvolvido de forma a poder ser utilizado em diversos projetos reduzindo o esforço para a sua implementação. O referido sistema foi dividido em três módulos: Processador Central, Nós e Rede de Comunicação. Foi dada uma especial atenção no aspecto relacionado à comunicação por ser um fator-chave para se conseguir manter compatibilidade entre diferentes sistemas. Uma rede de comunicação denominada R-Bone foi desenvolvida pelo fato de que os sistemas existentes não atendem aos requisitos propostos. Uma descrição conceitual do sistema projetado é apresentada e a sua implementação detalhada. Todos os aspectos técnicos relevantes foram descritos de forma a facilitar a sua replicação por outros grupos. Um driver para sistema operacional Linux foi desenvolvido em conjunto com uma camada de abstração para simplificar o seu uso. Os testes realizados demonstraram que o sistema desenvolvido atende os requisitos propostos, mantendo uma condição de estabilidade adequada em seu tempo de resposta, baixa latência e pouca defasagem entre os sinais coletados pelos sensores. De forma a contribuir para uma possível padronização dos sistemas utilizados na área, todos os arquivos e informações relevantes para a replicação do sistema proposto foram disponibilizados sob a licença GNU LGPL em um servidor SVN. / Several works related to the development of biomechatronic robotic systems are being taken in several laboratories around the world. Despite this increasing trend, due to a lack of standardization in the used technologies, in special related to the control and sensing system, there is a wide divergence in the resulting system. In order to meet the project requirements, a lot of time is spent in the development of a custom control and sensing system. In this scenario, a modular sensing and control system specifically designed to be used in robotic systems, was designed and implemented. The last was developed in order to be used in several projects, thus reducing the effort spent on its implementation. This system was divided into three modules: Central Processor, Nodes and Communication Network. A special attention was given to the aspects related to the communication as it is the key-factor to keep compatibility among different systems. A communication network named R-Bone was developed, and its implementation was detailed. All the relevant technical aspects were described in order to facilitate its replication by other groups. A driver for the Linux operating system was developed in conjunction with an abstraction layer to simplify its use. The tests demonstrated that the system meets the proposed requirements, keeping a proper stability condition in the response time, low latency and little skew between the signals collected by the sensors. In order to contribute to a possible standardization of the systems used in the biomechatronics field, all the files with relevant information to make possible the replication of the proposed system were made available under the GNU LGPL license in a SVN server.

Nous avons étudié dans le cadre de cette thèse le design, la vérification et l'implémentation des systèmes à composants. Nous nous sommes intéressés en particulier aux formalismes exprimant des interactions complexes, dans lesquels les connecteurs servent non seulement au transfert de données mais également à la synchronisation entre composants. 1. DESIGN ET VÉRIFICATION Le design par contrat est une approche largement répandue pour développer des systèmes lorsque plusieurs équipes travaillent en parallèle. Les contrats représentent des contraintes sur les implémentations qui sont préservées tout au long du développement et du cycle de vie d'un système. Ils peuvent donc servir également à la phase de vérification d'un tel système. Notre but n'est pas de proposer un nouveau formalisme de spécification, mais plutôt de définir un ensemble minimal de propriétés qu'une théorie basée sur les contrats doit satisfaire pour permettre certains raisonnements. En cela, nous cherchons à séparer explicitement les propriétés spécifiques à chaque formalisme de spécification et les règles de preuves génériques. Nous nous sommes attachés à fournir des définitions suffisamment générales pour exprimer un large panel de langages de spécification, et plus particulièrement ceux dans lesquels les interactions sont complexes, tels que Reo ou BIP. Pour ces derniers, raisonner sur la structure du système est essentiel et c'est pour cette raison que nos contrats ont une partie structurelle. Nous montrons comment découle de la propriété nommée raisonnement circulaire une règle pour prouver la dominance sans composer les contrats, et comment cette propriété peut être affaiblie en utilisant plusieurs relations de raffinement. Notre travail a été motivé par les langages de composants HRC L0 et L1 définis dans le projet SPEEDS. 2. IMPLÉMENTATION Synthétiser un contrôleur distribué imposant une contrainte globale sur un système est dans le cas général un problème indécidable. On peut obtenir la décidabilité en réduisant la concurrence: nous proposons une méthode qui synchronise les processus de façon temporaire. Dans les travaux de Basu et al., le contrôle distribué est obtenu en pré-calculant par model checking la connaissance de chaque processus, qui reflète dans un état local donné toutes les configurations possibles des autres processus. Ensuite, à l'exécution, le contrôleur local d'un processus décide si une action peut être exécutée sans violer la contrainte globale. Nous utilisons de même des techniques de model checking pour pré-calculer un ensemble minimal de points de synchronisation au niveau desquels plusieurs processus partagent leur connaissance au court de brèves périodes de coordination. Après chaque synchronisation, les processus impliqués peuvent de nouveau progresser indépendamment les uns des autres jusqu'à ce qu'une autre synchronisation ait lieu. Une des motivations pour ce travail est l'implémentation distribuée de systèmes BIP. / In this thesis, we have studied how component-based systems are designed, verified and then implemented. We have focused in particular on formalisms involving complex interactions, where connectors are not only used to transfer data but also play a role in the synchronization of components. 1. DESIGN AND VERIFICATION Contracts are emerging as a concept of choice when systems are designed by teams working independently. They are design constraints for implementations which are maintained throughout the development and life cycle of the system, thus being also useful for verification. Our goal is not to propose a new design framework but rather to define a minimal set of properties which a given contract theory should satisfy to offer some reasoning rules. In that sense, we aim at a separation of concerns between framework-dependent properties and generic proof rules. We have focused on finding definitions expressive enough to encompass a great variety of existing specification formalisms, and in particular those in which interaction is complex, like Reo and BIP. For those, reasoning about the structure of the system is essential and this is why our contracts have a structural part. We show how so-called circular reasoning entails a rule for proving dominance (refinement between contracts) without composing contracts and how it can be relaxed by combining several refinement relations. Our work has a practical motivation in the component frameworks HRC L0 and L1 defined in the SPEEDS IP project. 2. IMPLEMENTATION The problem of synthesizing a distributed controller that imposes some global constraint on a system is, in general, undecidable. One can achieve decidability at the expense of reducing concurrency: we propose a method that synchronizes processes temporarily. In Basu et al., distributed control is achieved by first using model checking to precalculate the knowledge of each process, which reflects in a given local state all the possible situations of the other processes. Then, at runtime, the local controller of a process decides whether an action of that process can be executed without violating the imposed constraint. We use model checking techniques as well to precalculate a minimal set of synchronization points, where joint knowledge, i.e., knowledge common to several processes, can be achieved during short coordination phases. After each synchronization, the participating processes can again progress independently until a further synchronization is called for. One practical motivation for this work is the distributed implementation of BIP systems.

As global climate change concerns, technological advancements, and economic shifts increase the adoption of electric vehicles, it is vital to study how best to integrate these into our existing energy systems. Electric vehicles (EVs) are on track to quickly become a large factor in the energy grid. If left uncoordinated, the charging of EVs will become a burden on the grid by increasing peak demand and overloading transformers. However, with proper charging control strategies, the problems can be mitigated without the need for expensive capital investments. Distributed control methods are a powerful tool to coordinate the charging, but it will be important to assess the trade-offs between performance, information privacy, and computational speed between different control strategies. This work presents a comprehensive comparison between four distributed control algorithms simulating two case studies constrained by dynamic transformer temperature and current limits. The transformer temperature dynamics are inherently nonlinear and this implementation is contrasted with a piece-wise linear convex relaxation. The more commonly distributed control methods of Dual Decomposition and Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) are compared against a relatively new algorithm, Augmented Lagrangian based Alternating Direction Inexact Newton (ALADIN), as well as against a low-information packetized energy management control scheme (PEM). These algorithms are implemented with a receding horizon in two distinct case studies: a local neighborhood scenario with EVs at each network node and a hub scenario where each node represents a collection of EVs. Finally, these simulation results are compared and analyzed to assess the methods’ performance, privacy, and processing metrics for each case study as no algorithm is found to be optimal for all applications.

In this dissertation, we propose a novel distributed approach to the control of generators in the electric grid. Specifically, we consider the problem of the optimal economic dispatch of generator; we present a simple, distributed algorithm, which adjusts the power-frequency set-points of generators to correct for power imbalances arising from generation and load fluctuations. In this algorithm each generator independently adjusts its real-power output based on its estimate of the aggregate power imbalance in the network; such as an estimate can be independently obtained by each generator through local measurements of the frequency deviation on the grid. Eventually, over the course of network operation, the distributed algorithm achieves the equal-marginal-cost power allocation among generators while driving the power imbalance exponentially to zero. In the absence of power losses, we prove the eventual optimality of the distributed algorithm under mild assumptions (strict convexity and positivity of cost functions) and present simulation results to compare its performance with traditional (centralized) dispatch algorithms. Furthermore, we present numerical simulation results that show that the distributed algorithm performs well even in the presence of power losses and other constraints. We argue that distributed control methods are especially attractive for electric grids with smart meters and other advanced capabilities at the end node and grids with high penetration of alternative energy generators and we identify interesting open problems for future work in this area.

This thesis presents methods for implementing robust hexpod locomotion on an autonomous robot with many sensors and actuators. The controller is based on the Subsumption Architecture and is fully distributed over approximately 1500 simple, concurrent processes. The robot, Hannibal, weighs approximately 6 pounds and is equipped with over 100 physical sensors, 19 degrees of freedom, and 8 on board computers. We investigate the following topics in depth: distributed control of a complex robot, insect-inspired locomotion control for gait generation and rough terrain mobility, and fault tolerance. The controller was implemented, debugged, and tested on Hannibal. Through a series of experiments, we examined Hannibal's gait generation, rough terrain locomotion, and fault tolerance performance. These results demonstrate that Hannibal exhibits robust, flexible, real-time locomotion over a variety of terrain and tolerates a multitude of hardware failures.

Favorable price trends and increasing demand for renewable energy sources portend accelerating integration of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation into traditional electric power system networks. Managing the variable output of massive PV resources makes system frequency regulation more complex and expensive. ISOs must procure additional regulation and load following capacity, while power plants must supply more regulation work. In contrast to costly physical storage solutions, this thesis proposes to address the issue by reconfiguring the electricity market pricing structure to translate all power imbalances into real-time market price signals. More accurately determining the instantaneous value of energy, electric power markets could reward participants who can quickly respond to frequency fluctuations. By utilizing short term forward markets to monetize the risk associated with intermittency, the true cost of reliability is determined and could reduce wasteful capacity payments. This market redesign is an ideal open platform for disparate smart grid technologies which could encourage all suppliers, loads and generator, to offer supply or reduce consumption when it is needed most and could vastly improve frequency performance metrics.

Today’s   market   is   subjected   to   numerous   changes   due   to   the   need   of   continuous improvement  of  different  commercial  brands  in  order  to  survive  against  competitors.  This competition  drives  the  evolution  of  industrial  processes,  to  satisfy  the  high  customers’ requirements. It means that factors such as flexibility, adaptability and agility are crucial for the  successful  development  of  industries,  which  experience  some  degrees  of  uncertainty due  to  machine  breakdowns,  delays  and  market  fluctuations  among  others.  The  current trend  in  manufacturing  industries  consists  in  the  implementation  of  distributed  control systems (DCS), substituting the earlier programmable logic controllers (PLC) systems where a main  processor  operated  as  the  central  unit  of  the  system.  To  this  end,  the  application  of function  blocks  (FB)  compliant  with  the  IEC  61499  standard  represents  an  innovative technique  for  dealing  with  the  design  and  programming  of  DCSs.  These  FBs  enable  the creation  of  event-driven  networks  governed  by  embedded  algorithms  that  can  be  used  to enhance  the  flexibility  and  portability  of  industrial  job-shops  based  on  a  distributed architecture.  Job-shop  floors  represent  a  principal  concept  in  manufacturing  industries.  This  project  is focused on the integration of a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine and a gantry robot  which  must  be  coordinated  and  cooperate  for  the  achievement  of  an  industrial machining  and  assembly  process.  It  implies  the  design  of  a  PLC-managed  distributed  cell using  nxtControl  software.  This  software  facilitates  the  construction  of  FBs-networks  to control both machines and enables the communication process via service interface function blocks (SI-FB). Likewise, the whole process will be monitored using an interface also created within nxtControl which will allow the operator to decide the batch and characteristics of the production.  This project is also intended to set the basis for the understanding of the FB concept defined in  IEC  61499  which  moves  away  from  earlier  scan-based  systems  to  event-driven  models, aiming to contribute to the development of future research in the function blocks area.

With the rapid growth of multimedia applications and the advances of wireless communication technologies, quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning for multimedia services in heterogeneous wireless networks has been an important issue and drawn much attention from both academia and industry. Due to the hostile transmission environment and limited radio resources, QoS provisioning in wireless networks is much more complex and difficult than in its wired counterpart. Moreover, due to the lack of central controller in the networks, distributed network control is required, adding complexity to QoS provisioning. In this thesis, medium access control (MAC) with QoS provisioning is investigated for both single- and multi-hop wireless networks including wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless ad hoc networks, and wireless mesh networks. Originally designed for high-rate data traffic, a WLAN has limited capability to support delay-sensitive voice traffic, and the service for voice traffic may be impacted by data traffic load, resulting in delay violation or large delay variance. Aiming at addressing these limitations, we propose an efficient MAC scheme and a call admission control algorithm to provide guaranteed QoS for voice traffic and, at the same time, increase the voice capacity significantly compared with the current WLAN standard. In addition to supporting voice traffic, providing better services for data traffic in WLANs is another focus of our research. In the current WLANs, all the data traffic receives the same best-effort service, and it is difficult to provide further service differentiation for data traffic based on some specific requirements of customers or network service providers. In order to address this problem, we propose a novel token-based scheduling scheme, which provides great flexibility and facility to the network service provider for service class management. As a WLAN has small coverage and cannot meet the growing demand for wireless service requiring communications ``at anywhere and at anytime", a large scale multi-hop wireless network (e.g., wireless ad hoc networks and wireless mesh networks) becomes a necessity. Due to the location-dependent contentions, a number of problems (e.g., hidden/exposed terminal problem, unfairness, and priority reversal problem) appear in a multi-hop wireless environment, posing more challenges for QoS provisioning. To address these challenges, we propose a novel busy-tone based distributed MAC scheme for wireless ad hoc networks, and a collision-free MAC scheme for wireless mesh networks, respectively, taking the different network characteristics into consideration. The proposed schemes enhance the QoS provisioning capability to real-time traffic and, at the same time, significantly improve the system throughput and fairness performance for data traffic, as compared with the most popular IEEE 802.11 MAC scheme.

Standards are, nowadays, a useful and sometimes essential tool, in the world of automated industry. Since the development of the standard IEC 61131-3, automation has made progresses in a consistent manner. This allows an engineer to develop control programs for any type of systems using the language set in the standard. However, this standard was not enough because it did not cover the control over distributed systems. Therefore, it was necessary to establish rules in this field. In order to fill this gap, the new standard IEC 61499 was developed. Its main objective is to describe how to develop, design and implement distributed control systems, using the new concept of function blocks. By the use of the new function blocks, it is possible to control distributed systems in a quick and easy way, adding some advantages such as reusability, portability, and much enhanced maintenance.This project involves the preparation of a manufacturing cell composed of a gantry robot interacting with a CNC machine. The project is developed in two sections; one is focused on the computer programming with function blocks for the gantry robot and HMI, and the other is prepared for the programming of function blocks for the CNC machine and HMI. The communications between PLC, PC, gantry robot and CNC machine are developed using the standard IEC 61499. This document covers the survey and research made for the first section of the project.The new standard IEC 61499 provides the methodologies and the appropriated tools to achieve a good control in distributed systems. The basic tools offered by this standard are the new function blocks which will be the main tool used in this project. Equally important, it is necessary to take into account the different assembly features and the machining features in order to design better function blocks to control the system. An HMI has to be developed in order to obtain a good interface for a worker of this cell.The aim of this project is to investigate how the new standard IEC 61499 works in a real manufacturing cell and how the new function blocks interact in a real distributed system. Moreover, it is important to see how the event flow works, controlling all the sequences required in the manufacturing cell.

With the rapid growth of multimedia applications and the advances of wireless communication technologies, quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning for multimedia services in heterogeneous wireless networks has been an important issue and drawn much attention from both academia and industry. Due to the hostile transmission environment and limited radio resources, QoS provisioning in wireless networks is much more complex and difficult than in its wired counterpart. Moreover, due to the lack of central controller in the networks, distributed network control is required, adding complexity to QoS provisioning. In this thesis, medium access control (MAC) with QoS provisioning is investigated for both single- and multi-hop wireless networks including wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless ad hoc networks, and wireless mesh networks. Originally designed for high-rate data traffic, a WLAN has limited capability to support delay-sensitive voice traffic, and the service for voice traffic may be impacted by data traffic load, resulting in delay violation or large delay variance. Aiming at addressing these limitations, we propose an efficient MAC scheme and a call admission control algorithm to provide guaranteed QoS for voice traffic and, at the same time, increase the voice capacity significantly compared with the current WLAN standard. In addition to supporting voice traffic, providing better services for data traffic in WLANs is another focus of our research. In the current WLANs, all the data traffic receives the same best-effort service, and it is difficult to provide further service differentiation for data traffic based on some specific requirements of customers or network service providers. In order to address this problem, we propose a novel token-based scheduling scheme, which provides great flexibility and facility to the network service provider for service class management. As a WLAN has small coverage and cannot meet the growing demand for wireless service requiring communications ``at anywhere and at anytime", a large scale multi-hop wireless network (e.g., wireless ad hoc networks and wireless mesh networks) becomes a necessity. Due to the location-dependent contentions, a number of problems (e.g., hidden/exposed terminal problem, unfairness, and priority reversal problem) appear in a multi-hop wireless environment, posing more challenges for QoS provisioning. To address these challenges, we propose a novel busy-tone based distributed MAC scheme for wireless ad hoc networks, and a collision-free MAC scheme for wireless mesh networks, respectively, taking the different network characteristics into consideration. The proposed schemes enhance the QoS provisioning capability to real-time traffic and, at the same time, significantly improve the system throughput and fairness performance for data traffic, as compared with the most popular IEEE 802.11 MAC scheme.