Networked control systems (NCSs) are feedback control systems with the feedback control loops closed via network. The origin of the term NCSs is from industrial systems where the plant and controller are often connected through networks. The applications of NCSs cover a wide range of industries, for example, manufactory automation, domestic robots, aircraft, automobiles and tele-operations. The research activities in NCSs are focused on the following three areas: control of networks, control over networks and multi-agent systems. Control of networks is mainly concerned with the problem of how to efficiently utilize the network resource by controlling and routing the network data flows. Control over networks is mainly concerned with the design of feedback control strategies of control systems in which signals are transmitted through unreliable communication links. Multi-agent systems deal with two problems: how the topology of the network connections between each component influences global control goals and how to design local control law describing the behavior of each individual to achieve the global control goal of the whole systems. The objective in this thesis is to deal with control over networks and multi-agent systems. The most challenging problem in the control over networks field is that the unreliable communication channels can degrade system performance greatly. The main unreliable properties of networks are delays and packet loss. In order to deal with this problem, a Lyapunov-based method has been used to design the sampled-data stabilization control strategy for a networked single system by choosing proper delay and packet loss dependent Lyapunov functional candidates. Linear matrix inequality techniques have been used to find the sufficient and necessary conditions for the controller design. Furthermore, the consensus formation control problem of multiple robotic vehicle systems has been investigated. The consensus-based design scheme has been applied to the formation control of multiple wheeled mobile-robot group with a virtual leader. A novel delay-dependent Lyapunov functional candidate has been constructed to investigate the convergence of the system states. The proposed control strategy is experimentally implemented for multiple wheeled mobile robots under neighbor-to-neighbor information exchange with group communication delays involved. In conclusion, through the simulation results and experimental validations, the proposed new Lyapunov-based control methods can effectively deal with the networked control systems discussed in this thesis.

This dissertation aims to challenge the existing built thresholds that are in place between South Africa and its neighbouring countries. In the words of Heidegger, “ A boundary is not that at which something stops, but as the Greeks recognised, the boundary is that from which something begins it’s prescencing.”¹ Boundaries and edges need to be created. They need to be made strong. They need to dominate and control. But borders must not be barriers. This study sets out to investigate the design of a border complex as a transition zone between two countries. It intends to encourage international connectivity, and encourage fair trade and travel, by addressing the functional requirements expectant of a border post, and ensuring the necessary control. Emphasis is also placed on movement through a site where many challenging physical constraints call for innovative design solutions, and where a harsh climate needs to be addressed. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted

The semantic system contributes to the process of speech production in two major ways. The basic information is contained within semantic representations, and the semantic control system manipulates that knowledge as required by task and context. This thesis explored the evidence for interactivity between semantic and phonological stages of speech production, and examined the role of semantic control within speech production. The data chapters focussed on patients with semantic aphasia or SA, who all have frontal and/or temporoparietal lesions and are thought to have a specific impairment of semantic control. In a novel development, grammatical class and cueing effects in this patient group were compared with healthy participants under tempo naming conditions, a paradigm which is thought to impair normal semantic control by imposing dual task conditions. A basic picture naming paradigm was used throughout, with the addition of different grammatical classes, correct and misleading phonemic cues, and repetition and semantic priming: all these manipulations could be expected to place differing loads on a semantic control system with either permanent or experimentally induced impairment. It was found that stimuli requiring less controlled processing such as high imageability objects, pictures with simultaneous correct cues or repetition primed pictures were named significantly more accurately than items which needed more controlled processing, such as low imageability actions, pictures with misleading phonemic cues and unprimed pictures. The cueing evidence offered support to interactive models of speech production where phonological activation is able to influence semantic selection. The impairment in tasks such as the inhibition of task-irrelevant material seen in SA patients and tempo participants, and the overlap between cortical areas cited in studies looking at both semantic and wider executive control mechanisms suggest that semantic control may be part of a more generalised executive system.

The experiments in this thesis explored the development of executive function in 5- to 11-year-old children. Developmentally-appropriate versions of the task-switching paradigm, go/no-go task and self-ordered pointing test were used to measure shifting, inhibition and working memory respectively. These executive skills were examined independently and within-task experimental manipulations were used to explore both the executive and non-executive processes that influenced children’s performance. These allowed the investigation of not only when, but also how executive function develops. It was found that shifting development, as measured by the task-switching paradigm was highly influenced by the specific tasks switched between and the conflict created by the overlap of the tasks, as well as by previous task experience. Working memory for pictures was also influenced by previous experience and task difficulty, however the predicted relationship between memory for nameable objects and language ability was not found. Inhibition on the go/no-go paradigm appeared to be driven by an improvement in the efficiency of response inhibition enabling older children to inhibit a response at an earlier stage during the movement. Shifting, inhibition and working memory all showed developmental improvements during mid-childhood, demonstrating the protracted development of executive function. Shifting and working memory showed a similar pattern of development whereas inhibition reached a stable level of performance at an earlier age. There were no correlations between the three executive skills studied in this thesis, supporting the fractionation of executive function.

O TCSC é um dos compensadores dinâmicos mais eficazes empregados em Sistemas Elétricos de Potência, pois, oferece um ajuste flexível, de forma rápida e confiável, possibilitando a aplicação de teorias avançadas no seu controle. Estes dispositivos podem desempenhar funções importantes para a operação e o controle do sistema, trazendo inúmeros benefícios. Devido aos benefícios que o uso deste dispositivo oferece, uma grande quantidade de trabalhos vem sendo desenvolvidos com o intuito de sintetizar leis de controle para o mesmo. Porém, a maioria destes trabalhos é fundamentado em técnicas de controle clássico, isto é, projetando leis de controle baseado em sistemas linearizados e para pontos específicos da operação. Estas técnicas de análise entretanto, não garantem que para perturbações que levam o sistema para pontos distantes daqueles usados no projeto do controlador, a atuação do controlador seja eficaz e contribua assim para a estabilização do sistema. Visando o estudo mais aprofundado dos fenômenos que ocorrem nos sistemas físicos, modelos não lineares vêm sendo empregados, e as técnicas de projeto de controladores baseadas nesses modelos, são cada vez mais desenvolvidas. Neste trabalho será empregada a técnica de controle não linear baseada na Função Energia Generalizada de Controle para síntese de leis de controles estabilizantes para os dispositivos TCSC considerando, na modelagem, as perdas do sistema de transmissão. Esta técnica foi desenvolvida recentemente por SILVA et al. (2009), onde as ideias de Função de Lyapunov de Controle para uma classe maior de problemas foram desenvolvidas. Além de permitir o projeto do controlador, a técnica fornece estimativas da região de estabilidade do sistema e, portanto, podendo subsidiar a avaliação sistemática da contribuição do controlador na estabilidade transitória. / The TCSC is one of the most effective dynamic compensators used in electric power systems, offering a flexible adjustment, quickly and reliably, enabling the application of advanced theories in their control. These devices can play important roles for the operation and control of the networks, bringing many benefits. Because of the beneficial use of these devices a large amount of work has been developed in order to synthesize their control laws. However most of these studies are based on the classical control techniques, designing control laws based on linearized systems at specific operating points. However, these techniques do not guarantee that system disturbances which lead to operating points far away from those used for the controller design, the performance of the controller will be effective contributing to the system stabilization. Aiming to further studies and understanding of the physical phenomena occurring in the real world systems, nonlinear models have being employed in the controller design and techniques based on these methodologies have been proposed as never. In this work the technique of nonlinear control based on the Generalized Control Energy Function, for synthesis of control laws, which stabilize the TCSC devices considering the losses in the system transmission lines are employed. These techniques were recently developed by SILVA et al. (2009), and they extend the ideas of Control Lyapunov Function for a larger class of problems. Besides allowing the controller design, the technique provides estimates of the system stability region and therefore can support the systematic evaluation of the contribution to the transient stability controller.

O TCSC é um dos compensadores dinâmicos mais eficazes empregados em Sistemas Elétricos de Potência, pois, oferece um ajuste flexível, de forma rápida e confiável, possibilitando a aplicação de teorias avançadas no seu controle. Estes dispositivos podem desempenhar funções importantes para a operação e o controle do sistema, trazendo inúmeros benefícios. Devido aos benefícios que o uso deste dispositivo oferece, uma grande quantidade de trabalhos vem sendo desenvolvidos com o intuito de sintetizar leis de controle para o mesmo. Porém, a maioria destes trabalhos é fundamentado em técnicas de controle clássico, isto é, projetando leis de controle baseado em sistemas linearizados e para pontos específicos da operação. Estas técnicas de análise entretanto, não garantem que para perturbações que levam o sistema para pontos distantes daqueles usados no projeto do controlador, a atuação do controlador seja eficaz e contribua assim para a estabilização do sistema. Visando o estudo mais aprofundado dos fenômenos que ocorrem nos sistemas físicos, modelos não lineares vêm sendo empregados, e as técnicas de projeto de controladores baseadas nesses modelos, são cada vez mais desenvolvidas. Neste trabalho será empregada a técnica de controle não linear baseada na Função Energia Generalizada de Controle para síntese de leis de controles estabilizantes para os dispositivos TCSC considerando, na modelagem, as perdas do sistema de transmissão. Esta técnica foi desenvolvida recentemente por SILVA et al. (2009), onde as ideias de Função de Lyapunov de Controle para uma classe maior de problemas foram desenvolvidas. Além de permitir o projeto do controlador, a técnica fornece estimativas da região de estabilidade do sistema e, portanto, podendo subsidiar a avaliação sistemática da contribuição do controlador na estabilidade transitória. / The TCSC is one of the most effective dynamic compensators used in electric power systems, offering a flexible adjustment, quickly and reliably, enabling the application of advanced theories in their control. These devices can play important roles for the operation and control of the networks, bringing many benefits. Because of the beneficial use of these devices a large amount of work has been developed in order to synthesize their control laws. However most of these studies are based on the classical control techniques, designing control laws based on linearized systems at specific operating points. However, these techniques do not guarantee that system disturbances which lead to operating points far away from those used for the controller design, the performance of the controller will be effective contributing to the system stabilization. Aiming to further studies and understanding of the physical phenomena occurring in the real world systems, nonlinear models have being employed in the controller design and techniques based on these methodologies have been proposed as never. In this work the technique of nonlinear control based on the Generalized Control Energy Function, for synthesis of control laws, which stabilize the TCSC devices considering the losses in the system transmission lines are employed. These techniques were recently developed by SILVA et al. (2009), and they extend the ideas of Control Lyapunov Function for a larger class of problems. Besides allowing the controller design, the technique provides estimates of the system stability region and therefore can support the systematic evaluation of the contribution to the transient stability controller.

The issue of angle instability has been widely discussed in the power engineering literature. Many control techniques have been proposed to provide the complementary synchronizing and damping torques through generators and/or network connected power apparatus such as FACTs, braking resistors and DC links. The synchronizing torque component keeps all generators in synchronism while damping torque reduces oscillations and returns the power system to its pre-fault operating condition. One of the main factors limiting the transfer capacity of the electrical transmission network is the separation of the power system at weak links which can be understood by analogy with a large spring-mass system. However, this weak-links related problem is not dealt with in existing control designs because it is non-trivial during transient period to determine credible weak links in a large power system which may consist of hundreds of strong and weak links. The difficulty of identifying weak links has limited the performance of existing controls when it comes to the synchronization of generators and damping of oscillations. Such circumstances also restrict the operation of power systems close to its transient stability limits. These considerations have led to the primary research question in this thesis, "To what extent can the synchronization of generators and damping of oscillations be maximized to fully extend the transient stability limits of power systems and to improve the transfer capacity of the network?" With the recent advances in power electronics technology, the extension of transfer capacity is becoming more readily achievable. Complementary to the use of power electronics technology to improve transfer capacity, this research develops an improved control strategy by examining the dynamics of the modes of separation associated with the strong and weak links of the reduced transmission network. The theoretical framework of the control strategy is based on Energy Decomposition and Unstable Equilibrium Points. This thesis recognizes that under extreme loadings of the transmission network containing strong and weak links, weak-links are most likely to dictate the transient stability limits of the power system. We conclude that in order to fully extend the transient stability limits of power system while maximizing the value of control resources, it is crucial for the control strategy to aim its control effort at the energy component that is most likely to cause a separation. The improvement in the synchronization amongst generators remains the most important step in the improvement of the transfer capacity of the power system network.