Co-Synthesis For Self-Awareness And Reconfiguration In Networked Systems
Abstract
The objective of this proposal is to develop theory, algorithms and computational tools for theautomated synthesis of control protocols for the autonomous reconfiguration of networked systems indynamic, uncertain and possibly adversarial environments. The resulting algorithms will account forthe effects of the self-awareness of the system on its performance and proactively improve thesystem s self-awareness as a service to the control protocols under varying environmental conditions,mission requirements and health status of the sensing hardware.We utilize dynamic reconfiguration of the electric power network---including the components, e.g.,generators, transformers, rectifier units and energy storage units, and their connectivity---on a navalship as a motivating application. Dynamic reconfiguration facilitates timely delivery of power with thedesired characteristics to the right components despite varying demands, operational conditions, faultsand damage to the vehicle. The main synthesis problem is the design of a reactive control protocol thatdynamically decides, as the health conditions of the components of the network and the operatorrequests change during the mission, on the contactor openings and closings so that certain safety andperformance requirements hold at steady-state and during transients.The focus of the proposed effort will be on establishing a critical capability for autonomous, dynamicreconfiguration: joint self-awareness and reconfiguration in networked systems. More specifically, itwill explicitly account for the run-time, network-wide knowledge the controller has to maintain inorder to ensure safety and performance. The resulting algorithms will, at run time, make decisions toproactively establish such knowledge. At design time, they will help systematically determine thenecessary sensor modalities, placement, quality, availability and redundancy.We partition the proposed effort into three research thrusts:Thrust I: Synthesis of partial-information control protocols for network reconfigurationThrust II: Design-time sensor design for partial-information control protocolsThrust III: Run-time, robust sensor schedulingThrust I will establish a foundation for control synthesis with information limitations building on whichThrusts II and III will develop design- and run-time methods, respectively, for co-synthesis for selfawarenessand network reconfiguration.In parallel with the three technical research thrusts, we will develop a case study representative of thescope and size of the electric power generation and distribution networks (and their coupling withthermal management networks) on naval platforms in order to demonstrate the anticipatedalgorithmic advances.We expect our theoretical and algorithmic advances to help increase the level of autonomousoperations in the management of electric power networks on naval platforms, increase theirsurvivability, enrich their functionality and improve their design- and run-time affordability.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 07, 2019
- Source ID
- N000141912054
Entities
People
- Ufuk Topcu
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Texas at Austin