Guest Editorial: Networking, Sensing, and Control for Networked Control Systems: Architectures, Algorithms, and Applications

T HE accelerated integration and convergence of communications , computing, and control over the last decade has inspired researchers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines to become interested in the emerging field of networked control systems (NCS). In general, an NCS consists of sensors, actua-tors, and controllers whose operations are distributed at different geographical locations and coordinated through information exchanged over communication networks. Some typical characteristics of those systems are reflected in their asynchronous operations , diversified functions, and complicated organizational structures. The widespread applications of the Internet have been one of the major driving forces for research and development of NCS. More recently, the emergence of pervasive communication and computing has significantly intensified the effort of building such systems for control and management of various network-centric complex systems that become more and more popular in process automation, computer-integrated manufacturing , business operations, as well as public administration. Control over a communication network is not a new concept in automation. From teleoperation for space and hazardous environments to process regulation with distributed control systems , control systems with communications have already been developed and utilized in applications of real-world problems for almost 30 years [1]. There are many factors that distinguish the current NCS and previous control with communications. Two of them are the most significant: 1) in the previous control with communications, the network is specialized and dedicated for the timeliness of information exchange and stability of process operation, while in the current NCS the network is general-purpose and public for various irrelevant yet concurrent applications, and thus real-time communication and stable operation are no longer ensured and 2) the functionality of the NCS from the previous to current has been diversified tremendously, from pure control to a variety of control and management or administrative functions, ranging from resource allocation, event scheduling, to task organization, etc., involving concept and methods from control and communication engineering, operations research, computer science, and management science. Demands on diversity, complexity, and real-time performance for networked operations have brought new technological challenges to NCS. Today, many fundamental questions regarding the stability of interconnected dynamical systems, the effects of communication on the performance of control systems, etc., remain open and to be answered. Even from the perspective of control aspect alone, we need to think about what the new direction for research and application in this age of connected world would be. One potential …