Algorithms And Architectures For Real Time Control

Computer scientists have long appreciated that the relationship between algorithms and architecture is crucial. Broadly speaking the more specialized the architecture is to a particular algorithm then the more efficient will be the computation. The penalty is that the architecture will become useless for computing anything other than that algorithm. This message holds for the algorithms used in real-time automatic control as much as any other field. These Proceedings will provide researchers in this field with a useful up-to-date reference source of recent developments.

This Workshop focuses on such issues as control algorithms which are suitable for real-time use, computer architectures which are suitable for real-time control algorithms, and applications for real-time control issues in the areas of parallel algorithms, multiprocessor systems, neural networks, fault-tolerance systems, real-time robot control identification, real-time filtering algorithms, control algorithms, fuzzy control, adaptive and self-tuning control, and real-time control applications.

The 6th IFAC Workshop on Algorithms and Architectures for Real-Time Control (AARTC'2000) was held at Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The objective, as in previous editions, was to show the state-of-the-art and to present new developments and research results in software and hardware for real-time control, as well as to bring together researchers, developers and practitioners, both from the academic and the industrial world. The AARTC'2000 Technical Program consisted of 11 presented sessions, covering the major areas of software, hardware and applications for real-time control. In particular, sessions adressed robotics, embedded systems, modeling and control, fuzzy logic methods, industrial process control and manufacturing systems, neural networks, parallel and distributed processing, processor architectures for control, software design tools and methodologies, and SCADA and multi-layer control. A total of 38 papers were selected from high-quality full draft papers and late breaking paper contributions (consisting of extended abstracts). Participants from 15 countries attended the AARTC'2000 workshop. The technical program also included two plenary talks given by leading experts in the field. Roger Goodall (Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University, UK) presented "Perspectives on processing for real-time control", and Ricardo Sanz (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain), focused on "CORBA for Control Systems". Another highlight in the program was the final session on industrial presentations which was held in common with the Workshop on Real-Time Programming (WRTP'2000). In this session, Abel Jiménez (Industria de Turbo Propulsores S. A., Spain) presented the "Thrust Vectoring System Control Concept", Ulrich Schmid (Technische Universität Wien, Austria) made a presentation with the title "Applied Research: A Scientist's Perspective", and Harold W. Lawson (Lawson Konsult AB, Sweden) addressed "Systems Engineering of a Successful Train Control System".

These proceedings contain the selection of papers presented at the IFAC Workshop on Algorithms and Architectures for Real-Time Control (AARTC '97) held at the Vilamoura Marina Hotel, Vilamoura, Portugal. Rapid developments in microelectronics and computer science continue to provide opportunities for real-time control engineers to address new challenges. New opportunities arise from such diverse directions as ever-increasing system complexity and sophistication, environmental legislation, economic competition, safety and reliability. These are typical themes which were highlighted at the IFAC AARTC '97 Workshop. The AARTC '97 Final Programme consisted of 22 sessions covering major areas of software, hardware and applications for real-time control. Important topics were "soft" computing methods, software tools and architectures, embedded systems, parallel and distributed systems, architectures, custom processors, algorithms, estimation methods, neural networks, fuzzy methods, PID controllers, transport applications, industrial process control, robotics, and discrete-event and hybrid systems.

The 5th IFAC Workshop on Algorithms and Architectures for Real-Time Control (AARTC '98) was organized under the auspices of the IFAC Technical Committee. This Committee is concerned with the use of emerging software and hardware developments in real-time control. The AARTC '98 Technical Programme consisted of seventeen sessions, covering major areas of software, hardware and applications for real-time control, namely robotics, modeling and control, software design tools and methodologies, industrial process control and manufacturing systems, parallel and distributed systems, non-linear control systems, neural networks, parallel and distributed algorithms for real-time signal processing and control, transport applications, algorithms, fault tolerant systems and fuzzy control. The contributions were selected from a large number of high-quality full draft papers and late breaking paper contributions presenting very recent research work.

In recent years, tremendous research has been devoted to the design of database systems for real-time applications, called real-time database systems (RTDBS), where transactions are associated with deadlines on their completion times, and some of the data objects in the database are associated with temporal constraints on their validity. Examples of important applications of RTDBS include stock trading systems, navigation systems and computer integrated manufacturing. Different transaction scheduling algorithms and concurrency control protocols have been proposed to satisfy transaction timing data temporal constraints. Other design issues important to the performance of a RTDBS are buffer management, index accesses and I/O scheduling. Real-Time Database Systems: Architecture and Techniques summarizes important research results in this area, and serves as an excellent reference for practitioners, researchers and educators of real-time systems and database systems.

The Engineering of Complex Real-Time Computer Control Systems brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date research results in this important area. The Engineering of Complex Real-Time Computer Control Systems serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most important research issues in the field.