IoT-Based Distributed Networked Control Systems Architecture

Many technological areas have been affected by the appearance of the internet of Things (IoT). This phenomenon is happening because applications such as smart cities, smart grids, smart buildings, smart homes, industry, transportation, healthcare and surveillance are being adapted to a new paradigm for adaptability, modularity, heterogeneity, scalability, optimization and decentralization. In this sense, several IoT architectures are being proposed for the applications that are inserted in this new technological development, with the most recent approaches being based on the Software Defined Network (SDN). Therefore, to follow this technological development, there is a need to implement the applications of control systems in this new scenario, which imposes challenges to be overcome, such as nondeterministic networks, latency, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss and interoperability. The focus of this work is on how to combine Distributed Networked Control Systems (DNCS) and IoT to meet this new technological context. However, the first step to be taken is to define the topology of IoT-based Networked Control Systems (IoT-DNCS), then develop a suitable system architecture to make control systems via the Internet of Things possible. Therefore, this article aims to propose a problem formulation and a simple and general architecture for IoT-DNCS, specifying the function of each element of the system according to the topology of the problem, and the organization of them to implement the control loops between sensors, controllers and actuators. The architecture proposed in this paper serves as a starting point for studies on new strategies and structures for network and feedback control systems.