An introduction to event-triggered and self-triggered control

Recent developments in computer and communication technologies have led to a new type of large-scale resource-constrained wireless embedded control systems. It is desirable in these systems to limit the sensor and control computation and/or communication to instances when the system needs attention. However, classical sampled-data control is based on performing sensing and actuation periodically rather than when the system needs attention. This paper provides an introduction to event- and self-triggered control systems where sensing and actuation is performed when needed. Event-triggered control is reactive and generates sensor sampling and control actuation when, for instance, the plant state deviates more than a certain threshold from a desired value. Self-triggered control, on the other hand, is proactive and computes the next sampling or actuation instance ahead of time. The basics of these control strategies are introduced together with a discussion on the differences between state feedback and output feedback for event-triggered control. It is also shown how event- and self-triggered control can be implemented using existing wireless communication technology. Some applications to wireless control in process industry are discussed as well.