Wireless sensor actuator networks (WSANs) are gaining rapid adoption in industrial automation and manufacturing due to their low deployment cost and flexibility. While early success of industrial WSANs focused on monitoring applications, there are significant advantages, and also challenges, in employing WSANs in feedback control applications, since they require careful design and testing of both network configurations as well as control algorithms.

Abstract: Modern cyber-physical applications appearing in, e.g., industrial and building automation, often utilize wireless communication to transfer information between sensors, controllers, and actuators. The wireless devices used to carry out the communication, however, are characterized by resource constraints, e.g., limited battery power resources for transmission. To achieve a desirable balance between control application performance and resource utilization, efficient resource management mechanisms are necessary.