For discrete time nonlinear systems satisfying an exponential or finite time controllability assumption, we present an analytical formula for a suboptimality estimate for model predictive control schemes without stabilizing terminal constraints. Based on our formula, we perform a detailed analysis of the impact of the optimization horizon and the possibly time varying control horizon on stability and performance of the closed loop.

With the improvement in transportation infrastructure and in-vehicle technology in addition to a meteoric increase in the total number of commercial and non-commercial vehicles on the road, traffic accidents may occur, which usually cause a high death toll. More than half of these deaths occur due to a delayed response by medical care providers and rescue authorities. The chances of survival of an accident victim could increase drastically if immediate medical assistance is provided at an accident location. This work proposes a low-cost accident detection and notification system, which utilizes a multi-tier IoT-based vehicular environment; principally, it uses V2X Communication and Edge/Cloud computing. In this work, vehicles are equipped with an On-Board Unit (OBU) in addition to mechanical sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope) for reliable accident detection along with a Global Positioning System (GPS) module for identification of accident location. In addition to this, a camera module is implanted on the vehicle to capture the moment when an accident takes place. In order to facilitate inter-vehicle communication (IVC), OBU in each vehicle incorporates a wireless networking interface. Once an accident occurs, a vehicle detects it and generates an alert message. It then sends the message along with the accident location to an intermediate device, placed at the edge of the vehicular network, and therefore called an edge device. Upon receiving the notification, this edge device finds the nearest hospital and makes a request for an ambulance to be dispatched immediately. It also performs some preprocessing of data and effectively acts as a bridge between the sensors installed inside the vehicle and the distant server deployed in the cloud. A significant issue that the traffic authorities are currently facing is the real-time visualization of data obtained through such environments. Wireless interfaces are usually capable of forwarding real-time sensor data; however, this feature is not yet commercially available in the OBU of the vehicle; therefore, practical implementation is carried out using the Internet of things (IoT) in order to create a network among the vehicles, the edge node, and the central server. By performing analysis on the adequate acquired data of road accidents, the constructive plans of action can be devised that may limit the death toll. In order to assist the relevant authorities in performing wholesome analysis of refined and reliable data, a dynamic front-end visualization is proposed, which is hosted in the cloud. The generated charts and graphs help the personnel at relevant organizations to make appropriate decisions based on the conclusive analysis of processed and stored data.

The paper identifies the need for human robot collaboration for conventional light weight and heavy payload robots in future manufacturing environment. An overview of state of the art for these types of robots shows that there exists no solution for human robot collaboration. Here, we consider cyber physical systems, which are based on human worker participation as an integrated role in addition to its basic components. First, the paper identifies the collaborative schemes and a formal grading system is formulated based on four performance indicators. A detailed sensor catalog is established for one of the collaboration schemes, and performance indices are computed with various sensors. This study reveals an assessment of best and worst possible ranges of performance indices that are useful in the categorization of collaboration levels. To illustrate a possible solution, a hypothetical industrial scenario is discussed in a production environment. Generalizing this approach, a design methodology is developed for such human robot collaborative environments for various industrial scenarios to enable solution implementation.

Development of future manufacturing systems is featured with flexibility, mass customization, intelligence and context based learning to produce smart products. These production systems are characterized through networked, cooperating objects called cyber physical systems (CPSs). From the manufacturing perspective, the ability to communicate data and develop interaction between devices, manufacturing machinery, raw materials, working robots, humans and the plant environment develops the concept of cyber physical production systems (CPPS). Human-robot collaboration is a technology area that will be an integrated part of the future factory floor and the CPPS. With the involvement of human part in the automated system industrial scenarios, practical safety issues are expected to arise in the connected environment due to the use of a large number of devices, sensors, and cloud services causing complex network, IP conflicts, compromised nodes and communication issues. This all may lead to occupational safety issues on the factory floor in different ways and combinations. Overall, the system’s physical vulnerability will be increased in the context of compromised connected working space and cyber-security. In this paper, the authors developed a risk assessment based on system vulnerability of a CPPS developed for a use case requirement and performed a simulated approach by launching a cyber-attack and measuring the causal effect to identify implications on human worker safety.