An Information Space View of "Time": From Clocks to Open-Loop Control
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LaValle, Steven M.
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Abstract
This paper addresses the peculiar treatment that time receives
when studying control systems. For example, why is the ability to
perfectly observe time assumed implicitly in virtually all control formulations?
What happens if this implicit assumption is violated? It turns
out that some basic control results fall apart when time cannot be perfectly
measured. To make this explicit, we introduce information space
concepts that permit imperfect time information to be considered in the
same way as imperfect state information. We then argue that classical
open-loop control should be reconsidered as perfect time-feedback control.
Following this, we introduce a notion of strongly open-loop control,
which does not require perfect time observations. We provide some examples
of these concepts and argue that many fascinating directions for
future controls research emerge.
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Date
2009
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Text
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Book Chapter