Experimental Investigation of a Time Scales-Based Stability Criterion Over Finite Time Horizons

Feedback control systems that employ large area networks or other unpredictable or unreliable communications protocols between sensors, actuators, and controllers may experience non-uniform sampling characteristics. Previous work by Poulsen, et. al. gives a criterion for exponential stability of non-uniformly discretized feedback control systems, assuming sample periods drawn from a known statistical distribution. However, the given stability theorem assumes an infinite time horizon. This work therefore examines the exponential stability criterion experimentally, over a finite time horizon, on a 2nd-order servo mechanism.