Networked Control Systems and Internet Robotics

Our vision is to enable human beings to interact with, modify, and control a remote physical environment by supervising action units through Internet connectivity.

Introduction

The Internet has created a cyberworld that transcends the physical boundaries that tie human beings to their location. We envisage a future when remote interactions will not be confined to a virtual cyberworld, and users will be able to control a remote physical environment. Users will be able to pick up a rock from the surface of Mars very much like today they can purchase shares on the stock market. Tangible benefits are in the areas of: Current objectives are:
  1. Joint simulations of networks and dynamic systems to understand the impact of level of network service on end-system performance and for the simultaneous design of networked control systems and communication middleware.
  2. Enable the remote control of robotics manipulation tasks through force control and multi-agent distributed platforms

Networked Control Systems

Pervasive computing enables us to monitor and affect local and remote physical environments.
Pervasive Computing

However, the network can introduce unreliable and time-dependent levels of service in terms of, for example, delays, jitter, or losses. Quality-of-Service (QoS) can ameliorate the real-time network behavior, but the network behavior is still subject to interference (especially in wireless media), to routing transients, and to aggressive flows. In turn, network vagaries can jeopardize the stability, safety, and performance of the units in a physical environment. The primary objective of our research is to devise integrated control and communication algorithms to compensate for the vagaries of network service. Such strategies are targeted toward the application-layer and their objective is to deal with packet losses, delays, jitter, and network unreliability.
Our general contention is that network-adaptive applications necessitate an integrated approach that combines networking (e.g., network measurement, modeling, and simulation; reliability) with decisions based on sensor data (e.g., feedback control). Furthermore, it is our conviction that although strategies have to be adapted to the specific application areas, it is possible to develop a general methodology by drawing from the foundations of Systems Theory and of Networking. Our methodology is unified in two respects. First, it relies solely on a system-theoretic description of the environment where sensors and actuators are deployed, and thus it is general and encompasses specific applications as particular cases. Second, it strives to optimize directly system-related metrics, such as stability or performance. These metrics are influenced by packet losses, delays, and jitter but do not coincide with any one of these network-oriented metrics. As a result, levels of service are expressed in application-related metrics, as opposed to packet-related metrics, and at the same time the system-theoretical approach allows any specific application to be viewed as a parameter in the system description.

Multi-Agent Software

We have investigated the use of software agents to build distributed control software. Agents are software components that are automomous, adaptable, reactive, knowledgeable, goal-oriented, flexible, learning, mobile, collaborative, and persistent.

The benefits of this approach include:

  1. The ability to interface with remote control components or human supervisors in the presence of time delays, both with and without QoS provisioning in the network infrastructure,
  2. The ability to coordinate multiple robots and to aggregate robot teams into controllable units,
  3. Control evolvability in terms of rapid re-programmability (addition of new functionality after hardware deployment), dynamic reconfiguration (creation of new collections of sensors, actuators, computers, robots, vehicles, and instruments into coordinated, task-oriented teams), and extensibility (growth through modular incorporation of additional assets),
  4. Survivability and fault-tolerance (automatic reallocation of communications software in response to component failures).

Mobile agent platform - screenshot

The figure shows a snapshot of our current software. The window on the bottom left corner is a live WebCam view of the robot work space. The top window enables an end-user to directly tele-operate the robot through mouse movements a keyboard strokes. The bottom right windows enable the creation of new mobile agents by directly instantiating the definitions contained in appropriate Java class files. This GUI also allows the logical interconnection of such agents in a hierarchical structure.

People
Faculty

Prof. Vincenzo Liberatore
Prof. Michael S. Branicky
Prof. Wyatt S. Newman
Prof. Stephen M. Phillips

 Students

Ahmad Al-Hammouri
Zakaria Al-Qudah
Huthaifa Al-Omari
Prayas Arora
Adam Covitch
Ben Greenberg
Brian Ott
Sipat Triukose
Tim Warnky
Nathan Wedge

 Alumni

Justin Hartman
John Kotwicki
David Rosas

Publications

Networked Control Systems

  1. V. Liberatore and D. Saha. Robust Stability of Buffered Networked Control. 2015 American Control Conference.
  2. A. Al-Hammouri. A comprehensive co-simulation platform for cyber-physical systems, Computer Communications, January 2012
  3. V. Liberatore and A. Al-Hammouri. Smart Grid Communication and Co-Simulation. IEEE Energy Tech, 2011.
  4. V. Liberatore and A. Al-Hammouri. Networked Control of the Smart Grid. NITRD Workshop on New Research Directions for Future Cyber-Physical Energy Systems.
  5. A. Al-Hammouri, M. S. Branicky, and V. Liberatore. Co-Simulation Tools for Networked Control Systems. In Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control (HSCC 2008), LNCS 4981.
  6. V. Liberatore. Scalability and Development of Space Exploration Networks. Space Operations Communicator, 4 (3), 1-7.
  7. A. Al-Hammouri, D. Agrawal, V. Liberatore, H. Al-Omari, Z. Al-Qudah, and M. S. Branicky. Demo Abstract: A Co-Simulation Platform for Actuator Networks. Sensys 2007 (poster)
  8. G. Alldredge. PID and Model Predictive Control in a Networked Environment. [thesis, slides(pdf), slides(ppt)]
  9. Z. Al-Qudah and V. Liberatore. The Overhead of Being Fair. NEONet 2007.
  10. A. Al-Hammouri and V. Liberatore. Analytic Derivation of the PI-AQM Stability Region. NEONet 2007.
  11. V. Liberatore. Networked Cyber-Physical Systems: An Introduction Mobisensors.
  12. Vincenzo Liberatore, M. Cenk Cavusoglu, Qingbo Cai. A Real-time CORBA Middleware for Networked Surgical Simulations, OhioICE 2006.
  13. M. S. Branicky, M. C. Cavusoglu, and V. Liberatore. Multi-Disciplinary Challenges and Directions in Networked Cyber-Physical Systems. NSF Workshop on Cyber-Physical Systems
  14. Kendall Correll, Nick Barendt, and Michael Branicky. Design considerations for software-only implementations of the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol. Proc. Conference on IEEE-1588 Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems, NIST and IEEE. Winterthur, SWITZERLAND, October 10-12 2005.
  15. V. Liberatore. Implementation Challenges in Real-Time Middleware for Distributed Autonomous Systems, SMC-IT 2006. [slides]
  16. Ahmad T. Al-Hammouri, Vincenzo Liberatore, Michael S. Branicky, and Stephen M. Phillips. Complete Stability Region Characterization for PI-AQM, SIGBED Review, 3(2), April 2006.
  17. Ahmad T. Al-Hammouri, Vincenzo Liberatore, Michael S. Branicky, and Stephen M. Phillips. Parameterizing PI Congestion Controllers, FeBID 2006. [slides, Picture]
  18. Ahmad T. Al-Hammouri, Michael S. Branicky, Vincenzo Liberatore, and Stephen M. Phillips. Decentralized and Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation in Networked Control Systems. WPDRTS 2006. [Revision 1 (June 10, 2006), Slides (ppt), Slides (pdf), Picture, Picture]
  19. V. Liberatore. Reactive Networked Computation. Workshop on Theory of Networked Computation, 2006.
  20. V. Liberatore. Integrated Play-Back, Sensing, and Networked Control. INFOCOM 2006.
  21. Narendra V. Lakamraju, Stephen M. Phillips. Bi-stable RF MEMS switch with low actuation voltage. IMAPS 2005 - 38th International Symposium on Microelectronics.
  22. Jitendra Makwana, Stephen Phillips, Lifeng Wang, Nathan Wedge, and Vincenzo Liberatore. 2D Beam Steering Using Electrostatic and Thermal Actuation for Networked Control. [paper, slides]
  23. N. A. Wedge, A. Al-Hammouri, M. S. Branicky, and V. Liberatore. Discussion on: Development and Experimental Verification of a Mobile Client-Centric Networked Controlled System. European Journal of Control, 11(2):243-246, 2005. [preliminary version]
  24. A. Al-Hammouri, V. Liberatore, H. Al-Omari, and S. M. Phillips. Transversal Issues in Real-Time Sense-and-Respond Systems [PDF, html, slides]. EESR 2005.
  25. S. Triukose. Wide Area Network Emulator HOWTO, Technical Report.
  26. B. Greenberg and B. Mach. IP-Over-USB Gateway. Final Senior Project report, Spring 2005 (presentation: ppt, pdf).
  27. Justin R. Hartman, Michael S. Branicky, and Vincenzo Liberatore. Time-Dependent Dynamics in Networked Sensing and Control. Proc. American Control Conf., Portland, June 8-10, 2005. [paper, slides]
  28. A. Al-Hammouri and V. Liberatore. Optimization Congestion Control for Networked Control Systems. Infocom 2005 Student Workshop. [paper, poster].
  29. V. Liberatore. A Play-Back Algorithm for Networked Control [draft, software and documentation]
  30. B. Greenberg. IP/USB Fault-Tolerant Bridge, Technical Design Document, February 2005.
  31. V. Liberatore. Scalability and Development of Space Networks. NASA APIO white paper. [Slides] Journal version to appear in Space Operations Communicator
  32. V. Liberatore. Robotic Local Area Networks with Fault-Tolerant Distributed Layers for Real-Time Control. NASA APIO white paper.
  33. V. Liberatore. Robotic Networks. NASA White Paper, August 2004.
  34. V. Liberatore. Network Sensing and Actuation [draft,traces and scripts]
  35. J. R. Hartman. Networked Control System Co-Simulation for Co-Design: Theory and Experiments. M.S. Thesis, 2004.
  36. Brian P. Robinson and V. Liberatore. On the Impact of Bursty Cross-Traffic on Distributed Real-Time Process Control. WFCS 2004. (Talk slides.)
  37. V. Liberatore. Local Flow Separation. IWQoS 2004 (Talk slides, picture, picture).
  38. J. Kotwicki. An Analysis of Energy-Efficient VoIP Communication in Wireless Networks. M.S. Thesis, 2004.
  39. R. F. Buccheit. Delay Compensation in Networked Computer Games. M.S. project, 2004. (Talk slides.)
  40. Brian P. Robinson. Distributed Real-Time Process Control Over TCP and the Internet. EECS 428 final project, 2003.
  41. Michael S. Branicky, Vincenzo Liberatore, and Stephen M. Phillips. Networked control system co-simulation for co-design. Proc. American Control Conf., Denver, June 4-6, 2003. Slide Presentation
  42. Michael S. Branicky, Stephen M. Phillips, and Wei Zhang. Scheduling and feedback co-design for networked control systems. Proc. IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control, Las Vegas, December 10-13, 2002.
  43. W. Zhang and M.S. Branicky. Stability of networked control systems with time-varying transmission period. Allerton Conf. Communication, Control, and Computing, Urbana, IL, Oct. 2001. To appear.
  44. W. Zhang, M.S. Branicky, and S.M. Phillips. Stability of networked control systems. IEEE Control Systems Magazine, 21(1):84-99, February 2001.
  45. A. Joshi. A PDA Enabled Wireless Interface for a Mobile Robot. M.S. Thesis, 2003.
  46. W. Prirungruang. Delay Estimation for Networked Control Systems. M.S. Project, 2003. (Abstract.)
  47. M.S. Branicky, S.M. Phillips, and W. Zhang. Stability of networked control systems: Explicit analysis of delay. Proc. American Control Conf., pp. 2352-2357, Chicago, IL, June 28-30, 2000.
  48. M.S. Branicky. Multiple Lyapunov functions and other analysis tools for switched and hybrid systems. IEEE Trans. Automatic Control, 43(4):475-482, April 1998.
  49. M.S. Branicky. Stability of hybrid systems: State of the art. Proc. IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control, pp. 120-125, San Diego, CA, Dec. 1997.

Internet robotics

  1. Ahmad T. Al-Hammouri, Wenhui Zhang, Robert F. Buchheit, Vincenzo Liberatore, Panos K. Chrysanthis, Kirk Pruhs, Network awareness and application adaptability, Information Systems and E-Business Management, 4(4), 399-419, Oct 2006. (Electronic link requires a OhioLink account.)
  2. V. Liberatore, W. S. Newman, K. Bhasin, I. Bibyk, and B. P. Robinson. Robotic Communication Systems for Flexible, Sutainable, Affordable, and Autonomous Space Operations. NASA White Paper, May 2004.
  3. V. Liberatore. Network-Aware Pervasive Applications. Workshop on Ubiquitous Computing Environment, 2003.
  4. A. Al-Hammouri. A Distributed Framework to Facilitate Human-Robot Remote Interaction. M.S. Thesis, January 2004.
  5. M. L. Ngai, V. Liberatore, and W. S. Newman. An Experiment in Remote Robotics. 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2002), 2190-2195.
  6. V. Liberatore. Scheduling of Network Access for Feedback-based Embedded Systems. Quality of Service over Next-Generation Internet, SPIE ITCom 2002, 73-82.
  7. D. Rosas. Multi-Agent Supervision of Generic Robots. M.S. Thesis, Case Western Reserve University, 2002. (Advisors: V. Liberatore and W. S. Newman).
  8. D. Rosas, A. Covitch, M. Kose, V. Liberatore, W. S. Newman. Compliant Control and Software Agents for Internet Robotics. (In WORDS 2003). Preliminary version. HTML version.
  9. V. Liberatore, W. S. Newman, and K. Bhasin. IP Communication and Distributed Agents for Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles . AIAA-UAV 2003.

Presentations and Meetings

  1. Networked Control Systems at 3rd International Workshop on Networked Control Systems: Tolerant To Faults
  2. DoE NETL on the Networked Control of the Power Grid
  3. IEEE Vegas on Cyber-Physical Software Agents
  4. University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Sense-and-Respond Systems and Play-Back Buffers
  5. Kent State University on Bandwidth Allocation
  6. CPS presentation
  7. Stony Brook on Sense-and-Respond
  8. Innovation Summit, January 31, 2006.
  9. OhioICE Research Workshop, December 16, 2005. [Case member only, ICE member only]
  10. Panel presentation on research directions in end-to-end sense-and-respond systems at EESR 2005.
  11. Talk at Simon Frazer on Local QoS (August 6, 2004).
  12. State of ICE Research Conference (Talk slides)
  13. Justin Hartman's defense
  14. Talk at NASA Glenn Research Center (May 14, 2004)
  15. John Kotwicki's defense
  16. Talk at ABB on Quality-of-Service (March 11, 2004)
  17. ShowCase poster (abstract, poster, pictures)
  18. Talk at ABB on Pervasive Computing (January 4, 2004)
  19. Ahmad's M.S. defense
  20. Bob's defense
  21. Talk slides at ACC03
  22. Demo at the Click here for a high-resolution picture of the Paradex robot

    The ParaDex is the main robot that we use as our testbed. It is quite a unique facility: designed and built by MicroDexterity Systems, Inc, in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories.  This closed-chain manipulator has demonstrated outstanding responsiveness in contact tasks, due to low motor inertia and low Coulomb friction, in spite of a relatively large payload capacity.  It is controlled by an open-architecture platform based on the QNX real-time operating system.  Under separate programs, CAISR researchers have developed Natural Admittance Controllers for all three of these robots, with high-bandwidth feedback via JRRR and ATI force/torque sensors.  These machines have demonstrated world-leading compliant-motion behavior for mechanical assembly applications.  They will be uniquely valuable as prototypes of future service robots capable of gentle manipulation of their environments.


    NAM Animation

    Download and view this co-simulation of networks and plants.

    Video

    The video is an easy way to look at the nam screen during the animation .

    Nam animation

    The complete demo can be run as follows:
    1. Install ns (make sure to install the related packages nam and xgraph)
    2. If you have downloaded the Agent/Plant extension:
      • Download plant.tcl.
      • Run ns plant.tcl
      • This script will run the simulation and, upon completion, spawn a network animation as well as as graph representing the system output.
    3. If you do not wish to download the Agent/Plant extension
      • Download out.nam and sys.out
      • Launch nam and open out.nam
      • Launch xgraph and open sys.out
    4. For optimal viewing: re-arrange the node layout as shown in the picture and choose a step of around a 100us
    5. Press play on nam and watch the network animation unfold.
    Co-simulation screenshot
    The figure is a screenshot of a network animation obtained from a co-simulation of physical plants and of a network. The window in the middle of the screen was captured during the animation of the network simulation. It shows the network topology as well as three packets in transit. Node 0 is a router that links a controller (node 1) and 3 plants (nodes 2, 3, 4). The plants obey to x'=0.0003x+u, y=x, x(0)=-1. Every 100ms, the plants sample their output y, and send it to the controller. The controller predicts the plant state forward by 3.024ms (the nominal round-trip time in an unloaded network) and then uses a simple proportional scheme u=-0.8y to achieve the reference y=0. Samples and control signals are subjects to network delays, jitter, and losses. The figure on the bottom left shows the output of plant 2 as a function of time.

    Software

    Agent/Plant (ns extension)

    The Agent/Plant module extends ns to interface network dynamics with physical behaviors.
    In case of problems or questions, please send an email to Vincenzo Liberatore. If you are using this module, we'd love to hear from you!

    The following papers have used the Agent/Plant extension:
    1. Michael S. Branicky, Vincenzo Liberatore, and Stephen M. Phillips. Networked control system co-simulation for co-design. Proc. American Control Conf., Denver, June 4-6, 2003. Slide Presentation
    2. J. R. Hartman. Networked Control System Co-Simulation for Co-Design: Theory and Experiments. M.S. Thesis, 2004.
    3. Justin R. Hartman, Michael S. Branicky, and Vincenzo Liberatore. Time-Dependent Dynamics in Networked Sensing and Control. Proc. American Control Conf., Portland, June 8-10, 2005. [paper, slides]

    Sailing simulator

    The sailing simulator was written as a part of Bob Buchheit's M.S. project.
    In case of problems or questions, please send an email to Vincenzo Liberatore. If you are using this game, we'd love to hear from you!

    fping

    fping is an open-source program to ping and print the RTT (Round-Trip Time). The code has been modified to support 0 retries and to print the RTT in microseconds (with a precision of tens of microseconds). The new patch is coming soon.

    Play-Back

    Play-back buffer simulations and emulations. Each version contains source code and documentation.
    Ruby versions:

    ptpd

    A daemon for the precision time protocol.

    Education and Outreach

    Related Links


    WebLog

    Date
    		 Entry
    April 25, 2015
    		ACC 2015 added.
    April 2, 2015
    		playback-ruby v1.0 added.
    June 8, 2009
    		HSCC paper added.
    May 13, 2009
    		Added a CPS Workshop paper. (I am back! ... or will be soon)
    November 4, 2007
    		Added the Sensys poster.
    September 3, 2007
    		Sensys demo abstract and SpaceOps paper added.
    July 13, 2007
    		A narrated presentation on networked power grids has been added.
    July 5, 2007
    		Added a pointer to Space Operations Communicator, and to Graham's thesis. I also added a co-simulation video with modelica and ns2.
    April 20, 2007
    		Added talks at NETL.
    April 14, 2007
    		Added NEONet papers.
    March 28, 2007
    		Support from Lockheed is now acknowledged.
    February 14, 2007
    		Vincenzo was in Vegas, and lost all of his money. Good news: he gave 2 talks, and they are now posted here. He also acknowledges the support of Ohio ICE.
    January 13, 2007
    		Added MobiSensors paper.
    December 15, 2007
    		WCSSE funded by the State of Ohio.
    November 14, 2006
    		Added OhioICE paper.
    October 5, 2006
    		Linked to Team Case (Darpa Urban Challenge)
    September 28, 2006
    		Added slides of talk at KSU.
    September 24, 2006
    		Added NSF CPS paper.
    August 29, 2006
    		ISeB link updated.
    August 7, 2006
    		NSF CPS slides added. I have also added my slides of the SMC-IT 2006 talk.
    July 14, 2006
    		Vincenzo has joined the ISA SP-100 committee and put a link on this page.
    July 5, 2006
    		PTPd paper.
    July 2, 2006
    		Slides and pictures of Ahmad from FeBID 2006.
    July 1, 2006
    		Slides and pictures of Ahmad from WPDRTS 2006.
    June 12, 2006
    		Link to the ISeB paper.
    June 10, 2006
    		Posted a revised version of the WPDRTS paper.
    May 23, 2006
    		Added the SMC-IT 2006 paper.
    May 14, 2006
    		Added a pointer to the SIGBED review paper.
    March 21, 2006
    		NEONet 2006 pictures posted.
    March 19, 2006
    		The FeBID paper is now posted.
    March 1, 2006
    		NEONet 2006.
    February 13, 2006
    		Added the presentation at SUNY Stony Brook.
    January 29, 2006
    		Added the WPDRTS 2006 papers, the talk at the Innovation Summit, and a link to NEONet.
    January 15, 2006
    		Added the abstract for the Workshop on Theory of Networked Computation.
    January 5, 2006
    		Added the historical technical report from U. Lund. Added also the much more recent Infocom paper.
    December 17, 2005
    		Updated the Web site of the OhioICE Research Workshop.
    November 16, 2005
    		Added printed version of the EJC paper and the Call for Participation of the OhioICE Research Workshop.
    October 20, 2005
    		Link to ptpd added.
    September 2, 2005 Pictures from Sigcomm 2005 added.
    August 10, 2005
    		 I have added a pointer to the Wikipedia NCS entry.
    June 30, 2005
    		 I have added the paper and the slides for the INSS 2005 paper.
    June 22, 2005
    		 Zak's homepage updated.
    June 17, 2005
    		 EESR and ACC slides added. Zak's research site added. SFQ paper added.
    June 9, 2005
    		 Justin presented his paper at ACC 2005.
    June 5, 2005
    		 Ahmad gave his talk at EESR 2005 and Vincenzo was in the final panel on sense-and-respond research.
    May 25, 2005
    		 I added the link to Zak's Web page.
    May 11, 2005
    		 For some reason, I had never added the APIO slides, but here they are. And, congratulations to Ahmad, who just got a travel grant to present his paper at EESR!
    May 10, 2005
    		 Justin was back and practiced his ACC talk in front of us and of a standing telephone headset (Steve).
    May 9, 2005
    		 I have corrected the conference name to EESR, and also posted our comments to appear on the European Journal of Control.
    May 6, 2005
    		 ESSR paper posted.
    April 26, 2005
    		 Wide area emulator howto document has been added.
    April 20, 2005
    		 The presentation on IP-over-USB has been added.
    April 17, 2005
    		 The final project report on IP-over-USB has been added.
    March 10, 2005
    		 Pointer to GiPSi added.
    March 9, 2005
    		 Infocom Student poster has been added.
    March 7, 2005
    		 REU advertised. Papers at ACC 05 and at the Infocom Student Workshop added.
    February 28, 2005
    		 Paper, software, and documentation on play-back algorithms added.
    February 23, 2005
    		 We now have an account and a Linux machine at Arizona State University for distributed experimentation.
    February 17, 2005
    		 Ben's design of an IP/USB bridge posted.
    January 11, 2005
    		 Everybody's back: first meeting after Winter Break.
    November 29, 2004
    		 Final version of ISeB paper sent out. Two white papers added. "Network" changed to "Networked" in this site.
    November 19, 2004
    		 NetBots to help out with Space IP. Details to follow in the next few months.
    October 19, 2004
    		 Nathan has his own research WebLog up and running too.
    October 12, 2004
    		 Mobile Wireless Tracking project has been posted, with Phillips' blessings. Steve and his students are already working hard on the hardware (MEMS mirror) component.
    October 7, 2004
    		 Ahmad has started a WebLog with his current results, charts, and other research results.
    October 4, 2004
    		 NetBots to help out with GiPSiNet. Details to follow in the next few months.
    September 28, 2004
    		 A discussion has started regarding facilities and office space for students. Things will probably move slowly but hopefully for the (much) better.
    September 22, 2004
    		 WFCS talk slides added to the Web site.
    September 3, 2004
    		 FES planning meeting.
    September 1, 2004
    		 Vincenzo has summarized his IWQoS paper at the Networks Chat.
    August 31, 2004
    		 Huthaifa is back from vacation: welcome back!
    August 27, 2004
    		 Ahmad has passed his qualifier exam: congratulations!
    August 24, 2004
    		 The weekly meeting is now on Tuesday for the rest of the semester. Ahmad and Nathan will alternate in taking and posting meeting notes.
    August 24, 2004
    		 White paper on NASA robotic networks has been posted.
    August 19, 2004
    		 A new version of ncs.tar with a bug fix has been posted, with thanks to Ahmad.
    August 17, 2004
    		 The Web page for the Networks Chat has been updated and the presentations at Ohio ICE and at Simon Frazer have been posted.
    August 6, 2004
    		 Vincenzo gave a talk at Simon Frazer Univrsity in Vancouver, British Columbia.
    July 19, 2004
    		 Another long and useful discussion on open problems.
    July 8, 2004
    		 I have added a draft, traces, and scripts on contingency control. I have also added a link to a paper on time-scales.
    July 2, 2004
    		 WFCS paper added. Case is featured in the Ohio ICE partner spotlight.
    July 1, 2004
    		 Long meeting on open resesarch issues.
    June 26, 2004
    		 Pointer to fping has been added
    June 25, 2004
    		 Huthaifa has passed his qualifier exam: congratulations!
    June 18, 2004
    		 Justin's gone, but Nathan has joined the NCS weekly meeting.
    June 16, 2004
    		 I added a picture from IWQoS 2004.
    June 12, 2004
    		 Justin's defense and undergraduate concentration areas added.
    June 6, 2004
    		 IWQoS talk slides added.
    May 27, 2004
    		 Justin's defended his thesis: congratulations!
    May 20, 2004
    		 Added a NASA white paper and (how did I miss this?) Ahmad's thesis.
    May 17, 2004
    		 The NCS Web site has been announced with a mass e-mail.
    May 16, 2004
    		 Commencement and graduation at Case.
    May 14, 2004
    		 No meeting today, but Vincenzo gave a talk to NASA and added his slides here.
    May 3, 2004
    		 The Virtual World initiative has been unveiled! More details to follow.
    April 20, 2004
    		 Added links to IWQoS paper and Ohio ICE.
    April 3, 2004
    		 The ShowCase was a great success! Pictures from the event added.
    March 27, 2004
    		 More pictures and animations added
    March 26, 2004
    		 A guest today: Shiva Sastry from Akron.
    March 26, 2004
    		 A nam animation of Agent/Plant has been added.
    March 17, 2004
    		 John's done! His thesis and presentation have been added.
    March 11, 2004
    		 ABB talk (QoS) added.
    March 2, 2004
    		 ShowCase poster added.
    February 29, 2004
    		 Yes, Vincenzo was at work on a leap day!!! and added students mug shots and the NCS link.
    February 9, 2004
    		 Pointers added to the Web site or pictures of most students.
    February 6, 2004
    		 First plenary meeting at Case (Steve was missing), with excellent interaction among all of the different subprojects.
    February 4, 2004
    		 Web page updated. NCS Web page planned.
    February 2, 2004
    		 This Web page has been updated with a lot of content that has appeared since the last revision. A regular group meeting has been scheduled.

    The WebLog is manually maintained by Vincenzo Liberatore. Please, drop him a line if you would like to add an entry.

    Feedback

    Send us your comments, requests, or just let us know you liked this page.

    Sponsors

    The project is made possible by the support of NSF Sensor and Sensor Networks program, the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering, and a research contract from Lockheed Martin.

    Previous work was supported by OhioICE and by the NASA 's Space Communication Project .

    SCP

    Last modified on
    Vincenzo Liberatore / vl@eecs.cwru.edu