A generic architectural framework for the closed-loop control of a system

 

In this article, we present a generic framework for the functional architecture of the closed-loop control of an engine or a system. Besides its genericity, its main features are (1) a decomposition of the system control into hierarchically organized modules, (2) an encapsulation of control and data inside each module, (3) standardized communications between modules via requests, reports about request execution, and information about the system state, (4) an organization of each module following a common framework built around the following four components: tracking of the received requests, tracking of the emitted requests, tracking of the system state, and decision upon request emission, and (5) a common framework for the interaction between reactive and deliberative tasks inside the module components and especially inside the state tracking and decision ones. We show how this framework can be applied to the control of an autonomous satellite dedicated to Earth watching and observation.