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Under the dual stimulation of the grid requirements for renewable energy and the demand to reduce the cost of wind power, the wind power forecasting begins to be in a position that cannot be ignored. In order to overcome the challenge of high randomness of wind, a theory-guided output feedback neural network (Tg-OFNN) is proposed for short-term wind power forecasting. According to the known characteristics of the wind turbine, the wind power is decomposed into a fixed part and an uncertain part, in which the first part is expressed by a known mathematical model, and the second part is approximated by OFNN because of its strong ability to fit the nonlinear relationship. Part of data from the Global Energy Forecasting Competition 2012 is used to verify the performance of the proposed model. The results of the case study show that the introduction of domain knowledge improves the forecasting performance of the model, and the memory function is significant to deal with time series such as wind power. Coefficient of determination (R2) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) are chosen as the index to evaluate the performance of models.

Traditional laboratory provides students with physical places and equipment to conduct experiments. Under this circumstance, the record and analysis of experimental data lack convenience and completeness to a certain extent. Compared to the former laboratory, online laboratory is able to record and store more data during the process of experiment. Online laboratory has changed the way of assessing students’ laboratory work. Based on these online recorded data, judging criteria of laboratory work can be extended to a richer dimension like behavior, attendance, and online experimental reports. Meanwhile, modern large-scale data storage and analysis technologies can be used to carry out the assessment. In this paper, big data assessment methods for students’ laboratory work are proposed. The data generated by users’ experiments is stored by the method of big data through distributed storage system. The assessment emphasis on laboratory work lies in behavior data which is generated during experiments and the assessment is carried out based on fuzzy inference. This paper takes Wuhan University as a case study, where students major in automation are using Networked Control System Laboratory (NCSLab) as a tool to conduct experiments for their laboratory sessions.

This paper introduces a highly integrated educational instrument designed for control engineering education. Based on the plug-and-play design principle, the instrument can be compatible and deployed massively. To reduce the power consumption and bandwidth usage when the test rig is not occupied, the electrical converter is introduced to control the power supply status. The controller design based on the root locus principle is taken as an example for the fan speed control. Both simulation and physical test rig experiment are conducted in Networked Control System Laboratory to verify the practicality of the proposed educational instrument. The results show that the instrument can be applied into remote laboratory seamlessly, which enriches the available physical test rigs resources in remote laboratories largely.

Wind power forecasting plays an important role in the dispatching, operation and monitoring of power grids. In order to solve the problem of low accuracy of existing forecasting algorithms, a novel model using multi-input predictors is presented. First, this paper analyzes the real-world wind speed-power data of a wind farm and finds that wind speed variation tendency is closely related to the output power. Aiming at this discovery, a model which considers multi-step wind speed and its variation trends is proposed. Furthermore, recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm and back propagation (BP) neural network are utilized to obtain parametric and non-parametric models, respectively. Finally, in order to test the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed model, experiments are carried out using the data set obtained from an actual wind farm. The results demonstrate that the proposed model provides a more accurate forecast compared to conventional methods.

Virtual simulation and digital twins are two vital methodologies to achieve visual-based simulation. This paper will discuss common features and also differences between the two methodologies regarding the use purposes, requirements, and enabling technologies, etc. Virtual simulation is mainly used for education, for which physical test rigs are not necessarily required. While for digital twins, they can be employed for education and research purposes, and the corresponding physical test rigs are typically required. To illustrate the detailed design and implementation of virtual simulation and digital twins, the experience with networked control system laboratory (NCSLab) is taken as an example. Various different kinds of three-dimensional test rigs have been developed for virtual simulation, which has been utilized for education for years. The methodologies to achieve digital twin online laboratories are also explored using NCSLab.

In recent years, with the development of remote network laboratory, the online laboratories have become a new form of experiment, because it is not limited by the location and time. But most of the experimental equipment of online experiments are oriented to relatively simple control systems. And the complex and dangerous experiments are still trapped in the physics laboratories. In this paper, an online remote method for complex control system experiments is proposed. And the combustion control system in thermal process control experiment of the 1000MW thermal power plant is chosen as an example to show the online system framework and implementation process. The system provides a new form for the experiment and training of complex energy system and solves the problem that the physical experimental equipment cannot simulate part of the experimental scene. It can not only avoid the dangerous part of the actual experiment but also present the realtime operation of complex energy systems. At the same time, it can increase the flexibility and efficiency of engineering experimental education.

In this study, a simple modified droop-v/f control strategy is proposed for the master inverter of a multi-energy complementary microgrid. Which can realize no impact seamless transfer, and enhance the power quality. By the simple change of the droop coefficient gradually, the system can relize seamless transfer between two modes. Which to provide voltage and frequency support for the slave inverters in island mode. Pre-synchronization provides a more friendly way for the system reconnection when the grid fault eliminate. The proposed control strategy is described in detail, and its effectiveness is verified by simulation.

This paper introduces a Simulink-based online algorithm design Interface for a Web-based control laboratory called NCSLab, which provides an online access to experimental devices in the physical laboratory. Since the development of Information and communication technologies, online control laboratories are able to possess more convenience and possibility. In order to provide users with a more comprehensive and comfortable environment of remote experiment, the functionality of online algorithm design is supposed to be upgraded with the latest techniques. Users are able to design control algorithms with a graphical interactive interface as they do in MATLAB/Simulink in NCSLab, which will be illustrated with examp1es in this paper.

This paper introduces the NCSLab (Networked Control System Laboratory) based on Android mobile phone, which provides a complete android-based solution for users to carry out experiments on experiment devices. An extensible architecture is proposed, which consists of Android mobile phone, MATLAB server, control units, experiment equipment and IP camera. Based on this architecture, a remote laboratory based-on Android is implemented, which has many novel functionalities including block diagram programming, simulation, compilation and especially automatic downloading of executable program and executing it on device. At the same time, the Android mobile phone is not only playing the role of design platform, but also a controller of the experiment devices. In this way, it can free the users from having to stay with the PC. At last, an example is given to demonstrate that users can easily design programs and compile, download, execute and monitor for an experiment with a compact, low-cost and handy android mobile phone from anywhere.

The paper introduces the implementation of NCSLab in mobile APP with framework of React-Native. Networked Control System Laboratory (NCSLab) is one of the remote laboratories, which has existed for more than 10 years since it was been created in 2006 in the UK. However, there has not a mobile App served for NCSLab turned up yet, which can make great convenience for students to experiment. With the promotion of React-Native, this paper finally applies this framework to realize the mobile App served for NCSLab. This mobile app can bring great convenience to users' experiments. Users no longer need to experiment on the computer, remove the space constraints. Experiments can be conducted anytime and anywhere, which increases the frequency of experimenting.

The networked control system includes controllers, actuators and sensors, information is exchanged among every part via the network. To solve the problem that the information monitoring must depend on PC, a mobile terminal supervisory system based on Networked Control systems is introduced in this paper. It is a real-time platform to monitor the realistic performance of the networked control systems. The system adopts a more universal hardware platform: mobile phone, which is compact, low-cost and resourceful. In this paper, client/server architecture of this system is described. The stability and richly functional controls are integrated into the system, which meet the requirement of customize supervisory interface and improve the reliability of systems. The system also supports tuning parameters online to achieve consecutive observation through the duplex channel based on TCP/IP protocol. In this paper we illustrate the overall framework and details and its potential applications. Finally, for the air-bearing simulation system, the networked control based experiment demonstrate the feasibility and practicability of the designed system.

Optimizing the natural frequency is crucial for dc-to-load efficient wireless power transfer (WPT) applications on high voltage (HV) power transmission lines. However, a comprehensive optimization approach with the coupling factor and the losses on power electronics both taken into consideration is still in absence. By modeling losses dissipated on various parts, including the class-D inverter, the rectifier, and the resonant loops, a numerical approach is proposed in this paper to evaluate the optimal natural frequency for maximum dc-to-end efficiency. As the system efficiency is also affected by the operating frequency, which is resilient for practical operation, practical operating strategies are applied to determine the working parameters. Furthermore, considering that the HV WPT systems may work with various coupling factors, optimal natural frequencies for various coupling factors are analyzed and compared. Several groups of experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed numerical approach. Experimental results show that the approach can effectively predict the optimal natural frequency. When compared with the cases where the natural frequency is 100 or 600 kHz, an efficiency enhancement of about 20% can be achieved using the optimized natural frequency. When compared with the cases where the natural frequency is optimal for maximum $Q$ value, an efficiency of 9% can still be achieved for loosely coupled occasions.

ToTo prevent the degradation of battery life and reduce switching loss in inductive power transfer (IPT) systems for electric vehicles (EVs), it is vital to realize constant current/voltage (CC/CV) charging and zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) operation. However, due to the existence of couplings between the charging and ZVS operating control loops, the controllers are neither optimal nor robust. In this paper, a model-based decoupled control method is proposed to improve the performance of the charging and ZVS operating controllers. Since the operating point of the CC and CV modes are different, two dynamic models for the corresponding charging modes are built and linearized. Besides, the couplings between the charging and ZVS operating control loops are analyzed, and in turn, decoupled by designing compensators. To optimize the system performance, we chose PI controllers, and their parameters are obtained by calculating the settling time and overshoot of the close-loop dominant poles according to the control performance requirements. In the experiment, a 500-W series-series IPT system prototype is built and tested to verify the improvement of the control performance. Compared with the coupled control method and the traditional closed-loop control feedback method, the recorded response curves and transient waveforms demonstrate that the proposed decoupled control method brings a better performance to the system.

The intermittent and stochastic character of the renewable energy resource may lead to instability or even collapse of the distribution network. Against the backdrop, the distributed energy storage unit (DESU) will be a key component to alleviate power fluctuations and frequency instability in the islanded distribution network. However, previous studies mainly account to qualitative analysis of single or multi-machine networks which contain energy storage unit. Motivated by this, we investigate how the DESU affects the frequency stability of the large-scale distribution network. This paper develops a frequency-based control scheme for DESU to change the charging state with frequency. Employing the Kuramoto oscillator model, the dynamic equation of distributed generation (DG) nodes can be obtained to establish an islanded large-scale distribution network model which contains DESU nodes and DG nodes. Through testing the network frequency fluctuation amplitude and the network synchronization time, we explicitly analyze how the DESU enhance the frequency stability of the distribution network. For demonstration purpose, we build a 201-nodes islanded distribution network model which contains DESU nodes and DG nodes to verify the validity of the analysis.

The resources in the deep water area are very rich, thus the submersible pump has been widely used in the industrial production to extract these resources. However, when the submersible pump is running in the deep water area, there are some commom problems such as how to control the speed of the motor and how to get the operating status of the pump. Aiming at these problems, a networked control system for submersible pump based on RS-485 bus is put forward in this paper. The hardware platform is based on STM32 series microcontrollers and the sensorless control algorithm is applied so as to decrease the volume of the pump. Experimental results demonstrate the validity and practicability of this system. Meanwhile the system will have good application value in the future.

This paper presents an improved controller based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) for trajectory tracking of wheeled mobile robots (WMR). On the basis of kinematic model, the authors adopt the Gauss error function in the virtual feedback variable design based on Backstepping. The stability of Backstepping controller is proved by Lyapunov function and Barbalet’s lemma. The unknown parameters of controller are tuned by PSO to gain better performance. Simulation with two different reference trajectory is carried out. The effectiveness of proposed controller is verified by simulation. Compared to original controller, simulation results show that the PSO-tuned controller can reduce the set time and smooth the tracking trajectory.

This paper introduces a real-time data transmission method based on websocket protocol for networked control laboratory. Networked Control System Laboratory (NCSLab) is one of revolutionary online laboratories, which effectively solves the problems of inadequate experimental conditions and limited resources in experimenting education. NCSLab provides a solution to remote online control laboratory, including more than 26 experimenting platforms and flexible monitoring pages to show the control data and procedure. To maintain the real-time experimental display, central web server should send real-time data rapidly. A reliable and speed data transition between clients and servers is picked during the experiments in this paper. Given by Hyper Text Markup Language 5 (HTML5), websocket protocol, a protocol for full-duplex communication over a single TCP connection, simplifies the data exchange between clients and servers. The issues of control overhead, real-time performance, binary support and instability are tackled in NCSLab. The conditions and implement of websocket are explained in detail. At the end of the paper, a ballbeam system experiment platform is selected to illustrate the procedure of websocket communication.

Compared with traditional laboratories, web-based virtual laboratory is a good solution to the problems of limited experimental environment and shortage of laboratory equipment. However these kind of problems are gradually being solved by establishing remote laboratories. Networked Control System Laboratory (NCSLab) is one of the remote laboratories, which is more than 10 years since it was been created in 2006 in the UK. While for its long-term use, some technologies are not updated in time, even some of them have lost support now. In order to seek more long-run development, newly technologies should be absorbed. This paper redevelops the NCSLab system by utilizing a fresh user interface framework React to replace its original Yahoo user interface (UI) framework. With the promotion of React, the front and back-end separated web architecture is applied in NCSLab. The web page's response speed is significantly improved. And the system can conspicuously enhance its scalability, web page interactivity and user friendliness.

A novel capacitive power transfer (CPT) structure through self-capacitance routes is proposed in this paper. Selfcapacitance is the nature property of an isolated conductor which represents the amount of charges that have to be added to a conductor to promote its potential by one unit with respect to infinity. By utilizing the self-capacitance effects, one of the two coupling capacitors for conventional CPT can be eliminated. By attaching a metallic sheet to the Rx side, a virtual route can be formed through the injected self-capacitance to infinity. Based on the new idea, the equivalent circuit diagram is modelled and the system performance is analyzed. To verify the validity of the proposed structure, an experimental prototype is set up in the laboratory. A set of experiments are conducted with various transfer gaps. Both the theoretical and experimental results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed structure, with which a more convenient and more compact CPT system can be constructed.

Deploying online experiments requires less cost with less maintenance. This paper investigates the design and implementation of online wiring experiments based on the online experimental platform NCSLab (Networked Control System Laboratory). Within the context of the virtual laboratory, the 3D modeling and web-based rendering are explored. Similar to hands-on experiments in physical laboratories, wiring is provided to simulate the wire connection in the real case, and interactions and the design of control algorithms are discussed. The virtual fan speed control system is selected to illustrate the proposed design and implementation method. The result shows that the system can simulate the wiring part of the hands-on experiments with good control performance.

A WebVR-based laboratory built on the basis of NCSLab framework is introduced in this paper. Three.js 3D engine is integrated in the proposed laboratory to support VR 3-D animation based on HTML5 standard. In addition, VR Visualization Interface is added in NCSLab 3-D as a new feature to create a virtual reality environment for control engineering education. The dynamic generated QR code on Experiment Monitor Interface gives the only access of VR Visualization Interface. Therefore, Users can experience an immersive and realistic experiment through head-mounted display (HMD). In the end of the paper, ball and beam system is taken as an example to illustrate the operational approach of the proposed laboratory.

A wireless power transfer system with three coils has some characters different from two-coil WPTs. In this paper, a two-coil/three-coil hybrid WPT system is proposed to obtain better performances. The hybrid system is constructed through adding the third coil to the frame of the sending coil of the traditional two-coil WPT system. The dimension of the additional coil is smaller than the original sending/receiving coils. The paper uses brute-force method to realize optimization design of key parameters in three-coil system. Different mutual inductances are obtained under the case with and without the third coil, which provides the control flexibility for the EV wireless charging system. MATLAB simulations are conducted to analyze system performances on power and efficiency. It is found that three-coil system has higher energy transfer efficiency when the load power at the receiving side is lower, while two-coil system has a higher efficiency when the load power is higher. With the findings, this paper puts forward a novel two-coil/three-coil hybrid WPT to obtain higher efficiencies under various power levels for an EV charging system. When the charging power is lower than the switching point, the system takes the three-coil frame while two-coil structure is employed when the power is above the switching point. The power switching point can be got from early simulations. Simulations show that efficiency above 70% can be always obtained under the power level from 31% through 100% for a wireless charging system of EV whose rating power is 1.6 kW.

Wireless power transfer (WPT) technology can be potentially used to solve the power supply source problem of electronic equipment in high-voltage terminals. To achieve that, both the magnetic field and electric field around the transmission line should be analyzed to validate the availability of WPT technology. In this paper an analysis on the induced voltage generated by the power frequency magnetic field (PFMF) is presented. After a 3D model of the WPT system is established in Maxwell, the simulation on the potential distribution on the ends of the insulator is carried out Results show that the induced voltage can hardly affect the power transmission. Meanwhile, when WPT devices are added on the line, the potential difference between the two ends of the insulator can also be reduced to a safe range.

The paper introduces the implementation of NCSLab 3D, which is a real-time simulation laboratory based on NCSLab (Networked Control System Laboratory) framework at http://www.powersim.whu.edu.cn/ncslab/. Users can carry out remote experiments anytime and observe the real-time data changes of real test rigs through 3D models or Web cameras. However, an evaluation about the performance of the remote laboratory is often neglected. So this paper makes a quantitative evaluation on the NCSLab 3D. Questionnaires about technical issues, educational issues and added value are made to allow registered users to give their effective feedback. The conclusions drawn from the statistical data of seventy-five students who had performed all the experiments in NCSLab 3D can promote the laboratory's development in the future.

This paper studies the consensus problem of multi-agent networks via a rectangular impulsive protocol, which only regulates the velocity of agents in a given sequence of disconnected time intervals after sampling instants and allows for time-varying sampling and action intervals. By adopting algebraic graph theory and matrix analysis, some sufficient conditions for consensus are obtained for guaranteeing consensus in agent networks under joint connected topology. Finally, numerical examples are included to illustrate the theoretical results.

The achievements in Internet and communication technology make remote learning and online laboratory possible in the last few decades, which not only provides opportunities for people in rural areas in developing countries, but also offer simple alternatives for those who already have access to educational resources. With the evolution of Web technologies, it is relatively easy to facilitate laboratory deployments, thus, more and more different online laboratories emerge. However, Hyper Text Mark-up Language (HTML5) and related standards (e.g. WebGL, CSS3) which are future trends and provide full-featured environment are rare so far. In this paper, a new HTML5 version of Networked Control System Laboratory (NCSLab) which has been developing for over 10 years since 2006, is introduced. The 3D version of NCSLab has been developing for almost 5 years in Wuhan University (WHU), whose rendering solution is changed from Flash 3D engine to HTML5. Therefore, Flash player plug-in is no more needed. User can login the system to perform experiments with better user experience since most Web browsers are compatible with HTML5.

Virtual laboratory has been introduced to remote learning as well as experimental classes of universities in the last few decades. In a virtual laboratory, automatic control theory can be well verified by conducting experiments on models such as water tanks, inverted pendulums and DC motor. In this paper, a DC motor control system which can experiment the position control in real time based on Networked Control System Laboratory (NCSLab) is present. After a description of the process of 3D modelling and rendering in Flash 3D engine as well as control algorithms which are generated using Real Time Workshop, the experiment of position control is conducted and the control results are shown in a picture snapped from the real-time monitoring. The old NCSLab 3D system only allows users to design the algorithms and then simulate them. However, when it comes to the wiring, nothing can be done by the users. This paper proposed a method which allows the users to do the wiring in the 3D real-time virtual laboratory. It could make users feel more sense of reality and immersion to conduct the experiments.

The process of tension control in material testing by using the Flexible Circuit Board testing machine (FCBTM) is featured with multi-variable, nonlinearity, time delays and time variation. In order to ensure the tension precision, speed and the stability of the test results, this paper establishes an accurate system model for the FCBTM, in which a novel three-dimensional fuzzy self-tubing PID fuzzy controller is designed. Specially, the simulation results show that the proposed self-tubing fuzzy control method is not only robust to the external disturbance but also with more excellent dynamic and steady-state characteristics than traditional ones.

Wireless power transfer based on inductive coupling techniques has attracted a lot of research interest in recent years. It can be potentially applied in many industrial sections. However, the harsh outdoor industrial environment could induce circuit parameter drift. Only small drift may result in huge performance drop, as the circuits are very sensitive to the parameter changes. In order to address the problem, an optimization method to compensate for the effect of drifting parameters and track the maximum performance is introduced in this paper. A switch network which is able to dynamically change the inductance of the Tx coil is designed. When the parameter drift occurs, the tuning algorithm is able to adjust both the exciting frequency and the Tx coil inductance. By measuring the input power only, the best working point can be found out without requiring any measurement on the Rx side. Therefore, the algorithm can be implemented in the controller located on the Tx side without coordination and communication between both sides. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a test rig is setup and practical experiments are conducted. The experimental results are also presented in the paper.

Automatic and Smart homes (ASHs) is one of the most important part of smart grid (SG) terminal. Demand-Side Energy Management System (DSEMS) aims to provide direct energy feedback whilst (or shortly after) consumption occurs, so as to persuade users to achieve energy saving and efficiency. However, existing solutions are challenged by the lack of fully considering the actual situation of fiber to the house (FTTH) based communication of state power construction and related study on users' behaviors and preferences in China. A novel mode for design and development of demand side energy management ASHs system in SGT is described in this paper. The design of ASHs system is closely linked with FTTH power construction in China, which not only can improve the intelligence of electricity, but also achieve interaction between enterprises and electricity user-way, and is conducive to the distribution network safe, reliable and economic operation. This system is suitable for educational purposes in terms of understanding the what-if and how of DSEMS based on FTTH.

Different from the conventional energy transmission which uses air-core coil as a carrier , This paper mostly discusses the effect of energy transmission efficiency with core added; this paper also discusses the receiving terminal signal virtual value variation of hysteresis loop of the core material with a sine wave signal fixed to the power input terminal, aimed to compare and analyze the effect of wireless energy transfer efficiency between air-core coil and iron-core coil. Through theoretical analysis and experimental data, it shows that the efficiency of energy transmission can be effectively improved by adding iron core.

This paper mainly studies the mathematical model of wireless power transmission based on magnetic coupling and resonance. Our works contain using the circuitry theory to modeling the system, analyzing how other variables influence on transmission efficiency and conducting simulation in MATLAB. In the experiments, two-coil model, three-coil model, four-coil model and other typical models are studied to find out and compare the characteristics of each model. The results of what we study and conduct simulations show that each model has its characteristics, which this paper will detail.

Coupler as an important component of the wireless power transfer system, its parameters properties are closely related to transmission efficiency of the wireless energy transmission system. This article discusses the optimum design of the coil, studies the impact of parameters of coil, including resistivity and number of turns, on the transmission efficiency in wireless energy transmission. Results from theoretical analyses and experiments indicate there is no relationship between the circle number of coil and the wireless energy transmission system transmission efficiency.

In networked control systems, the network uncertainties can degrade the control performance and even result in instability, especially for the Internet-based control system with wireless communication in which the transmission delay could be many times of the sampling period of control systems. NPC (Networked Predictive Control) is an active method to compensate for the effects of network uncertainty. However, control systems need to make long time prediction due to the long transmission distance. Without an accurate mathematical model, the control performance can not be guaranteed. In order to address this problem, a new NPC scheme designed for wireless NPC with long time delay is introduced in this paper. It uses the information of the previous prediction errors to correct the future predictions. A correction algorithm is designed to reduce the predictive errors. To validate the new control schemes, both simulations and experiments have been conducted. The results show that even with “not so” accurate mathematical models, the new schemes can still maintain good control performance in Internet-based NPC with wireless communication.

In this paper, the design of the a web-based Smart Home system is introduced. The proposed system provides a web interface through which users are able to check the home status and control the domestic appliance remotely as long as they have a PC system connected to the Internet. In order to give users a more vivid way to access the Smart Home system, a web based 3D interface with virtual reality technology is proposed in this paper. The rooms, appliances and furniture are reconstructed in the web-based interface. Users can “look around” in the virtual home remotely. They are able to check the security alarms, control the appliances in the 3D virtual reality similar as they do in real homes.

Microgrid has caused increasing attention for its high efficiency and low emissions. In this article a microgrid including a wind turbine, pv array and a CHP system consisting of fuel cells and a microturbine is studied and then the modeling of various DERs is conducted and the objective functions and constraints are developed. In the end the generic algorithm is employed to solved the optimal model and an operation scheme is achieved while meeting various constraints on the basis of tariff details, equipment performance, weather conditions and forecasts, load details and forecasts and other necessary information and then the economic costs and environmental impacts are analyzed and a conclusion that the multi-objective model can achieve high environmental benefits and spend as low operation cost as possible.

This paper first discusses deterministic and stochastic characteristics of CAN message response times. They are then extended to depict system behaviours by featuring CAN message traces, which helps develop a system-level fault diagnostic method to address the increasing complexity of vehicles. These characteristics are also applied to formalize in-vehicle control systems which are made networked and distributed due to the vehicle complexity.

In this paper, the design of a 3D web-based control laboratory is introduced. The new design is based on the framework of NCSLab (Networked Control System Laboratory). The 3D models of test rigs are designed in 3DS Max environment. Then, they are imported and rendered in Flash Control by using 3D engines. The Flash Controls can be easily embedded into the NCSLab web based user interface. Communication and Motion Control modules in these Flash Controls are also developed. These modules retrieve the real time data from the server through the AJAX Scripts running in the web browser and control the movements of the 3D models following the changes of the real time data. Therefore, these motions are synchronized with the real movement of the physical test rigs during the remote experiments. The users are allowed to change their perspectives using mousse, so they are able to “watch” the test rigs from different angles. In order to illustrate how the 3D remote laboratory works, an example of experiments on a dual tank test rig is given at the end of the paper.

Networked Predictive Control (NPC) scheme has been proposed to tackle the disturbance caused by the network uncertainties in the networked control systems (NCS). In NPC scheme, at the controller side future control sequences for every possible time delay are generated, which are then packed into a single packet and transmitted to the plant side. The plant side selects the proper control signal based on the time delay measurement. The NPC can compensate for the effect of network uncertainties effectively. However, in NPC the control systems are normally divided into two parts: the controller side and plant side. That structure is not suitable for the multi-variable control in large-scale industrial applications (power plants and chemical factories etc.). In order to solve that problem, a Multi-variable NPC scheme is proposed in this paper. In this scheme, the controller, sensors and actuators are allowed to be located diversely, which fits the situation in large-scale industrial processes. The algorithms in the controller, sensors and actuators are redesigned to compensate for the random network delay and data dropout. To verify the effectiveness of the new method, a simulation of a boiler control system is given at the end of the paper.