Latency-Reliability Tradeoffs for State Estimation

The emerging interest in low-latency high-reliability applications, such as connected vehicles, necessitates a new abstraction between communication and control. Thanks to advances in cyber-physical systems over the past decades, we understand this interface for classical bit-rate models of channels as well as packet-loss-type channels. This article proposes a new abstraction characterized as a tradeoff curve between latency, reliability, and rate. Our aim is to understand-do we (control engineers) prefer faster but less reliable communications (with shorter codes), or slower but more reliable communications (with longer codes)? In this article, we examine the tradeoffs between latency and reliability for the problem of estimating dynamical systems over communication channels. Employing different latency-reliability curves derived from practical coding schemes, we develop a cross-layer design methodology, i.e., select the code length depending on the system dynamics to optimize system performance.

Automated summary

This article introduces a new abstraction between communication and control, characterized by a tradeoff curve between latency, reliability, and rate. By examining the tradeoffs between latency and reliability for estimating dynamical systems over communication channels, and utilizing different latency-reliability curves, a cross-layer design methodology is developed to optimize system performance.