Special issue on technology of networked control systems

Some of the research papers dealing with the problems related to the distributed characteristics and the effect of the digital network in networked control systems are presented. The paper entitled Control and communication challenges in networked real-time systems provides a comprehensive overview of the field of networked control systems including the current state of research and possible future directions. The other research papers include Current state of the technology of networked control systems, Foundations of networked realtime systems, Wireless networks the backbone of networked control systems. The paper entitled Emergence of industrial control networks for control diagnostics and safety discusses future trends in manufacturing control networks. Tracking and coordination of multiple agents using sensor networks: system design, algorithms, and experiments illustrate the challenges in developing a real-time control system for evasion games.