Talk:Real-time Control System Software

What are Real-Time Control Systems?

This article introduces the Real-time Control System as:

The Real-time Control System (RCS) is a software system developed by NIST that implements a generic Hierarchical control system...

This definition speaks of a software system developed by the NIST.

Now the NIST paper: Hui-Min Huang, Harry Scott, Elena Messina, Maris Juberts, and Richard Quintero, (2000) "Intelligent System Control: A Unified Approach and Applications" states:

'The hierarchical real-time control system (RCS) reference model architecture that is under development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) aims at designing and developing intelligent control for large and complex systems...

This definition speaks of a "reference model architecture" and the paper itself gives an introduction of:

• The RCS Reference Model
• RCS Methodology

And two case studies.

From what I see in that paper, the RCS looks like an enterprise reference architecure.

But then in A. Gambier (2004). Real-time Control Systems: A Tutorial more or less presents Real-Time Control System as a field of control engineering, stating:

The implementation of digital control systems and real-time systems belong together and they should be connected more or less later in the control engineering curricula... However, it is difficult to find this connection in the standard textbooks, where the real-time implementation is almost always ignored. For example, a very good introduction into computer controlled systems can be found in [1], but no orientation to the real-time software is given there. Mechanisation of control algorithms are given e.g. in [9]. In [8], hardware and software for digital control systems are described shortly. On the other hand, in [3] the realtime system design is treated from the optic of control engineering without to consider implementation aspects.

So it seems to me the term "Real-Time Control System" has at least two/three different meanings:

• A subfield control engineering focussing on digital control systems and real-time systems
• A reference architecture developed by the NIST
• A software system developed by NIST

Maybe two and three are the same...!?

If this is true maybe some changes have to be made here in time. I think:

• A (new) Wikipedia Real-time control system article should be about the subfield of control engineering
• This article should be renamed something like: Real-Time Control System (Architecture), Real-Time Control System Architecture, RCS (Architecture) or RCS Architecture.

-- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 20:17, 2 August 2009 (UTC)