Marcella M. Gomez

Stability and Frequency Response Under Stochastic Communication Delays With Applications to Connected Cruise Control Design

In this paper we investigate connected cruise control in which vehicles rely on ad hoc wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communication to control their longitudinal motion. Intermittencies and packet drops in communication channels are shown to introduce stochastic delays in the feedback loops. Sufficient conditions for almost sure stability of equilibria are derived by analyzing the mean and covariance dynamics. In addition, the concept of

Exact Stability Analysis of Discrete-Time Linear Systems with Stochastic Delays

n\sigma

Stability of Systems with Stochastic Delays and Applications to Genetic Regulatory Networks

string stability is proposed to characterize the input–output response in steady state. The stability results are summarized using stability charts in the plane of the control gains and we demonstrate that the stable regimes shrink when the sampling time or the packet drop ratio increases. The mathematical tools developed allow us to design controllers that can achieve plant stability and string stability in connected vehicle systems despite the presence of stochastically varying delays in the control loop.

Stabilization of Feedback Systems Via Distribution of Delays

This paper provides analytical results regarding the stability of linear discrete-time systems with stochastic delays. Necessary and sufficient stability conditions are derived by using the second moment dynamics which can be used to draw stability charts. The results are applied to a simple connected vehicle system where the stability regions are compared to those given by the mean dynamics. Our results reveal some fundamental limitations of connected cruise control which becomes more significant as the packet drop ratio increases.

Using cellular fitness to map the structure and function of a major facilitator superfamily effluxer

The dynamics of systems with stochastically varying time delays are investigated in this paper. It is shown that the mean dynamics can be used to derive necessary conditions for the stability of equilibria of the stochastic system. Moreover, the second moment dynamics can be used to derive sufficient conditions for almost sure stability of equilibria. The results are summarized using stability charts that are obtained via semi-discretization. The theoretical methods are applied to simple gene regulatory networks where it is demonstrated that stochasticity in the delay can improve the stability of steady protein production.

The effects of time-varying temperature on delayed gene networks

Abstract This paper investigates the results of distributing the delay of a single feedback system. To distribute the delayed feedback, the single delay is replaced by the sum of two distinct delays with the same effective delay. The statistical properties of the new distribution function in the feedback, namely the sum of two delta functions, are used to quantify the effectiveness of delay distribution. We show that the distribution is effective in reducing the magnitude of the open loop transfer function, thereby, decreasing the gain-crossover frequency and improving the phase margin. Using these results, we explain the stabilizing effects of a delayed controller proposed in another publication. Finally, we demonstrate a potential application.

Moment-based plant and string stability analysis of connected cruise control with stochastic delays

The major facilitator superfamily (MFS) effluxers are prominent mediators of antimicrobial resistance. The biochemical characterization of MFS proteins is hindered by their complex membrane environment that makes in vitro biochemical analysis challenging. Since the physicochemical properties of proteins drive the fitness of an organism, we posed the question of whether we could reverse that relationship and derive meaningful biochemical parameters for a single protein simply from fitness changes it confers under varying strengths of selection. Here, we present a physiological model that uses cellular fitness as a proxy to predict the biochemical properties of the MFS tetracycline efflux pump, TetB, and a family of single amino acid variants. We determined two lumped biochemical parameters roughly describing Km and Vmax for TetB and variants. Including in vivo protein levels into our model allowed for more specified prediction of pump parameters relating to substrate binding affinity and pumping efficiency for TetB and variants. We further demonstrated the general utility of our model by solely using fitness to assay a library of tet(B) variants and estimate their biochemical properties.

The Effects of Time-Varying Temperature on Delays in Genetic Networks

Delays in gene networks result from the sequential nature of protein assembly. However, it is unclear how models of gene networks that use delays should be modified when considering time-dependent changes in temperature. This is important, as delay is often used in models of genetic oscillators that can be entrained by periodic fluctuations in temperature. Here, we analytically derive the time dependence of delay distributions in response to time-varying temperature changes. We find that the resulting time-varying delay is nonlinearly dependent on parameters of the time-varying temperature such as amplitude and frequency, therefore, applying an Arrhenius scaling may result in erroneous conclusions. We use these results to examine a model of a synthetic gene oscillator with temperature compensation. We show that temperature entrainment follows from the same mechanism that results in temperature compensation. Under a common Arrhenius scaling alone, the frequency of the oscillator is sensitive to changes in the mean temperature but robust to changes in the frequency of a periodically time-varying temperature. When a mechanism for temperature compensation is included in the model, however, we show that the oscillator is entrained by periodically varying temperature even when maintaining insensitivity to the mean temperature.

Stability analysis of connected cruise control with stochastic delays

In this paper we investigate the concept of connected cruise control (CCC) where vehicles rely on ad-hoc wireless vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication to control their longitudinal motion. While V2V communication potentially allows vehicles to build detailed knowledge about the traffic environment, intermittencies and packet drops introduce stochastic delays into the communication channels that make control very challenging. We derive the mean and covariance dynamics for the corresponding stochastic system and analyze the effects of stochastic delays on vehicular strings. We also provide conditions for plant and string stability using the mean and the covariance. Moreover, we demonstrate that how the stable regimes shrink when the sampling time or the packet drop ratio increases. Our results have important implications regarding safety and efficiency of connected vehicle systems.

Stability of discrete-time systems with stochastically delayed feedback

Delays in gene networks result from the sequential nature of protein assembly. However, it is unclear how models of gene networks that use delays should be modified when considering time-dependent changes in temperature. This is important, as delay is often used in models of genetic oscillators that can be entrained by periodic fluctuations in temperature. Here, we analytically derive the time dependence of delay distributions in response to time-varying temperature changes. We find that the resulting time-varying delay is nonlinearly dependent on parameters of the time-varying temperature such as amplitude and frequency, therefore, applying an Arrhenius scaling may result in erroneous conclusions. We use these results to examine a model of a synthetic gene oscillator with temperature compensation. We show that temperature entrainment follows from the same mechanism that results in temperature compensation. Under a common Arrhenius scaling alone, the frequency of the oscillator is sensitive to changes in the mean temperature but robust to changes in the frequency of a periodically time-varying temperature. When a mechanism for temperature compensation is included in the model, however, we show that the oscillator is entrained by periodically varying temperature even when maintaining insensitivity to the mean temperature.