An Integrated Approach to BIO-Plex Control Systems Design

The control system for the Bioregenerative Planetary Life Support System Test Complex (BIO-Plex) test article will automate the transfer of information (data, audio, and video) between all control, analysis, reporting, and archiving processes, using open standards and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software. Although there is no simple “off-the-shelf” solution, the system described here integrates several commercial products to create a distributed control system for BIO-Plex.

The control system consists of three distinct layers: embedded control at the device, publish-and-subscribe data dissemination with quality of service (QoS) guarantees over the network, and a top artificial intelligence layer that performs high-level system planning and model based expert advice. This paper focuses on the lower two levels.