Designing Control Mechanisms for Infrastructure Operations

Control mechanisms direct the behavior of complex systems and help maintain system states within desirable bounds. Control mechanisms for power grids, water and wastewater infrastructure, and transportation systems are often tightly integrated with group operation, management, and business control mechanisms. Although set at a higher level, control mechanisms for public organizations, regional economies, society, and the planet typically influence the behavior of such infrastructure systems. The various control mechanisms for different infrastructure systems alter a subset of the inputs into, outputs of, and constraints on the systems under their purview.