We consider an exponentially stable closed loop interconnection of a continuous linear plant and a continuous linear controller, and we study the problem of interconnecting the plant output to the controller input through a digital channel. We propose a family of “transmission-lazy” sensors whose goal is to transmit the measured plant output information as little as possible while preserving closed-loop stability. In particular, we propose two transmission policies, providing conditions on the transmission parameters. These guarantee global asymptotic stability when the plant state is available or when an estimate of the state is available (provided by a classical continuous linear observer). Moreover, under a specific condition, they guarantee global exponential stability.

In this article, we propose a new paradigm of control, called a maximum hands-off control. A hands-off control is defined as a control that has a much shorter support than the horizon length. The maximum hands-off control is the minimum support (or sparsest) control among all admissible controls. We first prove that a solution to an L1-optimal control problem gives a maximum hands-off control, and vice versa. This result rationalizes the use of L1 optimality in computing a maximum hands-off control. The solution has in general the “bang-off-bang” property, and hence the control may be discontinuous. We then propose an L1/L2-optimal control to obtain a continuous hands-off control. Examples are shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.