  This paper deals with a novel Plug-and-Play (PnP) architecture for the
control and monitoring of Large-Scale Systems (LSSs). The proposed approach
integrates a distributed Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy with a
distributed Fault Detection (FD) architecture and methodology in a PnP
framework. The basic concept is to use the FD scheme as an autonomous decision
support system: once a fault is detected, the faulty subsystem can be unplugged
to avoid the propagation of the fault in the interconnected LSS. Analogously,
once the issue has been solved, the disconnected subsystem can be
re-plugged-in. PnP design of local controllers and detectors allow these
operations to be performed safely, i.e. without spoiling stability and
constraint satisfaction for the whole LSS. The PnP distributed MPC is derived
for a class of nonlinear LSS and an integrated PnP distributed FD architecture
is proposed. Simulation results show the effectiveness and the potential of the
general methodology.
