A controller and an agreement protocol for a real-time control system

The present invention concerns a method of generating setpoints for actuators (13) of a real-time control system. The method comprises a first controller (9): a) receiving a first set of measurements from sensors (3), the measurements being individually labelled with a sequence number, referred to hereinafter as a measurement label; b) receiving a second set of measurements from a second controller (9), the received measurements of the second set of measurements being individually labelled with the same measurement labels as the measurement labels of the measurements of the first set of measurements; c) generating a first digest from the first and second sets of measurements, the first digest comprising an indication of the sensors (3) whose measurements the first controller has received, and a first controller state label; d) receiving at least a second digest from at least the second controller (9), the second digest comprising an indication of the sensors (3) whose measurements the second controller has received, and a second controller state label; e) selecting one digest from a set of digests comprising the first and second digests for generating setpoints; and f) generating the setpoints by using the measurements and a controller state indicated by the selected digest.