We consider the problem of spatio-temporal systems,
with sensor measurements and control actions at each point in a
spatial domain,
such that the dynamics at each point may effect those
at any other point with some propagation delay, and the controllers may
communicate between any points with some transmission delays.
We wish to synthesize such a controller to minimize a closed-loop
norm for the entire system. We show that, similar to results for
finite subsystems, if the transmission delays
satisfy the triangle inequality, then the simple condition that the
transmission delay between any two points is less than the
propagation delay between those points allows for the optimal
control problem to be recast as a convex optimization problem.
We can then view spatially invariant systems as a special case,
and a broad generalisation of the class of such
systems amenable to convex synthesis quickly falls out. In
particular, the class of systems determined by funnel causal
propagation functions in one dimension can be generalised to those
determined by subadditive propagation functions in arbitrary dimensions.