In recent years, the technique of centralized control of complex production processes has moved from the stage of development and experimentation to widespread industrial implementation. Centralized control equipment is used in large, complex objects, and the control systems themselves are so complex that they cannot be calculated or reasonably selected using the methods used for conventional control and measuring equipment. The work undertaken recently in order to create various calculation methods for centralized control systems, at best, solved individual particular problems, often from different initial positions, and, apparently, there was a need for generalizing work that would give the system designers centralized control is an efficient settlement tool. Of the technical characteristics of centralized control systems, the most essential and most fully reflecting the effectiveness of their operation is accuracy, especially if this concept is broadly approached, including any deviation from the required system behavior in the error. Centralized control systems are used in various fields: to control production processes, for scientific research, including space objects, for testing and researching technical structures, for monitoring the health of complex equipment. These applications have a number of similarities and, however, differ in the number of requirements put forward by individual applications. When writing the article, the main attention was paid to centralized control systems for continuous production processes, which, in contrast to a number of testing and research systems, are characterized by the duration of action, since the production processes themselves in most cases run continuously for many hours, days or even months. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2021.