U.S.- UK Cooperative Research: Robust Control of Dynamical Systems

该奖项将支持明尼苏达大学的Tryphon georgiou博士和英国剑桥大学的Malcolm Smith博士在系统工程方面的合作研究。该项目的目标是为控制系统的分析和设计开发新的理论工具和技术。具体来说，研究的目标是开发一种综合方法来识别、建模和控制线性动力系统。该方法基于动态系统图的概念。用间隙度量法测量不确定性、扰动和建模误差。间隙度量是系统之间距离的概念，适用于鲁棒稳定和控制。这种距离的概念独立于任何特定的表示（例如状态空间、传递函数或任何特殊的坐标系统），并且同样适用于最一般的无限维分布参数系统（例如柔性结构）。建议的研究将集中于由间隙度量测量的建模/识别误差/不确定性的定量估计及其对反馈系统稳定性/性能的影响。这项研究的直接影响预计是在新的控制设计方法的发展。间隙度量的发展，作为鲁棒控制系统分析和设计的工具，一直是两位研究者最近工作的主题。该项目将受益于研究人员在控制理论方面的互补专业知识和他们过去成功合作的历史。

This award will support collaborative research in systems engineering between Dr. Tryphon Georghiou, University of Minnesota, and Dr. Malcolm Smith, University of Cambridge, England. The objective of the project is to develop novel theoretical tools and techniques for the analysis and design of control systems. Specifically, the goal of the research is to develop an integrated approach to identification, modeling and control for linear dynamical systems. The approach is based on the notion of a graph of dynamical systems. Uncertainty, perturbations and modeling error are measured by the gap metric. The gap metric is a notion of distance between systems suitable for use in the context of robust stabiliza- tion and control. This notion of distance is independent of any particular representation (e.g. state-space, transfer function, or any special system of coordinates) and applies equally well to the most general class of infinite-dimensional distributed parameter systems (e.g. flexible structures). The proposed research will focus on quantitative estimates of modeling/identification error/uncertainty measured by the gap metric and their effect on stability/performance of feedback systems. The immediate impact of this research is expected to be in the development of new control design methodologies. The development of the gap metric, as a tool for analysis and design of robust control systems, has been the main theme of recent work of the two investigators. The project will benefit from the complementary expertise of the investigators in control theory and their history of past successful collaboration.