Hybrid system theory, applications, and experiments

这一建议涉及两个研究领域：混合动力系统理论和多车辆系统。混合系统是既具有连续时间行为又具有离散事件行为的系统。在过去的15年中，这一研究领域已经成为计算机科学和控制理论之间的协同作用，并受到大量工程应用的推动，这些应用表现出混合的连续和离散行为，包括：物理层具有动态代理的通信网络，调节制造或化学过程的离散事件监督者；系统：具有内部开关的连续系统，如汽车发动机；一种实时系统，例如带有转场标记事件的复印机；一种连续的过程，如具有安全约束的温度调节器，当违反安全约束时，会触发模式切换，等等。虽然该模型有明显的应用，但需要一个更通用和成熟的分析和控制综合理论。我研究的主要目标是开发数学和计算工具，用于合成满足所谓可达性规范的控制器。可达性规范与传统的稳定、快速响应和跟踪控制规范的不同之处在于，它们允许人们以一种不定时的方式指定系统应该表现的一系列行为。上述研究的一个直接应用领域是多车系统，这是研究的第二个组成部分。在这里，我们感兴趣的是研究分布式控制器如何为车辆集合实现所需的全局行为。理论研究辅以软件开发、实验和教学演示，使用10辆车的实验测试平台，以及摆锤和耦合坦克实验。

This proposal concerns two areas of research: hybrid system theory and multivehicle systems. Hybrid systems are systems which exhibit both continuous time and discrete event behavior. This research area has emerged as a synergy between Computer Science and Control Theory in the last 15 years, and is motivated by a wide number of engineering applications that exhibit mixed continuous and discrete behavior, including: communication networks with dynamic agents at the physical layer, a discrete event supervisor regulating a manufacturing or chemical process; a continuous system with internal switching such as an automotive engine; a real-time system such as a paper copier with transitions marking events; a continuous process such as a temperature regulator with safety constraints that, when violated, trigger a mode switch, and so forth.  While there are manifest applications of the model, what is needed is a more versatile and mature theory for analysis and control synthesis.  The main objective of my research is to develop mathematical and computational tools for synthesis of controllers that satisfy so-called reachability specifications. Reachability specifications differ from the traditional control specifications of stabilization, fast response, and tracking in that they allow one to specify - in an untimed way - a sequence of behaviors that the system should exhibit. One immediate application area of the above proposed research is multivehicle systems,  which is the second component of the research. Here we are interested in investigating how distributed controllers achieve desired global behaviors for a collection of vehicles. The theoretical research is complemented by software development, experiments, and pedagogical demonstrations using an experimental testbed of ten vehicles, as well as pendulum and coupled tank experiments.