Symposium of New Trends in Nonlinear Dynamics and Control, and their Applications

Southern Illinois University At Carbondale, Carbondale IL

Investigators

Abstract

0206627 Xiao This grant will support a two-day symposium on "New Trends in Nonlinear Dynamics and Control, and Their Applications," to be held at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California from September 19-20, 2002. The conference will focus on new and innovative developments in nonlinear dynamics and its applications, such as nonlinear observer design, cooperative control, flow control, and bifurcation control. The symposium will include several invited 50-minute talks and a series of shorter contributed presentations of approximately 20 minutes each. The organizers plan to publish proceedings of this meeting in book form. The rapid pace of change in technology constantly presents new challenges and new opportunities to researchers in systems and control, especially those in nonlinear control. Advances in materials science, active actuators and sensors, and fluid mechanics challenge the community to develop controllers for complex nonlinear systems of both finite and infinite dimensions. Models of nonlinear systems that are especially interesting to researchers in nonlinear control include fluid dynamics, flow control, smart materials, and chemical reactions. The nonlinearity of these complex systems leads not just to instability but also to periodic solutions, bifurcations, and chaos. Recent research shows promise for controlling such systems to achieve stability or instability. Cooperative control is another research topic of nonlinear systems that is attracting increasing attention. Recent advances in computing and communications make it possible to operate a large number of autonomous or semi-autonomous agents simultaneously in a cooperative manner. Such systems involve nonlinearities that are far more complicated than those exhibited by a single system. Problems involving cooperative control of multiple nonlinear systems are found to have numerous applications. Several of the presentations and discussions during the symposium will address issues related to cooperative control and its applications (e.g., control of a satellite constellation, multiple munitions). The symposium will provide an opportunity for both well-established and young researchers to exchange ideas on new developments and directions for future research. These new challenges require a review of major developments in nonlinear control theory from the past and to discuss new research trends to meet the ever-increasing needs of industrial applications. Major topics to be addressed in the symposium include new developments in the theory of nonlinear systems and control such as nonlinear observers, bifurcations and control, and turbulence and control.