Control of Patterns in Systems With Large Numbers of Actuators and Sensors

Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX

Investigators

Abstract

With the emergence of micro electromechanical systems, we are fast approaching the days of having to understand how to control nonlinear systems containing massive numbers of actuators and sensors. Next generation applications such as holographic data storage devices, and wavelength division multiplexing, will require novel precision analog control methodology. At the same time, scientists are only beginning to get a glimpse of information processing activities in the brains of higher animals. It is argued that understanding control theoretic aspects of pattern generation in massive actuator/sensor arrays is central to successfully tackling these challenging technological problems. Representative patterns of interest will be solitary waves, stationary impulses, travelling waves, and spiral waves. Existing theories explain the stability of these patterns, but fail to address how to control them. A research program focussing on controlling these patterns in desirable ways is outlined in the proposal. Primary mathematical tools will be (a) wave generation in networks with symmetry, (b) theory of solitons, (c) spiral waves, and (d) actuator-inhibitor equations. It is argued that feedback control techniques outlined in each case can advance the state-of art significantly, by discussing potential applications in the control of arrays of micro electromechanical systems, understanding signal processing aspects of the brain of primitive animals, and as template models of spiking networks.