U.S.-Mexico International Workshop in the Technological Peripheries of Large-Scale, Tightly Coupled Systems: Mexico City, March 2004

Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Investigators

Abstract

0340902 Batteau This U.S.-Mexico workshop will support a meeting of a group of scientists and engineers from the United States, Mexico, France, Belgium, Ukraine, Cameroon, Morocco, and Taiwan. Organized by Dr. Allen Batteau of the Wayne State University and Dr. Carmen Bueno of the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, the meeting will aim to further our understanding of the challenges posed by large-scale, tightly coupled systems. These systems, whether air transport, electrical power grids, irrigation schemes, or pharmaceutical regimes, span multiple physical and cultural regions, and present unique complexities in their operation. For example, the power grid failure of August 15, 2003 was a vivid reminder of the operational challenges to safety and reliability these systems pose. The proposed workshop is the first step in a long-term international collaboration to study these issues. Participants will compare baseline studies on one industry, civil aviation, to validate the nature and extent of the problem, and to develop an agenda for further research and improvement strategies. With the validation of the basic concepts and agenda, the results of the workshop will be made available to industry and government representatives to develop mitigation strategies and solutions. This workshop has the goal of promoting safety and security both in civil aviation as well as other industries where large-scale, tightly coupled systems are found. The world is a much smaller place than it was just three years ago, and large-scale, tightly coupled systems have demonstrated their capability to transmit threats not simply from one nation to another, but from one continent to another. By developing new operational approaches, including new organizational relationships and new forms of communication and training between more- and less-advanced regions, these threats to safety and security can be reduced.