Plenary Lecture

Control and Estimation Theory: Current Trends, New Challenges, & Directions for the Future

Professor Lena Valavani
Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139 U.S.A.
E-mail: valavani@mit.edu
 

Abstract: Despite the tremendous strides witnessed in the Control and Estimation of lumped parameter systems , whether linear or nonlinear, the issue of stability and performance robustness under simultaneous structured and unstructured uncertainty still remains largely unresolved. When fault tolerance, autonomy and reactivity are added to the requirements, this presents an additional challenge. ‘Closed form’ solutions are in most cases not possible and computational methods (optimization based, search, etc.) do not provide the necessary guarantees.
The challenges become even greater in the case of distributed systems and networks, such as large industrial/manufacturing plants, environmental applications (CO2 sequestration), communications networks, traffic networks (aeronautical, highway), space networks (satellite constellations), biomedical applications( CNS studies) which, by their nature, require control and estimation in a distributed setting. Requirements and specifications can also be widely variable between safety critical and socially/economically significant systems.
It becomes increasingly evident that control, communications and computation need to be synergistically combined through a ‘universal formalism’ and novel paradigms that combine logical operations (symbolic reasoning and decision making) with analytical constructs (mathematical algorithms)and continuous quantities(throughput, subsystem interconnections), in order to handle heterogeneity, asynchronicity , real time functionality, properties that typically characterize distributed systems/networks.
We focus on some representative examples to elucidate key issues that arise in modeling, algorithm design, computation, in order to ensure robustness , fault tolerance, autonomy and even reactivity of distributed systems/networks, that point to the need for total synergy of Control, Communications , and Computation/Computer Science- to meet today’s and future challenges.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Lena Valavani holds her B.S. in Physics, from Barnard College, Columbia University, and the M.S., M.Phil. and Ph.D degrees in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University. After postdoctoral positions at Yale and MIT’s Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, she joined the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT, where she was Boeing Associate Professor. She also served as Chief Scientist, Systems Engineering, U.S. D U.S. Department of Transportation for four years. She is currently president of Hellenic Space Systems , S .A.
Dr. Valavani served as Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions of Automatic Control, Automatica , AIAA Journal of Guidance, Navigation and Control, and the International Journal on Robust and Nonlinear Control. She was elected to the Board of Directors, AIAA, N.E., and served as General Secretary. She also was for a long time a member of the steering committee of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, GBPSR, (1985 Nobel Peace Prize).
Her research interests are in modeling for, and the analysis and synthesis of control systems, estimation and identification, with emphasis on robustness to structured and unstructured uncertainty, fault tolerance and reconfiguration, currently in distributed systems and networks . Her research in the U.S. was supported by NASA, NSF, AFOSR,ONR ,and by private industry , resulting in innovative designs of prototype systems currently in operation in the U.S; in Europe by ESA and EC. She has supervised 27 Ph.D and 29 M.S theses at MIT , and 22 M.S. theses at NTUA and UoA.
Dr. Valavani was consultant to Lincoln Laboratory, C.S.Draper Laboratory , and Bell Helicopter while in the U.S. She received the Best Research Paper Award (1991) from the International Gas Turbine Institute and holds three U.S. Patents in the area of controlling unsteady aerodynamic processes in compressors. She is an Associate Fellow of AIAA.