Bio

Gürdal Arslan received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 2001. From 2001 to 2004, he was an Assistant Researcher in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles. In August 2004, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. His current research interests lie in the design of cooperative (multi-agent) systems using game theoretic methods. Recent applications of his research include autonomous resource allocation for mission planning, multi-sensor deployment, traffic management, and cooperative multi-user MIMO signaling in wireless communication systems. He is a member of the IEEE Control Systems Society and he received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award on "Cooperative Systems Design - Stochastic Games Approach" in May 2006.

Abstract

We will overview some of the recent developments in the design of cooperative (multi-agent) systems, defined as systems of interconnected autonomous agents optimizing their own local objectives yet accomplishing a global objective. Cooperative systems design is a recent research theme that received significant attention primarily due to interest in designing "smart" vehicles with intelligent and coordinated action capabilities to achieve a system-wide objective. Other applications include multi-vehicle search and target assignment for military mission planning, multi-sensor deployment for anti-submarine warfare, cooperative multi-user MIMO signaling in wireless communication systems, distributed optimization in VLSI routing, congestion management in transportation systems. There are two key issues in designing such systems: 1) designing local objectives, i.e., telling the autonomous agents what to optimize, and 2) designing negotiation algorithms, i.e., telling the autonomous agents how to optimize. Recent research shows that game theory is the most natural framework to analyze and synthesize cooperative systems. We will review some of the core concepts and tools provided by game theory to address those key issues involved in designing cooperative systems.

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Bio

Brian is an assistant professor at Florida State University. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. His special interests are probability, stochastic processes, numerical analysis, fluid dynamics and equations of the atmosphere & ocean.

Abstract

The Two-Dimensional Primitive Equations with an Additive Noise

We consider a stochastic analogue of the two-dimensional primitive equations of the atmosphere and ocean with an additive noise. We will show the existence and uniqueness of solutions (in an appropriate sense), and consider some of the functional and probabilistic aspects of the solution.

Bio

Machines that think and move as if alive have fascinated Brandon since the advent of the Transformers. He has pursued this interest through mechanical engineering degrees at BYU (BS '97) and MIT (MS '99, PhD '02) and through his research in the Cybernetic Systems Integration Group at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. Current research topics include high-performance prosthetic sockets, human neural interface technologies, and biomimetic machine learning.

Abstract

The problem of unsupervised learning in an unmodeled agent of an unmodeled environment is one of the hard problems in intelligent robotics, but it is a reasonable description of what human infants do. I will present a summary of some initial work I have done in this area--a Brain-Emulating Cognition and Control Architecture (BECCA).

A BECCA-driven agent bootstraps a model of itself and its environment through two simple algorithms: S-Learning and Context-Based Similarity. In S-Learning, sequences of experiences provide the basis for future predictions and command selection. Context-Based Similarity uses those sequences to form abstract concepts, dramatically reducing the dimensionality of the learning problem. Implementations of BECCA in simulation and in hardware will be given as illustrative examples.

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Bio

Neil Dalchau obtained an undergraduate masters degree in Mathematics (MMath) from the University of Oxford in 2005. During the final year, he also spent some time working on finite element methods for electromagnetic problems at Vector Fields Ltd. He is currently (2007) at the beginning of his third year at the University of Cambridge working in a collaborative project between Alex Webb (Dept. of Plant Sciences) and Jorge Goncalves (Dept. of Engineering). He is interested in Systems Identification techniques for linear and nonlinear systems, and network reconstruction methods. His research has used these tools to learn properties of uncharacterised mechanisms in the face of noisy biological observations. .

Abstract

Almost all organisms have evolved a circadian clock, a genetic network of interlocking feedback loops which provide temporal information at the cellular level. The circadian clock controls many physiological processes, conferring great advantages to the fitness of the organism. Circadian biology has seen great interest from mathematical modellers in recent years, due to the complex network of feedback loops. This work is predominately concerned with the core mechanism which generates the oscillations, the components of which are often known. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the model plant organism, many of the central oscillator genes are known, but the pathways through which they regulate physiology are often completely uncharacterised. We have been investigating experimentally and mathematically the interplay between the circadian clock and the uncharacterised signalling pathways of calcium (Ca2+), light and sugars.

In this talk, two studies will be presented. With a careful choice of training data, we show how linear systems can be used to predict Ca2+ dynamics resulting from uncharacterised pathways. These pathways are replaced with explicit time delays, and the resulting models show the necessity for two inputs controlling Ca2+ signals through extensive validation. Also, a bifurcation matching method is proposed for adjusting existing clock models to different experimental conditions (the external availability of sugars). This leads to testable hypotheses for the targets of sugar signalling in the circadian clock.

Jorge Goncalves is a postdoctoral scholar in the Control and Dynamical Systems Divisions at Caltech.

Research Interests: Complex Systems, Modeling, analysis, and control of complex systems like biological metabolic networks, economic market, communication networks, statistical mechanics. Proof Methods. Hybrid Systems. Robustness analysis of nonlinear systems. Applications to robotic manipulators and walking robots.

Bio

Nicola Elia received the Laurea degree in Electrical Engineering from Politecnico of Turin in 1987, the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996. He worked at Fiat Research Center from 1987 to 1990. He was Postdoctoral Associate at the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems at MIT from 1996 to 1999. Presently is an associate professor with the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. He received the NFS CAREER Award in 2001. His research interests include computational methods for controller design, complex systems, networked control systems.

Abstract

In this talk we consider systems involving communication channels in loops. In the first part, we focus on communication systems with access to feedback and show how such systems could be designed using control theory ideas and tools. We present a tight connection between the Sensitivity Bode Integral formula, (a fundamental limitation of feedback systems), and the achievable communication rate expressed in term of the average Directed Information of the channel. We apply our approach to several Gaussian channels and Gaussian networks and show that either achieves or improves on the available results. In the second part of the talk, we concentrate on feedback control systems over communication channels. We describe some new results on performance limitations induced by the presence of Gaussian channels in the feedback loop. We then consider fading channel models. The simplest model is the analog erasure channel, which is used as a model for packet-drop links. We present a general framework to analyze the performance of linear systems with linear controllers over fading channels. The approach is to consider the fading nature of the channels as a source of (stochastic) uncertainty, and to recast the whole problem as a robust control problem over stochastic perturbations. We present several examples to elucidate the setup and the framework, including the simultaneous design of controller encoders and decoders that exploit the channel state information. Finally, we apply the framework to predict the emer gence of power laws distributions in the behavior of networked control systems.m

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Bio

Robin Roundy is a professor of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering at Cornell University, where he has been since 1983. He graduated magna cum laude from Brigham Young University, where he received the Orson Pratt Award, which is given annually to the outstanding mathematics graduate. He then studied operations research at Stanford University, where he received his doctorate in 1984. That same year he won the Nicholson Student Paper Competition, sponsored by the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA). In 1985, he received a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation. In 1988 he received the Fredrick W. Lanchester Prize of the Operations Research Society of America for the best paper of the year on operations research. Cornell’s College of Engineering awarded him the S. Yau Excellence in Teaching Award in 1997 and 2002. He is a member of The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, and of the Institute of Industrial Engineers.

Abstract

We summarize a multi-year research effort designed to provide useful tools for capacity planning decisions in the semiconductor industry. The decisions are crucial and challenging. The business environment is volatile, but equipment has long procurement lead times and is extremely expensive. Capacity planning in a stochastic environment. We will review and evaluate current business practices. We present methods for quantifying the errors in demand forecasts. We present a novel approach for multi-dimensional demand modeling, and discuss practical and algorithmic implications of different stock out cost models. We present efficient algorithms for provably solvable versions of the capacity planning problem

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Bio

David Robinson graduated with his bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University in 1994. He immediately started graduate work, continuing with Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His masters work dealt with the development of a rapid prototyping technology called 3D Printing, a layered manufacturing process. His doctoral research took place at the MIT Leg Laboratory. David's dissertation focused on high fidelity, high power force controlled actuators. These actuators were used for dynamically stabilized walking and running robots developed in his research group.

At the completion of his doctoral program in 2000, David started work on a project, called "Ginger", for the company that was to eventually become Segway LLC. After almost two years of strict confidentiality, David was relieved to finally show his family and friends that he had actually been doing something at work. David was responsible for system dynamics development of the Segway HT i-series, launched in December of 2001. More recently, David directed the system dynamics development and validation for Segway's recently released second model, the Segway HT p-series. He is presently engaged in further core technology development for Segway.

David enjoys reading, swimming, biking, running, skiing and many other dynamically stabilized activities. He balances life too by staying actively involved with his family, church, and community. David is the proud father of three wonderful children and husband to a most incredible wife. David is a native of Provo, UT and is happy to be back home visiting his alma matter.

Abstracts

The operation of the Segway HT has been described in the popular press as "magic." But, the Segway HT is a real system and real systems have physical limits. The vast majority of engineering time in the development of a revolutionary product is spent in discovering, understanding, and dealing with those physical limits. In this presentation, I discuss a few of the major challenges in the development of the Segway HT with regard to the physical limits of the machine. I also talk about some of the practices fostered in our company culture that specifically address working at the limits.