Control Systems and Nonlinear Dynamics
ANALYSIS AND MODELING OF NONLINEAR CONTROL SYSTEMS
Nonlinear control systems have been extensively investigated in the literature since real-world control systems usually contain blocks whose nonlinear nature cannot be ignored. How to deal with nonlinear systems strongly depends on their inner structure, the considered phenomenon, and the control goal control. Current research topics: analysis of oscillations and their bifurcations in memristor-based devices, actually seen as basic nanoscale elements which may give rise to a new analogue computational paradigm; analysis and control of aero-servo-elastic systems, with particular attention to the problem of flutter for airplane wings
NONLINEAR DYNAMICAL NETWORKS
The interplay of dynamics, interactions and topology in a network of dynamical systems is the central theme of this area of research. Applications are multiple, covering areas such as physics, biology, engineering, and ranging from neural networks up to social webs. Modeling nodes and their functional responses and estimating their mutual interconnections are crucial issues. Current research topics: identification of the hidden structural properties, which links the underlying topology with the emerging dynamical behavior of the network; development of distributed local controllers able enforce the network displaying a desired dynamics.
PREDICTIVE CONTROL
Model Predictive Control (MPC) aims to optimize the performance of a control algorithm with respect to a set of constraints and benchmarks by using a model to predict the system behavior. Current research topics: design and analysis of Economic MPC to directly and dynamically optimize the profitability of a plant while simultaneously enhancing both the transient and steady-state behavior of the system; application of the MPC approach to self- and event-triggered controllers to optimize the schedule of data transfers in control networks, as required by the Industry 4.0 framework.
ROBUST AND OPTIMAL CONTROL
Robust stability and optimal performance are issues of major concern in the design of feedback control systems. Current research topics: robust stability in the face of exogenous disturbances for nonlinear systems with special attention on the so called Input-to-State Stability approach; synthesis of a finite family of switching linear time invariant controllers for improving robust performance of control systems with uncertain plants; bolstering controllers designed via feedback linearization techniques, when they face possibly inexact nonlinear cancellation issues.
AUTONOMOUS AND MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS
Autonomous systems display self-sustained behaviors, which depend on configuration and initial conditions, but which are not driven by external inputs. A fundamental issue in the field pertains “bifurcations”, i.e., sudden modifications of the behavior activated by varying the set up. Multi-agent systems are a special subclass of autonomous systems, where the internal structure is naturally divided into interconnected non-autonomous subsystems (the agents). Current research topics: consensus problems, where the agents interconnections are designed to reach an agreement, and formation control, with special focus on car platooning.
Last update
30.06.2022