Events Calendar

Dynamics and control of distributed systems

Speaker: Mihailo Jovanovic, University of Minnesota

Talk Title: Dynamics and control of distributed systems

Abstract: In the first part of the talk, we examine fundamental limitations arising from the use of local feedback in networks subject to stochastic disturbances. For vehicular formation control problems in topology of regular lattices we show that it is impossible to have coherent large formations, that behave like rigid lattices, in one and two spatial dimensions. Yet we prove that this is achievable in 3D. The observed phenomenon is a consequence of the fact that, in 1D and 2D, local feedback laws are ineffective in guarding against disturbances with large spatial wavelength. We provide connections with several other problems including distributed averaging algorithms, global mean first passage time of random walks, effective resistance in electrical networks, and statistical mechanics of harmonic solids. We close the first part of the talk by demonstrating how tools and ideas from control theory, optimization, and compressive sensing can be combined to identify network topologies that strike desired tradeoff between the performance and sparsity.
In the second part of the talk, techniques from control theory are used to study the early stages of transition to turbulence in wall-bounded shear flows. We demonstrate high sensitivity of the flow equations to modeling imperfections and show that control theory can be used not only to design flow control algorithms but also to provide valuable insights into the transition mechanisms.

Biography: Mihailo Jovanovic (www.umn.edu/~mihailo) is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He has held visiting positions with Stanford University and the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications. His current research focuses on fundamental limitations in the design of large dynamic networks, sparsity-promoting optimal control, and dynamics and control of fluid flows. He is a senior member of IEEE and currently serves as an Associate Editor of the SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization. He served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Control Systems Society Conference Editorial Board from July 2006 until December 2010. Prof. Jovanovic received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation in 2007, an Early Career Award from the University of Minnesota Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment in 2010, a Resident Fellowship within the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota in 2012, the George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award from the IEEE Control Systems Society in 2013, the University of Minnesota Informatics Institute Transdisciplinary Research Fellowship in 2014, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from UC Santa Barbara in 2014.

Host: Petros Ioannou

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Shane Goodoff