The  Chinese Control Conference

Pre-conference Workshop 1

Networked control frontier

Speaker: Guoping Liu, Southern University of Science and Technology, China

Title: Coordination of Networked Multi-Agent Systems Using a Predictive Control Strategy

Abstract: The rapid development of network technology accelerates the applications of networked multi-agent systems, such as the Internet of things and industrial Internet systems. There exist various challenges in the design, analysis and implementation of networked multi-agent control systems because of communication constraints (e.g., network delays, data loss, attacks, faults, variable network topology etc.). This talk mainly introduces the coordination of networked multi-agent systems with various communication constraints using a predictive control strategy, including the networked multi-agent predictive control method, stability and consensus analysis, and implementation techniques. The networked multi-agent predictive control method makes use of the network characteristics of transmitting vector data streams and adopts the predictive control idea to compensate for communication constraints actively so that the control performance of networked multi-agent systems is almost the same as the one of the systems without networks. The simultaneous stability and consensus of the networked multi-agent predictive control system are analysed. Employing an experimental platform of networked multi-agent control systems, the simulation and experimental results illustrate the coordination of networked multi-agents using the predictive control strategy.

Biography: Professor Guoping Liu received the BEng and MEng degrees from the Central South University of Technology (now Central South University, China) and the PhD degree from the University of Manchester in the UK. He was a hundred-talent program visiting professor with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a Changjiang Scholar visiting professor with the Harbin Institute of Technology, and a professor with the University of South Wales and Wuhan University. He is now a professor with the Southern University of Science and Technology. Prof Liu’s research interests include networked control systems, multi-objective optimal control and decision, nonlinear identification and intelligent control, and industrial advanced control applications. He has completed more than 80 research projects as a principal investigator. He is an author of 10 books, 2 edited books, over 370 journal papers and 330 conference papers, and has 16 patents, 39 software copyrights and 2 software products. He was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship in 1992. He was named a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters in 2014 and 2015, by Clarivate Analytics in 2016-2018, and by Elsevier in 2014-2020. He received the second prize of Chinese National Science and Technology Awards in 2008 and 2015. Prof. Liu was the general chair of the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Networking, Sensing and Control, the 2011 International Conference on Intelligent Control and Information Processing, and the 2012 UKACC International Conference on Control. He served as an editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Automation and Computing in 2004-2021. He is a member of the Academy of Europe and a fellow of IEEE, IET and CAA.

Speaker: Weizhou Su, Affiliation: South China University of Technology, China

Title: Modeling of random data transmission delays and mean-square stability of networked LTI systems

Abstract: Data transmission delay is a major network-induced phenomenon that affects performance and stability of networked control systems. In this work, the data transmission delays under study are integer steps within a given bounded range. A sequence of data transmission delays in a networked system is assumed to be an independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) stochastic process and the probability mass function (PMF) for the transmission delays is known. The input-output relations of channels with random data transmission delays are established in time-domain and frequency-domain, respectively. With these models, a necessary and sufficient condition is presented for mean-square input-output stability of the networked system. It is found that the key factor of the channel which affects the mean-square input-output stability of the networked system is the frequency response of variation of the channel. It is a generalization of the signal-to-noise ratio of an additive white Gaussian noise channel. The connection between mean-square input-output stability and mean-square stability of the networked system is studied, and the mean-square stabilization designs via output feedback are discussed in terms of the input-output model and state-space model, respectively. Moreover, the mean-square stabilizable condition of the networked system is presented and the interaction between the plant’s unstable poles and the frequency response of variation of the channel is studied in the mean-square stabilization problem. Finally, H2 optimal design is studied for the systems.

Biography: Weizhou Su received the B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in automatic control engineering from the Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, in 1983 and 1986, respectively, the M.Eng. degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Nanyang Technological University, in 1996, and the PhD. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia, in 2000.

From 2000 to 2004, he held research positions in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China; the School of QMMS, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia, respectively. In 2004, he joined the School of Automation Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, where he is currently a full professor. His research interests include networked control system, robust and optimal control, nonlinear systems and control, fundamental performance limitation of feedback control, and signal processing.

Speaker: Yuanqing Xia, Beijing Institute of Technology

Title: Cloud Control and Decision Theory with Applications

Abstract: In this report, a brief introduction of Cloud Control and Decision Theory will be given, some rencent research results and applications will be discussed in details.

Biography: Yuanqing Xia was born in Anhui Province, China in 1971, and graduated from the Department of Mathematics, Chuzhou University, China in 1991. He received a MSc in Fundamental Mathematics from Anhui University, China, in 1998, and a PhD in Control Theory and Control Engineering from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, in 2001. From 1991 to 1995 he was with Tongcheng Middle-School, China, where he worked as a teacher. From January 2002 to November 2003 he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute of Systems Science, Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, where he worked on navigation, guidance, and control. From November 2003 to February 2004 he was with the National University of Singapore as a Research Fellow, where he worked on variable structure control. From February 2004 to February 2006 he was with the University of Glamorgan, UK, as a Research Fellow, where he studied networked control systems. From February 2007 to June 2008 he was a guest professor with Innsbruck Medical University, Austria, where he worked on biomedical signal processing. Since July 2004 he has been with the School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, first as an Associate Professor and then since 2008 as Professor. In 2012 he was appointed Xu Teli Distinguished Professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and then in 2016 he was made Chair Professor. In 2012 he obtained the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China; in 2016 he was honored as the Yangtze River Scholar Distinguished Professor and was supported by the National High Level Talents Special Support Plan (“Million People Plan”) by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

He is now the Dean of the School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology. He has published ten monographs in Springer, John Wiley, and CRC, and more than 400 papers in international scientific journals. He is a deputy editor of the Journal of Beijing Institute of Technology and an associate editor of Acta Automatica Sinica; Control Theory and Applications; the International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information, and Control; and the International Journal of Automation and Computing. He obtained the Second Award of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology (No. 1) in 2010 and 2015, the Second National Award for Science and Technology (No. 2) in 2011, and the Second Natural Science Award of the Ministry of Education (No. 1) in 2012 and 2017. His research interests include cloud control systems, networked control systems, robust control and signal processing, active disturbance rejection control, unmanned system control and flight control.

Speaker: Xiang Li, Affiliation: Tongji University

Title: One path to autonomous decision and distributed optimization in the network era of collective intelligence

Abstract: The vertex cover of a network as a well-known nondeterministic polynomial (NP) hard problem requires to cover the minimum number of vertices of a general network, where at least one endpoint of each edge in the network is covered. Therefore, it has gained wide interest in both network science and potential engineering applications, such as wireless sensor networks, collective intelligence, intelligent autonomous systems, Internet of Things, and etc.. This talk will briefly review the literature of minimum vertex covering problem in the eyes of network science, autonomous decision and distributed optimization, and report the latest advance with the (evolutionary) game theory.   

Biography: Prof. Xiang Li received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in automatic control, control theory and control engineering from Nankai University, China, in 1997 and 2002, respectively. He was at the City University of Hong Kong, Int. University Bremen, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Fudan University as a post-doc research fellow, Humboldt research fellow, associate professor, full professor/distinguished professor in 2002-2004, 2005-2006, 2004-2007, and 2008-2021, respectively. Currently, he is a distinguished professor of Tongji University, and the founding director of the Institute of Complex Networks and Intelligent Systems at Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. He serves as the Associate Editor of Journal of Complex Networks, Research, and the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Newsletter, and the Associate Editor (2018-2021) and Area Editor (since 2022) of the IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering journal. His main research interests cover network science and systems control in both theory and applications. He received the IEEE Guillemin-Cauer Best Transactions Paper Award from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society in 2005, Shanghai Natural Science Award (1st class) in 2008, National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholar of China in 2014, the National Natural Science Award of China (2nd class) in 2015, the Ten Thousand Talent Program of China in 2017, TCCT CHEN Han-Fu Award of Chinese Automation Association in 2019, and the Excellent Editor Award of the IEEE Trans. Network Science and Engineering in 2021, among other awards and honors.