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SUMMARY:The dynamics of confusion and consensus in cooperative multi-agent
  control systems
DTSTART:20121019T111500
DTEND:20121019T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T062817Z
UID:bbba8ab1f6b00b6b7a0b6c282c3a823af2a16fff06bfba6cb7047020
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Roy Smith (Automatic Control Lab\, ETH Zurich)\nInterest in th
 e dynamics of coordinated and cooperative systems has  grown significantl
 y in recent years.  Such systems appear in many  disciplines\; biology (
 synchronized firefly displays\, flocking and  schooling behavior)\, opera
 tions management (decentralized dynamic task  assignment)\, environmental
  science (mobile environmental sensors)\,  aeronautics (autonomous aerial
  vehicle formations) and computer  science (distributed computing consens
 us) are just a few examples. \n\nThe focus of this work is high-performan
 ce cooperative control and the  motivating application is the distributed
  control of deep-space  interferometric imaging formations.  Architectur
 es for high  performance distributed control require overlapping informat
 ion and  estimation structures.  These in turn lead to issues of confusi
 on and  consensus when agents estimate each others behavior in the attemp
 t to  achieve a common goal.  This confusion can exhibit its own dynamic
 s\,  which if not managed\, degrades the overall system performance.  Co
 ntrolling confusion requires communication amongst the agents\,  leading 
 to minimum communication requirements in high performance  cooperative sy
 stems.   Methods for the design of distributed  estimators\, using both
  local measurements and lossy communication  channels have been developed
  to address these problems.  \n\n\nBiography: \n\nRoy Smith's Ph.D. is 
 from Caltech\, Pasadena\, in 1990\, after  which he joined the faculty at
  the University of California\,  Santa Barbara.  In January 2011 he move
 d to ETH Zurich.  He has  held visiting Professor positions at UC Berkel
 ey\, Indian Institute of Science\, Cambridge University\, and KTH Stockhol
 m. \n\nRoy Smith's research interests are in the areas of: modeling and 
  identification\, robust\, model predictive and coordinated control.  He 
 has  developed and applied theory to a variety of experimental testbeds i
 ncluding: process control\, automotive engine systems\,   flexible space
  structures\, aeromanoeuvring Mars entry vehicles\,  formation flying of 
 spacecraft\, magnetically levitated bearings\, semiconductor growth\, and 
 building energy/thermal management. He  has been a long time consultant t
 o the Jet Propulsion laboratory on guidance\, navigation and control aspec
 ts of interplanetary and deep-space  science spacecraft.
LOCATION:ME C2 405
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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