Einladung zum Vortrag im Kolloquium Technische Kybernetik

 From Static to Dynamic Couplings in Synchronization and Consensus

Dipl.-Ing. Peter Wieland
Institute for Systems Theory and Automatic Control
University of Stuttgart
Stuttgart · Germany

    Zeit: Dienstag, 27. April 2010 · 16:00 Uhr
Ort: IST-Seminarraum 3.243 · Pfaffenwaldring 9 · Campus Stuttgart-Vaihingen

Abstract

Consensus and synchronization problems (CSP) have been a popular subject in systems and control for quite some while. They find applications in areas ranging from social sciences to engineering. Essentially, the problem is to reach agreement about some variable of interest or synchronize system trajectories. The use of static, diffusive couplings is a standard approach to solve CSP. Examples include the classical consensus problem of integrator agents and synchronization of Kuramoto oscillators, which can to some extent be seen as a nonlinear analog to the classical linear consensus problem. Extensions exist for more general linear systems and nonlinear oscillators. They differ in the assumptions on the constraints imposed on the communications between the systems and in the assumption on the individual systems. As a common point, they all share the fact that the individual systems are coupled through static control laws that depend on relative information in some sense. In this talk, we show different scenarios where dynamic couplings allow for relaxed assumptions on individual system dynamics or communication constraints in CSP. The most proximate example from a control point of view is the use of dynamic observers if reduced information is available to the individual systems. While the design of observers in CSP can be a challenging task, the benefit of dynamic couplings reaches well beyond state estimation. It actually gives rise to a new synchronization paradigm. We will show how this new paradigm enables synchronization of heterogeneous groups of linear systems as well as groups of identical nonlinear oscillators, both under uniformly connected communication graphs.

Biographical Information

Peter Wieland studied Engineering Cybernetics at University of Stuttgart, Germany and Ecole Centrale Paris, France. He got his Diploma degree from University of Stuttgart in 2005. In September 2005, he joined the Institute for Systems Theory and Automatic Control at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he is currently a research and teaching assistant. His research interests are focused on consensus and synchronization in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups.