Jan Lunze (U Bochum)

   Modern means of communication make it easy to connect system components like sensors, actuators or even whole subsystems whenever information links may contribute to improving the overall system performance. Due to this flexibility, a new challenge for control theory is to elaborate systematic ways for the selection of the information structure that are suitable for a given control task.

The lectures deal with important lines of research in the new field of networked dynamic systems starting from the new research questions raised by the availability of digital communication networks and the closer integration of communication and control theory. Algebraic graph theory is used as the foundation for novel analysis and design methods for multi-agent systems, for event-based control, and for self-organised networked control. Several examples and experimental results illustrate important phenomena found in networked systems and the applicability of the methods explained.

Suggested reading: J. Lunze (Ed.): "Control Theory of Digitally Networked Dynamic Systems", Springer-Verlag 2014

Matthias Gerdts (Bundeswehr U München)

Optimal control problems appear in various applications in the engineering sciences, economical sciences, or natural sciences. The common task in these applications is
to control a dynamic system in such a way that a given performance measure is
minimized taking into account control or state constraints. The lectures deal with
theoretical foundations of optimal control in terms of necessary conditions and in particular with discretization techniques for solving optimal control problems numerically. Links to related subjects like model-predictive control techniques are being discussed and numerical experiments will be conducted, in which vehicles and robots are controlled in an optimal way.

Suggested reading: M. Gerdts: "Optimal Control of ODEs and DAEs", DeGruyter, Berlin, 2011. 

Lecture notes & Exercise sheets