Seminars

Abstract: This talk will consider robust disturbance rejection in high precision applications. We will start by motivating the work with one relevant problem: the control required for optical communication between satellites. We will then discuss the fundamental performance limits associated with linear time invariant (LTI) control. Linear time varying controllers, e.g. those that rely on online convex optimization, can potentially provide significant performance improvements. However, the ability to accurately adapt to the disturbance while maintaining closed-loop stability relies on having an accurate model of the plant. In fact, the model uncertainty can cause the closed-loop to become unstable. We provide a sufficient condition for robust stability based on the small gain theorem using the ell-infinity norm. This condition is easily incorporated as an on-line constraint in controllers that rely on online convex optimization.

Bio: Peter Seiler is an Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He is an IEEE Fellow and the recipient of the O. Hugo Schuck Award (2003) and an NSF CAREER award (2013). His research focuses on robust control theory which addresses the impact of model uncertainty on systems design. He has been a contributor to the Robust Control Toolbox in Matlab since 2001. He was a Principal Scientist from 2004-2008 in the Aerospace Electronic Systems group at the Honeywell Labs. During that time, he worked on the redundancy management system for the Boeing 787, sensor fusion algorithms for automotive active safety systems, and re-entry flight control laws for NASA's Orion vehicle.