Progress in automation and control has been driven, in part, by the desire to realize complex engineering systems capable of autonomous operation. I illustrate the trend toward increasing autonomy with examples from multiple domains--aerospace, process industries, facility management. Economics, performance, and human safety are highlighted as key considerations driving research in autonomous systems. Yet in many respects the goal of true autonomy remains a distant vision; in particular, complex systems today have limited abilities to respond appropriately to "unforeseen" situations. The second half of the talk discusses some research topics in autonomous systems. New developments in model-predictive control, hybrid dynamical systems, adaptive resource management, and statistical verification are reviewed. I end with some speculative remarks on "consciousness" as it relates to autonomy.
Biography
Dr. Tariq Samad is a Corporate Fellow with Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions. He has been with various R&D organizations in Honeywell for 19 years, and he has been involved in a number of projects that have explored applications of intelligent systems and intelligent control technologies to domains such as autonomous aircraft, building and facility management, power system security, and process monitoring and control. He was the editor-in-chief of IEEE Control Systems Magazine from 1998 to 2003 and currently serves on the editorial boards of Control Engineering Practice and Neural Processing Letters. He has published about 100 articles in books, journals, and conference proceedings and he holds 11 patents with others pending. His recent publications include the edited volumes Automation, Control, and Complexity: An Integrated View (Wiley), Perspectives in Control: Technologies, Applications, New Directions (IEEE Press), and Software-Enabled Control: Information Technology for Dynamical Systems (Wiley). Dr. Samad was the Program Chair for the 2004 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control (Taipei, Taiwan) and he is the Program Chair for the 2008 American Control Conference. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the recipient of an IEEE Third Millennium Medal and of a Distinguished Member Award from the IEEE Control Systems Society. Dr. Samad received a B.S. degree in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Directions
The meeting will be held from
9:10 to 9:40 am in
Room 3-180 of the
Electrical Engineering/Computer Science Building located on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota Campus (200 Union Street SE, Minneapolis, MN). The nearest parking lots are the
Washington Avenue Ramp and the
Church Street Garage. Rates are $2.50 for 0-1 hour, $5.00 for 1-2 hours, and $7.00 for 2-3 hours.
