Date: 16.06.2023

Time: 15:00 CEST (Central European Summer Time)

Title of the Talk: Optimal Control of Switched Dynamical Systems under Dwell Time Constraints

Speaker: Dr. Usman Ali (Assistant Professor in School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan)

Profiles: LinkedIn, Google Scholar

Event Link: Zoom

Abstract: This talk addresses the problem of optimal mode scheduling subject to dwell time constraints which is the minimum amount of time a mode has to spend in one mode before it can transition to another. The constraint is important since most physical systems cannot switch rapidly between different modes and its presence also eliminates the problem of chattering solutions by construction. Also we will look into investigation of the topology of the optimization space and show that it lacks structure to define local minima. A theoretical framework is then developed for defining the optimal solution as stationary points of optimality functions and an optimality function proposed for characterizing the necessary conditions of optimality. The challenges posed by dwell time constraints to algorithmic implementation are addressed by exploring the geometric properties of mode insertion gradient and a technique is developed for rapid update of the mode sequence. The algorithm’s convergence to optimal solution is proved and simulation results provided to demonstrate the algorithm’s application.

Biography of the Speaker: Dr. Usman Ali received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering and computer science, M.S. degree in Mathematics and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology, GA, USA in 2012, 2014 and 2016 respectively. He is currently working as an assistant professor in School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. His research interests include control theory, robotics, cyber-physical systems and smart grids.

Dr. Ali was a Flubright Fellow (U.S Department of State) from 2010 to 2017 at Georgia Institute of Technology and a recipient of the Alumni of the Year Award from University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar.