DCL Seminar: P. S. Krishnaprasad - Optimality in Collectives

Decision and Control Lecture Series
Coordinated Science Laboratory

“Optimality in Collectives”

P. S. Krishnaprasad, Ph.D.
University of Maryland

Wednesday, November 2, 2016
3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
CSL Auditorium (B02)

Abstract:

Certain behaviors in nature suggest the possibility that they are governed by optimality principles. Using a simple model defined on the rigid motion group SE(2), one can investigate this possibility. More broadly, we are lead to optimal control problems for coupled systems of particles on matrix Lie groups. The coupling is through cost, defined by graphs of interaction, and we characterize the limit of strong coupling for our motion model. In the broader setting, one can show that similar results hold, by appealing to a method of enlargement due to Brockett. Our work also exploits principles of symmetry and reduction from mechanics, and leads naturally to some questions in subriemannian geometry. This talk is based on joint work with Eric Justh of the Naval Research Laboratory.

Bio:

P. S. Krishnaprasad received the Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 1977. He taught in the Systems Engineering Department at Case Western Reserve University from 1977 to 1980. Since August 1980, he has been with the University of Maryland, currently a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, with a joint appointment at the Institute for Systems Research. His interests lie in the areas of geometric control theory, filtering and signal processing, robotics, acoustics, and biologically?inspired approaches to control, sensing and computation. His work is now focused on pursuit and cohesion in nature and in engineered systems. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. He delivered the Munich Mathematical Colloquium Lecture in fall 2006, the Hendrik W. Bode Lecture of the IEEE Control Systems Society in 2007, and the Baetjer Colloquium Lecture at Princeton University in 2012.