• IEEE CDC 2012 - Publications Special Session
• STEM Workshop for Middle and High School Students and Teachers: Ideas and Technology of Control Systems
• Towards the Next Generation of Industrial Control Solutions
• Using the Arduino with MATLAB and Simulink to Teach Controls

Abstract: The internet has changed the way we publish and the way we look at information. There are an increasing number of outlets for research, and publication is increasingly not just a method of communication but a method for evaluating researchers. Thus it has never been more critical to choose the appropriate avenue for making your research available to the wider world and to furthering your career.

This interactive session aims to look at the key aspects of publication including journals and books and will involve contributions and insights from journals editors and publishers to help you better understand the process and increase your chances of getting published.

It will close with a look at the future and examine possible future publication trends.

Session Structure

Abstract: This outreach event is designed to increase the general awareness of importance of systems and control technology and its cross-disciplinary nature among high school students and teachers. Control is used in many common devices and systems: cell phones, computer hard drives, automobiles, and aircraft, but is usually hidden from view. The control field spans science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The success of all STEM fields depends on attracting the most gifted young people to science and engineering profession. Early exposure to middle and high school students and their teachers is a key factor. The goal of these outreach efforts is to promote an increased awareness of the importance and cross-disciplinary nature of control and systems technology.

The workshop activities include presentations by control systems experts from our technical community, informal discussions, and the opportunity for teachers and students to meet passionate researchers and educators from academia and industry.  The talks are designed to be educational, inspirational and entertaining showing the excitement of the STEM fields.

Additional information can be found at http://www.math.ku.edu/ksacg/workshops/CDC_2012/cdc2012workshop.html

Organizing and Program Committee: Linda Bushnell, University of Washington; Dominique Duncan, Yale University; Tyrone Duncan, University of Kansas; Elisa Franco, University of California, Riverside; Richard Murray, California Institute of Technology; Angela Schöllig, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Ufuk Topcu, California Institute of Technology; Sebastian Trimpe, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract: General Electric industrial businesses span a broad range of applications from appliances to power generation, aircraft engines, medical diagnostics and water treatment. Today, over 4000 control engineers around the company are responsible for developing controls for these systems to achieve the highest levels of safety, efficiency and reliability. The control team at GE Global Research, through its divisions in Asia, Europe, North and South America are working in close collaboration with all the industrial partners fueling innovation and enabling the best techniques to advance the state of the art in industrial applications. Recent progress in control hardware and efficient algorithms for control and optimization are enabling industrial application of techniques that were until recently confined to academic environments. In this talk, we will give an overview of control technologies generated at Global Research during the last few decade including applications in locomotives, gas and steam turbines and renewable energies. We will also describe ongoing advanced controls activities for the future generation of products.

Abstract: Low-cost microcontroller platforms such as Arduino are popular teaching tools because they enable students to work with physical control problems. Students have an opportunity to experience design and implementation of practical control algorithms and then gain hands-on experience with a variety of control applications.

In this session, you will learn how the Arduino can be used together with Simulink to supplement control system courses and lab exercises with hands-on applications. We will explore simple system identification, practical controller tuning, and controller implementation.

In particular, we will talk about the design and implementation of a PID controller when a plant model is not available. Through a DC motor control example, we will demonstrate how to:

• Apply input signals (voltage) to the motor and collect output (angular position) test data
• Identify and validate linear and nonlinear plant models using multiple data sets
• Design a linear controller based on the linear motor model and simulate its performance against the nonlinear model
• Implement and test the controller on a target hardware platform

About the Speaker: Erman Korkut is a Software Developer in the Control and Identification Group at MathWorks. He has extensive experience with developing tools for linear system analysis and control design in MATLAB and Simulink. Erman holds an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering with a major in Control Systems from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.