Modeling of linear fading memory systems

Motivated by questions of approximate modeling and identification, we consider various classes of linear time-varying bounded-input-bounded output (BIBO) stable fading memory systems and the characterizations are proved. These include fading memory systems in general, almost periodic systems, and asymptotically periodic systems. We also show that the norm and strong convergence coincide for BIBO stable causal fading memory system

System Level Synthesis

This article surveys the System Level Synthesis framework, which presents a novel perspective on constrained robust and optimal controller synthesis for linear systems. We show how SLS shifts the controller synthesis task from the design of a controller to the design of the entire closed loop system, and highlight the benefits of this approach in terms of scalability and transparency. We emphasize two particular applications of SLS, namely large-scale distributed optimal control and robust control. In the case of distributed control, we show how SLS allows for localized controllers to be computed, extending robust and optimal control methods to large-scale systems under practical and realistic assumptions. In the case of robust control, we show how SLS allows for novel design methodologies that, for the first time, quantify the degradation in performance of a robust controller due to model uncertainty -- such transparency is key in allowing robust control methods to interact, in a principled way, with modern techniques from machine learning and statistical inference. Throughout, we emphasize practical and efficient computational solutions, and demonstrate our methods on easy to understand case studies.Comment: To appear in Annual Reviews in Contro

Robust control of a bimorph mirror for adaptive optics system

We apply robust control technics to an adaptive optics system including a dynamic model of the deformable mirror. The dynamic model of the mirror is a modification of the usual plate equation. We propose also a state-space approach to model the turbulent phase. A continuous time control of our model is suggested taking into account the frequential behavior of the turbulent phase. An H_\infty controller is designed in an infinite dimensional setting. Due to the multivariable nature of the control problem involved in adaptive optics systems, a significant improvement is obtained with respect to traditional single input single output methods

Exploring, tailoring, and traversing the solution landscape of a phase-shaped CARS process

Pulse shaping techniques are used to improve the selectivity of broadband CARS experiments, and to reject the overwhelming background. Knowledge about the fitness landscape and the capability of tailoring it is crucial for both fundamental insight and performing an efficient optimization of phase shapes. We use an evolutionary algorithm to find the optimal spectral phase of the broadband pump and probe beams in a background-suppressed shaped CARS process. We then investigate the shapes, symmetries, and topologies of the landscape contour lines around the optimal solution and also around the point corresponding to zero phase. We demonstrate the significance of the employed phase bases in achieving convex contour lines, suppressed local optima, and high optimization fitness with a few (and even a single) optimization parameter

Mild solutions of semilinear elliptic equations in Hilbert spaces

This paper extends the theory of regular solutions ($C^1$ in a suitable sense) for a class of semilinear elliptic equations in Hilbert spaces. The notion of regularity is based on the concept of $G$-derivative, which is introduced and discussed. A result of existence and uniqueness of solutions is stated and proved under the assumption that the transition semigroup associated to the linear part of the equation has a smoothing property, that is, it maps continuous functions into $G$-differentiable ones. The validity of this smoothing assumption is fully discussed for the case of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck transition semigroup and for the case of invertible diffusion coefficient covering cases not previously addressed by the literature. It is shown that the results apply to Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations associated to infinite horizon optimal stochastic control problems in infinite dimension and that, in particular, they cover examples of optimal boundary control of the heat equation that were not treatable with the approaches developed in the literature up to now