Special issue of SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization

By Jorge Cortes
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SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization

Special issue

Control and Optimization in Cooperative Networks

The purpose of this special issue is to bring together contributions at the intersection of the fields of systems and control theory and the emerging application domain of cooperative networks. Multi-agent networks can be mathematically modeled as a set of complex dynamical systems interacting with each other. The motion coordination of individual agents, for instance, is closely related to classic topics in dynamics such as the synchronization phenomenon in coupled nonlinear oscillators and the stability of mechanical systems subject to gyroscopic forces. Cooperative networks exhibit some features that make their analysis fascinating: (i) many times their dynamics takes the form of discontinuous vector fields and non-deterministic discrete-time systems; (ii) other times they can be studied using the theories of ergodic, circulant and Toeplitz matrices; (iii) often they optimize some aggregate objective function which is not differentiable, but Lipschitz; (iv) the couplings between the various dynamical systems change as the topology of the mobile network changes; and (v) the structure of the interconnection between the dynamical systems can be characterized with graph theoretical and computational geometric tools. These and other complex features make cooperative networks very exciting from a dynamical systems and control perspective. Specific topics addressed in the issue include (and are not limited to):

  • motion coordination for pattern formation, deployment, self organization and aggregation
  • distributed control algorithms for consensus, estimation, and target tracking
  • formal models and complexity analysis of cooperative algorithms
  • scalability, robustness and distributed control
  • wireless networking of sensors, actuators, and controllers
  • operation of cooperative networks under resource constraints, communication failures, and uncertainty

The call for papers, together with specific instructions for submission, can be found at http://www.siam.org/journals/sicon.php. This is the first special issue of the SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization. The guest editors are Francesco Bullo, Jorge Cortés and Benedetto Piccoli. The submission deadline is November 1, 2006.

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