Fully Actuated System Approach

Our Goal

The goal of the proposed TC is to provide a forum for idea exchange in the general research area of system analysis and control based on the FAS approach. As Alberto Isidori put it: “from the mid 1990s, the study of problems of feedback design for MIMO nonlinear systems came to a (almost complete) stall”. For multivariable nonlinear system control, many theoretical and practical problems are still waiting for solutions. This proposed TC will support state-of-the-art strategies and schemes of control designs from the angle of the FAS approach, with the aims of sharing knowledge amongst the scientists and engineers and solving theoretical and practical problems that the traditional state-space approach cannot solve or cannot solve well.
Particularly, this proposed TC will try to provide a forum for exchanging achievements and ideas among worldwide researchers in the emerging area of the FAS approach, as well as provide strong support for young scientists to build the next generation scientific community. It will also bridge the gap between theoretical concepts/knowledge and practical applications.
The platform will initially consist of a commitment to:

1. continue to organize the Annual Conference on Fully Actuated System Theory and Applications, and make this conference become IEEE-affiliated;
2. organize invited sessions or open invited tracks on systems and control at other important conferences, e.g., IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Chinese Control Conference (CCC), American Control Conference (ACC), and IFAC World Congress, with a focus on theory as well as applications based on the FAS approach;
3. promote special issues on the FAS approach and its applications in certain well-known journals in the control field;
4. establish special interest groups in the FAS approach for control (e.g., applications for international joint projects and summer schools, and publication of textbooks);
5. attract more non-member researchers to join the IEEE SMC Society for joint symbiotic research on related topics;
6. encourage IEEE members to participate in research in the FAS approach for control to explore new applications for further promoting the stature of the community and its higher level of recognition;
7. report timely the TC activities in the journal IEEE Control Systems. Briefly speaking, the missions of the proposed TC can be divided into the following three aspects:
   1. In scientific research, the proposed TC and its activities will be focused on proposing new results in the field of systems and control based on the FAS approach;
   2. In technical development, the proposed TC will support the transfer of discovered “know-how” in the area of system and control theories to potential practical applications;
   3. In education, the proposed TC will support young scientists in the field of control systems and applications, and disseminate discovered “know-how” amongst the scientific community.

The aim of the proposed TC is to build a community of experts in the area of the FAS approach and control applications, who are excellent scholars in academic organizations and industrial companies. This community will be devoted to the development of more progressive, efficient, and practical methods, with expected impact on multivariable systems control and their applications based on the FAS approach.

Topics of Interest

The proposed TC will provide a forum to exchange and promote state-of-the-art theories and methods in this fast-growing disciplinary field. As a general methodology parallel to the state-space approach, the FAS approach can be applied to treat various control problems. The scope of the FAS approach is very wide, which includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Modeling of FASs
• Control of FASs
• Tim-varying and Time-delay Linear Systems
• Complex Nonlinear Systems
• Control of Nonholonomic Systems
• Controllability and Stabilizability
• Static and Dynamic Output Feedback
• Intelligent Control Theory and Applications
• Multi-agent Systems and Hybrid Systems
• Distributed Control and Stochastic Control
• Nonlinear Control and Robust Control
• Fuzzy Control and Predictive Control
• Fault Diagnosis and Fault Tolerant Control
• Anti-disturbance Control
• Controllability Analysis
• Optimal Control and Constrained Control
• Discrete-event Dynamical Systems
• Neural Networks and Deep Learning
• Adaptive Control and Learning Control
• Process Control and Micro-grid Control
• Mechatronic Systems and Robotic Control
• Underwater/Ground Moving Platforms
• Spacecraft and Aircraft Control
• Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The TC has a very close relation to some of the existing TCs of the IEEE SMC Society. Some of the research topics of this TCs are indeed comprised literally or verbally in the scopes of some existing TCs in the IEEE SMC Society. Theoretical overlaps include nonlinear systems and control, robust control, adaptive control, stochastic systems, complex systems, etc. Practical overlaps include aerospace control, automotive control, robotic control, process control, etc.
Nevertheless, in the this TC of the FAS approach, although some of the research topics appear literally or verbally the same as in the scopes of certain existing TCs, they are supposed to be handled more effectively or more simply with the FAS approach instead of the state-space approach.
The proposed TC will certainly benefit a great deal from some of the existing TCs, since existing control system design results obtained with the state-space approach may provide some foundations or hints to the study on control designs based on the FAS approach.