Book Description

This Proceedings contains the papers presented at the IFAC Symposium on System Structure and Control, which was held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 27-31 August 2001. The Symposium brought together experts working in the fields of linear, non-linear, multidimensional, discrete-event and hybrid systems. The Symposium also featured a Workshop on max-plus algebras, focusing on applications to automatic control, communication and transportation networks, manufacturing, and computer science. System structure plays an important role in dynamical system modelling, identification, analysis and control design, where the structure is understood as a collection of system quantities (e.g. system invariants) describing the system essential parts and features that limit the designer in achieving the desired performance. The research covered by the Proceedings papers is broad, including topics like linear and non-linear systems, finite and infinite dimensional systems, continuous and discrete time systems, time-invariant and time-varying systems, implicit and hybrid systems, systems over rings and other algebraic structures, algebraic and geometric methods, stability and stabilization, linear and non-linear control strategies, numerical methods and algorithms, max-plus algebras, semigroups and ordered structures, optimization and optimal control, Markov decision, Perron-Frobenius theory and its generalizations, non-expansive maps, linear systems over max-plus algebras, discrete-event and hybrid systems, automata and formal languages, large deviation type asymptotics. Like previous volumes in the IFAC System Structure and Control conference series, the Proceedings of this Symposium provide a timely and comprehensive survey of the state of research in the field. It will be an indispensable resource for control engineers and anyone with an interest in control theory and application. Altogether some 150 papers are presented, including several plenary papers written by leading experts.