Research Interests in Control Systems Theory and Applications
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Control of Distributed Parameter Systems (DPS)
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Event-triggered and Sampled-data Control
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Predictor Feedback Design for Time-delay Systems
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Extremum Seeking Control
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Safe Control via Control Barrier Functions
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Adaptive and Learning Control
Inaugural African Control Systems Symposium (AFCONS)
July 14-16 at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Mbour, Senegal
Set against the backdrop of Senegal's vibrant coastal region of Mbour, the inaugural African Control Systems Symposium (AFCONS) brings together leading researchers, students, industry innovators, and policymakers from across Africa and the world. AFCONS is dedicated to advancing control science and engineering, fostering technological innovation, and creating enduring partnerships that will contribute to Africa's scientific and technological transformation for generations to come.
Vice-Chair
Daouda Niang Diatta
Laboratory of Mathematics and its Applicatons, University Assane
Seck of Ziguinchor,
Senegal
Website
email: dndiatta@univ-zig.sn
Chair
Diaraf Seck
Laboratory of Mathematics of Decision and Numerical Analysis,
University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
Website
email: diaraf.seck@ucad.edu.sn
Program Chair
Mamadou Diagne
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, USA
Website
email: mdiagne@ucsd.edu
Plenary Speakers
Robert Bitmead
University of California San Diego, USA
The Logic of Control Practice and its Messages
Developing feedback controllers for systems operating in practical environments, such as industry, always seems to involve tuning, tweaking or multiple redesigns. And the more high-performance the application, the more commissioning effort is required. When tools such as optimal control are used, the optimized criterion function typically is the mechanism of design. It is adjusted until performance is deemed acceptable and it rarely measures the actual quantification of the control objective. This is especially evident with Model Predictive Control. Yet such an approach conflicts with how we teach and promote control theory as moving surefootedly from plant model to controller. Part of the issue in practice is that models adequate for control design are difficult to obtain and to characterize their modeling accuracy. Tuning uses new closed-loop experiments and experimental data to adjust the controller. In this talk, we shall explore the deductive logic behind control theory, the inductive logic of using data and the role played by the controller designer and their knowledge of the target system itself to generate the tuning experiments. The objective of the talk is to caution against assuming direct data-driven methods offer a simple way forward without the intricate expertise of the control engineer and process expert. Good news for job security.
Bibiography: Bob Bitmead is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. He holds degrees in Applied Mathematics and Electrical Engineering from Sydney University and Newcastle University, both in Australia. He has held faculty positions at the Australian National University and James Cook University of North Queensland. He is a control theorist with a long experience in control applications in many industrial sectors. His theoretical work is strongly informed and guided by these applications. He received the 2014 ASME Rufus Oldenburger Medal and the 2015 IEEE Controls Systems Transition to Practice Award. Bob was President of the IEEE Control Systems Society in 2019. He is Fellow of IEEE, IFAC and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
Prasanta Ghosh
Syracuse University USA
Optimization Methodologies in Power System Operational Control
Present day power system is a complex structure and needs to be secure, reliable, and efficient. Integration of renewable energy sources increases the complexity due to higher uncertainties, making it a multifaceted endeavor. Many power system related problems are dealt with optimization tools, including but not limited to load-flow, economic dispatch, var scheduling, unit commitments, maintenance scheduling, expansion planning, capacitor placement, etc. Optimization tools have been used to improve the power distribution system analysis and to make the network more secure, reliable, and allowing for more renewable energy source integration. The review will start with the introduction of various optimization methodologies that have been used to improve control, operation, and reliability of, for example, power distribution systems. During discussion, efforts will be given to highlight characteristics of each method including benefits and limitations of those optimization tools when applied to the electrical energy distribution sector. Attention will be given to present the information in such a manner with references so that the new researchers develop the basic understanding and learn more detail from published articles to take the optimization tool of choice to the next level in satisfying the need of the project they are involved in.
Bibiography: Prasanta Ghosh is a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University, USA. He has been conducting research in microelectronics and power engineering. He has authored or co-authored many journal articles and conference papers in the area of thin films, solid-state devices, and power engineering. As a Fulbright Scholar, he has traveled internationally to teach engineering students and delivered lectures on his research. His current research focus includes electronic circuits, sensors, power system control, and engineering ethics. He is a life senior member of IEEE.
Aissa Wade
Pennsylvania State University
USA
From Poisson Geometry to Control Theory
Poisson geometry provides a natural and unifying framework for the analysis and control of nonlinear dynamical systems arising in mechanics, robotics, and networked physical systems. By extending symplectic geometry to include degenerate structures, Poisson manifolds capture constraints, symmetries, and reduced phase spaces that frequently occur in controlled mechanical models. Casimir functions on a Poisson manifold impose fundamental limits on controllability by restricting dynamics to symplectic leaves, thereby revealing intrinsic structural obstructions. These insights underpin energy-based and passivity-based control methodologies, including the port-Hamiltonian framework.
In this talk, we will survey some results from Poisson geometry and their application to control theory, including port-Hamiltonian systems. In addition, we will discuss some extensions to contact geometry and Jacobi geometry that further accommodate dissipation and open system dynamics.
Bibliography: Aissa Wade is Professor in the Mathematics Department at Penn State, University Park. Wade received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Montpellier University 2, France. Wade’s research lies at the intersection of Poisson and Jacobi geometry, and mathematical physics with applications to various areas such as geometric mechanics, control theory, etc. Wade has published in top peer‑reviewed journals and has presented her work at several international conferences in pure and applied mathematics. Her current research explores Poisson and Jacobi structures and their applications to physical systems.
On the Optimal Control of Ill-Posed Problems: From Elliptic to Parabolic Equations
Ill-posed problems frequently arise in the modeling of physical phenomena, where existence, uniqueness, or stability of solutions may fail. A powerful approach to overcome these challenges is to reformulate such problems within an optimal control framework.
In this talk, we present several optimal control methods for ill-posed problems associated with elliptic and parabolic equations. We highlight how appropriate
regularization techniques and carefully designed cost functionals make it possible to
recover well-posedness and obtain meaningful solutions.
Gisèle Adélie Mophou
University of the Antilles
Guadeloupe
Bibliography: Professor Gisèle Adélie Mophou is Full Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of the Antilles, where she serves as Vice-President for Research (Guadeloupe campus) and Director of the LAMIA laboratory. Her research focuses on optimal control of systems governed by partial differential equations, with a particular emphasis on ill-posed problems and controllability. She obtained her PhD in Applied Mathematics in 2000 and her habilitation (HDR) in 2010. Her work has contributed to the development of control-based approaches for ill-posed problems, from elliptic to parabolic equations, using regularization techniques and appropriate cost functionals to restore well-posedness. She has also worked on models with incomplete data. She has published extensively in international journals and has supervised numerous PhD students. From 2017 to 2019, she held a research chair at the African Institute for MathematicalSciences (AIMS) in Cameroon, where she led international research activities and supervised graduate and master’s students. She is actively involved in collaborations across Europe and Africa, notably as local coordinator of the European University alliance EUNICoast.Professor Mophou is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Nonlinear Evolution Equations and Applications and Associate Editor of several international journals, including SIAM Review. She is a member of the African Academy of Sciences and was awarded the French distinction of Chevalier des Palmes Académiques. Her work bridges advanced mathematical theory and real-world challenges, with a particular focus on the control of complex systems arising in environmental and health-related contexts.
Mamadou Mboup
University of Reims Champagne Ardenne
Stability and Stabilization of nD Linear Systems: Amœbas-- the Polydisc Nullstellensatz
This presentation will address two essential questions in the control of nD (multidimensional, n > 1) linear systems: stability and stabilization. All existing algorithms for testing the BIBO (Bounded Input, Bounded Output) stability of nD linear systems suffer from the curse of dimensionality, limiting their effectiveness to cases where n does not exceed 2. These limitations likely stem from the stability criteria on which these algorithms are based. In the first part of this presentation, we will introduce a new stability criterion based on the geometry of the amœba of the denominator of the system’s rational transfer function. The amœba of a polynomial is the image of its zero set under the logarithmic modulus map. This leads to a stability test algorithm that, thanks to Monte Carlo integration, remains efficient for any value of n. Some examples will be discussed. In the second part, we discuss the effective computation of stabilizing controllers for multidimensional systems. Recent works have shown that the nD stabilization problem can be framed in terms of the polydisc nullstellensatz. Ad-hoc solutions can be devised in the 2D case or for some specific situations. However, a general methodology to solve this problem is still lacking. The objective of this second part is to propose one, by relating the polydisc nullstellensatz problem to a weighted Cauchy-Pompeiu formula. Some open questions will be discussed.
Bibliography: Mamadou Mboup received the Doctorat en Sciences from University Paris-Sud, Orsay, France, in 1992 and the Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches-HDR, from University Paris Descartes Paris 5 in 2003. From 1993 to 2009, he served as Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at University Paris Descartes-Paris 5. Currently, he is Full Professor at the University of Reims Champagne Ardenne, with the Department of Electronics, Electrotechnics and Automatic Control, that he joined since 2009. Since 2014, he has been on secondment with the French National Research Agency (ANR :Agence Nationale de la Recherche), where he currently holds the position of Deputy Head of the Numerical and Mathematics Department, since 2018. His research is interdisciplinary and explores the intersection of mathematical systems theory, signal processing and control theory, through the lens of complex analysis. He had been elected (feb-july 2010) as a guest professor within the InnoLecture (Innovative Lecture) program of University of Saarland, Germany.Mamadou Mboup acts as Editor-In-Chief for The African Diaspora Journal of Mathematics (2014-2019, Project Euclid) and as Associate Editor for Complex Analysis and Operator Theory (Birkhauser-Verlag) since 2014, and for EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing(2012-2023, Elsevier). He is co-editing the section Linear systems of the Handbook in Operator Theory, Springer (2015, 2026). He was General Chair of the international IEEE- Machine Learning for Signal Processing (MLSP14) conference, held in Reims in 2014.
Stabilization of Nonlinear Systems with Discontinuous Feedbacks
This talk addresses the problem of stabilizing nonlinear control systems using discontinuous feedback laws. Classical continuous stabilizers often fail due to topological obstructions, as highlighted by Brockett’s necessary condition. We now address how discontinuous feedbacks overcome these limitations, relying on tools from nonsmooth analysis and on the notion of locally semiconcave control Lyapunov functions. We then explain how stabilizing feedbacks can be constructed from such Lyapunov functions and present key results on asymptotic and robust stabilization, with a particular emphasis on sub-Riemannian and geometric control settings.
Ludovic Rifford
University Côte d'Azur Nice and CNRS
Bibliography: Ludovic Rifford is a French mathematician and professor at Université Côte d’Azur in Nice, affiliated with the Jean-Alexandre Dieudonné Laboratory. His research lies at the interface of analysis, geometry, and dynamical systems, with a particular focus on sub-Riemannian geometry and geometric control theory. He has made significant contributions to major problems such as Sard’s conjecture in sub-Riemannian geometry and questions related to Hamiltonian dynamics. He has also been actively involved in international mathematical cooperation, notably as Executive Director of CIMPA, and currently serves as Secretary for Policy of the Commission for Developing Countries of the International Mathematical Union.
