Plenary session

Plenary lecture „Controller Design for Linear Parameter-Varying Systems by Convex Optimization” will be given by professor Carsten W. Scherer

Linear parameter varying (LPV) systems are described by linear differential equations whose describing matrices depend - possibly in a non-linear fashion - on time-varying parameters. The goal of the related synthesis problem is to design a controller of the very same structure such that the overall controlled system satisfies certain desired specifications on stability and performance for the entire set of permissible parameter trajectories. The implementation of LPV controllers takes on-line measurements of the time-varying parameters into account in order to improve the performance over robust controllers, compensators without any adaptation capabilities. Since the time-varying parameters often admit the interpretation of describing the location of the system's operation point, LPV control methods are viewed as a viable alternative to classical gain-scheduling designs for controlling nonlinear systems. In this talk we highlight the challenges in analyzing the stability and performance properties of LPV systems that result from the time-varying nature of the system description. The main goal is to survey the key ideas how to develop systematic computational tools based on convex optimization that are suitable for controller analysis and synthesis. We sketch some recent theoretical developments in robust LPV controller synthesis and we present examples that illustrate the benefit of this design methodology.