Plenary Abstract 1 - Structure Evolving Systems and Control

Abstract

The need for integrating process and control design issues has been recognised in the Process, Aerospace and other areas of applications, but with a few exceptions (early work in Process Control ,EU project SESDIP), little attention has been given in the development of an integrated Systems and Control Theory Based Framework that may integrate the overall process. The integration of traditional design stages, such as Process Synthesis (PS), Global Instrumentation (GS) and finally Control Design (CD) is a complex problem that is characterised by different forms of system evolution. This evolution has two main features: The first is linked to the natural evolution of the system structure as this is shaped through the design stages of process synthesis and global instrumentation and it is referred to as structural evolution. The second stems from the need to address design and decision problems at "early" and "late" stages of system design (as part of an iterative design cycle) using models with a variability in their complexity and referred to as design time evolution. The paper aims to describe those two forms of system evolution from a systems and control theoretic viewpoint, review and unify existing results and define a road map for research in structural system methodologies; this is essential for the development of the control theoretic aspects of the complex problem of systems integration and opens up a new field for research for Structural Control Methodologies. The paper addresses a number of control theory issues intimately linked to overall system design, which have a clear structural nature and express aspects and stages of the evolutionary design process.