Maria Domenica Di Benedetto

Hybrids Systems: Computation and Control

Abstract : This volume contains the proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Hybrid systems: Computation and Control (HSCC 2001) held in Rome, Italy on March 28-30, 2001. The Workshop on Hybrid Systems attracts researchers from industry and academia interested in modeling, analysis, synthesis, and implementation of dynamic and reactive systems involving both discrete (integer, logical, symbolic) and continuous behaviors. It is a forum for the discussion of the latest developments in all aspects of hybrid systems, including formal models and computational representations, algorithms and heuristics, computational tools, and new challenging applications.

Theory of Optimal Control Using Bisimulations

We consider the synthesis of optimal controls for continuous feedback systems by recasting the problem to a hybrid optimal control problem: to synthesize optimal enabling conditions for switching between locations in which the control is constant. An algorithmic solution is obtained by translating the hybrid automaton to a finite automaton using a bisimulation and formulating a dynamic programming problem with extra conditions to ensure non-Zenoness of trajectories. We show that the discrete value function converges to the viscosity solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation as a discretization parameter tends to zero.

Optimal Control Using Bisimulations: Implementation

We consider the synthesis of optimal controls for continuous feedback systems by recasting the problem to a hybrid optimal control problem which is to synthesize optimal enabling conditions for switching between locations in which the control is constant. We provide a single-pass algorithm to solve the dynamic programming problem that arises, with added constraints to ensure non-Zeno trajectories.

Classification of Physical Interactions between Two Subjects

This work addresses the problem of detecting and classifying the interaction between two subjects. While the use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) for human action detection has been widely investigated, the use of this technology for detecting actions that involve multiple subjects has not been explored yet. We explain what we mean for interaction between subjects and we also give the motivation behind this research. Our approach is then presented wherein we perform classification in a particular case study.