1. Research Philosophy Statement
Behzad Samadi
Control theory has been employed in many different fields including but not limited to electri-
cal engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, chemical engineering, biomedical
engineering, finance and social and economical systems. In fact, researchers in the area of control
systems have the freedom of working in a wide variety of, sometimes almost unrelated, fields. This
multidisciplinary nature is what I really like about the area of control systems. I myself worked on
the stability analysis of circuit breakers in power networks. I then changed my field to automotive
control systems. I worked on control, estimation and fault detection and isolation for Antilock
Braking Systems. During my PhD, I focused on the application of convex optimization in the area
of controller synthesis for classes of piecewise smooth systems. This journey has been full of turns,
twists and unexpected obstacles.
To continue this fascinating journey, I have three paths in my mind, which are described in the
following:
• Developing a computational tool for nonlinear control synthesis: Although numer-
ical methods for the analysis and synthesis of linear systems are very well-established, there
are not many computational tools for nonlinear systems. My goal is to develop such a tool
using efficient convex optimization techniques. The plan is to convert numerical problems
in stability analysis and controller synthesis for nonlinear systems to convex optimization
problems. Then, there exist very efficient numerical methods to address the convex form of
the stability and synthesis problems. The resulting computational tool can be used as a sys-
tematic way to design controllers for a wide range of nonlinear systems. One of the potential
applications of such a tool is process control. The pioneers of industrial control are already
working on Advanced Process Control (APC) packages. APC controllers are developed for
nonlinear processes that are hard or even impossible to be controlled using PIDs.
• Developing deterministic estimation and fault detection methods: My goal is to
develop alternative estimation methods to Kalman filtering using deterministic ellipsoidal
methods. The plan is to develop high level operators for ellipsoidal estimation. These
high level operators form a language that facilitates developing new deterministic estimation
and fault detection methods. Vehicle control systems, such as Electronic Stability Program
(ESP) and active suspension system, are considered as benchmark problems for the proposed
estimation and fault detection methods.
• Developing an accessible control lab: The subject of control systems is a combination
of mathematical theory and practical applications. Therefore using real experiments in the
classroom can help students understand the subject much better. However, due to space and
fund limitations, students are usually limited to laboratories for experiments. To improve the
quality of teaching control systems, many existing experiments can be made available over
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2. the Internet. In this way, a single control lab can be shared among many students in their
classrooms or even homes. There is also a possibility to develop portable experimental setups
that can be used in classrooms. My goal is to help students understand control theory and
its applications using experimental setups. The plan is to use students help to build these
experiments. There are many experiments that can be designed and built by undergraduate
students in their final project.
In summary, my goal is to perform research that is mathematically sound and can solve real life
problems. My target applications are in oil industry, automotive industry and educational insti-
tutes. Oil industry and automotive industry are very well established in Iran. Private educational
institutes are also active and growing. I hope I can show the importance of my research to these
industries and institutes and get extra funds for my research.
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