Two talks @ GMA 2021
- conferences
The GMA control workshop ("Fachausschuss 1.40") in Anif (near Salzburg) is an annual event of the German-speaking control community with participants from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The focus lies on current topics in systems theory, control theory, and control engineering as well as their applications in industry. We contributed two talks to the 2021 workshop, which was the first one taking place on-site since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nils' talk focused on encrypted dynamic controllers which, among others, include PID controllers or observer-based state feedback. Despite their easy structure, secure implementations of these controllers are non-trivial due to their recursive nature. One possible solution is a direct integer design. The system-theoretical consequences in terms of pole configurations (see picture), that arise from this choice, were investigated. In this context, it turned out that FIR-filters are beneficial for an encrypted evaluation. Contact Nils for further details.
Dieter contributed a talk on tailored neural networks for model predictive control (MPC) in which he investigated suitable topologies for the approximation of an MPC law, the corresponding optimal value function, or the Q-function. A central observation is that it is always possible to find a topology which allows an exact representation of a piecewise quadratic optimal value function or Q-function for one-dimensional states (see picture 2). This can be exploited for more efficient learning and controller evaluation. Contact Dieter for further details.
In addition to the technical program, a hiking trip on the Untersberg took place. The tour led the group to the Toni-Lenz-Hütte, the Schellenberger Ice Cave, and, finally, to the Salzburger Hochtron which is 1852 m above sea level.