Mission and Vision

Mission statement

Our mission is to provide education and to perform research in systems and control, at an internationally recognized high level, from within a TUD-wide center that has a solid foundation in the faculty ME. In research we aim at contributing to fundamental aspects of dynamical systems and control as well as at advancing innovative and high-tech applications, in combination with relevant industrial and academic partners. In teaching we aim at creating a scientific climate where students can flourish to become independent and highly-skilled engineers and scientists. We use our own laboratory to validate our fundamental research and to teach students to work individually and in teams on projects. Our organization is structured to maximize synergy within the department and to support the development of leadership of our scientists in their respective fields.

Vision

Control theory is a quickly developing science. The complexity in design and operation of controlled systems increases tremendously. This requires a computational system theory for synthesis and real-time implementation that enables the integration of model-based control with system identification for multivariable and large scale systems. Three important trends are the development of large-scale systems, model-based methods, and intelligent control.

• Complex large-scale systems will consist of numerous interacting networked subsystems, where hybrid and stochastic aspects will be addressed, as well as coordination within and across all levels of distributed and multi-level control frameworks.
  
  
• Model-based systems will be highly dependent on the on-line availability of goal-oriented, dynamic models that are adaptive to changing circumstances in both the system and its environment. The complexity of the models and the model-based systems is increasing rapidly.
  
  
• Future control systems will be able to effectively learn from experience, actively acquire knowledge about the process controlled, optimize their performance and realize a high-degree of autonomous behavior where necessary.
  Furthermore, as control becomes an integral part in the design of new systems, there is an enormous need for the development of new tools, methods and theories.