As the performance, efficiency, reliability, and safety of engineered systems increases, so does their complexity. Indeed, many engineered systems today consist of a large number of heterogeneous subsystems whose interactions are both crucial for the system to meet its design objective and potential sources of failure.
Systems of interest for ME Design and Control faculty include spacecraft, communication satellites, Earth observing satellites, power plants, air transportation systems, sensor webs, commercial and military aircraft, automated manufacturing plants, and power grids. Research ranges from the early conceptual design stage to autonomous control during the operation stage with a particular focus on how decisions at each stage affect the functionality and health of the system through its full life-cycle.
Our specific research foci are system-level design and analysis, system reconfiguration, coordination in large complex systems, health and risk assessment, human-centered operation, learning in complex systems, reliability and risk-based design, failure modeling and isolation, system-level optimization, reduced order modeling and control, and sensor and actuator placement. |
