CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Geometric Distributed Algorithms for Multi-Robot Coordination and Control
Nancy Lynch
Lead PI:
Nancy Lynch
Abstract
The objective of this research is to develop new models of computation for multi-robot systems. Algorithm execution proceeds in a cycle of communication, computation, and motion. Computation is inextricably linked to the physical configuration of the system. Current models cannot describe multi-robot systems at a level of abstraction that is both manageable and accurate. This project will combine ideas from distributed algorithms, computational geometry, and control theory to design new models for multi-robot systems that incorporate physical properties of the systems.
Nancy Lynch

Biography

Nancy Lynch is the NEC Professor of Software Science and Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.  She heads the Theory of Distributed Systems research group in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.  She is also currently a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.  

Lynch received her B.S. degree in mathematics from Brooklyn College in 1968, and her PhD in mathematics from MIT in 1972.  She has written numerous research articles about distributed algorithms and impossibility results, and about formal modeling and verification of distributed systems. Her best-known research contribution is the ``FLP'' impossibility result for distributed consensus in the presence of process failures, developed with Fischer
and Paterson in 1982.  Lynch's other well-known research contributions include the I/O automata mathematical system modeling frameworks, with Tuttle, Vaandrager, Segala, and Kaynar.  Her recent work is focused on
algorithms for mobile ad hoc networks.

Lynch has written books  on ``Atomic Transactions'' (with Merritt, Weihl, and Fekete), on ``Distributed Algorithms'', and on ``The Theory of Timed I/O Automata'' (with Kaynar, Segala, and Vaandrager).  She is an ACM Fellow, and a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  She was co-winner of the first (2006) van Wijngaarden prize, and was awarded the 2007 Knuth Prize, the 2010 IEEE Emanuel Piore award, and
the 2012 Athena award.  Lynch has supervised over 25 PhD students and over 50 Masters
students, as well as numerous postdoctoral research associates.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Performance Period: 09/15/2010 - 08/31/2013
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 1035199
Project URL
Project URL
CPS: Small: Transforming a City's Transportation Infrastructure through an Embedded Pervasive Communication Network
Shigang Chen
Lead PI:
Shigang Chen
Co-PI:
Abstract
The objective of this inter-disciplinary research is to develop new technologies to transform the streets of a city into a hybrid transportation/communication system, called the Intelligent Road (iRoad), where autonomous wireless devices are co-located with traffic signals to form a wireless network that fuses real-time transportation data from all over the city to make a wide range of new applications possible.
Performance Period: 09/01/2009 - 08/31/2013
Institution: University of Florida
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 0931969
Project URL
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CPS: Medium: Tightly Integrated Perception and Planning in Intelligent Robotics
Mark Campbell
Lead PI:
Mark Campbell
Co-PI:
Abstract
The objective of this research is to develop truly intelligent, automated driving through a new paradigm that tightly integrates probabilistic perception and deterministic planning in a formal, verifiable framework. The interdisciplinary approach utilizes three interlinked tasks. Representations develops new techniques for constructing and maintaining representations of a dynamic environment to facilitate higher-level planning. Anticipation and Motion Planning develops methods to anticipate changes in the environment and use them as part of the planning process.
Performance Period: 09/01/2009 - 08/31/2013
Institution: Cornell University
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 0931686
Project URL
Project URL
CPS: Small: Real-time, Simulation-based Planning and Asynchronous Coordination for Cyber-Physical Systems
Kostas Bekris
Lead PI:
Kostas Bekris
Abstract
The objective of this research is to investigate how to replace human decision-making with computational intelligence at a scale not possible before and in applications such as manufacturing, transportation, power-systems and bio-sensors.
Performance Period: 09/01/2009 - 08/31/2013
Institution: University of Nevada
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 0932423
Project URL
Project URL
CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: GOALI: Methods for Network-Enabled Embedded Monitoring and Control for High-Performance Buildings
Prabir Barooah
Lead PI:
Prabir Barooah
Abstract
The objective of this research is to develop methods for the operation and design of cyber physical systems in general, and energy efficient buildings in particular. The approach is to use an integrated framework: create models of complex systems from data; then design the associated sensing-communication-computation-control system; and finally create distributed estimation and control algorithms, along with execution platforms to implement these algorithms. A special emphasis is placed on adaptation.
Performance Period: 03/01/2010 - 02/28/2014
Institution: University of Florida
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 0931885
Project URL
Project URL
CPS: Medium: LoCal - A Network Architecture for Localized Electrical Energy Reduction, Generation and Sharing
Randy Katz
Lead PI:
Randy Katz
Co-PI:
Abstract
The objective of this research is to understand how pervasive information changes energy production, distribution and use. The design of a more scalable and flexible electric infrastructure, encouraging efficient use, integrating local generation, and managing demand through awareness of energy availability and use over time, is investigated. The approach is to develop a cyber overlay on the energy distribution system in its physical manifestations: machine rooms, buildings, neighborhoods, isolated generation islands and regional grids.
Randy Katz

Randy Howard Katz received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Berkeley faculty in 1983, where since 1996 he has been the United Microelectronics Corporation Distinguished Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Helsinki. He has published over 250 refereed technical papers, book chapters, and books. His textbook, Contemporary Logic Design, has sold over 100,000 copies in two editions, and has been used at over 200 colleges and universities. He has supervised 49 M.S. theses and 39 Ph.D. dissertations (including one ACM Dissertation Award winner and ten women). His recognitions include thirteeen best paper awards (including one "test of time" paper award and one selected for a 50 year retrospective on IEEE Communicationspublications), three best presentation awards, the Outstanding Alumni Award of the Computer Science Division, the CRA Outstanding Service Award, the Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award, the CS Division's Diane S. McEntyre Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Decoration, the IEEE Reynolds Johnson Information Storage Award, the ASEE Frederic E. Terman Award, the IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal, the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, and the ACM Sigmobile Outstanding Contributor Award. In the late 1980s, with colleagues at Berkeley, he developed Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID), a $15 billion per year industry sector. While on leave for government service in 1993-1994, he established whitehouse.gov and connected the White House to the Internet. His BARWAN Project of the mid-1990s introduced vertical handoffs and efficient transport protocols for mobile wireless networks. His current research interests are the architecture of Internet Datacenters, particularly frameworks for datacenter-scale instrumentation and resource management. With David Culler and Seth Sanders, he has started a new research project on Smart Energy Networks, called LoCal. Prior research interests have included: database management, VLSI CAD, high performance multiprocessor (Snoop cache coherency protocols) and storage (RAID) architectures, transport (Snoop TCP) and mobility protocols spanning heterogeneous wireless networks, and converged data and telephony network and service architectures.

Performance Period: 09/01/2009 - 08/31/2013
Institution: University of California at Berkeley
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 0932209
Project URL
Project URL
EAGER: Collaborative Research: Seamless Integration of Conjoined Cyber-Physical System Properties
Ron Cytron
Lead PI:
Ron Cytron
Co-PI:
Abstract
Effective response and adaptation to the physical world, and rigorous management of such behaviors through programmable computational means, are mandatory features of cyber physical systems (CPS). However, achieving such capabilities across diverse application requirements surpasses the current state of the art in system platforms and tools. Current computational platforms and tools often treat physical properties individually and in isolation from other cyber and physical attributes.
Performance Period: 09/01/2010 - 09/30/2014
Institution: Washington University
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 1060093
CPS: Small: Fundamental Advances in Control of Wireless Sensor and Robotic Networks
Nikhil Chopra
Lead PI:
Nikhil Chopra
Abstract
The objective of this project is to investigate fundamental issues in network control and distributed coordination of wireless sensor and robotic networks. The study of these cyber-physical systems is important as they find wide applicability in several applications areas including environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and health care.
Performance Period: 09/01/2009 - 08/31/2012
Institution: University of Maryland College Park
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 0931661
CPS: Small: Design of Networked Control Systems for Chemical Processes
Panagiotis Christofides
Lead PI:
Panagiotis Christofides
Co-PI:
Abstract
The objective of the proposed research program is to develop, for the first time, the theory and methods needed for the design of networked control systems for chemical processes and demonstrate their application and effectiveness in the context of process systems of industrial importance. The proposed approach to achieving this objective involves the development of a novel mathematical framework based on nonlinear asynchronous systems to model the sensor and actuator network behavior accounting explicitly for the effect of asynchronous and delayed measurements, network communication and actu
Performance Period: 09/01/2009 - 08/31/2013
Institution: University of California-Los Angeles
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 0930746
CPS: Small: Delays, Clocks, Timing and Reliability in Networked Control Systems: Theories, Protocols and Implementation
Panganamala Kumar
Lead PI:
Panganamala Kumar
Abstract
The objective of this research is to address issues related to the platform revolution leading to a third generation of networked control systems. The approach is to address four fundamental issues: (i) How to provide delay guarantees over communication networks to support networked control? (ii) How to synchronize clocks over networks so as to enable consistent and timely control actions? (iii) What is an appropriate architecture to support mechanisms for reliable yet flexible control system design?
Performance Period: 09/15/2010 - 04/30/2012
Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 1035378
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