IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS SOCIETY TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON DISCRETE EVENT SYSTEMS Newsletter........................................................August, 1999 Editor: Edwin K. P. Chong Chair, IEEE CSS Technical on DES School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Purdue University 1285 Electrical Engineering Bldg. West Lafayette, IN 47907-1285 Phone: (765) 494-9143 Fax: (765) 494-3371 e-mail: echong@ecn.purdue.edu WWW: http://www.ece.purdue.edu/~echong/ DESTC Web Page: http://www.ece.purdue.edu/~echong/des_tc/ _._________________________________________________________________________._ Contents: 1. Editorial 2. Announcements 2.1 Cassandras wins IFAC Textbook Prize 2.2 Post-Doc position: Development of a backbone formalism for UML, and related software prototyping. 3. Books 3.1 NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Control of Sensory Perception for Discrete Event Systems, by Geir Hovland 4. Conferences 4.1 5th Workshop on Discrete Event Systems (WODES2000) August 21-23, 2000, Ghent, Belgium 4.2 Nineteenth IASTED International Conference MODELLING, IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL - MIC 2000 February 14-17, 2000, Innsbruck, Austria _._________________________________________________________________________._ Editorial _._________________________________________________________________________._ Welcome to the newsletter of the IEEE Control Systems Technical Committee Group on Discrete Event Systems! See http://www.ece.purdue.edu/~echong/des_tc/ for information on the DESTC. Notice the delimiter between articles/contributions in this newsletter. If you are using an editor to read this article, you can go directly to the delimiter by searching for the string "_.__" (underscore,period,underscore,underscore). This feature is useful for quickly skipping to the next item. _._________________________________________________________________________._ Announcements _._________________________________________________________________________._ Contributed by: Edwin Chong (echong@ecn.purdue.edu) Cassandras wins IFAC Textbook Prize Professor Christos G. Cassandras, Professor of Manufacturing Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University has been awarded the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Textbook Prize (also known as the Harold Chestnut Prize) for his book, Discrete Event Systems: Modeling and Performance Analysis (Richard D. Irwin, Inc., and Aksen Associates, Inc., 1993). Congratulations, Christos! _._________________________________________________________________________._ Contributed by: Albert Benveniste, Irisa/Inria, Rennes, France. (Albert.Benveniste@irisa.fr) Title: Post-Doc position: Development of a backbone formalism for UML, and related software prototyping. The Reactive Systems Programming group "EpAtr" (Jean-Pierre Talpin, Paul Le Guernic, Albert Benveniste), jointly with the Distributed and Concurrent Systems group "Pampa" (Benoit Caillaud and Claude Jard), offer a **post-doc position** at IRISA, Rennes, France. Typical duration of the postdoc is 1 year -- Rennes is located in Brittany, the west part of France near to the sea; Brittany is the favorite place for sailing and the like. The position is open from now. We are looking for applicants who have demonstrated innovative research work and skillful software development. TOPIC: Development of a backbone formalism for UML, and related software prototyping UML is an emerging standard for object oriented system design. Our groups focus on the design of ***reactive*** systems, with emphazis on telecommunications. Our current project consists in developing a new formalism, called BDL (Behavioral Description Language), to capture behaviours of concurrent objects. BDL is to serve as a common formalism in which different UML behavioral notations (e.g., StateCharts, MSC's and their variants) can be translated. BDL is supported by a firm mathematical semantic basis, and will serve for model checking and architecture generation. It supports both asynchronous and synchronous types of semantics, it takes advantages of the rich background of synchronous programming techniques. The context of the research is the REUTEL project, a large project supported by Alcatel, involving several groups at Inria. The topic of the post-doc is to participate to the details of the design of BDL, and to take part in corresponding software development. Interested candidates should contact asap Jean-Pierre.Talpin@inria.fr Benoit.Caillaud@inria.fr Albert.Benveniste@inria.fr and attach CV and possible references. Links: IRISA: http://www.irisa.fr/ the city of Rennes: http://www.rennet.org/ The Pampa research group of IRISA: http://www.irisa.fr/pampa/ The Ep-atr research group of IRISA: http://www.irisa.fr/ep-atr/ The REUTEL project: http://www.irisa.fr/pampa/bdl _._________________________________________________________________________._ Contributed by: "Xiaolan Xie" CALL FOR PAPERS Semiconductor Manufacturing Systems: Modeling, Analysis, and Control A Special Issue of IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation Semiconductor manufacturing is rapidly growing to be an important industry in many countries. Productivity of semiconductor manufacturing systems is crucial to their automation due to enormous investment on the equipment, which may be outdated in two or three years. Owing to the complicated production procedures and the large number of shared resources, the automation of semiconductor manufacturing systems has tremendous complexity and deserves special attention. This special issue aims at presenting recent developments and applications in three critical stages of semiconductor manufacturing automation research -- modeling, analysis, and control:=20 * Modeling: how representation formalisms can be developed to describe key system features in concise forms and to facilitate the subsequent stages of qualitative and quantitative analysis. * Analysis: how analytical or simulation techniques can be devised to efficiently obtain logical behavior and performance measures of the system. * Control: how methodologies can be formulated to prevent undesirable system states or to optimize the system operation under resource constraints. Industry Participants: We extend a special invitation to industry participants to describe current practices, needs, and visions for the future. Industry papers are important to set the context for the study of modeling, analysis, and control of semiconductor manufacturing systems. They can point out relevant and difficult problem areas to channel research attention and can report on the results of specific implementations. Topics: Possible topics for papers submitted to the special issue include but are not limited to: * Modeling, synthesis, and analysis methodologies * Knowledge-based and optimization-based planning and scheduling techniques * Discrete-event and hybrid control techniques * Analytic and simulation-based performance evaluation methods * Object-oriented design and modeling methods * CAD and simulation tools for system development * System comparisons and benchmark studies * Industrial applications and case studies=20 * New challenges and solutions for automation of next generation Fabs Requirements: To establish coherence between the papers in the special issue, submissions must address the following points, where relevant: * Where does the work fit in the above three critical fields? * What problem/deficit/need does it address? * What other work has been done in this area, and why is this contribution important? * What commercial off-the-shelf hardware and/or software were used? * Is the emphasis on integration of existing work, or on new work? * Who are the potential users of the work? All manuscripts should include a title page containing the title of the paper, full names and affiliations, complete postal and electronic addresses, phone and fax numbers, an abstract, and a list of keywords. The contacting author should be clearly identified. Important Dates: August 1999: Call for Papers April 1, 2000: Deadline for Paper Submission October 1, 2000: Completion of First Review May 1, 2001: Completion of Final Review October 2001: Publication Guest Editors: Professor MuDer Jeng Department of Electrical Engineering National Taiwan Ocean University Keelung 202, Taiwan, ROCTel: 886-2-24622192 Fax: 886-2-24627054 E-mail: b0162@ind.ntou.edu.tw Dr. Xiao-Lan Xie INRIA/MACSI Team ENIM-Ile du Saulcy 57045 Metz Cedex, France Tel: 33-3-87 34 67 36 Fax: 33-3-87 34 69 35 E-mail: xie@loria.fr Thomas E. Byrd Intel Corporation CH3-68 5000 W. Chandler Blvd. Chandler, AZ 85226-3699, USA Tel: 602-554-4850 E-mail: thomas.e.byrd@intel.com Submission of Papers: Electronic submissions in PDF, postscript, or zipped postscript form are strongly encouraged, and will expedite the review and publication process. Please FTP to the INCOMING directory of site ieeetra.engr.uconn.edu, or email to ieeetra@engr.uconn.edu. Please then email your submission letter to ieeetra@engr.uconn.edu including the name of the file, paper type (Regular or Short), and mentioning that it is for the Special Issue on Semiconductor Manufacturing Systems. Submission in paper form will still be acceptable, although the reviewing process may be longer. In this case, please send seven copies to: Professor Peter B. Luh Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering University of Connecticut Storrs, CT 06269-2157, USA Tel: (860) 486-4821 Fax: (860) 486-5585 E-mail: Luh@engr.uconn.edu For more detailed information about electronic submissions, please contact ieeetra@engr.uconn.edu. _._________________________________________________________________________._ Books _._________________________________________________________________________._ Contributed by: Edwin Chong (echong@ecn.purdue.edu) NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT Title: Control of Sensory Perception for Discrete Event Systems Author: Geir Hovland geir.hovland@no.abb.com ABB Corporate Research, Oslo, Norway Publisher: J. Young, Dissertation.com ISBN: 1-58112-070-2 Ordering info: http://www.dissertation.com/library/1120702a.htm Pages: 147 References: 82 Price: $19.95 Reviewers Comments: This thesis is concerned with the application and development of discrete event systems modeling to the problem of the control of sensory perception. The subject and approach taken by the candidate is indeed novel and differs substantially in philosophy and intent from previous approaches to this problem. The work is a significant contribution to the general area of robotics and sensory control. The notion of discrete sensing states and transitions between states is what distinguishes the approach taken in this thesis from the more continuous-time, information-theoretic methods. The thesis contains significant advances in the state of the art in on-line monitoring of sensor-based robot actions. The emphasis is on monitoring of contact changes and estimation of the contact situation after the transitions, during repetitive execution. Content: 1. Introduction 2. Formulation of the Sensory Perception Control Problem 3. Stochastic Dynamic Programming Solution for Real-Time Implementation 4. Linear Programming Solution to Sensitivity Analysis 5. Case Study I: Control of Sensory Perception in Robotic Assembly 6. Case Study II: Control of Sensory Perception in Mobile Navigation 7. Conclusions and Further Research Appendix A. Process Monitoring Using Hidden Markov Models Appendix B. Process Monitoring Using Distance Functions Appendix C. Process Monitoring Using a Multilayer Perceptron Appendix D. Process Monitoring Using Qualitative Reasoning _._________________________________________________________________________._ Conferences _._________________________________________________________________________._ Contributed by: Rene Boel Preliminary announcement 5th Workshop on Discrete Event Systems (WODES2000) August 21-23, 2000 Ghent, Belgium ======================= AIMS AND SCOPES ======================= The interdisciplinary field of Discrete Event Systems combines methodologies and applications from control and computer science. The research activity in this field is driven by the needs of many different applications domains: manufacturing, supervisory systems, transportation, software engineering, and so on. DES is now a mature field and many interesting applications have been developed. The workshop aims to provide researchers from different fields (control theoreticians and control engineers, software engineers and computer scientists) with an opportunity to exchange information and new ideas, and to discuss new developments in the different fields. It is envisaged that areas of interaction will be further explored and common applications will be considered with focus on design, techniques and implementation for the new era of technology. =========================== TOPICS ============================ The workshop will focus on - the theory and the applications of control of Discrete event systems (with emphasis on supervisory control and on real time control), - computer science (with emphasis on hybrid systems, timed systems, Petri nets, process algebras, software verification and design), - applications (including manufacturing systems, transportation systems, process control, software engineering, system analysis and design). ======================= PROGRAMME ====================== The workshop programme will consist of both contributed lectures, invited sessions and a number of plenary invited talks, covering different topics in computer science and control. ===================== WODES STEERING COMMITTEE ==================== Christos Cassandras Boston University, Department of manufacturing Engineering and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Boston, USA, e-mail: cgc@bu.edu Guy Cohen Ecole des Mines de Paris, Centre Automatique et Systemes, Paris, France, e-mail: cohen@cas.ensmp.fr Alessandro Giua University of Cagliari, Dept. of Electric and Electronic Engineering Cagliari, Italy. E-mail: giua@diee.unica.it Michael P. Spathopoulos University of Strathclyde, Department of Mechanical Engineering Glasgow, Scotland, UK. E-mail: mps@mecheng.strath.ac.uk Rein Smedinga University of Groningen, Department of Computing Science, Groningen, the Netherlands. E-mail: rein@cs.rug.nl ====================== LOCAL ORGANISATION ================== Rene Boel SYSTeMS Group, Universiteit Gent Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 9 B-9052 Gent Belgium =========== CONTRIBUTED PAPERS/IMPORTANT DATES =============== Contributed papers containing original, unpublished research results should be submitted to the workshop at the address below. Submission by email and in LaTeX is preferred. Style files and instructions for preparation of camera-ready copy will be available from the organizers. The maximum page size for contributed papers is 6 pages (A4). Papers will be reviewed by the programme committee and by external reviewers. Full versions of the accepted contributions will appear in the Proceedings of the Workshop. The Proceedings will be published prior to the workshop. Important dates: JANUARY 15, 2000: Deadline for submission of contributed papers APRIL 15, 2000: Notification of acceptance of papers, second announcement, and preliminary programme JUNE 1, 2000: Deadline for submission of final version of papers JUNE 15, 2000: Deadline for early registration AUGUST 21-23, 2000: WORKSHOP ========================= REGISTRATION ======================== Please use the early registration form on the Web server at http://systems.rug.ac.be/wodes2000 for early registration. An air-mail address for registration and final submission will be included in the first announcement and call for papers. ======================= WORKSHOP ADDRESS ====================== All inquiries regarding the workshop, and all contributions, PREFERABLY in electronic form (in LaTeX using the style mentioned above, or in Postscript) are to be directed to WODES2000 Rene Boel SYSTeMS Group, Universiteit Gent, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 9 B-9052 Gent Belgium E-mail: rene.boel@rug.ac.be Phone: +32-9-2645658 Fax: +32-9-2645840 Up to date information, and early registration forms are available from: WWW: http://systems.rug.ac.be/wodes2000 ======================================================================== _._________________________________________________________________________._ Contributed by: Conferences CALL FOR PAPERS Nineteenth IASTED International Conference MODELLING, IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL - MIC 2000 February 14-17, 2000 Innsbruck, Austria SPONSOR The International Association of Science and Technology for Development - IASTED -Technical Committee on Modelling and Simulation -Technical Committee on Control LOCATION Innsbruck, the old capital of the Tyrol, provides the ultimate blend of history, culture and nature. Emperor Maximilian I, also known as the "Last Knight" enjoyed mountain climbing, hunting and fishing and set up court in Innsbruck centuries ago. He used to watch the action on the street from the balcony of the gilded Golden Roof, one of the city's most spectacular attractions. Many of Innsbruck's charming streets, some of which date back to the 13th century, are closed to traffic, but open to walkers who want to wander back into those grand Imperial times. This city is Europe's capital of winter sports, and hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1964 and 1976. Breathtaking views of the city and the Alps can be seen from the heart of Innsbruck. SCOPE MIC 2000 will act as a major forum for researchers and practitioners interested in recent advances in the fields of modelling, identification and control. Areas include, but are not limited to: - Modelling - Simulation - Identification - Control - Man-Machine Systems - System Theory - Optimization - Decision Theory - Neural Networks - Soft Computing - Distributed Parameter Control Systems - Applications - General - Education INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE A. Abbas - University of Bahrain, Bahrain H.A. Barker - University of Wales Swansea, UK M.A. Botto - Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal Z. Bubnicki - Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland G.M. Chaudhry - University of Missouri-Columbia/KC, USA T. K. Chen - National University of Singapore, Singapore E. Cheung - Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore S.R. Das - University of Ottawa, Canada R. Faglia - State University of Brescia, Italy M.I. Gil - Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel A. Girgis - Clemson University, USA M. Guizani - University of Missouri at Columbia, USA I. Hanazaki - Tokyo Denki University, Japan F. Hartescu - Polytechnic Institute of Bucarest, Romania R. Henriksen - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway T. Kaczorek - Warsaw University of Technology, Poland J.M. Kauffmann - IGE, University of Franche-Comte, France P. Lautala - Tampere University of Technology, Finland F. Mili - Oakland University, USA N. Ould Khessal - Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore K. Oura - Waseda University, Japan M. Pistauer - Carinthian Institute for Soft Computing Technologies, Austria S. Pulko - University of Hull, UK I.J. Ramirez-Rosado - University of La Rioja, Spain E. Ravina - University of Genova, Italy K. Reif - BMW AG, Germany J.A. Romagnoli - University of Sydney, Australia J. Sa da Costa - Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal M. Simandl - University of West Bohemia, Czech Republic J. Stecha - Czech Technical University, Czech Republic H. Tian - Essen University, Germany R. Tsankova - Technical University-Sofia, Bulgaria C. Wu - US Naval Academy, USA *** list incomplete SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS Send your submission via email to calgary@iasted.com. Please send electronic attachments in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) or MS Word formats. The abstract submitted for review should be between 400 and 600 words. The IASTED Secretariat should receive your paper by September 15, 1999. Do not send both hard and electronic copies of your abstract. An electronic copy is sufficient. Please provide four keywords to indicate the subject areas of the paper with at least one keyword from the list given under scope. Include a statement in your cover letter confirming that if the paper is accepted, one of the authors will attend the conference to present it. Please indicate the corresponding author, and provide the full names, affiliations, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and email addresses of all authors. Notification of acceptance and author kits will be mailed by November 1, 1999. Pre-registration payments are due January 4, 1999. Papers may be excluded from the proceedings if registration fees are not received by that date. Camera-ready manuscripts must be received at the IASTED secretariat by February 10, 1999. Please send final manuscripts by email if possible. Do not send both hard and electronic copies of the final manuscript. One copy of the final paper is sufficient. The proceedings will be mailed shortly after the conference. TUTORIALS Proposals for half-day tutorials (3 hours) should be received by the IASTED Secretariat by September 15, 1999. The tutorial proposal should clearly indicate the topic, background knowledge expected of the participants, objectives, time allocations for the major course topics, and the qualifications of the instructor(s). SPECIAL SESSIONS Persons wishing to organize a special session should submit a proposal to the IASTED Secretariat by September 15, 1999. Proposals should include a minimum of 4 paper abstracts, a session title, a list of the topics covered, and qualifications of session organizer(s). IMPORTANT DEADLINES September 15, 1999 Submissions due November 1, 1999 Notification of acceptance January 4, 2000 Pre-registrations due February 1, 2000 Camera-ready manuscripts due April 1, 2000 Proceedings mailed For more information or to be placed on our mailing list, please contact: IASTED Secretariat - MIC 2000 #80, 4500 - 16th Avenue N.W. Calgary, Alberta Canada T3B 0M6 Tel: 403-288-1195 Fax: 403-247-6851 Email: calgary@iasted.com Web site: http://www.iasted.com echong@ecn.purdue.edu _._________________________________________________________________________._ The End _._________________________________________________________________________._ Fri Aug 27 15:01:04 EST 1999