IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS SOCIETY TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
ON DISCRETE EVENT SYSTEMS

    Ryan J. Leduc
    Chair, IEEE CSS Technical Committee on DES
    Dept. of Computing and Software
    McMaster University
    1280 Main Street West
    Hamilton, Ontario
    Canada L8S 4K1

    Phone: (905) 525-9140 Ext. 27962
    Fax: (905) 524-0340
    e-mail: leduc@mcmaster.ca
    WWW: http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/~leduc/

DESTC Web Page: http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/destc/

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Contents:

1. Editorial

2. Announcements
 2.1 CFP: JDEDS special issue on Optimization of DEDS

3. Books
 3.1 Ordinal Optimization: Soft Optimization for Hard Problems", by
     Y.-C. Ho, Q.-C. Zhao and Q.-S. Jia

4. Conferences
 4.1 2008 Stochastic Networks Conference, Ecole Normale Superieure,
     Paris, France, June 23 - 28, 2008
 4.2 Workshop on Discrete Event Systems 2008 (WODES'08), Gothenburg,
     Sweden, May 28 - 30, 2008
 4.3 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC'07), Cancun,
     Mexico, December 9 - 11, 2008
 4.4 8th Portuguese Conference on Automatic Control (CONTROLO'2008),
     Vila Real, Portugal, July 21 - 23, 2008

5. Journals
 5.1 Selections from International Journal of Control, Volume 81 Issue
     1, January 2008
 5.2 Selections from International Journal of Control, Volume 81 Issue
     2, February 2008
 5.3 Selections from IET Control Theory & Applications, Volume 1, Issue
     6, November 2007

Welcome to the newsletter of the IEEE Control Systems Technical Committee on Discrete Event Systems!

See http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/destc/ for information on the DESTC.

Personal note from the editor:

Welcome to the December DESTC newsletter.

Please note that the paper and special sessions submission deadline for
WODES'08 is January 18, 2008 and fast approaching!  Hope to see all of
you there!

Ryan

Contributed by: Edwin Chong <edwin.chong@colostate.edu>

CFP: JDEDS SPECIAL ISSUE ON OPTIMIZATION OF DEDS

Call for Papers
Special Issue in Discrete Event Dynamic Systems: Theory and Applications
Issue title: Optimization of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems
Target date: July Issue, 2009

Guest Editors: Yorai Wardi and Edwin Chong  
Papers on all aspects of optimization of DEDS, including theoretical,
computational, and numerical techniques, are solicited.  The topical
list includes, but is not restricted to, the following areas.

- Discrete-parameter optimization.

- Markov decision processes.

- Optimal control of DEDS.

- Optimization of hybrid systems, focusing on the DEDS aspects.

- Sample-path sensitivity analysis and optimization algorithms.

Papers should be submitted electronically in pdf form to either
of the guest editors at the following addresses:
ywardi@ece.gatech.edu, edwin.chong@colostate.edu.  

Deadlines:
Paper submission - July 31, 2008
Final acceptance notification -  December 1, 2008
Submission of final manuscripts - January 31, 2009

Publication of a manuscript or any part thereof must comply with all US
and international copyright laws.

Contributed by: Qing-Shan Jia <jiaqs@tsinghua.edu.cn>

ORDINAL OPTIMIZATION: SOFT OPTIMIZATION FOR HARD PROBLEMS

Y.-C. Ho, Q.-C. Zhao and Q.-S. Jia
Springer, 2007
ISBN 978-0-387-37232-7
http://www.springer.com/978-0-387-37232-7

About this book:
Performance evaluation of increasingly complex human-made systems 
requires the use of simulation models. However, these systems are 
difficult to describe and capture by succinct mathematical models. 
The purpose of this book is to address the difficulties of the 
optimization of complex systems via simulation models or other 
computation-intensive models involving possible stochastic effects 
and discrete choices. This book establishes distinct advantages of 
the "softer" ordinal approach for search-based type problems, 
analyzes its general properties, and shows the many orders of 
magnitude improvement in computational efficiency that is possible. 
This book:
-	Examines the difficulties of simulation-based optimization 
problems
-	Identifies the distinct advantages of the ordinal approach 
for search-based type problems
-	The tools described in this book can be used separately or 
in conjunction with other methodological tools of optimization.

Written for:
Graduate students, system engineers, operation researchers, complex 
system theorists, and the entire optimization community.

Keywords:
-	Complex simulation models
-	Exponential convergence
-	Kolmogorov equivalence 
-	Ordinal optimization
-	Search based methods
-	Simulation based optimization
-	Universal alignment

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I Introduction
Chapter II Ordinal Optimization Fundamentals
2.1 Two basic ideas of Ordinal Optimization (OO)
2.2 Definitions, terminology, and concepts for OO
2.3 Definitions, terminology, and concepts for OO
2.4 The exponential convergence of order and goal softening
2.5 Universal alignment probabilities
2.6 Deterministic complex optimization problem and Kolmogorov 
equivalence
2.7 Example applications
2.8 Preview of remaining chapters

Chapter III Comparison of Selection Rules
3.1 Classification of selection rules
3.2 Quantify the efficiency of selection rules
3.3 Examples of search reduction
3.4 Some properties of good selection rules
3.5 Conclusion

Chapter IV Vector Ordinal Optimization
4.1 Definitions, terminologies, and concepts for VOO
4.2 Universal alignment probability
4.3 Exponential convergence w.r.t. order
4.4 Examples of search reduction

Chapter V Constrained Ordinal Optimization
5.1 Determination of selected set in COO
5.2 Example: Optimization with an imperfect feasibility model
5.3 Conclusion

Chapter VI Memory Limited Strategy Optimization
6.1 Motivation (the need to find good enough and simple strategies)
6.2 Good enough simple strategy search based on OO
6.3 Conclusion

Chapter VII Additional Extensions of the OO Methodology
7.1 Extremely large design space
7.2 Parallel implementation of OO
7.3 Effect of correlated observation noises
7.4 Optimal Computing Budget Allocation and Nested Partition
7.5 Performance order vs. performance value
7.6 Combination with other optimization algorithms

Chapter VIII Real World Application Examples
8.1 Scheduling problem for apparel manufacturing
8.2 The turbine blade manufacturing process optimization problem
8.3 Performance optimization for a remanufacturing system
8.4 Witsenhausen problem

Appendix A Fundamentals of Simulation and Performance Evaluation
A.1 Introduction to simulation
A.2 Random numbers and variables generation
A.3 Sampling, the central limit theorem, and confidence intervals
A.4 Nonparametric analysis and order statistics
A.5 Additional problems of simulating DEDS
A.6 The alias method of choosing event types

Appendix B Introduction to Stochastic Processes and Generalized Semi-
Markov Processes as Models for Discrete Event Dynamic Systems and 
Simulations
B.1 Elements of stochastic sequences and processes
B.2 Modeling of discrete event simulation using stochastic sequences

Appendix C Universal Alignment Tables for the Selection Rules in 
Chapter III

Appendix D Exercises
D.1 True/False questions
D.2 Multiple-choice questions
D.3 General questions

Contributed by: Eric Thierry <eric.thierry@liafa.jussieu.fr>

2008 STOCHASTIC NETWORKS CONFERENCE
Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France
June 23 - 28, 2008

*************  Stochastic Networks 2008  *************
*************       Paris, France        *************
*************      June 23-28, 2008      *************

Conference Website: 
http://www.liafa.jussieu.fr/~gmerlet/StochasticNetworks/

We are pleased to inform that the eighth international Conference on
Stochastic Networks will be held June 23-28, 2008 at the Ecole Normale
Superieure, rue d'Ulm, Paris, 6-ime. This conference will continue a
tradition of similar meetings held at irregular intervals over the
last 20 years, starting with the one organized by Peter Glynn and Tom
Kurtz in Madison in 1987, continuing with conferences in Minneapolis,
Edinburgh, Madison, Stanford, Montreal and Urbana-Champaign. These
meetings have brought together mathematicians and applied researchers
who share an interest in stochastic network models.  

Like its predecessors, the 2008 Stochastic Networks Conference will
emphasize new stochastic network models structures and new
mathematical problems that are motivated by contemporary developments
in wireless networks, Internet, biology, manufacturing, etc. 

There will be roughly twenty invited talks over a six-day period
(Monday through Saturday), with plenty of time in the interstices for
informal discussions. In addition, there will be a poster session for
contributed papers. 


*************      Invited Speakers      *************

D. Aldous (Berkeley), C. Bordenave (Toulouse), A. Budhiraja
(North-Carolina), T. Dieker (IBM), S. Foss (Heriot-Watt), P.R. Kumar
(Urbana-Champaign), T. Kurtz (Wisconsin), M. Mandjes (Amsterdam),
J. Martin (Oxford), L. Massoulie (Thomson), D. McDonald (Ottawa),
A. Montanari (Stanford), N. O'Connell (Warwick), L. Popovic
(Concordia), A. Proutiere (Microsoft), K. Ramanan (Brown), D. Shah
(MIT), S. Stolyar (Lucent), R. Williams (San-Diego), A. Zeevi (Columbia). 

*************        Poster Session      *************

Submission Instructions for the Poster Session 

The conference will include a contributed poster session, featuring
selected posters on topics related to stochastic networks. 
To be considered for the poster session, authors must submit a two-page
summary of the poster by March 15, 2008, to 
François Baccelli (Francois.Baccelli@ens.fr) and Jean Mairesse
(mairesse@liafa.jussieu.fr). Please use the subject line [SNC 2008
Poster Summary] in your email. The summary should contain the
following information:  

Title of the poster
List of authors, affiliations and email addresses
Abstract of the work or full paper that will be presented in the poster

Accept/Reject decisions will be conveyed to the corresponding author
by April 15, 2008. 

*************          WWW page         *************  

For further information, including registration procedures and local
informations, see

Conference Website: 
http://www.liafa.jussieu.fr/~gmerlet/StochasticNetworks/


The event is sponsored by ANR, INRIA, and EuroNGI.

web site: click here

Contributed by: Bengt Lennartson <no-reply@wodes2008.org>

WORKSHOP ON DISCRETE EVENT SYSTEMS 2008 (WODES'08)
Gothenburg, Sweden
May 28 - 30, 2008

Call for papers: WODES'08

The 9th edition of WODES, the Workshop on Discrete Event Systems, will
be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, on the campus of Chalmers University of
Technology, May 28-30, 2008, see WODES'08 webpage:
http://www.wodes2008.org/ 

WODES'08 is co-sponsored by IEEE Control System Society.

It will provide researchers from different fields (control
theoreticians and control engineers, software engineers and computer
scientists, operations research specialists) with an opportunity to
exchange information and new ideas, and to discuss new developments in
the field of DES theory and application. 

Important Dates

January 18, 2008: Submission of full papers and special sessions. 
March 21, 2008: Notification of acceptance. 
April 18, 2008: Submission of final camera ready papers and registration. 
May 28-30, 2008: Workshop! 

Topics

The workshop will cover all topics in discrete event theory and
applications, including (but not limited to) the following:
* Formalisms and modeling methodologies: Petri nets, state automata,
statecharts, process algebras, max/plus-algebra... 
* Control of discrete-event systems with emphasis on supervisory
control and on real time control 
* Performance evaluation, diagnosis, optimization, implementation and
scheduling 
* Discrete approaches of hybrid, reactive and embedded systems 
* Applications including manufacturing systems, transportation systems,
process control, distributed systems, software engineering, office
automation, protocols... 
* Emerging applications in telecommunication systems and related
fields: performance evaluation, on-line control... 
* Software tools enabling efficient handling of industrial-sized systems. 

Benchmarking Software Tools

The workshop will include a special session on benchmarking of software
tools. A number of benchmark examples will be supplied (in neutral
formats) by the secretariat, and the benchmarking includes performance
evaluation of the software tools. 
Specific rules for the evaluation will be established.

Organizing Committee & Co-Chairs of Scientific Program Committee

Bengt Lennartson, Chalmers, Sweden
Martin Fabian, Chalmers, Sweden
Knut Akesson, Chalmers, Sweden
Alessandro Giua, University of Cagliari, Italy
Ratnesh Kumar, Iowa State University, USA

web site: click here

Contributed by: Ryan Leduc <leduc _at_ mcmaster _dot_ca>

47TH IEEE CONFERENCE ON DECISION AND CONTROL (CDC'07)
Cancun, Mexico
December 9 - 11, 2008

The 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control will be held Tuesday
through Thursday, December 9-11, 2008 at the Fiesta Americana Grand
Coral Beach, Cancun, Mexico. The conference will be preceded by
technical workshops on December 8, 2008.

The CDC is recognized as the premier scientific and engineering
conference dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of
systems and control. The CDC brings together an international community
of researchers and practitioners to discuss new research results,
perspectives on future developments, and innovative applications
relevant to decision making, automatic control, and related areas. It
is the first time that the CDC will be held in Latin America, in one of
the most international cities of Mexico, and close to where the Mayan
people built one of the new world wonder, the Chichen Itza pyramids and
temples.

The 47th CDC will feature several kinds of presentations including
contributed and invited papers, as well as invited tutorial sessions
and workshops.

The CDC is hosted by the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS), and is
organized in cooperation with the Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics (SIAM), the Institute for Operations Research and the
Management Sciences (INFORMS), the Japanese Society for Instrument and
Control Engineers (SICE), and the European Union Control Association
(EUCA).

Cancun

Cancun is built in a location that was named by the Mayan people for
the large number of snakes in the area. This world-class resort is now
free of snakes but full of wonderful cultural, social, and sports
possibilities.

The conference venue is in the middle of the ''Zona Hotelera'' or
Tourist Zone, a narrow island 14 miles long. Kukulcàn Blvd is the
main thoroughfare that dissects the island. Cancun boasts warm white
sand beaches, crystal indigo seas, romantic Caribbean nights,
world-class hotels and restaurants, and nightlife for every taste and
age. In and around Cancun, attendees can engage in world-renowned
fishing, diving and snorkeling, as well as visit archeological sites
with a wonderful Mathematical heritage.

Important dates:
Paper submissions site css.paperplaza.net opens: January 9, 2008
Deadline for submission of Invited Session proposals: February 25, 2008
Deadline for submission - contributed and invited papers: March 1, 2008
Notification of acceptance/rejection: July 14, 2008
Final submission and on-line registration opens: August 3, 2008
Nomination for Student Best Paper Award opens: August 2008
Deadline for final submission of all papers: September 8, 2008

web site: click here

Contributed by: Ryan Leduc <leduc _at_ mcmaster _dot_ ca>

8TH PORTUGUESE CONFERENCE ON AUTOMATIC CONTROL (CONTROLO'2008)
Vila Real, Portugal
July 21 - 23, 2008

Organized by:

APCA  – Portuguese Society for Automatic Control

UTAD – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro

January 7, 2008 - Deadline for submission of full draft Papers and
Invited Sessions 

CALL FOR PAPERS

It is our great pleasure to invite you to participate in the 8th
Portuguese Conference on Automatic Control – CONTROLO’2008, to be held
in Vila Real, from 21 to 23 July 2008. This conference is organized by
UTAD – University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, and APCA - the
Portuguese Association of Automatic Control which is a national member
organization of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). 


CONTROLO’2008 will provide an excellent opportunity for presenting new
results and to discuss the latest research and developments in the
field of automatic control. The conference is intended as an
international forum where an effective exchange of knowledge and
experience amongst researchers active in various theoretical and
applied areas of systems and control can take place. Participation of
engineers and other scientists from industry is particularly welcome. 

CONTROLO’2008 also encourages the submission of Invited Sessions on
well-defined subjects of current interest belonging to the scope of the
conference. Authors that wish to organize an Invited Session in
CONTROLO'2008 should first contact the organization. Normal and Invited
Sessions papers will be further screened for possible publication in a
special issue of the  International Journal of Systems Science

 
Contributions are welcome in both theoretical developments and
practical implementations in all areas involving systems and control. 

The main topics include, but are not limited to: 

·    Adaptive control 
·    Aerospace control 
·    Agricultural processes 
·    Automotive control 
·    Behavioral systems 
·    Biotechnological and environmental systems 
·    Control applications 
·    Control architectures 
·    Control education 
·    Control technology, sensors and actuators 
·    Control theory 
·    Discrete-event systems 
·    Distributed control 
·   Dynamic Games 
·    Emerging control technologies 
·   Fault-tolerant control
·    Fuzzy and neuro-fuzzy systems 
·    Genetic algorithms 
·    Hybrid systems 
·    Industrial automation Industrial networking
·    Instrumentation
·    Instrumentation, moddelling and control in agriculture 
·    Linear and nonlinear control 
·    Manufacturing systems and scheduling 
·    Marine control 
·    Mechatronics 
·    Modelling, simulation and identification 
·    Networked Fault Tolerant Control 
·    Neural networks 
·    Optimal control 
·    Process control 
·    Real time systems architectures 
·    Remote control (web) 
·    Remote Laboratories in Control Education 
·    Robotics and automation 
·    Robust control 
·    Smart structures control 
·    Stochastic control 
·    Transportation systems 
 
IMPORTANT DATES

       January 7, 2008 - Deadline for submission of full draft Papers
and Invited Sessions 

       March 7, 2008 - Notification of the acceptance/rejection of
submitted contributions

       May 5, 2008 - Final manuscripts submission deadline 

       July 21-23, 2008 - CONTROLO’2008 Conference

PLENARY SESSIONS

 Evolving Neural and Neuro-Fuzzy Models for Identification and Control

     Prof. António E. Ruano -  Centre for Intelligent Systems,
University of Algarve, Portugal


 Coordinated Motion Control of Multiple Autonomous Robotic Vehicles

     Prof. António Pedro Aguiar - IST, Technical University of Lisbon,
Portugal

 
 Optimal Control and Feedback Design of Parabolic Systems With Hard
Control and State Constraints

     Prof. Boris S. Mordukhovich -  Wayne State University, USA


 Model Predictive Control: Stability and Robustness Issues

     Prof. Eduardo F. Camacho - Universidad de Sevilla, Spain

INVITED SESSIONS

           Analysis and Design of Hybrid Systems

Organizer: Prof. Vadim Azhmyakov - CINVESTAV, Departamento de Control
Automático, Mexico


        Instrumentation, Modelling and Control in Agriculture

Organizers:  Prof. José Boaventura - University of Trás-os-Montes e
Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
                       Prof. Gerrit van Straten - Agrotechnology and
Food Sciences, Wageningen University, Netherlands


       Remote Laboratories in Control Education

Organizers:   Prof. Paulo Gil - The New University of Lisbon, Portugal

                        Prof. Alberto Cardoso - University of Coimbra,
Portugal


       Networked Fault Tolerant Control

Organizers:  Prof. Alberto Cardoso - University of Coimbra, Portugal

                       Prof. Paulo Gil - The New University of Lisbon,
Portugal 

(more invited sessions will be announced soon)  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
      
   Additional information can be found in the Conference Web site
http://home.utad.pt/controlo2008/

You are kindly invited to participate in the 8th Portuguese Conference
on Automatic Control in 2008.  We look forward to seeing you in Vila Real.


Controlo’2008 Secretariat
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
Departamento de Engenharias
5001-801 Vila Real – Portugal

Tel.  +351 259 350 300
Fax. +351 259 350 480 
Email: controlo2008@utad.pt

web site: click here

Contributed by: Ryan Leduc <leduc _at_ mcmaster _dot_ ca>

SELECTIONS FROM INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONTROL
VOLUME 81 ISSUE 1
JANUARY, 2008

1) Continuous representation and control of hybrid systems

M. Gapaillard

Abstract:

This article introduces a continuous representation for controlled
model and state jump hybrid systems. Such a representation is valuable
in that it manages to cope with the difficulties related to
discontinuities, by replacing the study of these systems by that of
continuous ones, which is simple. The studied hybrid systems are first
introduced, together with their associated continuous systems. Some
localized and global convergences of the states of continuous systems
to those of hybrid systems are proved. Then, the continuous
representation is used within the optimal control framework. Free
end-time and trajectory pursuit hybrid problems are studied, as well as
their respective continuous versions. Convergences of solutions between
continuous and hybrid problems are established, which shows that the
resolution of a problem ensuing from the representation enables one to
obtain an approximation of the solution of the initial hybrid problem.
Finally, the formalism of calculus of variations is used to obtain the
expressions of the gradients of cost functions associated with a
trajectory pursuit problem in hybrid and continuous cases. Theoretical
and technical simplifications, brought by the representation, are
highlighted, as well as its practical interest shown by means of a
numerical application.

web site: click here

Contributed by: Ryan Leduc <leduc _at_ mcmaster _dot_ ca>

SELECTIONS FROM INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONTROL
VOLUME 81 ISSUE 2
FEBRUARY, 2008

1) A numerical algorithm for optimal control of a class of hybrid
systems: differential transformation based approach

I. Hwang; J. Li; D. Du

Abstract:

A novel numerical algorithm based on differential transformation is
proposed for optimal control of a class of hybrid systems with a
predefined mode sequence. From the necessary conditions for optimality
of hybrid systems, the hybrid optimal control problem is first
converted into a two-point boundary value problem (TPBVP) with
additional transverse conditions at the switching times. Then we
propose a differential transformation algorithm for solving the TPBVP
which may have discontinuities in the state and/or control input at the
switching times. Using differential transformation, the hybrid optimal
control problem reduces to a problem of solving a system of algebraic
equations. The numerical solution is obtained in the form of a
truncated Taylor series. By taking advantage of the special properties
of the linear subsystems and a quadratic cost functional, the
differential transformation algorithm can be further simplified for the
switched linear quadratic optimal control problem. We analyse the error
of the numerical solution computed by the differential transformation
algorithm and some computational aspects are also discussed. The
performance of the differential transformation algorithm is
demonstrated through illustrative examples. The differential
transformation algorithm has been shown to be simple to be implemented
and computationally efficient.

web site: click here

Contributed by: Ryan Leduc <leduc _at_ mcmaster _dot_ ca>

SELECTIONS FROM IET CONTROL THEORY & APPLICATIONS
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6
NOVEMBER, 2007

1) Deadlock control policy for a class of petri nets without complete
siphon enumeration

Z. Li, M. Zhou, and M. Uzam

Abstract:

Siphons are special structures of a Petri net. Their number grows
exponentially with the net size. Hence, the traditional siphon-based
deadlock control policies have two problems, that is, generating very
structurally complex supervisory controllers and requiring intractable
computation efforts. This paper intends to use the newly proposed
concept, elementary siphons, and a mixed integer programming (MIP)
method to design structurally simple supervisory controllers and reduce
the computational burden. This method is applicable to a class of Petri
nets, System of Simple Sequential Processes with Resources that can
well model a wide class of discrete manufacturing systems. Siphons are
divided into elementary and dependent ones. The proposed policy
consists of three stages: siphon control, control-induced siphon
control, and the elimination of control-redundant monitors. First, a
monitor (control place) is added for each elementary siphon such that
it is invariant-controlled. Because of the addition of monitors to the
plant model, control-induced siphons are possibly generated in the
augmented net. Next, monitors are added to make control-induced siphons
in the augmented net always marked sufficiently without generating new
problematic siphons. A MIP technique is used to guarantee that no
siphon is insufficiently marked. Finally, we systematically remove
control-redundant monitors. Compared with previous work in the
literature, the deadlock prevention policy developed in this paper can
lead to a structurally simple liveness-enforcing Petri net supervisor
with more permissive behaviour by adding only a small number of
monitors and arcs. Moreover, complete siphon enumeration is avoided. A
manufacturing system example is utilised to illustrate the proposed
methods.

web site: click here