Encompasses theories, methodologies and tools for modelling, analysis, design and optimisation of self-regulating systems, with an emphasis on uncertainty and robustness of feedback systems. This research area underpins a number of others across the engineering and physical sciences research base.
This area encompasses theories, methodologies and tools for modelling, analysis, design and optimisation of self-regulating systems, with an emphasis on uncertainty and robustness of feedback systems.
A control system uses sensor measurements to monitor a system’s behaviour and generate or apply feedback to the system-appropriate control actions, to achieve the desired performance. Such systems are ubiquitous in natural and engineered systems, for example, in:
- aerospace
- automotive
- energy
- manufacturing
- robotics
- intelligent mobility and transportation
- communications
- biology
- biotechnology and healthcare
- power electronics
- smart grids
- wind turbines
- chemical processing.
New research challenges include analysis and design of large-scale, complex, heterogeneous and distributed systems, including those with humans in the loop. This research area underpins a number of others across the engineering and physical sciences research base.
Delivering a community-owned strategy
Although control engineering underpins a number of research areas, to date there has been no overarching community-driven research strategy. We will work proactively with the community to deliver a community owned research strategy which seeks to elevate its presence in the wider engineering and physical sciences community.
We will work with the community to understand and address, where possible, any leadership or related skills challenges, particularly in relation to early career researchers, to support the future sustainability of control engineering within the UK.
Specifically, we aim to have a community that seeks to establish greater communication at a strategic level in order to foster collaboration on fundamental and applied research challenges. This will enable a greater focus on the balance between developing new fundamental control theory and the use of existing control theories in new application areas.
We also aim to investigate how control engineers can increase awareness of the research area amongst the wider community and industry, to enable better engagement of underpinning control expertise at the outset. In this way, we can maximise the potential impact from other research areas through informed design at an early stage, similar to how medical engineers engage with clinicians at a project’s outset to ensure results’ relevance to end users. In conjunction with a focus on major research challenges for example in aerospace and automotive and energy, this will maximise the resulting impact.