Area of Study / Keywords

Control Systems Industrial Alarm Monitoring Cyber-Physical Systems Event-Triggered Control

About

Tongwen Chen is currently a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Intelligent Monitoring and Control with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alberta. He received the BEng degree in Automation and Instrumentation from Tsinghua University (Beijing) in 1984, and the MASc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1988 and 1991, respectively.

Recently he was the recipient of the 2020 Research Career Award from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta, and the 2021 Outstanding Engineer Award from IEEE Canada with the citation for outstanding contributions to the theory and applications of computer control systems, networked control, remote state estimation, and advanced alarm management and design. He is a Fellow of IEEE, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control), as well as the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Research

Research Interests

Dynamic systems are central in many physical, engineering, biomedical, and economic processes. Dr. Chen’s research work lies in Control Systems; specifically, he is interested in understanding controlled behavior of complex dynamic systems, which typically involve computers and networks for information exchange. His research has resulted in development of analysis and synthesis methodologies in the following areas:

• Sampled-data control design
• Multirate digital signal processing
• Multirate process control and identification
• Networked control systems
• Industrial alarm systems

His research work has generated some impact in the fields of control systems and signal processing; moreover, some of his research results have been applied and implemented in the Canadian industry.

Current Research

Supported by NSERC and a number of industrial partners, Dr. Chen’s research is currently focused on the following areas:

• Wireless automation and wireless monitoring
• Alarm monitoring and rationalization
• Event triggered control systems
• Process control and system identification
• Energy efficiency operation and optimization

By creating new knowledge, developing new tools, and transferring them to industry, Dr. Chen aims at fostering innovation in the research work and providing a unique training program for graduate students and research personnel in the areas of Monitoring and Control of Complex Dynamic Systems.

ECE 360 - Control Systems I

Linear system models. Time response and stability. Block diagrams and signal flow graphs. Feedback control system characteristics. Dynamic compensation. Root locus analysis and design. Frequency response analysis and design. Prerequisites: ECE 203 or E E 250, and ECE 240 or E E 238. Credit may be obtained in only one of ECE 360, ECE 362, E E 357, E E 462 or E E 469.

ECE 665 - Multivariable Robust Control

MIMO control systems. Standard setup. Mathematical preliminaries (singular value decomposition, norms, and function spaces), Stability and performance analysis of MIMO control systems. Stabilization. Controller parameterization. Uncertain systems and uncertainty representations. Stability and performance analysis of uncertain control systems. Linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and convex optimization. Modern control design: H-2 and H-infinity optimization via LMIs.

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