Biography

 

 

Prof. Ning Xi (IEEE Fellow)
Chair Professor of Robotics and Automation
Director of Emerging Technologies Institute, The University of Hong Kong

Biography: Professor Ning Xi received D.Sc. degree in Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA in December 1993. Currently he is the Chair Professor of Robotics and Automation in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing System Engineering, and the Director of Emerging Technologies Institute of the University of Hong Kong.
Before joining the University of Hong Kong, he was a University Distinguished Professor, the John D. Ryder Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of Robotics and Automation Laboratory at Michigan State University in United States.
He also served as the founding head of the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong (2011-2013). 
Prof. Xi is a fellow of IEEE. He also served as the President of IEEE Nanotechnology Council (2010-2011), a member of Administrative Committee of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (2013-2015).
He has been elected as the President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (2018-2019). His research interests include robotics, manufacturing automation, micro/nano manufacturing, nano sensors and devices, and intelligent control and systems.

 

Prof. Maria Pia FANTI (IEEE Fellow)

Polytechnic of Bari, Italy

Biography: Maria Pia Fanti (fellow IEEE) received the Laurea degree in electronic engineering from the University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, in 1983. She was a visiting researcher at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, in 1999. Since 1983, she has been with the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of the Polytechnic of Bari, Italy, where she is currently a Full Professor of system and control engineering and Chair of the Laboratory of Automation and Control.
Her research interests include modeling and control of complex systems, intelligent transportation systems, smart logistics; Petri nets; consensus protocols; fault detection.
Prof. Fanti has published more than +300 papers and two textbooks on her research topics. She was senior editor of the IEEE Trans. on Automation Science and Engineering and member at large of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society. Currently, she is Associate Editor of the IEEE Trans. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, member of the AdCom of the IEEE Robotics and Automaton Society, and chair of the Technical Committee on Automation in Logistics of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. Prof. Fanti was General Chair of the 2011 IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Service Operations and Logistics, and Informatics and the 2019 Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Conference.

 

Speech Title: Maximizing Convergence Speed for Second Order Consensus in Leaderless Multi-Agent Systems

Abstract: The distributed control problem of multi-agent networks received tremendous attention in the last decades due to its applications in different areas. Each agent is a dynamical system and the problem of reaching an agreement on all or some components of the agents’ status is known as consensus problem.
The talk deals with the consensus problem in a leaderless network of agents that have to reach a common velocity while forming a uniformly spaced string. Moreover, the final common velocity (reference velocity) is determined by the agents in a distributed and leaderless way. Then, the consensus protocol parameters are optimized for networks characterized by a communication topology described by a class of directed graph having a directed spanning tree, in order to maximize the convergence rate and avoid oscillations. The advantages of the optimized consensus protocol are enlightened by some simulation results and comparison with a protocol proposed in the related literature.
The presented protocol can be applied to coordinate agents such as mobile robots, Automated Guided Vehicles and autonomous vehicles that have to move with the same velocity and a common inter-space gap.

 

Prof. Yongchun Fang
Nankai University, China
方勇纯， 博导，国家杰出青年基金获得者

Biography: Yongchun Fang received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering and the M.S. degree in control theory and application, both from Zhejiang University, P. R. China, in 1996 and 1999, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree of electrical engineering from Clemson University in 2002.
From 2002 to 2003, Dr. Fang was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Cornell University. Since 2003, Dr. Fang has been a professor at the Institute of Robotics and Automatic Information System, Nankai University, Tianjin, P. R. China, and he is also a Yangtze River Distinguished Professor of the Chinese Minister of Education.
Dr. Fang’s research interests include underactuated systems control, visual servoing, AFM-based nano-manipulation, and so on.
Dr. Fang is a recipient of the China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists, and he won the First Prize of Wu Wenjun Natural Science of Artificial Intelligence in 2017.

 

Speech: Title: Nonlinear Control of Underactuated Systems

Abstract: Compared with fully actuated systems, underactuated systems present such advantages as simpler structure, broader applications, and so on. Yet the control of this kind of system proves to be a very challenging problem due to the underactuated property. This talk mainly introduces the recent results on the nonlinear control of various underactuated systems, firstly for overhead cranes, later on extended to other systems such as offshore boom cranes, quadrotor transportation systems, and so on. Finally, the designed control strategy is successfully applied to industrial cranes to achieve full-automatic operation.

 

Prof. Yaguo Lei (IET Fellow)
Xi’an Jiaotong University, China
雷亚国， 博导，国家杰出青年基金获得者，首批国家优秀青年科学基金获得者， 德国洪堡学者

Biography: Prof. Yaguo Lei is currently a professor in mechanical engineering of Xi’an Jiaotong University, P. R. China. He ever worked at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow and at the University of Alberta, Canada as a postdoctoral research fellow. He is also a fellow of IET and ISEAM, a senior member of IEEE, a member of ASME, and senior members of CMES, ORSC and CAA, respectively, and the associate editors/ the editorial board members of IEEE TIE, MSSP, NC&A, MST, etc. His research interests include health condition monitoring and intelligent maintenance, big-data era intelligent fault diagnostics and prognostics, reliability evaluation and remaining useful life prediction, mechanical signal analysis and processing, and mechanical system dynamic modeling. He has pioneered many signal processing techniques, intelligent diagnosis models and remaining useful life prediction methods. He has written one monography in English. His H-index has raised to 52, and he was selected as the Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

 

Speech Title: Big Data-driven Remaining Useful Life Prediction for equipment

Abstract: Remaining useful life (RUL) prediction for machines is one of the cutting-edge research topics in the field of PHM. It is able to extend the operational time and increases the availability, safety and reliability of machines, therefore decreasing the maintenance cost and brings economic benefits. To predict the RUL accurately, many sensors are mounted on each machine and massive data are acquired by the high sampling frequency after the long-time operation, which promotes RUL prediction for machines to enter the era of big data. This speech will discuss the several key issues in the academic research of RUL prediction, then present recent progress of the speaker's group, and finally show some practical diagnosis and prognosis systems for industrial robots, trains, new energy vehicle, etc.

 

Prof. Haifeng Ma, Shandong University, China

马海峰，博士，博士研究生导师，山东大学

Biography: Haifeng Ma received the Ph.D. degree in Mechatronics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, in 2017. He was a postdoctoral fellow in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University during 2018-2020, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. He is currently a Full Professor of the Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of MOE, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China. His research interests include vibration control, robust control, piezo-driven system modeling and control, mechanical signal processing. He has published 25 journal papers, including the papers in IEEE T Ind Inform、IEEE T Ind Electron、Int J Mach Tools Manuf、IEEE-ASME T Mech、J Sound Vib、Mech Syst Signal Pr. He was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and won the "Hong Kong Scholar". He serves as reviewers for several journals, including IEEE-ASME T Mech, IEEE T Ind Inform, Automatica, Mech Syst Signal Pr.

 

Speech Title: Predefined Space-Time Adaptive Sliding-Mode Control and Its Application to Nanopositioning Stage

Abstract: This report proposes the design and verification of a new saturation-tolerant predefined space-time control (SPSC) scheme dedicated to the systems with input saturation. The SPSC scheme is constructed by integrating a saturation-tolerant factor along with the reference convergence differential function (RCDF). The main benefit of the proposed scheme lies in the fact that the system state is able to converge to the saturation-tolerant predefined trajectory at a predefined time despite the existence of input saturation. Namely, it can adjust the predefined trajectory by the saturation-tolerant factor flexibly as input saturation occurs or disappears, which establishes a link between the saturation-tolerant predefined trajectory and input saturation. In addition, the convergence time can be arbitrarily selected by the user, which has no dependency on the initial condition. Furthermore, disturbance is adaptively tackled by designing a saturation-tolerant predefined space-time adaptive integral sliding mode control (SPSAISMC) scheme. It ensures the SPSC with a predefined accuracy in the presence of disturbance and input saturation. The stabilities of the control systems are proved in theory. Finally, the superior properties of the proposed schemes are illustrated by simulations and experimental studies on a nanopositioning stage.

 

 

Assoc. Prof. Jian Liu, Central South University, China

刘建，博士，航空航天学院特聘副教授

Biography: Jian Liu, PhD and Postdoctoral study in Lund University, Sweden (2015-2019) and associate professor in School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Central South University (2020-). He has long been engaged in the research of heat transfer and fluid flow of aero-engine structures, turbine blade cooling, engine thermal protection and advanced heat transfer enhancement methods. He has published 49 journal papers, more than 10 international conference papers, including the papers in Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, ASME J. Heat Transfer, Int. C. Heat Mass Transfer, Int. J. Thermal Sciences, ASME J. Heat Mass Transfer, Applied Thermal Engineering and Energy. One paper was selected into ESI highly cited paper. At present, total citation is more than 800 and the H-index is 14. He has applied for 4 invention patents, and participated in a number of research projects, including National Natural Science Foundation of China, the fundamental research projects of Swedish Energy Bureau, Siemens, CTH, and GKN Engine Company.

 

Assoc. Prof. Jianing Wu, Sun Yat-sen University, China

吴嘉宁，博士，中山大学航空航天学院副教授

Biography: Dr Jianing Wu received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tsinghua University, China in 2015. He worked as the postdoctoral fellow in Mechanical Engineering in Georgia Tech during 2015-2018. He started at Sun Yat-Sen University in late summer 2018 as an Associate Professor. His research focuses on fundamental problems of that have bearing on problems in biology and the techniques of biomimetic technologies based on nature's designs, especially for aeronautical and astronautical applications. He published more than 50 articles and won the International Society of Bionic Award in 2016.

 

Assoc. Prof. Haizhao Liang, Sun Yat-sen University, China

梁海朝，博士生导师，中山大学航空航天学院副教授

Biography: Dr. Haizhao Liang received the Ph.D. degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Science and Technology from Harbin Institute of Technology, China in 2013. He studied in Politecnico di Milano as a visiting scholar during 2011-2012. He worked as a senior engineer in China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology during 2013-2018. He started at Sun Yat-Sen University in May, 2018 as an Associate Professor. He has published more than 40 journal papers and international conference papers as the first author or corresponding author. His research interests include game theory of flight vehicle using artificial intelligence and bionic technique, intelligence coordinate guidance and control of spacecraft, and attack-defense confrontation system modeling.

 

Speech Title: Optimal Guidance for Active Defense Spacecraft via Differential Game
Abstract: With the development of space technology, thousands of spacecraft such as satellites, space shuttles, space stations are launched and play important roles in civil and military activities. As the competition of space resources, interception of spacecraft becomes a significant research topic and is widely investigated in recent decades. On the other hand, the problem of how to protect a spacecraft is also interesting. Active defense technique is an effective and reliable countermeasure for spacecraft by launching a defending vehicle flying nearby during the interception endgame. Thus, modern interceptors are required to evade the active defender while pursuing the spacecraft simultaneously, and we focus on the guidance problem of adversaries in this engagement.

Two interesting scenarios are studied by us, the two-on-one active defense scenario and the two-on-two scenario. In the two-on-one active defense scenario, the optimal guidance problem for an interceptor against a spacecraft with active defense is investigated. A class of optimal guidance schemes are proposed based on linear quadratic differential game method and numerical solution of Riccati differential equation. In the two-on-two scenario, two classes of guidance laws are proposed based on norm differential game strategy and linear quadratic differential game strategy, respectively. Satisfaction of the proposed guidance schemes of the saddle point condition is proven theoretically. Nonlinear numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the developed guidance approaches.

 

 

Dr. Chaoyang Liu, National University of Defense Technology

Biography: Chaoyang Liu, was born in January 1990, Ph.D., lecturer. He graduated from National University of Defense Technology in June 2019, majoring in Aeronautics and Astronautics Science and Technology, and obtained an excellent doctoral dissertation of Hunan Province in 2021. During the Ph.D., he went to Lund University in Sweden for joint training and engaged in computational combustion research. His present research mainly involves the fields of supersonic combustion and structural thermal protection. He has presided over a National Natural Science Foundation of China, a Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, and a scientific research plan of the National University of Defense Technology. He has completed six projects including the National Natural Science Foundation of China and major national projects, and participated in a teaching reform research project in Hunan Province. Nowadays, he has published 25 SCI journal papers and 2 EI papers, including 12 first/corresponding author papers, including the top journal "Physics of Fluids" in the field of flow and combustion and the top journal "AIAA Journal" in the aerospace field. Additionally, a software copyright was obtained recently.

 

Speech Title: Experimental and numerical investigation on the mechanism of partially-premixed combustion in the supersonic flows

Abstract: Scramjet combustor is regarded as a key component of air-breathing propulsion system, which can determine the overall property of hypersonic vehicles. The resultant reactive flow inside the scramjet usually behaves partially-premixed combustion in character, despite that the fuel is separately injected into the supersonic combustor. As a result, it is necessary to investigate the mechanism of supersonic partially-premixed combustion. My research work focuses on the characteristics of the fuel mixing and turbulent flame, as well as the unsteady combustion mechanism during the condition adjustment. This presentation is divided into four parts, including the description of background, research progress and a series of representative research results by our group. At the end, some significant conclusions are obtained, and then the following development trend in this field would be described.