About the Book

​Structural Methods in the Study of Complex Systems helps the reader respond to the challenge of mastering complexity in systems and control. The book details the fundamental control problems arising from complex dynamical systems and shows how they can be tackled effectively by means of methods developed from graph theory, differential algebra and geometric approaches. These "structural methods" produce abstractions that fit a wide variety of applications by taking advantage of their intrinsic focus on the essential characteristics of dynamical systems, their geometric perspective and visual representation, and their algebraic formalization and ability to generate algorithmic frameworks to complement the theoretical treatment.

The original work and latest achievements of the contributors, expanding on material presented at a workshop organized to coincide with the 2018 European Control Conference will assist systems and control scientists interested in developing theoretical and computational tools to solve analysis and synthesis problems involving complex dynamical systems. The contributions provide a comprehensive picture of available results along with a stimulating view of possible directions for future investigations in the field. Emphasis is placed on methods with solid computational background and on specific engineering applications so that readers from both theoretical and practical backgrounds will find this collection of use.

About the Author: Elena Zattoni received the Laurea degree cum laude in Electronics Engineering in 1995 and the Ph.D. in Systems Engineering in 1999 from the University of Bologna, Italy. Since 2001, she has been with the University of Bologna as an Assistant Professor. She qualified as an Associate Professor in 2014 and in 2017. She has been a Visiting Professor at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Aalto University, University of Michigan, Institut de Recherche en Communications et Cybernétique de Nantes, and Brown University. Her research interests are focused on geometric and structural approaches to control and observation of dynamical systems, including hybrid systems, switched systems, and time-delay systems, with applications to the synthesis of enhanced-reliability control systems. She has authored about forty journal articles and more than one hundred between contributed chapters and conference papers. She serves as an Associate Editor of the IFAC journal "Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems". She is a member of the IFAC Technical Committee 2.2 "Linear Control Systems". She is a Senior Member of the IEEE and has served in the "Member Activity Board" of the IEEE Control Systems Society. She is the General Chair of the "15th European Workshop on Advanced Control and Diagnosis". She is a Member of the Scientific Board of "Collegio Superiore", the School of Excellence of the Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna.
Anna Maria Perdon received the Laurea in Mathematics from the University of Padua, Italy, in 1972. Since 2000, she has been Professor of Automation at the Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy. She has authored or co-authored more than two hundred publications in journals, conference proceedings and books. She has edited five books and co-authored the research monograph Algebraic Methods for Nonlinear Control Systems. Theory and Applications (Springer 2007) translated into Chinese and Slovak. Her research interests include hybrid systems; switching systems; delay differential systems; algebraic, geometric and differential-algebraic techniques for linear and nonlinear dynamical systems. Dr. Perdon has served in the editorial boards of several journals and as General Chair/Program Chair or editor/co-editor of the proceedings of several international systems and control theory conferences. She was Associate Editor of Systems & Control Letters and of SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization. Dr. Perdon was a Member of the Board of Governors and Chairman of the "Women in Control" Committee of the IEEE Control System Society respectively in 2001/05 and in 2002/06 respectively. She is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a member of the IFAC Technical Committee on Linear Control System and of the Accademia Marchigiana di Scienze Lettere ed Arti.
Giuseppe Conte received the Laurea in Mathematics from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 1974. He is currently--since 1990--Professor of Automation at the Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy. He has authored or co-authored more than three hundred publications in journals, conference proceedings and books. He has edited five books and co-authored the research monograph Algebraic Methods for Nonlinear Control Systems. Theory and Applications (Springer 2007) translated into Chinese and Slovak. His research interests are in algebraic and geometric system and control theory and in robotics. Dr. Conte has served in the editorial boards of several journals and as General Chair/Program Chair or editor/co-editor of the proceedings of several international systems and control theory conferences. He was Associate Editor of SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization and currently he serves as Associate Editor of IMA Journal of Mathematical Control and Information. Dr. Conte has been Chairman of the IFAC Technical Committee on Linear Control Systems and he has been founder and Chairman of the Italian Chapter of the IEEE Control Systems Society. He is a senior Member of the IEEE, a member of the IFAC Technical Committee on Linear Control System and a member of the Accademia Marchigiana di Scienze Lettere ed Arti.