Christophe Prieur

Bio: Christophe Prieur is an academic researcher from University of Grenoble. The author has contributed to research in topics: Exponential stability & Lyapunov function. The author has an hindex of 40, co-authored 348 publications receiving 5908 citations. Previous affiliations of Christophe Prieur include Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems & University of Paris-Sud.

Nonlinear Optimal Control via Occupation Measures and LMI-Relaxations

Abstract: We consider the class of nonlinear optimal control problems (OCPs) with polynomial data, i.e., the differential equation, state and control constraints, and cost are all described by polynomials, and more generally for OCPs with smooth data. In addition, state constraints as well as state and/or action constraints are allowed. We provide a simple hierarchy of LMI- (linear matrix inequality)-relaxations whose optimal values form a nondecreasing sequence of lower bounds on the optimal value. Under some convexity assumptions, the sequence converges to the optimal value of the OCP. Preliminary results show that good approximations are obtained with few moments.

Stability analysis and stabilization of systems presenting nested saturations

Abstract: This note addresses the problems of stability analysis and stabilization of systems presenting nested saturations. Depending on the open-loop stability assumption, the global stability analysis and stabilization problems are considered. In the (local) analysis problem, the objective is the determination of estimates of the basin of attraction of the system. Considering the stabilization problem, the goal is to design a set of gains in order to enlarge the basin of attraction of the closed-loop system. Based on the modelling of the system presenting nested saturations as a linear system with dead-zone nested nonlinearities and the use of a generalized sector condition, linear matrix inequality (LMI) stability conditions are formulated. From these conditions, convex optimization strategies are proposed to solve both problems

ISS-Lyapunov functions for time-varying hyperbolic systems of balance laws

Abstract: A family of time-varying hyperbolic systems of balance laws is considered. The partial differential equations of this family can be stabilized by selecting suitable boundary conditions. For the stabilized systems, the classical technique of construction of Lyapunov functions provides a function which is a weak Lyapunov function in some cases, but is not in others. We transform this function through a strictification approach to obtain a time-varying strict Lyapunov function. It allows us to establish asymptotic stability in the general case and a robustness property with respect to additive disturbances of input-to-state stability (ISS) type. Two examples illustrate the results.

Strict Lyapunov functions for semilinear parabolic partial differential equations

Abstract: For families of partial differential equations (PDEs) with particular boundary conditions, strict Lyapunov functions are constructed. The PDEs under consideration are parabolic and, in addition to the diffusion term, may contain a nonlinear source term plus a convection term. The boundary conditions may be either the classical Dirichlet conditions, or the Neumann boundary conditions or a periodic one. The constructions rely on the knowledge of weak Lyapunov functions for the nonlinear source term. The strict Lyapunov functions are used to prove asymptotic stability in the framework of an appropriate topology. Moreover, when an uncertainty is considered, our construction of a strict Lyapunov function makes it possible to establish some robustness properties of Input-to-State Stability (ISS) type.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

Linear and nonlinear waves, by G. B. Whitham. Pp.636. £50. 1999. ISBN 0 471 35942 4 (Wiley).

Abstract: to be done in this area. Face recognition is a problem that scarcely clamoured for attention before the computer age but, having surfaced, has involved a wide range of techniques and has attracted the attention of some fine minds (David Mumford was a Fields Medallist in 1974). This singular application of mathematical modelling to a messy applied problem of obvious utility and importance but with no unique solution is a pretty one to share with students: perhaps, returning to the source of our opening quotation, we may invert Duncan's earlier observation, 'There is an art to find the mind's construction in the face!'.