Dealing with bio- and ecological complexity: Challenges and opportunities

Ewart Carson; David Dagan Feng; Marie-Noëlle Pons; Rodolfo Soncini-Sessa; Gerrit van Straten

doi:10.1016/j.arcontrol.2006.01.003

Dealing with bio- and ecological complexity: Challenges and opportunities

Annu Rev Control. 2006;30(1):91-101. doi: 10.1016/j.arcontrol.2006.01.003. Epub 2006 Jun 27.

Authors

Ewart Carson¹, David Dagan Feng², Marie-Noëlle Pons³, Rodolfo Soncini-Sessa⁴, Gerrit van Straten⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Health Informatics, City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK.
² School of Information Technologies, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
³ LSGC-CNRS-ENSIC-INPL, 1 rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001 Nancy Cedex, France.
⁴ Dipartimento di. Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 20133 Milano, Italy.
⁵ Department of Agrotechnology and Food Science, Wageningen University, PO Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Abstract

The complexities of the dynamic processes and their control associated with biological and ecological systems offer many challenges for the control engineer. Over the past decades the application of dynamic modelling and control has aided understanding of their complexities. At the same time using such complex systems as test-beds for new control methods has highlighted their limitations (e.g. in relation to system identification) and has thus acted as a catalyst for methodological advance. This paper continues the theme of exploring opportunities and achievements in applying modelling and control in the bio- and ecological domains.

Keywords: Agriculture; Biomedical systems; Biotechnology; Control systems; Ecology; Environmental systems; Modelling.