Status
My Ph.D. studies were started in May 1993, and I took a leave from them for one year (June 1994 to June 1995). I plan to finish my Ph.D. in the summer of 1997. My work is financed by the Norwegian Research Council strategic technology program in Computer Aided Chemical Engineering.
Research area
The title of the thesis is "Control Structure Selection for Integrated Plants". It mainly deals with finding a control structure which is both robust with respect to model uncertainty and operational changes and which yields acceptable performance. The main focus so far, has been on selection of inputs and outputs to be controlled on the regulatory control layer and limitations on achievable performance in multivariable systems. Mywork since June 1995 has resulted in publications to be presented in 1996 at both the ESCAPE-6 conference on Rhodes and IFAC'96 conference in San Francisco. Studies on the effect of right half plane zeros and poles on performance in multivariable systems have resulted in a paper submitted to Control'96 conference in Exeter, UK. Also submitted to Control'96 was an extended abstract entitled "Selection of Feedback Variables for Implementing Optimizing Control Schemes".
Activities
Publications
Plans for 1996
Finish the conference papers submitted to Control'96. Attend the conferences: ESCAPE-6 on Rhodes, Greece, IFAC'96 in San Francisco, USA, and Control'96 in Exeter UK. I plan to initiate work regarding the selection of control configuration (specifying the links between the selected inputs and outputs).