Plenary Lecture
Optimal Control on Lie Groups: Theory and Applications
Professor Karlheinz Spindler
Hochschule RheinMain
Arbeitsgruppe Mathematik
Wiesbaden, Germany
E-mail: spindlergg@googlemail.com
Abstract: The talk starts with a general formulation of Pontryagin's Principle in a form which emphasizes the geometric content of this principle. From this general form a version will be derived which is tailor-made for control problems on Lie groups. Such problems arise in many engineering applications (spacecraft attitude control, robotics, automated vehicle steering, quantum spin systems). Examples will be presented in which the differential geometric and Lie theoretic approach allows the derivation of explicit solutions in situations where classical engineering approaches (like computations in coordinates) fail or are unncesserily cumbersome.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: Karlheinz Spindler studied Mathematics, Mechanics and History at the Technical University Darmstadt in Germany. He earned his doctorate in Mathematics for work in the structure theory of Lie algebras. Subsequently, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge (USA). After his return to Germany, he worked for five years in the aerospace industry and was based at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt. Since 1997, he has been a professor for mathematics and data processing at the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden. He was instrumental in designing, planning and implementing a new line of study in Applied Mathematics which he is currently heading. His research interests are in control theory and parameter estimation.