The Chinese Control Conference

The 26th Chinese Control Conference The Chinese Control Conference (CCC) is a series of annual conferences on systems and control in China. It originally provided a forum for Chinese scholars, engineers, and graduate students to exchange research results and discuss new ideas. In recent years, an increasing number of colleagues from abroad have attended the conference. Many overseas Chinese scholars are active in organizing the CCC and help to make it more international. The Technical Committee on Control Theory (TCCT) of the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA) is the permanent sponsor of CCC. Each year a university is chosen to be the local sponsor, and the conference is held in or near the city where the university is located. For this year s conference, in addition to the TCCT as the permanent sponsor, Central South University and Hunan Automation Association were sponsors and responsible for local organization. The conference is also cosponsored by the IEEE CSS, the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), Japan, the Institute of Control, Automation, and Systems Engineers (ICASE), Korea, the Institute of Systems Science, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National University of Defense Technology, Hunan University, Hunan University of Technology, and the CAI Division of Hong Kong Institute of Engineers. The 26th CCC was held on July 26 31, 2007 at the Best Western Premier Zhangjiajie Hotel, Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China. Zhangjiajie is a tourism city known for magnificent scenery with miraculous mountains and beautiful rivers. The Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is a UN-designated Natural Heritage site. The Proceedings of the 26th CCC will be included in the IEEE Conference Publication Program, IEEE catalog number 07EX1694. The papers included in the conference proceedings will be archived in IEEE Xplore and will be selected for coverage in the ISI Proceedings/Index to Scientific and Technical Proceedings (ISTP). TECHNICAL PROGRAMS There were 1572 submissions to this CCC, with 91 papers from outside the Chinese mainland including Australia, Britain, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comorin, Congo, Egypt, Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United States. Among these submissions, 874 papers were accepted for inclusion in the conference proceedings, published in six volumes of hardcopy as well as in a CD ROM. There were 62 parallel lecture sessions including ten invited sessions, comprising 358 papers, and four poster sessions with 199 papers. Six of the lecture sessions were English sessions, with all papers written in English. Papers in the other sessions could be presented in either English or Chinese. More than 600 people attended the conference. Eight CCC program regional chairs were responsible for conference publicity within their respective regions and for organizing invited sessions. The regional chairs were B. Chen, the National University of Singapore, Singapore; T. Chen, the University of Alberta, Canada; J. Huang, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Z. Lin, the University of Virginia, USA; G. P. Liu, the University of Glamorgan, U.K.; W.Q. Liu, Curtin University of Technology, Australia; Z.H. Qu, the University of Central Florida, USA; and T. L. Shen, Sophia University, Japan. The following plenary talks were presented: Information Architecture and Control Design for Rigid Formations, by B.D.O. Anderson, Australian National University, Australia; Systems Biology and Complex Disease, by J.R. Wu, University of Science and Technology of China; From Infinite Horizon to Receding Horizon for Control, Estimation, and Optimization, by W.H. Kwon, Seoul National University, Korea; Systems and Control Impact in a Changing World, by T.E. Djaferis, University of Massachusetts in Amherst, USA; Hybrid Systems: Stability and Control, by A.R. Teel, University of California, USA; and Analysis and Control of Discontinuous Dynamical Systems by T.L. Shen, Sophia University, Japan. PLENARY PANEL DISCUSSION The plenary panel discussion was titled Outlook of Control and Automation. The panelists included X. R. Cao, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; B. Chen, the National University of Singapore; H. F. Chen, Chinese Academy of Sciences; G. R. Duan, Harbin Institute of Technology, China; L. Guo, the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Z. Lin, University of Virginia, USA. The panel discussion was organized and directed by cochairs J. Huang and Z. P. Jiang. Many interesting questions such as, How can control science contribute to science and technology in the 21st century? and What are the fundamental problems in controls that need to be addressed now? were discussed. AWARDS Two awards were presented at the 26th CCC, the 13th Guan Zhao-Zhi Award and the Poster Award. The winning paper for the 13th Guan Zhao-Zhi Award was Output Feedback Stabilization for Discrete-Time Systems with a Time-Varying Delay, by Yong He (Central South University), Min Wu (Central South University), Guoping Liu (University of Glamorgan and Chinese Academy of «IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 119

The oral session: Guan Zhao-Zhi Award Final Defense. The opening ceremony of the 26th CCC. More than 600 people attended the conference. Brian Anderson delivering his plenary talk. A poster session. B.M. Chen, H.F. Chen, and G.R. Duan (from left) at the Plenary Panel Discussion. Y. He, Central South University, China, receives the Guan Zhao-Zhi Award, presented by Lei Guo. W.H. Kwon delivering his plenary talk, chaired by Lei Guo. 120 IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE»

TCCT members who attended CCC 07. Tujia singers performing at the conference banquet. B.D.O. Anderson, D.W. Hu, and A.R. Teel (from right to left) perform a Tujia dance. T.E. Djaferis, president of IEEE CSS, and D. Cheng, chairman of CAA TCCT, signing an agreement between IEEE CSS and CAA TCCT on the joint conference CDC-CCC09. «IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 121

Lei Guo, Daizhan Cheng, and members of the Organizing Committee of CCC 07. CCA attendees visiting Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Sciences), and Jin-Hua She (Tokyo University of Technology). The winning papers for the Poster Award were Control Location Selection Strategy for Power System Emergency Control, by Zhang Xuemin, Mei Shengwei, Tsinghua University, and HTS Levitation and Transportation with Linear Motor Control by Jianxun Jin (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China), Youguang Guo (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia), Jiaxin Chen (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia), Luhai Zheng (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China), and Jianguo Zhu (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia). 122 IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE» The scenic Tianzishan Nature Reserve. REVIEW OF THE PAST AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE Daizhan Cheng, current chair of TCCT, gave a TCCT work report at the opening ceremony. He reviewed the progress of CCC over the past five years. The number of paper submissions has increased from 231 in 2003 to 1572 in 2007. More academic activities have been included in CCC, such as a preconference tutorial workshops, plenary panel discussions, poster sessions, and poster paper award. TCCT and CCC websites have also been established. At the opening ceremony, CSS President Ted Djaferis delivered a speech. On behalf of IEEE CSS, he pronounced that IEEE CDC09 will be held in Shanghai and CDC09 will be joined in CCC09 as a single conference. Lei Guo (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and John Baillieul (Boston University) will be the general cochairs. At the start of the conference, a ceremony for signing the agreement between IEEE CSS and CAA TCCT on the joint conference of CDC-CCC09 was held. Ted Djaferis, president of IEEE CSS, and Daizhan Cheng, chairman of CAA TCCT, signed the agreement. During the conference, an organizational meeting for CDCCCC09 was held. Lei Guo chaired the meeting. Daizhan Cheng reviewed the preparation work so far. Twenty CCC attendants from the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, and mainland China attended the meeting.

Additionally, the representatives from the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE) Japan and the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers contacted TCCT. They discussed opportunities and means for further collaborations. POST-CONFERENCE TOURS Zhangjiajie is a famous tourism city. As a UN-designated natural heritage site, it has unique spectacular mountains and rivers. The conference organized post-conference tours in which participants enjoyed Zhangjiajie National Park, Tianzishan Nature Reserve, and Huanglong Cavern. The conference program and activities can be found in the TCCT homepage: http://tcct.amss.ac.cn or CCC07 Web site: http://sise.csu.edu.cn/ccc07. The next CCC (CCC 2008) will be held in Kunming, Yunan province, which is known as the spring city, since its climate is spring-like all year. The Web site for CCC08 is http://ccc08. kmust.edu.cn/. Weihua Gui Chair, Program Committee Min Wu Chair, Organizing Committee The 2007 American Control Conference The 2007 American Control Conference (ACC) was held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel overlooking Times Square in New York City, July 11 13, 2007. The ACC is held in cooperation with the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). The ACC brings together people working in the fields of control, automation, and related areas from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Association of Iron and Steel Technology (AIST), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the IEEE, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the International Society for Measurement and Control (ISA), and the Society for Modeling and Simulation (SCS). The conference attracted a record 1288 attendees from around the world. Since the conference was held in July, many attendees brought their families and enjoyed the unique combination of museums, cultural events, and shopping opportunities of New York City. The terrific success of the conference was due to the effort of many people, including the attendees, authors, presenters, exhibitors, and chairs. The logistics of planning and coordinating the conference was the combined effort of the entire Operating Committee, which worked on the event for three years. THE TECHNICAL PROGRAM Program Committee Chair Linda Bushnell led a team of four vice chairs and a 45-member international program committee, who developed an exceptional technical program. The program covered topics relevant to the theory and practice of control and automation. The Program Committee received 1788 submissions, of which 1142 papers were accepted. The final technical program consisted of 892 contributed (regular) papers, which were organized into 153 sessions. Vice Chair for Invited Sessions Richard D. Braatz coordinated the selection of 22 invited sessions. Vice Chair for Industry and Applications Jing Sun attracted eight tutorial sessions. The 2007 ACC encouraged special tracks to explore emerging fields in control. Vice Chair for Special Tracks Lawrence E. Holloway coordinated the effort. The Program Committee chose three areas to highlight, namely, Control Methods in Finance, chaired by Bozenna Pasik-Duncan; Control in Transportation Systems, chaired by Raja Sengupta; and Control and Integration in Intelligent Building Systems, chaired by Prashant Mehta and Harshad Sane. Each morning of the three-day conference began with a plenary session. Wednesday s plenary, Some Award winners. Back Row: William Levine (AACC immediate past president), Wook Kwon (IFAC president), Manfred Morari (John R. Ragazzini), Kevin Wise (Control Engineering Practice), Sanjoy Mitter (Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage), Daniel Liberzon (Donald P. Eckman), Rajesh Rajamani (O. Hugo Schuck), A. Galip Ulsoy (AACC president), B. Wayne Bequette (AACC vice president). Front Row: Damrongrit Piyabongkarn (O. Hugo Schuck), Yogesh Rathi (O. Hugo Schuck), Samuel Dambreville (O. Hugo Schuck). «IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE 123