SCO colloquium: Armin Pirastehzad

Title: \gamma-Conformance: A notion of system comparison

 

Abstract: Towards the development of a contract-based design framework, a crucial step is to conceive a notion of system comparison which affords one the chance to compare the input-output behavior of two systems in general, and a system and its specification in particular. Inspired by such theories as optimal H_∞ control and dissipativity, we propose a notion of system comparison measuring to what extent two systems behave similarly, in an input-output sense. More specifically, comparing two "non-deterministic" systems, this notion studies the condition where one system reveals an input-output behavior close to that of the other. More importantly, we equip our notion with an algebraic necessary and sufficient condition which can be verified easily. In particular, we show that such a condition can be formulated as an LMI, for which efficient and reliable computational tools are available.