Time delays are present in many physical processes due to the period of time it takes for the events to occur. Delays are particularly more pronounced in networks of interconnected systems, such as supply chains and systems controlled over c- munication networks. In these control problems, taking the delays into account is particularly important for performance evaluation and control system's design. It has been shown, indeed, that delays in a controlled system (for instance, a c- munication delay for data acquisition) may have an "ambiguous" nature: they may stabilize the system, or, in the contrary,they may lead to deteriorationof the clos- loop performance or even instability, depending on the delay value and the system parameters. It is a fact that delays have stabilizing effects, but this is clearly con i- ing for human intuition. Therefore,speci c analysis techniquesand design methods are to be developed to satisfactorily take into account the presence of delays at the design stage of the control system. The research on time delay systems stretches back to 1960s and it has been very active during the last twenty years. During this period, the results have been presented at the main control conferences(CDC, ACC, IFAC), in specialized wo- shops (IFAC TDS series), and published in the leading journals of control engine- ing, systems and control theory, applied and numerical mathematics.

Inhalt

Analysis and Methodology.- On Moment Stability of Linear Systems with a Stochastic Delay Variation.- Stability Analysis of Neutral Systems: A Delay-Dependent Criterion.- Frequency Stability Analysis of Linear Systems with General Distributed Delays.- Robust Control for Multiple Time Delay MIMO Systems with Delay - Decouplability Concept.- On Stability of Linear Retarded Distributed Parameter Systems of Parabolic Type.- Lyapunov Matrices for Neutral Type Time Delay Systems.- Stability of Coupled Differential-Difference Equations with Block Diagonal Uncertainty.- On Pole Assignment and Stabilizability of Neutral Type Systems.- Numerical Methods and Algorithms.- SOS Methods for Stability Analysis of Neutral Differential Systems.- Nonlinear Time-Delay Systems: A Polynomial Approach Using Ore Algebras.- Stable Periodic Solutions of Time Delay Systems Containing Hysteresis Nonlinearities.- SOS for Nonlinear Delayed Models in Biology and Networking.- TRACE-DDE: a Tool for Robust Analysis and Characteristic Equations for Delay Differential Equations.- Analysis of Numerical Integration for Time Delay Systems.- On Algebraic Simplifications of Linear Functional Systems.- OreMorphisms: A Homological Algebraic Package for Factoring, Reducing and Decomposing Linear Functional Systems.- Controlling and Observing Delay Systems.- Integral Action Controllers for Systems with Time Delays.- Stabilization of Neutral Time-Delay Systems.- Robust Stabilization and H ??? Control of Uncertain Distributed Delay Systems.- Observer Design for Systems with Non Small and Unknown Time-Varying Delay.- Input-Output Representation and Identifiability of Delay Parameters for Nonlinear Systems with Multiple Time-Delays.- Time Optimal and Optimal Impulsive Control for Coupled Differential Difference Point Delay Systems with an Application in Forestry.- Propagation and Flows.- On the Stability of AQM Controllers Supporting TCP Flows.- A Robust State Feedback Control Law for a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor with Recycle.- Functional Differential Equations Associated to Propagation.- Design, Modelling and Control of the Experimental Heat Transfer Set-Up.- Optimal Identification of Delay-Diffusive Operators and Application to the Acoustic Impedance of Absorbent Materials.- Delays in Interconnected Systems and Networks.- Controlling Across Complex Networks: Emerging Links Between Networks and Control.- Inventory Dynamics Models of Supply Chains with Delays; System-Level Connection & Stability.- Some Remarks on Delay Effects in Motion Synchronization in Shared Virtual Environments.- Control of Teleoperators with Time-Delay: A Lyapunov Approach.- Synchronization and Amplitude Death in Coupled Limit Cycle Oscillators with Time Delays.- Synchronization of Bidirectionally Coupled Nonlinear Systems with Time-Varying Delay.- Master-Slave Synchronization for Two Inverted Pendulums with Communication Time-Delay.