On April 18, 2024, Prof. Shihua Li invited Prof. Zhan Shu of the University of Alberta, Canada, to give an academic report on the theme of “Event-Triggered Model Predictive Control: Delayed Triggering and Stochastic Verification” as a part of the School of Automation’s “Six Dynasties Pine · Intelligent Control Forum” – Master Forum.

Fig.1  Scene of the report

The report mainly introduces two kinds of event-triggered MPC control methods. One is delayed triggering, which is designed to avoid unnecessary or wrong control triggers. The other is random validation, designed to reduce continuous and periodic measurements. The report also shares how MPC guarantees recursion feasibility and closed-loop stability under mild conditions, and demonstrates the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method through examples. With the example of fried chillies in daily life, Prof. Zhan Shu brought us a vivid and profound report, which triggered a heated discussion between teachers and students.

Introduction of the reporter:

Fig. 2  Prof. Zhan Shu

Prof. Zhan Shu received his Bachelor’s degree in Automation Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2003 and his PhD in Control Engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 2008. He was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student Award at the University of Hong Kong for his research achievements during his PhD. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Hamilton Institute at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, from 2009 to 2011, and a lecturer in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton from 2011 to 2019. Since 2020, he has been a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada, and is currently a professor. He is an IEEE Senior Fellow, a member of the IET, and an invited reviewer of the Mathematical Review of the American Mathematical Society. He is also an associate editor of several journals and conferences, such as IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control and IEEE Control Systems Society Conference Editorial Board.