Shiv Nadar University hosts biannual ACODS 2024 conference
The breakneck speed of technological advances notwithstanding, control engineering experts spent four days brainstorming at Shiv Nadar University which played host to the ACODS 2024 biannual conference from March 12 to 15.
The conference saw some of the brightest minds discussing the advances in the field of control engineering. The topics of discussion ranged from health, science writing, the fusion of hard and soft (AI) control strategies, navigation and tracking of artificial space objects, Control of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, Predictive Analytics, Cyber-Physical Systems, Optimal Guidance in Chandrayaan-3 Mission, to name a few.
The event was inaugurated by Chief Guest Prof. (Dr.) T G Sitharam, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
Welcoming the delegates to ACODS 2024, Dr. Suneet Tuli, Dean Research & Partnerships and Dean School of Engineering Shiv Nadar University, Delhi- NCR, said, “Living in an interconnected world, with security, communication, energy, and healthcare becoming issues of national concern, the conference will provide a platform to deliberate on and find sustainable solutions.”
The conference brought together researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and research laboratories to discuss new developments and advances in the control and optimization of dynamic systems.
Giving his opening address, Prof. Radhakant Padhi, IISc, Bangalore said his association with Shiv Nadar University goes back a long time as he did his Ph.D. under the guidance of late Dr. S.N. Balakrishnan who was the Chancellor of Shiv Nadar University. Prof. Padi said the conference was also holding a special session in his memory.
The conference saw six plenary talks by leading researchers offering an overview of research in control, systems biology, identification, robotics, learning theory, space exploration, challenges, and future trajectories. The conference's highlight was also the 79 paper presentations by researchers from prestigious institutions across India and abroad.
A session was dedicated to discuss the contributions of Professor SN Balakrishnan, the second Chancellor of Shiv Nadar University. Professor Bala, as fondly called by his students at Missouri University of Science and Technology, guided 17 Ph.D. scholars during his tenure as a professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His students from across the globe joined the conference virtually to remember Professor Balakrishnan for his intellectual and scholastic achievements, as well as his empathic leadership.
During the conference, Professor Radhakant Padhi of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, reflected on his time as Professor Bala's Ph.D. student and praised him as a teacher and a mentor. Professor Padhi shared a photograph of Professor SN Balakrishnan sitting on the floor while his students were perched on a couch, he said the picture speaks volumes about the kind of person he was.
Professor SN Balakrishnan's sons, Vijay Balakrishnan and Kartik Balakrishnan, attended the event virtually.
The conference is a biennial flagship meeting of the Automatic Control and Dynamic Optimization Society (ACDOS), the Indian national member organisation of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). The conference at Shiv Nadar University was a continuation of the series held earlier at IISc Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, NIT Tiruchirappalli, DRDO Hyderabad, and IIT Madras.