Hi all, Next Monday (April 25th) professor Alessandro Abate, from University of Oxford, is visiting, and he's agreed to give a talk. He is a very strong researcher on Hybrid Systems, and I strongly encourage you to attend. Below the details (I'll confirm the room shortly). Best, Dan Monday, April 25th, at 12:00. Room TBD. Title: "Formal verification of complex dynamical systems" Abstract: This talk looks at the development of abstraction techniques based on quantitative approximations, in order to formally verify complex systems and to provide computable approaches for the correct-by-design synthesis of control architectures. The approach employs techniques and concepts from the formal verification area, such as that of bisimulation, over models and problems from the field of dynamical systems and control theory. While emphasising the generality of the approach over a diverse set of model classes, this talk zooms in on stochastic hybrid systems, which are probabilistic models with heterogeneous dynamics (continuous/discrete, i.e. hybrid, as well as nonlinear). A case study in energy networks, dealing with the problem of demand response, is employed to clarify concepts and techniques. Theory is complemented by algorithms, all packaged in software tools (called FAUST^2 for stochastic hybrid systems) that are freely available to users. Bio: Alessandro Abate is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. His research interests are in the analysis, verification, and control of probabilistic and hybrid systems, and in their general application over a number of domains, particularly in energy and in systems biology. -- Dr Daniele Magazzeni Lecturer Department of Informatics King's College London Office S6.19 Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 1587 Twitter: @danmagazzeni http://www.inf.kcl.ac.uk/staff/danmag