Control systems demystified at ICC 2016 meet

Hyderabad: Over 160 participants, including 90 post-graduate students and PhD scholars drawn from prestigious engineering institutions across the country, other than 15 overseas students attended the second Indian Control Conference (ICC) 2016 in the city. A niche segment event, it was a three-day meet held between January 4 and 6 at Mahindra Ecole Centrale College of Engineering, Hyderabad.

The co- sponsors were Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Control Systems Society and IIT, Hyderabad, apart from several industry sponsors. The conference showcased the latest advancement and opportunities for control theory in research and applications. The control systems are the definitive base of most applications in every area of science- be it medical, financial or technical.

The applications are innumerable and therefore it is imperative that the advancements in research be encouraged and a platform created in India to showcase the initiatives. ICC 2016 will do this and much more said Prof C Vijaysekhar, Program Co- Chair of ICC 2016 and a faculty member in an interaction with the media.

Prof Vidyasagar, associated with University of Texas, Dallas and IIT, Hyderabad and one of the leading lights of the conference, gave an overview of the event. ‘Control system can be called an enabling or a hidden technology, the absence of which is felt when something goes wrong’ he said.

Tracing its importance to many fields from robotic surgery to automatic car driving systems, the academician demystified the proceedings for a better understanding. From the college point of view, Prof Vidyasagar said that the II year B.Tech students of the college gained in great measure by listening to international experts in the field by attending a few plenary sessions.

Another notable point about ICC 2016 was that out of 160 students who are doing PhD in control systems, around one third of them were present for this meet, which greatly added to the value and variety of the participants. As a career, control systems are on par with IT, where engineers draw salaries as much as tech professionals, Prof Vidyasagar added.

The inaugural conference was held at IIT Madras and the next one is scheduled at IIT, Guwahati next year. By then, there would be enough availability of best practices and cutting edge research methodologies, opine the current organizing team.