Some of the characteristics of modern engineering systems are that they are open, interconnected, modular, and dynamic. `Open' to allow interaction with their environment and `interconnected' because they consist of an architecture of subsystems. The aim of this presentation is to describe a system theoretic language that deals with such systems. The central concept is a graph with leaves, with subsystems in the vertices, interconnections in the edges, and leaves for terminals that allow the interconnected system to interact with its surroundings. The behavioral framework used differs from the classical signal flow graph approach in that it does not formalize a system as a relation between inputs and outputs, and that it does not view system interconnection as output-to-input assignment. Input/output thinking does not capture the interaction of physical systems very well. In the behavioral approach, a dynamical system is simply a family of trajectories, interconnection means variable sharing, and control is interconnection. The modeling methodology presented will be further contrasted with bond graphs, circuit diagrams, and DAEs.
Hardly any mathematics is required to follow this back-to-basics lecture. It contains more pictures than formulas and uses only elementary mathematical concepts illustrated by very simple physical examples.
Two OPTEC professors have been awarded three "Gouden Krijtjes", the yearly teaching awards given by the organization of engineering students (vtk). Prof. Lombaert was awarded the prize for the best course in civil engineering, and Prof. Diehl the prizes for the best professor and the best course in mathematical engineering (where he teaches numerical optimization). They received these awards at the yearly "proffentap" where experienced students taught them how to draft beer professionally.
