Dhrubajit Chowdhury

Controls & Optimization Research Engineer

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)

E-mail: chowdhury [AT] parc [DOT] com

My Google Scholar link can be found here.

Research Interests

1. Optimization of desalination systems

2. Unsupervised learning

3. Control of networked systems

4. High-gain observers

5. Output feedback control of nonlinear systems

6. Prescribed performance control

Bio

2022 – Present Controls & Optimization Research Engineer 

I joined PARC as a controls & optimization research engineer.

2020 – 2022 Postdoctoral Research Associate

I worked as a Postdoc at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Kris Villez and Dr. Alexander Melin. I worked on the modeling and control of closed-circuit desalination reverse osmosis (CCDRO) process. This includes building a model that describes the behavior of the CCDRO process and then constructing objective functions to optimize the process behavior. Model predictive controller, extremum seeking controller, and the Bayesian optimization algorithm were used to minimize the energy consumption. 

I also worked on the predictive maintenance of manufacturing systems, where I developed a new unsupervised machine learning algorithm for automated dimension reduction.


2015 – 2020  Ph.D.

I completed my Ph.D. from the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University under the Supervision of Prof. Hassan Khalil

2013– 2015  M.Tech

I completed my masters in Mechatronics from Academy of Scientific Innovation & Research. I completed my thesis at Robotics and Automation department at CSIR-CMERI.

2009– 2013  B.Tech

I completed my Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College.


Teaching

ECE 416 : Digital Control Lab Instructor

I have taught this lab in Spring 16, Spring 17 and Spring 18. I have enjoyed interacting with students and improved their understanding of control theory. The four major prototype boards used in the lab are i) DC Motor Control ii) Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) iii) Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) iv) Rotary Pendulum Control.

Publications

Journal Papers

1.  "Qualitative Trend Analysis based on a Mixed-Integer Representation.", Computers and Chemical Engineering, 170, 2023. [online]

D. Chowdhury, and K. Villez.

2.  "Method for automatic correction of offset drift in online sensors.", Celebrating passion for Water, Science and Technology, 17, 2022. [online]

D. Chowdhury, A. Melin, and K. Villez. 

3. "Dynamic Inversion-based Hysteresis Compensation Using Extended High-gain Observer",  Automatica, vol. 135, 2022 [online]

D. Chowdhury, Y.K. Al-Nadawi, and X. Tan. 

4. "Dynamic Consensus and Extended High Gain Observers as A Tool To Achieve Practical Frequency Synchronization in Power Systems Under Unknown Time-Varying Power Demand",  Automatica, vol. 131, 2021. [online]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil. 

5. "Practical Synchronization in Networks of Nonlinear Heterogeneous Agents with Application to Power Systems", IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2021. [online]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil.

6. "Practical Scalable Synchronization in Leader-Follower Networks of Nonlinear Heterogeneous Agents Using High-Gain Observers",  IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems, 2020. [online]

D. Chowdhury

7. "Scalable Consensus in Networks of Multi-agent Systems using High-Gain Observers", IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems, [pdf, Early Access].

 D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil. 

8.  "Funnel control for nonlinear systems with arbitrary relative degree using high-gain observer",  Automatica, vol. 105, 107--116, 2019. [online]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil. 

9.  "Estimation of the Region of Attraction of Underactuated Systems and its Enlargement using Impulsive Inputs",  IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 618-632, June 2019. [online]

N. Kant, R. Mukherjee, D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil. 

10.  "Fast consensus in multi-agent systems with star topology using high gain observers", IEEE Control Systems Letters, vol. 1, 188--193, 2017. [online]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil. 


Peer-Reviewed Conference Proceedings

1.  "Scalable Coherence in Large Scale Second-Order Networks Using High-Gain Observers ",  2020 American Control Conference. [online]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil. 

2.  "Practical Frequency Synchronization in Power Systems Using Extended High Gain Observers Under Unknown Time-Varying Power Demand", 2020 American Control Conference. [online]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil.

3.  "Synchronization in networks of identical linear systems with reduced information", American Control Conf. 2018 [online]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil. 

4. "Hysteresis Compensation using Extended High-Gain Observers and Dynamic Inversion",  2018 Dynamic Systems Control Conf. [online]    

 D. Chowdhury, Y.K. Al-Nadawi, and X. Tan. 

5.  "Funnel control of higher relative degree systems", In Proc. American Control Conf., pages 598–-603, Seattle, WA, 2017. [online]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil. 

6. "Enlarging the region of attraction of equilibria of underactuated systems using sum of squares and impulse manifold method", In Proc. American Control Conf., pages 893-–898, Seattle, WA, 2017. [online]

D. Chowdhury, N. Kant, R. Mukherjee, and H.K. Khalil. 

7.  "An algorithm for enlarging the region of attraction using trajectory reversing", In Proc. American Control Conf., pages 4171-–4176, Seattle, WA, 2017. [online]

N. Kant, D. Chowdhury, R. Mukherjee, and H.K. Khalil. 


Conference Presentations

3. "Automated Dimension Reduction with Principal Component Analysis Using Area Under Curve". American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Boston, Massachusetts, November 2021. [slides], [presentation video]

4. "Practical Frequency Synchronization in Power Systems Under Time-varying Power Demand". American Control Conference, Denver, Colorado, July 2020. [slides], [presentation video]

5. "Scalable Coherence in Large Scale Second-order Networks Using High-Gain Observer". American Control Conference, Denver, Colorado, July 2020. [slides], [presentation video]

6. "Hysteresis Compensation Using Extended High-Gain Observer and Dynamic Inversion". Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, Oct 2018. [slides]

7. "Synchronization in Networks of Identical Linear Systems with Reduced Information" American Control Conference. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June, 2018. [slides]

8. "Fast Consensus in Multi-Agent Systems with Star Topology Using High Gain Observers".  IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control. Melbourne, Australia, Dec, 2017. [slides]

9. "Funnel Control of Higher Relative Degree Systems" American Control Conference. Seattle, WA, May, 2017. [slides]

10. "Enlarging the Region of Attraction of Equilibria of Underactuated Systems using Sum of Squares and Impulse Manifold Method". American Control Conference. Seattle, WA, May, 2017. [slides]

Posters

1.  "Fast Consensus in Multi-Agent Systems Using High-Gain Observers",  2017 Engineering Graduate Research Symposium MSU. [poster]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil

2.  "Synchronization in Networks of Multi-Agent Systems with Reduced Information", 2018 Engineering Graduate Research Symposium MSU. [poster]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil

3.  "Scalable Consensus in Networks of Multi-agent Systems Using High-Gain Observers", 8th Midwest Workshop on Control and Game Theory. [poster]

D. Chowdhury and H.K. Khalil

Awards

1. Recipient of the 2019-2020 Fitch H. Beach award for the most outstanding graduate researcher in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, Michigan State University.

2. Recipient of the People's choice award in the 3 minute thesis competition at the Graduate Academic Conference, Michigan State University.

3. Recipient of the Student Travel Award to attend 2017 American Control Conference, Seattle, Washington,  56th Conf. on Decision and Control, Melbourne, Australia and 2018 American Control Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   

4. Recipient of a full scholarship to attend 10th Elgersburg School 2018, Elgersburg, Germany.