CHEN Jie, HUANG Jie, LIN Zongli
It is with great pleasure and admiration that we celebrate the 60th birthday of Professor Lihua Xie, a distinguished researcher and visionary leader in the field of robust control and estimation. Prof. Xie’s remarkable journey, marked by outstanding achievements and groundbreaking contributions, has left an indelible mark on the world of engineering and academia.
Prof. Xie’s academic odyssey began at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1983 and 1986, respectively. His pursuit of knowledge led him to the University of Newcastle, Australia, where he obtained his PhD in 1992. Since 1992, he has been a cornerstone of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, currently serving as a distinguished professor in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and as the Director of the Centre for Advanced Robotics Technology Innovation (CARTIN), NTU.
One of Prof. Xie’s pivotal contributions lies in the realm of robust control and estimation. His early work in the early 1990s addressed robust solutions for systems with parametric uncertainties, providing a profound understanding of how uncertainty influences control system performance. His pioneering research not only illuminated the impact of uncertainty but also offered effective strategies, particularly for parametric uncertainty, ensuring the robustness of control systems. Prof. Xie was among the first to develop robust estimation techniques for systems grappling with parametric uncertainties, influencing researchers globally since the 1990s.
In the past two decades, Prof. Xie, alongside his co-author, established a groundbreaking equivalence between quantized feedback and robust control. This breakthrough extended the applicability of existing robust control theory to the analysis and design of control systems operating under quantized feedback. His work also unraveled the intricate interplay among data rate, network topology, and agent dynamics in multi-agent consensus - a fundamental challenge in cooperative control. Prof. Xie’s research provided answers to crucial questions, such as determining the minimal data rate and network topology for multi-agent consensus, along with corresponding coding and decoding schemes.
The spectrum of Prof. Xie’s impact extends to compressive sensing, where he and his student established a phase transition relationship between sparsity and recoverability for complex signals. Their continuous compressive sensing algorithms and Vandermonde decomposition theory for multi-level Toeplitz matrices have found applications in array signal processing, marking another significant milestone in his illustrious career.
Beyond theoretical endeavors, Prof. Xie’s practical innovations have revolutionized localization and unmanned systems. His research group’s developments include a WiFi-based indoor positioning system, multi-modality sensor fusion technology, and a fully integrated navigation solution for UAVs. These innovations have found applications in diverse fields, from structure inspection and delivery using UAVs to a low-cost universal navigation system for AGVs in logistics and manufacturing.
In the realm of research and development leadership, Prof. Xie’s impact is equally profound. He is the founding Director of the Delta-NTU Corporate Laboratory for Cyber-physical Systems, which focuses on the development of smart manufacturing and smart learning technologies for industry. Additionally, Prof. Xie established the Centre for Advanced Robotics Technology Innovation, where he currently serves as the Director. The center’s mission is to pioneer advanced sensing and perception technologies, as well as collaborative robotics technologies, with applications in logistics, manufacturing, and elderly care.
As an accomplished researcher, Prof. Xie has demonstrated unparalleled dedication to serving the research community. His extensive editorial roles, including a founding Editor-inChief for Unmanned Systems and Associate Editor for Sciences China - Information Science, showcase his commitment to advancing scientific knowledge. He has played pivotal roles in various editorial boards, such as IET Book Series in Control and esteemed journals like IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control and Automatica.
Prof. Xie’s impact extends beyond editorial responsibilities; he has been a distinguished IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, a Board of Governors member for the IEEE Control System Society, and Vice President since January 2024. His leadership roles also include serving as General Chair of significant conferences, including the 62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control in December 2023.
His professional achievements, recognized by peers worldwide, include fellowships in the Academy of Engineering Singapore, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), and the Chinese Automation Association (CAA).
In celebration of Prof. Xie’s 60th birthday, we invited 17 papers from friends and colleagues for this special issue. As editors, we extend our deepest gratitude to all the authors for their invaluable contributions. Special thanks to the Journal of Systems Science & Complexity editorial office, including Prof. Xiao-Shan Gao (Editor-in-Chief), Prof. Yanlong Zhao (Managing Editor), and Ms. Guoyun Wu (Editorial Director), for their steadfast support from the conception to the publication of this special issue.
On this momentous occasion, we express our profound appreciation for Prof. Lihua Xie for his unwavering commitment to advancing knowledge and look forward to the continued brilliance and innovation in the next chapters of his illustrious career.
Happy Birthday, Prof. Lihua Xie!
