Abstract: Markovian jump systems (MJSs) can be regarded as a special type of jump system, whose jumping law governing the switches among the subsystems are a Markovian chain or process [1]. Similar to other control systems, the subsystems in MJSs are usually described by some type of dynamic equations, while a Markov process that can be either continuous time or discrete time describes the jumping law. On the other hand, MJSs also are hybrid dynamic systems typically consisting of both the dynamic state space and the set of discrete events, where a Markov process describes the discrete events for MJSs [2], [3].

Abstract: To accommodate more energy from renewable sources, the existing paradigm in the electricity grid of supply follows demand has its limitations. On the other hand, demand response aims to exploit the available flexibility in electricity consumption to follow the supply of renewables. This is possible by decoupling the demand for electricity from the demand of the associated services (such as heating, cooling, and hot water) and presents many challenges, especially if flexibility is harvested at a local scale. For 10 years, research groups worldwide have looked into demand response. This article describes the open challenges of demand response in a residential context and outlines different coordination mechanisms that optimize market profit, mitigate technical issues, and reach prosumer objectives. Several considerations are added on how these cyberphysical solutions must be complemented by other, nontechnical fields to get customers engaged.

Abstract: Industry and government agencies envision the deployment of autonomous systems throughout society, especially autonomous vehicles that operate within civilian and military infrastructures. As autonomous capability and reliability increase, the prevalence of autonomous vehicles in our daily socio-technological lives becomes inevitable. The social acceptance of autonomous unmanned ground and aerial vehicles into our daily routine is strongly predicated on the demonstration of and adherence to strict requirements of policy, safety, and availability. However, many autonomous systems remain at their initial stages of innovation and development. Legal, ethical, and moral concerns as well as technological and regulatory barriers exist that hinder their deployment on a large scale.

Abstract: IEEE Smart Village (ISV) developed the first-generation SunBlazer in 2010 as a mobile charging station for portable battery kits (PBKs). These kits enabled people in remote villages to provide power for basic lighting, cell-phone charging, and small appliances. Now, 10 years and three design iterations later, ISV demonstrates its continuing penchant for innovation with the SunBlazer IV and Smart PBK technology, developed as more versatile options for the on-going mission to empower off-grid communities around the world. This fourth-generation equipment is lightweight, modular, rugged, easy to transport and install, and adaptable to a multitude of uses. The kit includes a controller and battery charger in a selfcontained shipping container, which, along with the simplified expandable solar panel with an A-frame design, makes for easier setup in remote areas. The modular design of the SunBlazer IV (Figure 1) allows users to raise the peak power from 1.5 kWp, the peak power of a threesolar-panel base system, to up to 3.7 kWp by extending the A-frame solar panel array. Larger arrays can be created by cascading systems together.

Abstract: With a renewed interest in the rise of robots and autonomy, in conjunction with the increase in awareness of the technology domain, general citizens have become even more crucial in the field of autonomous systems. Science is pacing toward an "Autonomy of Things" at a rate faster than society's understanding of autonomous systems. This is causing a backlash against autonomous systems in general. For example, many well-known people have called the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) an existential threat to the human race, while the wave of self-driving cars is facing huge regulatory and ethical obstacles. Industrial robotics had posed a similar kind of threat to job security and human safety in the past. However, benefits from industrial robotics outweighed the problems they imposed, and society has been able to see that. This visibility was made possible by the contributions of many scientists, engineers, and policy makers.

Abstract: We are living in an era driven by exponentials and defined by hyperconnectivity, growing complexity, and increasing convergence among disciplines. In response to these trends, and at the urging of the research community, systems engineering (SE) is undergoing a timely transformation that includes developing formal underpinnings and reaching out to other disciplines to make connections and identify synergies. The impetus for this transformation stems, in part, from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges, which are mostly complex systems problems requiring contributions from multiple disciplines. Against this backdrop, this article defines various convergence types and the integrative discipline of transdisciplinary SE (TSE). TSE, enabled, in large part, by the growing convergence of engineering with other disciplines, has the potential to achieve unprecedented advances in both the thinking and the methods needed to address complex sociotechnical system problems. Using an NAE Grand Challenge problem as an example, this article illustrates the relevance of TSE and the opportunities available to the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society (SMCS) to contribute to this important area through collaboration between its technical committees and working groups from sister societies, such as the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE).

Abstract: The IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society (SMCS) has been a financial supporter of IEEE Smart Village (ISV), one of the priority initiatives of the IEEE Foundation. ISV provides a catalyst for development in disadvantaged communities around the globe by providing technical and financial support to local entrepreneurs who expand access to both energy and education to remote communities. This model of sustainable community development is successful because the empowered beneficiaries play an active role, which sets ISV apart from other humanitarian and development initiatives. As evident in its early stages, the program produces tangible results.

Abstract: We present an overview of an automated end-to-end change-detection process as it is applied to synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) imagery. Although we are discussing an example of a single application, the automated change-detection (ACD) process can be applied to different imaging modalities, such as medical imaging, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), remote sensing, and radio astronomy. This article introduces the different processing steps of the automation: image coregistration, change-map generation, detection, and data reduction (false-alarm reduction) as it applies to automatic target recognition using sonar imagery. We examine ACD applications to multitemporal SAS imagery in detecting changes on the sea floor. In addition, we discuss some of the challenges and necessary approaches to augment the ACD process for operator decision-aid tools and performance assessment of the process.

Abstract: This article explores the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT)-the emerging set of embedded sensors, actuators, controllers, and communications devices-on future utilities and infrastructures from the perspective of risk, reliability, and resilience. Given the need to safeguard public infrastructure, utility managers are typically well versed in managing risk; however, the IoT presents a new and fundamentally different component with a highly uncertain risk profile. These IoT systems will be densely deployed, highly integral, and likely autonomous in operation, meaning that they could directly affect the operational reliability of a utility. While much has been written about the IoT's potential to offer benefits and possibly harm future infrastructure, this article looks at the topic from the perspective of the utilities? risk and presents a set of observations and recommendations concerning utility deployment of the IoT. I highlight why utility and infrastructure operators should carefully consider risk as they incorporate this embedded, often autonomous networked technology into their systems.

Abstract: Science and technology have two faces: knowledge that exists and knowledge that does not yet exist-that is, 1) developments based on extrapolation of current and emerging RaD trends and 2) envisioned futures derived from imagination and Einstein's gedankenexperiment (visualized thought experiments). Those who are lured by the latter are driven by the call of the new, the open-ended diversity of the imagination, and the promise of the multivariate structure of transdisciplinarity, coupled with creativity and futurology, that generates the emergence of new science, technology, research, and hypothetical and theoretical systems (i.e., systems based on hypotheses and theories, respectively). Transdisciplinarity often addresses a wide range of domains that include not only science and technology but also economic and sociocultural sectors. However, this article (as with others) addresses abstract science, concrete science, and applied technologies. These perspectives focus on increasing presence and importance in long-term research and development; the benefits of committing to envisioning, designing, and implementing novel science and technology; the tools and techniques used to realize that commitment; and examples of domains historically considered distinct being transformed into a de novo entity.

Abstract: Significant strides are being made to produce more transdisciplinary research in the systems, man, and cybernetics (SMC) community, which is inherently interdisciplinary. To produce effective transdisciplinary SMC work, perspectives from multiple disciplines must be integrated. Yet, continued work is still needed to help promote the transdisciplinary nature of SMC and encourage more transdisciplinary work in this area. This article offers eight recommendations for developing foundational transdisciplinary SMC-based research. These recommendations relate to the following areas: 1) academic training, 2) a shared and common language, 3) the need for transdisciplinarity, 4) problem space requirements, 5) shared spaces and mechanisms, 6) team science and cognition, 7) credit, and 8) metrics to measure transdisciplinary performance.

Abstract: Any civilization depends on infrastructure systems, including water, energy, and transportation. Mature economies must cope with aging infrastructure assets, while emerging economies are adding to their stock of infrastructure assets at a remarkable rate. In this article, I explore the multiple factors that are driving expectations for infrastructure services in developing and developed nations.

Abstract: The main goal of this article is to provide a short summary regarding the research activities of Obuda University, Budapest, Hungary, related to physiological and bioinspired systems, as one of the key areas of the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society (SMCS). We also intend to introduce the impact of Prof. Imre Rudas through these activities, research institutions, and facilities.

Abstract: In this article, we provide an overview of Dr. Robert Kozma's accomplishments, based on essays by leading experts in various areas related to his research, covering mathematical, computational, and cognitive aspects of his neurodynamics modeling and applications in biologically inspired autonomous systems and robotics. Specific contributions are given by Dr. Miklos Ruszinko (the Renyi Institute of Mathematics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) on mathematical and graph theoretical aspects of brain modeling, detailing Dr. Kozma's work, which is now known as neuropercolation. This is followed by recollections from Dr. Roman Ilin [U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB)], a former student of Dr. Kozma's, on computational models of spatiotemporal neurodynamics, and the work Dr. Kozma has made jointly with the late, world-renowned Prof. Walter J. Freeman [University of California (UC), Berkeley] and his students in a field now called Freeman K Katchalsky-sets. Dr. Edward Tunstel [the United Technologies Robotics Center (UTRC), East Hartford, Connecticut] provides an overview of biologically inspired robotics and several unique applications Dr. Kozma has made in this field together with colleagues from NASA Robotics. Dr. Bernard Baars (Society of Brain-Mind Sciences, La Jolla, California) contributes a cognitive scientist?s perspective on Dr. Kozma's work with an emphasis on implications of understanding and modeling consciousness. We believe this multiperspective overview provides an insight into the truly interdisciplinary character of Dr. Kozma's remarkable research achievements.

Abstract: Surprisingly, a small car is a large-scale system. A car contains approximately 300,000 parts, and to design an optimal car from scratch is basically impossible. Instead of trying to optimize the whole system at once, it is more practical to design better cars through stepwise innovations. Dimitar P. Filev is a great car innovator. He has studied cars both as a scientist and as an engineer. As a scientist, he has been conducting research in modeling and control of complex systems, intelligent control, and fuzzy and neural systems. As an engineer, he has applied his theory and algorithms successfully to automotive engineering.

Abstract: Transdisciplinary studies in systems, man, and cybernetics (SMC) are an advanced approach to generate new knowledge and novel perceptions on persistent challenges and emerging technologies across the edges of traditional disciplines. An unprecedented phenomenon in science history in the past decade is the emergence of abstract sciences (ASs) as a counterpart of classic concrete sciences (CSs). It leads to a new perception of SMC as well as its transdisciplinary foundations and the impacts on classic sciences and engineering disciplines. This article presents the emergence of AS underpinned by SMC and denotational mathematics (DMs). It explores the transdisciplinary theories of system science, cognitive cybernetic foundations of ASs, and hybrid human-machine societies driven by the fast development of artificial intelligence (AI), intelligence science, and knowledge science as well as their engineering applications.

Abstract: In recent years, the European Union (EU) has set ambitious targets toward a carbon-free energy transition. Many studies show that a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions-at least 90% by 2050-is required. In the transition toward a sustainable energy system, solar (or green) hydrogen plays many important roles, as it is a clean and safe energy carrier that can also be used as a fuel in transportation and in electricity production. To understand and steer the transition from the current energy system toward an integrated hydrogenbased energy and transport system, we propose a framework that integrates a technical and economic feasibility study, a controllability study, and institutional analysis. This framework is applied to the Car as Power Plant (CaPP) concept, which is an integrated energy and transport system. Such a system consists of a power system based on wind and solar power, conversion of renewable energy surpluses to hydrogen using electrolysis, hydrogen storage and distribution, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that provide mobility, electricity, heat, and water. Controlling these vehicles in their different roles and designing an appropriate organizational system structure are necessary steps in the feasibility study. Our proposed framework for a future 100% renewable energy system is presented through a case study.