Optimal adaptive control for a class of stochastic systems

We study linear-quadratic adaptive tracking problems for a special class of stochastic systems expressed in the state-space form. This is a long-standing problem in the control of aircraft flying through atmospheric turbulence. Using an ELS-based algorithm and introducing dither in the control law we show that the resulting control achieves optimal cost in the limit, while simultaneously the unknown parameters converge to their true value

Molecular Sieving in Periodic Free-Energy Landscapes Created by Patterned Nanofilter Arrays

We present an experimental study of Ogston-like sieving process of rodlike DNA in patterned periodic nanofluidic filter arrays. The electrophoretic motion of DNA through the array is described as a biased Brownian motion overcoming periodically modulated free-energy landscape. A kinetic model, constructed based on the equilibrium partitioning theory and the Kramers theory, explains the field-dependent mobility well. We further show experimental evidence of the crossover from Ogston-like sieving to entropic trapping, depending on the ratio between nanofilter constriction size and DNA size