Lothar Litz

Lothar Litz (born August 30, 1949 in Saarland ; † August 21, 2015 in South Tyrol ) was a German engineer and professor of automation technology at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern . He is one of the pioneers in the automation of discrete event systems .

Life

After graduating from high school, he studied electrical engineering from 1970 to 1975 at the Technical University of Karlsruhe , specializing in regulation and control technology, with a degree in engineering (Dipl.-Ing.). He then did his doctorate at the Institute for Regulation and Control Systems under Otto Föllinger with a dissertation on "Modal Order Reduction" in 1979 and habilitated there in 1982 on "Decentralized Control", on which he also published a monograph in 1983 in R. Oldenbourg Verlag published and opened a professional exchange across the inner-German border .

During his subsequent industrial activity from 1982 to 1992 in the large chemical industry at Hoechst AG in the Frankfurt am Main, Knapsack chemical park and in Wiesbaden, he was responsible for the electrical, measurement and control engineering planning and maintenance of production facilities. He dealt in particular with process control systems based on microcomputers ("Distributed Control Systems"), which are currently in widespread use, and found a field of activity for both scientifically new and practically highly relevant questions on the specification, planning and implementation of process control systems, the and combine control tasks.

During this time, from 1988 to 1992, he was also head of the “Process Control Systems” working group of the “Standards Working Group for Measurement and Control Technology in the Chemical Industry” (NAMUR). He paid particular attention to the event-discrete control systems.

In 1992 he was appointed professor and head of the newly established chair for automation technology at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern . Litz not only promoted research on discrete event systems at his chair, but was also very active in other research areas, e.g. B. in building automation, ambient intelligence (ambient intelligence), error diagnosis and functional safety with the help of process control technology. His broad professional activity combined a methodical approach with practical applicability.

In the years that followed, Litz made significant contributions to both the theory and the didactics of discrete event systems. At his university he gave a lecture on "digital control technology", which led several academic students permanently to this subject, so that they later became professors themselves.

In the endeavor to achieve the most uniform and equal representation of the fundamentals of continuous and event-discrete systems as possible, he became involved in the DFG priority program “Analysis and Synthesis of Continuously Discrete Technical Systems (KONDISK)” and wrote the book Basics of Automation Technology . Regulation systems - control systems - hybrid systems , which when it appeared in 2005 became groundbreaking for a holistic view of the two pillars of automation technology, regulation technology and control technology . It is largely thanks to this pioneering achievement by Litz that the automation of discrete-event systems is now scientifically on a par with the automation of continuous systems; Zander consistently continued this line of thought . Litz provided scientific support for over 30 doctoral students during their doctoral phase and prepared them for responsible tasks in research and practice.

For many years, Litz was also in charge of the university's academic development. From 1997 to 1999 he was the dean of the electrical engineering department. In the years from 2005 to 2013, as Vice President for Studies, Teaching and International Affairs at the TU Kaiserslautern , Litz was particularly committed to teaching, guided by the idea of viewing “students as partners”. In particular, he campaigned for system accreditation and in the teaching excellence competition, in which he led the university to success. During his tenure as Vice President, there were significant developments at the TU Kaiserslautern, such as the conversion of the courses to Bachelor and Master , a sharp increase in the number of students and in 2009 the award of excellence in teaching from the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft at the TU Kaiserslautern.

From 1993 Litz was a member of the board and advisory board of the VDI / VDE Society for Measurement and Automation Technology (GMA) and head of department 4 (information technology for automation systems). He was also a member of the advisory board and editor of special issues for the specialist journal "at - Automatisierungstechnik, Munich".

From 2000 he worked as a specialist reviewer for the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the field of control engineering. Litz was a co-initiator of the DFG priority programs “KONDISK” and “Control Theory of Digitally Networked Dynamic Systems”.

After his retirement he held the course "Basics and Applications of Probability Theory" again and revised his previous textbook. He has re-published the book under the title Probability Theory for Engineers on bookboon.com so that it is freely available to students; it was also his last publication before his sudden death a few days before his 66th birthday.

Academic offices

From 1997 to 1999 dean of the electrical engineering department at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern
From 2005 to 2013 Vice President of the University of Kaiserslautern for studies, teaching and international affairs.

Memberships and honors (selection)

From 1988 to 1992 head of the "Process Control Systems" working group of the "Standards Working Group for Measurement and Control Technology in the Chemical Industry" ( NAMUR )
Member of the advisory board of the trade journal “Automatisierungstechnik” in Munich
Since 1993 member of the board and advisory board of the VDI / VDE-Gesellschaft Mess- und Automatisierungstechnik (GMA) and head of department 4 (information technology for automation systems)
Since 2000 expert reviewer of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Publications (selection)

Reduction of the order of linear state space models using modal methods. Dissertation, University of Karlsruhe, Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Hochschul-Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-8107-2058-5 .
Control engineering exercise book. AEG-Telefunken, Berlin; Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-87087-126-1 , 2nd edition 1984, ISBN 3-7785-1005-3 , 3rd edition 1988, ISBN 3-7785-1613-2 , 4th edition 1993, ISBN 3- 7785-2145-4 (with Claus Becker, Gerhard Siffling, Otto Föllinger ).
Decentralized regulation. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich; Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-486-27921-1 .
Automation of energy and process engineering processes. VDI district association Darmstadt, GMA, anniversary conference on May 18, 1995. VDE publishing house, Berlin; Offenbach 1995, ISBN 3-8007-2114-7 (as publisher).
Modern process measurement technology - a compendium. Springer Verlag, Berlin; Heidelberg; New York; Barcelona; Hong Kong; London; Milan; Paris; Singapore; Tokyo 1999, ISBN 3-540-63225-5 (with Volkmar Gundelach).
Probability Theory for Engineers. Basics, applications, exercises. Hüthig Verlag, Heidelberg 2001, ISBN 3-7785-2816-5 .
Basics of automation technology. Regulation systems - control systems - hybrid systems. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich; Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-486-27383-3 , 2nd edition 2013, ISBN 978-3-486-70888-2 .

literature

Otto Föllinger : Lothar Litz professor at the University of Kaiserslautern. at - automation technology, Munich 40 (1992) 7, pp. 243-244.
Jan Lunze : For Lothar Litz's 60th birthday. at - automation technology, Munich 57 (2009) 9, pp. 486–487.
Alexander Fay: Discussion of the textbook "Basics of automation technology - closed-loop control systems - control systems - hybrid systems" . at - automation technology, Munich 53 (2005), pp. 288–289.
Alexander Fay, Georg Frey, Jan Lunze : Farewell to Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Lothar Litz. at - automation technology, Munich 63 (2015) 11, pp. 937–938.

Individual evidence

↑ Werner Kriesel , Hans Rohr, Andreas Koch: History and future of measurement and automation technology. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1995, p. 134 ff, ISBN 3-18-150047-X .
↑ Alexander Fay: Review of the textbook Basics of Automation Technology - Control Systems - Control Systems - Hybrid Systems . at - automation technology, Munich 53 (2005), pp. 288–289.
↑ Hans-Joachim Zander : Control of event-discrete processes. Novel methods for describing processes and designing control algorithms. Springer Vieweg Verlag, Wiesbaden 2015, pp. 27-28, ISBN 978-3-658-01381-3 , eBook- ISBN 978-3-658-01382-0 .

personal data
SURNAME	Litz, Lothar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German engineer, professor of automation technology
DATE OF BIRTH	August 30, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH	Saarland
DATE OF DEATH	August 21, 2015
Place of death	South-Tirol

[1] Werner Kriesel , Hans Rohr, Andreas Koch: History and future of measurement and automation technology. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1995, p. 134 ff, ISBN 3-18-150047-X .

[2] Alexander Fay: Review of the textbook Basics of Automation Technology - Control Systems - Control Systems - Hybrid Systems . at - automation technology, Munich 53 (2005), pp. 288–289.

[3] Hans-Joachim Zander : Control of event-discrete processes. Novel methods for describing processes and designing control algorithms. Springer Vieweg Verlag, Wiesbaden 2015, pp. 27-28, ISBN 978-3-658-01381-3 , eBook- ISBN 978-3-658-01382-0 .