The paper “Fractional cyber-neural systems – a brief survey”, authored by LASIGE’s integrated researcher Guilherme Ramos has been published in Annual Reviews in Control, a top-ranked journal (Impact factor: 10.699; Scimago Q1). The paper co-authors are Emily Reed (University of Southern California, USA), Sarthak Chatterjee (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA), Paul Bogdan (University of Southern California, USA), and Sérgio Pequito (Delft University of Technology).

Neurotechnology has made great strides in the last 20 years. However, we still have a long way to go to commercialize many of these technologies as we lack a unified framework to study cyber-neural systems (CNS) that bring the hardware, software, and the neural system together. Dynamical systems play a key role in developing these technologies as they capture different aspects of the brain and provide insight into their function. Converging evidence suggests that fractional-order dynamical systems are advantageous in modeling neural systems because of their compact representation and accuracy in capturing the long-range memory exhibited in neural behavior. In the published survey, the researchers provide an overview of fractional CNS that entails fractional-order systems in the context of CNS. They introduce basic definitions required for the analysis and synthesis of fractional CNS, encompassing system identification, state estimation, and closed-loop control. Additionally, the researchers provide an illustration of some applications in the context of CNS and draw some possible future research directions. Advancements in these three areas will be critical in developing the next generation of CNS, which will, ultimately, improve people’s quality of life.