Newsletter October 2019

Message from the DISC office

Welcome to the October newsletter! As you probably know we have settled on a date and location for the Benelux Meeting 2020 and we also have two confirmed speakers. Kristin Pettersen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and Ming Cao (University of Groningen) have both agreed to give a talk. We will keep you posted on further developments!

With best regards,

Henk Nijmeijer,
Scientific director

Martha Otte,
DISC secretariat

39th Benelux Meeting on Systems and Control

The Organising Committee has the pleasure to invite you to participate in the 39th Benelux Meeting on Systems and Control. The meeting will be held from March 10-12, 2020 in “Hotel Mennorode”, Elspeet, the Netherlands.

 

Confirmed speakers

Ming Cao, University of Groningen

 

 

 

More information will follow soon!

DISC Course Program

In January 2020 the following classes will start:

Dr. J. Polderman, University of Twente
Prof. H. Trentelman, University of Groningen
Prof. K. Camlibel, University of Groningen

Nonlinear Control Systems
Prof. B. Jayawardhana, University of Groningen
Prof. B. Besselink, University of Groningen

The courses are taught at cursus en vergadercentrum Domstad in Utrecht, location Koningsbergerstraat 9. For more information see their website.

 

Inaugural lecture Jan-Willem van Wingerden (TUD)

More information is available here: https://www.janwillemvanwingerden.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Invite_Inaugural.pdf

 

 

Henk Nijmeijer (TU/e) Distinguished Professor at Xi’an University of Technology

 

 

 

 

Henk Nijmeijer has been appointed as Distinguished Professor at Xi’an University of Technology, Xián, China. The ceremony followed by a lecture by Henk on ‘Synchronized clocks’ took place on Saturday(!) 13 October, 2019 and preceeded the 27th Nonlinear Dynamics of Electronic Systems conference.

Asem Khattab (UT) receives SSRR 2019 Best Paper Award

He received the Best Paper Award for the paper “Bayesian-Optimzed Impedance Control of an Aerial Robot for Safe Physical Interaction with the Environment”, also on behalf of Ramy Rashad, Johan Engelen and Stefano Stramigioli.

The Brokerage Event at University of Twente, 30-31 October 2019

From diagnostic to interventional, rehabilitation and supportive robotics – are you active in the domain of medical robotics and interested to apply for one of the open calls? Come to the DIH-HERO Brokerage event to be informed on the open calls, find your cross-border partner(s) and increase the chance of a succesfull call submission!
More information here: https://www.utwente.nl/en/events/2019/10/234593/dih-hero-the-brokerage-event

Deadlines 21st IFAC World Congress “Automatic Control – Meeting Societal Challenges” extended to November 11, 2019

The deadlines for the 21st IFAC World Congress  “Automatic Control – Meeting Societal Challenges”
which will take place in Berlin, Germany, 12 – 17 July 2020 are  rapidly approaching.

Due to numerous requests the
** deadline for the submission of regular papers and papers
** for open invited tracks has been extended to 11 Nov
2019.

For more details, please visit http://www.ifac2020.org/.

We would especially like to stress the Open Invited Tracks,
which everybody can submit to, see
https://www.ifac2020.org/call/open-invited-tracks/

as well as the submission of workshop proposals, see
https://www.ifac2020.org/call/pre-conference-workshops/

You can download a PDF of the call under the following
link: https://www.ifac2020.org/fileadmin/public/Redaktion/Dokumente/PDF/Call_IFAC_WC_2020_Berlin.pdf

Key Dates:
11 Nov 2019    Deadline for draft manuscript submission
28 Feb 2020    Late breaking results submission

Position open for Assistent Professor at TU/e

The Department of Electrical Engineering has a vacancy for an Assistant Professor in High-tech Multi-physics Systems & Control. See: https://jobs.tue.nl/en/vacancy/assistant-prof-in-hightech-multiphysics-systems-control-788594.html

IFAC newsletter

You will find the October edition of the IFAC newsletter here:

https://www.ifac-control.org/newsletter_archive/IFAC_Newsletter_2019_5_October.pdf

New people

University of Groningen

Li, Tinghua (2019)Name: Tinghua Li
Starting date: 01-09-2019
Function: PhD
Email: t.li@rug.nl
Group: Discrete Technology and Production Automation
Supervisor: Prof. dr. ir. Bayu Jayawardhana
Project: Indoor Localization and Navigation of Mobile Robots with Multimodal Sensor Systems

Hi, My name is Tinghua Li, received my Masters’ Degree in Shanghai University, China. I focused on sensor detection (IMU/CCD) and control application, optical indoor localization and simulation during my Masters. The thesis was about Research of the Speed Control Method and Indoor Localization of Electric Assisted Bicycle based on IMU. The goal of my PhD research involves in the problem of indoor localization and navigation for mobile robots based on the use of multi-model sensor systems. In addition to the standard lidar and camera vision system, the sensor systems will include the combined use of night vision camera, novel mems flow sensor systems, as well as, 5G-based localization technology.

My name is Lorenzo Zino and I come from Italy. After my Bachelor and Master studies in Mathematical Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, completed in 2012 and 2014, respectively, I have obtained my PhD in Pure and Applied Mathematics under a joint program between Politecnico di Torino and Turin University in 2018. Then, after a short-term position at Politecnico di Torino and a visiting period at New York University, I am now about to start a PostDoc at the University of Groningen, working with Prof. Ming Cao. My research is mainly focused on the modeling, the analysis, and the control aspects of dynamical processes on networks, such as epidemics, learning processes, and diffusion of innovation. My main research question is thus to understand how the features of a dynamical process and the characteristics of a network structure shape the temporal evolution of a system, and how this knowledge can be used to design control strategies to drive this process to a desired outcome.

Name: Andrea Bisoffi
Starting date: 01-10-2019
Function: PostDoc
Email: a.bisoffi@rug.nl
Group: Smart Manufacturing Systems
Supervisor: Prof. dr. Claudio De Persis

I received my M.Sc. degree in Automatic Control from Politecnico di Milano, Italy and my Ph.D. degree in Mechatronics from the University of Trento, Italy. During my Ph.D. I was a visiting scholar in the Control Group at the University of Cambridge, UK. After my Ph.D. I was a postdoctoral researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
My core research interest has been so far hybrid and nonlinear control systems. Specifically, I aimed at using advanced hybrid tools for relevant engineering applications where hybrid phenomena play an essential role (e.g., satisfaction of temporal logic specifications, obstacle avoidance and friction compensation) and the desired properties can be guaranteed by Lyapunov(-like) methods.

Chen, Yahao (2019)Name: Yahao Chen
Starting date: 01-09-2019
Function: Post-doc
Email:  yahao.chen@rug.nl
Group: Systems, Control and Applied Analysis
Supervisor: Stephan Trenn
Project: Vidi project (2017-2022): Analysis and Control of Switched Differential-algebraic equations

Dr. Yahao Chen has received his Ph.D degree from INSA Rouen Normandie, France, in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Witold Respondek. He currently holds a postdoctoral position at University of Groningen, the Netherlands, under Prof. Stephan Trenn. His research interests include geometric methods on analyzing linear and nonlinear differential-algebraic equations DAEs.

Eindhoven University of Technology

Sadeghzadeh, Arash (2019)Name: Arash Sadeghzadeh
Starting date: 02-09-2019
Function: PostDoc
Email: a.sadeghzadeh@tue.nl
Group: Control Systems
Supervisor: dr. Roland Toth
Project: APROCS

My name is Arash Sadeghzadeh. I come from Iran where I got my PhD in automatic control systems. After that, I held academic positions at Razi University and Shahid Beheshti University both in Iran. I came up to the TU Eindhoven for working as Postdoctoral Researcher at Control Systems group where I worked on modeling and control of nonlinear systems employing Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) methodology under the supervision of professor Roland Toth. My main research interests include robust control design for uncertain systems, filtering and control for linear parameter varying systems, and applications of linear matrix inequalities in system and control theory. In my free time, I enjoy swimming and hiking.

Project: Design and modelling of Switching Battery Management System for solar-powered storage installations
Short Introduction: I obtained my B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from Sudan University of Science and Technology in 2012. I received my MSc in Automotive Mechatronics from Cranfield University in 2017, my thesis was in lithium sulfur cells’ modelling and experimentally investigating its self-discharge behavior. In 2018 I started a Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) in Automotive Systems Design. In the first year of my PDEng I worked as a design engineer at the ASD program in various projects including ADAS project for Valeo to extended their Highway Assist (HWA) functionality to derive in lane merge and highway entry situations, and the development of lateral control strategy for platooning application for Netherlands Organization for Applied Research (TNO), the emphasis was on approaching the problems by applying System Engineering (SE) methodologies. In the second year I will be working as battery algorithm development engineer in the Control Systems group for modelling of NMC based li-ion cells, its State of Charge (SoC) estimation, battery pack balancing and investigating cell’s unequal ageing. My research interests are hybrid and electric vehicles powertrain development and control, with special interest in Battery Management System (BMS) development for different applications. I enjoy solving multidisciplinary challenging problems in a multicultural environment.

Delft University of Technology

Xia, Zimin (2019)Name: Zimin Xia
Starting date: 15-10-2019
Function: PhD
Email: z.xia@tudelft.nl
Group: CoR
Supervisor: Prof. Julian Kooij
Project: Efficient Deep Learning for Mapping and Localization

My name is Zimin Xia. I am from China. I received my undergraduate educations in Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering at Wuhan University, China and I have just finished my MS study in Geomatics Engineering at Stuttgart University, Germany this summer. I was mostly specializing in 3D computer vision and deep learning. Moreover, I have internship experience in these fields at large corporations, such as PingAn Technology, China and Carl Zeiss AG. I am going to start my work today, as a PhD student in Intelligent Vehicle Group, Cognitive Robotics Department, supervised by Prof. Julian Kooij. My topic will be Efficient Deep Learning for Mapping and Localization. Personally, I think I am an easy-going person. I enjoy talking with people and learning different cultures. My hobbies include playing basketball, swimming, travelling, watching movies, listening to music.

I was born in the Andes on the south of Colombia, I studied electronics engineering in Bogotá, and after a brief time working as a field service engineer, I moved to Madrid (Spain) where I did both my Master’s and PhD on automation and Robotics. I finish my PhD on the fall of 2016 and approximately one year later I moved to Grenoble (France) to work as a PostDoc at INRIA up until now.

My main line of work is planning and decision making, for different types of robots, from ground and aerial robots, mobile manipulators and autonomous cars. I’ve also worked on sensor fusion, mobile object detection and tracking and localization.
I’ll be working on the Cognitive Robotics department, with Carlos Hernandez Corbato and Martijn Wisse, on the ROSIN project as well as other related projects. My hobbies are watching movies, swimming. I also enjoy bicycle riding and board games and I’m always open to learn new things.

Chiang, Karen (2019)Name: Ting-Chia Chiang
Starting date: 15-10-2019
Function: Sofware developer
Email: T.C.Chiang@tudelft.nl
Group: CoR
Supervisor: Prof. M. Wisse
Project: agROBOfood

I was born in Taiwan and pursued my bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics. Subsequently, I joined a master’s program,EMARO+ (Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree on Advanced Robotics) which provided me an opportunity to study in France, Spain and Italy. I will be joining the cognitive robotics department under the supervision of Prof. Wisse and Gijs van der Hoorn for 14 months. As a software developer, I am going to develop ROS components and applications for an EU project “agROBOfood”.

In my leisure time, I like to travel around the world and watch movies and TV series. I was crazy about rock climbing/ bouldering for many years. However, my knee got injured when I was in Italy so I completely stopped climbing formore than one year. I think my knee is getting much better. I just hope I can get some motivation and courage to restart doing this amazing sport in the Netherlands. I am also very interested in learning different languages since it is one of the best ways to make new friends and understand different cultures around the world.

I recently started as a PhD-student in the section “Numerics for Control & Identification”. At TU Delft, I obtained a BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering, after which I developed my interest in controls during the MSc Systems & Control. I enjoyed working on the final thesis in High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy. The goal was to increase the scan speed (or: frame rate), while preserving a high resolution. The PhD-project involves investigating methods for online image-based quality control to increase the productivity and efficiency in industrial processes. The emphasis is on detecting artefacts from images, while suppressing the required computational effort. After work I enjoy cycling and making music.

PhD defences October

Eindhoven University of Technology

Candidate:     Dr. K Kural
Group:     Dynamics & Control
Thesis:     Analysis of High Capacity Vehicles for Europe: application of Performance  Based Standards and improving Manoeuvrability
Promotor:     Prof.dr. H. Nijmeijer
Date:         October 3, 2019
Location:     TU/e Atlas
Time:         4pm

Candidate:    A. Bayuwindra, MSc
Group:        Dynamics & Control
Thesis:        Look-ahead tracking controllers for integrated longitudinal and lateral control of vehicle platoons
Promotor:    Prof.dr. H. Nijmeijer
Date:        October 30, 2019
Location:    TU/e, Atlas, room 0.710
Time:        4pm

University of Groningen

Candidate: Mingming Shi
Group: ENTEG
Thesis: Coordination networks under noisy measurements and sensor biases
Promotor: Prof. C. De Persis en Prof. P. Tesi.
Date: 25-10-2019
Location: RUG
Time: 12.45

Next issue of the newsletter

The next issue of this Newsletter will appear in November 2019.
We encourage the contributors to provide newsworthy information. In principle, we intend to publish any message offered. However, we reserve the right to edit certain parts of a submission.
Please send your contributions to: m.w.otte@tudelft.nl

You receive this newsletter because you are a member of DISC.  If you want to be removed from the mailing list, please let us know by sending an email to m.w.otte@tudelft.nl