Newsletter November 2024

Message of the DISC office

Firstly we would like to welcome our new colleagues in the field of Systems and Control who introduce themselves in this Newsletter!

The DISC course programme has started in October 2024, where the first DISC course on Numerical Optimal Control is already completed. DISC PhD students are now busy with the DISC course on Data-Driven Control given by Henk van Waarde, Kanat Camlibel and Valentina Breschi. If you are interested with the upcoming DISC courses, we would recommend you to check the full DISC course programme at the DISC website.

In this Newsletter, please find additional information on our upcoming Benelux Meeting 2025, which will take place in hotel Zuiderduin, the Netherlands. The location offers a very nice meeting place for all of us and please start preparing abstracts for the Benelux Meeting 2025 and save the date of 18-20 March 2025 already in your agenda for this conference.

Currently we are also busy with the selection and organization of the DISC Summer School 2025. We have received excellent proposals and we will announce soon the DISC Summer School program in 2025.

Finally, we wish you a good month of November!

Bayu Jayawardhana
Maaike Kraeger-Holland

New people

Delft University of Technology

Name: Sachin Umans
Starting: 1-11-2024
Function: PhD candidate
Email: s.a.umans@tudelft.nl
University and Department/Group: TU Delft, ME-DCSC Team Van Wingerden
Supervisor: Prof.dr.ir. Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Project: Cluster Wake Control

Hi everyone, I’m Sachin and I’ve recently started as a new PhD candidate in Jan-Willem’s group. I did my bachelor here in mechanical engineering, as well as my master at DCSC. After that, I moved to Applied Physics for a short while to finish my master in mathematics education. Now I’ll be working on active cluster wake mixing for floating wind parks, with a focus on the control part of it. Besides studies, I like to practise archery and I’m a volunteer in a group to maintain a monument in the inner city of Delft. When I’m not doing either of those, I enjoy crafts like woodworking, mechatronic projects, 3D-printing, or (re)binding books. I’m looking forward to meeting you all!

Eindhoven University of Technology

Name: Timo de Groot
Starting: 7 October 2024
Function: PhD Candidate
Email: t.d.groot2@tue.nl
Group: TU/e – CST
Supervisor: Sebastiaan van den Eijnden
Project: Graphical analysis of nonlinear systems

Hi, my name is Timo de Groot. During my masters I worked on the use of Scaled Graphs for nonlinear system analysis.  Recently I have started with my PhD, during which I will work on graphical methods for nonlinear system analysis, with a main focus on scaled relative graphs.

In my free time I like to play piano and guitar or attending to my vegetable garden. If you have any advice regarding gardening, or if you share my interest in music, let me know!

I am looking forward to the coming years, doing research, and meeting a lot of people.

Name: Arviandy G. Aribowo
Starting: 1 November 2024
Function: Postdoctoral researcher
Email: A.G.Aribowo@tue.nl

University and Department/Group: Eindhoven University of Technology and Dept. of Electrical Engineering (Control Systems Group)
Supervisor: Leyla Özkan

Project: Dream project (EU, https://dream-eic.eu/ )

Hi! I am Arviandy Aribowo (nickname: Andy). I am originally from Indonesia. I obtained a B.Sc. degree in Engineering Physics in 2007 from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in Bandung, Indonesia. In 2015, I received a M.Sc. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Houston in Texas, USA. Recently, in October 2024, I obtained my PhD degree from the Eindhoven University of Technology, where I was affiliated with the Dynamics and Control group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. My PhD research work was under the supervision of Nathan van de Wouw (TU/e) and Emmanuel Detournay (University of Minnesota, USA).

From 2010 to 2016, I worked in the area of instrumentation and automation systems for offshore processing facilities of oil-gas exploration and production companies (ConocoPhillips, MedcoEnergi) located in Indonesia. From 2008 to 2010, I worked at universities located in Indonesia and Singapore as a research assistant/engineer. In my spare time, I love walking outdoors and hanging out with friends.

University of Twente

Name: Bart Gerlagh
Starting: May 2024
Function: PhD
E-mail: b.gerlagh@utwente.nl
Group: Precision Engineering
Supervisor: Wouter Hakvoort

Hi, my name is Bart Gerlagh and I started my PhD at the University of Twente (UT) May this year. I have a background in mechanical engineering with systems and control. My project falls within the group of Precision Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Wouter Hakvoort.

My PhD is part of HybridLabs where we try to accelerate the energy transition with a focus on offshore renewables. Within the UT, we are designing a hexapod that is suitable for hybrid testing of floating wind turbines. My focus is on effectively mimicking hydrodynamics on such a hexapod. With this research, we hope to establish a new baseline for hybrid testing of floating wind turbines.

In my free time I run, cycle, enjoy cooking and play chess.

PdD defences

Candidate: Najmeh Javanmardi
University and Department/Group: DTPA, RUG
Thesis title: Energy shaping control methods for mechanical and electromechanical systems
Promotor: Prof Jacquelien Scherpen en prof M.J. Yazdanpanah, Dr Pablo Borja Rosales
Date: 25 November 2024
Location: Aula, Academy Building, Broerstraat 5 Groningen
Time: 11.00 uur

Candidate:  Frida Viset
University and Department/Group: TU Delft, ME-DCSC, Team Kok
Thesis title:
Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. Jan-Willem van Wingerden, co-promotor Dr. Manon Kok
Date: 25 November 2024
Location: TU Delft, Aula, Senaatszaal
Time: 12.30 pm

Candidate: Victor Daniel Reyes Dreke
University and Department/Group: TU/e Control Systems Group
Thesis title: Hierarchical Model Predictive Control of Modular Multilevel Converters
Promotor: dr. M. Lazar
Date: 26 November 2024
Location: Atlas 0.710
Time: 11.00 hrs.

Candidate: Xiaolin He
Date: November 27, 2024
Time: layman’s talk 12.00, defence 12.30
Location: Aula, The Senate Hall, TU Delft
Promotors: 1st promotor:  Prof. dr. ir. Riender Happee, 2nd promotor:  Prof. dr. Meng Wang (TU Dresden)

Link to thesis

Link to livestream: not available yet, contact Xiaolin He directly if interested

Candidate: Zhao Fu
University and Department/Group: DTPA, RUG
Thesis title: Design and analysis of distributed control systems: theory and application to DC microgrids
Promotor: Prof Jacquelien Scherpen en prof Michele Cucuzzella
Date: 3 December 2024
Location: Aula, Academy Building, Broerstraat 5, Groningen
Time: 16.15 hrs

Candidate : Jihane el Mahdi
University: Wageningen University & Research
Group: Agricultural Biosystems Engineering
Thesis: to be advised
Promotor: prof. dr. ir. Eldert van Henten
Date: 4 December 2024
Location: Omnia
Time: 10.30

Candidate: Fabio Paparella
Groep: Groep: TUe/ME CST, group Hofman
Thesis: Electric Autonomous Mobility- on-demand: Models and Algorithms for Ride-pooling and Fleet Design
Promotor: dr.ir. T. Hofman
Date: 5 December 2024
Location: TU/e, Atlas 0.710
Time: 13.30 hrs

Candidate: Oscar de Groot
University and Department/Group: TU Delft/Cognitive Robotics
Thesis title: Probabilistic Motion Planning in Dynamic Environments: Parallelizable Scenario-Based Trajectory Optimization with Global Guidance
Promotor: 1st promotor:  Prof. D. M. Gavrila, 2nd promotor: Dr. J. Alonso-Mora, copromotor: Dr. L. Ferranti
Date: 6 December 2024
Location: Aula, TU Delft (Senaatzaal)
Time: layman’s talk 12:00 hrs, defence 12:30 hrs

Candidate:  Ming Li
University and Department/Group: TU/e Control Systems Group
Thesis title: Safe Autonomy for Multi-Robot Coordination: A Three-Layer Hierarchical Approach
Promotor:  prof.dr. S. Weiland
Date: 11 December 2024
Location: atlas 0.710
Time: 16.00 hrs.

DISC course program 2024-2025

You can find the DISC course program 2024-2025 and the course descriptions on DISC Course Program 2024-2025. You are most welcome to register for these course(s) as registration is now possible!  Please keep a close eye on the DISC website for further detailed information on the courses, the lecturers, the timetable and way of registration. Thank you for registering in time! The courses of the DISC course program 2024-2025 are:

2024_Numerical Optimal Control (closed for registration)
2025_Data Driven Control (closed for registration)
2025_Mathematical Models of Systems
2025_Nonlinear Control Systems
2025_Model Predictive Control
2025_Design Methods for Control Systems
2025_DISC_OptimalControl

The DISC courses will be lectured in the city of Utrecht, at only 10 minutes walking distance from Utrecht Central Station:

Cursus- en Vergadercentrum Domstad
Koningsbergerstraat 9
3531 AJ  Utrecht

Route description: Routebeschrijving – Cursus- en vergadercentrum Domstad (accommodatiedomstad.nl)

Summerschool 2025

Soon we will inform you of the topic of the DISC Summer School 2025. Please keep an eye on the DISC website and the DISC Newsletters. We look forward to your participation!

FYI: no Winter School will be organized in 2024.

 

Save the date! 44th Beneluxmeeting 2025 in the Netherlands

Other news/events

 –You can now register to the following course of the Graduate School in Systems, Optimization, Control and Networks (SOCN). The course will start on November 18, 2024

Title: Reinforcement learning and its implementation in Julia

Lecturers: Clemens Heitzinger, TU Wien (Technical University Vienna)

Dates: November 18-22, 2024

The course will take place at UCLouvain

Registration is open via our On-line form


2025 IFAC Symposium on Advances in Automotive Control (AAC 2025)

The 11th IFAC Symposium on Advances in Automotive Control (AAC2025) will be held in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on 16-18 June 2025. The symposium is driven by the enormous challenges that the automotive industry faces to accelerate the transition towards smart and green transport and mobility. Control systems are the brain of the automotive powertrain and vehicle and give it its specific characteristics in terms of drivability, energy consumption, and emissions. The AAC2025 symposium will explore trends and innovations in control of powertrains, intelligent and autonomous vehicles and mobility systems and infrastructure. The symposium will be held in Domus Dela in Eindhoven and will accept regular 6-page papers (published on IFAC Papers-Online) and shorter 2-4page discussion/industry papers.
The deadline for submission is 29 November 2024 and more information can be found on the symposium’s aac2025.tue.nl.

Next issue of the DISC Newsletter

The next issue of this Newsletter will appear in December 2024.

We encourage everyone involved in Systems and Control 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:
secr-DISC-ME@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 Secr-DISC-ME@tudelft.nl.