TOKEN FOR GRACE · Transfer of Knowledge Exciting Novelties for the Group for Research in Automatic Control Engineering on Hybrid Systems and Embedded Control Software Design.

Final Activity Report Summary - TOKEN FOR GRACE (Transfer of Knowledge Exciting Novelties for the Group for Research in Automatic Control Engineering on Hybrid Systems ...)

The overall outcome of the project can be defined very good/excellent both from a recruitment point of view and from a scientific point of view. Our host institution has hosted 10 researchers for a total of 42.8 of full-time equivalent months which is very close to the original 45 planned moths. The heterogeneity of hosted researchers' country of origin is very high: we hosted researchers from Holland, Sweden, Turkey, Hungary, Singapore, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Croatia. Our Researchers, Post-Docs, Ph.D. students and master Students have been exposed to a long list of seminar, courses, workshop and laboratory training. The networking has been a fundamental activity which started before the hiring of the researchers and continued also after the researcher departure. Thanks to the Marie Curie fellowships we have initiated a collaboration with the University of Minnesota in the USA, with the Technion in Israel, with ETH in Switzerland and with Caltech in USA. We have also strengthened our contacts with the Tilburg University in Holland and the INRIA Rhone-Aples in France. The scientific outcomes produced during the reporting period can be classified two parts: Transfer of Knowledge and Novel Research. Transfer of Knowledge T1- We have acquired new conceptual and tool based methods with which our researchers are able to model in a systematic way hybrid systems. In particular the researchers from the host institution have acquired knowledge on a new mathematical modelling language for hybrid systems. T2- We have acquired knowledge on a set of advanced software tools for simulation and optimisation of hybrid systems. With these new tools we are currently approaching the solution of new and challenging control problems. T3- We have acquired knowledge on a new approach to control hybrid and embedded systems based on a "Receding Horizon Technique". T4- We have acquired knowledge on a hardware and software for building an Unmanned Ar Vehicle T5- We have promoted the education and training of young researchers through courses and laboratory training. **Novel Research For each hosted researcher, the "Transfer of Knowledge" has been followed by a study on possible joint collaborations and application of the new tools to the current projects that the hosted institution carries with industrial partners. Next we detail a list of major achievements in this direction. R1- We have applied the TOK in T1 in order to develop a new modelling language for power converters, a hybrid system which is subject of several studies in the control scientific community . R2- We have applied the TOK in T2 in order solve optimal control problems for linear and hybrid systems. In particular this has helped strengthening and forming new collaborations with an industry and a research center located in the regional areas (Fabbrica Motori Auto, Centro Sviluppo Materiali). R3- We have applied the TOK in T3 in order to develop a decentralised Receding Horizon Control algorithm for decoupled systems. Properties of such design methodology were studied and sufficient conditions for obtaining stability were derived. Several alternative approaches were developed to handle constraint fulfilment in such schemes. In particular, a hybrid rule-based cooperative control scheme, which relies on hybrid control design techniques was developed and successfully tested in a formation flight problem using high-fidelity nonlinear models of an actual unmanned aerial vehicle platform. R4- We have applied the TOK in T4 in order to develop a control framework for guidance and control of Unmanned Air vehicles. R5- We have improved the collaborations with foreign universities; In particular we have initiated a collaboration with the University of Minnesota in the USA, with the Technion in Israel and with ETH in Switzerland. As outstanding result we want to highlight the transfer of knowledge on Unmanned Air vehicle (UAV) design and control. Thanks to the EU funding we were able to build in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, USA a small research lab and equipped with two small UAVs.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union