Design, analysis and implementation of novel distributed controllers for the coordination of autonomous systems

这个博士项目将专注于设计、分析和实现用于自治系统协调的新型分布式控制器。博士课程的第一年将为项目发展奠定基础。这包括对分布式控制系统及其在协作式自主系统中的应用的当前文献的分析，将分布式控制算法应用于自动驾驶车辆车队（例如，车辆队列、无人机群、车辆-无人机）协调的仿真环境的开发和验证，基准控制器和相关后处理工具。博士活动的第二年和第三年将侧重于新型分布式控制器的制定，实施和仿真，以及由此产生的闭环控制系统的分析。新的分布式控制策略将基于以下组合：a)计算效率高的非线性控制器（例如，模型预测控制器，自适应控制器）；b)智能控制/人工智能，根据当前运行状态在线更新控制器参数。新型控制器的潜力将在博士第一年开发的基准控制器方面进行批判性分析。该博士项目的研究有望产生高质量的期刊出版物，并在特定学科领域产生长期的学术和行业影响

This PhD project will focus on the design, analysis and implementation of novel distributed controllers for the coordination of autonomous systems. The first year of the PhD programme will set the foundations for the project developments. This includes the analysis of the current literature on distributed control systems and their application to cooperative autonomous systems, development and validation of a simulation environment for the application of distributed control algorithms to the coordination of a fleet of autonomous vehicles (e.g., vehicle platooning, swarm of drones, vehicle-drone), benchmarking controllers and relevant post-processing tools. The second and third years of the PhD activity will focus on the formulation, implementation and simulation of the novel distributed controllers, as well as the analysis of the resulting closed-loop control systems. The novel distributed control strategies will be based on the combination of: a) computationally efficient nonlinear controllers (e.g., model predictive controllers, adaptive controllers); and b) intelligent control / artificial intelligence for the online update of the controller parameters depending on the current operating condition. The potential of the novel controllers will be critically analysed with respect to the benchmarking controllers developed in the first year of the PhD. The research of this PhD project is expected to generate high-quality journal publications, and to have long-term academic and industrial impact in the specific subject area