Optimal control of discrete-time switched linear systems via continuous parameterization

The paper presents a novel method for designing an optimal controller for discrete-time switched linear systems. The problem is formulated as one of computing the discrete mode sequence and the continuous input sequence that jointly minimize a quadratic performance index. State-of-art methods for solving such a control problem suffer in general from a high computational requirement due to the fact that an exponential number of switching sequences must be explored. The method of this paper addresses the challenge of the switching law design by introducing auxiliary continuous input variables and then solving a non-smooth block-sparsity inducing optimization problem.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; To appear in the Proceedings of IFAC World Congress, 201

Badalona: sum of infrastructures

Els darrers dos segles han transformat totalment la societat i la manera d’entendre i utilitzar el territori. El territori comprès entre la serralada litoral i la mar mediterrània s’estructura d’est a oest, a través de la infraestructura natural hidrogràfica que baixa l’aigua de la serralada fins a les costes catalanes. Seguint aquestes línies naturals s’han anat desenvolupant els diferents municipis compresos en el territori, aprofitant la infraestructura natural de camins, torrents, aiguamolls… per desenvolupar una societat purament agrícola. No obstant amb la industrialització i l’aparició de la primera línia de ferrocarril de l’estat espanyol al 1848 apareix una nova infraestructura, en aquest cas artificial i imposada sobre el territori i amb ella una nova direccionalitat nord-sud. En el cas de Badalona, aquesta nova direccionalitat infraestructural s’acaba de consolidar amb la inauguració l’any 1969 de la C-31; una autopista que travessa, trenca i al mateix temps vertebra una ciutat en augment incessant. La imposició d’aquesta nova direccionalitat ha trencat l’estructura original del territori generant problemes notables en la gestió de l’aigua pluvial i resultant en una ciutat fracturada a nivell urbà, amb una gran barrera que divideix i que en els punts on és salvable, és gràcies a les restes de la infraestructura natural original: les rieres i els torrents. El treball buscarà analitzar com la superposició d’una nova direccionalitat perpendicular a la natural a influït en el desenvolupament i consolidament de Badalona fins l’actualitat per entendre la problemàtica urbana actual de la ciutat.The last two centuries have completely transformed society and the way we understand and use the land. The territory between the coastal mountain range and the Mediterranean Sea is structured from east to west, through the natural hydrographic infrastructure that lowers the water from the mountain range to the Catalan coasts. Following these natural lines, the different municipalities included in the territory have been developed, taking advantage of the natural infrastructure of roads, torrents, wetlands… to develop a purely agricultural society. However, with the industrialization and the appearance of the first railway line in Spain in 1848, a new infrastructure appeared, in this case artificial and imposed on the territory and with it a new north-south direction. In the case of Badalona, ​​this new infrastructural directionality has just been consolidated with the inauguration in 1969 of the C-31; a highway that crosses, breaks and at the same time the backbone of a city in incessant growth. The imposition of this new directionality has broken the original structure of the territory generating notable problems in the management of rainwater and resulting in a city fractured at the urban level, with a great barrier that divides and that in the points where it is salvageable , is thanks to the remains of the original natural infrastructure: rieres and torrents. The work will seek to analyze how the superposition of a new directionality perpendicular to the natural one has influenced the development and consolidation of Badalona until today to understand the current urban problems of the city

Are ai tools going to be the new designers? A taxonomy for measuring the level of automation of design activities

The digitalisation of the industry offers new opportunities to discuss design activities and support tools. Advancement in AI allows thinking about new Designer-AI tools interaction in the design process. The paper aims to initiate a characterisation of tools issued from researches in the application of AI in Design to rethink the division of work between Designer-AI tools. The paper is based on the literature on the concept of Levels of Automation in cognitive engineering, manufacturing

Control Law Design for Distributed Multi-Agent Systems

In this paper, the problem of control law design for decentralized homogenous Multi-Agent systems ensuring the global stability and global performance properties is considered. Inspired by the decentralized control law design methodology using the dissipativity input-output approach, the problem is reduced to the problem of satisfying two conditions: (i) the condition on the interconnection and (ii) the condition on the local agent dynamics. Both problems are e fficiently solved applying a (quasi-) convex optimization under Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) constraints and an H infinity synthesis. The proposed design methodology is applied to the control law design of a synchronous PLLs network

Interface qualification between the research central team and design officices in order to evaluate the knowledge sharing

International audienceThis article presents a case study which was led in an international company dealing with hydraulic power plant machine design. It exposes a diagnosis of the interface set up between the Research central team (R) and Development local team (D). The diagnosis shows how the information and knowledge are shared among R&D communities. It shows that the explicit knowledge formalized by the Research central team, is known and applied by the local development team, thanks to two types of networking; (1) The networking with experts in charge of communicating and explaining technical instructions applied on project, (2) and the networking between local colleagues. These practices reveal local logic that are not aligned with the company globalisation objectives. As a consequence, it is proposed that new collaborative tools resulting from Web 2.0 (wiki, bogs, collaborative platforms, etc...) can be exploited to effectively support the design activity through social networking with colleagues spread geographically. Today, no actual solution is developed and evaluated

Riesgo de Contaminación de los Acuíferos que abastecen las Nacientes río Loro, Arriaz, Paso Ancho y Lankaster del cantón central de Cartago debido a Plaguicidas Organofosforados y Carbamatos

Proyecto de Investigación. Código del proyecto: 5402-1460-6501Se determinó el riesgo de contaminación de los acuíferos que abastecen las nacientes Río Loro, Arriaz, Paso Ancho y Lankaster del Cantón Central de Cartago, debida a la infiltración de plaguicidas organofosforados y carbamatos. Para esto se procedió a medir mediante ensayos de campo y de laboratorio, las características físico químicas del suelo presente en las zonas de naciente y zonas de recarga hídrica; así como la movilidad, persistencia y perfil de infiltración de 5 plaguicidas organofosforados (disulfoton, clorpirifos, diclorvos, diazinon y forato) y 3 plaguicidas carbamatos (carbofuran, metomil y oxamil) en los suelos de las zonas de recarga hídrica. A partir de los resultados obtenidos, se procedió a estimar el índice GUS (Groundwater Ubiquity Score) y el indicador LP (Potencial de Lixiviación) para valorar la posibilidad de contaminación de los niveles freáticos de los acuíferos por parte de los plaguicidas. De acuerdo con estos resultados, se determinó que los plaguicidas para los cuales se presente un mayor riesgo de contaminación de las aguas del nivel freático corresponden al diclorvos, oxamil y carbofurán.Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica

VISIR-VLT Images of the Water Maser Emitting Planetary Nebula K 3-35

K3-35 is an extremely young bipolar planetary nebula that contains a precessing bipolar jet and a small (radius 80 AU) water maser equatorial ring. We have obtained VISIR- VLT images of K 3-35 in the PAH1 ({\lambda}=8.6 {\mu}m), [S iv] ({\lambda}=10.6 {\mu}m), and SiC ({\lambda}=11.85 {\mu}m) filters to analize the mid-IR morphology and the temperature structure of its dust emission. The images show the innermost nebular regions undetected at optical wavelegths and the precessing bipolar jets. The temperature map shows variations in the temperature in the equatorial zone and in regions associated to its jets.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, 283 IAU Symp. Planetary Nebulae an Eye to the Futur

Control law synthesis for distributed multi-agent systems: Application to active clock distribution networks

International audienceIn this paper, the problem of active clock distribution network synchronization is considered. The network is made of identical oscillators interconnected through a distributed array of phase-locked-loops (PLLs). The problem of the PLL network design is reformulated, from a control theory point of view, as a control law design for a distributed multi-agent system. Inspired by the decentralized control law design methodology using the dissipativity input-output approach, the particular topology of interconnected subsystems is exploited to solve the problem by applying a convex optimization approach involving simple Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) constraints. After choosing the dissipativity properties which is satisfied by the interconnection matrix, the constraints are transformed into an H ∞ norm constraint on a particular transfer function that must be fulfilled for global stability. Additional constraints on inputs and outputs are introduced in order to ensure the desired performance specifications during the H ∞ control design procedure