Ongoing research projects
IMMC
Ongoing research projects in iMMC (March 2023)
This a short description of research projects which are presently under progress in iMMC.
Hereunder, you may select one research direction or choose to apply another filter:
List of projects related to: control systems
| Flight Control and Wake Characterization of Migratory Birds Researcher: Gianmarco Ducci Supervisor(s): Renaud Ronsse, Philippe Chatelain The RevealFlight project aims at shedding light on the efficiency optimization mechanisms deployed by biological flyers, with a specific focus on migratory birds. The efficiency-seeking mechanisms will be sought through the numerical reproduction of flight that includes the morphology, the neuro-muscular configuration and the gait generation. This resulting gait then exploits aerodynamics at the scale of an individual (unsteady lift generation) and at the level of the flock (formation flight). This project thus proposes to synthesize the flight mechanics of birds into a unified framework, combining bio-mechanical, sensory, aerodynamic and social interaction models, in order to reproduce the flying gaits and the interactions within a flock. A neuro-mechanical model of the birds is currently under development, capturing bio-inspired principles both in the wing bio-mechanics (e.g. structure and compliance) and in its coordinated control (through e.g. a network of coordinated oscillators). The dynamics of this model will be solved by means a multi-body solver and in turn, coupled to a massively parallel flow solver (an implementation of the Vortex Particle-Mesh method) in order to capture the bird’s wake up to the scales of the flock. The study of self-organization phenomena and inter-bird interactions are currently beginning on simple conceptual models, and will be gradually extended to more advanced models developed during the project. It will aim at comparing the efficiency of flocks of selfish flyers with that of flocks in which collaboration takes place, whether implicitly or explicitly. In my global project picture, the following bottom-up strategy will be adopted: - Wake characterization: This task studies the wake in terms of the vortex dynamics at play over long distances. The candidate will perform simulations of flying agents in long computational domains in order to capture the wake behavior (topology, instabilities and decay) over longer times and larger scales. This will provide another basis of validation of the project results, given the volume of work on bird wakes; - Flight stabilization in turbulent or wake-impacted flow: This task aims at the realization of a stabilized flight within a perturbed flow. Two perturbations are envisioned: ambient turbulence and an analytical wake composed of two counter-rotating vortices. Il will Combine previously synthesized gaits and control schemes in order to study the stability of the flyer in a turbulent flow or inside a wake; - Maneuvers: This task realizes the first maneuvers of the virtual flyer: avoidance and trajectory tracking that will be leveraged in the simulation of multiple flyers that need to interact and swap places. In the present task, this trajectory is still prescribed, in a step towards an autonomous decision-making agent. In order to realize maneuvers, this task implements a control layer above the controllers developed in earlier tasks. Complex maneuvers will be achieved by closing the loop between trajectory errors and the inputs of the lower level controller. |
 | Locomotion assistance through active motor primitives Researcher: Henri Laloyaux Supervisor(s): Renaud Ronsse This project is about the development and validation of a new method for assisting human locomotion with robotic devices. It will be based on so-called “motor primitives”, i.e. fundamental units of action which have been identified in the human locomotor apparatus. These primitives will be constrained to be mathematical functions with a limited number of open parameters, therefore optimizing the computational efficiency. Next, the assistance will be designed to be adaptive to the user’s particular gait and status. Finally, some primitives will be specifically developed to support the user’s balance, on top of delivering energy for assisting locomotion. These three objectives will require first theoretical developments, and then experimental validation. |
 | AI-based control policies towards efficient collective behaviours of flow agents and their application to fish schooling Researcher: Denis Dumoulin Supervisor(s): Philippe Chatelain The principal objective is to shed light on mechanisms allowing anguiliform swimmers to swim very efficiently either on their own or in group. Simulations rely on an unsteady panel method with vortex shedding and on reinforcement learning. |
 | Study of slotless homopolar hybrid active magnetic bearings Researcher: Guillaume Colinet Supervisor(s): Bruno Dehez Active magnetic bearings (AMB) generate a contact-free guiding of a rotor by actively controlling the current flowing in a winding. Compared with other bearings, AMB have the advantages to create very low friction as well as to operate without lubrication and mechanical wear. Among the various topologies of AMB, the one under study allows to theoretically remove the iron losses in the rotor which makes it attractive for applications in the vacuum or at very high-speed. |
 | Nouvelles topologies et stratégies de commande de machines autoportantes à suspension électrodynamique Researcher: Adrien Robert Supervisor(s): Bruno Dehez A fully passively bearingless motor using electrodynamic suspension have been developped by Joachim Van Verdegheme and Bruno Dehez. During my master thesis, I modeled the behaviour of the machine using ferromagnetic materials which add variation of the inductances coefficients. These materials should increase the perfomances of the motor, and add new possibilities of control. My thesis aims to find the best way to add these ferromagnetic materials in the design of the motor and take advantage of these new control possibilities to improve the machines performances. |