Multi-aircraft Trajectory Optimization for Continuous Descent Arrivals

IT is a known fact that aircraft noise and fuel emissions are the most constraining factors for the growth of aviation. Continuous Descent Arrivals (CDAs) provide significant reductions in fuel consumption and noise footprint on the ground, by following idle thrust descent and eliminating low altitude leveling off. However, limitations such as...

A Predictive Energy Management Strategy for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles utilizing Route Preview

A Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) can achieve a considerably higher overall fuel economy than conventional vehicles. The fuel economy of PHEVs however, strongly depends on the supervisory control strategy of the hybrid powertrain. Compared to conventional, non-predictive, supervisory control systems, predictive control methods can further...

Topological network-assisted quantum operations in two-dimensions

Scientific computing and applied mathematics enable the exploration of and, sometimes even, the simplification of complex systems through various optimized modeling and simulation methods. These fields create and utilize computational resources to do so. Many problems, however, are still unsolvable or very difficult to solve with current well...

Comparison of Optimal Control Techniques for Learning-based RRT

Kinodynamic motion planning for a robot involves generating a trajectory from a given robot state to goal state while satisfying kinematic and dynamic constraints. Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRT) is a sampling-based algorithm that has been widely adopted for this. However, RRT is not fast enough to enable its use in industrial applications....

Optimal Feedforward Control for Offshore Wind Turbines During Grid Faults

Due to the increased share of (offshore) wind turbines, more stringent power requirements have been established. Importantly, the low-voltage ride-through requirement states that a wind turbine must remain connected to the electrical grid after a short intermittent grid fault. In the industry and academia many solutions have been proposed, but...

Modelling and Optimal Scheduling of Inland Waterway Transport Systems: A Switching Max-Plus-Linear Systems Approach

Inland waterways form a natural network infrastructure with the capacity for waterborne transport of people and goods for moving freight from seaports to the hinterland. Recently, Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) has been promoted more extensively by the European Union and various governments as it plays a crucial role in reducing road congestion...

Incorporating climate change in I&M planning for engineering structures - A Deep Reinforcement Learning Framework

In the last decades, climate change is causing our environment to change rapidly, unprecedented in recent history. Civil engineering structures are dependent on the deteriorating environment they are situated in. Changes can cause an increase in loading due to, for example, extreme weather events or alter the structure’s resistance by, for...

Optimal Control And Energy Management For Hybrid Aircraft

Interest grows rapidly in electric and hybrid electric aircraft. To determine the optimal performance and energy management required with such novel powertrain configurations, a knowledge-based aircraft and powertrain performance model is developed. The model is then used to set up an optimal control problem, which is transcribed to a non-linear...

Propulsion System Control of Ships Sailing in Waves: Refinement of Diesel Engine's Dynamic Response by Means of Optimal Governor Gains Scheduling

The need for advanced ship propulsion control systems is constantly increasing as the demand for high vessel performance is growing at the same time. Speed trials are considered as an operation during which the vessel has to achieve the highest performance by attaining the agreed maximum ship speed. However, sometimes vessels have to sail in...

Towards Green Steel: A Dynamic Programming Approach to Slag-Basicity Control in HIsarna

HIsarna is a revolutionary step towards production of green steel. Due to the complex nature of the process the control of various facets of HIsarna is difficult. One of these facets is the slag-composition control, or more specifically slag-basicity. In this thesis an optimal sequential decision making strategy has been developed using the...

Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Designing Spacecraft Trajectories

This thesis proposes an unsupervised Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) for solving optimal control problems with the direct method to design and optimize transfer trajectories. The network adheres analytically to boundary conditions and includes the objective fitness as regularization in its loss function. A test scenario of a planar Earth...

Exploring human control strategies for actuating elastic joints: An optimal control approach

Elastic joints endow robots with advantages including energy-efficiency, safety and performance. To optimally actuate such joints, robotic tasks are formulated as optimal control problems with task objectives and their solutions provide the optimal control policies. However, two general challenges while solving these problems exist. They include...

Online Trajectory Planning and Control of a MAV Payload System in Dynamic Environments: A Non-Linear Model Predictive Control Approach

Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) are increasingly being used for aerial transportation in remote and urban spaces where portability can be exploited to reach previously inaccessible and inhospitable spaces. Current approaches to MAV swung payload system path planning have primarily focused on pre-generating (agile) collision-free, or conservative...

Real-Time Predictive Speed Control for Eco-Driving at Signalized Intersections Considering Queue Constraints

Speed trajectories considerably influence vehicular fuel consumption, particularly on signalized roads. To minimize fuel consumption, sharp acceleration/deceleration maneuvers and idling events at signalized intersections should be prevented. By taking advantage of the technological developments in infrastructure-to-vehicle communication, the...

Design of a groundwater-based Model Predictive Control algorithm for the operation of water table control systems: A proof of concept

Rapid discharge of excess water has always been the core of Dutch water management. Due to climate change, a change in strategy is required. A future-proof drainage strategy consists of three steps: 1) retention, 2) storage, and 3) controlled removal. This thesis comprises the design and evaluation of an algorithm for groundwater-based Model...