Research Areas

IT Architectures for Industrial Control

A general goal in industrial control applications is on one hand to distribute intelligence to the devices and on the other hand to integrate production management with the business processes. Our objective is to find  generic approaches for selecting IT platforms and algorithms on the basis of user requirements and develop high quality specifications for the systems. Semantic and agent-based architectures and SOA as well as secure automation networks are the paradigms in focus within implementation.

Modeling and Optimization of Systems

Research on algorithms will develop optimization for partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDP) and model predictive control (MPC) in autonomous systems, with emphasis on optimizing the sensing subsystems.  The objective is to expand current POMDP/MPC methods to both cooperative and non-cooperative games between autonomous agents in the absence of supervisory agents. The research will address both deriving the formulation of agent objectives from user requirements and the computational complexity of solving game problems. The first objective links strongly to the research on architecture.  Results will be tested in the applications on mobile machines and manufacturing processes.

Measurement and Control

ASE will also in the future have an important role in the measurement, control, and automation solutions of traditional process industries. A special attention in the research is on the current and future trend of globalisation, managing undesired side effects of industrial production, such as environmental and social issues, and changes in the value of factors of production, such as energy and raw materials. The research attempts to support industries to develop new solutions with advanced cost structures and business models.

Micro Sensors and Actuators

ASE is developing micro sensors, actuators and micro fluidics including electronics and short-range wireless communication links for selected applications. New materials and fabrication methods especially for 3D micro structures and their manufacturing are studied. Measurements based on images will add uncertainty / information analysis to the current practices of machine vision, and hence support optimizing design and operation of sensing in autonomous systems.