Access profile

The ideal entrance qualification is a master’s degree that covers areas related to the subject areas of the programme: automatic control, robotics and computer vision. (Degree names vary depending on the applicant's country of origin and the university where they completed their previous studies.) Applicants who have completed the master's degree in Automatic Control and Robotics offered by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya qualify for direct admission to the doctoral programme in Automatic Control, Robotics and Vision. Applicants who hold a science degree (e.g. in industrial engineering, electronics, mechanics, electromechanics or informatics) may also be admitted to the programme. Students admitted with these qualifications may be required to complete bridging courses, which will be specified by the academic committee for the programme.

Output profile

Doctoral candidates who complete a doctoral degree will have acquired the following competencies, which are needed to carry out quality research (Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January, which regulates official doctoral studies):

a) A systematic understanding of the field of study and a mastery of the research skills and methods related to the field.
b) An ability to conceive, design or create, put into practice and adopt a substantial process of research or creation.
c) An ability to contribute to pushing back the frontiers of knowledge through original research.
d) A capacity for critical analysis and an ability to assess and summarise new and complex ideas.
e) An ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and with society in general as regards their fields of knowledge in the manner and languages that are typical of the international scientific community to which they belong.
f) An ability to foster scientific, technological, social, artistic and cultural progress in academic and professional contexts within a knowledge-based society.

The award of a doctoral degree must equip the graduate for work in a variety of settings, especially those requiring creativity and innovation. Doctoral graduates must have at least acquired the personal skills needed to:

a) Develop in contexts in which there is little specific information.
b) Find the key questions that must be answered to solve a complex problem.
c) Design, create, develop and undertake original, innovative projects in their field.
d) Work as part of a team and independently in an international or multidisciplinary context.
e) Integrate knowledge, deal with complexity and make judgements with limited information.
f) Offer criticism on and intellectually defend solutions.

Finally, with respect to competencies, doctoral students must:
a) have acquired advanced knowledge at the frontier of their discipline and demonstrated, in the context of internationally recognised scientific research, a deep, detailed and well-grounded understanding of theoretical and practical issues and scientific methodology in one or more research fields;
b) have made an original and significant contribution to scientific research in their field of expertise that has been recognised as such by the international scientific community;
c) have demonstrated that they are capable of designing a research project that serves as a framework for carrying out a critical analysis and assessment of imprecise situations, in which they are able to apply their contributions, expertise and working method to synthesise new and complex ideas that yield a deeper knowledge of the research context in which they work;
d) have developed sufficient autonomy to set up, manage and lead innovative research teams and projects and scientific collaborations (both national and international) within their subject area, in multidisciplinary contexts and, where appropriate, with a substantial element of knowledge transfer;
e) have demonstrated that they are able to carry out their research activity in a socially responsible manner and with scientific integrity;
f) have demonstrated, within their specific scientific context, that they are able to make cultural, social or technological advances and promote innovation in all areas within a knowledge-based society;
g) have demonstrated that they are able to participate in scientific discussions at the international level in their field of expertise and disseminate the results of their research activity to audiences of all kinds.

Number of places

20

Duration of studies and dedication regime

Duration
The maximum period of study for full-time doctoral studies is three years, counted from the date of admission to the programme to the date of submission of the doctoral thesis. The academic committee of the doctoral programme may authorise a doctoral candidate to pursue doctoral studies on a part-time basis. In this case, the maximum period of study is five years, counting from the date of admission to the programme to the date of submission of the doctoral thesis. For calculating these periods, the date of admission is considered to be the date of the first enrolment for tutorials, and the date of submission the moment in which the Doctoral School officially deposits the doctoral thesis.

For full-time doctoral candidates, the minimum period of study is two years, counted from the date of an applicant's admission to the programme until the date on which the doctoral thesis is deposited; for part-time doctoral candidates it is four years. When there are justified grounds for doing so, and the thesis supervisor and academic tutor have given their authorisation, doctoral candidates may request that the academic committee of their doctoral programme exempt them from the minimum period of study requirement.

The calculation of periods of study will not include periods of absence due to illness, pregnancy or any other reason provided for in the regulations in force. Students who find themselves in any of these circumstances must notify the academic committee of the doctoral programme, which, where appropriate, must inform the Doctoral School. Doctoral candidates may also temporarily withdraw from the programme for up to one year, and this period may be extended for an additional year. Doctoral candidates who wish to interrupt their studies must submit a justified request to the academic committee of the doctoral programme, which will decide whether or not to approve the request. Each programme will establish conditions for readmission to doctoral studies.

Extension
If full-time doctoral candidates have not applied to deposit their thesis by the end of the three-year period of study, the academic committee of the programme may authorise an extension of up to one year. In exceptional circumstances, a further one-year extension may be granted, subject to the conditions established by the corresponding doctoral programme. In the case of part-time doctoral candidates, an extension of two years may be authorised. In both cases, in exceptional circumstances a further one-year extension may be granted by the Doctoral School's Standing Committee, upon the submission of a reasoned application by the academic committee of the doctoral programme.

Dismissal from the doctoral programme
A doctoral candidate may be dismissed from a doctoral programme for the following reasons:

• The doctoral candidate submitting a justified application to withdraw from the programme.
• The maximum period of study and of extensions thereof ending.
• The doctoral candidate not having enrolled every academic year (unless he or she has been authorised to temporarily withdraw).
• The doctoral candidate failing two consecutive assessments.
• The doctoral candidate having disciplinary proceedings filed against him or her that rule that he or she must be dismissed from the UPC.

Dismissal from the programme implies that doctoral candidates cannot continue studying at the UPC and the closing of their academic record. This notwithstanding, they may apply to the academic committee of the programme for readmission and the committee must reevaluate them in accordance with the criteria established in the regulations.

Organization

• Puig Cayuela, Vicenç

• Casals Gelpi, Alicia
• Catala Mallofre, Andreu
• Griño Cubero, Roberto
• Pastor Moreno, Rafael
• Puig Cayuela, Vicenç
• Rosell Gratacos, Jan
• Sanfeliu Cortes, Alberto
• Suarez Feijoo, Raul

• Institute of Industrial and Control Engineering (PROMOTORA)
• Department of Automatic Control
• Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics

Doctoral Area - Barcelona Industrial Engineering Management and Support Unit (UTGAEIB)
Av. Diagonal, 647
08028 Barcelona

Tel.: 934 016 654
E-mail: doctorat.arv@upc.edu

Agreements with other institutions

• IMT Lille Douai, France (http://imt-lille-douai.fr/)
• Buenos Aires Institute of Technology, Argentina (https://www.itba.edu.ar/)
• Tuxtla Gutierrez Institute of Technology, Mexico (https://www.tuxtla.tecnm.mx/)
• Normandy University, France (http://www.normandie-univ.fr/)
• University of the Andes, Colombia (https://uniandes.edu.co/)

• Aigües de Barcelona (https://www.aiguesdebarcelona.cat/)
  
• Aingura IIoT (http://www.ainguraiiot.com/)
• BROSE (https://www.brose.com/de-en/)
• FICOSA (https://www.ficosa.com/es/)
  
• INLOC Robotics, S.L. (https://inlocrobotics.com/es/)
• KIVNON (http://agvkivnon.com/)
• Pal Robotics (http://pal-robotics.com/es/)
• Rücker Lypsa (https://www.rueckerlypsa.es/)
• SEAT (https://www.seat.es/)
• Wide Eyes Technologies (https://wideeyes.ai/)
  

• National University of Colombia (https://unal.edu.co/). Aims: to facilitate mobility of academic staff participating in joint research activities; to facilitate mobility of master’s and doctoral students. Start year: 2009. Term: 2009-2013
  
• Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP), Mexico (https://www.buap.mx/). Aim: to facilitate mobility of academic staff and graduate students from BUAP to the UPC. Start year:  2011. Term: 2011-2014
  
• University of Guadalajara, Mexico (http://www.udg.mx/). Aims: to provide training for doctoral degree holders and researchers; to facilitate mobility of students and academic staff between the two institutions. Start year: 2010. Term: 2010-2013
• University of Naples Federico II, Italy (http://www.unina.it). Aim: to facilitate mobility of students and academic staff for doctoral studies within the framework of the Erasmus programme. Start year: 2011. Term: 2011-2013
• University of Split, Croatia (https://www.unist.hr/en/). Aim: to facilitate mobility of students and academic staff for doctoral studies within the framework of the Erasmus programme.  Start year: 2011. Term: 2011-2013

Access profile

The ideal entrance qualification is a master’s degree that covers areas related to the subject areas of the programme: automatic control, robotics and computer vision. (Degree names vary depending on the applicant's country of origin and the university where they completed their previous studies.) Applicants who have completed the master's degree in Automatic Control and Robotics offered by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya qualify for direct admission to the doctoral programme in Automatic Control, Robotics and Vision. Applicants who hold a science degree (e.g. in industrial engineering, electronics, mechanics, electromechanics or informatics) may also be admitted to the programme. Students admitted with these qualifications may be required to complete bridging courses, which will be specified by the academic committee for the programme.

Access requirements

Applicants must hold a Spanish bachelor’s degree or equivalent and a Spanish master’s degree or equivalent, provided they have completed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits on the two degrees (Royal Decree 43/2015, of 2 February)

In addition, the following may apply:

• Holders of an official degree awarded by a university in Spain or any other country in the European Higher Education Area, pursuant to the provisions of Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, which establishes official university course regulations, who have completed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits on official university degrees, of which at least 60 must be at the master's degree level.
• Holders of an official Spanish bachelor’s degree comprising at least 300 credits, as provided for by EU regulations. Holder of degrees of this kind must complete bridging courses unless the curriculum of the bachelor’s degree in question included research training credits equivalent in value to those which would be earned on a master's degree.
• Holders of an official university qualification who, having passed the entrance examination for specialised medical training, have completed at least two years of a training course leading to an official degree in a health-sciences specialisation.
• Holders of a degree issued under a foreign education system. In these cases, homologation is not required, but the UPC must verify that the degree certifies a level of training equivalent to an official Spanish master's degree and qualifies the holder for admission to doctoral studies in the country where it was issued. Admission on this basis does not imply homologation of the foreign degree or its recognition for any purpose other than admission to doctoral studies.
• Holders of a Spanish doctoral qualification issued under previous university regulations.

Note 1: Doctoral studies entrance regulations for holders of an undergraduate degree awarded before the introduction of the EHEA (CG 47/02 2014)

Note 2: Governing Council Decision 64/2014, which approves the procedure and criteria for assessing the fulfilment of academic admission requirements for doctoral studies by holders of non-homologated foreign degrees (CG 25/03 2014)

Admission criteria and merits assessment

There are no specific admission requirements for the doctoral programme in Automatic Control, Robotics and Vision beyond those that apply under current legislation. However, bear in mind that the academic committee for the programme reviews the academic records of all applicants to assess how well their academic background matches the ideal entrance qualifications indicated above. Applicants should have training equivalent to that which students receive on the UPC master's degree in Automatic Control and Robotics. Graduates of this UPC master’s degree qualify for direct admission to the doctoral programme in Automatic Control, Robotics and Vision.

The academic committee for the programme will issue an assessment of applications for admission. The main criteria considered are:

a) Relevance of previous studies and the applicant's academic record (50%)
b) Other merits (experience in research work, publications, proficiency in languages, motivation and reasons for embarking on the doctoral degree) (50%)

When appropriate, the academic committee may require that a student take bridging courses as a condition of admission.

Training complements

The academic committee for the programme determines what bridging courses applicants will have to take if admitted. When an applicant seeks admission with the backing of a professor on the programme who will act as their thesis supervisor, the professor concerned may recommend to the academic committee the bridging courses that they consider most appropriate to direct the doctoral student specifically towards topics related to their doctoral thesis work.

Additional training will be based primarily on subjects of the master's degree in Automatic Control and Robotics. However, if there is sufficient justification, a student may take subjects included on other master's programmes or postgraduate courses. This may be deemed appropriate if there are subjects that are particularly relevant to the thesis work an applicant plans to undertake (when this work has been defined at the time of admission). Applicants who have completed a UPC master's degree in Automatic Control and Robotics qualify for direct admission to the doctoral programme in Automatic Control, Robotics and Vision and will not be required to take any bridging courses.

Enrolment period for new doctoral students

The enrolment period for new doctoral students will be in September.

More information at the registration section for new doctoral students

Enrolment period

After the first year, the enrolment period for doctoral students will run from September to mid-October.

More information at the general registration section

Procedure for the preparation and defense of the research plan

Doctoral candidates must submit a research plan, which will be included in their doctoral student activity report, before the end of the first year. The plan may be improved over the course of the doctoral degree. It must be endorsed by the tutor and the supervisor, and it must include the method that is to be followed and the aims of the research.

At least one of these annual assessments will include a public presentation and defence of the research plan and work done before a committee composed of three doctoral degree holders, which will be conducted in the manner determined by each academic committee. The examination committee awards a Pass or Fail mark. A Pass mark is a prerequisite for continuing on the doctoral programme. Doctoral candidates awarded a Fail mark must submit a new research plan for assessment by the academic committee of the doctoral programme within six months.

The committee assesses the research plan every year, in addition to all of the other activities in the doctoral student activity report. Doctoral candidates who are awarded two consecutive Fail marks for the research plan will be obliged to definitely withdraw from the programme.

If they change the subject of their thesis, they must submit a new research plan.

Formation activities

Activity: Tutorial.
Hours: 288.
Type: compulsory.

Activity: Mobility.
Hours: 480.
Type: optional.

Activity: Assessment based on doctoral student activity report (DAD) and research plan.
Hours: 4.
Type: compulsory.

Activity: Training in information skills.
Hours: 1.5.
Type: optional.

Activity: Research methodology.
Hours: 12.
Type: optional.

Activity: Innovation and creativity.
Hours: 8.
Type: optional.

Activity: Language and communication skills.
Hours: 18.
Type: optional.

Activity: Courses and seminars.
Hours: 30.
Type: optional.

Activity: Publications.
Hours: 80.
Type: optional.

Procedure for assignment of tutor and thesis director

The academic committee of the doctoral programme assigns a thesis supervisor to each doctoral candidate when they are admitted or enrol for the first time, taking account of the thesis supervision commitment referred to in the admission decision.

The thesis supervisor will ensure that training activities carried out by the doctoral candidate are coherent and suitable, and that the topic of the candidate’s doctoral thesis will have an impact and make a novel contribution to knowledge in the relevant field. The thesis supervisor will also guide the doctoral candidate in planning the thesis and, if necessary, tailoring it to any other projects or activities undertaken. The thesis supervisor will generally be a UPC professor or researcher who holds a doctoral degree and has documented research experience. This includes PhD-holding staff at associated schools (as determined by the Governing Council) and UPC-affiliated research institutes (in accordance with corresponding collaboration and affiliation agreements). When thesis supervisors are UPC staff members, they also act as the doctoral candidate’s tutor.

PhD holders who do not meet these criteria (as a result of their contractual relationship or the nature of the institution to which they are attached) must be approved by the UPC Doctoral School's Standing Committee in order to participate in a doctoral programme as researchers with documented research experience.

The academic committee of the doctoral programme may approve the appointment of a PhD-holding expert who is not a UPC staff member as a candidate’s thesis supervisor. In such cases, the prior authorisation of the UPC Doctoral School's Standing Committee is required. A UPC staff member who holds a doctoral degree and has documented research experience must also be proposed to act as a co-supervisor, or as the doctoral candidate’s tutor if one has not been assigned.

A thesis supervisor may step down from this role if there are justified reasons (recognised as valid by the committee) for doing so. If this occurs, the academic committee of the doctoral programme will assign the doctoral candidate a new thesis supervisor.

Provided there are justified reasons for doing so, and after hearing any relevant input from the doctoral candidate, the academic committee of the doctoral programme may assign a new thesis supervisor at any time during the period of doctoral study.

If there are academic reasons for doing so (an interdisciplinary topic, joint or international programmes, etc.) and the academic committee of the programme gives its approval, an additional thesis supervisor may be assigned. Supervisors and co-supervisors have the same responsibilities and academic recognition.

The maximum number of supervisors of a doctoral thesis is two: a supervisor and a co-supervisor.

For theses carried out under a cotutelle agreement or as part of an Industrial Doctorate, if necessary and if the agreement foresees it this maximum number of supervisors may not apply. This notwithstanding, the maximum number of supervisors belonging to the UPC is two.

More information at the PhD theses section

Permanence

The academic committee of the programme may authorise an extension of up to one year for full-time doctoral candidates who have not applied to deposit their thesis by the end of the three-year period of study, in the terms outlined in the Academic Regulations for Doctoral Studies of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. In the case of part-time candidates, an extension of two years may be authorised. In both cases, in exceptional circumstances a further one-year extension may be granted by the Doctoral School's Standing Committee, upon the submission of a reasoned application by the academic committee of the doctoral programme.

A doctoral candidate may be dismissed from a doctoral programme for the following reasons:

• The doctoral candidate submitting a justified application to withdraw from the programme.
• The maximum period of study and of extensions thereof ending.
• The doctoral candidate not having enrolled every academic year (unless he or she has been authorised to temporarily withdraw).
• The doctoral candidate failing two consecutive assessments.
• The doctoral candidate having disciplinary proceedings filed against him or her that rule that he or she must be dismissed from the UPC.

Dismissal from the programme implies that doctoral candidates cannot continue studying at the UPC and the closing of their academic record. This notwithstanding, they may apply to the academic committee of the programme for readmission and the committee must reevaluate them in accordance with the criteria established in the regulations.

International Mention

The doctoral degree certificate may include International Doctorate mention. In this case, the doctoral candidate must meet the following requirements:

a) During the period of study leading to the award of the doctoral degree, the doctoral candidate must have spent at least three months at a respected higher education institution or research centre outside Spain to complete courses or do research work. The stays and activities carried out must be endorsed by the thesis supervisor and authorised by the academic committee of the programme. The candidate must provide a certifying document issued by the person responsible for the research group of the body or bodies where the stay or activity was completed. This information will be added to the doctoral student’s activity report.
b) Part of the thesis (at least the summary and conclusions) must be written and presented in one of the languages commonly used for science communication in the relevant field of knowledge, which must not be an official language of Spain. This rule does not apply to stays and reports in Spanish or to experts from Spanish-speaking countries.
c) At least two PhD-holding experts belonging to a higher education institution or research centre outside Spain must have issued officially certified reports on the thesis.
d) The thesis examination committee must have included at least one PhD-holding expert from a higher education or research institution outside Spain who was not responsible for the candidate’s stay abroad (point a) above).
e) The thesis defence must have taken place on UPC premises or, in the case of joint programmes, at the location specified in the collaboration agreement.

List of authorized thesis for defense

Last update: 04/10/2023 04:45:29.

List of lodged theses

• PÉREZ PÉREZ, ESVAN DE JESÚS: Fault diagnosis in wind turbines using machine learning techniques
  
  Author: PÉREZ PÉREZ, ESVAN DE JESÚS
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Department of Automatic Control (ESAII)
  Mode: Change of supervisor
  Deposit date: 29/09/2023
  Reading date: pending
  Reading time: pending
  Reading place: pending
  Thesis director: PUIG CAYUELA, VICENÇ | LÓPEZ ESTRADA, FRANCISCO RONAY
  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: ODGAARD, PETER FOGH
       SECRETARI: NEJJARI AKHI-ELARAB, FATIHA
       VOCAL: REYES REYES, JUAN
  Thesis abstract: In recent years, wind power has emerged as a promising alternative to fossil fuels, with wind turbines widely used to generate clean energy. However, like complex machinery, wind turbines are prone to faults that can lead to costly downtime and maintenance expenses. To address this challenge, this thesis has proposed a comprehensive approach for fault diagnosis in wind turbines using machine learning, structural analysis, and interval and zonotope observers. These techniques complement each other to generate a hybrid fault diagnosis method.Structural analysis has provided valuable information on the redundant relationships between the components and measurable variables of the wind turbine. These redundant relationships are identified with an adaptive neurofuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and its improved multi-output (MANFIS) version. The training of neurofuzzy systems is based on completely fault-free data, unlike other methods that require learning the different possible faults. As a result of the identification with ANFIS and MANFIS, a set of Takagi Sugeno convex models is obtained. Interval and zonotopic observers are designed for fault detection from the convex models. The isolation is produced by evaluating the fault signature matrix under different metrics.To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methods, they were evaluated under different fault scenarios and compared with other diagnostic approaches reported in the literature.
  
• RUIZ ROYO, ADRIÁN: Contributions to LPV control under time-varying saturations
  
  Author: RUIZ ROYO, ADRIÁN
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Department of Automatic Control (ESAII)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 29/09/2023
  Reading date: pending
  Reading time: pending
  Reading place: pending
  Thesis director: MORCEGO SEIX, BERNARDO | ROTONDO, DAMIANO
  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: SENAME, OLIVIER
       SECRETARI: PUIG CAYUELA, VICENÇ
       VOCAL: CRISTOFARO, ANDREA
  Thesis abstract: This thesis presents contributions to the state-of-the-art in the field of gain-scheduling control, with special emphasis on linear parameter-varying (LPV) systems and the presence of time-varying saturations. In this area, solutions are formulated to design gain-scheduling controllers based on linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), thus offering a systematic way to efficiently solve the problems below using the available solvers under a finite number of conditions.First of all, the problem of designing state-feedback controllers with the capability to take into account both the possible inherent physical variations of the system and those that may affect the actuators over time is considered. For this purpose, it is proposed to use the shifting paradigm concept and a convex representation for the description of the instantaneous saturation limit values. Additionally, an optimization procedure is suggested for selecting the desired specifications, such as the maximization of the system's closed-loop convergence speed when the largest saturation limit is available. As a result, the designed controller is able to adjust its performance considering the amount of available control action while ensuring closed-loop system stability under saturation avoidance. When state information is not directly available through the sensors, the suggested methodology is adapted to the utilization of a dynamic output-feedback controller structure.Then, the problem of the feedback linearization of nonlinear systems subject to actuator saturations is addressed. As a consequence of the nonlinear transformation of the state, the feedback linearized system is affected by the presence of state-dependent saturations, making it difficult to design controllers using linear techniques. In order to guarantee the stability of the linearized system under saturation avoidance, the idea of establishing a control strategy based on the combination of a linearization law and a gain planning controller is explored. Hence, the total control action will remain in the linearity region of the actuator. In addition, the controller is designed using the developed methodology, thus ensuring its adaptability to changes in the saturation limits. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is demonstrated using the Quanser 3-DoF hover platform.Finally, the problem of designing switching controllers for linear systems subject to asymmetric saturations is considered. The presented solution transforms the asymmetrically saturated linear system into an equivalent switched system with symmetric saturations. In contrast to existing results in the literature, a switching rule is established based on the achievable closed-loop system performance, which allows the selection of the controller with the largest closed-loop system convergence speed among all non-saturating controllers.
  

Last update: 04/10/2023 04:30:30.

List of defended theses by year

• CHAMORRO HERNÁNDEZ, WILLIAM OSWALDO: Event based SLAM
  
  Author: CHAMORRO HERNÁNDEZ, WILLIAM OSWALDO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI)
  Mode: Normal
  Reading date: 17/02/2023
  Thesis director: ANDRADE CETTO, JUAN | SOLÀ ORTEGA, JOAN
  

  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: GALLEGO BONET, GUILLERMO
       SECRETARI: AGUDO MARTÍNEZ, ANTONIO
       VOCAL: CIVERA SANCHO, JAVIER
  Thesis abstract: Event-based cameras are novel sensors with a bio-inspired design that exhibit a high dynamic range and extremely low latency. They sensing principle is different than the one of conventional cameras. These novel sensors generate asynchronous streams of events triggered proportionally to the logarithmic pixel-level change of brightness.Each event is timestamped with a micro-second resolution and transmitted as soon as it is fired. Thus, event cameras convey non-redundant information and capture fast motion. These assets make them suitable for high dynamics and challenging lighting applications without image blurring, over or underexposure problems. The event camera's operational principle requires new algorithms to deal with image intensity's absence and leverage its fast asynchronous response.This thesis explores new event-based monocular solutions to the localization and mapping problem (SLAM) in human-made scenarios. Concerning the event camera's natural edge response, the use of line features was evaluated throughout the chapters of this thesis.A high-speed camera pose tracking approach was proposed that exploits the fast response of an event camera to accurately estimate its 6 degrees of freedom. Lines are efficiently matched to the events with a proposed fast data-association mechanism. In the tracking formulation, event-per-event and window of events representations were analyzed to identify their advantages and real-time implementation feasibility without introducing speed bottlenecks. Additionally, several estimation variants were implemented regarding measurement and motion models.This thesis also analyzes sensor fusion methodologies to combine events with inertial data. The inertial measurements come at a lower rate than events; thus, the objective is to avoid conventional inertial integration and cooperate with the event data to correct state parameters. The sensorial fusion allowed more accurate estimations but slowed down and constrained the motion dynamic and event-data rate to the inertial sensor capabilities.Finally, the proposed mapping approach leverages the natural edge highlighting of events to recover and optimize straight lines in human-made scenarios. Line-based reconstructed maps have better representativeness for some tasks than point clouds since line features provide a notion of connectivity, boundary and a sense of neighborhood. In this work mapping and tracking strategies are executed in parallel threads, that add to the map new detected lines as the camera moves while updating the old ones with incoming observations.All variants tested in this thesis for tracking and sensor fusion are compatible with the mapping thread and can be combined freely as best suited for determined experimental conditions.The main contributions of this work are three-folded: (1) event-based camera pose tracking aiming at high dynamics and challenging lighting conditions, (2) event data and inertial measurements fusion with the primary objective of preserving the event camera's fast response characteristic, and (3) event-based tracking and mapping system with line features in real-time for human-made environments. It is shown that monocular-based event-line SLAM can perform in challenging scenarios with a high level of accuracy and real-time performance, where conventional frame-based methods cannot operate.These thesis' contributions were validated through extensive experimentation with real data in different scenarios and with different degrees of motion aggressiveness. Appropriate comparison against state-of-the-art SLAM approaches were included.
  

• CLEMENTE LEÓN, ALEJANDRO: Modeling and control of a vanadium redox flow battery
  
  Author: CLEMENTE LEÓN, ALEJANDRO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI)
  Mode: Normal
  Reading date: 29/03/2023
  Thesis director: COSTA CASTELLO, RAMON
  

  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: BERENGUEL SORIA, MANUEL
       SECRETARI: BATLLE ARNAU, CARLES
       VOCAL: DOMÍNGUEZ GARCÍA, JOSÉ LUIS
  Thesis abstract: Due to the current climate crisis, significant efforts are being made in the field of renewable energies, being one of the main challenges the storage of energy in an efficient, environmentally friendly and low-cost way. One of the solutions that has aroused the most attraction in recent years are the redox flow batteries, standing out for their flexible design in terms of power and energy, among many other advantages. In particular, vanadium redox flow batteries hold the most promise, due to their long lifetime. However, in view of its recent boom, there are still important challenges to be resolved, such as the correct estimation of the state of charge and the state of health or the search for better materials, among other important aspects. Specifically, this work focuses on the modeling and control aspects of vanadium redox flow batteries, fields that are still being studied by the scientific community, in need of finding adequate control laws, as well as state and parameter estimators. The first part of this work focuses on presenting the operation and characteristics of vanadium redox flow batteries, as well as developing a state of the art in terms of modeling and control. The second part presents the mathematical development of a model that takes into account the most important aspects and variables of vanadium batteries, under different chemical and physical scenarios. The developed generic model is presented as a tool for anyone interested in understanding the most important dynamics of these electrochemical devices, providing a free-to-use interface in the Matlab environment. In addition, at the end of this section the different conservation principles are presented that allow reducing the order of the model and, therefore, its complexity for the control part. The following chapters present the development of the state and parameter estimators, considering the different models. The main objective is to present new and different control techniques that allow estimating the state of charge and the state of health of the system, without considering some hypotheses that are commonly used by the scientific community. Continuing with this part, the different control strategies that existed are presented, formulating different controllers that allow the system to operate safely, efficiently and optimally. Finally, the experimental platform that has been designed to validate the different studies carried out and the results obtained from this experimental prototype is shown.
  

• HERNANDEZ RUIZ, ALEJANDRO JOSE: Visual understanding of human behavior: 3D pose, motion, actions and context
  
  Author: HERNANDEZ RUIZ, ALEJANDRO JOSE
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI)
  Mode: Normal
  Reading date: 30/05/2023
  Thesis director: MORENO NOGUER, FRANCESC D'ASSIS
  

  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: SÁNCHEZ RIERA, JORDI
       SECRETARI: VANRELL MARTORELL, MARIA
       VOCAL: SAMARAS, DIMITRIS
  Thesis abstract: Visual understanding of human behavior is a very broad topic that, in the abstract, means understanding what a person or group of people is doing in an image or video.In practice, it can be broken down into a series of steps: detecting people in the image, estimating their posture and motion, recognizing objects in the environment, recognizing the action performed, predicting the subsequent motion, and predicting the next actions to be performed. Each of these steps is a computer vision task, and in this thesis we will focus on the following:- 3D action recognition, identifying actions being performed based on the movements of people.- 3D motion prediction, predicting the motion of a person based on a sequence of previous motion.- Program generation, generate a program with an expected target that can adapt its behavior depending on the context.For each of these tasks, the main contributions of this thesis are:- A novel method for action recognition that uses a 3D CNN in conjunction with Euclidean Distance Matrices to analyze motion sequences.- State of the art results for motion prediction using a generative adversarial network that can generate realistic sequences of up to 4 seconds.- The creation of a new type of neural network, the Neural Cellular Automata Manifold, which can generate programs in the form of cellular automata whose behavior is learned from data.In summary, understanding human behavior is central to many applications and is not trivial to solve. However, we propose methods for recognizing actions, predicting movements, and generating programs, and we have achieved very good results on each of these tasks.
  

• JIMÉNEZ ROJAS, JORGE IVÁN: Characterization of a novel HgCdTe focal plane array for ground and space astronomy through innovative infrared setups
  
  Author: JIMÉNEZ ROJAS, JORGE IVÁN
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Department of Automatic Control (ESAII)
  Mode: Normal
  Reading date: 14/06/2023
  Thesis director: GRAU SALDES, ANTONI | PADILLA ARANDA, CRISTÓBAL
  

  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: PALACÍN ROCA, JORGE
       SECRETARI: SANFELIU CORTES, ALBERTO
       VOCAL: GUBERMAN, DANIEL
  Thesis abstract: Nowadays, mercury-cadmium-telluride (MCT) short-wave infrared (SWIR) detectors are widely used in cutting-edge spacemissions and ground-based telescopes. They take advantage of the fact that the dust and gases in the deep-sky are almosttransparent to most of the infrared spectrum, allowing redshifted light from the farthest and youngest universe to be easilydetected.Despite the maturity of the infrared technology, large focal plane arrays (FPAs) (> 4 million pixels) are still under development. Toadvance in this technology, the H2020-COMPET program funded the ASTEROID project, which aims to develop a largeEuropean-made MCT FPA of 2k x 2k and 15 µm pixel pitch. The key to success for such a breakthrough development relies onthe hybridization reliability between the MCT and the readout electronic circuit (ROIC). This process is performed using indiumbumps but, due to the different coefficient of thermal expansion and the fact that the ASTEROID FPA is operated at 100K, itcauses plastic and elastic deformations in the whole assembly, thus leading to potential hybridization failures.Then, how the temperature and the thermal stress are affecting the performance of a large MCT FPA? To get an answer to thisquestion, two setups were built: a cryo-vacuum setup with capabilities to perform several thermal cycles on the resultingASTEROID FPA and an optical setup designed to illuminate the detector while it is thermally stressed. The FPA under test wasthermally cycled 30 times between 293K and 50K. The cycle starts at room temperature (293K), then the FPA is cooled down to100K, the temperature at which the detector is illuminated and the images captured. Afterward, the FPA is cooled down to 50Kand the cycle ends with the FPA temperature at 293K before starting a new cycle.During the cryo-vacuum setup development, the cryostat temperature stability demanded special attention due to the huge massof the inner parts and the opto-mechanical pieces. After control and thermal simulations, a temperature stability of <0.5 mK wasreached at every stationary setpoint (293K, 100K and 50K) while the temperature slew rate was kept around 0.5 K/min.Concerning the optical setup, it was developed to cover the whole ASTEROID wavelength range with monochromatic light insteps of 10 nm. A quartz-tungsten-halogen (QTH) stabilized lamp was used, which is collimated and single wavelengths wereselected through an astigmatism-corrected Czerny-Turner monochromator. The light was homogenized using a low emissivitygold-coated integration sphere installed at the cryostat entrance window. Inside the cryostat, the optical path was extendedthrough a light baffle and a short-pass filter, both cooled below the detector temperature in order to reduce the thermal radiation.The ASTEROID FPA has been developed using a custom pixel configuration in such a way that two pixel levels are identified:¿blind¿ and ¿active¿. They were spread out and intermingled along the whole FPA forming a kind of ¿chessboard¿ with pixelvalues separated by ~10 kADU. Furthermore, some extra complexity to the clustering process was added due to the FPA has 32output channels, each with a unique offset level. To binarize the images, up to four classification and thresholding algorithmswere tested and compared to each other, to finally select the best one concerning low detection error and the highest success toresolve pixel failures.Finally, the detector degradation due to thermal stress was measured by counting the number of damaged pixels on everythermal cycle during almost one month, demonstrating that the novel ASTEROID FPA and its hybridization process is minimallyaffected by the temperature stress, being the number of damaged pixels negligible.
  

• KHOURY, BOUTROUS: Contributions to Prognostics and Health-Aware Control of Dynamic Systems
  
  Author: KHOURY, BOUTROUS
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Department of Automatic Control (ESAII)
  Mode: Normal
  Reading date: 24/03/2023
  Thesis director: PUIG CAYUELA, VICENÇ | NEJJARI AKHI-ELARAB, FATIHA
  

  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: SIMANI, SILVIO
       SECRETARI: SARRATE ESTRUCH, RAMON
       VOCAL: ZHANG, YOUMIN
  Thesis abstract: Maintenance is indispensable in every industry that uses machines and is inevitable regardless of the attention paid to it. The cumulative effect of its neglect or a non-optimized approach is a long or short-term shock on a company's growth. It, therefore, comes as no surprise, the overwhelming interest in the area of intelligent maintenance where comprehensive control units can detect, alert personnel, predict when a failure will occur, and manage faults to extend the life of components.Borne out of this is a new field of study, Prognostics and Health Management, which emerged only about two decades ago. This thesis contributes to this nascent field of study, and most importantly to a novel interest in the field of incorporating component prognostic information into control to manage the extent of influence degradation has on the efficient output of a plant. In sum, the thesis seeks to (1.) Contribute to component prognostics and how uncertainty can be efficiently handled and (2.) Promote the incorporation of prognostic information in a control scheme (i.e. Model Predictive Control).For prognostics, the thesis considers two critical components, a wind turbine blade composite material and an insulated gate bipolar transistor utilizing two different types of prognostic methods, the model and data-based methods respectively. Wind turbine blades are by far the most exposed component to damage predominately due to their level of mechanical activity in the turbine operation. Forces such as gyroscopic and gravity, debris in wind, and the effect of the stochastic nature of wind contribute to a gradual damaging effect culminating in a complete blade breakdown. Given that the blade material itself is innate, mathematical degradation equations dependent on material properties to predict the extent of the material damage in the absence of sensor information is used. Therefore, with a stiffness degradation algorithm aided by a zonotopic Kalman filter, the remaining useful life of a wind turbine's blade is predicted with a model-based prognostic technique. For the data-based technique on the insulated gate bipolar transistor, a run-to-failure data set from NASA Ames was used on a novel data-based Evolving Ellipsoidal Fuzzy Information Granule modelling (EFFIG) scheme to predict the remaining useful life of the component with appropriate metrics proving its effectiveness when compared to other methods and also offers an online recursive learning advantage and explainability characteristics, a sought-after quality in practice. The issue of uncertainty quantification has been one of the main conundrums in prognostics, thus in both cases, this thesis contributes to using set-based methodologies which are known to be easy to formulate and computational friendly to quantify and propagate. For health management by a suitable control scheme, two variants are proposed. First, a controller that takes a direct consideration of prognostics information via the stiffness degradation algorithm proposed as done in the model-based prognostics case and a health management scheme that considers the characteristic property of reliability of pumps in a network. Various contributions were made in this research undertaking. For, the reliability aware control, an MPC controller is designed that ensures reliability of the Drinking Water Networks using the Bayesian theorem, specifically for the Barcelona drinking water network. Even though some papers have indeed tackled the issue of network reliability in the literature, they fail to account for uncertainties that arise from consumer demand, which cannot be ignored. Also a more viable optimization problem against wind turbine's blade degradation is tackled with the health-aware control considering incorporated health information.
  

• PLANA RIUS, FERRAN: Shedding Light on Sewer Pipes: Deep Learning Perception Approaches for Autonomous Sewer Robots
  
  Author: PLANA RIUS, FERRAN
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Department of Automatic Control (ESAII)
  Mode: Normal
  Reading date: 02/03/2023
  Thesis director: MIRATS TUR, JOSEP MARIA | CASAS GUIX, MARC
  

  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: ANDRÉS DOMÉNECH, IGNACIO
       SECRETARI: CEMBRANO GENNARI, M.GABRIELA ELENA
       VOCAL: LOPEZ PENA, ANTONIO MANUEL
  Thesis abstract: Sewerage is a vital infrastructure for society¿s day-to-day life. Its maintenance is a priority and current European legislation increases the demand of a proper inspection. Being a complex access and dangerous environment, it complicates its inspection. Using teleoperated robots, a video of its interior is obtained. However, the operator report is highly subjective. The company INLOC Robotics SL offers a solution to make an automatic report using CCTV videos called SEWDEF. This thesis focuses on improving this system by focusing efforts on the integrated Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN).In this sense, we explore how CNNs work, putting efforts to understand how information is encoded within them. How they learn, what they learn and how to improve it. In the analysis carried out we realize that CNNs are not used to their full potential. There are several causes for that, from the lack of data to the CNN architecture used. However, in this thesis we aim to optimize the available data and CNN.In order to achieve this goal, the field of Curriculum Learning (CL) is explored. This field proves that by alternating the order in which images are fed to the training loop, results can be improved compared to a standard training regim. Exploring this idea, the Tracking Networks Self-Curriculum (TNSC) method is designed. It consists on training networks called Tracking Networks that help us find out in which order images are learned. This order can be used as a samples¿ difficulty measure and thus design a curriculum to train CNNs. Tested networks results improve, confirming that in the sewer field CL techniques are applicable. However, the method is complex and does not solve the situation for all the tested defects. For this reason the latent space is explored.The latent space is a high dimensional space that belongs to the CNN top layers, before the prediction layer. In this space we find encoded and compressed information about the input image characteristics. The thesis explores this space using Autoencoders (AE), self-supervised neural networks trained to reconstruct an input image after passing through an information bottleneck. Studying the latent space we can see that it contains relevant information, including about specific defects, that can be used in other tasks.Using the knowledge acquired, we develop a method called Supervised Latent Curriculum with SOM tree (SLCS). The method is based on performing a clustering of the latent space using the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) method. Instead of implementing a single SOM model, smaller models are used where at each iteration the clustering becomes more specialized through new models. This division allows us to create a difficulty measure for the samples that belong to the latent space. This measure can then be used to create curriculums that can be used to train CNNs. Results prove that the SLCS method is feasible. In most cases it outperforms the TNSC method and still has a lot of room for improvement.As a main conclusion we can draw that the two designed methods based on CL improve the INLOC Robotics SL SEWDEF system. It is also shown that altering the training order is able to improve the results of CNNs. In addition, a way has been found to use the latent space to design a difficulty measure.
  

• PURUNCAJAS MAZA, BRYAN JOAO: Detection and diagnosis of faults and damage in wind turbines
  
  Author: PURUNCAJAS MAZA, BRYAN JOAO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Department of Mathematics (MAT)
  Mode: Article-based thesis
  Reading date: 26/05/2023
  Thesis director: VIDAL SEGUI, YOLANDA | TUTIVÉN GÁLVEZ, CHRISTIAN
  

  Committee:
       PRESIDENT: GARCIA MARQUEZ, FAUSTO PEDRO
       SECRETARI: POZO MONTERO, FRANCESC
       VOCAL: AVENDAÑO VALENCIA, LUIS DAVID
  Thesis abstract: Wind turbines are huge structures with technological and industrial development on land and sea. These structures are located in remote areas with difficult access, with extreme environmental conditions. These factors greatly increase the cost of operation and maintenance (O&M). Additionally, low reliability directly reduces wind power availability dueto downtime. Therefore, it is crucial to create and apply strategies for the early detection of damage and failures. On the one hand, structural health monitoring (SHM) addresses the detection of structural damage in wind turbines by monitoring parameters indicative of the state of the examined structure. On the other hand, condition monitoring (CM) addresses the detection of faults in rotating wind turbine components, such as shafts, bearings, gearbox, or generator, among others. The main objective is to identify any abnormal change in condition or specific events that may indicate an incipient damage/failure. This thesis states different techniques for wind turbine SHM (first part of the thesis) and CM (second part of the thesis).The first overall objective of this doctoral thesis is to propase and validate different SHM strategies for detecting and diagnosing damage in jacket-type offshore support. The development of the SHM system uses a laboratory down-scaled jacket-type support, which positions this research at the technological readiness level (TRL) 4. The main contributions in this area correspond to (i) the conversion of the vibration signals to multichannel grayscale images with as many channels as the number of sensors, (ii) the experimentation is carried out for all the operating regions of the wind turbines, (iii) the comparison between convolutional neural networks and Siamese networks is made, where in the first case an increase in data is presented, and for the second case a small amount of data is used, and (iv) its viability is demonstrated through different metrics.lt may be surprising that many wind turbines do not have specific CM systems. Currently, CM systems are installed on new wind turbines on the first day of operation. However, many older wind turbines do not have these types of system installed that involve high-frequency sensors specifically tailored to monitor the condition of the rotating machinery in the drive train. In wind turbines clase to their lite expentancy, a technological upgrade is not economically viable for the owners. With this background, the second overall objective of this thesis is to develop early faul prediction strategies based only on real SCADA data, which positions this research at TRL 7 level. This is a cost-effective ap proach that does not require the installation of expensive sensors. The main contributions are: (i) Early detection is achieved using only SCADA data. (ii) The proposed methods only require healthy data to be developed; therefore, they can be applied to any wind farm, even where no faulty data have been recorded. (iii) Normality models that avoid the imbalance problem in the data are developed and contrasted using artificial neural networks and gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural networks. And (iv) the validity and performance of the established methodologies are demonstrated in two real in-production wind farms. The results obtained show that early detection strategies based solely on SCADA data can predict failures several months before fatal failure occurs and, thus, allow wind turbine operators to plan their maintenance operations.
  

Last update: 04/10/2023 05:01:11.

Research groups

• ACES-Advanced Control of Energy Systems
• CoDAlab-Control, Dynamics and Applications
• CS2AC-UPC-Supervision, Safety and Automatic Control
• GREC-Knowledge Engineering Research Group
• GRINS-Intelligent Robots and Systems
• ROBiri-IRI Robotics Group
• SAC-Advanced Control Systems
• SCOM-Supply Chain and Operations Management
• SEPIC-Power and Control Electronics Systems
• SIR-Service and Industrial Robotics
• VIS-Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems

Teachers

• Alenyà Ribas, Guillem
• Alquezar Mancho, René
• Andrade Cetto, Juan
• Angulo Bahon, Cecilio
• Aranda Lopez, Joan
• Basañez Villaluenga, Luis
• Batlle Arnau, Carles
• Benitez Iglesias, Raul
• Biel Sole, Domingo
• Blesa Izquierdo, Joaquim
• Bolea Monte, Yolanda
• Casals Gelpi, Alicia
• Catala Mallofre, Andreu
• Cembrano Gennari, M.Gabriela Elena
• Climent Vilaro, Joan
• Costa Castello, Ramon
• Doria Cerezo, Arnau
• Escobet Canal, Teresa
• Fossas Colet, Dr. E.
• Grau Saldes, Antoni
• Griño Cubero, Roberto
• Jimenez Schlegl, Pablo
• Marti Colom, Pau
• Morcego Seix, Bernardo
• Moreno Noguer, Francesc d'Assis
• Nejjari Akhi-Elarab, Fatiha
• Ocampo Martinez, Carlos
• Olm Miras, Josep Maria
• Pastor Moreno, Rafael
• Peña Pitarch, Esteban
• Perez Magrane, Ramon
• Porta Pleite, Jose Maria
• Puig Cayuela, Vicenç
• Quevedo Casin, Joseba
• Rodellar Benede, Jose
• Ros Giralt, Lluis
• Rosell Gratacos, Jan
• Ruiz Vegas, Francisco Javier
• Sanfeliu Cortes, Alberto
• Sarrate Estruch, Ramon
• Serra Prat, Maria
• Suarez Feijoo, Raul
• Thomas Arroyo, Federico
• Tornil Sin, Sebastian
• Torras Genis, Carme
• Velasco Garcia, Manel

• Agudo Martínez, Antonio
• Borràs Sol, Júlia
• Colomé Figueras, Adria
• Cuguero Escofet, Josep
• Delgado Prieto, Miquel
• Diaz Boladeras, Marta
• Dimiccoli, Maria
• Fernandez Ruzafa, Josep
• Foix Salmeron, Sergi
• Garrell Zulueta, Anais
• Guerra Paradas, Edmundo
• Hernansanz Prats, Alberto
• Husar, Attila
• Jevtic, Aleksandar
• Nadeu Camprubi, Climent
• Ponsa Asensio, Pere
• Sánchez Riera, Jordi
• Santamaria Navarro, Angel
• Sola Ortega, Joan
• Vidal Segui, Yolanda