Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Method for Control Tuning of Grid-Connected Inverter Based on Grid Measurements During Start-Up

As the share of grid-connected converters increases, potential stability issues in the grid interface of the converters are emphasized. Impedance-based stability criterion can be used to assess the stability of the interface accurately, and the grid conditions should be considered in control design of the converter. However, the grid impedance is often an unknown parameter, and thus, adaptive control is a favorable method for addressing the uncertainties in the control design. This work presents an algorithm, in which the full-order grid impedance is measured during the start-up of the device, and control bandwidth of phase-locked loop and grid-voltage feedforward gains are adjusted to optimize sensitivity function in the grid interface, based on generalized Nyquist criterion. The method can ensure robust control in weak grid conditions, while still achieving good control performance in strong grids. The method is verified with power hardware-in-the-loop experiments with a kW-scale grid-connected three-phase inverter.
Formation Control for Fully Actuated Systems: a Quaternion-based Bearing Rigidity Approach

This work deals with formations of mobile agents with six independently controllable degrees of freedom able to retrieve relative bearing measurements w.r. t. some neighbors in the group. Exploiting the bearing rigidity framework, two control objectives are here addressed: ($i$) the stabilization of these fully actuated multi-agent systems towards desired configurations, and (i i) their coordinated motion along directions guaranteeing the system shape maintenance. The proposed approach relies on a new formulation of the bearing rigidity theory based on the adoption of the unit quaternion formalism to describe the agents attitude. Through this representation choice, the formation dynamics is linear w.r. t. the input control velocities and the rigidity theory suggests the design of a distributed control scheme for both control goals whose efficacy is confirmed by numerical simulations.
Analyzing the Applicability of a Multi-Criteria Decision Method in Fog Computing Placement Problem

In Fog computing the placement selection of services in network devices with computational and storage features is an NP-hard problem. We analyse the design of Fog scenarios and the placement problem using Electre III a multi-criteria decision method for outranking alternatives. In this study, we model a Fog environment to apply a decision model for determining which alternatives are the most suitable in each application deployment. We compare the results with the weighted average to analyse the applicability of Electre III method in the Fog placement problem. We design a dynamical scenario in which new users appear along the simulation and we use the latency, hop count, cost, deployment penalty and energy consumption criteria to rank placement alternatives. This approach enables the study of how the characteristics of the resources have to be distributed, that is, how to design Fog scenarios, in order to make the allocation of applications more efficient.
Octarotor Fault Tolerant Control via Dynamic Surface Control

In this paper we present a Disturbance Observer Based Control for an octarotor unmanned aerial vehicle, taking into account the actuator dynamics. The scheme is robust to the uncertainties of the model dynamics, the actuator dynamics and it can also manage the presence of actuator faults and failures. The control law is based on a combination of Back-stepping and Dynamic Surface Control, where the feedback linearisation change of coordinates is applied to part of the state space dynamics in order to avoid the explosion of terms. The distribution of the control efforts among the actuators is optimally provided by an allocation algorithm which minimizes the energy consumption even in presence of uncertainties.
Low-Delay and High-Coverage Water Distribution Networks Monitoring Using Mobile Sensors

Urban water distribution networks (WDNs) are usually threatened by leakage, reflux, infiltration and internal pollution. To ensure the safety of water supply, it is essential to properly monitor the WDNs. However, it is not easy to design a fast, fine-grained and comprehensive monitoring solution under limited cost, due to the large scale and high complexity of WDNs. In recent years, mobile sensor networks have been widely utilized to monitor WDNs with data uploaded by static nodes or receiver nodes. However, existing solutions haven’t addressed the impact of duplicated uploading caused by the topology of WDNs. Hence, the coverage rate is unsatisfactory. In addition, the mobile sensor nodes could be potentially far away from the receiver nodes, which might introduce long data acquisition delay. In this work, we propose a low delay and high coverage WDNs monitoring solution, with the constraint of limited number of mobile and receiver nodes. The proposed solution can find the optimal deployment strategy of mobile and receiver nodes by constructing a probability dependent model between mobile and receiver nodes, and coordinating the trade-off between low-delay and high-coverage under multi-objective optimization model. We also analyzed the theoretical lower bound of the algorithm, by utilizing the submodular function characteristics of the objective. Extensive simulation proved that the proposed algorithm can obtain higher coverage with lower delay.
Performance of LoRa for Bike-Sharing Systems

Today bike sharing systems are becoming popular in many cities as short-distance transit vehicles. More than 18 million bicycles are available worldwide for public use and one of the main problems that afflicts such sharing systems is the loss of bikes, which can be stolen or simply left in unknown locations. Thus, many bikes are docked or tracked using GPS and costly cellular connections. In this paper, we consider the emerging Long Range (LoRa) technology for use in bike sharing systems. LoRa exploits free ISM bands and has been conceived for low power and low data rate applications. Additionally, LoRa is characterized by large cells and heterogeneous application domains, which may lead to extremely high numbers of devices coexisting in the same cell. Thus, in this paper we study the scalability limits of a typical LoRa cell, showing that the performance of LoRa in crowded scenarios can be quite limited when using high spreading factors (SFs). Then, we design and realize a prototype of LoRa tracker module that can be embedded in a bike and we test its use in a large area of Palermo city, Italy. According to our knowledge, this is the first paper that study the performance of LoRa for bike sharing systems.
Meaning Extraction in a Domotic Assistant Agent Interacting by Means of Natural Language

This paper presents a software architecture to let users interact with their smart home devices, through the commonly used social network channels. The software, called FABULOS, is the result of the combination of components used to interact with devices and social networks, and a rule-based artificial intelligence, which implements the base logic for the automation. The core of the software architecture is the translation service, which has the objective of extracting the meaning of the sentences provided by text and voice messages by users in natural language, transforming them into proper device commands. In order to achieve this, the proposed solution relies on an approach which has the capability to interpret and extract the meaning of the intentions plus the entities involved, associated to the sentences sent by the users. A description of a realistic casestudy, which shows an example of how the proposed software behaves in a real interaction with an user, is also included in the paper.
Combined $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ linear parameter varying control design and optimal sensor/actuator selection

This paper presents an approach to combine $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ dynamic output feedback controller design for linear parameter-varying (LPV) systems with optimal selection of sensors and actuators. This concurrent design problem is formulated as a Mixed Boolean Semi-Definite Programming (MBSDP) optimization problem. By means of the Big-M reformulation, the boolean decision variables related to the selection of sensors and actuators are decoupled from the SDP problem underlying the $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ controller synthesis. This reformulation allows us to solve the initial NP-hard problem using a Branch and Bound (BNB) algorithm. The concurrent design of an LPV vibration controller and optimal actuator selection for a smart composite plate serves as a case study to validate the developed approach.
Deploying New Nodes Faster with Machine Learning for IC Design and Manufacturing

Over the past few years there has been renaissance of machine learning being applied to problems as varied as predicting wind turbine failure to automating drug discovery. Semiconductor design and manufacturing is no exception: new publications on semiconductor machine learning nearly tripled between 2017 and 2018. This work provides a roadmap for machine learning that acts as a guide for understanding the current advancements in our field as well as a path toward our future.
TuD3.2 - Neuromorphic Silicon Photonics on Foundry and Cryogenic Platforms (Invited)

Silicon photonics presents an opportunity for complex, multi-purpose information processing with optoelectronics. Using foundry devices, some photonic neural networks support sub-nanosecond signals. Using cryogenic devices, others support single-photon signals. We compare these platforms and summarize recent experimental results on programmability in photonic neurons and networks.
Novel Single-Phase Buck+Boost PFC Rectifier with Integrated Series Power Pulsation Buffer

This paper introduces a novel integrated series power pulsation buffer (iSPPB) concept for a single-phase AC-to-DC two-switch buck+boost PFC rectifier to compensate the fluctuating power mismatch between the AC input and the DC output. Accordingly the DC-link capacitance can be drastically reduced and an electrolytic-capacitor-Iess PFC rectifier system featuring a higher power density and an increased lifetime is obtained. The proposed iSPPB concept consists of a simple full-bridge circuit with a buffer capacitor and is placed in series with the buck-boost inductor thus no additional inductive component is required for the iSPPB realization. The basic operating principle of the buck+boost PFC rectifier with iSPPB is investigated and the characteristic waveforms are presented. As shown in the analysis due to the employment of the iSPPB also the maximum buck+boost inductor current is reduced which compared to the conventional rectifier system without iSPPB allows to further downsize the inductive component. Consequently the major drawbacks of conventional single-phase PFC rectifiers are eliminated. Furthermore the control structure is presented and the proper operation is verified based on a closed-loop circuit simulation. Finally the proposed buck+boost PFC rectifier with iSPPB and a conventional two-switch implementation employing electrolytic capacitors are quantitatively compared by means of simple performance indices.
Channel Coding Analysis for NB-IoT Up-Link Transport Channel

Error detection and error correction are one of the pillars of any communication system which serve as an error correction mechanism and improve signal quality. In this paper, we present a turbo channel coding algorithm for up-link transport channel in narrowband internet of things. The proposed channel coding uses 24-bit CRC syndrome calculator and turbo codes with a tail bit convolutional encoder to transmits NB-IoT packet date from MAC layer to physical layer over AWGN. In addition, we carried out performance analysis and simulation of the proposed algorithm in accordance with NB-IoT requirement specified by 3GPP standard.
Substrate Integrated Waveguide-Oriented Design Applied to the Antenna Section of mm-W Communication Systems: Challenges and Advantages

This paper addresses a number of technological and theoretical aspects of employing the Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) technology in the design and implementation of the antenna section of different communication systems operating at millimeter-wave (mm-W) frequencies. An SIW-oriented design presents a number of immediate advantages, such as a massive reduction in system complexity, antenna isolation enhancement, and low-cost implementation. Moreover, the SIW technology permits to adopt a number of antenna topologies featuring several advantages in terms of reconfigurability and dynamic performance, which becomes extremely beneficial in the synthesis of modern phased array configurations.
Investigation of an STATCOM-based Energy Stored Quasi-Z Source Cascaded H-bridge Inverter Photovoltaic Power System

The energy stored quasi-Z source cascaded H-bridge (ES-QZS-CHB) inverter is widely used in photovoltaic (PV) power generation system because of its unique advantages. However, the existing researches on ES-QZS-CHB inverter PV power system mainly focus on the transmission of active power, but pay little attention to reactive power, causing the ES-QZS-CHB inverter PV power system cannot compensate reactive power or improve system performance. This paper proposes a PV power generation and static synchronous compensator based ES-QZS-CHB inverter system, to implement the PV generation and reactive power compensation at the same time. Simulation and experimental results verify the system's excellent performance.
Computational Methods in Professional Communication

The digitization of the world has also led to a digitization of communication processes. Traditional research methods fall short in understanding communication in digital worlds as the scope has become too large in volume, variety, and velocity to be studied using traditional approaches. In this paper, we present computational methods and their use in public and mass communication research and how those could be adapted to professional communication research. The paper is a proposal for a panel in which the panelists, each an expert in their field, will present their current work using computational methods and will discuss transferability of these methods to professional communication.
Novel Nonlinear DC-Link Voltage Control for Small-Scale Grid-Connected Wind Power Converters

A novel nonlinear observer-based DC-link voltage control algorithm is proposed in this paper for small-scale grid-connected variable-speed wind power converters to minimize the voltage fluctuation across DC-link capacitors caused by wind power variations. The DC-link capacitors, in wind power converters, are normally used to buffer the difference between the input and output power. However, the DC-link voltage varies significantly under rapidly changing working conditions. Hence, a proper DC-link voltage controller is essential to regulate the DC-link voltage in order to minimize these fluctuations. The proposed algorithm estimates the power fed into the converter system using a nonlinear observer integrated with a PI controller, combining the advantages of fast dynamic response capability offered by the proposed observer and control robustness from the PI controller without any additional measurement components. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is verified by both simulation and experimental results.
Cooperative Fog Communications using A Multi-Level Load Balancing

Fog Computing has been introduced as an emergence technology in Internet of Things (IoT). Fog Computing is introduced as a solution for many enterprises, which include computation, storage, and data exchange capabilities of edge, devises. Users, resources, and data are steadily increasing in number, making scalability and extensibility important issues. With the emergence of the Cloud/Fog it is expected that run time estimates will also be used for resource selection, workflow management, load balancing, and job monitoring. User preferences is the core elements of the fog/cloud service provider, as the idea is to learn, predict, optimize etc. Predictions are a very important step towards automatic resource management. This paper proposes a cooperative fogs system, which consider the user preferences e.g. delay, cost, and privacy and find the optimal choice that meet the user preferences. In addition to ensuring efficient utilization of resources to balance the load in fog computing.
A Cooperative and Reliable RSU-Assisted IEEE 802.11P-Based Multi-Channel MAC Protocol for VANETs

Vehicle ad-hoc networks (VANETs), which support various important applications for intelligent transportation systems (ITSs), consist of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications based on vehicles and roadside units (RSUs). Medium access control (MAC) plays a critical role in providing efficient broadcast services for VANETs. Unlike other types of networks, VANETs suffer from rapid changes in topology, resulting in frequent network disconnections caused by the high mobility of nodes. Hence, adaptive MAC protocols, which dynamically adjust the interval according to the traffic conditions, are essential to VANETs. This study proposes a cooperative and reliable RSU-assisted IEEE 802.11p-based multi-channel MAC protocol for VANETs, called RAM. In our proposal, an RSU is used to both calculate the optimized interval and keep track of the safety packet transmission. We also present a cooperative scheme for the retransmission of safety packets that failed to broadcast because of hidden nodes. The simulation results show that the RAM not only allows safety packets to be broadcast more efficiently using the existing MAC protocols, but also outperforms the existing MAC protocols in terms of the packet delivery ratios for safety and control packets.
Simulation Study of the Slope-Channel Double-Gate MOSFET for Low-Power Applications

Double-Gate MOSFET (DG MOSFET) shows great suppression of the Short Channel Effects (SCEs) due to the enhanced gate-control capability but requires the extreme downscaling of channel thickness. To address these challenges, we propose a novel Slope-Channel Double-Gate MOSFET (SCDG MOSFET) to enhance the subthreshold performances while maintaining the channel thickness. The simulation results show that the SCDG MOSFET greatly improves the subthreshold performances compared to the conventional DG MOSFET. The main mechanism is the suppression of the SCEs attributed to the reduction of channel potential.
Virtual Inductance based Power Factor Adjustment Technique for Current Source Rectifiers in High-Power Applications

This paper proposes the power factor control algorithm of current source rectifier using the virtual inductance in the space vector modulation. In the proposed method, the phase difference between the input voltage and the input current is removed by the virtual inductor parallel to the input capacitor, which make the impedance of the input capacitor-side infinite. To find the virtual inductance, the capacitance of the input capacitor and the angular frequency of the input voltage is utilized. By additionally making the current in the virtual inductor from the rectifier, the effect of the virtual inductor which make the impedance of the input capacitor-side infinite can be implemented. The additional current is calculated by integration of the input voltage and the virtual inductance. The proposed method has advantages of yielding input unity power factor without input current sensing. Simulation and experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed power factor control method.
Optimal Operation of Soft-Open Points for High Penetrated Distributed Generations on Distribution Networks

In the future, Distribution network will face many challenges due to increased acceptance of renewable resources such as photovoltaic (PV)and wind power. Typical problems that arise from increased penetration of renewable resources include overvoltage issues, load imbalances on each feeder, and fluctuations in power output. In this paper, we consider installing Soft-Open Points (SOPs) to solve these problems. SOP is a power electronic device installed at the normally-open point (NOP) of the distribution network. Typically, SOPs are comprised of voltage source converters (VSCs), which can control the power flow between the feeders. In this paper, we discuss the method of calculating the optimal operating point of a SOP using the Particle-Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm using the characteristics of the SOP that can independently control the active and reactive power flows. The IEEE-33 bus test system was modified to verify the proposed method and the objective function for the bus voltage deviation and the index for the total line losses can be minimized simultaneously by using the PSO algorithm to optimize the multiple objective function Algorithm.
Human Pose Tracking from RGB Inputs

In the context of Virtual and Augmented Reality, in order to allow systems to provide natural interaction through gestures and general understanding of user body behavior it is fundamental to obtain the configuration of human poses. Once achieved, the goal of obtaining such poses from RGB images through cameras brings the possibility of a wide range of applications in the areas of security (i.e.: local activity monitoring), healthcare (i.e.: postural analysis) and entertainment (i.e.: games and animations motion capture). However, the acquisition of human poses solely through RGB images is still considered a challenge, once that pure visual data doesnt explicitly give us information about the human body joints (keypoints in pixels) localization in the image. In this work we propose the a machine learning method, more specifically deep learning based on convolutional neural networks, capable of tackling this problem.
Design of a W-band Omnidirectional Circularly Polarized Antenna by Using OMT

An omnidirectional circularly polarized (CP) antenna operating in W-band is proposed. The antenna has a simple structure, which consists of a dual-reflector antenna, an ortho-mode transducer (OMT) and a 3-dB coupler. The OMT adopts a novel septum-free structure, and can realize wideband, high isolation, and low loss. The results show that the dual-reflector antenna with this OMT has an impedance bandwidth from 91.1 to 96.8 GHz (the overlapped bandwidth limited by |S11| < -15dB, |S22|< -15dB) and a 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth from 93.1 to 95.9 GHz. In addition, the omnidirectional CP radiation pattern can be obtained in the azimuth plane of θ = 40°- 80°.
Using Structural Diversity to Enforce Strong Authentication of Mobiles to the Cloud

Modern portable devices such as smartphones are enhanced by advanced functionalities and may therefore soon become both the preferred portable computing device (thereby substituting laptops)and the personal trusted device. They are also increasingly used to access to online cloud services, including those particularly sensitive which require high security. This paper introduces an original and strong authentication method for mobiles. It involves a two factor scheme enhanced through network channels and devices diversity. Our solution combines an OTP-based approach using an IoT object as secondary device in addition to the smartphone. The diversity of the network's channels rests on the use of one of the LPWAN networks together with LTE or WIFI networks. Authentication factors are therefore transmitted over different channels through different devices thus greatly reducing the attack surface. The proposal is also enhanced by end-to-end encryption of the transferred sensitive contents. The link with the authorization issues is analyzed and the integration of our approach to OpenID Connect/OAuth 2.0 is investigated. A platform that implements this scheme has been developed, tested and evaluated under different attack scenarios.