Jun.-Prof. Dr. Steffi Knorn

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Steffi Knorn

Institut für Automatisierungstechnik (IFAT)
Department of Autonomous Systems in Automation
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Projects

Completed projects

FACE-IT: Fostering Awarenness on program Contents in higher Education using IT tools
Duration: 01.09.2019 bis 31.08.2022

Fostering high-quality Higher Education (HE) requires strengthened quality assurance in the design, implementation, execution and evaluation of HE programs (HEPs). This quality assurance process involves multiple stakeholders with different perspectives and conceptualizations:
- PROGRAM BOARDS plan and design curricula mostly in terms of ILOs, PLOs and TLAs

- ADMINISTRATORS evaluate programs and communicate with other stakeholders
- TEACHERS develop, revise and implement courses, mostly based on the taught procedures and concepts (PCs)
- STUDENTS are naturally inclined to see course and program contents through PCs.

Unfortunately, the efficacy of quality assuring HE is currently limited by the heterogeneity of the tools and conceptualizations of the stakeholders. To improve this, we identify the need for tools that: 1) aid executing the HE quality assurance processes; 2) support decision makers in maintaining HEPs; 3) clarify the relations between ILOs, PLOs, and TLAs to all stakeholders; 4) promote awareness about program contents and their relations; 5) establish a common language among stakeholders.

Our main objective is to develop tools that solve these needs, improve the quality of education and increase the employability of our candidates by helping:
- students to understand how the contents of different courses connect and expand on each other - teachers and program boards to improve their awareness of how course contents flow within the program and contribute to the PLOs

- administrators to inspect and assess program quality
- all stakeholders to establish a common language to ease their communication.
To achieve our goals we involve participants from STEM faculties from different backgrounds, geographic areas, and academic cultures.

The consortium includes:
- NTNU, hosting several educational centers whose scope and expertise overlap with the intentions of the Face-IT project, has considerable expertise in the development and quality assurance of HEPs, and hosts Norway's largest academic environment within teacher education and educational research at the Department of Teacher Education;

- Uppsala University (UU), renown for its excellence in research and teaching and its long lasting traditions, with broad research and development activities in pedagogy, teaching, and related topics;

- University of Padova, with broad expertise in innovative teaching and learning in the framework of active learning, in the development and creation of MOOCs, and with a constant strive for improving teaching and learning, involving students’ voices and promoting change at different levels.

- Otto-von-Guericke University, with a broad expertise in fostering multi-cultural, multi-gender and disparate student audiences in its teaching, and with multi-disciplinary programs that combine several aspects of modern knowledge;

- the Universite´ Libre de Bruxelles, with its peculiarity of offering several interfaculty programs shared with other HE realities, such as the Solvay Business School, and a wide range of multi-disciplinary projects.

Towards our goals, we plan to introduce a language that enables teachers and students to describe program contents in the intuitive terms of PCs and investigate how to connect them to the associated PLOs, ILOs, and TLAs. This language will enable representing the students’ learning process as flows of PCs, that will capture graphically how course contents are expected to ladder in time, and thus represent entire programs in an alternative and quantitatively analysable fashion.

The developed methods will be implemented in easily usable and interpretable IT tools that provide actionable information and decision-making support to each stakeholder. The tools will be tested on several course- and program-wide field tests. All results will be disseminated through two multiplier events at NTNU and UU, and through scientific open access publications and a dedicated project website.

The project will thus produce intellectual outputs including methods to: derive ontological descriptions of PCs in HEPs; merge PCs with TLAs, ILOs, and PLOs into knowledge flow graphs; represent and analyse courses and programs in terms of these flows graphs. These outputs will thus support defining program contents in a way that every stakeholder can relate to, promoting thus acceptance and usage.

This project will revolutionize how to develop, assess and manage HEPs and courses by empowering and engaging the stakeholders with a particular attention to students and teachers: students will indeed be more aware of why they study what they study, enabling them to perform self- assessment on their knowledge in relation to upcoming courses. Teachers will be supported in implementing constructive alignment principles and maintain overall program consistency. Our tools will also help executing quality assurance operations, and help universities to share information among them and with society.

View project in the research portal

Robust Scalability of Multi-Agent Systems
Duration: 01.01.2019 bis 31.12.2021

Multi-agent systems (MAS) are implemented in many different areas and forms in many technical applications today and will become even more important in the future. An important body of work has appeared over the years but many key questions have not been addressed so far.

Consider for instance a simple network of agents, where one is affected by a disturbance. Due to the coupling with other agents, the disturbance will travel through the network. This project will consider the question when and how the local errors grow while the disturbance propagates through the system. We will also develop suitable control algorithms, that can be implemented at the individual agents, to ensure that disturbances are attenuated and that the error signals are bounded independently of the size and the structure of the network. Whether and how this can be achieved will depend on the dynamics of the agents as well as the type of coupling and imperfections in the communication between the agents such as noise, delays or dropouts.

This problem is well known in some networks, i.e. in vehicle platoons, where it is called string stability. Hence, we will combine methods proven to be suitable to study string stability, methods suitable for handling of communication imperfections and results derived for general multi-agent systems. Research in this area will contribute to advances in MAS such as consensus and pinning networks, and will enable safe operation of these networks in realistic settings.

View project in the research portal

Knowledge ladders in engeneering curricula
Duration: 01.07.2019 bis 31.12.2020

In this project, we aim to improve the understanding of how the content and connections between courses in a program contribute to the program learning objectives (PLOs).
For this, we will develop methods to understand, describe, analyse and visualise connections between the contents (such as facts, concepts and procedures), teaching and learning activities and course goals of courses and the PLOs, as well as the relation between courses. We anticipate that this will simplify communication between students, teachers and the program board and facilitate a valuable tool for quality control.

View project in the research portal

Hands-on control experiences in high-school: captivating students through balancing robots
Duration: 01.04.2019 bis 31.12.2019

The proposal seeks to develop lab instructions suitable for high school students to conduct a lab project with one of selected balancing robot platforms in order to learn and being exposed to basic control principles in a practical and engaging setting. This is expected to increase interest in control engineering and engineering in general and hence motivate more students to pursue a career in engineering

View project in the research portal

CAMPUS: Changes in Ambition, Motivation and Performance in University Students
Duration: 01.05.2019 bis 31.07.2019

The project aims to investigate how ambitions, motivations, perception and performance differs between university students of different gender, age, background, study program and how they change over time. For this, engineering students of four different programs, namely Engineering physics, Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering BSc and MSc, are studied by means of questionnaires, personal interviews and statistical analysis during their first three years of studies. The findings are expected to shed light on questions such as whether significant differences between the student cohorts exist, for which different stereotypes exist, whether teaching styles and study experience at the university lead to different developments and whether performance and motivation of students can be predicted and improved in order to reduce study times and drop-out rates.

View project in the research portal

PAIGE: Pelvic floor activation through gamified exercising
Duration: 01.07.2018 bis 30.06.2019

Ageing, pregnancies and childbirth cause pelvic floor muscle dysfunctions, that lead to a significant number of women suffering from urinary incontinence (in mild cases) up to uterine prolapses (in the extreme cases). Exercising the pelvic floor muscles (a.k.a. Kegel exercises) would effectively prevent and treat the problem, but many women do not do them because of a combination of poor education, lack of fun, and cultural inhibitions. To change this situation we will exploit a wearable and wirelessly connectable vaginal pressure sensor developed in New Zealand, and create a game that transforms performing Kegel exercises into an engaging and compelling experience. The game will thus include both dedicated gamification mechanisms and medical-oriented user feedback schemes for increasing the intrinsic motivations of the users. Hence, our system will encourage women to maintain proper exercising levels for long-term benefits, and indirectly help society overcome cultural inhibitions by exposition to these topics.

View project in the research portal

Smart water networks - Monitoring of drinking water networks through advanced data analysis
Duration: 01.07.2018 bis 30.06.2019

Significant amounts of drinking water are lost due to leaks caused by broken pipes. The time required until pipes and other broken parts are repaired or replaced depends largely on the time needed to detect the fault and to find the location of the leak. This is partly due to the fact that the data is often processed manually using simple methods.

This project aims to reduce the time required to detect and locate faults in the drinking water network. Advanced data analysis is used to develop algorithms for processing data and finding trends that indicate leakage. This enables more automated monitoring of the drinking water network which will reduce the amount of drinking water lost due to leakage.

View project in the research portal

Adaptation of examination form and grading to complexity and ambition level
Duration: 01.01.2018 bis 31.12.2018

The main purpose is to develop effective teaching and examination forms suitable for the prerequisites and ambitions of individual students, as well as clarify the course objectives and its examination for the student. This should lead to a better understanding of the course's conceptual contribution to the engineering role, as well as a more developed self-insight for the student as they plan their studies. The categorization of the learning objectives is based on Bloom's revised taxonomy and teaching methods and the examination is designed according to the complexity of the learning objectives. The knowledge goals are hereby more clearly defined for the different grades, which makes it easier for the students who are satisfied with a simple pass grade as well as students aiming for higher grades.

The project will develop a model for how the teaching can be divided into a necessary part in order to pass the course and the pieces that are desirable but not necessary for passing and thereby qualify for receiving a higher grade, and link exam forms to the various parts. Since students from several different engineering programs will be tested, the project will provide a broad knowledge of how different concepts, teaching methods / layouts and its examination interact for students from different programs, which may differ significantly in their mathematical background.

View project in the research portal

CITE: Developing a Concept Inventory Tool for Engineering
Duration: 01.07.2017 bis 31.12.2018

The project aims to develop a concept inventory that assesses the acquisition of important concepts and program goals of the Electrical Engineering program. The consistent use of such a test would provide students with feedback on where there are on their learning path in relation to the wider context of their program; teachers with a way of monitoring the students’ progression towards reaching specific program goals and a possibility to adapt teaching; and the program board with an effective tool for evaluating course content and the structure of the program in relation to the program goals.

View project in the research portal

Advancing System Integration in Process Industry: Sensor Data Gathering, Wireless Networking, and Supervisory Control
Duration: 01.07.2015 bis 30.06.2018

The project idea is to enable completely new possibilities for integrating novel monitoring, maintenance, reconfiguration, and supervision functionalities for wireless control solutions in the process industry. The potential of the project is immense in that it is likely to produce world class research of significant industrial value, which will provide superior and highly innovative wireless automation solutions built on new data gathering and sensor communication technologies, improved protocol- and routing schemes, fault-tolerant supervisory control and reconfigurations and effective and efficient system integration. The team behind the project, who has collaborated closely previously, consists of the Signals and Sytems Group at UU, headed by Prof Anders Ahle´n, the Network Control Group at KTH headed by Prof Karl Henrik Johansson, the Control and Communications groups at ABB Corporate Research, represented by Global Research Area Managers Alf Isaksson and Stefan Svensson, and Holmen Iggesund represented by Automation Engineer Thomas Lindh. Some of the research ideas behind this project were developed by the team in the VINNOVA WiComPI-project and are now ready to be taken closer to commercialization.

View project in the research portal

Publications

2020

Book chapter

Using different taxonomies to formulate learning outcomes to innovate engineering curriculum towards pbl: Perspectives from engineering educators

Staffas, Kjell; Knorn, Steffi; Carvalho Guerra, Aida Olivia Pereira; Varagnolo, Damiano; Teixeira, André

In: Educate for the future - Aalborg : Aalborg University Press ; Guerra, Aida . - 2020, S. 310-320

2019

Book chapter

Courses-concepts-graphs as a tool to measure the importance of concepts in university programmes

Fjällström, Eva; Forsberg, Christoffer; Trulsson, Felix; Knorn, Steffi; Staffas, Kjell; Varagnolo, Damiano; Wrigstad, Tobias

In: 2019 18th European Control Conference (ECC)/ European Control Conference - [Piscataway, NJ]: IEEE; Garofalo, Franco, S. 3076-3083[Konferenz: 18th European Control Conference, ECC, Naples, Italy, 25-28 June 2019]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Effects of jamming attacks on a control system with energy harvesting

Knorn, Steffi; Teixeira, André

In: IEEE control systems letters - New York, NY: IEEE, 2017, Bd. 3.2019, 4, S. 829-834

Peer-reviewed journal article

Quantitative analysis of curricula coherence using directed graphs

Knorn, Steffi; Varagnolo, Damiano; Staffas, Kjell; Wrigstad, Tobias; Fjällström, Eva

In: IFAC-PapersOnLine - Frankfurt: Elsevier, Bd. 52.2019, 9, S. 318-323[Symposium: 12th IFAC Symposium on Advances in Control Education ACE 2019, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 7-9 July 2019]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Optimal energy allocation in multisensor estimation over wireless channels using energy harvesting and sharing

Knorn, Steffi; Dey, Subhrakanti; Ahlén, Anders; Quevedo, Daniel E.

In: IEEE transactions on automatic control - New York, NY: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Bd. 64.2019, 10, S. 4337-4344

Peer-reviewed journal article

The effect of uniform quantization on parameter estimation of compound distributions

Seifullaev, Ruslan; Knorn, Steffi; Ahlén, Anders

In: IEEE control systems letters - New York, NY: IEEE, Bd. 3.2019, 4, S. 1032-1037

Peer-reviewed journal article

Data-driven models of pelvic floor muscles dynamics subject to psychological and physiological stimuli

Knorn, Steffi; Varagnolo, Damiano; Melles, Reinhilde; Dewitte, Marieke

In: IFAC journal of systems and control - Amsterdam: Elsevier Ltd., Volume 8 (2019), Artikel 100044

2018

Abstract

Towards the individualization of vaginal dilatation exercises - a quantitative analysis of the variability of vaginal pressure responses

Varagnolo, D.; Knorn, Steffi; Chiva, E. O.; Melles, R. J.; Dewitte, M.

In: The journal of sexual medicine - [London]: Elsevier, 2004, Volume 15 (2018), Issue 7, Supplement 3, Seite S303[Meeting: 21st World Meeting on Sexual Medicine, Lisbon, Portugal, 28 February-3 March 2018]

Book chapter

Developing concept inventory tests for electrical engineering - extractable information, early results, and learned lessons

Fjällström, Eva; Knorn, Steffi; Staffas, Kjell; Varagnolo, Damiano

In: 2018 UKACC 12th International Conference on Control (CONTROL) - [Piscataway, NJ]: IEEE, 2018; UKACC International Conference on Control (12.:2018) . - 2018, S. 436-441[Konferenz: UKACC 12th International Conference on Control (CONTROL), Sheffield, UK, 5-7 September 2018]

Book chapter

Optimal energy allocation in energy harvesting and sharing wireless sensor networks

Knorn, Steffi; Quevedo, Daniel E.

In: Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Networks - München: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2018 . - 2018, S. 269-286

Book chapter

Quantized non-bayesian quickest change detection with energy harvesting

Biswas, Sinchan; Knorn, Steffi; Dey, Subhrakanti; Ahlen, Anders

In: 2018 IEEE Globecom workshops (GC wkshps) - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2018 . - 2018[Workshop: 2018 IEEE Globecom Workshops, GC Wkshps, Abu Dhabi, 9-13 December 2018]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Data-driven modelling of subjective pain/pleasure assessments as responses to vaginal dilation stimuli

Varagnolo, Damiano; Knorn, Steffi; Oliver-Chiva, Ernesto; Melles, Reinhile; Dewitte, Marieke

In: IEEE control systems letters - New York, NY: IEEE, 2017, Bd. 2.2018, 3, S. 423-428[Konferenz: 57th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, FL, USA, December 17-19, 2018]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Data-driven modelling of pelvic floor muscles dynamics

Knorn, Steffi; Varagnolo, Damiano; Oliver-Chiva, Ernesto; Melles, Reinhilde; Dewitte, Marieke

In: IFAC-PapersOnLine - Frankfurt: Elsevier, 2015, Bd. 51.2018, 27, S. 321-326[Symposium: 10th IFAC Symposium on Biological and Medical Systems BMS 2018, São Paulo, Brazil, 3-5 September 2018]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Scalable input-to-state stability for performance analysis of large-scale networks

Besselink, Bart; Knorn, Steffi

In: IEEE control systems letters - New York, NY: IEEE, 2017, Bd. 2.2018, 3, S. 507-512[Konferenz: 57th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, FL, USA, December 17-19, 2018]

2017

Peer-reviewed journal article

Qualitative modeling of pressure vs. pain relations in women suffering from dyspareunia

Varagnolo, Damiano; Knorn, Steffi; Melles, Reinhilde; Dewitte, Marieke

In: IFAC-PapersOnLine - Frankfurt: Elsevier, Bd. 50.2017, 1, S. 2043-2050[Kongress: 20th IFAC World Congress, Toulouse, France, 9-14 July 2017]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Optimal energy allocation for linear control with packet loss under energy harvesting constraints

Knorn, Steffi; Dey, Subhrakanti

In: Automatica - Amsterdam [u.a.]: Elsevier, Pergamon Press, Bd. 77.2017, S. 259-267

Peer-reviewed journal article

Decentralized control for l 2 weak string stability of vehicle platoon

Ferguson, Joel; Donaire, Alejandro; Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: IFAC-PapersOnLine - Frankfurt: Elsevier, Bd. 50.2017, 1, S. 15012-15027[Kongress: 20th IFAC World Congress, Toulouse, France, 9-14 July 2017]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Mathematical modelling of pressure versus pain relations in women suffering from dyspareunia

Knorn, Steffi; Varagnolo, Damiano; Melles, Reinhile; Dewitte, Marieke

In: The journal of sexual medicine - [London] : Elsevier - volume 14 (2017), issue 5, supplement 4, page e335

Peer-reviewed journal article

Disturbance scaling in bidirectional vehicle platoons with different asymmetry in position and velocity coupling

Herman, Ivo; Knorn, Steffi; Ahlén, Anders

In: Automatica - Amsterdam [u.a.]: Elsevier, Pergamon Press, Bd. 82.2017, S. 13-20

2016

Peer-reviewed journal article

Deviation bounds in multi agent systems described by undirected graphs

Knorn, Steffi; Ahlén, Anders

In: Automatica - Amsterdam [u.a.]: Elsevier, Pergamon Press, 1963, Bd. 67.2016, S. 205-210

Peer-reviewed journal article

Overview: collective control of multiagent systems

Knorn, Steffi; Chen, Zhiyoung; Middleton, Richard H.

In: IEEE transactions on control of network systems - New York, NY: IEEE, 2014, Bd. 3.2016, 4, S. 334-347

Peer-reviewed journal article

Asymptotic and exponential stability of nonlinear two-dimensional continuousdiscrete Roesser models

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: Systems & control letters - Amsterdam [u.a.]: Elsevier, 1981, Bd. 93.2016, S. 35-42

2015

Book chapter

Optimal sensor transmission energy allocation for linear control over a packet dropping link with energy harvesting

Knorn, Steffi; Dey, Subhrakanti

In: 2015 54th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) - [Piscataway, NJ]: IEEE, 2015; IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (54.:2015) . - 2016, S. 1199-1204[Kongress: 54rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Osaka, Japan, 15-18.12, 2015]

Book chapter

Multi-sensor estimation using energy harvesting and energy sharing

Knorn, Steffi; Dey, Subhrakanti; Ahlén, Anders; Quevedo, Daniel E.

In: 2015 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2015 . - 2015, S. 4229-4234[Konferenz: 2015 IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC, London, UK, 8-12 June 2015]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Optimal energy allocation for linear control over a packet-dropping link with energy harvesting constraints

Knorn, Steffi; Dey, Subhrakanti

In: IFAC-PapersOnLine - Frankfurt: Elsevier, 2015, Bd. 48.2015, 23, S. 428-433[Kongress: 5th IFAC Conference on Nonlinear Model Predictive Control NMPC 2015, Seville, Spain, 17-20 September 2015]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Scalability of bidirectional vehicle strings with static and dynamic measurement errors

Knorn, Steffi; Donaire, Alejandro; Agüero, Juan C.; Middleton, Richard H.

In: Automatica - Amsterdam [u.a.]: Elsevier, Pergamon Press, 1963, Bd. 62.2015, S. 208-212

Peer-reviewed journal article

Distortion minimization in multi-sensor estimation using energy harvesting and energy sharing

Knorn, Steffi; Dey, Subhrakanti; Ahlén, Anders; Quevedo, Daniel E.

In: IEEE transactions on signal processing - New York, NY: IEEE, 1963, Bd. 63.2015, 11, S. 2848-2863

2014

Book chapter

Lymph compartment models and HIV intra patient infection dynamics

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: IEEE Conference on Control Applications (CCA), 2014 - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2014 . - 2014, S. 1699-1704[Konferenz: IEEE Conference on Control Applications, CCA, Juan Les Antibes, France, 8-10 October 2014]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Scalability of bidirectional vehicle strings with measurement errors

Knorn, Steffi; Donaire, Alejandro; Agüero, Juan C.; Middleton, Richard H.

In: IFAC Proceedings Volumes - Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2019, Bd. 47.2014, 3, S. 9171-9176[Kongress: 19th IFAC World Congress, Cape Town, South Africa, 24-29 August 2014]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Passivity-based control for multi-vehicle systems subject to string constraints

Knorn, Steffi; Donaire, Alejandro; Agüero, Juan C.; Middleton, Richard H.

In: Automatica - Amsterdam [u.a.]: Elsevier, Pergamon Press, 1963, Bd. 50.2014, 12, S. 3224-3230

2013

Book chapter

String stability analysis of a vehicle platoon with communication range 2 using the two-dimensional induced operator norm

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richerd H.

In: European Control Conference (ECC), 2013 - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2013 . - 2013, S. 3354-3359[Konferenz: 2013 European Control Conference, ECC, Zurich, Switzerland, 17-19 July 2013]

Book chapter

Energy-based control of bidirectional vehicle strings

Knorn, Steffi; Donaire, Alejandro; Agüero, Juan C.; Middleton, Richard H.

In: 2013 3rd Australian Control Conference (AUCC) - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2013 . - 2013, S. 251-256[Konferenz: 2013 Australian Control Conference, AUCC, Fremantle, WA, Australia, 4-5 November 2013]

Book chapter

Two-dimensional analysis of string stability of nonlinear vehicle strings

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: 2013 IEEE 52nd Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2013 . - 2013, S. 5864-5869[Konferenz: 52nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, CDC, Florence, Italy, 10-13 December 2013]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Stability of two-dimensional linear systems with singularities on the stability boundary using LMIs

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: IEEE transactions on automatic control - New York, NY: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Bd. 58.2013, 10, S. 2579-2590

2012

Book chapter

Two-dimensional frequency domain analysis of string stability

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: 2012 2nd Australian Control Conference (AUCC) - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2012 . - 2012, S. 301-306[Konferenz: 2012 2nd Australian Control Conference, CDC, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 15-16 Nov. 2012]

Book chapter

Asymptotic stability of two-dimensional continuous Roesser models with singularities at the stability boundary

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: IEEE 51st Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2012 - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2012 . - 2012, S. 7787-7792[Konferenz: 2012 IEEE 51st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, CDC, Maui, HI, USA, 10-13 December 2012]

2009

Book chapter

A quadratic stability result for singular switched systems with application to anti-windup control

Shorten, R.; Corless, M.; Middleton, R.; Knorn, Steffi; Wulff, K.

In: American Control Conference, 2009 - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2009 . - 2009, S. 1917-1922[Konferenz: 2009 American Control Conference, ACC, St. Louis, MO, USA, 10-12 June 2009]

Book chapter

String stability analysis of homogeneous linear unidirectionally connected systems with nonzero initial conditions

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: IET Irish Signals and Systems Conference 2009 - Stevenage, U.K: Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009; IET Irish Signals and Systems Conference . - 2009, insges. 6 S.[Konferenz: IET Irish Signals and Systems Conference, ISSC 2009, Dublin, Ireland, 10-11 June 2009]

Book chapter

Time headway requirements for string stability of homogeneous linear unidirectionally connected systems

Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard H.

In: Proceedings of the 48th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2009 - Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2009 . - 2009, S. 1992-1997[Konferenz: 48th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) held jointly with 2009 28th Chinese Control Conference, CDC, Shanghai, China, 15-18 December 2009]

Peer-reviewed journal article

Quadratic stability and singular SISO switching systems

Shorten, Robert; Corless, Martin; Wulff, Kai; Knorn, Steffi; Middleton, Richard

In: IEEE transactions on automatic control / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - New York, NY : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Bd. 54 (2009), Heft 11, S. 2714-2718

2008

Book chapter

Template design and automatic generation of controllers for industrial robots

Grigorov, Lenko; Rudie, Karen; Cury, José E. R.; Knorn, Steffi

In: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM symposium on Applied computing - New York, NY: ACM, 2008; Wainwright, Roger L. . - 2008[Symposium: 2008 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, SAC'08, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil, March 16-20, 2008]

Cooperations
  • ABB Corporate Research, Väseräs
  • Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland
  • Departments of Behavioural Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Center
  • Holmen Iggesund Paper mill, Iggesund
  • Hunter Valley Grammar School
  • Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (KTH), Stockholm
  • Luleá University of Technology
  • Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg
  • Pedagogy and Didactics Research at Faculty of Science and Technology, Uppsala University
  • Technisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Universität Norwegens
  • Themistoklis Charalambous, Aalto University
  • Université Libre de Bruxelles
  • University of Padova
  • Uppsala University
  • Uppsala Vatten och Avfall AB
Profile
Der Fachbereich Autonome Systeme in der Automatisierung beschäftigt sich mit verschiedenen Themen und Fragestellungen aus dem Bereich der Automatisierungstechnik sowie aus benachbarten Bereichen wie Regelungstechnik, Kommunikationstechnik und Medizintechnik.
 
Industrie 4.0 und Cyber-physische Systeme
Im Zuge der vierten industriellen Revolution werden sich die Methoden und Herangehensweisen in der Industrie grundlegend ändern. Die Verbindung von physischen Systemen wie zum Beispiel Produktionsanlagen in der Verfahrenstechnik und cyber-Systemen wie Kommunikationsnetzwerke zum Austausch von Informationen bilden sogenannte Cyber-physische Systeme.
 
So, werden zum Beispiel mehr und mehr Informationen drahtlos übertragen, was die Anpassung und Erweiterung der bestehenden Automatisierungssysteme notwendig macht. Gleichzeitig stehen durch die Verwendung von zusätzlichen Sensoren und der Vernetzung von Systemen eine Fülle von Daten zur Verfügung, die zur Verbesserung der Sicherheit und Effektivität in den Anlagen verwendet werden können.
 
Wir beschäftigen uns dabei speziell mit drahtlosen Sensoren und energy harvesting in der Prozess- und Verfahrenstechnik und bauen dazu ein Labor auf. Im Lab4.0 sollen Ideen, die später in der Industrie 4.0 umgesetzt werden, entwickelt, getestet und verfeinert werden. Dazu fließen sowohl theoretisches Wissen als auch Messungen und Ergebnisse von Experimenten und praktischen Arbeiten ein.

Skalierbarkeit von Multi-Agent-Systemen
Multi-Agent-Systeme werden heute in vielen Bereichen und Formen in vielen technischen Anwendungen eingesetzt und werden in Zukunft noch wichtiger. Oft entstehen sie durch die Vernetzung von verschiedenen technischen Systemen.
 
Dabei ist es wichtig, dass das entstandene Multi-Agent-System skalierbar ist. Das heißt, dass es die erforderten Aufgaben und wichtige Mindestanforderungen erfüllt, obwohl die Größe und / oder die Struktur des Systems sich zum Teil grundlegend ändern.
 
Ein wichtiges Problem bei Multi-Agent-Systemen ist, dass Störungen oder Fehler, die in einem Teil des Systems auftreten, sich nicht ausbreiten dürfen oder die Auswirkungen auf andere Systemteile so klein wie möglich gehalten werden muss.
 
Wir untersuchen in unserer Arbeit die Frage, welche Folgen lokale Fehler auf das gesamte System haben und ob sich Störungen durch das System ausbreiten. 
Dieses Problem ist in einigen Netzwerken wie zum Beispiel in Fahrzeugkolonnen, wo es als Stringstabilität bezeichnet wird, gut bekannt. In unserer Arbeit beschäftigen wir uns im weitesten Sinne mit der Erweiterung dieses Konzeptes auf allgemeine Netzwerke und Multi-Agent-Systeme.

Medizintechnische Anwendungen
Konzepte aus den Bereichen Automatisierung, Regelungstechnik und Systemidentifikation können nicht nur zur Beschreibung und Regelung technischer Systeme herangezogen werden, sondern sind häufig auch in verschiedenen Bereichen wie Wirtschaft, Biologie und Medizin von Nutzen.
 
Ein Thema, das in der medizinischen Literatur im Wesentlichen vernachlässigt wurde, ist die sexuelle Gesundheit von Frauen, zu der verschiedene Zustände gehören, die zu Dyspareunie führen, d. H. Schmerzen beim vaginalen, penetrativen Geschlechtsverkehr. Ein weiteres bekanntes Problem sind schwache oder geschädigte Beckenbodenmuskeln.
 
In unserer Arbeit erarbeiten wir Modelle um diese Effekte mathematisch, quantitativ und dynamisch zu beschreiben und simulieren zu können. So haben wir zum Beispiel Modelle entwickelt, welche die wichtigsten Aspekte der Dyspareunie berücksichtigt.
 
In einer weiteren Studie programmierten wir eine Spiele-App, die durch das Anspannen der Beckenbodenmuskulatur gesteuert wird. Die Muskelaktivität wird mit Hilfe eines Vaginaldrucksensor gemessen. Durch das Spielen wird die Beckenbodenmuskulatur gestärkt, was bekanntermaßen verschiedene gesundheitliche Probleme wie Inkontinenz verhindern oder beheben können.
 
Bei dieser Arbeit ist das Verschmelzen von Theorie und Praxis besonders gut zu erleben. So werden zum Beispiel Messdaten von klinischen Studien und Experimenten ausgewertet um Modelle zu erstellen und Abzuleiten, wie technische Systeme entworfen werden müssen um die gewünschten positiven Effekte zu erzielen.
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Vita
seit 08/19
Juniorprofessur Fachgebiet Autonome Systeme in der Automatisierung
Fakultät für Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik, Institut für Automatisierungstechnik (IFAT)
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

02/2016 - 07/2019
Assistenzprofessorin, Uppsala University Schweden
Forschungsgebiete:
  • optimale Regelung uner Energiebeschränkung
  • Energy Harvesting
  • drahtlose Energieübertragung
  • drahtlose Kommunikation
  • Skalierbarkeit und Stabilität von vernetzten Systemen

Lehre:
  • Embedded Signal Processing Systems (1TE682), 50 Studierende, 5. Semester)
  • Signals and Systems (1TE661, 50+100 Studierende, 5. Semester)

02/2014 - 01/2016
Postdoktorandin, Uppsala University, Schweden

Forschungsgebiete:
  • optimale Regelung unter Energiebeschränkung
  • Energy Harvesting
  • drahtlose Energieübertragung
  • drahtlose Kommunikation
  • Skalierbarkeit und Stabilität von vernetzten Systemen

Lehre:
  • Embedded Signal Processing Systems (1TE682, 50 Studierende, 5. Semester)

01/2013 - 01/2014
Postdoktorandin, The University of Newcastle, Australien

Forschungsgebiete:
  • regelungstechnische Anwendungen
  • lineare und nichtlineare zweidimensionale Systeme
  • Skalierbarkeit und Stabilität von port-Hamiltonischen Systemen

Lehre:
  • Entwicklung von Material für umgedrehtes Lernen und Übungsleitung für Electrical Engineering I (ELEC1300, 250 Studenten, 2. Semester)
  • Übungsleitung für Advanced Control System Design (ELEC4410, 50 Studierende, 8. Semester)

11-2008 - 01/2013
Ph.D. Hamilton Institute, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Irland
Betreuer: Prof. Richard H. Middleton, Nebenbetreuer: Prof. Robert N. Shorten
Titel: "A Two-Dimensional Systems Stability Analysis of Vehicle Platoons"

04/2013 - 08/2013
Dozentin, The University of Newcastle, Australien

Lehre:
  • Signal Processing (ELEC3400, 40 Studierende, 5. Semester)

10/2008 - 12/2012
Doktorandin, Hamilton Institute, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Irland

Forschungsgebiete:
  • Stabilität von linearen und nichtlinearen zweidimensionalen Systemen
  • Stringstabilität von Fahrzeugkolonnen

Gastdoktorandin an The University of Newcastle, Australien im Zeitraum 02-2012

03/2011 - 12/2011
Freiberufliche Tätigkeit, Maynooth, Irland
Entwicklung, Datenakquise und Programmierung der "Maynooth App"
Verkauft an die National University of Ireland Maynooth

10/2003 - 09/2008
Studium Elektrotechnik - Studienrichtung Systemtechnik und Technische Kybernetik, Fakultät für Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
Diplomarbeit, Gesamtnote: mit Auszeichnung (1,0)

04/2008 - 09/2008
Gaststudentin, Hamilton Institute, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland
Anfertigung der Diplomarbeit "Stability issues in Distributed Systems of Vehicle Platoons

10/2007 - 02/2008
Praktikantin, Forschung und Entwicklung, Daimler AG, Böblingen
Entwicklung, Implementierung und Evaluierung von verschiedenen Beobachterentwürfen zum Detektieren des Rollwinkels

03/2007 - 09/2007
Gaststudentin, Department of Aujtomation and Systems, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianòpolis, Brasilien
Anfertigung der Studienarbeit: Supervisory Control of a Manufacturing Cell: Modeling and Implementation.

10/2004 - 02/2007
HiWi, Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik komplexer technischer Systeme, Magdeburg, Germany
Simulation von biologischen Systemen in Matlab

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