MPhil in Mechanical Engineering Scholarship Available

Posted date:

Project Title:
A non-convex optimization approach to fault-tolerant robust control for manufacturing plants

 Project description:
This research project addresses fundamental issues of control systems where actuator and sensor faults and failures may occur, concurrently with normal, expected, operational perturbations. One approach to deal with this condition is based on a fault-tolerant control technique which can robustly cope with actuator and sensor malfunctions, time delays, and perturbations. When the actuators and sensors fail to function properly, they may lead catastrophic events and enormous losses in the absence of fault-tolerant control mechanisms.

 In this research project, novel fault-tolerant control methods based on robust control theory will be investigated. These methods will be useful to synthesize stabilizing robust controllers in order to guarantee closed-loop stability and performance in normal and faulty situations. They will become systematic frameworks for designing fault-tolerant robust controllers for manufacturing plants represented as non-decentralized and decentralized control systems. Moreover, numerical algorithms will also be derived based on evolutionary and/or non-evolutionary non-convex optimization methods. The efficacy of the fault-tolerant control methods and the numerical algorithms will be demonstrated through an experiment on a distillation column and by solving the fault-tolerant control problems as non-convex constrained optimization problems, respectively.

Conditions:
This scholarship will cover tuition fee and monthly stipend. This vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been appointed.

 Requirements:
A suitable candidate should have:

  1. A bachelor degree in one of these disciplines: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering.
  2. Good and strong background in systems and control theory, engineering mathematics and programming (MATLAB/SIMULINK). Experience in conducting experiments is beneficial.
  3. Good English (e.g. IELTS 6.5) and academic writing skills.

 Please e-mail the following information (in PDF format) to Dr. Hendra G. Harno (h.g.harno@curtin.edu.my):

  1. A current curriculum vitae, academic transcripts, and;
  2. A one page statement summarizing your research and career interests;
  3. One copy of publications (if applicable);
  4. Contact information of 2 or 3 references who are in a position to assess your research potential.

 For further information, a potential candidate may contact:

Dr. Hendra G. Harno
Lecturer | Department of Mechanical Engineering | School of Engineering and Science
Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia
Tel | +60 85 443 939 Ext. 3825 (GMT +8)
Fax | +60 85 443 837
Email | h.g.harno@curtin.edu.my
Web | www.curtin.edu.my