Title: Control of a small Underwater Vehicle Manipulator System - a highly automated Pick and Place Experiment (#685)
Session name: Remotely Operated Vehicles
Date / Time: 16.04.2024 - 15:30 - 17:30
Location: Marina Bay Sands Level 4, Roselle 4612
Presenting Author: Sven Lack

Title: Predictive Disturbance Rejection Method to Control Vessels in Presence of Currents and Wind (#578)
Session name: Vehicle Navigation
Date / Time: 17.04.2024 - 10:50 - 12:30
Location: Marina Bay Sands Level 4, Roselle 4612
Presenting Author: Johannes Marx

Title: Generalized Approach for Modeling and Control of Structurally Variable Underwater Vehicles (#568)
Session name: Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
Date / Time: 18.04.2024 - 10:50 - 12:30
Location: Marina Bay Sands Level 4, Roselle 4611
Presenting Author: Martin Kurowski

Title: Comparison of Performance in Assisted and Automatic Berthing Maneuvers with the Research Vessel DENEB (#313)
Session name: Vehicle Performance
Date / Time: 18.04.2024 - 15:50 - 17:30
Location: Marina Bay Sands Level 4, Roselle 4611
Presenting Author: Agnes Schubert

Title: Guidance, Navigation and Control of Couplable Unmanned Surface Vehicles (#314)
Session name: SST-6: Navigation and Situational Awareness for Autonomous Ships; SST-03: Ballast Water Management and Hull Cleaning Regulations
Date / Time: 17.04.2024 - 15:50 - 17:30
Location: Marina Bay Sands Level 4, Simpor 4812
Presenting Author: Robert Damerius

The Denny Medal for the publication of the best article in the Journal of Marine Engineering & Technology (Taylor & Francis Group) goes to Rostock Warnemünde this year. The authors of the article "Consumption-reduced manual and automatic manoeuvring with conventional vessels" from the Institute of Automation Technology at the University of Rostock and the Department of Maritime Engineering at Wismar University of Applied Sciences published results from the joint research project GALILEOnautic and GALILEOnautic 2.

This award is presented annually for the best paper published in each of the technical journals of IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology, England & Wales). The article received the award both for its originality of content as an account of recent and pioneering developments in the maritime industry and for its technically accurate quality.

The article examines how fuel consumption can be reduced when manoeuvring ships. The focus is on conventional ships, which are equipped with conventional propulsion technology and currently make up the majority of the global fleet. The developments focus on supporting the officers in manoeuvring the ship. Assistance systems are used to find the best possible strategy for carrying out a manoeuvre from A to B efficiently and safely under the current weather conditions. The measured values of all ship processes, which are also displayed on the bridge, are taken into account. As with a navigation system for cars, the skipper can follow the completed plan with manual steering or the manoeuvre is executed automatically by the captain switching to the automation system, which then guides the ship. In the assistance system, the officer on watch can monitor whether the plan is being adhered to. The approach takes account of the growing shortage of skilled workers in the maritime sector on the one hand and the need to reduce energy consumption and emissions, particularly when manoeuvring close to the coast and in port, on the other.

The award-winning publication is the work of the control engineers at the University of Rostock, who developed the automation system, as well as the engineers from the ISSIMS (Institute for Innovative Ship Simulation and Maritime Systems) at Wismar University of Applied Sciences, who used their nautical expertise to design and build the assistance system. Without the close cooperation between the two institutions, this innovative solution for cleaner and forward-looking shipping would not have been possible. The team of scientists also had and still has the opportunity to test and optimise the developments under real conditions. Thankfully, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) and the crew of the 52-metre-long survey, wreck search and research vessel DENEB have made the practical work possible, for which the scientists are very grateful to both the BSH and the crew.

The award will be presented during a gala dinner on 25 April 2024 in London. The keynote speaker will be actor Mark Williams.

Link to the article

Link to IMarEST

Kontakt:
Dr.-Ing. Agnes Schubert
Universität Rostock
Institut für Automatisierungstechnik
Tel.: +49 381 498-7728
agnes.schubert@uni-rostock.de

On 24 January 2024, the students once again had the chance to prove themselves as "captains" on a long voyage as part of the Maritime Systems course.
We went to the MSCW ship handling simulator in Warnemünde, where everyone was able to take the helm of a 200-metre freighter. The course and track regulations for ships used in shipping were also examined and tested in rough seas.
Once again, we would like to thank the MSCW team, especially Cathleen and Holger Korte, for their nautical explanations and the fantastic tour of the simulator.

Once again this year, the Chair of Control Engineering hosted its traditional annual open day at the Application Center.

On Monday, 18.12.2023, several partners and students from all semesters of the Bachelor's and Master's degree courses in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering accepted the invitation.

The autonomous and remote-controlled surface and underwater vehicles, ground effect vehicles, rovers and drones could be viewed and tried out. The laser scanner could be experienced while measuring and the skill on the bicycle with rear wheel steering was put to the test. Technical questions could be asked and insights into the work of the Chair of Control Engineering could be gained.

We are already looking forward to the 2024 open day.

This year, from September 25 to 28, Oceans took place in Biloxi, Mississippi, in the United States of America.  The Oceans conference is aimed at professionals from around the world who want to exchange ideas and take a leadership role in the protection and use of the world's greatest natural resource - our oceans.

Fittingly, our chair was represented by a staff member with connections to the Ocean Technology Campus Rostock, Jonas Pabst.

Jonas Pabst presented a paper entitled "A contribution to the navigation of an underwater glider with passively adapting flapping wings using sensor fusion and a motion model "and was able to learn about current trends in the plenary discussion of the UG2 underwater glider group.  In the exhibition hall, manufacturers and users presented their systems and were available to answer questions about them if needed.

The interdisciplinary approach of Oceans also helped to exchange ideas on use cases as well as opportunities and risks of unmanned underwater vehicles outside of one's own research focus.  In addition to the technical highlights, the visit by NASA astronaut Fred Haise during the gala dinner probably also represented a memorable moment.

At the specialist conference "New Technologies and Test Fields for Waterways and Ports", which took place in Karlsruhe at the beginning of October, Dr.-Ing. Björn Kolewe from the Chair of Control Engineering at the University of Rostock and Leon Tietz from Berliner Hafen- und Lagerhausgesellschaft mbH (BEHALA) presented current research results on maritime technologies in ports and on waterways.

In a joint presentation, the researchers presented the vision "From seaport to doorstep - autonomous goods transport by water" with current results from the ModularShipAssist, DigitalSOW, SensorSOW and DigiLoeWe research projects. On the second day of the conference, the Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport, Dr Volker Wissing, visited the exhibition stand of the ModularShipAssist joint project. Representatives of the project consortium, which includes the company Voith, the Technical University of Hamburg and the University of Rostock, demonstrated initial research results on cooperative control of multi-vehicle systems.

The aim of the conference was to present and discuss results from the funding programmes "Innovative Port Technologies (IHATEC)", "Digital Test Fields Ports (DigiTest)" and "Digital Test Fields Waterways (DTW)", which are supported by the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport, in order to jointly shape the future of waterways and ports.

Oops! … They did it again. A team from the Chair of Control Engineering wins the International Underwater Localization Challenge for the 2nd time.

An international team from Australia and Rostock with Dr. Sarah Jane Pell, Contemporary artist, commercial diver, researcher, and explorer of new worlds, and the PhD students M.Eng. Sven Lack, M.Sc. Johannes Marx, M.Sc. Ian Karez from the Chair of Control Engineering at the University of Rostock won the International Underwater Localization Challenge during the 15th International Interdisciplinary Field Workshop of Maritime Robotics and Applications - Breaking the Surface 2023 in Kumbor, Montenegro.

Congratulations!

In mid-September 2023, one of the three pilot demonstrations of the EU project MOSES took place in Wageningen (NL) with representatives of the international consortium. Agnes Schubert and Robert Damerius from the Chair of Control Engineering were there, following an invitation from Bas de Kruif from MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands). This pilot demo was entitled 'Autonomous Sailing of an Innovative Container Feeder Vessel, making a Roundtrip Between Two Ports'. Autonomous operations with the 1:17 model of the container vessel (model length 4.5 m) were demonstrated in MARIN's largest basin (40 m x 170 m), with swell generated as a disturbance. The round trip on a waypoint route marked with small buoys began with automatic casting off in Dynamic Positioning mode. Afterwards, a speed of 9 kn was built up for the transit, with the sledge, on which the technical equipment is installed and also the spectators were seated, following the model ship. At the end of the track, the ship was automatically docked again. MARIN is equipped with numerous si-mulators and test basins and therefore offers a wide range of possibilities for control engineering tests. The next morning was used for a mainly control-oriented meeting in which the control engineers of MARIN and the representatives of the Chair of Control Engineering exchanged their experiences with maritime automation.

The 31st Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation took place this year in Limassol, Cyprus. From 26 June to 29 June, the conference presented and discussed exciting topics and current research foci in the field of automation and control technology.

The conference offered the international audience of about 200 aspiring scientists* the opportunity for professional exchange and making new contacts. The Chair of Control Engineering was represented there by Sven Lack and Johannes Marx. Both presented the results of their current research:

    Sven Lack, Erik Rentzow, Torsten Jeinsch: "Modelling and Workspace Analysis for an Underwater Manipulator".
    Johannes R. Marx, Robert Damerius, Torsten Jeinsch: "Linearized Model Predictive Control with Offset-Freeness for Trajectory Tracking on Inland Vessels".

Over the past weekend, intensive experimentation and testing took place on the research vessel DENEB. The team from the University of Rostock focused their research on model-based actuator allocation experiments, drift tests, and trials to investigate of the impact of wind in automatic mode.

Starting today, automated transit maneuvers at different speeds and automated berthing maneuvers are on the agenda. The weather, with emerging gusty winds, gives a challenging task for the automation solutions developed by the University of Rostock and the entire crew of DENEB.

We are immensely grateful to the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency and the entire crew of the research vessel DENEB for their exceptional support in facilitating our studies and experiments on board. They greatly assist in realizing the occasional unconventional research ideas of the control engineers on board with their professional expertise.

At this point, I would like to provide a brief preview of the upcoming 22nd International Federation of Automatic Control World Congress 2023 in Yokohama. In the TuC10.3 session titled "Autonomous Underwater and Surface Vehicles," we will present the latest results from the GN2plus research project and the ongoing testing campaign in our paper titled "Assistance-based automation of berthing maneuvers."

The work was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and supported by the DLR Space Administration under the registration number FKZ 50NA2304B.

Two colleagues from our institute participated in OCEANS 2023 - Blue Oceans Planet Earth in Limerick, Ireland with our presentations. Ian Karez presented his results on the use of lidar sensor technology for unmanned vehicles in the maritime sector. Agnes Schubert spoke about the system requirements for automatic manoeuvring of water vehicles from the cross-project experiences of our chair. A special highlight was the results of the automatic mooring manoeuvre with the 52m long research vessel DENEB in cooperation with the BSH in Rostock. The conference is organised by the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society and the Marine Technology Society every year and provides a broad platform to exchange ideas in maritime engineering. Since the chairman of the local organising committee, Daniel Toal, is himself a control engineer, this branch was much more strongly represented than usual. Therefore, we met many national and international project partners. The picture shows the representatives from the University of Rostock and the TU Berlin. Through the audience in our sessions, new connections have been made in the Netherlands and the USA.

Joint Symposium 2023 of the University Medical Center Rostock and the Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

On Friday, 9 June 2023, a joint symposium of the University Medical Center Rostock and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science took place in the Konrad-Zuse-Haus of the Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

The symposium was jointly organised by the Dean of the University Medicine, Prof. Dr. med. univ. Emil C. Reisinger, and the Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Mathias Nowottnick, opened the conference. Two sessions with a total of 18 keynote speeches and three workshops on the topics of digitalisation, technology and automation as well as artificial intelligence offered participants plenty of space for professional exchange and lively discussions.

On 3 June, the University of Rostock held its University Information Day. The Chair of Control Engineering participated with a lecture and 2 exhibits at the well-attended event in the new electrical engineering building on the Südstadt campus.

Our chair presented itself with 2 vehicles:
- Mecanum wheel vehicle with lidar - Automatic vehicle guidance in unknown environments is a major challenge, especially for indoor applications. Using a Mecanumwheel vehicle, this task is solved in an exemplary way through simultaneous mapping and localisation, as well as path planning based on this.
- ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) - A composite system consisting of a small underwater vehicle and a robot arm will be exhibited. It is used in research for the investigation and technical compensation of coupling forces during manipulation tasks in underwater areas.

The synergy meeting of the DLR Explorer initiatives STE2023-I took place in Bremen from 24-26 May 2023.
The conference focused on the exchange between projects, especially in the areas of sensors, hardware, autonomy and AI.

The Chair of Control Engineering presented the new project GALILEOnautic 2+ in a lecture and a poster.

The DIGITAL HUB Industry Bremen provided the perfect setting for our event, which was jointly hosted by the University of Bremen, the German Aerospace Center and TOPAS Industriemathematik.

On Thursday, 25 May 2023 at 6 p.m., the University of Rostock and the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock jointly invited to the event

DIVING INTO THE FUTURE - Rostock's perspectives on maritime technologies in Rostock's town hall.

It was the kick-off event for the second season of the discussion series UNIVERSITY AT THE TOWN HALL. It was organised by the Interdisciplinary Faculty at the University together with the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock.

In addition to experts from the departments of marine technology and shipbuilding at the University of Rostock, the possibilities, limits and challenges of maritime technologies will also be considered from the perspective of control engineering.

Nähere Informationen: https://www.inf.uni-rostock.de/inf/universitaet-rathaus/

The International Interdisciplinary PhD Workshop (I²PhDW) together with the International Symposium on Automatic Control (AUTSYM) took place at Wismar University of Applied Sciences from 03-05 May 2023.

Two members of the Control Engineering Department took part in the event and presented their research results to the international audience.

In his lecture, Nick Eisenblätter presented his "Adjustment procedure for volume flows for minidialysis" as part of research into new therapy procedures based on extracorporeal blood purification using dialysers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology Rostock.

Carsten Rethfeldt published current results from the joint project "MUM2" (www.mum-project.de) in the paper "Optimisation-based Actuator Allocation for Underwater Vehicles with Variable Buoyancy Systems". The paper was awarded the Best Paper Award of the symposium.

•     Nick Eisenblätter, Sven Lack, Horst Krüsemann, Jacqueline Hofrichter, Torsten Jeinsch: "Adjustment procedure for volume flows for minidialysis".
•     Carsten Rethfeldt, Sven Lack, Torsten Jeinsch: "Optimisation-based Actuator Allocation for Underwater Vehicles with Variable Buoyancy Systems".

On 27 and 28 April, the MAROS 2023 (Maritime Robotics and Sensor Technology) conference took place under the umbrella of the Gesellschaft für Maritime Technik (GMT) and the Fraunhofer IOSB-AST in the representation of the Free State of Thuringia to the Federal Government in Berlin. Participants from business, politics, administration and science had an intensive exchange on a wide range of topics in maritime technology, also in connection with automotive. Representatives of the Chair of Control Engineering discussed future-oriented systems engineering solutions for complex, dynamic and time-variant processes in the fields of energy supply and underwater robotics with numerous participants. The focus was on the development of underwater vehicles and robots for exploration and for inspection and manipulation tasks on underwater infrastructures.

Image1: Source: Fraunhofer IOSB-AST: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Dieter Janecek, Federal Government Coordinator for Maritime Affairs and Tourism

 Figure2: Source: Fraunhofer IOSB-AST, (from left to right):

 1) Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, Christoph Sladeczek, Head of Virtual Acoustics.

2) terra.blue, Dr. Walter L. Kuehnlein, Managing Advisor for Energy & Tech, Speaker, University Lecturer

3) Thuringian Ministry for Economy, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG), Dr. Bernd Ebersold, Head of Department for Research, Technology and Innovation

4) OFFSHORE-WINDENERGIE Foundation, Andreas Mummert, Head of Politics

5) Holger Klindt Consulting, Holger Klindt, Consultant, Head GMT Working Group Maritime Safety

6) Gesellschaft für Maritime Technik e.V., Petra Mahnke, Managing Director

7) Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, Dieter Janecek, Federal Government Coordinator for Maritime Economics and Tourism

Figure3: Source: Chair of Control Engineering, (from left to right):

    Fraunhofer IOSB-AST, Dr. rer. pol. Marcel Reusch, Head of Transfer Network "Automotive goes Subsea".
    Gesellschaft für Maritime Technik e.V., Petra Mahnke, Managing Director

This year's "Long Night of Science 2023 in Rostock" took place on 4 May.

The Südstadt Campus and the Stattmitte Campus cordially invited visitors to a journey into the universe of science.

Every year, the Long Night of Science offers the opportunity to meet researchers and teachers, ask them questions and look over their shoulders.

Our chair presented itself with 2 vehicles:

    Mecanum wheel vehicle with Lidar - Automatic vehicle guidance in unknown environments is a major challenge, especially for indoor applications. Using a Mecanumwheel vehicle, this task is solved in an exemplary way through simultaneous mapping and localisation, as well as path planning based on this.

    ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) - A composite system consisting of a small underwater vehicle and a robot arm will be exhibited. It is used in research for the investigation and technical compensation of coupling forces during manipulation tasks in underwater areas.

https://www.ostsee-zeitung.de/lokales/rostock/mint-facher-zum-anfassen-so-war-es-auf-der-langen-nacht-der-wissenschaften-in-rostock-SOOMCACSARAH5MPU5ZASQK6FCE.html

Ella (7) und Tristan (9) steuern mit einem Controller einen Unterwasserroboter und greifen mit einem Greifarm ein Objekt.

From 17.04. to 21.04.2023 we had the opportunity to carry out extensive tests with our partners of the MUM (www.mum-project.de) consortium at the Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau und Schiffbau (VWS). A total of 3 ROVs and 1 AUV were involved in the tests, with the Chair of Control Engineering at the University of Rostock alone controlling 2 ROVs and the AUV.

The objectives were to determine the vehicle resistances by towing the vehicles as well as ROV manoeuvring tests and pre-tests for the automated gripping of objects.

The excellent test facilities in Berlin offer an excellent playing field for pushing the technology to its operational limits. Therefore, we would like to express our special thanks to our colleagues at the TUB, who were always on hand with help and advice during the tests and beyond.

On Thursday, 30 March 2023, the kick-off meeting for the research project "GN2plus - Networked, cooperative manoeuvring in safety-critical areas" took place.

Partners in the consortium are the Institute of Control Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency as an associated partner. The aim of the project is the development of modules for the construction and implementation of a networked traffic system consisting of three networked water vehicles, whereby the necessary manoeuvres in restricted, safety-critical areas are carried out automatically. The networked vehicles are to act cooperatively and be able to take into account the non-networked road users. The networked navigation scenario builds on the extensive developments from the GALILEOnautic 2 project, so that the established test vehicles of relevant vehicle size (including the research vessel Deneb) can be used without restriction.
The Chair of Control Engineering at the University of Rostock is dedicated to the challenge: local and central optimisation for trajectory generation and motion control of the networked vehicles.

Finance Minister Dr. Heiko Geue, Science Minister Bettina Martin, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schareck, Rector of the University of Rostock, and Prof. Dr. Mathias Nowottnick, Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Rostock, ceremonially inaugurated the new "Electrical Engineering" building on the Südstadt campus of the University of Rostock on 29 March 2023.
The new building will house the Institute for Communications Engineering and the Institute for Applied Microelectronics and Data Technology. Both institutes are thus moving from the Warnemünde location to the Südstadt campus. At the same time, the new building offers the approximately 1,400 students of the Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering a modern and innovative teaching and research building with optimal conditions for research-oriented teaching and excellent research conditions.

The Institute of Automation Technology remains the only electrical engineering institute at the Warnemünde site. Due to the continued spatial separation of electrical engineering, students will still have to commute between Warnemünde and the Südstadt campus to attend their respective courses.

Further information on the new building can be found on the website of the Rostock State Building and Property Office, which is responsible for the project.

On Wednesday 22 March 2023, the Fifth Accompanying Research Group Meeting: "The Future of Inland Navigation - Digitally and Logistically Integrated" took place in Hamburg.
The event provided an overview of various research and development topics in this field and thus presented different approaches to securing the future of inland navigation.

On Tuesday 21 March 2023, the kick-off meeting for the research project "SensorSOW - LIDAR-based sensor application for the detection, modelling and prediction of the movement behaviour of other road users on inland waterways" took place in Berlin at the Berliner Hafen- und Lagerhausgesellschaft mbH (BEHALA).

Partners in the consortium are Alberding GmbH and the Department of Maritime Systems Design at the Technical University of Berlin. The project consortium will test the functionality of LIDAR, SONAR, camera and GNSS sensor technology using existing test vehicles and test vessels in the digital test field Spree-Oder-Wasserstraße, process it and make it available in an assistance system.

On Friday, 03.03.2023, the research vessel ELLA was christened in Duisburg harbour.  ELLA was built within the framework of the BMDV's "Digital Testfields" funding programme built. It is a research vessel specially designed for the requirements of inland navigation and is to make an important and is intended to make an important contribution to the development of autonomous autonomous driving. In practical operation, special attention will be paid to. Manoeuvres in confined areas in order to enable the automation of port manoeuvres in the future. Automation of port manoeuvres in the future.

The Colloquium on Digitalisation in Inland Navigation took place from 01 - 02 March 2023 on the premises of the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute in Karlsruhe. The colloquium was jointly organised by the BAW, the ISMT and DST. Various representatives from research, politics and business were guests.

On 01.03.2023, the Chair of Control Engineering welcomed Prof. Holger Korte from the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Elsfleth. Prof. Korte, a former employee of the Institute of Automation Technology, has been researching in the field of ship and marine technology for many years.  In an exciting lecture, the team of the chair and other interested people could inform themselves about the work and current research work of Prof. Korte. The focus was on the topic: Hydrodynamic mass - an important design parameter for marine engineering constructions. The subsequent round of questions and the discussions in smaller groups showed the mutual interest in the research work.

The Control Engineering Colloquium in Boppard is the annual meeting place of the control engineering community in the German-speaking region. About 80 control engineering professors, plus numerous automation technology professors, about 100 research assistants and some industry and association representatives regularly attend.

In contrast to specialist conferences, the Control Engineering Colloquium primarily has the character and function of a forum in which the universities and research institutes of the German-speaking region can present and discuss the latest results and innovative ideas from research and development in the field of measurement, control and automation technology.

Another aim of the colloquium is to bring together representatives from research and teaching with invited guests from industry for a mutually beneficial discussion on current questions and tasks in industrial practice as well as the applicability of new, efficient solution methods and concepts.

This year it was the turn of the Chair of Control Engineering from the Institute of Automation Technology at the University of Rostock to present its teaching and research areas. Afterwards, Dr Tobias Hahn presented his research results on the automation of manoeuvring watercraft and answered numerous questions from the expert audience.

Since 3 February 2023, the new book „Sampled-Data Control for Periodic Objects“  by Efim N. Rosenwasser, Torsten Jeinsch and Wolfgang Drewelow has been published by Springerverlag.

The book “Sampled-Data Control for Periodic Objects” is devoted to the problem of sampled-data control of finite-dimensional linear continuous periodic (FDLCP) objects. It fills a deficit in coverage of this important subject. The methods presented here are based on the parametric transfer matrix, which has proven successful in the study of sampled-data systems with linear time-invariant objects. The book shows that this concept can be successfully transferred to sampled-data systems with FDLCP objects. It is set out in five parts:

• an introduction to the frequency approach for the mathematical description of FDLCP objects including the determination of their structure and their representation as a serial connection of periodic modulators and a linear time-invariant object;
• construction of parametric transfer matrix for different types of open and closed sampled-data systems with FDLCP objects;
• the solution of problems of causal modal control of FDLCP objects based on the mathematical apparatus of determinant polynomial equations;
• consideration of the problem of constructing a quadratic quality functional for the H2-optimization problem of a single-loop synchronous sampled-data system with control delay;
• description of the general H2-optimization procedure.

Necessary mathematical reference material is included at relevant points in the book.

Sampled-Data Control for Periodic Objects is of use to: scientists and engineers involved in research and design of systems of systems with FDLCP objects; graduate students wishing to broaden their scope of competence; their instructors; and mathematicians working in the field of control theory.

On Monday 19.12.2022, the Chair of Control Engineering invited to its traditional annual open day at the Application Centre.

This year, the Control Engineering Application Centre opened its doors to all semesters of the Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes in computer science and electrical engineering.

The autonomous and remote-controlled surface and underwater vehicles, ground effect vehicles, rovers and drones could be viewed and tried out. The laser scanner could be experienced while measuring and the dexterity on the bicycle with rear wheel steering was put to the test.

We are already looking forward to the next open day.

On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), Project Management Jülich invited participants to the "Maritime Technologies" status conference on 12 and 13 December 2022 in Berlin. This year, the conference took place at the Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt as a face-to-face event and offered selected contributions on successful projects from the BMWK's Maritime Research Programme. Panel discussions and keynote speeches focused on highly topical issues such as climate-neutral shipping, munitions waste in the sea and the importance of maritime infrastructures.

The Chair of Control Engineering presented its research results as part of a joint presentation of the joint research project A-SWARM - Autonomous Electric Shipping on Waterways in Metropolitan Regions.

Photos by:

Claudia Müller, MdB - Greeting by the Federal Government Coordinator for Maritime Economy and Tourism

Susanne Korich | Project Management Organisation Jülich - Maritime Research Programme: From Idea to Success

Dr Christian Masilge | Schiffbau-Versuchsanstalt Potsdam GmbH - A-SWARM - Autonomous Electric Navigation on Waterways in Metropolitan Regions

On 06.12. and 07.12., experiments with colleagues from the DLR in Bremerhaven took place in the Control Engineering Application Centre as part of the MUM2 project.

The experiments involved the generation of data sets with camera and sonar technology of referenced objects under water using ROVs.

The data is to be used to learn procedures that will make it possible to estimate the object position and attitude for an automated gripping operation with ROVs from camera and sonar data.

In 2019, the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern founded the German Alliance for Marine Research (DAM) together with the other northern German states and the federal government.

On 23.11.2022, the German Alliance for Marine Research invited to the Parliamentary Evening at the Staatstheater Schwerin to present its work. Knowledge about the ocean is key to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Marine research is climate research and precautionary research, also for food and energy security, and was the focus of the event this evening.

The Chair of Control Engineering presented selected exhibits of their automated underwater vehicles.  Autonomous (AUV) and cabled (ROV) underwater vehicles are often used for area-wide data generation and targeted sampling.

On 11 October 2007, the Interdisciplinary Faculty was founded in a ceremonial act in the University Church. Professor Udo Kragl, the current Vice Rector for Research and Knowledge Transfer, was elected as the founding dean. With the founding of the Interdisciplinary Faculty, the then Rector of the University of Rostock, Professor Thomas Strothotte, had taken a new path. The model of a virtual faculty, currently unique in Germany, was launched in 2007 with three departments: Life, Light & Matter, Ageing of the Individual and Society, and Maritime Systems. In 2010, another department was added: Knowledge - Culture - Transformation.

Within the scope of its membership in the Department of Maritime Systems, the Chair of Control Engineering was involved with the underwater equipment carriers

    Autonomous Underwater Vehicle - AUV
    Remotely Operated Vehicles - ROV (Blue ROV and EVO ROV)

From 04-06 October 2022, staff from the Institute of Automation Technology took part in the eighth Hydrodynamic Symposium in Heidenheim. In numerous interesting lectures, the main topics were: Safety in Ship Assistance, More Operating Days in Heavy Weather in Dynamic Positioning, Low Fuel Costs as well as Quiet and Robust Drives were intensively discussed. The successful research and development activities in the joint projects DPMotion and DPII of the Institute of Automation Technology provided much food for discussion and new ideas for future research projects.

After a two-year break due to the corona pandemic, a contingent from Rostock took part again this year in the "Breaking the Surface" workshop in Biograd na Moru, Croatia. The workshop, which is already taking place for the fourteenth time and combines the topics of maritime robotics, marine biology, marine archaeology, marine geology and maritime security, was held this year from 25 September to 2 October. The Institute's participants used this platform to exchange experiences with numerous experts on the planned exploration and test track for autonomous underwater robot systems in the Control Engineering Application Centre. The IAT was represented this year by Johannes Marx, Ian Karez, Sven Lack, Martin Kurowski and Torsten Jeinsch.

Researchers from the University of Rostock and the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) were able to convince with their sophisticated technology for localisation under water at the so-called "Underwater Localization Challenge". The competition in the field of underwater localisation took place as part of the international, interdisciplinary workshop for maritime robotics and applications entitled "Breaking the Surface" in Biograd na Moru, Croatia with over 200 participants from 22 nations. Thanks to the support of the Rostock International House, the trip of the three PhD students from the University of Rostock and their participation in the workshop from 25 September to 2 October could be financed.

The Rostock team with doctoral students Greta Markfort (IOW) and Sven Lack, Johannes Marx and Ian Karez (Chair of Control Engineering at the University of Rostock) prevailed despite difficult weather conditions. They succeeded in winning the international competition to find a transmitter submerged in the sea in all three categories - exact, efficient and novel. The innovative and previously rather unconventional methodology they developed, based on a step-by-step approach to the mathematical solution of the problem, ultimately led to the most accurate position result with a deviation of only thirty metres from the true position.

The winning team was finally allowed to present their approach to the large workshop audience. "We are very happy about the result, especially since we were the last team to compete when the wind was already picking up enormously and therefore the conditions for locating the underwater transmitter were not optimal," says Sven Lack, doctoral student at the Chair of Control Engineering at the University of Rostock. Supervisor Prof. Torsten Jeinsch adds: "I am very proud of our team, whose performance convinced not only the experts in underwater acoustics. This once again confirms the very good engineering education at the University of Rostock."

Tracking and communication under water is anything but trivial. This is because electromagnetic waves, which are used for satellite navigation, radio or WLAN, for example, are attenuated much more strongly in water. Therefore, it is not possible to use these technologies for communication and positioning in water. With the help of techniques of so-called underwater localisation, which is based on the time-of-flight measurement of acoustic signals, divers or robots that emit sound waves, for example, can be found more easily in the water. However, acoustic underwater localisation brings with it some challenges. For example, there is the question of how fluctuations in the speed of sound can be overcome due to different density and temperature conditions at depth and how the travel time of a signal changes underwater as a result.

The so-called "Underwater Localisation Challenge" took place as part of the 14th "Breaking the Surface" workshop. The competition task was to locate a submerged acoustic transmitter in the Adriatic Sea off Biograd na Moru in an area of 800 by 800 metres. The six international teams were each given a boat to deploy the measurement equipment and apply their special localisation method within one hour. For localisation, the teams first sank three microphones in the water in geometric arrangements they had determined themselves. Due to the different distances between the transmitter and the microphones, the reception times vary. These are influenced by the speed of sound in the water, the synchronisation of the microphones and the position of the acoustic transmitter. From these raw acoustic data, the respective distance to the transmitter and the corresponding sound velocity can then be calculated and thus finally the location of the transmitter can be determined.

On 21 September 2022, Dr.-Ing. Michèle Schaub successfully defended her dissertation thesis on "Contribution to the prediction of particle emissions due to ship manoeuvres using artificial neural networks " at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology at the University of Rostock .

Members of the dissertation committee were: Prof. Buchholz (Chairman) - University of Rostock, Prof. Müller - University of Rostock, Prof. Jeinsch - University of Rostock, Prof. em. Benedict - HS Wismar, Prof. Kornev - University of Rostock.

Congratulations!

From 14.-16. September 2022, the 14th IFAC Conference on Control Applications in Marine Systems, Robotics and Vehicles took place at the Technical University of Denmark in Kongens Lyngby.

The Chair of Control Engineering was represented with the contribution Reference Tracking Control for Maneuvering Vessels considering Input Delay

Hahn, T., Rethfeldt, C. Jeinsch, T.: „Reference Tracking Control for Maneuvering Vessels considering Input Delay”

From 19-22 September 2022, the 4th AISS Autonomous Inland and Short Sea Shipping Conference edition of the DST - Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transportsystems took place in Duisburg.

The Chair of Control Engineering was represented with the contribution A-SWARM Autonomous Electric Shipping on Waterways in Metropolitan Regions

Marx, J., Damerius, R., Kolewe, B., Jeinsch, T.: „ A-SWARM Autonomous Electric Shipping on Waterways in Metropolitan Regions”

Teams of the University of Applied Sciences Wismar and the University of Rostock had the opportunity to participate in test runs with the research vessel Deneb of the BSH from 05.09.-07.09.22 . The aim was to investigate the adaptation of the steering strategy for assisted and automated mooring under consideration of environmental influences based on expert nautical knowledge. Subsequently, numerous manual, assisted and automated mooring maneuvers were performed to derive statistical properties.

A big thank you goes to the BSH for the possibilities to test on the Deneb and of course to the whole crew of the Deneb for the great support and perseverance during the testing of the assistance and control systems.

In the Berlin Westhafen, took place from 29 August to 02 September 2022 as part of the joint project A-SWARM the final testing and demonstration.

The methods and algorithms developed in the project for trajectory planning, position control and collision avoidance were tested. The representatives of the project sponsor PtJ who were present were given a clear demonstration of the results in addition to the tests.The experimental catamaran "Bernhard Lampe" of the chair served here as a mobile base and for the presentation of other road users in encounter and overtaking situations.

On July 15, 2022, Dr.-Ing. Tobias Hahn successfully defended his dissertation thesis on the topic "Contribution to the identification of the maneuvering behavior of watercraft for the design of assistance functions".

Members of the dissertation committee were: Prof. Dr. van Rienen - University of Rostock, Prof. Dr. Torsten Jeinsch - University of Rostock, Prof. Dr. Maksoud - TU Hamburg, Prof. Dr. Cai - University of Rostock, Prof. Dr. Kühn - University of Rostock, Prof. Dr. Weber - University of Rostock, Prof. Dr. Wolkenhauer - University of Rostock.

Congratulations!

The 30th edition of the Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation took place this year in Athens. From June 28th to July 1st, exciting topics and current research foci around the topic of automation and control engineering were presented and discussed at the conference.
The Chair of Control Engineering was also represented there with a small delegation.

In addition to the four presentations by Agnes Schubert, Ian Karez, Sven Lack and Johannes Marx, there was also an online contribution by Robert Damerius.
The conference venue in the district of Vouliagmeni, located directly at the Mediterranean Sea, offered besides the professional exchange also the possibility to establish new contacts for future collaborations.

On July 1, 2022, employees of the Chair of Control Engineering accepted the invitation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to the Science Summer in Neustrelitz.

For 30 years, Neustrelitz has been one of 30 DLR locations. In six facilities and research institutes, research and development work focuses on the topics of space weather, satellite data reception, satellite remote sensing, navigation, and maritime traffic and maritime security.

On this occasion, DLR invited to the Science Summer Neustrelitz. The event looked back on the successful development of the site and provided information on current projects in maritime security research, space weather research and the German Remote Sensing Data Center. The event was concluded with the inauguration of a new antenna for the data reception of future missions.

On June 30, 2022, the Chair of Control Engineering staff members participated in the workshop on the Master's degree program in Ship and Ocean Engineering within the framework of the OCEAN TECHNOLOGY CLUSTER - OCEAN TALENTS.
The University of Rostock is currently developing an international, English-language Master's degree program in Ship and Ocean Engineering to replace the existing program within the next few years. The changeover will also be used to align the content of the degree program with the current and future needs of the maritime industry.

On Wednesday, June 29, 2022, the participants of the CESNI RIS-week (International Conference on River Information Technologies) were given an insight into the current research project A-SWARM - Autonomous Electric Navigation on Waterways in Metropolitan Regions. In basin 1 of the Westhafen of BEHALA in Berlin, the project consortium presented selected scenarios for trajectory planning, position control and collision avoidance.

On June 28, 2022, Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister of Digital Affairs and Transport, presented the project consortium "SensorSOW - LIDAR-based sensor application for the detection, modeling and prediction of the movement behavior of other road users on inland waterways" with the funding certificate. Partners in the consortium are the University of Rostock with Professor Torsten Jeinsch from the Chair of Control Engineering, Alberding GmbH and the TU Berlin.

The aim of the project is to develop and test sensor and assistance systems for determining the position of ships and traffic as well as the fairway under water in order to increase the degree of automation in navigation. The project consortium will receive total funding of around 1.33 million euros for a project duration of two years. The functionality of the sensor technology, consisting of LIDAR, SONAR, camera and GNSS sensor technology, is to be tested and processed during this period using existing test vehicles and test ships in the digital test field Spree-Oder-Waterway and made available in an assistance system.

Through the funding program for the development of digital test fields on federal waterways, the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport is providing a total of around 34 million euros until the end of 2024 to support industry and research in testing automated systems for navigation.

More information can also be found at: https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2022/038-wissing-projekt-sensorsow-auf-spree-oder.html

Quelle:

• Around 1.33 million for joint projekct on the digitization of shipping

The local TV station MV1 asked for an interview on June 23, 2022, to learn more about the challenges of the multirobot system after the naming ceremony of our experimental catamaran.

For this purpose, Tom Draheim from MV1 met with Dr. Martin Kurowski for a short casual round of talks at the Control Engineering Application Center. You can listen to and watch the article at Kulturtips on autonomous shipping.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvQZ29aqtf4  

On Monday, June 20, 2022, the research project "A-SWARM Autonomous Electric Shipping on Waterways in Metropolitan Regions" was presented to the Parliamentary Group on Inland Navigation at the Westhafen of the Berliner Hafen- und Lagerhausgesellschaft (BEHALA). In addition to a lecture, it was demonstrated how autonomous ship units could be used to shift goods from congested roads to water in urban areas in the future.

On June 16, the naming ceremony of the new experimental catamaran of the University of Rostock took place. In the future, the "Bernhard Lampe" will even be able to sail unmanned on the Baltic Sea and take on marine research tasks.

The new, highly maneuverable experimental catamaran "Bernhard Lampe" is the basis of a future multi-robot system - unique in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Equipped with two underwater vehicles and a drone, it can autonomously, i.e. without a helmsman on board, take measurements of water temperature and salinity in the Baltic Sea, for example.

The goal of Professor Torsten Jeinsch, coordinator of the autonomous multirobot system from the Rostock Chair of Control Engineering, is "to bring the catamaran into position in the Baltic Sea in the future in conjunction with other measuring vehicles from my office. This way, our colleagues from marine research would no longer have to go out to sea themselves to regularly take water or sediment samples from the Baltic Sea."

As an equipment carrier and workboat, the "Bernhard Lampe" has two powerful jet engines, an on-board crane and a winch. The digitized interfaces to the propulsion technology, navigation and environmental sensor technology allow a combination with further highly automated and autonomous research equipment.

Already in mid-October 2020, the "Bernhard Lampe", jointly funded by the state and the university, was handed over by the Rostock-based company Nordland Hansa GmbH to the Chair of Control Engineering at the University of Rostock. The christening of the automated catamaran had to be postponed to June 2022 due to pandemic-related restrictions. The name "Bernhard Lampe" was chosen in memory of the former chair of control theory. With the naming ceremony, the "Bernhard Lampe" can now be officially launched. The ship was christened by the godmothers Bianca and Ida Lampe - daughter and granddaughter of the already deceased engineering scientist - at the Control Engineering Application Center of the University of Rostock.

 "I am pleased about the dignified commemoration of Professor Bernhard Lampe. The University of Rostock now has a state-of-the-art research catamaran with up-to-date technology. It sustainably strengthens the research competence of the faculty in the field of marine research," said the Rector of the University of Rostock, Professor Wolfgang Schareck.

Professor Torsten Jeinsch emphasizes the excellent cooperation throughout the team: "In cooperation with the companies involved, we have been able to further develop the algorithms for unmanned navigation in recent years so that autonomous research sailing will be possible in the future."

Quelle:

•  Pressemitteilung der Universität Rostock vom 16.06.2022

The 11th IFAC Symposium on Fault Detection Supervision and Safety was held in Pafos, Cyprus from June 08 to 10, 2022.

The Chair of Control Engineering was represented with the contribution "Application of Hidden Markov Models for Fault Detection in Automotive Engines ".

• Salehian, M., Haghani, A., Jeinsch, T.: „Application of Hidden Markov Models for Fault Detection in Automotive Engines”

From June 7 to 10, 2022, the next test took place in Berlin's Westhafen on the premises of the project partner BEHALA as part of the joint project A-SWARM. The focus of the testing was the testing of the developed algorithms for trajectory planning, position control and collision avoidance. This time, the experimental catamaran "Bernhard Lampe" of the chair was part of the team. It served as a mobile base and for displaying other road users in encounter and overtaking situations.

In the context of the project DigitalSOW a meeting of the project partners Alberding GmbH and the University of Rostock was arranged on 28.04.2022.

The reason for the exchange in Rostock was the presentation of the different test vehicles in the control engineering application center as well as the presentation of the sensor systems and the simulation environment in the laboratory in Warnemünde.

In the joint project: A-SWARM - Autonomous electric shipping on waterways in metropolitan regions; A-SWARM Control, autonomously operating water vehicles were tested by the project partner, BEHALA - Berliner Hafen- und Lagerhausgesellschaft mbH, in Berlin.

The project is intended to contribute to modern city logistics on the basis of autonomous, couplable and electrically operated water vehicles. The focus is on the development and testing of autonomously operating water vehicles. The feasibility of such a system is to be demonstrated in a real laboratory in the area of Berlin's Westhafen (Spree / Charlottenburg Verbindungskanal / Westhafenkanal / Berlin Spandauer Schifffahrtskanal).