PhD topics in marine control and hybrid power systems

The course is organized for PhD students to target advanced topics within the themes of marine control engineering and/or marine hybrid power systems. The learning is generally organized as a self-study. The aim is for the PhD candidates to specify and learn advanced theories and methods for marine technology systems related to modeling, simulation, optimization, artificial intelligence, feedback control, real-time state estimation, model-based or data-driven detection/prediction, or autonomous and cyberphysical systems.

Each student will define an individual advanced subject of study, beyond the scopes of the prerequisite MTech courses (TMR4240/4243/4290), in agreement with the course teacher and course responsible at the start of the academic year (fall semester). Some semesters the course may be announced and set to a specific topic on which we invite a recognized national or international guest lecturer.

Knowledge: At the end of the course, the student should be able to demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the studied topics on an advanced control and/or power engineering level for marine technology systems, taken from the themes of modeling, simulation, optimization, artificial intelligence, feedback control, real-time state estimation, model-based or data-driven detection/prediction, or autonomous systems.

Skills: At the end of the course, the student should be able to:

• explain the background theory of the studied topic and apply this with a clear rationale to the derivation and implementation of advanced models, methods, and algorithms, verification in a simulator or digital twin function, and performing critical analysis of results;
• provide a clear and concise formulation of a studied problem or research question;
• methodologies applied to resolve the problem og question, incl. baseline, and
• demonstrate proficiency in why and how to the use relevant methods for solving the specified problems.

General competency: By participation and completion of the course, the student should:

• write a journal paper style report with a clear and concise exposition of problem formulation, method development, simulations, critical analysis of results, and conclusions;
• orally present the results of the project in a clear and efficient manner, within time limits; and
• conduct academic studies and written work in an honest and ethical manner, without any sort of plagiarism and misconduct in the coursework, project papers, and presentations.

The learning is generally conducted as a self-study course on topics within the main control or power engineering themes specified by the student in a Study Specification form. The course is started each fall semester and continue throughout the spring semester. The student must take own responsibility to start up the study in good time. Each student will typically use their main or co-supervisor for guidance, or in some cases assigned to a relevant teacher registered with the course. Some semesters the course may be lectured in a traditional way by an invited guest lecturer, possibly based on traditional lectures, exercises, and a project.

The learning will go into a project to be defined by each student, formulated through a clear problem statement. This shall result in a brief journal-style report and an oral evaluation on studied theories/methods and project results - both counting on the grade.