arXiv subjects

Marco Coraggio

Publications and source records attributed to Marco Coraggio.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Utilizing synchronization to partition power networks into microgrids

The problem of partitioning a power grid into a set of microgrids, or islands, is of interest for both the design of future smart grids, and as a last resort to restore power dispatchment in sections of a grid affected by an extreme failure. In the literature this problem is usually solved by turning it into a combinatorial optimization problem, often solved through generic heruristic methods such as Genetic Algorithms or Tabu Search. In this paper, we take a different route and obtain the grid partition by exploiting the synchronization dynamics of a cyberlayer of Kuramoto oscillators, each parameterized as a rough approximation of the dynamics of the grid's node it corresponds to. We present first a centralised algorithm and then a decentralised strategy. In the former, nodes are aggregated based on their internode synchronization times while in the latter they exploit synchronization of the oscillators in the cyber layer to selforganise into islands. Our preliminary results show that the heuristic synchronization based algorithms do converge towards partitions that are comparable to those obtained via other more cumbersome and computationally expensive optimization-based methods.

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arXiv2020

Convergence and Synchronization in Networks of Piecewise-Smooth Systems via Distributed Discontinuous Coupling

Complex networks are a successful framework to describe collective behaviour in many applications, but a notable gap remains in the current literature, that of proving asymptotic convergence in networks of piecewise-smooth systems. Indeed, a wide variety of physical systems display discontinuous dynamics that change abruptly, including dry friction mechanical oscillators, electrical power converters, and biological neurons. In this paper, we study how to enforce global asymptotic state-synchronization in these networks. Specifically, we propose the addition of a distributed discontinuous coupling action to the commonly used diffusive coupling protocol. Moreover, we provide analytical estimates of the thresholds on the coupling gains required for convergence, and highlight the importance of a new connectivity measure, which we named minimum density. The theoretical results are illustrated by a set of representative examples.

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arXiv2020

Intermittent yet coordinated regional strategies can alleviate the COVID-19 epidemic: a network model of the Italian case

The COVID-19 epidemic that emerged in Wuhan China at the end of 2019 hit Italy particularly hard, yielding the implementation of strict national lockdown rules (Phase 1). There is now a hot ongoing debate in Italy and abroad on what the best strategy is to restart a country to exit a national lockdown (Phase 2). Previous studies have focused on modelling possible restarting scenarios at the national level, overlooking the fact that Italy, as other nations around the world, is divided in administrative regions who can independently oversee their own share of the Italian National Health Service. In this study, we show that regionalism, and heterogeneity between regions, is essential to understand the spread of the epidemic and, more importantly, to design effective post Lock-Down strategies to control the disease. To achieve this, we model Italy as a network of regions and parameterize the model of each region on real data spanning almost two months from the initial outbreak. Using the model, we confirm the effectiveness at the regional level of the national lockdown strategy implemented so far by the Italian government to mitigate the spread of the disease and show its efficacy at the regional level. We also propose that differentiated, albeit coordinated, regional interventions can be effective in Phase 2 to restart the country and avoid future recurrence of the epidemic, while avoiding saturation of the regional health systems and mitigating impact on costs. Our study and methodology can be easily extended to other levels of granularity (provinces or counties in the same region or states in other federal countries, etc.) to support policy- and decision-makers.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Distributed Discontinuous Coupling for Convergence in Networks of Heterogeneous Nonlinear Systems

Synchronization is a crucial phenomenon in many natural and artificial complex network systems. Applications include neuronal networks, formation control and coordination in robotics, and frequency synchronization in electrical power grids. In this paper, we propose the use of a distributed discontinuous coupling protocol to achieve convergence and synchronization in networks of non-identical nonlinear dynamical systems. We show that the synchronous dynamics is a solution to the average of the nodes' vector fields, and derive analytical estimates of the critical coupling gains required to achieve convergence. Numerical simulations are used to illustrate and validate the theoretical results.

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arXiv2019

Control of Painlevé Paradox in a Robotic System

The Painlevé paradox is a phenomenon that causes instability in mechanical systems subjects to unilateral constraints. While earlier studies were mostly focused on abstract theoretical settings, recent work confirmed the occurrence of the paradox in realistic set-ups. In this paper, we investigate the dynamics and presence of the Painlevé phenomenon in a twolinks robot in contact with a moving belt, through a bifurcation study. Then, we use the results of this analysis to inform the design of control strategies able to keep the robot sliding on the belt and avoid the onset of undesired lift-off. To this aim, through numerical simulations, we synthesise and compare a PID strategy and a hybrid force/motion control scheme, finding that the latter is able to guarantee better performance and avoid the onset of bouncing motion due to the Painlevé phenomenon.

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arXiv2017

Observer design for piecewise smooth and switched systems via contraction theory

The aim of this paper is to present the application of an approach to study contraction theory recently developed for piecewise smooth and switched systems. The approach that can be used to analyze incremental stability properties of so-called Filippov systems (or variable structure systems) is based on the use of regularization, a procedure to make the vector field of interest differentiable before analyzing its properties. We show that by using this extension of contraction theory to nondifferentiable vector fields, it is possible to design observers for a large class of piecewise smooth systems using not only Euclidean norms, as also done in previous literature, but also non-Euclidean norms. This allows greater flexibility in the design and encompasses the case of both piecewise-linear and piecewise-smooth (nonlinear) systems. The theoretical methodology is illustrated via a set of representative examples.

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arXiv2016

Improved Control Strategies for Intermittent Contact Mode Atomic Force Microscopes

Atomic force microscopes have proved to be fundamental research tools in many situations where a gentle imaging process is required, and in a variety of environmental conditions, such as the study of biological samples. Among the possible modes of operation, intermittent contact mode is one that causes less wear to both the sample and the instrument; therefore, it is ideal when imaging soft samples. However, intermittent contact mode is not particularly fast when compared to other imaging strategies. In this paper, we introduce three enhanced control approaches, applied at both the dither and z-axis piezos, to address the limitations of existing control schemes. Our proposed strategies are able to eliminate different image artefacts, automatically adapt scan speed to the sample being scanned and predict its features in real time. The result is that both the image quality and the scan time are improved.

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