Maurizio Porfiri

Consensus Seeking Over Random Weighted Directed Graphs

We examine the consensus problem for a group of agents that communicate via a stochastic information network. Communication among agents is modeled as a weighted directed random graph that switches periodically. The existence of any edge is probabilistic and independent from the existence of any other edge. We further allow each edge to be weighted differently. Sufficient conditions for asymptotic almost sure consensus are presented for the case of positive weights and for the case of arbitrary weights.

Tracking and formation control of multiple autonomous agents: A two-level consensus approach

Simultaneous tracking and formation control is addressed for a team of autonomous agents that evolve dynamically in a space containing a measurable vector field. Each agent measures the local value of the field along its trajectory and occasionally shares relevant information with other agents, in order to estimate the spatial average obtained from averaging measurements across all agents. Using shared information, agents control their trajectories in a cooperative manner, with the dual goals of driving the average field measurement to a specified value and maintaining a desired formation about the average. Two approaches to virtual leader estimation are considered. The first involves the synthesis of a common virtual leader state, whereas the second involves decentralized estimation of the virtual leader by individual agents. Under the second approach, control is posed as a two-level consensus problem, where agents reach agreement on the virtual leader state at one level and reach formation about the virtual leader at the other level. The decentralized approach is effective even when communication among agents is limited, in the sense that the associated network graph can be disconnected in frozen time.

Criteria for global pinning-controllability of complex networks

In this paper, we study pinning-controllability of networks of coupled dynamical systems. In particular, we study the problem of asymptotically driving a network of coupled identical oscillators onto some desired common reference trajectory by actively controlling only a limited subset of the whole network. The reference trajectory is generated by an exogenous independent oscillator, and pinned nodes are coupled to it through a linear state feedback. We describe the time evolution of the complex dynamical system in terms of the error dynamics. Thereby, we reformulate the pinning-controllability problem as a global asymptotic stability problem. By using Lyapunov-stability theory and algebraic graph theory, we establish tractable sufficient conditions for global pinning-controllability in terms of the network topology, the oscillator dynamics, and the linear state feedback.

Review of modeling electrostatically actuated microelectromechanical systems

A wide range of microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs) and devices are actuated using electrostatic forces. Multiphysics modeling is required, since coupling among different fields such as solid and fluid mechanics, thermomechanics and electromagnetism is involved. This work presents an overview of models for electrostatically actuated MEMSs. Three-dimensional nonlinear formulations for the coupled electromechanical fluid–structure interaction problem are outlined. Simplified reduced-order models are illustrated along with assumptions that define their range of applicability. Theoretical, numerical and experimental works are classified according to the mechanical model used in the analysis.

Free-Locomotion of Underwater Vehicles Actuated by Ionic Polymer Metal Composites

In this paper, we develop a modeling framework for studying free-locomotion of biomimetic underwater vehicles propelled by vibrating ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs). The motion of the vehicle body is described using rigid body dynamics in fluid environments. Hydrodynamic effects, such as added mass and damping, are included in the model to enable a thorough description of the vehicles surge, sway, and yaw motions. The time-varying actions exerted by the vibrating IPMC on the vehicle body, including thrust, lift, and moment, are estimated by combining force and vibration measurements with reduced order modeling based on modal analysis. The model predictions are validated through experimental results on a miniature remotely controlled fish-like robotic swimmer.

Electromechanical Model of Electrically Actuated Narrow Microbeams

A consistent one-dimensional distributed electromechanical model of an electrically actuated narrow microbeam with width/height between 0.5–2.0 is derived, and the needed pull-in parameters are extracted with different methods. The model accounts for the position-dependent electrostatic loading, the fringing field effects due to both the finite width and the finite thickness of a microbeam, the mid-plane stretching, the mechanical distributed stiffness, and the residual axial load. Both clamped–clamped and clamped-free (cantilever) microbeams are considered. The method of moments is used to estimate the electrostatic load. The resulting nonlinear fourth-order differential equation under appropriate boundary conditions is solved by two methods. Initially, a one-degree-of-freedom model is proposed to find an approximate solution of the problem. Subsequently, the meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) and the finite-element (FE) methods are used, and results from the three methods are compared. For the MLPG method, the kinematic boundary conditions are enforced by introducing a set of Lagrange multipliers, and the trial and the test functions are constructed using the generalized moving least-squares approximation. The nonlinear system of algebraic equations arising from the MLPG and the FE methods are solved by using the displacement iteration pull-in extraction (DIPIE) algorithm. Three-dimensional FE simulations of narrow cantilever and clamped–clamped microbeams are also performed with the commercial code ANSYS. Furthermore, computed results are compared with those arising from other distributed models available in the literature, and it is shown that improper fringing fields give inaccurate estimations of the pull-in voltages and of the pull-in deflections. 1641

Energy harvesting from base excitation of ionic polymer metal composites in fluid environments

In this paper, we analytically and experimentally study the energy harvesting capability of submerged ionic polymer metal composites?(IPMCs). We consider base excitation of an IPMC strip that is shunted with an electric impedance and immersed in a fluid environment. We develop a modeling framework to predict the energy scavenged from the IPMC vibration as a function of the excitation frequency range, the constitutive and geometric properties of the IPMC, and the electric shunting load. The mechanical vibration of the IPMC strip is modeled through Kirchhoff?Love plate theory. The effect of the encompassing fluid on the IPMC vibration is described by using a linearized solution of the Navier?Stokes equations, that is traditionally considered in modeling atomic force microscope cantilevers. The dynamic chemo-electric response of the IPMC is described through the Poisson?Nernst?Planck model, in which the effect of mechanical deformations of the backbone polymer is accounted for. We present a closed-form solution for the current flowing through the IPMC strip as a function of the voltage across its electrodes and its deformation. We use modal analysis to establish a handleable expression for the power harvested from the vibrating IPMC and to optimize the shunting impedance for maximum energy harvesting. We validate theoretical findings through experiments conducted on IPMC strips vibrating in aqueous environments.

Underwater energy harvesting from a heavy flag hosting ionic polymer metal composites

In this paper, we analyze underwater energy harvesting from the flutter instability of a heavy flag hosting an ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC). The heavy flag comprises a highly compliant membrane with periodic metal reinforcements to maximize the weight and minimize the bending stiffness, thus promoting flutter at moderately low flow speed. The IPMC is mechanically attached to the host flag and connected to an external load. The entire structure is immersed in a mean flow whose intensity is parametrically varied to explore the onset of flutter instability along with the relation between the vibration frequency and the mean flow speed. Manageable theoretical models for fluid-structure interaction and IPMC response are presented to inform the harvester design and interpret experimental data. Further, optimal parameters for energy scavenging maximization, including resistive load and flow conditions, are identified.

Synchronization in Random Weighted Directed Networks

We assess synchronization of oscillators that are coupled via a time-varying stochastic network, modeled as a weighted directed random graph that switches at a given rate between a set of possible graphs. The existence of any graph edge is probabilistic and independent from the existence of any other edge. We further allow each edge to be weighted differently. Even if the network is always instantaneously not connected, we show that sufficient information is propagated through the network to allow almost sure local synchronization as long as the expected value of the network is connected, and that the switching rate is sufficiently fast.

Piezoelectric passive distributed controllers for beam flexural vibrations

Recent technological developments have made available efficient bender transducers based on the piezoelectric effect. In this paper an electrical circuit analog to the Timoshenko beam is synthesized using a Lagrangian method and by paralleling capacitive flux linkages to rotation and transverse displacement. A Piezo-ElectroMechanical (PEM) beam is conceived by uniformly distributing piezoelectric transducers on a beam and interconnecting their electric terminals via the found analog circuit, completed with suitable resistors. The high performance features of the synthesized novel circuit include the following. (i) The circuit topology is extremely reduced, the used components are all but one two-terminal elements, and the only two-port network needed is an ideal transformer. (ii) One and the same dissipative circuit ensures a multiresonance coupling with the vibrating beam and the optimal electrical dissipation of mechanical vibrations energy. (iii) For a prototype of a PEM beam, the design of the analog circuit is possible and the obtained nominal values of the circuital elements ensure that can be technically realized without any external feeding. The insertion of resistors in the analog circuit is determined according to two optimality criteria (namely minimization of strain energy time envelope and maximization of vibration time rate decay), based on specific engineering needs. The former seems to be suitable for applications in fatigue phenomena and the latter when the amplitude of vibrations must be rapidly decreased, independently of the initial conditions.