Digital technology embedded in intelligent systems
A "Cyber-Physical Systems" vision
SurferLab is built around a core theme which concerns embedding artificial intelligence based processing capabilities in complex mobile systems (trains, cars, planes, trucks, AGV ...) to implement and optimize various control, monitoring and diagnosis (health monitoring) functions.
our aim is to make these systems more intelligent, more autonomous, and capable of adapting to the unexpected. It is assumed that these systems are immersed in a fleet interacting with a control or maintenance centre and a human operator. This is a cyber-physical type (CPS) approach and concerns a priori all modes of transport.
Embedded systems...
SurferLab is ready to pass on the research results for teaching purposes and to work in close collaboration with the academic departments of the Polytechnic University Hauts-de-France.
As the complex systems studied are naturally mobile in their environment, the members of SurferLab consider that the "embedded systems" aspect is essential. Indeed, the usual design choices that lead to a maximum number of functions being off-board at the expense of "embedded" on-board functions rapidly reach their limits because the off-board functions are disconnected from the informational context and events that concern them.
...dedicated to a human-centred organization
The aim of these embedded systems will be to improve the relevance of the information in particular with the aim of developing new tools for which the human operator is an essential part of the entire design process. Indeed, the classical “top-down” approach in the Human-Machine Interface (HMI) design process must be revised. The human must be included in the design control loop from the outset in order to address the issue of some users rejecting these new tools as a result of a more techno-centred approach having been adopted.
Challenges and hurdles
Consequently, the scientific and socio-technical challenges and hurdles lie at the interface between the classical approaches with a maximum number of functions handled off-board, and innovative approaches aiming to embed on-board a maximum number of functions. These approaches thus consider "embedding" problems, cost, reliability, etc. The scientific challenge are therefore related to the discrimination, specification, and optimization of models and algorithms which are either embedded or off-board. Technological hurdles, therefore, concern ensuring the technical and regulatory feasibility, as well as the safety of the specifications proposed with the aim of progressing within the future joint laboratory from the initial incubation phase of ideas to the innovation phase, and ultimately, to market the products.
Industrial and scientific competitiveness
The three founders of the joint laboratory share the vision of SurferLab, which strives to sustain the industrial competitiveness of Bombardier Transport and Prosyst, as well as the scientific competitiveness of the UPHF.
Three fundamental mechanisms create a "virtuous circle":
1. Knowledge generation through innovative scientific activities
2. Transformation of these activities into sound technological solutions
3. Integration of the solutions in the market and ongoing monitoring of technological solutions
New professions and services
In the long run, SurferLab aims to provide Bombardier Transport and Prosyst with the opportunity to develop new lines of business and services based on the use of digital technology embedded in intelligent systems.
Three factors contribute to the longevity of SurferLab:
- Balanced sharing of intellectual property,
- Integration in a dynamic socio-economic environment,
- Mutual availability of human and material resources.