LODI M.

Cluster synchronization in networks of coupled oscillators is the subject of broad interest from the scientific community, with applications ranging from neural to social and animal networks and technological systems. Most of these networks are directed, with flows of information or energy that propagate unidirectionally from given nodes to...

Switch-mode power supplies (SMPSs) are widely exploited to interface electrical energy sources to motors and other electrical loads. Inductors are usually the biggest and heaviest components in SMPSs, limiting their overall power density. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in designing SMPSs with partially saturating inductors, because...

A nonlinear inductor model has been recently proposed, which takes into account the magnetic saturation and the dependence of the inductance on the temperature. The model depends on seven parameters, which are identified based on experimental measurements of the inductor current in a switch-mode power supply. In this paper we show how the...

This paper is concerned with modeling of smart textiles, aimed at compensating their intrinsic nonlinearities. In particular, a new model is proposed to compensate for hysteresis and relaxation in strain sensors made of Electrolycra. These sensors are increasingly employed in emerging areas such as wearable electronics and soft robotics for...

In this paper, the derivative-free optimization algorithm MADS (mesh adaptive direct search) is adapted for implementation on field programmable gate array (FPGA) with fixed-point data representation. MADS is then exploited to solve constrained nonlinear optimization problems arising from non-linear model predictive control. The application on...

Any Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) scanner based on piezoelectric ceramics is affected by nonlinear distortions, mainly due to rate-independent hysteresis and rate-dependent creep, two different phenomena often referred to, collectively, as rate-dependent hysteresis. To compensate for these distortions, especially in old or cheap instruments,...

The increasing presence of renewable energy sources (RES) in a power grid tends to reduce its inertia constant, which quantifies the grid's ability to contrast the frequency changes due to external disturbances. This led to the development of control strategies that interface the RES to the grid providing synthetic inertia, but these strategies...

How can we develop simple yet realistic models of the small neural circuits known as central pattern generators (CPGs), which contribute to generate complex multiphase locomotion in living animals? In this paper we introduce a new model (with design criteria) of a generalized half-center oscillator, (pools of) neurons reciprocally coupled by...

Central pattern generators (CPGs) are relatively small neural networks that play a fundamental role in the control of animal locomotion. In this paper we define a method for the systematic design of CPG models able to exhibit biologically plausible gait transitions by implementing short-term synaptic plasticity mechanisms. As a case study, we...

In this paper, a nonlinear observer is proposed for the estimation of the current ripple in a ferrite-core inductor working in partial saturation, mounted on a boost converter. The estimator is based on a recently proposed nonlinear inductance model, which expresses the inductance as a function of the inductor current, taking into account also...

The presence of synchronized clusters in neuron networks is a hallmark of information transmission and processing. Common approaches to study cluster synchronization in networks of coupled oscillators ground on simplifying assumptions, which often neglect key biological features of neuron networks. Here we propose a general framework to study...

We study networks of coupled oscillators and analyze the role of coupling delays in determining the emergence of cluster synchronization. Given a network topology and a particular arrangement of the coupling delays over the network connections, different patterns of cluster synchronization may emerge. We focus on a simple ring network of six...

Increasing the power density in switched mode power supplies is one of the main goals in power electronics. This aim can be achieved by using smaller inductors operating at partial magnetic saturation. In this work, a partially saturating ferrite core inductor is exploited in a switching DC-DC boost converter, regulated through nonlinear model...

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More compact Switched-Mode Power Supplies (SMPSs) satisfying the overall design specifications can be obtained by exploiting ferrite core inductors working in partial saturation. In this case, the inductance is no longer a constant parameter, since it exhibits a sharp drop as the inductor current increases. A behavioral model has been recently...

In this work, a nonlinear behavioral model is proposed for air-gapped ferrite-core inductors working up to magnetic saturation. The component is represented through the series connection of a nonlinear conservative inductor and a linear resistor, accounting for the instantaneous losses in both the windings and the core. The model is identified...

This paper proposes a new modeling approach for ferrite-core (FC) power inductors used in switch-mode power supplies (SMPSs). In particular, a novel power-loss-dependent inductance behavioral model is proposed, whose parameters can be identified through a limited set of proper experimental measurements of inductor current and voltage. Unlike...