Patents by Inventor STEFANO DI CAIRANO

STEFANO DI CAIRANO has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230316920
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a system and a method for jointly controlling one or multiple connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and one or multiple manual connected vehicles (MCVs) moving to form traffic on the same or intersecting roads. The method includes collecting states of each of the CAVs, each of the MCVs, and each of traffic signs regulating the traffic, and solving a multi-variable mixed-integer problem (MIP) optimizing a cost function for values of control commands changing states of each CAV and values of control commands changing states of each of the traffic signs. The cost function is optimized subject to a motion model of each of the CAVs, subject to constraints modeling general traffic rules, subject to timing constraints, and subject to a motion model of each MCV. The method further includes transmitting the optimized values of the control commands to the corresponding CAVs and corresponding traffic signs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2022
    Publication date: October 5, 2023
    Inventors: Stefano Di Cairano, Roya Firoozi, Rien Quirynen
  • Patent number: 11753023
    Abstract: A control system controls a vehicle using a probabilistic motion planner and an adaptive predictive controller. The probabilistic motion planner produces a sequence of parametric probability distributions over a sequence of target states for the vehicle with parameters defining a first and higher order moments. The adaptive predictive controller optimizes a cost function over a prediction horizon to produce a sequence of control commands to one or multiple actuators of the vehicle. The cost function balances a cost of tracking of different state variables in the sequence of the target states defined by the first moments. The balancing is performed by weighting different state variables using one or multiple of the higher order moments of the probability distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Rien Quirynen, Karl Berntorp, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Publication number: 20230278593
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a system and a method for parking an autonomous ego-vehicle in a dynamic environment of a parking area. The method includes collecting measurements of a state of the dynamic environment, a state of one or multiple stationary vehicles and one or multiple obstacle vehicles moving in the parking area. The method further includes executing a path planner configured to produce a trajectory based on the state of the dynamic environment and executing an environment predictor configured to predict a path and a mode of motion for each of the obstacle vehicles. The method further includes determining a safety constraint for each of the obstacle vehicles based on the path and the mode of motion for each of the obstacle vehicles and parking the autonomous ego-vehicle based on the trajectory for parking and the safety constraint for each of the obstacle vehicles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2022
    Publication date: September 7, 2023
    Inventors: Yebin Wang, Jessica Leu, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Publication number: 20230269766
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method is provided for training a global machine learning model using a learning server and a set of vehicle agents connected to roadside units (RSUs). The method includes steps of selecting vehicle agents from a pool of the vehicle agents connected to the RSUs, associating the selected vehicle agents and the RSUs respectively based on distances from the selected vehicle agents to the RSUs configured to provide measurements of the distances to the learning server, and transmitting a global model, a selected agent set and deadline thresholds in each global training round to the RSUs configured to transmit the global model and training deadlines to the selected vehicle agents. The associated RSUs compute the training deadlines of the corresponding selected vehicle agents and the selected vehicle agents locally train the global model independently using the local datasets collected by the on-board sensors of the selected vehicle agents to generate locally trained models.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Jianlin Guo, Ferdous Pervej, Kyeong-Jin Kim, Kieran Parsons, Philip Orlik, Stefano Di Cairano, Marcel Menner, Karl Berntorp
  • Publication number: 20230264704
    Abstract: A vehicle includes an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) configured to intervene in an operation of the control system by complementing or overriding the driving input in response to detecting a driving condition dependent on a calibration parameter indicative of a preference of execution of the driving maneuver. The ADAS is calibrated based on a crowd-local distribution function of the calibration parameter indicative of a distribution of the preference of execution of the driving maneuver by other drivers of other vehicles at a specific location or a specific environment in response to detecting that the vehicle approaches the specific location or the specific environment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2022
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Marcel Menner, Stefano Di Cairano, Karl Berntorp, Ziyi Ma
  • Patent number: 11731655
    Abstract: A controller and a method for controlling motion of a vehicle is provided. The method comprises acquiring motion information including a current state of the vehicle and a desired state of the vehicle, determining a combination of a steering angle of the wheels and motor forces for moving the vehicle from the current state into the desired state by using a first model of the motion of the vehicle and a second model of the motion of the chassis of the vehicle, determining a cost function of the motion of the vehicle, optimizing the cost function of the motion of the vehicle to compute a command signal for controlling the steering wheel and the plurality of electric motors, and controlling the steering angle of the wheels and the motor forces based on the command signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Stefano Di Cairano, Claus Danielson, Di Chen
  • Patent number: 11679759
    Abstract: A vehicle dynamics control system receives a feedback state signal including values of a roll rate and a roll angle of the motion of the vehicle and updates parameters of a model of roll dynamics of the vehicle by fitting the received values into the roll dynamics model. The roll dynamics model explains the evolution of the roll rate and the roll angle based on the parameters including a center of gravity (CoG) parameter modeling a location of a CoG of the vehicle, and a spring constant and a damping coefficient modeling suspension dynamics of the vehicle. The system determines a control command for controlling at least one actuator of the vehicle using a motion model including the updated CoG parameter and submits the control command to the vehicle controller to control the motion of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Karl Berntorp, Ankush Chakrabarty, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Publication number: 20230182927
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a system and a method for controlling a motion of a spacecraft in a multi-object celestial system while avoiding an unauthorized entry into a keep-away region during a normal and an abnormal operation of the spacecraft. The method includes executing, during the normal operation of the spacecraft, a nominal control law subject to constraints on maintaining a state of the spacecraft within a union of a plurality of control invariant sets of values of the state of the spacecraft. The state of the spacecraft includes a location of the spacecraft and at least one or a combination of a velocity and an acceleration of the spacecraft. The method further includes executing, upon detecting the abnormal operation of the spacecraft, an abort control law associated with the control invariant set including a current state of the spacecraft.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2021
    Publication date: June 15, 2023
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Abraham Vinod, Avishai Weiss, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Publication number: 20230151774
    Abstract: To control a hybrid dynamical system, a predictive feedback controller formulates a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem including nonlinear functions of continuous optimization variables representing the continuous elements of the operation of the hybrid dynamical system and/or one or multiple linear functions of integer optimization variables representing the discrete elements of the operation of the hybrid dynamical system. The MINLP problem is formulated into a separable format ensuring that the discrete elements of the operation are present only in the linear functions of the MINLP problem. The MINLP problem is solved over multiple iterations using a partial convexification of a portion of a space of the solution including a current solution guess. The partial convexification produces a convex approximation of the nonlinear functions of the MINLP without approximating the linear functions of the MINLP to produce a partially convexified MINLP.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2021
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Rien Quirynen, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Patent number: 11650590
    Abstract: A control system for controlling a motion of a vehicle to a target driving goal uses a decision-maker configured to determine a sequence of intermediate goals leading to the next target goal by optimizing the motion of the vehicle subject to a first model and tightened driving constraints formed by tightening driving constraints by a safety margin, and uses a motion planner configured to determine a motion trajectory of the vehicle tracking the sequence of intermediate goals by optimizing the motion of the vehicle subject to the second model. The driving constraints include mixed logical inequalities of temporal logic formulae specified by traffic rules to define an area where the temporal logic formulae are satisfied, while the tightened driving constraints shrink the area by the safety margin, which is a function of a difference between the second model and the first model approximating the second model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Stefano Di Cairano, Rien Quirynen, Yunus Emre Sahin
  • Patent number: 11643982
    Abstract: To control a hybrid dynamical system, a predictive feedback controller formulates a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem including nonlinear functions of continuous optimization variables representing the continuous elements of the operation of the hybrid dynamical system and/or one or multiple linear functions of integer optimization variables representing the discrete elements of the operation of the hybrid dynamical system. The MINLP problem is formulated into a separable format ensuring that the discrete elements of the operation are present only in the linear functions of the MINLP problem. The MINLP problem is solved over multiple iterations using a partial convexification of a portion of a space of the solution including a current solution guess. The partial convexification produces a convex approximation of the nonlinear functions of the MINLP without approximating the linear functions of the MINLP to produce a partially convexified MINLP.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Rien Quirynen, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Patent number: 11644579
    Abstract: A probabilistic system for tracking a state of a vehicle using unsynchronized cooperation of information includes a probabilistic multi-head measurement model relating incoming measurements with the state of the vehicle. The first head of the model relates measurements of the satellite signals subject to measurement noise with a belief on the state of the vehicle, and a second head relates an estimation of the state of the vehicle subject to estimation noise with the belief on the state of the vehicle. A probabilistic filter of the system updates recursively the belief on the state of the vehicle based on the multi-head measurement model accepting one or a combination of the measurements of the satellite signals subject to the measurement noise and the estimation of the state of the vehicle subject to the estimation noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Karl Berntorp, Marcus Greiff, Stefano Di Cairano, Kyeong Jin Kim
  • Publication number: 20230119664
    Abstract: A method for controlling a system by a controller comprises accepting a current state of the system and selecting, using a trained function of the current state, a solver from a set of solvers. The method further comprises solving an optimal control optimization problem using the selected solver to produce a current control input, such that for at least some different control steps, the predictive controller solves a formulation of the optimal control optimization problem with different solvers having different accuracies, requiring different computational resources, or both and submitting the current control input to the system thereby changing the current state of the system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2021
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Ankush Chakrabarty, Rien Quirynen, Diego Romeres, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Publication number: 20230123469
    Abstract: A controller and a method for controlling motion of a vehicle is provided. The method comprises acquiring motion information including a current state of the vehicle and a desired state of the vehicle, determining a combination of a steering angle of the wheels and motor forces for moving the vehicle from the current state into the desired state by using a first model of the motion of the vehicle and a second model of the motion of the chassis of the vehicle, determining a cost function of the motion of the vehicle, optimizing the cost function of the motion of the vehicle to compute a command signal for controlling the steering wheel and the plurality of electric motors, and controlling the steering angle of the wheels and the motor forces based on the command signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Stefano Di Cairano Di Cairano, Claus Danielson, Di Chen
  • Publication number: 20230120946
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a method and a system for controlling a motion of an electric vehicle (EV). The method includes determining a velocity profile moving the EV from an initial velocity over a period of time by minimizing the energy dissipation according to an energy-loss function. The energy-loss function maps values of acceleration and velocity of the EV to energy dissipation of the EV resulting from controlling one or multiple electric motors of the EV to move the EV at corresponding acceleration and velocity values. The velocity profile is a function of time. The method further includes controlling the one or multiple electric motors of the EV to generate a torque for moving the EV according to the velocity profile.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Marcel Menner, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Publication number: 20230096384
    Abstract: A processor of a computing device comprises: a rearrangement unit to rearrange a plurality of elements included in each of a Hessian matrix of an evaluation function and a coefficient matrix of the linear constraint; a generation unit to generate a simultaneous linear equation for finding the optimal solution, based on the evaluation function including the rearranged Hessian matrix and the linear constraint including the rearranged coefficient matrix; and a search unit to find the optimal solution using the simultaneous linear equation. The rearrangement unit rearranges the plurality of elements so as to gather a sparse element of the plurality of elements included in the Hessian matrix, and rearranges the plurality of elements so as to gather a sparse element of the plurality of elements included in the coefficient matrix.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2021
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Applicants: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES, INC.
    Inventors: Yuko OMAGARI, Junya Hattori, Tomoki Uno, Stefano Di Cairano, Rien Quirynen
  • Publication number: 20230083788
    Abstract: A processor of a computing device comprises: a generation unit to generate an active constraint set based on an inequality constraint set and an initial solution; a search unit to find a solution of a simultaneous linear equation generated based on the active constraint set and an evaluation function; and an updating unit to update the active constraint set based on the solution obtained by the search unit. The generation unit adds, to the active constraint set, the first inequality constraint determined as being not linearly dependent on one or more second inequality constraints included in the active constraint set.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2021
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Applicants: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES, INC.
    Inventors: Junya HATTORI, Masaya Endo, Yuko Omagari, Tomoki Uno, Stefano Di Cairano, Rien Quirynen
  • Publication number: 20230074148
    Abstract: A controller for controlling a motion of at least one device subject to constraints on the motion, is disclosed. The controller comprises a processor and a memory, where the controller inputs parameters of the task including the state of the at least one device to a neural network trained to output an estimated motion trajectory for performing the task. Further, the controller extracts at least some of the integer values of a solution to a mixed-integer optimization problem for planning an execution of the task that results in the estimated motion trajectory. Further, the controller solves the mixed-integer optimization problem for the parameters of the task with corresponding integer values fixed to the extracted integer values to produce an optimized motion trajectory subject to the constraint and changes the state of the at least one device to track the optimized motion trajectory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2021
    Publication date: March 9, 2023
    Applicants: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Stefano Di Cairano, Ankush Chakrabarty, Rien Quirynen, Mohit Srinivasan, Nobuyuki Yoshikawa, Toshisada Mariyama
  • Patent number: 11584341
    Abstract: A control system for wheel-slip prevention in a railway vehicle with a pneumatic brake is provided. The control system comprises an input interface configured to accept a deceleration reference for controlling the pneumatic brake, and a memory configured to store a reference governor providing executable instructions for modifying the deceleration reference upon its violation of a wheel-slip constraint, and configured to store a controller providing executable instructions for mapping the modified deceleration reference to a sequence of control commands for controlling pressure applied by the pneumatic brake. The control system further comprises a processor configured to execute the reference governor to modify the deceleration reference and configured to execute the controller to map the modified deceleration reference to the sequence of control commands. Further, an output interface of the control system is configured to output the sequence of control commands to control the pneumatic brake.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Claus Danielson, Stefano Di Cairano
  • Publication number: 20230050192
    Abstract: Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have shown the potential to improve safety, increase road throughput, and optimize energy efficiency and emissions in several complicated traffic scenarios. This invention describes a mixed-integer programming (MIP) optimization method for global multi-vehicle decision making and motion planning of CAVs in a highly dynamic environment that consists of multiple human-driven, i.e., conventional or manual, vehicles and multiple conflict zones, such as merging points and intersections. The proposed approach ensures safety, high throughput and energy efficiency by solving a global multi-vehicle constrained optimization problem. The solution provides a feasible and optimal time schedule through road segments and conflict zones for the automated vehicles, by using information from the position, velocity, and destination of the manual vehicles, which cannot be directly controlled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2021
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Rien Quirynen, Stefano Di Cairano, Shreejith Ravikumar, Akshay Bhagat, Eyad Zeino