Modeling, Simulation and Optimization in Electrical Engineering (MSOEE)

Electric machine model. Image: Robert Bosch GmbH

Recently, ECMI’s research and innovation committee agreed to establish a special interest group on ‘Modeling, Simulation and Optimization in Electrical Engineering’ (for short: MSOEE). It is currently maintained by Stefan Kurz and Sebastian Schöps. Electrical engineering is an important technology for many recent societal and industrial developments. It includes the investigation and application of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. For example, smartphones are connected to the internet by using semiconductors based on nanometer technology for processing data and at the same time antennas for exchanging data with cell towers which are tens of kilometers away. More generally, equipment for mobile communication is used to control many other applications, e.g. in health care, banking, security, autonomous driving or energy distribution. Particularly, the transition towards sustainable energy requires the improvement of electrical infrastructure, again, from small scale, e.g. household devices, electric machines, up to power grids. The exemplary image shows a model of an electric machine. MSO of electric machines is of key importance for electric vehicle applications. Such models were recently studied in the workshop Reduced-Order Modeling for Simulation and Optimization: Powerful Algorithms as Key Enablers for Scientific Computing hosted by Robert Bosch GmbH. The importance of the underlying technologies is also recognized by the European Union in various European Technology Platforms, e.g. Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership or Smart Networks for Energy Transition.

Mathematical challenges in electrical engineering are often driven by industrial needs and are related to classical and new emerging topics of applied mathematics and scientific computing, i.e., modeling, simulation, optimization, uncertainty quantification, stochastics and data analysis. Thus, questions of existence and uniqueness related to new semiconductor models are as much relevant for this interest group as the development of new and efficient simulation techniques for electrical machinery. Recent examples of European and domestic research efforts in that field are ASIVA14, nanoCOPS and PASIROM.

The history of this ECMI Special Interest Group goes back at least to 1997, where it was established as part of ECMI’s endeavor to strengthen the ties between applied mathematics and the electrical industry. The mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of problems arising in electrical engineering, not only in microelectronics, was identified as both, a key technology in industrial design and a rich source of various challenging problems in applied mathematics and numerical analysis. The endeavor has resulted in an established series of conferences on Scientific Computing in Electrical Engineering (SCEE), held every two years.

If you are interested in the activities of the group, then please join the mailing list at http://mail.gsc.ce.tu-darmstadt.de/mailman/listinfo/msoee!