
Most relevant research achievements
Advanced methods for Circuit Analysis
- Innovative simulation techniques have been developed for the time-domain analysis of nonlinear dynamical circuits with applications to RF electronics. These techniques include the “Envelope Following” and “Probe Insertion” method, as well as Runge-Kutta numerical integrations techniques for oscillating circuits.
- Implementation of efficient numerical algorithms in the time domain running on multi-core computers and GPUs for the simulations of nonlinear circuits. These algorithms have been exploited to determine the steady state behaviour of hybrid systems, i.e. of circuits that are modelled by DAEs with a discontinuous vector field and variables that can undergo hard “resets”.
- Hierarchical computational flow, i.e. based on the exploitation of models at different levels of abstraction, for the verification of complex systems such as AMS circuits in the presence of noise and variability.
Macromodeling of RF circuits for RF electronics
- A comprehensive approach for the compact modeling of the main functional blocks forming RF circuits has been provided with oscillators modeling emphasis. A phase-domain model has been delivered that can be employed to investigate the nonlinear dynamical phenomenon of synchronization in oscillator arrays and in the design of innovative Injection-Locking-based frequency dividers.
- Stochastic simulations in the presence of noise have allowed devising new noise-mitigation techniques that rely on synchronization and oscillators coupling. Furthermore, research has shown how intrinsic noise can lead to performance improvement in AMS circuits thanks to the phenomenon referred to as “Stochastic Resonance”.
Advanced simulation of electromagnetic field and modeling of electrical devices
- The main limitations of Cell Method and Finite Integration Technique (FIT) for the Electromagnetic Simulation have been overcome by extending underneath Theory. A remarkable result was the discretization of constitutive relations, discretization of energetic and boundary conditions over generic polyhedral grids while preserving thermodynamic properties. Among achieved results, we underline: the extension of the FDTD technique (in collaboration with Prof. T. Weiland, University of Darmstadt and CST) from cartesian to tetrahedral grids; the implementation of a hybrid FIT-BEM method for eddy currents modeling. Some research topics have been studied in collaboration with Università di Udine e di Padova (Progetto PRIN).
- A further research activity has been devoted to the modelling of electrical devices. The study addressed the extraction of the parameters in order to obtain circuit models and at the same time to study the physical phenomena of second approximation as eddy currents, the structure of the materials and thermal phenomena, or dispersive.
Electro-thermal analysis of electrical devices and components
- Very efficient yet accurate Model Order Reduction (MOR) have been devised for the extraction of compact thermal models for electro-thermal analysis. In particular, a Boundary Condition Independent (BCI) technique and another one for nonlinear thermal nets (in collaboration with l’Università Federico II di Napoli). Some of such methods have been implemented in the software code FAst Novel Thermal Analysis Simulation Tool for Integrated Circuits (FANTASTIC). This activity has received awards and recognitions which include THERMINIC 2014 Best Paper Award and the Rosten Award 2015.
Multi-physics modelling and simulation of systems for renewable energy production
- A multi-physics model has been developed for the design and optimization of innovative photovoltaic modules equipped with a solar concentrator and a cooling system that are able to supply both electrical and thermal energies. In addition, the microinverter has been modelled and simulated in order to cope with panel shading effects. This last research has been supported by a Regione Lombardia project (SSR).
- Models have also been developed for the long term prediction of photovoltaic energy production that account for the solar plant characteristics and aging.
- A simulation framework and models have been provided for marine wave farms based on Linear electric generators.
Modeling and Analysis of electric systems for Vehicles and Aircrafts
- Models have been developed for the power management of the on-board energy in Satellites (Fp7-Hyper project) and vehicles with the purpose of optimizing the usage of the energy sources in particular working conditions.
- At the same time, predictive models of the energy usage in electric vehicles have been provided and used in the system-level simulation of the electric distribution network at the aim of evaluating the impact on network stability.
- Hardware-in-the-Loop systems have been developed for model/device integrated simulation.