About me

Who Am I?

Hi, I'm Alessandro N. Vargas. I am a full Professor at UTFPR, Brazil. I've been working at UTFPR since 2007, doing research on Control Systems and teaching engineering-related topics for undergraduate and graduate students. I completed my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil, in 2009, and spent a year as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech, Spain, in 2014-2015. I have been a Visiting Professor at the Arizona State University (ASU), USA, and a Visiting Professor at the Politecnico di Milano (Polimi), Italy. I'm serving as Associate Editor of the Journal of The Franklin Institute (Elsevier), IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, IET Signal Processing , and the International Journal of Systems Science (Taylor and Francis). You can find more details in my CV here.

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Research: My primary research interest is in developing novel techniques for automatic control systems. I particularly enjoy working on algorithms for solving control problems. Optimization and numerical methods are exciting research topics for me. I am deeply interested in the identification, estimation, and stochastic modeling of real-time processes. More recently, I have been investigating data-driven and machine learning methods in control problems. My current research focuses on developing stochastic control methods for real-time processes, such as mechatronics, actuators and sensors, automotive systems, and renewable energy.

Innovation in technology

Automatic control systems

Stochastic systems

Science outreach activities

Education

Education

Labcontrol

Labcontrol

Papers
Projects
Students
Partners

Labcontrol is a research laboratory located at Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Brazil. I am the Scientific Director of Labcontrol. This laboratory hosts students and researchers, promoting projects related to control systems, automation, mechatronics, and renewable energy.

I am always interested in recruiting motivated undergraduate and graduate students to join our research group at Labcontrol, possibly with financial support and scholarships. Postdoctoral fellows and professors from sabbatical are welcome to join us as well. For more information, please contact me (click here).

Publications

List of publications

Publications in scientific journals

  1. LOPES, R. O. ; MENDES, EDUARDO M. A. M. ; TORRES, L. A. B. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; PALHARES, R. M. . Finite-horizon suboptimal control of Markov jump linear parameter-varying systems. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONTROL. DOI:10.1080/00207179.2020.1728387
  2. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; MONTEZUMA, MARCIO A. F. ; X. Liu ; OLIVEIRA, R. C. L. F. . Robust stability of Markov jump linear systems through randomized evaluations. APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTATION, v. 346, p. 287-294, 2019.
  3. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; CARUNTU, C. F. ; ISHIHARA, JOAO Y. . Stability of switching linear systems with switching signals driven by stochastic processes. JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE-ENGINEERING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS, v. 356, p. 31-41, 2019.
  4. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; Costa, Eduardo F. ; ACHO, L. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val. Switching stochastic nonlinear systems with application to an automotive throttle. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATIC CONTROL, v. 63, p. 3098-3104, 2018.
  5. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; MONTEZUMA, MARCIO A. F. ; LIU, XINGHUA ; XU, LONG ; YU, XINGHUO . Sliding-Mode Control for Stabilizing High-Order Stochastic Systems: Application to One-Degree-of-Freedom Aerial Device. IEEE Transactions on Systems Man Cybernetics-Systems, 2018, DOI: 10.1109/TSMC.2018.2849846 .
  6. BAHLOUL, M. ; CHRIFI-ALAOUI, L. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; CHAABANE, M. ; DRID, S. . Online robust estimation of flux and load torque in induction motors. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, v. 94, p. 2703-2713, 2018.
  7. CAVALCANTI, JOÃO ; FIGUEREDO, LUIS FC ; ISHIHARA, JOÃO Y ; BERNARDES, MARIANA C ; SANTANA, PEDRO HRQA ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; BORGES, GEOVANY A . A real-time web-based networked control system education platform. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION, v. 1, p. 1-12, 2018.
  8. CARUNTU, C. F. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; ACHO, LEONARDO ; PUJOL, GISELA . Adaptive-Smith Predictor for Controlling an Automotive Electronic Throttle over Network. International Journal of Computers Communications \& Control, v. 13, p. 151-161, 2018.
  9. TIZGUI, I. ; EL GUEZAR, F. ; BOUZAHIR, H. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Estimation and Analysis of Wind Electricity Production Cost in Morocco. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY ECONOMICS AND POLICY, v. 8, p. 58-66, 2018.
  10. CARUNTU, C. F. ; VELANDIA-CARDENAS, C. C. ; LIU, XINGHUA ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Model Predictive Control of Stochastic Linear Systems with Probability Constraints. International Journal of Computers Communications \& Control, v. 13, p. 927-937, 2018.
  11. SAMPAIO, L. P. ; SILVA, S. A. O. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Development Of A Graphic Computational Platform Dedicated To Teaching Of Photovoltaic Systems Using An Electronic Emulator. ELETRÔNICA DE POTÊNCIA (IMPRESSO), v. 22, p. 91-101, 2017.
  12. YANG, T. ; ZHANG, L. ; SREERAM, V. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; HAYAT, T. ; AHMAD, B. . Time-varying filter design for semi-Markov jump linear systems with intermittent transmission. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBUST AND NONLINEAR CONTROL, v. 27, p. 4035-4049, 2017.
  13. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; PUJOL, GISELA ; ACHO, LEONARDO . Stability of Markov jump systems with quadratic terms and its application to RLC circuits. JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE-ENGINEERING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS, v. 354, p. 332-344, 2017.
  14. LIU, XINGHUA ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; YU, XINGHUO ; XU, LONG . Stabilizing two-dimensional stochastic systems through sliding mode control. JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE-ENGINEERING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS, v. 354, p. 5813-5824, 2017.
  15. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; SAMPAIO, LEONARDO P. ; ACHO, LEONARDO ; ZHANG, LIXIAN ; DO VAL, JOAO B. R. . Optimal Control of DC-DC Buck Converter via Linear Systems With Inaccessible Markovian Jumping Modes. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, v. 24, p. 1820-1827, 2016.
  16. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; ACHO, L. ; BONIFACIO, E. ; ARENS, W. ; João B. R. do Val. Stochastic stability for a model representing the intake manifold pressure of an automotive engine. Cogent Engineering, v. 3, p. 1-10, 2016.
  17. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; MENEGAZ, HENRIQUE M. T. ; ISHIHARA, JOAO Y. ; ACHO, LEONARDO . Unscented Kalman Filters for Estimating the Position of an Automotive Electronic Throttle Valve. IEEE Trans. on Vehicular Technology, v. 65, p. 4627-4632, 2016.
  18. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; Denis W. F. De Souza, ; FREITAS, A. M. ; LORINI, I. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . A silo for suppressing the population of Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Coleoptera, Bostrichidae) in stored wheat. Cogent Food \& Agriculture, v. 2, p. 1-9, 2016.
  19. PODIVOLOVA, E. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; ACHO, L. . Set-valued estimation of switching linear system: an application to an automotive throttle valve. International Journal of Numerical Modelling , v. 29, p. 755-762, 2016.
  20. PUJOL, G. ; VIDAL, Y. ; ACHO, L. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Asymmetric Modelling and Control of an Electronic Throttle. International Journal of Numerical Modelling: Electronic Networks, Devices and Fields, Volume 29, Issue 2, p. 192--204. 2016
  21. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; ACHO, L. ; PUJOL, G. ; COSTA, E. F. ; ISHIHARA, JOÃO Y. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . Output feedback of Markov jump linear systems with no mode observation: an automotive throttle application. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control. Volume 26, Issue 9, p. 1980--1993. 2016.
  22. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; BORTOLIN, D. C. ; Costa, Eduardo F. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . Gradient-based optimization techniques for the design of static controllers for Markov jump linear systems with unobservable modes. International Journal of Numerical Modelling: Electronic Networks, Devices and Fields, 2015. Volume 28, Issue 3, pages 239--253.
  23. MENEGAZ, H. M. ; Ishihara, J. Y. ; BORGES, G. A. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Systematization of the Unscented Kalman Filter Theory. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2015. Volume:60 Issue:10, 2583--2598.
  24. OLIVEIRA, RICARDO C. L. F. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; DO VAL, JOAO B. R. ; PERES, PEDRO L. D. . Mode-Independent $H_2$-Control of a DC Motor Modeled as a Markov Jump Linear System. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology. 2014. Volume:22 , Issue: 5, 1915--1919.
  25. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val Almost Periodic Parameters for the Second Moment Stability of Linear Stochastic Systems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, v. 59, p. 1072-1077, 2014
  26. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val ; Ishihara, J. Y. Stationary policies for lower bounds on the minimum average cost of discrete-time nonlinear control systems. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 2014, Volume 24, Issue 17, pages 2943--2957.
  27. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; Costa, Eduardo F. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val. On the control of Markov jump linear systems with no mode observation: application to a DC Motor device. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, Volume 23, Issue 10, pages 1136-1150, 2013
  28. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; FURLONI, Walter ; Val, João B.R. . Second moment constraints and the control problem of Markov jump linear systems. Numerical Linear Algebra with Applications, Volume 20, Issue 2, pages 357-368, March 2013
  29. Costa, Eduardo F. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; Val, João B. R. . Quadratic costs and second moments of jump linear systems with general Markov chain. MCSS. Mathematics of Control, Signals and Systems, v. 23, p. 141-157, 2011.
  30. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do Val, João B. R.; Average Cost and Stability of Time-Varying Linear Systems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control , v. 55, p. 714-720, 2010.
  31. OLIVEIRA, R. C. L. F. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do Val, J.B.R. ; PERES, P. L. D. . Robust stability, H2 analysis and stabilisation of discrete-time Markov jump linear systems with uncertain probability matrix. International Journal of Control, v. 82, p. 470-481, 2009.

Publications in conference proceedings

  1. BAHLOUL, M. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; CHRIFI-ALAOUI, L. ; DRID, S. ; CHAABANE, M. . Modified Robust Model Reference Adaptive System Scheme for a Speed Sensorless Vector Control of Induction Motor. In: Proc. 19th international conference on Sciences and Techniques of Automatic control \& computer engineering (STA), Sousse, Tunis, 2019. v. 1. p. 473-478.
  2. CARUNTU, C. F. ; LAZAR, C. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Chance-constrained model predictive control for vehicle drivetrains in a cyber-physical framework. In: Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), 2017 International Conference on, Ilha da Madeira Portugal, 2017, v. 1. p. 1137-1144.
  3. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; PUJOL, G. ; ACHO, L. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . On the stability in probability of Markov jump systems with quadratic terms. In: European Control Conference ECC, 2015, Linz, Austria. Proc. European Control Conference, v. 1. p. 770-775, 2015.
  4. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; ACHO, L. ; PUJOL, G. ; OLIVEIRA, R. C. L. F. ; Val, João B. R. ; PERES, P. L. D. . Robust H-2 static output feedback to control an automotive throttle valve. In: 2014 American Control Conference, 2014, Portland, Oregon, USA. Proc. 2014 American Control Conference, 2014.
  5. LEVANO, E. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Control of a hysteresis model subject to random failures. In: 11th Portuguese Conference on Automatic Control, 2014, Porto, Portugal. Springer Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering - Proc. 11th Portuguese Conf. Automatic Control. New York: Springer, 2014. v. 321. p. 1-10.
  6. FREIRE JUNIOR, V. A. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; AGULHARI, C. M. . ON THE DESIGN OF A QUANTIZED STATE-FEEDBACK CONTROL. In: XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2014, Belo Horizonte. XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2014. p. 1150-1157.
  7. PELZ, G. M. ; BRONIERA JUNIOR, P. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Implementa\c c \~ao de um sistema de controle de n\'ivel de dois tanques acoplados. In: XX Congresso Brasileiro de Autom\'atica, 2014, Belo Horizonte. XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2014. p. 1419-1425.
  8. De Souza D. W. F., Vargas, Alessandro N. , Do Val J. B. R., Freitas A. M., I. Lorini, Control of Temperature to Suppress the Population of Rhyzopertha Dominica (F.) (Coleoptera, Bostrichidae) in a Grain Silo Prototype, Proc. European Control Conference 2013, Zurich. 2013. p. 4089-4093
  9. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R., Ishihara, J. Y. . On the Numerical Solution of the Control Problem of Switched Linear Systems, Proc. European Control Conference 2013, Zurich. 2013. p. 2175-2179.
  10. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. . Asymptotic stability of linear stochastic systems with delay driven by a Bernoulli process. In: 10th Portuguese Conference on Automatic Control CONTROLO 12, 2012, Funchal, Ilha da Madeira. Lisboa: Associação Portuguesa de Controlo Automatico (APCA), 2012. p. 157-161.
  11. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val. SISTEMAS LINEARES ESTOCASTICOS COM ATRASO GOVERNADO POR PROCESSO DE BERNOULLI. In: Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA 2012, 2012, Campina Grande, Paraiba. p. 5088-5093.
  12. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; VAL, J. B. R. . Finite approximation of the optimal average cost for a class of stochastic control systems. In: 18th IFAC World Congress, 2011, Milan, Italy. Proc. 18th IFAC World Congress, 2011. p. 12427-12431.
  13. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. . Stationary policies for the second moment stability in a class of stochastic systems. In: 50th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference, 2011, Orlando, Florida, USA. Proc. 50th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference, 2011. p. 1264-1268.
  14. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . Minimum second moment state for the existence of average optimal stationary policies in linear stochastic systems. In: 2010 American Control Conference, 2010, Baltimore, Mariland, USA. Proc. 2010 American Control Conference, 2010. p. 373-377.
  15. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; Ishihara, J. Y. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . Regulador linear quadrático de sistemas lineares com saltos markovianos e controle nos chaveamentos. In: XVIII Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2010, Bonito, MS. Proc. XVIII Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2010. p. 4701-4705.
  16. Furloni, W. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val ; Vargas, Alessandro N. . Controle sujeito a restrições de sistemas lineares com saltos markovianos e ruído multiplicativo. In: XVIII Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2010, Bonito, MS. Proc. XVIII Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2010. p. 2910-2917.
  17. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; Ishihara, J. Y. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . Linear quadratic regulator for a class of Markovian jump systems with control in jumps. In: 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2010, Atlanta, USA. Proc. 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2010. p. 2282-2285.
  18. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . A Controllability Condition for the Existence of Average Optimal Stationary Policies of Linear Stochastic Systems. In: The European Control Conference, 2009, Budapest, Hungary. Proc. European Control Conference, 2009. p. 32-37.
  19. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . A Bounded Cost Condition for the Existence of Average Optimal Stationary Policies of Linear Stochastic Systems. In: The European Control Conference, 2009, Budapest, Hungary. Proc. European Control Conference, 2009. p. 38-42.
  20. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. . Average optimal stationary policies: convexity and convergence conditions in linear stochastic control systems. In: Joint 48th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and 28th Chinese Control Conference, 2009, Shangai, China. Proc. 48th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2009. p. 3388-3393.
  21. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . A result on the existence of optimal stationary policies for the average cost control problem of linear systems. In: XVII Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2008, Juiz de Fora-MG. XVII Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, 2008.
  22. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. . On the existence of stationary optimal policies for the average cost control problem of linear systems with abstract state-feedback. In: 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2008, Cancun, Mexico. Proc. 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2008. p. 3682-3687.
  23. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; João Bosco Ribeiro do Val . Averaging and Stability of Time-Varying Discrete-Time Linear Systems. In: 17th IFAC World Congress, 2008, Seoul. Proceedings of the 17th IFAC World Congress, 2008. p. 1305-1310.
  24. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. ; COSTA, E. F. . On stability of linear time-varying stochastic discrete-time systems. In: European Control Conference, 2007, Kos, Grecia. European Control Conference 2007, 2007. p. 2423-2427.
  25. OLIVEIRA, R. C. L. F. ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. ; PERES, P. L. D. . Convergent LMI relaxations for robust analysis of uncertain discrete-time Markov jump linear systems. In: 3rd IFAC Symposium on System, Structure and Control, 2007, Foz do Iguacu, PR. Proceedings of the 3rd IFAC Symposium on System, Structure and Control, 2007.
  26. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; Furloni, W. ; do VAL, J. B. R. . Control of Markov Jump Linear Systems with state and input constraints: a necessary optimality condition. In: 3rd IFAC Symposium on System, Structure and Control, 2007, Foz do Iguacu, PR. Proceedings of the 3rd IFAC Symposium on System, Structure and Control, 2007.
  27. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. ; FURLONI, Walter . Constrained Control Problem of Discrete-time Markov Jump Linear Systems with Observed State. In: CBA 2006, XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Automatica, 2006, Salvador, Bahia. CBA 2006, XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Automatica, 2006. p. 2063-2068.
  28. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; COSTA, E. F. ; do VAL, J. B. R. . Bounds for the Finite Horizon Cost of Linear Systems with Additive Noise and Convergence for the Long Run Average Cost. In: CBA 2006, XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Automatica, 2006, Salvador, Bahia. CBA 2006, XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Automatica, 2006. p. 2153-2158.
  29. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; FURLONI, Walter ; do VAL, J. B. R. . Constrained Model Predictive Control of Jump Linear Systems with Noise and Non-observed Markov State. In: 2006 American Control Conference, 2006, Minneapolis, USA. 2006 American Control Conference, 2006. p. 929-934.
  30. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; COSTA, E. F. ; do VAL, J. B. R. . Bounds for the Finite Horizon Cost of Markov Jump Linear Systems with Additive Noise and Convergence for the Long Run Average Cost. In: Proc. 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2006, San Diego, CA, USA. Proc. 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2006. p. 5543-5548.
  31. FURLONI, Walter ; Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. . Aplicação de Controle por Horizonte Retrocedente de Sistemas Lineares com Saltos Markovianos à Regulação de Tráfego Metroviário. In: CBA 2006, XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Automatica, 2006, Salvador, Bahia. CBA 2006, XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Automatica, 2006. p. 2784-2789.
  32. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. ; COSTA, E. F. . Optimality Condition for the Receding Horizon Control of Markov Jump Linear Systems with Non-observed Chain and Linear Feedback Controls. In: 44th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference ECC 2005, 2005, Seville, Spain. Proc. 44th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference ECC 2005, 2005. p. 7308-7313.
  33. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. ; COSTA, E. F. . Receding Horizon Control of Markov Jump Linear Systems Subjetc to Noise and Unobserved State Chain. In: 43rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2004, Paradise Island. Proc. 43rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2004. v. 4. p. 4381-4386.
  34. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; do VAL, J. B. R. ; COSTA, E. F. . Controle de Horizonte Retrocedente de Sistemas Lineares com Saltos Markovianos para o Problema de Rastreamento com Alvos Dinâmicos. In: XV Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA 2004, 2004, Gramado, RS, Brasil. XV Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA 2004, 2004.
  35. Vargas, Alessandro N. ; SALLES, José Leandro Felix ; VAL, J. B. R. . Software de Simulação e Controle da Expansão da Capacidade. In: XXXV Simpósio Brasileiro de Pesquisa Operacional, 2003, Natal. XXXV Simpósio Brasileiro de Pesquisa Operacional, 2003. p. 2359-2370.
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