The project intends to develop methodologies, techniques and tools for the design of complex hybrid control systems. The structure of the project reflects the two synergies underlying the hybrid systems domain, namely between computer science and control, and between theory and practice. Academically, the partners are coming from both computer science (verification) and control (theory and engineering) and thus includes representatives of the European (and worldwide) leadership in the domain. Moreover, the partners already made the first steps toward inter-disciplinary reapproachment in the framework of the EC hybrid systems projects VHS and H2C. On the theory/practice axis, the academic partners represent groups with a proven record of both high quality research results and successful technology transfer. The industrial partners represent two sectors, automotive control and electrical power production, which are among the first domains to realize the need for new hybrid models in order to express and solve problems arising from their daily practices. In the following we give a brief description of the partners and their roles

Verimag laboratory - INPG, Grenoble. Being a major European research lab in the verification of discrete, timed and hybrid systems and in the rigorous approach to the development of embedded software, VERIMAG will be responsible for further proliferation of the computer science and verification view into the study of control problems, in particular in what concerns effective computation and hybrid semantics. It will lead the RM and TL work-packages in which it will continue the development of the hybrid verification tool d/dt, using the expertise of the control partners, and the industrial case-studies in order to boost the performance and relevance of the tool. It will also participate in the SC packages and the case-studies.

ETH Zurich. The automatic control lab of ETH is dedicated to both fundamental studies on hybrid systems and their applications to real control engineering problems. The role of ETH in the project will be in the computational study of optimization-based approaches to piecewise-linear systems (package CH), formulation and analysis of the case-studies proposed by ABB, development of tools based on constrained mixed optimization and participation in the survey package (SC) and the EDF case-study.

CWI, Amsterdam . CWI is a research institute of The Netherlands' Government in applied mathematics and computer science. Its research group in control and system theory has knowledge and experience in control of hybrid systems, of discrete-event systems, of stochastic systems, and in modeling, realization, and system identification. Its main approach is control synthesis based on system theoretic modeling. The CWI team in the project aims at developing control theory and algorithms for hybrid systems. It is also interested in participating with other partners in applied research, in particular in automotive applications. It plans to participate in the work packages CH, RM, AA, and SC.

Lund University.Lund contributes to the project its expertise in theoretical and computational analysis, with emphasis on stability and optimal control. Lund also has extensive experience in real-time systems and embedded software, which is fundamental for many applications related to this project. Lund will mainly work on the CH work package and the case studies. Previous experience from several projects concerning power systems and automotive control will then be of great value.

PARADES GEIE. PARADES has an established record of research on modeling, control synthesis and analysis in the domain of automotive electronics. It is also involved in developing a new methodology and design tools for system level design of embedded applications. Its principal activity in the project will be related to the modeling and analysis of the automotive case-study. In addition it will contribute to all other work-packages due to its experience in all aspects of computer-aided design.

ABB Corporate Research. The Automation and Information Technologies Group at ABB Corporate Research Ltd in Baden, Switzerland brings to the project its expertise in insulation, current conduction, limitation and interruption, electromagnetic interference and electrical systems engineering as well as the applications of modern control technologies to power plants. The main contribution of ABB will be the presentation of the power distribution case-study and the evaluation of the solutions proposed by the academic partners.

Electricité de France. EDF distributes electricity and builds power plants in France and all over the world. The complexity of its plants and their environmental and economic importance require the use of advanced control problems. EDF will contribute to the project two case-studies which are simplified version of real-life problems, namely the control of water level in a nuclear power plant and the optimization of combustion in a fossil power plant. It will give the other partners detailed dynamic models of these case-studies and will evaluate and test the solutions proposed by the other partners.

Univ. of Siena. The hybrid systems group of Siena will contribute in the computational study of advanced optimization-based approaches for optimal control of piecewise-linear systems (package CH).