Leader: Prof. Pavel Václavek

Group website: https://www.uamt.feec.vutbr.cz/odborne-skupiny/robotika-umela-inteligence

Our experts investigate the theory and application of automatic control, including relevant algorithms and their implementation in PLCs and embedded systems. More concretely, we focus on control applications within advanced drive systems (multiphase motors) and the automotive industry (electromobiles and automated vehicles).

Major 4-year outputs:

• A control algorithm for a nine-phase PMSM drive to be integrated in fully electric automobiles; the product was exhibited at Hannover Messe 2014.

Leader: Assoc. Prof. Petr Beneš

Group website: https://www.uamt.feec.vutbr.cz/odborne-skupiny/merici-technika

The group’s researchers explore the design and development of measuring systems; electrical and electronic measurement; sensors of non-electrical quantities; and methods for the measurement and evaluation of physical quantities, comprising or relating to, above all, techniques and effects such as vibro- and thermodiagnostics, acoustic emission, flow, and noise.

Major 4-year outputs:

• Accredited laboratory No. 1657 to facilitate vibration and climatic testing of electrical, electronic, and mechanical products within academic and commercial activities, including broad contract-based research conducted especially for automotive customers.
• Accredited calibration laboratory No. 2395 to calibrate vibration sensors, generators, and vibrometers.
• The design and development of an automated system for the measurement of parameters in Reggiana Riduttori precise gearboxes, jointly with the company Moog Brno s.r.o.
• The design and development of a system to measure the geometric parameters of springs for the company HŽP a.s.

Leader: Assoc. Prof. Petr Fiedler

Group website: http://www.uamt.feec.vutbr.cz/odborne-skupiny/prumyslova-automatizace

The group conducts research and development within industrial control, embedded systems, and communication, examining the individual sectors in view of real-time data collection, management, transfer, and storage. The set of main tasks and goals, however, includes also practical instruction in and application of Industry 4.0 technologies, those associated with programmable controllers (PLCs) and their integration in particular.

Major 4-year outputs:

• A system to allow remote monitoring of respiratory masks, completed in collaboration with the Speltronic company.
• Virtual laboratories and a physical testbed to teach Industry 4.0 approaches and technologies, designed with support from Siemens.

Leader: Prof. Luděk Žalud

Group website: https://www.uamt.feec.vutbr.cz/odborne-skupiny/robotika-umela-inteligence

The research is primarily within mobile reconnaissance robotics and involves practical tasks directly linked to the following fields and assignments: telepresence-based remote missions; precise self-localization and navigation in an indoor or outdoor environment; cooperation between mobile robots forming a heterogeneous set; autonomous ionizing radiation measurement; highly robust mobile robot design; and communication between grouped robots. Another area of interest for the robotics and AI experts lies in industrial manipulators and such related subdomains of Industry 4.0 as safe communication, personal detection, and intra-factory logistics.

Major 4-year outputs:

• The ATEROS (Autonomous telepresence robotic system), a heterogeneous formation of mobile robots operating in a combined, autonomy-and-telepresence mode. The system has been developed as a complete unit embodying the design, development, and fabrication of each individual robot; a communication system; autonomous algorithms; sensor subsystems; and programs.

Leader: Karel Horák, Ph.D.

Group website: http://www.uamt.feec.vutbr.cz/odborne-skupiny/pocitacove-videni

The focus is on research into techniques of machine perception, computer vision, object recognition, artificial intelligence, and their implementation in industrial diagnostics; in the same context, attention is given also to medicine, biology, and traffic systems.

Major 4-year outputs:

• ADAS systems developed in support of autonomous vehicle control to detect or evaluate road marking, driveways, lanes, pedestrians, and driver fatigue.
• A system utilizing machine learning to perform optical recognition of license plate signs and Captcha codes.
• An adaptive recurrent estimator for indoor SLAM tasks, exploiting multidimensional data fusion.
• High-precision visual profile measurement in axial bearings via active triangulation.
• An imager control unit to be applied in miniature OLEDs.

Leader: Assoc. Prof. Jaromír Hubálek

Group website: http://www.umel.feec.vutbr.cz/labsensnano/

The laboratory experts examine the applicability of nanotechnologies in both general sensorics and the development of sensors of various quantities. The corresponding work involves the designing of not only microsensors to detect gases via nanoparticles but also nanostructured and functionalized electrodes to be employed in electrochemical sensors and biosensors. Other investigated subjects prominently include advanced techniques for the diagnostics and subsequent analysis of substances that find use in medicine.

Major 4-year outputs:

• A technique to allow the processing of a signal from a bolometer (bolometer array) and an electronic system to perform the task: the relevant patent has been put into practice abroad.
• A miniature bolometer membrane with increased absorption and a procedure to form a bolometer absorption layer: the relevant patent has been put into practice abroad.
• A 100-pixel MEMS with bolometers.

Leader: Vladimír Holcman, Ph.D.

The group develops unique instruments and systems which, based on novel sensors and algorithms, facilitate shifting the limits of regular commercial products towards the satisfaction of more narrowly specified customer requirements.

Major 4-year outputs:

• A communication system for forklift trucks and a central warehouse safety system.
• Metal component localizer (up to 1.5 mm) for conveyor belts.
• A setup to detect and predict defective coils in automotive applications.
• A system to control the hardening of carbon parts and to localize defects in such products.

Leader: Assoc. Prof. Radim Burget

Group website: https://www.six.feec.vutbr.cz/research-groups/signal-processing/

The experts investigate algorithms and methods enabling the analysis and processing of unstructured data; other main activities include examining big-data and parallel algorithms to design comprehensive artificial intelligence systems.

Major 4-year outputs:

• A scalable big-data solution developed in collaboration with the Honeywell company to continuously analyze several tens of terabytes of data in a computing cloud. The information from 1.5 million sensors allows the instrument to recognize possible cost savings, at a yearly amount of $6.8 mil.
• Joint research with the Webnode company yielded a software solution exploiting artificial intelligence. The product is capable of analyzing messages or reports received by Webnode‘s customer service center to select, prioritize, and reduce the response time in the most significant items.
• A cooperation program involving Honeywell resulted in a specialized, artificial intelligence-based tool tailored to suit a pilot’s flight plan. The central functions consist in analyzing and intepreting thousands of NOTAM messages, which, after being evaluated, are merged with the pilot’s maps to increase the safety of the flight; in this context, the research brought interesting implications for air navigation in general.

Leader: Prof. Jiří Mišurec

We investigate the technical solution of and approaches to communications and energy networks in smart cities (Smart Grid, Smart City, Smart Building, Smart Home). Our practical outputs are utilized by those of the Czech Republic’s distributors (E.ON, ČEZ, PRE) that focus on smart technologies and design novel communication strategies for smart grids of the future. The group collaborates also with the MEgA, GreyCortex, GINA, and Sewio companies as well as the city of Brno. All of the research contacts are established on a long-term basis.

Major 4-year outputs:

• A methodology for testing smart electricity meters equipped with PLCs; included in the process were up to 30,000 heavy duty devices, as specified within the relevant E.ON company tender.
• IoT sensors for cathode protection monitoring.
• Methodological procedures, studies, and experimental verification of selected technologies to be employed by E.ON, ČEZ, and PRE, with an emphasis on PLCs and LPWAN.

Leader: Assoc. Prof. Jiří Hošek

Group website: http://wislab.cz/

We pursue the design and development of low-power devices for M2M data transfer applicable in LPWA mobile networks, and we also perform qualitative frequency spectrum analysis for mobile systems (2G/3G/4G/NB-IoT) and technologies operable in the unlicensed frequency band (LoRa, Sigfox). Further, our activities involve the development and investigation of mobile applications (Android/iOS) and high-speed communication in the millimeter-wave band.

Major 4-year outputs:

• A prototype of a smart home IoT gate developed for Telekom Austria Group; the product later evolved into a commercial solution currently offered to the company’s customers.
• A prototype of an NB-IoT sensor developed for Vodafone Czech Republic and presently used in testing and tuning Vodafone’s commercial NB-IoT network.
• A voice-based smart home control system designed for Telekom Austria Group.