Welcome to SIDRA 2023

The S.I.D.R.A. PhD Summer School is a one-week event organised every year by S.I.D.R.A., the Italian Control Systems Society. The Summer School usually takes place in Bertinoro, Forlì-Cesena, Italy. Our current plan is to organise the School in person, in Bertinoro, respecting all the rules to cope with the pandemic, but if the situation will not allow it, the School will be held online.

Since the first edition, in 1997, the school has been a meeting place for PhD students, post-graduate and researchers, to be introduced to classical as well as to emerging control theory, enriched by practical case studies and applications. Besides the learning experience, the school also has the ambition of providing a stimulating environment for PhD students to meet and establish professional relationships, collaborations, and know-how exchanges. Every year, two hot topics related to control systems theory/applications are presented, and the participants to the school have the opportunity to suggest the topics for the next year. The summer school is primarily intended for, but not restricted to, PhD, post-graduate, and researcher candidates in the Control Systems and Automatica fields. Participants coming from other disciplines may also benefit from the school depending on the topics discussed. The school success encountered in these years and the distinguished international guests, involved a progressive internationalization of the school that now opens up to receive applications from all the European PhD students.

This year themes

This year the school comprises an intensive programme of lectures and seminars organised around two topical research themes.

The first theme, developed in the first half of the week, is entitled "From vehicle dynamics control to autonomous driving in urban environments" coordinated and taught by professors Paolo Falconi (Engineering department "Enzo Ferrari", University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy), and Matteo Corno (Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano)

The second theme, presented in the second half of the week, is an “Introduction to Optimisation“, coordinated by professors Valentina Cacchiani and Michele Monaci (Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", University of Bologna, Italy)

More in details the “From vehicle dynamics control to autonomous driving in urban environments“ course deals with the topics of Vehicle modeling. Kinematic model, Longitudinal/lateral motion and Speed control, Path following, Predictive motion planning, Vertical dynamics, Semi-Active Damping Control, Semi-Active Stiffness Control. Click here for more info on the course programme.

The “Introduction to Optimisation" course will review Nonlinear optimization (optimality conditions, algorithms), Lagrangian relaxation, Mixed Integer Linear Programming introduction and models, Dynamic Programming and Branch-and-Bound, Heuristic, metaheuristic and matheuristic algorithms, Robust optimization. Click here for more info on the course programme.

A brief guide to surf the site

• Click on the main menu item More Info to have information about how the telematic lectures will be held and instructions on how to follow them,
• Click on the main menu item Registration to have information and instructions on how to apply to the school and the requested fee. Here you can find the pre-registration form to be filled to be admitted to the SIDRA summer school
• Click on the main menu item Teaching Material to download the material of the school and the homeworks. The material will be provided few weeks before the first school day whereas the homework will be available at the end of the school (for taking a certified exam if required by the home university).
• Use the links on the bottom of the page to communicate directly with the Centro Universitario di Bertinoro, that manage the centre where the school take place (only for questions not answered on this site).
• On the bottom of the page the email addresses of the coordinators of the school, Prof. Claudio Melchiorri and Prof. Maria Elena Valcher, and of the contact person at the Centro Universitario di Bertinoro, Ms. Monica Michelacci.

Please, contact Ms. Jessica Bazzoli for questions related to accommodation and logistics, Prof. Claudio Melchiorri or Prof. Maria Elena Valcher for questions related to the School and the courses.