Selected projects completed in 2024
You can find other projects on the website of the FAV ZČU departments.
TK01030078
Secure power flexibility for grid control and market purposes (SecureFlex)
The project focuses on the development of analytics, computation and optimization tools and specialized research reports, which will lead to the development of systematic energy solution for secure utilization of power flexibility enabled by new technologies and market stakeholders’ integration into Czech energy domain. In cooperation with system operators, the support tools will be developed, which will have a significant potential of real-world deployment and will enable the systematic solution for power flexibility utilization in market and operation power networks mechanisms of Czech Republic. The project timeline is on the line with the expected middle-term schedule of fourth energy package implementation (Winter package), where is lack of suitable support tools.
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: Ing. Martin Střelec, Ph.D., VP1
Solution period: 2018–2024
21-13713S
Uncertainty estimates for integral transformations in geodesy
This project is focused on formulating integral estimators and studying their uncertainties for the apparatus of integral transformations of static gravity field parameters. Propagation of observation errors will be applied to integral estimators defined for homogeneous and isotropic as well as non-homogeneous and anisotropic integral kernel functions. This approach will allow for propagation of data uncertainties in integral estimators used for transformation, combination and continuation of current and foreseen gravity data.
Provider: Czech Science Foundation
Project leader: prof. Ing. Pavel Novák, PhD, NTIS
Solution period: 2021–2024
TITDUPV027
Development of a communication assistant using artificial intelligence in the field of industrial property
Framework agreement for program project No. TITDUPV027 entitled “Development of a communication assistant using artificial intelligence in the field of industrial property".
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: prof. Ing. Luděk Müller, Ph.D., VP1
Solution period: 2021–2024
22-18261S
Nonlinear problems with non-standard diffusion
Mathematical modeling of diffusion processes significantly affects many areas of physics, chemistry, ecology and social sciences. Traditional models (based on linear diffusion) are incapable of capturing rich dynamic behavior of real dynamic processes. This leads to natural interest in more precise and complex extensions. We focus on three types of models: 1) quasilinear partial differential equations arising from the nonlinear constitutive law; 2) integro-differential equations which enable the description of the superdiffusion; 3) reaction-diffusion systems on discrete networks which reflect the spatial heterogeneities. It is natural that the applications of these models have been enabled by recent advances in computational power. However, a full understanding of their behavior requires detailed knowledge of their qualitative properties, e.g., existence, uniqueness or stability of various types of solutions.
Provider: Czech Science Foundation
Project leader: prof. RNDr. Pavel Drábek, DrSc., Department of Mathematics
Solution period: 2022–2024
22-27800S
Transformers of multiple modalities for more natural spoken dialog
The goal of the project is the research of more natural spoken dialog systems based on the Transformer framework. Since Transformers could be used in sequence-to-sequence scenarios, their use in natural language understanding and generation is common. We would like to focus on the cases where the input or output of a neural network is speech. To convert speech into semantic representation or dialog intents we will be using the speech recognizer as a black-box but we plan to develop novel methods and approaches to process speech lattices in the general Transformer or recurrent neural networks. The inverse process of generating speech from intents will employ the pre-trained Transformer models for language generation and the recent DNN-based speech synthesis architectures. The dialog management will use the attention neural mechanisms to keep track of the dialog state and to generate consistent prompts in an informal or conversational style. The challenging task of speech synthesis using the given speech style will be backed by the recorded corpus of conversational speech.
Provider: Czech Science Foundation
Project leader: doc. Ing. Jindřich Matoušek, Ph.D., VP1
Solution period: 2022–2024
22-18760S
Novel functional thin-film materials based on metallic glasses and dual-phase structure
The subject of the proposed project is preparation and systematic investigation of novel functional thin-film materials based on metallic glasses and dual-phase structure. The films will be synthesized in a very wide composition range using benefits of controlled magnetron sputter deposition in reactive or non-reactive atmosphere. Attention will be paid to (i) dual-phase nanocomposite coatings based on nitride or boride and thin-film metallic glass phases (e.g. ZrN/Zr-Cu, ZrB2/Zr-Cu), and (ii) ternary heterogeneous or homogenous Zr-Cu-based thin-film metallic glass materials (e.g. W-Zr-Cu, Nb-Zr-Cu). The experiments will be supported by state-of-the-art molecular dynamics simulation techniques of the atom-by-atom thin-film growth. The overall goal of the research is to find out and explain complex relationships between the elemental composition, structure and properties of the prepared films and thus to develop thin-film materials with enhanced properties or a unique combination of functionalities that will have high application potential in advanced surface engineering.
Provider: Czech Science Foundation
Project leader: prof. Ing. Petr Zeman, Ph.D., Department of Physics
Solution period: 2022–2024
SS05010008
Detection, identification and monitoring of animals by advanced computer vision methods.
The goal of the project is to carry out research and develop new technologies related to deep understanding of data from camera traps. The technology will greatly increase annotation effectivity, will help to reduce reaction time to urgent situations, e.g. occurrence of a conflict species in new areas or a harmed animal, will help to improve and simplify identification of the individuals and to refine population estimates of endangered species, and will help to find new relations in the indexed data across time and diverse locations. The developed methods and tools will improve monitoring of invasive species. The technologies will streamline activities of public administration, namely AOPK ČR responsible for reporting species status according to Art. 17 of Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC).
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: Ing. Lukáš Picek, Ph.D., VP1
Solution period: 2022–2024
4180000041
Energy Consultation and Information Centre (EKIS)
Operation of the advisory center EKIS - Energy Advisory and Information Center (supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the National Recovery Plan programme) at the University of West Bohemia. The aim of the center is advice for the public, industry, etc., aimed at supporting the introduction of energy savings and renewable energy sources.
Provider: Ministry of Industry and Trade - ET
Project leader: doc. Ing. Jan Pašek, Ph.D., Department of Mechanics
Solution period: 2024
876362
CHARM - Challenging environments tolerant Smart systems for IoT and AI
Digitalization has been identified as one of the key enablers of renewal and competitiveness of European manufacturing industries, however, grasping the digitalization and IoT related opportunities can be limited by the harsh environmental conditions of the manufacturing process and/or end user environment. The ECSEL-IA 2019 project initiative CHARM aims to contribute in solving this problem by developing ECS technologies that tolerate harsh industrial surroundings. The project concept includes a number of real industrial challenges from different types of end user industries. The synergies and impacts arise from similarities in technology solutions serving different applications and industrial sectors. The use cases include six different industrial sectors, majority of them presented by innovative cutting edge large enterprises that belong to the world-wide market leaders of their own sectors - but still new to the ECSEL ecosystem. The user cases include mining (Sandvik mining and construction Oy, FI), paper mills (Valmet Technologies Oy, FI), grinding (Tornos SA, Ch), solar panel manufacturing lines (Applied Materials Italia SRL, IT), Gas manufacturing (AirLiquide, Fr), and nuclear power plants maintenance and decommissioning (ÚJV Rez a.s., Cz). In FPP phase, Océ-Technologies B.V (NL) plans to join bringing one more user case on digital printing. The planned demonstrators engage these big players with the European value chains and showcase capabilities that can serve manufacturing industries’ needs at large. The project consortium includes 10 SMEs, 10+1 LEs and 11 RTOs. The 11 countries involved are Austria, Check Republic, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, The Netherlands, Poland, Belgium and France. The consortium covers the industrial value chain from simulations, sensors and components to packaging, integration and reliability as well as connectivity, cloud and cyber security.
Provider: Ministry of EducationYouth and Sports - H2020
Project leader: Ing. Martin Čech, Ph.D., Department of Cybernetics
Solution period: 2020–2024
FW03010501
Flexible robotic workplace for small series production
The project is motivated by the currently increasing demand for the deployment of robots in industrial processes with medium or small series of products, where the need for frequent reconfiguration of such lines disproportionately increases the economic and time burden and thus fundamentally negatively affects the known advantages of robotization. Common practice when deploying robots in industrial operations requires the presence of an external robot integrator who configures the entire robotic system and its future changes are essentially unfeasible or can only be implemented to a very limited extent by ordinary production operators, usually only in the sense of changing a small set of parameters. The principal objectives of the project are:
- To develop flexible system support in the form of a superior SW solution for intuitive programming of robots in production lines by ordinary production operators.
- To enable effective robotization of small and medium-sized enterprises with small-batch production lines that change frequently.
- To reduce the time and costs of transitioning from a manually operated workplace by a production operator to automated operation with the help of robots, primarily without the need for the intervention of a robot deployment specialist (integrator).
- To increase the safety and comfort of human operators when performing routine operations that can be effectively robotized and move them into the role of supervision and management of (even more) robotized workplaces.
- To increase the portfolio of services offered as a result of streamlining the production of electrical components.
- To generally increase national readiness for the demanding challenges of the new industrial revolution.
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: Ing. Martin Švejda, Ph.D., VP1
Solution period: 2021–2024
101007311
IMOCO4.E
The IMOCO4.E target is to provide vertically distributed edge-to-cloud intelligence for machines, robots and other human-in-the-loop cyber-physical systems having actively controlled moving elements. They face ever-growing requirements on long-term energy efficiency, size, motion speed, precision, adaptability, self-diagnostic, secure connectivity or new human-cognitive features. IMOCO4.E strives to perceive and understand complex machines and robots. The two main pillars of this project are digital twins and AI principles (machine learning/deep learning). These pillars build on the I-MECH reference framework and methodology, by adding new tools to layer 3 that delivers an intelligible view on the system, from the initial design throughout its entire life cycle. For effective employment, completely new demands are created on the Edge layers (Layer 1) of the motion control systems (including variable speed drives and smart sensors) which cannot be routinely handled via available commercial products.
Provider: EC - H2020
Project leader: Ing. Martin Čech, Ph.D., VP1
Solution period: 2021–2024
TK04020057
Improving the reliability of steam turbine operation considering radial bearings life
The main goal of the project is to developt a proven technology and related software tool, enabling increased operational reliability and extended service life of pads in radial tilting pad journal bearings of large diameters, ensuring the operation of turbomachines. To properly adjust the microgeometry of the bearing, minimizing unwanted vibration behavior of bearings, it is necessary to develop and test a diagnostic method that is able to reliably identify unwanted behavior using only online diagnostic data. Subsequently, a technological procedure and a software tool will be developed and verified, which will find the optimal setting of the bearing microgeometry on the basis of dimensional inspections of existing and available spare parts.
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: Ing. Luboš Smolík, Ph.D., KME a VP3
Solution period: 2022–2024
TK04020195
Decentralized Control of Distribution System
The project aims to hw and sw technologies enabling decentralized control of a distribution system (DS) and demand side in the modern energy. R&D activities will focus on significant improvements of the technical properties of smart metering and communication elements of DS through advanced analytical services, innovative control capabilities and significantly improved communication security with emphasis on cost-affordability of resulting solutions.Expected innovations aligned with new control concepts of demand side and DS operation enable systematic and feasible transition from the current DS control to a flexible system capable of taking advantage of new technologies into the DS and taking into account the influence of new stakeholders implementing technical,social or market services.
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: Ing. Martin Střelec, Ph.D., VP1
Solution period: 2022–2024
CK03000179
Dynamic digital street model for the usage of autonomous mobility in Pilsen
The project will aim to pilot test and define the possibilities of using HD maps for autonomous mobility. During the project, a test polygon will be created and equipped by additional sensors to detect obstacles on and around the road in real-time. This polygon will also be occupied by test vehicles equipped by additional sensors to detect road abnormalities. The data will also be transmitted to a server where it will be implemented in the created HD maps of the test section and partly in the existing 3D model of the city of Pilsen. This will create a dynamic digital model (the so-called digital twin) of the pilot polygon. Based on the conducted tests, a methodology will be created that will clearly define the requirements for dynamic HD maps for the needs of autonomous mobility.
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: Ing. Tomáš Mildorf, Ph.D., VP6
Solution period: 2022–2024
TK04020200
Online monitoring of the operating condition and evaluation of the service life of industrial fan blades
The main goal of the proposed iFanMon project is R&D of a prototype monitoring system in the field of vibration of industrial fan blades (exhaust or air) with an overlap into the evaluation of the residual life of the blades. The monitoring system will enable online monitoring of installed impeller blades during fan operation, will be able to monitor the direction, amplitude and frequency of their oscillation and then determine the level of stress in critical nodes/concentrators on the blade. The result of the project will make it possible to monitor not only fixed blades but also rotating blades. Within the project, calculations of limits for designed operating conditions and for transient states will be solved and the prototype will be verified in operation of selected fan installations.
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: doc. Ing. Jindřich Liška, Ph.D., VP1
Solution period: 2022–2024
TM03000018
Smart grippers and workpiece holder for collaborative robotics in Smart Factories
The SmartFact project addresses the issue of accelerating the automation and robotization of industrial production processes as a necessary step to ensure competitiveness at national and international level. The main objective of the project is to develop modular advanced technology for pick & place applications (smart-gripping) consisting of a modular robotic platform (robot) and a smart gripper. Combined with newly developed robotic motion control capabilities, intuitive programming by common manufacturing operators, and efficient interfacing with a smart gripper equipped with premium sensor technology, the developed technology can be successfully deployed to pick & place applications that hitherto had to be operated by manufacturing operators with limited or no robotic support.
Provider: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
Project leader: Ing. Ondřej Severa, VP1
Solution period: 2022–2024
22-29874S
Thermohydrodynamic effects of boundary slip and surface texturing in sliding contacts
A current trend in the development of mechanical components like sliding bearings and seals is creating of micro-geometry on the contacting surfaces to decrease friction and increase load-carrying capacity. Another promising approach is engineering the surfaces to provide slip conditions between contact body and liquid. Combining these approaches allows to improve hydrodynamic properties of the contact, but the effect can also be detrimental. The aim is to investigate the contribution of individual effects to the hydrodynamics of conformal contacts with surface texturing and partial slip boundary. Special attention is paid to the local behaviour of fluid-film in abrupt changes in geometry, the influence of local slip and thermal effects. The project is based on the implementation of advanced optical techniques for fluid-film observation. A combination of fluid-film thickness and temperature mapping, together with state-of-the-art numerical simulations, can provide valuable information on the contribution of individual effects to the thermohydrodynamic behaviour of the contact.
Provider: Czech Science Foundation
Project leader: doc. Dr. Ing. Pavel Polach, KME a VP3
Solution period: 2022–2024