Fernando A.C.C. Fontes

Current Position:

Associate Professor, with tenure, in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP),
Researcher in SYSTEC - Research Centre for Systems and Technologies, ISR - Institute of Systems and Robotics.

Education:

First degree (Licenciatura), in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Porto, Portugal, (1993)
M.Sc. in Control Systems from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, U.K (1994)
Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, U.K. (1999)
Habilitation (Agregação, degree required for full professor) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Porto, Portugal. (2014)

Professional Experience:

Fernando Fontes joined the Department of Mathematics of University of Minho as a teaching assistant in 1995. He taught in the Department of Operational Research at LSE - The London School of Economics during 1996-97. In 1998-99, he was a Research Assistant in the Centre for Process Systems Engineering at Imperial College London.

In 2000, he became Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics of University of Minho, Portugal. From 2003 to 2009 he was Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics for Science and Technology, University of Minho.

In that period, he was a member of the Officina Mathematica research centre where he led the Optimization and Control Theory group (2003-06), he served as Director of the first degree in Applied Mathematics (2003-05) and was the Head of the Department during 2006-2007.

In 2009, he moved to the present position in Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. He has been teaching in the areas of Automation and Robotics, Mathematics, Signal Processing, and Systems and Control.

In SYSTEC-ISR, he is the coordinator of the SYSTEC-CONTROL Thematic Line.

Scientific Activity:

Fernando Fontes research interests are in the areas of control and optimization, having a specific interest in nonlinear and constrained problems, optimal control, and model predictive control.

His main scientific contributions are in model predictive control (including stability and robustness conditions for nonlinear systems), in optimal control (including stronger forms of optimality conditions in the form of a maximum principle) and in nonlinear optimization methods (including dynamic programming based and other global optimization algorithms).

Lately, he has been interested specially in applications to robotics and to energy.

He has authored or co-authored more than 30 journal articles or book chapters and more than 100 conference communications. He has supervised 6 doctoral theses. He participates or has participated in 10 research projects funded by FCT (Portuguese Science Foundation) or the European Commission, being the coordinator in three of them. He was a member of the scientific committee and invited sessions organizer in various scientific conferences. He has been frequent reviewer of publications submitted to the main journals in his field, as well as evaluator of research projects. He has participated in the organizing committees of five international scientific congresses (one as chairman).

Publications list and research profiles:

My List

Google scholar: http://scholar.google.pt/citations?user=gqq6sAkAAAAJ&pagesize=100

ISI ResearcherID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-5172-2008

Scopus: http://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=6602095957

ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fernando_Fontes/

Authenticus: http://authenticus.up.pt/en/profileOfResearchers/publicationsList/5029

Selected publications (most cited, most recent, …):

Selected 5 on Optimal Control

Fernando A.C.C. Fontes, Helene Frankowska.”Normality and Nondegeneracy for Optimal Control Problems with State Constraints''.Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications (online from February 2015, DOI: 10.1007/s10957-015-0704-1). Preprint, DOI, BibTeX
Fernando A. C. C. Fontes, Sofia O. Lopes. “Normal Forms of Necessary Conditions for Dynamic Optimization Problems with Pathwise Inequality Constraints”. Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, Vol.399 nº 1, pp.27-37, 2013 Preprint, DOI, BibTeX
Sofia Lopes, Fernando Fontes, M.d.R de Pinho ``An Integral-type Constraint Qualification to Guarantee Nondegeneracy of the Maximum Principle for Optimal Control Problems with State Constraints’’. Systems & Control Letters, Vol.62, pp.686-692, 2013. Preprint, DOI, BibTeX
de Pinho, Maria do Rosário, M. Margarida Ferreira, and Fernando A. C.C. Fontes. "Unmaximized inclusion necessary conditions for nonconvex constrained optimal control problems." ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations 11.04 (2005): 614-632. Preprint, DOI, BibTeX
Ferreira, Margarida MA, F. A. C. C. Fontes, and R. B. Vinter. "Nondegenerate necessary conditions for nonconvex optimal control problems with state constraints." Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications 233.1 (1999): 116-129. Preprint, DOI, BibTeX

Selected 5 on Model Predictive Control

Fernando A. C. C. Fontes. “A General Framework to Design Stabilizing Nonlinear Model Predictive Controllers”, Systems and Control Letters, Vol.42 nº 2, pp.127-143, 2001. Preprint, DOI, BibTex
Fernando A. C. C. Fontes, Lalo Magni. “Min-Max model predictive control of nonlinear systems using discontinuous feedback”, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol.48 nº 10, pp.1750-1755, 2003. Preprint, DOI, BibTex
Fontes, Fernando ACC. "Discontinuous feedbacks, discontinuous optimal controls, and continuous‐time model predictive control." International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control 13.3‐4 (2003): 191-209. Preprint, DOI, BibTex
Fontes, Fernando ACC, Lalo Magni, and Éva Gyurkovics. "Sampled-data model predictive control for nonlinear time-varying systems: Stability and robustness." Assessment and Future Directions of Nonlinear Model Predictive Control. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2007. 115-129. Preprint, DOI, BibTex
Fontes, Fernando ACC, Dalila BMM Fontes, and Amélia CD Caldeira. "Model predictive control of vehicle formations." Optimization and Cooperative Control Strategies. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009. 371-384. Preprint, DOI, BibTex

Selected 5 on Nonlinear/Global Optimization Methods

L.T Paiva, Fernando A.C.C. Fontes. ``Adaptive Time-Mesh Refinement in Optimal Control Problems with State Constraints''. Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems, Volume 35, Number 9, pp. 4553-4572, September 2015 . Preprint, DOI, BibTeX
Marta SR Monteiro, Dalila BMM Fontes, Fernando ACC Fontes. “Hop-constrained Minimum Spanning Tree Problems in Nonlinear Cost Network Flows: an Ant Colony Optimization Approach''. Optimization Letters, Volume 9, Issue 3, pp 451-464, (2015). Preprint, DOI, BibTeX
L. A. C. Roque, D. B. M. M. Fontes, F.A.C.C. Fontes “A hybrid biased random key genetic algorithm approach for the unit commitment problem” Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Volume 28, Issue 1, pp 140-166, (2014) Preprint, DOI, BibTeX
Monteiro, Marta SR, Dalila BMM Fontes, and Fernando ACC Fontes. "Concave minimum cost network flow problems solved with a colony of ants." Journal of Heuristics 19.1 (2013): 1-33. Preprint, DOI, BibTeX
Fontes, Dalila BMM, Fernando ACC Fontes, and Amélia CD Caldeira. "Optimal formation Switching with collision avoidance and allowing variable agent velocities." Dynamics of Information Systems: Mathematical Foundations. Springer New York, (2012). pp. 207-224. Preprint, DOI, BibTeX

Recent Talks:

“Optimization-based control of constrained systems:When should we use continuous-time models?”. Texas A&M University, October 2, 2015
“Optimal Control and Model Predictive Control of Kite Power Systems.” EPCO 2015 - Portuguese Meeting on Optimal Control, Guimarães, Portugal, September 15, 2015
“Nondegenerate and Normal forms of the Maximum Principle for Control Problems with State Constraints”. Workshop Nonlinear Analysis and Optimization,The Royal Society, London, September 8, 2015

Keyword map (from authenticus.up.pt)

model predictive control decision support systems ant colony optimization discontinuous trajectories lipschitz continuity feedback local search nonlinear systems pure constraints continuity optimal controls degeneracy phenomenon facility location unit comitment genetic algorithms tv self promotion assignment agent formations network flow omnidirectional mobile robots receding horizon nonsmooth analysis euler lagrange inclusion maximum control preditive vehicles genetic algorithm unit commitment mutations cheduling optimal control stability analysis stabilizing design parameters location problem electrical power generation hybrid discontinuous feedbacks numerical methods dynamic programming formation geometry multidimensional knapsack formation control framework optimality bolza maximum principle measure driven differential equations systems hybrid systems autonomous agents nondegenerate calculus of variations heuristics constraint qualifications multi objective optimization robust synthesis predictive control nonholonomic systems calculus variations time grid refinement asymptotic controllability receding horizon control combinatorial optimization automated highway systems dynamic programming approach layout pareto optimal curves nonlinear model predictive controller nonlinear programming and irrigation normality impulsive control mobile robots system bound algorithm mixed control constraints conditions optimality lagrange multipliers nonlinear optimization concave costs facility optimization algorithms smooth analysis bolza problems charge transportation constrained nonlinear systems stabilization optimization discontinuous feedback formation switching state constraints degeneracy mathematical modeling and irrigation optimality conditions conditions formation reorganization fixed charge stability broadcast television collision avoidance constraints nonlinear stability analysis regularity

Citations Map: (displays geographic locations for publications that have cited this researcher. From ISI ResearcherID)

Collegues from Brasil: I’m missing a citation from South America :-)

PhD Students

Sofia O. Lopes, “Nondegenerate forms of the maximum principle for optimal control problems with state constraints”, PhD Mathematics, U. Minho, 2009 (currently Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Univ. Minho).
Paulo A. Pereira, “Optimization in Decision Support Systems for Planning Self-Promotion in TV", PhD Mathematics, U. Minho, 2009. (currently Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Univ. Minho)
Amélia. C. D. Caldeira, “Optimization and control of nonholonomic vehicles and vehicle formations". PhD Applied Mathematics, U. Porto, 2012 (currently Adjoint Professor, Department of Mathematics, ISEP)
Marta R. Monteiro, “Ant Colony Optimization Algorithms to solve Nonlinear Network Flow Problems”, PhD in Management Sciences, U. Porto, 2013 (currently Invited Assistant Pofessor, Instituto Superior de Gestão Bancária)
Luis A Roque, “Optimization Methods for the Unit Commitment Problem in Electric Power Systems”, PhD Applied Mathematics, U. Porto, October 2014. (currently Adjoint Professor, Department of Mathematics, ISEP)
Luis Tiago Paiva, “Numerical Methods in Optimal Control and Model Predictive Control", PhD Applied Mathematics, U. Porto, December 2014. (currently PostDoc Fellow at FEUP)

Research Projects (recent and ongoing)

“OCHERA- Optimal Control: Health, Energy and Robotics Applications", Project FCT PTDC /EEI-AUT/1450/2012. U. Porto, U. Minho, U. Aveiro, 2013-2015.
“SADCO - Sensitivity Analysis for Deterministic Controller Design". FP7 Marie Curie ITN 264735 SADCO, U. Porto, INRIA, U. Roma La Sapienza, U. Padova, 2011 -2014.
“Advanced control of a fleet of heterogeneous autonomous vehicles". Programa PESSOA, FCT/ANR. U. Porto, Supelec, France. 2013- 2014.
“Controle para a Otimização de Recursos na Exploração Agrícola". Cooperação U. Porto- Univ. S. Paulo, Brasil, 2012-2014.
“OCCOHyNS – Optimal Control for Constrained, Nonlinear and Hybrid Systems". Project FCT PTDC/EEA-CRO/116014/2009. U. Porto, U. Minho, 2011-2013