Prof. Ali Zolghadri

COCOTIER (COncept de COckpit et Technologies Intégrées En Rupure, 2019-2023) is a collaborative project on new technologies for future intelligent cockpit in Single Pilot Operations (SPO, 2030+). The project is supported by the French Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) and coordinated by Airbus.

Budget : DGAC support : 17.3 MEuros – Total budget : 34.6 MEuros.

Partners : 14 industrial and academic partners:

• Industrial partners : Airbus (coordinator) – Dassault aviation – SAFRAN – Thales – ATR – Factem – OKTAL Synthetic Environment – Ratier Figeac – Vodea – Zodiac Aero Electric.
• Academic partners : IMS Lab (U-Bordeaux) – LAAS-CNRS  (Toulouse) – LEAD Lab (Toulouse) – ONERA (French Aerospace Lab) – ENAC (French Civil Aviation University).

IMS project managers : Prof. Ali Zolghadri and Dr. Christophe Combastel. Postdoc fellow: Sara Ifqir (2019-2021); Master students: Martin Faure (2019), Nicolas Bandet (2021).

News:

• The CC7 meeting of the project will take place on December 13, 2022 at Airbus Toulouse, France.
• The CC6 meeting of the project took place on June 06, 2022 at Airbus Toulouse, France.
• The CC5 plenary meeting (all partners) of the project took place on November 29, 2021 at Airbus, Toulouse-France. The IMS presentation during this meeting can be downloaded at here (authorized members only).
• IMS delivrables:
  
  • IMS deliverable S5.8.1.3 can be downloaded at here (authorized members only).
  • IMS deliverable S5.8.1.2 can be downloaded at here (authorized members only).
  • IMS deliverable S5.8.1.1 can be downloaded at here (authorized members only).
• Related publications:
  • Ifqir S., C. Combastel, A. Zolghadri (2021). Set-based Multi-Sensor Data Fusion For Integrated Navigation Systems. 5th International Conference on Control and Fault-Tolerant Systems (IEEE SysTol). Saint-Raphaël, France, Sept 29 – Oct 1, 2021. pdf (paper) – pdf (presentation).
  • Ifqir S., C. Combastel, A. Zolghadri, G. Alcalay, P. Goupil, S. Merlet (2021). Multi-Sensor Data Fusion For Civil Aircraft IRS/GPS/ILS Integrated Navigation System. European Control Conference (ECC). Rotterdam, The Netherlands, June 29 – July 2, 2021. pdf .
  • Ifqir S., C. Combastel, A. Zolghadri, G. Alcalay, P. Goupil, S. Merlet (2022). Fault tolerant multi-sensor data fusion for autonomous navigation in future civil aviation operations. To appear (June 2022) in Control Engineering Practice. pdf.

I will give a plenary talk at the 27th International Conference on Circuits, Systems, Communications and Computers (CSCC 2023) conference on Safety and Security Issues in Semi-Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems.

I have been “General Chair” of the 2^nd International Conference on Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering, 27-29 September 2021, Lyon, France. During this conference, I gave also a keynote lecture. 

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I gave a plenary talk at the 5th International Conference on Control and Fault-Tolerant Systems (IEEE SysTol) 2021. See at here.

I welcome applications for doctoral study and postdoctoral visitors in areas relevant to my research interests for working on challenging scientific projects.

Interested applicants : Possible research topics are: Reachability analysis and safety verification of neural networks — Safety and Security of Intelligent Cyber-Physical Systems: new methods and algorithms — Model-based, set-based and data-driven methods for multi-sensor data fusion in navigation systems, with application to future civil aviation operations — Fault diagnosis, fault management, autonomy and resilience issues in future aircraft systems — Symbolic methods for control of complex and non-linear systems …

I am happy also to consider students’ own proposals. If you are interested in a PhD / postdoc position, please email me.

Postdoc 2022 openings

Dr. Carlos Trapiello (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – UPC, Barcelona, Spain) received a research grant from UPC to do a one-year research stay in Bordeaux. See his CV at here.

He will work with Dr. Christophe Combastel and myself on safety and security issues in cyber-physical systems using set membership techniques.

Period : 15 January 2022 — 15 January 2023.

Postdoc 2020-2021 (closed):

Due to coronavirus outbreak, postdoc recruitment in 2020 has been delayed to fall 2020.

• The first call can be downloaded at here. This call is now closed. Dr. Arthour Perodou has been hired since Sptember 2020. See his CV at here.

• Second postdoc position is related to the COCOTIER project. This call is also closed. Dr. Sara Ifqir will be continuing one year more.

postdoc 2019 (closed):

• Sara IFQIR started on December 2, 2019 to work on the COCOTIER Project. See her CV at here.
• After a two-year postdoc position in Bordeaux supported by SysNum, Willy Alejandro Apaza Perez left IMS-lab in May 2020 for L2S-lab (Paris) to continue his research under the supervision of Dr. Antoine Girard. Good continuation Alejandro !

Today, the Airbus A350 XWB is the most modern and efficient commercial jetliner globally. Since January 2015, this aircraft has been operating worldwide with an advanced and robust model-based monitoring system onboard. This significant accomplishment is the result of a collaborative effort between my research team and Airbus, beginning in the mid-2000s, to address Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR) challenges in aircraft systems. With current airworthiness certification standards in civil aviation, extremely rigorous specifications must be satisfied, not only in nominal flight regimes, but also in extreme, unusual, non-standard/off-nominal and unexpected flight conditions. The certification testifies that new systems meet all requirements set by the aviation regulatory authorities — FAA (USA) and EASA (Europe) — and that they themselves do not introduce new risks. Developing flight-proven and certified model-based monitoring systems was a complex endeavor that demanded years of dedicated research and innovation, rigorous verification and validation activities, as well as in-flight tests and continuous refinement.

December 2020: Five years after the first A350 commercial flight, this note posted on the IFAC Blog and IFAC social media looks back at some lessons learnt from this amazing success story. The note has been prepared by Dr. Philippe Goupil (eXpert FDIR – A/C Control Architecture & Functions, Airbus, Toulouse – France) and myself. See also IFAC Newsletter, December 2020.

A. Zolghadri – IMS Bordeaux, France

P. Goupil – Airbus, Toulouse, France

What about the future? In civil aviation operations, the vector is pointed toward more autonomy and intelligence in the cockpit. Future avionics will have to ensure more autonomy and must provide safety functionalities at least equivalent to those of today blended-crew task environments, while coupled to a new cockpit concept. The reduced-crew operation model is set to assume a more prominent role, marking a significant shift due to the removal of onboard human redundancy. The challenges include the need for advanced, disruptive onboard assistant tools, and enhanced ground support to aid in emergencies or take control of the aircraft in the event of pilot incapacitation. See:

A. Zolghadri (2024). A review of fault management issues in aircraft systems: Current status and future directions. Progress in Aerospace Sciences (elsevier). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paerosci.2024.101008. Available online at here.