D. Flynn

University of Glasgow | UofG · School of Engineering

We develop a novel Bayesian learning framework that enables the runtime verification of autonomous robots performing critical missions in uncertain environments. Our framework exploits prior knowledge and observations of the verified robotic system to learn expected ranges of values for the occurrence rates of its events. We support both events obs...

Given the fundamental role of renewable energy assets in achieving global temperature control targets, new energy management methods are required to efficiently match intermittent renewable generation and demand. Based on analysing various designed cases, this paper explores a number of heuristics for a smart battery scheduling algorithm that effic...

Wind turbine blades (WTBs) are critical sub-systems consisting of composite multi-layer material structures. WTB inspection is a complex and labour intensive process, and failure of it can lead to substantial energy and economic losses to asset owners. In this paper, we proposed a novel non-destructive evaluation method for blade composite material...

With the emergence of energy communities, where a number of prosumers invest in shared generation and storage, the issue of fair allocation of benefits is increasingly important. The Shapley value has attracted increasing interest for redistribution in energy settings — however, computing it exactly is intractable beyond a few dozen prosumers. In t...

Multi-vector smart local energy systems are playing an increasingly importantly role in the fast-track decarbonisation of our global energy services. An emergent contributor to global decarbonisation is green hydrogen. Green hydrogen can remove or reduce the burden of electrification of heat and transport on energy networks and provide a sustainabl...

With the emergence of energy communities, where a number of prosumers invest in shared generation and storage, the issue of fair allocation of benefits is increasingly important. The Shapley value has attracted increasing interest for redistribution in energy settings - however, computing it exactly is intractable beyond a few dozen prosumers. In t...

The decarbonization targets and the development of renewable and low carbon technologies are changing the electricity systems in UK and worldwide. The sustainable implementation of this changes in the energy markets can be achieved only if the consumers/ prosumers are rightly incentivised. Furthermore, the integration of the system, transmission an...

Smart local energy system (SLES) can support tailored regional solutions through the orchestration of cyber physical architectures, coordinating distributed technologies, with operational and forecasting models across all energy actors. Unprecedented access to new information, data streams and remotely accessible control can substantially benefit t...

Waste-to-hydrogen (WtH) technologies are proposed as a dual-purpose method for simultaneous non-fossil-fuel based hydrogen production and sustainable waste management. This work applied the life cycle assessment approach to evaluate the carbon saving potential of two main WtH technologies (gasification and fermentation) in comparison to the convent...

Given the ongoing transition towards a more decentralised and adaptive energy system, the potential of blockchain-enabled smart contracts for the energy sector is being increasingly recognised. Due to their self-executing, customisable and tamper-proof nature, they are seen as a key technology for enabling the transition to a more efficient, transp...

Mobile robot autonomy has made significant advances in recent years, with navigation algorithms well developed and used commercially in certain well-defined environments, such as warehouses. The common link in usage scenarios is that the environments in which the robots are utilized have a high degree of certainty. Operating environments are often...

Multi-robot systems face challenges in reducing human interventions as they are often deployed in dangerous environments. It is therefore necessary to include a methodology to assess robot failure rates to reduce the requirement for costly human intervention. A solution to this problem includes robots with the ability to work together to ensure mis...

Robotic platforms are highly programmable, scalable and versatile to complete several tasks including Inspection, Maintenance and Repair (IMR). Mobile robotics offer reduced restrictions in operating environments, resulting in greater flexibility; operation at height, dangerous areas and repetitive tasks. Cyber physical infrastructures have been id...

Increasingly, high value industrial markets are driving trends for improved functionality and resilience from resident autonomous systems. This led to an increase in multi-robot fleets that aim to leverage the complementary attributes of the diverse platforms. In this paper we introduce a novel bio-inspired Symbiotic System of Systems Approach (SSO...

This paper investigates the performance of glass reinforced epoxy resin composites in plate-on-plate type sliding wear. Wherein the samples were subjected to wear on a specially designed wear test rig for 20000 cycles under an external load of 10N. Also, the effect of using carbide-based surfacing film on the intensity of resulting wear was studied...

This paper investigates the performance of glass reinforced epoxy resin composites in plate-on-plate type sliding wear. Wherein the samples were subjected to wear on a specially designed wear test rig for 20,000 cycles under an external load of 10 N. Also, the effect of using carbide-based surfacing film on the intensity of resulting wear was studi...

Abstarct The UK has set plans to increase offshore wind capacity from 22GW to 154GW by 2030. With such tremendous growth, the sector is now looking to Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI) in order to tackle lifecycle service barriers as to support sustainable and profitable offshore wind energy production. Today, RAI applications are predomin...

Electromagnetic Relays (EMRs) are omnipresent in electrical systems, ranging from mass-produced consumer products to highly specialised, safety-critical industrial systems. Our detailed literature review focused on EMR reliability highlighting the methods used to estimate EMR-State of Health (SOH) or -Remaining Useful Life (RUL) emphasises the limi...

Achieving efficient induction heating of polymer magnetic nanocomposites (PMC) is a critical parameter for self-healing applications, such as industrial protective coatings and biomedical applications. Generation of microscopic or macroscopic eddy currents during magnetisation of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) via applied external magnetic field res...

A global trend in increasing wind turbine size and distances from shore is emerging within the rapidly growing offshore wind farm market. In the UK, the offshore wind sector produced its highest amount of electricity in the UK in 2019, a 19.6% increase on the year before. Currently, the UK is set to increase production further, targeting a 74.7% in...

The growing demand and diversity in the application of industrial composites and the current inability of present non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods to perform detailed inspection of these composites has motivated this comprehensive review of sensing technologies. NDE has the potential to be a versatile tool for maintaining composite structur...

Electricity networks are critical infrastructure, delivering vital energy services. Due to the significant number, variety and distribution of electrical network overhead line assets, energy network operators spend millions annually on inspection and maintenance programmes. Currently, inspection involves acquiring and manually analysing aerial imag...

Recent years have seen a surge of interest in distributed residential batteries for households with renewable generation. Yet, assuring battery assets are profitable requires additional revenue sources, such as novel ways to access wholesale energy markets. In this paper, we propose a framework in which wholesale market bids are placed on forward e...

To reduce Operation and Maintenance (O&M) expenditure on offshore wind farms, wherein 80% of the cost relates to deploying personnel, the offshore wind sector looks to advances in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for solutions. Barriers to residential Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) autonomy as a service, include operational challenge...

The trend of decentralization of energy services has given rise to community energy systems. These energy communities aim to maximize the self-consumption of local renewable energy generated and stored in assets that are typically connected to low-voltage (LV) distribution networks. Energy community schemes often involve jointly owned assets such a...

The energy landscape for the Low-Voltage (LV) networks is undergoing rapid changes. These changes are driven by the increased penetration of distributed Low Carbon Technologies, both on the generation side (i.e. adoption of micro-renewables) and demand side (i.e. electric vehicle charging). The previously passive ‘fit-and-forget’ approach to LV net...

Visual place recognition (VPR) is the process of recognising a previously visited place using visual information, often under varying appearance conditions and viewpoint changes and with computational constraints. VPR is related to the concepts of localisation, loop closure, image retrieval and is a critical component of many autonomous navigation...

The utilisation of Deep Learning (DL) is advancing into increasingly more sophisticated applications. While it shows great potential to provide transformational capabilities, DL also raises new challenges regarding its reliability in critical functions. In this paper, we present a model-agnostic reliability assessment method for DL classifiers, bas...

Given the pressing need for assuring algorithmic transparency, Explainable AI (XAI) has emerged as one of the key areas of AI research. In this paper, we develop a novel Bayesian extension to the LIME framework, one of the most widely used approaches in XAI -- which we call BayLIME. Compared to LIME, BayLIME exploits prior knowledge and Bayesian re...

Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in applications ranging from portable electronics to electric vehicles. Irrespective of the application, reliable real-time estimation of battery state of health (SOH) by on-board computers is crucial to the safe operation of the battery, ultimately safeguarding asset integrity. In this Article, we design and ev...

To reduce Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs on offshore wind farms, wherein 80% of the O&M cost relates to deploying personnel, the offshore wind sector looks to Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for solutions. Barriers to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) robotics include operational safety compliance and resilience, inhibiting the...

Recent years have seen an increasing interest in Demand Response (DR), as a means to satisfy the growing flexibility needs of modern power grids. This increased flexibility is required due to the the growing proportion of intermittent renewable energy generation into the energy mix, and increasing complexity in demand profiles from the electrificat...

Within an increasingly connected world, the exponential growth in the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) applications presents a significant challenge in power and data transfer optimisation. Currently, the maximization of Radio Frequency (RF) system power gain depends on the design of efficient, commercial chips, and on the integration of thes...

With increasing decarbonisation and accessibility to our energy systems and markets, there is a need to understand and optimise the value proposition for different stakeholders. Game-theoretic models represent a promising approach to study strategic interactions between self-interested private energy system investors. In this work, we design and ev...

Polymer−nanoparticle composites prepared using a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) matrix with BaTiO 3 nanoparticle compositions of 6, 9, 12, and 15 wt % have shown insulating behavior and are evaluated for their applicability as flexible strain sensors. With increasing percentage of the nanoparticles, the LDPE crystallinity decreased from 38.11 to 3...

Electrochemical capacitors (ECs) have only recently been considered as an alternative power source for telemetry sensors of drilling equipment for geothermal or oil and gas exploration. The lifecycle analysis and modelling of ECs is underrepresented in literature in comparison to other storage devices e.g. Li-ion batteries. This paper investigates...

Given the widespread adoption of renewable generation, storage and new loads like electric vehicle charging, there has been a growing effort to enhance local energy resilience, particularly at the community level. This has led to increasing interest in the development of local or community energy projects, in which individual prosumers are able to...

With increasing global investment in offshore wind energy and rapid deployment of wind power technologies in deep water hazardous environments, the in-service inspection of wind turbines and their related infrastructure plays an important role in the safe and efficient operation of wind farm fleets. The use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and remo...

Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in modern day applications ranging from portable electronics to electric vehicles. Irrespective of the application, reliable real-time estimation of battery state of health (SOH) by on-board computers is crucial to the safe operation of the battery, ultimately safeguarding asset integrity. In this paper, we desi...

Lithium-ion batteries power numerous systems from consumer electronics to electric vehicles, and thus undergo qualification testing for degradation assessment prior to deployment. Qualification testing involves repeated charge–discharge operation of the batteries, which can take more than three months if subjected to 500 cycles at a C-rate of 0.5C....

To reduce Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs on offshore wind farms, wherein 80% of the O&M cost relates to deploying personnel, the offshore wind sector looks to robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for solutions. Barriers to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) robotics include operational safety compliance and resilience, inhibiting the c...

Safety management of winter roads is dependent on targeted distributions of salt. Insufficient salt dispersal results in dangerous driving conditions, while excessive deposition results in adverse environmental effects and wastes valuable resources. In this paper we present the results of Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave radar (FMCW) analysis fo...

Digitalization is influencing the design, operation and management, as well as planning functions for products and services across a myriad of industries. In our research we focus on the specific needs and challenges in the asset management of remote critical infrastructure. We propose a single Digital Twin framework which can synchronize the data...

A novel modelling paradigm for online diagnostics and prognostics for autonomous systems is presented. A model for the autonomous system being diagnosed is designed using a logic-based formalism. The model supports the run-time ability to verify that the autonomous system is safe and reliable for operation within a dynamic environment. The paradigm...

A novel taxonomy of built-in self-test (BIST) methods is presented for the testing of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). With MEMS testing representing 50% of the total costs of the end product, BIST solutions that are cost-effective, non-intrusive and able to operate non-intrusively during system operation are being actively sought after. Af...