Rob Vingerhoeds

Professor of Systems Engineering
Director of the Doctoral School « Systems » (ED309) of the University of Toulouse

Education / Professional Titles

• Aerospace Engineer, Delft University of Technology, 1986.
• PhD in Applied Sciences, University of Ghent, 1992.
• “Chartered Engineer” (CEng), The Engineering Council, 1996.
• “Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches », National Polytechnique Institute Toulouse, 2002.
• “Chartered Information Technology Professional” (CITP), British Computer Society, 2006.
• “Fellow of the British Computer Society” (FBCS), British Computer Society, 2006.
• “Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology” (FIET), 2016.

Major Professional Speciality/Activity :

• Earlier : mathematical modelling of dynamic systems, systems identification, nonlinear optimization, artificial intelligence techniques, real-time systems, formal methods for time correctness of systems, real-time applications of artificial intelligence, systems engineering
• Industrial experience : mathematical modelling of dynamic systems, real-time systems, formal methods for time correctness of systems, engine management, sensor technologies, product data life-cycle (PLM), CAD Tools for electronics product development, data management, project management techniques
• Recent : systems engineering, model-based systems engineering, real-time systems, formal methods for time correctness of systems, cyber-physical systems, predictive maintenance.

Some of the topics that interest me a lot today include improving design approaches. This translates among other things into better addressing of stakeholder needs identification, then through an analysis towards stakeholder requirements and then system requirements, and through a logical/functional architecture towards a physical architecture. Critical points at the moment are characterized by complexity, the representation of knowledge for design, technology forecasts to be taken into account, the design process itself, and its tooling. The targeted characteristics concern :

• complexity - systems with many components and/or interactions, uncertainty about the evolution of functions and components in terms of availability and definition, inclusion of human aspects in systems and their design, systems with a large autonomy of decision, etc.
• knowledge representation - identification of the appropriate knowledge representation paradigm for each type of knowledge and optimal use of it for modeling, design and decision-making, etc.
• technology planning and roadmap - prediction of technology and component evolution, figures of merit for solution and component selection, etc.
• processes - sequencing, design structure matrices, modernization, exploration of the market space, incorporation of qualitative and quantitative information, etc.
• tooling - seamless connection between tools and/or models, etc.

Challenges : Better control of the design of a system allows better consideration of needs, their traceability through design tools, the possibility of better deciding for a function and/or a component when we have a better view of its risk of obsolescence, and the use of models/knowledge of different nature.

Over 200 publications (inc. 38 publications in international scientific journals and over 100 conference contributions in proceedings).

Supervision of PhD Students and MSc students

• Over 100 MSc students supervised
• 15 PhD students (co-)supervised, 4 currently ongoing

Additional Activities

• French Engineering Degree Committee CTI – Expert for the CTI since November 2022
• International Scientific Journal Systems Engineering, Wiley – Deputy Editor since 2019 (Associate editor 2017-2018)
• International Council for Systems Engineering (INCOSE) – Member Academic Council since 2017, Co-Chaire since 2023
• IEEE Systems Council – Co-Chair IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering (since 2019), member TC Systems Engineering Methods
• Association Française pour d’Ingénierie Systèmes – Member Board of Directors since 2022
• International Scientific Journal Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Elsevier Science Ltd. (since 1992) - Emeritus Editor-in-Chief (since 2016), Consulting Editor (2009-2016), Editor-in-Chief (1999-2009), Deputy-Editor-in-Chief (1997-1999), Associate Editor (1994-1997)
• International Federation for Automatic Control (IFAC) (since 1994) – Distinction : “Outstanding Service Award” for sustained outstanding performance in major leadership positions in IFAC (2011), Member Publications Committee and Awards Committee (2002-2009), Chairman of the Technical Committee Artificial Intelligence in Real-Time Control (AIRTC) (1996-2002).
• Belgian Institute for Automatic Control (BIRA) (1988-1994) – Chairman of the Automation in Aerospace Group (1989-1992) and of the Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems Group (1990-1994).

Languages

• Bi-cultural Dutch - French.
• Perfectly quadric-lingual Dutch, English, French, German.
• Intermediate level of Spanish
• Notions of Catalan