Faculteitsblad Electrical Engineering. RoboCup. Introducing. SpectrumEE. Onderwijsdag. September

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1 Faculteitsblad Electrical Engineering RoboCup Introducing SpectrumEE Onderwijsdag September

2 IN A WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY A BELIEF IN PEOPLE Op zoek naar verantwoordelijkheid? Afwisseling? Internationale carrièremogelijkheden? Dan is werken bij Vanderlande Industries misschien iets voor jou! Wij danken ons succes aan de combinatie van hoogwaardige technologie én de passie van onze medewerkers. Zij zijn de drijvende kracht achter onze material handling systemen en bijbehorende services voor tal van nationale en internationale distributiecentra, luchthavens en sorteercentra. Kijk op onze website voor alle vacatures

3 I Colofon Jaargang 6 nummer 3 September 2013 De Connecthor is een uitgave van de elektrotechnische studievereniging Thor en de Faculteit Electrical Engineering aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. De Connecthor verschijnt 4 keer per jaar in een oplage van 1100 stuks en is gratis voor alle leden van Thor en medewerkers van de faculteit Electrical Engineering. I Hoofdredactie Martijn van Beurden Femke Verheggen I Eindredactie Lulu Chan Anjo Peeters Edgar van Megen I Redactie Manon Eijsvogel Pauline van Gelder Esmee Huismans Fer Radstake Bart Smolders Georgios Exarchakos Jerom de Haan Suzanne Kuijlaars Elles Raaijmakers Harold Vervoort I Redactioneel I Ontwerp Lay-out Pieter Weterings I Foto Omslag Excursie ASTRON I Druk Jafra drukwerkservice I Redactieadres Connecthor Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Potentiaal Den Dolech 2 Postbus MB Eindhoven I Contact: Telefoon: (040) of (040) connecthor@tue.nl I Volgende editie: Deadline kopij: 18 oktober 2013 I Web: I Adverteerders: Binnenkant kaft: VanDerLande Buitenkant kaft: ASML Pagina 10: Omron Pagina 36: IHC Merwede Nu het stof van de intro is neergedaald en het onderwijsrooster weer de maat van de week slaat voor velen van ons, verwelkomen we een nieuwe generatie studenten en potentiële nieuwe lezers van de Connecthor, die we in deze editie extra bedienen met het voorstellen van de diverse verenigingen binnen de faculteit, en doen we verslag van de intro en de intake van eerstejaars. Verder blikken we terug op de onderwijsdag van de faculteit en we laten een viertal dames aan het woord die vertellen hoe zij hun eerste studiejaar aan onze faculteit hebben beleefd. Op het gebied van onderwijs is nog meer te vinden in deze editie, waaronder een nieuw eerstejaars vak Spectrum Electrical Engineering en de buitenlandse stage van Chris Geelen in Nieuw Zeeland. Ook op het gebied van onderzoek kun je interessante artikelen vinden, zoals de ontwikkelingen en uitdagingen op het gebied van regeltechniek voor lithografie op nanometerschaal door Hans Butler en het promotieonderzoek van Petr Kadurek over de infrastructurele uitdagingen voor onze toekomstige elektriciteitsvoorziening. Mocht je juist even wat afleiding zoeken van werk of studie, stort je dan op onze onvolprezen puzzel en maak kans op een vlaai, of lees het verhaal over de mythe van de ganzen van Pirou. Tot slot wil de redactie iedereen een succesvol academisch jaar toewensen en natuurlijk veel plezier met het lezen van deze nieuwe Connecthor. De redactie PS: Wil jij iemand voordragen voor een vlaai, heb je een idee voor een leuk of interessant artikel, of wil je zelf bijdragen aan de Connecthor? Neem dan contact op met de redactie via connecthor@tue.nl. Connecthor 2013 Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden verveelvoudigd en/of openbaar gemaakt door middel van druk, fotokopie, microfilm of welke andere wijze dan ook zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de redactie. De redactie houdt zich het recht voor om artikelen in te korten dan wel te wijzigen. Een in een artikel verwoorde mening is niet noodzakelijk de mening van de e.t.s.v. Thor of de faculteit Electrical Engineering aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. September

4 I INHOUDSOPGAVE [01] Redactioneel [04] Board Issues [05] From the President [06] Introducing... [08] News [09] Onderwijsdag - Herziening Masteropleiding [10] Omron Industrial Automation [11] PhD Exchange in Lyon - France [12] Spectrum of Electrical Engineering [13] Dies NAtalis ODIN [14] Automotive vrouwen in de spotlight [15] Intake nieuwe studenten (EE en AU) [16] Behind the scenes of Robocup 2013 [17] Behind the scenes of Robocup 2013 [17] PhD Research: Data application for advanced distribution network operations [20] Photo page [22] Mythology: Geese of Pirou [24] ODIN Excursion ASTRON [25] Intreerede: De nanometer onder de duim [28] Introducing: Candidate board of Thor [30] Introducing the associations [35] TU/eXperience [37] EES PhDs visit ENTSO-E And KU Leuven [38] Internship: An experience to never forget [40] Puzzle [41] Upcoming activities Nanometer onder de duim Tegenwoordig gebeurt er veel in de ordegrootte van nanometers. Meer hierover lees je vanaf pagina 25. Spectrum EE Curious about the course Spectrum of Electrical Engineering as an elective in the Bachelor College? Take a look at page Faculteitsblad Electrical Engineering 02 connecthor

5 INHOUDSOPGAVEI 30 Onderwijsdag Na de vernieuwing van het Bacheloronderwijs is nu de Master aan de beurt. Lees meer vanaf pg 9. Introducing the associations There are a lot of interesting associations related to the study. Read more about these on pages RoboCup Want to have a look behind the scenes of the RoboCup Adult Size Humanoid League or Middle Sized League? Have a look on page 16 and 17. September

6 IFaculteit Board issues By: Ton Backx We are living in a turbulent world. Although the economic crisis still governs the decision making of our government today, business is catching up rapidly in our region. The High Tech industries are eager to hire young people that have finished their studies and obtained a degree in Engineering. The future is looking bright for people studying Electrical Engineering. Ever more young people are getting aware of the need of our society for many more people with high-level technical degrees, and therefore decide to study Electrical Engineering. The past three years we have been able to show double-digits growth in the number of students choosing for Electrical Engineering after finishing Gymnasium or VWO. At the moment that I am writing this reflection we don t have yet the exact number of students starting at our faculty in the academic year, but I do expect the number to be well above 150 with more than 100 students choosing for the general Electrical Engineering program and over 50 students starting in the Automotive track. This is good news for all of us! I sincerely hope that we will be able to continue this growth in the years to come. The Automotive track is at the start of its third year now. After finishing this third year the program will be completely up and running. As with any new activity, we have learned a lot in the past two years in getting the program to this point. So far, we are pleased with the feedback we are getting from the students and the further improvements we are making to the program. The balance between contributions of our various groups to the program is slowly improving but deserves still further attention. Overall, the program is largely running as intended and students are doing well. With the number of students in the Automotive track growing we also increase the number of staff members with specific experience in state-of-the-art automotive research. As we expected, the Automotive industries are starting to make the turnaround towards becoming very clean and safe. Some important changes are related to: Transition from internal combustion engine based to fully electric, high performance drive trains, which use energy very efficiently during driving and braking. Car-to-car and car-to-road communication systems to enable very safe high intensity driving and to minimize traffic jams Battery systems powered by clean energy and supporting the stability of the power grid by buffering the difference between electric power produced and electric power consumed. Our students are well prepared to contribute to the transition. The current Automotive track is like our other Electrical Engineering tracks covering a broad program of courses. This program will make our students attractive candidates for a wide variety of jobs both in the automotive and high tech industries as well as in many other industries. The past academic year has been a very busy year for all our staff members. We are still finishing the major overhaul of our bachelor program introducing three major Electrical Engineering tracks next to the introduction of the Automotive program: Connecting the World, Cure and Care, and Smart and Sustainable Society. In parallel the Bachelor College has started, requiring a further major revision of our bachelor courses. The bachelor program also must bring a significant reduction of the time taken by our students to finish their Bachelor. The relative number of students finishing the Bachelor within 4 years needs to be above 70% in 2016 without giving up on quality of the program. First results are indicating that we are getting on track to meet this challenge. I urgently request both our students and our staff though to continue working hard and to further improve our performance in getting first-time-right scores in the exams higher. The first-timeright success rates preferably have to be well above 70%. This requires a very close collaboration between teaching staff and students to ensure high performance in transfer of knowledge during the courses as well as continuous self study efforts of our students in practicing the course materials presented. If difficulties are encountered in building up understanding and insight during the courses taught, students have to right away provide feedback to their teachers so that they can help students immediately to overcome the problems encountered. Achieving the higher efficiencies is in the interest of both students and staff. Finishing the study with good results at a young age significantly improves the career opportunities of the graduate. Higher efficiencies in first-time passes in exams reduces both the load on staff and pressure on the students. I look forward to a successful Academic year for all of us! Ton Backx Dean Electrical Engineering 04 connecthor

7 VerenigingI From the President By: Harold Vervoort This is the last time I will be writing this column, in the Connecthor, as the President of Thor. What a year we have had as an association, which makes it even harder to decide where to begin. We started with the introduction week. For the first time ever, the Intro also included international students and we had about 120 new students. All because of the Automotive track and the bachelor college. Accordingly, we decided to change all our written communication to English, so we could reach all of our members. Then the 11th lustrum of e.t.s.v. Thor arrived. To celebrate our 55 years of existence, a whole month of activities was planned. We started off with a Big 3 lustrum party, together with Simon Stevin and Jan Pieter Minckelers. A record attempt for the world s largest game of Tetris, on one of the walls of our building, failed. However we will soon make another attempt at seizing this record! We also published a lustrum book for the 11th Thor lustrum. Beside all that we had lots of parties, excursions and lectures, which where all very interesting, fun and educational. This all was concluded with a big gala at castle Heeswijk, which we hopefully all enjoyed. I would like to personally thank everyone who took the time and effort to help organize these events. And of course all the people who participated. After all this, Christmas came around. A welldeserved break for the Board and all members had arrived. When this break ended we had some struggles with mainly ourselves. It became clear that some things had to change. We had a do or die week as a Board. New plans were made and the confidence to come out stronger as a Board and as an association was bigger than ever. Most changes were approved. Only in the public relations position, the struggles turned out to be too big. Because of these struggles our commissioner of public relations Dennis Kofflard had to take the hard and brave decision to step down as a Board member and turn over his work to a committee. This was very difficult for all of us. I would like to thank everybody for their support and the public relations committee for their excellent work. The last really big thing we had to organize as a Board was the introduction week for new students. I hope all new students have had a nice week and saw lots of things they can do in Eindhoven, especially the international Master and Bachelor students, which we had a lot last introduction week. It could be a culture shock when you start out in Holland and even more when you become a Thor member. Then again, it can also be a shock for the Dutch students. And now here we are on the verge of a new era. Soon we will pass on our duties to yet another Thor Board. Our so-called kandies are already working on a policy for this year. They will introduce themselves in this Connecthor. I wish them good luck with the upcoming internationalization of Thor, the move to the new building and the large increase in student applications. I hope the bond with our faculty and its employees will only grow stronger and will become better than ever before. Thanks to all members for your confidence in us as a Board, with me as its President, and the opportunity to represent and serve you. Good luck to all new students next year and to the new Board. Veel gedonder! Harold Vervoort President der e.t.s.v. Thor September

8 IFaculteit Introducing... Hi everyone! Let me introduce myself: my name is Rianne Sanders, I am 46 years old and I live in Eindhoven with my husband, 13-year old son and golden retriever. I studied Communications at the Fontys University of Applied Sciences and, like many of us, I started my career with Philips. Through Ernst & Young and NXP Software I ended up at Brainport Development. The last two years I was lucky to work in projects concerning the future of my own town. I developed the new regional website and was responsible for the communications around the Brainport 2020 program. Furthermore, with other parties like Smart Homes, the Province of Northern Brabant and the municipal government of Eindhoven, I organized the Ambient Assisted Living Forum Coming from this background I am committed to the aim and ambition of Eindhoven to be among the top 3 economies of Europe and the top 10 in the world. I hope I can make a contribution to this in my new job as a communications advisor at the Electrical Engineering department of the TU/e. In my spare time I like to follow what is happening in Eindhoven and visit initiatives like Glow, DDW, TEDxBrainport and STRP Festival. But my real 2 passions are music and travelling. My music taste is very diverse and I like to spot new bands at festivals or in de Effenaar, but my absolute favorite is Muse. With regard to travelling, I love Central and South America but I also like to spend as much time as I can in fascinating Asia. Just before my first day at the TU/e I returned from a month in Vietnam, backpacking from Ho Chi Minh City in the south to Sapa in the north. The people were so friendly, the food was excellent and the landscape breathtaking. Other special places in the world for me are Tikal in Guatemala, Perhentian Kecil in Malaysia and the Amazon in Brazil. So when you want to chat about the future of Eindhoven as a top-technology region or exchange travel experiences, anytime Hello, I am Willem Sanberg and I recently started as a PhD student at the Video Coding and Architectures research group (VCA) of prof. dr. ir. Peter de With. My research is aimed at improving the semantic understanding of 3D modeled environments to increase the quality of the model and the efficiency of storing and further processing. I really like the puzzle of how to solve seemingly simple problems (such as What are the objects in this office? ) that are quite a challenge for computer-vision systems when they need to function generically. You may have seen me around the campus already in the past couple of years, since I also did my BSc, CTM and MSc program at the Electrical Engineering department of the TU/e. Furthermore, I have spent some good hours on extra-curricular activities: several boards and committees at the student association E.S.V. Demos, two years at University Racing Eindhoven and two years as a student assistant at the electronics lab of Industrial Design. In my spare time, I read books (both fiction and non-fiction), play the piano or play sports such as basketball and cycling. In the photograph, you see me at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, where I was last May: a very nice place to visit! 06 connecthor

9 FaculteitI Hello! My name is Constantijn Romijn, I m 25 years old and I m from Harmelen, a small village near Utrecht. I received the BEng degree in Automotive Technology from the HAN University of Applied Sciences. For my graduation project I worked at Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF), where I developed a patented variable preload device to adapt bearing preload as a function of applied torque. I received the MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology in June For my graduation project I worked on regenerative brake torque control for hybrid and electric vehicles. Since July 2013, I am a PhD candidate in the Control Systems group in the field of energy management for commercial vehicles. My research will focus on minimizing fuel consumption by integration and control of all energy domains present in heavy duty trucks. In my spare time I like to take our boat out on the river De Lek to go wakeboarding with friends. When I m not out on the water I like to go to the gym or play squash. Hello! My name is Martine Greijmans and I just started as a coordinator and student counselor for the Bachelor s program Automotive. After having completed my studies at Tilburg University, Communication and Information Sciences, I had my first job at TU/e. For almost a decade I worked at the Communication and Expertise Center of TU/e as a project leader and communications advisor. During this period I learned a lot about the university, the campus, the students, and the departments. Along the way I got more interested in education. I like having contact with students and participating in the organization of educational programs. I really enjoy working at the department, especially in the field of Automotive, a dynamic and innovative environment. Another thing I enjoy in my spare time is making long hiking tours. Together with my family (1 boyfriend, 2 sons and 1 dog) I live in Eindhoven, near the beautiful nature of De Zegge where I can walk the dog easily. After a long walk, I enjoy drinking and eating in a nice place. Hello! I m Fabrizio Silvestri and on the 1st of July I joined the Electromagnetics Group of the Electrical Engineering department as a PhD student. I was born in Italy in 1988 and I got my BSc degree in Electronics Engineering at UNIVPM in Ancona. After that, looking for new experiences, I moved to Genoa where I got my MSc in Electronics Engineering in As final step for my knowledge and experience I decided to try to get a PhD degree. My PhD project involves the study of Metamaterials and their use for designing antennas and microwave devices. I know that the next four years will be busy, but I hope there will also be plenty of good and pleasant moments! In my free time I like to travel, listen to music, and play different sports! I am looking forward to making a fresh start together with all the new Automotive students starting this academic year as well. I am in the office on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. You can reach me by m.h.m.greijmans@ tue.nl or call me on September

10 INieuws IEEE Photonics Society prize The IEEE Photonics Society has granted Vincent Sleiffer (PhD student, ECO) the IEEE Graduate Student Fellowship Award 2013 for his contributions in the area of High Capacity Optical Transmission. The work was carried out in cooperation with a.o. Coriant GmbH (Munich) and the University of Southampton (UK) in the framework of the FP7 integrated project MODEGAP. The award will be presented at the IEEE Photonics Society Annual Meeting, September 2013 in Bellevue, WA, USA. Johan van den Heuvel awarded Veder prize for advancements in telecommunications Dr.ir. J.H.C. (Johan) van den Heuvel has won the prestigious Dutch Veder prize for his contributions to the advancement of telecommunications. Van den Heuvel received the award for his PhD thesis obtained in 2012 at the TU Eindhoven and executed in collaboration with Philips. Van den Heuvel, currently researcher at Holst Centre, graduated on Analog MIMO Spatial Filtering, or the improvement of signal quality in wireless multiple-antenna systems. The Veder prize ( is a Dutch prize to promote the advancement of science and technology in the area of telecommunications. Every year the prize is given to a person who has delivered a pioneering and important contribution. The prize consists of a certificate and a financial sum. In his thesis, Van den Heuvel investigates the possibilities of multipleinput multiple-output (MIMO) systems as bases for low power and high data rate wireless systems. Reducing interference early in the RF frontend by using MIMO leads to less energy usage and higher performance. Afscheid Christ van Rijsewijk Veni voor Pieter Harpe Na een dienstverband van bijna 42 jaar heeft Christ van Rijsewijk op 30 mei jl. afscheid genomen van onze faculteit door middel van een receptie in het PVOC. Vijf talentvolle TU/e-onderzoekers ontvangen dit jaar een Venisubsidie van maximaal euro. De Veni-subsidie is bedoeld voor veelbelovende, jonge onderzoekers die maximaal drie jaar geleden zijn gepromoveerd. Met de geldprijs maximaal euro zijn ze vrij om hun onderzoeksonderwerp te kiezen. Een van de winnende veni aanvragen is van dr. ir. Pieter Harpe (MSM group) met als onderzoeksproject Multifunctionele mobiele medische zorg. Het continu monitoren van bijvoorbeeld hartslag of hersenactiviteit bij patiënten en ouderen geeft informatie over de gezondheid en kan problemen detecteren of voorkomen. De onderzoekers gaan multifunctionele elektronica ontwikkelen om deze mobiele medische zorg gebruiksvriendelijk en zo goedkoop mogelijk te maken. 08 connecthor

11 Onderwijsdag Herziening masteropleiding Door: Jan Vleeshouwers FaculteitI De afgelopen jaren vroeg vooral het bacheloronderwijs erg veel aandacht. Dat onttrok de ontwikkelingen in de masteropleidingen aan de TU/e enigszins aan het zicht. Op de Onderwijsdag van woensdag 19 juni hebben we de balans weer wat in evenwicht gebracht, door stil te staan bij wat er op ons af gaat komen in de masterfase. Deze onderwijsdag waren we te gast in het Oorlogsmuseum in Overloon, min of meer een thuiswedstrijd voor Bart Smolders. Een wat aparte entourage voor discussies en presentaties over onderwijs, maar misschien moeten we de Arnhemse brug-te-ver als een soort voorzichtige waarschuwing zien voor onderwijsvernieuwingen. Bart Smolders opende de dag op een krakend podium met een overzicht van de stand van zaken in het bacheloronderwijs. Dat overzicht is intussen een jaarlijks terugkerende gebeurtenis. Dit jaar heeft het eerste jaar van het nieuwe systeem gedraaid, met zijn ups en downs, en is er druk gewerkt aan de invulling van het tweede jaar dat in september van start gaat. Het belangrijkste positieve nieuws: komend jaar verwachten we opnieuw een forse stijging van het aantal eerstejaarsstudenten. Er zit ook gestage groei in de BKO-certificering. Op de onderwijsdag kreeg Sveta Zinger haar certificaat uitgereikt. Hans Niemandsverdriet, hoogleraar bij de faculteit Scheikunde is sinds begin dit jaar hoofd van de Eindhovense graduate school, een tot dusver nogal losse strik rondom de masteropleidingen, de ontwerpersopleidingen en de promotieplaatsen. Hij presenteerde, voorzichtig krakend, de motieven achter de graduate school en de globale lijn van de veranderingen die zullen gaan plaatsvinden. De belangrijkste daarvan is, zo stelde hij, dat de masteropleidingen veel flexibeler van opzet zullen moeten worden, en meer maatwerk mogelijk moeten gaan maken. Het is jammer dat hij nog weinig wist van hoe de Electrical Enigineering masteropleiding concreet in elkaar zit, want wat hij als toekomstbeeld schetst lijkt voor ons gewoon grotendeels de praktijk. Na enige discussie constateerde hij dat we wellicht bij EE voorop lopen en dat was een welkome constatering. s Middags hielden we drie korte workshops, waaronder een rondleiding door het museum. Het Oorlogsmuseum bezit een enorme verzameling materiaal uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog, en die maakte indruk, al was het vooral door het formaat en door hoe krap het soms op elkaar staat. Maar op mij maakten de verhalen van de gids een nog grotere indruk: over slimme oplossingen als jerrycans, over menselijke blunders en eerzucht, en over Amerikanen die kleurlingen geen geweren toevertrouwden. De twee echte workshops gingen over twee praktische problemen waar we graag oplossingen voor zouden willen hebben: hoe kunnen we onderwijs méér dan één keer per jaar aanbieden zonder daar meer tijd mee kwijt te zijn? En hoe kunnen we promovendi een grotere rol geven in het onderwijs? Uit beide workshops kwamen creatieve oplossingen. De vaakst geopperde suggestie was om colleges (in feite alle interactie-arm onderwijs) niet meer live te verzorgen maar alleen nog via video-opnames maar dan wel van hoge kwaliteit. Een interessante suggestie was ook om het onderwijs van een vak over een heel jaar uit te smeren, met in elk kwartaal een min-of-meer onafhankelijk thema, zodat een student dus elk kwartaal kan instappen. Wat opviel aan de onderwijsinzet van promovendi is vooral dat daar grote verschillen in zitten, van helemaal niet tot bijna een kwart van iemands tijd. Er is onderwijswerk zat, maar als je daarvoor de goede promovendus wilt vinden heb je in feite een soort intern uitzendbureau nodig. En voordat we daaraan beginnen, moeten we er voor zorgen dat promovendi en hun sponsors weten dat het promotieproject zowel onderzoek als onderwijs omvat wat natuurlijk eigenlijk een open deur is. Omdat het museum sloot, werd de gezamenlijke afsluiting van de dag kort en krakend. Bart Smolders leidde ons daarna naar de Heeren van Overloon voor het diner, en daarna bracht de bus ons weer naar huis op een paar tassen na, en op Oded Raz na, die de fiets pakte. September

12 IAdvertorial Omron Industrial Automation \\ Production and R&D under a single roof Omron is a multinational with over employees in more than 35 countries. It has its business units in healthcare, transportation systems, automotive, electronic components and industrial automation. The industrial automation unit is the largest and has five R&D departments and two factories in Europe. At Omron s-hertogenbosch you can find a development center for analog/digital electronics with embedded programming for controllers and the factory in the same building. This gives a dynamic environment where research and customer relations come closer than ever. The research and development group of Omron in s-hertogenbosch focuses on the hardware for industrial automation controllers and the associated embedded software. This means that the customers are machineand robot-builders who sell their machines to manufacturing plants. Omron focuses on plants for the packaging of food where universal controllers (PLCs), temperature controllers, motion controllers and safety systems determine the intelligence of the system. The industries for semiconductors and automotive are part of Omron s key customers as well. The automation business is competitive and characterized by slow market movements (machines are used for decades), the need for robust products and professionals co-developing with professionals. In addition, customization and modularity is important. As a direct result, R&D engineers in s-hertogenbosch dive into the customer needs in order to make special products with smart solutions. These special products help us to contribute to the underlying global roadmap of the Sysmac automation platform. A practical example of a project at Omron R&D can be a customization of an existing Omron product for a customer who needs a regular safety button, but benefits from a smart solution where the position of the motors is stored in case of emergency. This customer can then recover from an emergency stop without too many down time of production. To solve this, you have to understand the standardized communication protocols between the servos and the controller and the architecture of the Sysmac system. The investigation starts with a visit to the customer to really understand the problem. Most people have seen Omron only as a producer of blood pressure measurement systems of the healthcare unit or the relays of the components business unit. You may not realize that you encounter Omron products every day. The first product in 1933 was a timer for an X-ray machine. Later on, Omron achieved successes with the first non-contact solid-state switch (1960), the first automated traffic signal (1964), an unmanned train station (1964), and the first online automated cash dispenser ATM (1971). These products still give an impression of what automation can do for society as Omron is still doing. Omron was founded in Japan in 1933 by Kazuma Tateisi. Already in an early phase, he developed the vision that working is not primarily done for the sake of financial gain, but that it has a function in society. As a result, all companies should exist to support society. Hence the motto of the Omron organization is Working for the benefit of society. The responsibilities of Omron for the society have a clear positive impact on daily life within the company. For example, on the companies birthday the employees engage in a day of voluntary work for a vulnerable group. Besides that, Kazuma Tateisi had ideas on how science acts as a seed for technology, and technology on its term creates innovation in society. For more information have a look at the following websites: The Omron corporation Omron Industrial Automation Europe: Omron s vision and philosophy Jobs at Omron: and info/careers For more information about regional and global (student) jobs contact Nicole van Oers, (HR Advisor), Zilverenberg 2, 5234 GM, s-hertogenbosch, Tel connecthor

13 Varia I PhD exchange in Lyon France By: Shady Keyrouz When I attended the International Workshop on Wireless Energy Transport and Harvesting (IWWETH 2012) in Leuven, Belgium, I met Vlad Maian, another PhD student from the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, INSA. Since then we have cooperated together in order to optimize a highly efficient RF harvester. I started my exchange period in April The research focused on combining antennas, using rectifying and DC-to-DC conversion technologies to obtain optimized Rectenna (rectifying antenna) systems. These systems are employed to transfer energy wirelessly over a substantial distance (a couple to multiple meters) as efficiently as possible. Figure 3: The Saône river crossing the city of Lyon. The photo is taken from the gardens of the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere. From Eindhoven University of Technology, the experience in designing compact, multi- and wideband antennas, standard and conjugately matched to high frequency rectifier Figure 1: Departments and research groups within AmpèreLab Figure 2: Fabricated prototypes for wireless power transmission. circuits is brought in. From Lyon University the experience in designing low-power DC to DC converters is added. Both techniques are combined to realize the objective. Let me start by introducing the place I worked for three months. AmpèreLab; named after the great French mathematician André-Marie Ampère. The lab was established in 2007 and is divided into three main departments and seven research groups as shown in Figure 1. I was integrated in the Multiscale modeling and Design Methods (MDM) group. My main target was to investigate each part (in terms of input impedance) of the rectenna system starting from the antenna, the matching network, to the rectifier. I have designed, simulated, fabricated and tested two rectenna systems. The first system consists of an antenna that captures the transmitted RF signal connected to a rectifier (AC/DC converter), which converts the captured AC signal into a DC power signal. For maximum power transfer, a matching network is designed between the rectifier and the antenna. In order to decrease the size of the system, the matching network is removed in the second system and the antenna is directly matched to the rectifier (Zantenna = Zrectifier*). Systems 1 and 2 are shown in Figure 2. At an available power lever of -10 dbm (0.1 mw) the first system achieves a maximum RF to DC conversion efficiency of 40 %, while the second system achieves 53 % at the same input-power level. Lyon the city: Lyon is a wonderful city that has a history dating back to more than 2000 years ago. I have enjoyed the city a lot, especially the old city center, which is a UNESCO protected World Heritage Site, and the parks that surround the city, especially Parc de la Tête d Or where you can relax and enjoy the great sunny weather. Also the city is distinguished by its two rivers the Rhône and the Saône, where you can find plenty of restaurants and relaxing spots. A panoramic view of the city where you can see the Saône river is shown in Figure 3. In addition to the city of Lyon, I took the opportunity to visit the south of France including Montpellier, Marseille, and Cassis. The weather was absolutely amazing and the cities are full of magic. I do recommend Cassis, one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. Also I do recommend to take a boat ride and enjoy Les calanques de Cassis, see Figure 4. In short: If you would like to enjoy the great weather and the natural beauty, to enhance your French language skills and your research skills, and if you want to work in a modern and inspiring lab, I recommend AmpèreLab. Figure 4: Les calanques de Cassis. The photo is taken from aboard a boat in the Mediterranean see. September

14 IFaculteit Spectrum of Electrical Engineering Text: Michel van Eerd, Illustrations: Sandor Paulus This is about the rebirth of a course as a new Bachelor College elective. A course showing fresh electrical engineering students what electrical engineering is all about. What can students expect of both the Bachelor s and Master s program, and what will the future profession of being an engineer look like? We even hope to prove that Electrical Engineering was the right choice for those who are still unsure. Besides that, this elective should be good for one s mental health and possibly also for one s physical condition! To provide a broad overview of what EE is all about, this course will be reaching beyond the prior knowledge that can be expected from our freshman students. Not just to show what awaits them, but also to show the relevance of possibly boring and seemingly useless basic courses. Besides the technical aspects of Electrical Engineering, soft skills are important for an engineer as well. Every student attending this course will be interviewing a young professional, an engineer, most probably a graduate from our department. Writing a paper about this interview is another soft skill embedded in the course. The best articles will be published on the TU/e website, to inform pupils about their potential future study. Three lab assignments form a broad general technical introduction to our department s research directions: Care & Cure, Connected World, and Smart & Sustainable Society. For each of these directions we will kick off with state-of-the-art presentations from experts in their respective fields. Short lectures will introduce the labs and tackle deficiencies in prior knowledge, after which the lab sessions will take place. The wealth of technical labs in this course truly suits training in technical reporting. With the introduction of the Bachelor College, quite some practical training was lost in the curriculum, that s why I am particularly proud to announce the revival of the following three relevant labs: Care & Cure: personal ECG measurement, with a health check. After a brief introduction to the electrophysiology of the human body, experimenting with different types of electrodes and their placement on one s body (the actual students themselves) and using other techniques to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, the recorded ECG signals will be analyzed in MATLAB. As soon as a reliable ECG measurement is obtained - including appropriate analog-to-digital conversion - it is time for digital signal processing. Digital filtering and feature extraction like heart rate have to be implemented before putting the student through the health test! We want to know how long will it take to get back to the heart rate at rest. As our beloved Potentiaal building has hosted several championships for stairs climbing, get ready to take on 13 floors of stairs! Will records or students be broken? Connected World: DCF77 receiver. After a brief introduction to radio communication, students will wirelessly access an atomic clock by building a discrete analog receiver demodulator as a front-end for MATLAB-based decoder and error detection algorithms. Although this atomic clock has already been on air since the early 70s and now is considered more or less antique, recent receiver technology still uses many of the basic principles dating from then. Although not visible anymore on recent cell phones, antennas are still an important part of the embedded hardware. So are tuned circuits, filters, amplifiers, and demodulators. Besides receiving transmitted data and decoding the protocols, checking for and handling of communication errors are here to stay in the digital era we live in. The connection to information technology is obvious. Because our 12 connecthor

15 Faculteit & VerenigingI beloved Potentiaal building doesn t allow for useful reception, and waiting for transmission errors would probably take too long, a custom-made reference transmitter will put the student s work to the test and may even play some tricks like speeding up time... If only the weekend could start on Friday morning... Smart Sustainable Society: impact of energy saving lighting on the power grid. After a brief introduction to power distribution networks, three-phase networks, and active and reactive power, students are welcomed to our Power Quality Laboratory to put different types of lighting to the test. Measuring currents in a three-phase arrangement, including the neutral and calculating harmonic content are key ingredients. How does fluorescent lighting perform in terms of power quality in comparison with the historical bulb or the new arrival: the LED light? What is the impact on the electricity grid? Can an overall estimate of power efficiency be made from energy plant to consumer? Can different kinds of lighting technologies be ranked in terms of overall power efficiency on a greenness scale to show the environmental impact? Blindly believing the obvious could turn out to be tricky; stay alert! Conduct thorough research to convince yourself! I m convinced students will like this course just as much as the amount of enthusiasm and effort we have already put into developing it. Thanks goes out to Bart Smolders, the visionary who gave this course a place in Bachelor College, Jan Bergmans, our general manager, Daphne van Dongen, our soft-skills guru, our technical track representatives Guus Pemen, Peter Baltus, and Peter Smulders, our technical team Ad Reniers, Hennie van der Zande, Michiel Rooijakkers, and Harry Kuipers, the experts from their respective fields, the young professionals who volunteered to be interviewed and rate the resulting articles, the PhDs, student assistants and staff who correct reports and provide feedback, the jury for selecting the prize winning articles, and all (at time of writing still unknown) people that weren t listed as a result of later involvement in the process. To all students: Don t be overwhelmed, good luck, enjoy, explore and happy learning! Dies Natalis ODIN By: Erwin van Vliet You might have already read our introduction somewhere else in this Connecthor, but in addition we want to show you some of what communicatiedispuut ODIN has organized in the DIES week of last semester. First of all, we hosted our Dies Natalis party to celebrate that another year had passed, full of ODIN activities! The party was held in the Walhalla with a free keg of beer. The party was well visited, like all the other activities organized in the special Dies week, such as the very popular ODDDDIN when we ordered döner and dürum for all 32 subscribers. The Dies week was concluded with a day for all the former board members and benefactors of ODIN, who we invited to have a drink and dinner together. Beside all these festive activities, we also organized a study-related lunch lecture with the CEO and founder of SMART Photonics. SMART Photonics is an independent design and development company for III-V semiconductors like Indium Phosphide. The lecture started by showing the importance of photonics and by making clear that data communication is not the only application for photonics: there are many applications that may benefit from the capabilities of integrated photonic circuits. During the presentation not only the company, but also photonics in general and the opportunities that this technology creates/enables where discussed, which made it a very interesting lunch lecture. Beside the lunch lecture, we recently visited ASTRON (Astronomy institute Netherlands). The article about this excursion can also be found in this Connecthor. The entire reports, including photos, of these and other activities can be found on our website or Facebook page. If this has made you curious about ODIN, please visit our website (ODIN.ele.tue. nl) or stop by at the ODIN room (PT11.35) for some more information or to become a (board) member. September

16 IVaria Automotive vrouwen in de spotlight Door: Esmee Huismans Waarom hebben jullie gekozen voor de studie Automotive? Birgit: Eigenlijk was ik geïnteresseerd in de studie Luchtvaart en Ruimtetechniek, daarom ben ik gaan kijken in Delft. De ervaring die ik daar opdeed was dat ik de mensen niet leuk vond. Ik vond Eindhoven wel een leuke stad en ben hier gaan kijken voor een opleiding. Uiteindelijk heb ik mede door de latebeslissersdag gekozen voor deze studie. Marcella: ik heb al een jaar in Eindhoven gestudeerd. Hiervoor heb ik eerst een jaar Technische Natuurkunde gedaan. Ik had besloten dat ik wel graag in Eindhoven wilde blijven studeren en was zowel als in Electrical Engineering als in Werktuigbouwkunde geïnteresseerd. De perfecte combinatie van beide studies was de studie Automotive. Ik heb ook mijn beslissing mede gemaakt door de latebeslissersdag, deze dag was erg leuk. Lisa: Ik wist dat ik iets met techniek wilde gaan doen. Wat voor mij ook erg belangrijk was, was dat ik graag in Nederland wilde gaan studeren. Nadat ik alle drie de technische universiteiten met elkaar had vergeleken, sprak de TU/e mij het meest aan qua mensen, stad en universiteit zelf. Ik was geïnteresseerd in de studie Automotive en de studie Werktuigbouwkunde. Uiteindelijk heb ik voor de studie Automotive gekozen, omdat hier ook een gedeelte elektrotechniek in terugkomt. Verder vindt ik het erg fijn dat de groep v.l.n.r.: Lisa, Birgit en Marcella kleiner is, hierdoor heb je meer persoonlijk contact en een betere begeleiding naar mijn mening. Hebben jullie bewust gekozen voor de mannenwereld? Lisa: Voor mij was dit een bewuste keuze, ik kan beter met jongens omgaan. Omdat ik beter met jongens kan omgaan, neigde ik ook meer naar de techniek. Ik zou ook geen echte vrouwenstudie kunnen volgen. Birgit: Dat geldt ook voor mij. Ik ga ook liever om met mannen, neigde daarom ook meer naar de techniek en zou geen studie kunnen doen waar vrijwel alleen vrouwen zijn. Waar ik wel erg aan moest wennen toen ik hier begon, was alle aandacht. Marcella: Ik heb niet bewust gekozen voor een studie met mannen, maar wel voor een technische studie. Een studie met veel vrouwen zou ik niet zo erg vinden, alhoewel ik mannen wel gezelliger vindt. Hebben jullie gevonden wat je had verwacht? Lisa: Ik had geen specifieke verwachting, maar ik was wel erg verrast door de hechte binding bij onze studievereniging Thor. Qua studie viel het eerste kwartiel tegen, maar daarna werden de vakken leuker. Birgit: Ik had verwacht dat ik veel meer tijd aan het studeren zelf zou besteden en minder aan sociale contacten. Daarnaast had ik ook niet verwacht dat ik actief zou worden bij Thor, maar ik ben erg blij met de keuze die ik heb gemaakt. In hoeverre heb je steun aan andere vrouwen op de studie? Eigenlijk heb je voornamelijk contact met jaargenoten. Wij spreken de ouderejaars vrouwen vrij weinig, dus je hebt vooral steun aan andere vrouwen die van dezelfde generatie zijn. Om contact te leggen met andere vrouwen is de introductieweek wel het perfecte moment. Lisa en Birgit waren erg blij dat ze bij elkaar in het introgroepje zaten, maar uiteindelijk zoeken de vrouwen elkaar toch wel op. Ze zijn altijd met zijn drieën. Marcella zegt dat ze het wel gered zou hebben zonder vrouwen, maar het is wel fijn dat er andere vrouwelijke jaargenoten zijn. Vrouwen zijn vaak meer doelgericht dan mannen. Hebben jullie al een beroep voor ogen? Lisa: Ik heb nog geen beroep in gedachte. Ik heb de studie gekozen, omdat deze mij aansprak. Wat ik wel belangrijk vind, is dat ik nog alle kanten op kan. Het hoeft uiteindelijk niet per se iets met auto s te zijn. Mijn uiteindelijke beroep hoeft alleen maar iets te maken te hebben met werktuigbouwkunde of elektrotechniek. Birgit: Ik heb deze studie gekozen omdat deze mij aansprak. Wat ik later wil gaan doen weet ik nog niet. Marcella: Wat voor werk ik wil gaan doen weet ik nog niet. Maar ik heb wel gekeken naar welke masters er nog mogelijk waren met deze studie. Ik vind het belangrijk dat ik nog genoeg keuze had en dat het uitdagend 14 connecthor

17 Va r i a & FaculteitI is. Welke master ik precies wil gaan doen weet ik ook nog niet. Wat ik belangrijk vind voor later is dat het in ieder geval uitdagend is. Jullie wonen alle drie in Eindhoven. Hoe bevalt het jullie om hier te wonen en wonen jullie met meerdere vrouwen in huis? Lisa: Het belangrijkste voor mij was dat ik in contact kwam met Nederlanders. Toen ik op zoek ging naar een kamer heb ik niet gekeken naar hoeveel vrouwen er in huis woonden, omdat contact op zich belangrijk voor mij is. In mijn huis wonen 11 mensen en ongeveer de helft daarvan zijn vrouwen. Ook heb ik niet met iedereen in mijn huis contact, maar wel met sommigen. Marcella: Ik ga binnenkort verhuizen naar een studentenhuis met 4 huisgenoten, allemaal jongens. Het maakt mij niet zoveel uit dat het allemaal jongens zijn, aangezien ik het gewend ben om met jongens om te gaan. Ik ga verhuizen, omdat ik meer behoefte heb aan gezelligheid. Ik zat hiervoor zelfstandig. Birgit: Ik woon bij een hospita, hier zitten nog 3 vrouwen meer. Er zitten 2 buitenlandse meisjes, 1 Nederlands meisje en 1 Nederlandse jongen. Toen ik naar een woning op zoek ging, heb ik niet specifiek gekeken naar een huis met veel vrouwen. Wat vooral leuk is aan Eindhoven is de sfeer, deze is erg gezellig. Ik denk dat dit vooral komt door de verhouding man/vrouw. Hebben jullie nog tips voor de nieuwe eerstejaars vrouwen? Wordt actief bij Thor of ben vaak op vloer 2. Dit zorgt voor binding met de andere studenten. Verder moet je niet stoppen met de studie na het eerste kwartiel, ook al valt dit tegen. Zorg dat je een goede verdeling vindt tussen studeren en leuke dingen doen. Zorg er vooral voor dat je niet te veel achter de boeken gaat zitten. Tenslotte moet je zo snel mogelijk op kamers gaat. Dit omdat je er veel van leert, je wordt er zelfstandiger van en je geniet meer van het studentenleven. Intake nieuwe studenten (EE en AU) Door: Rob Mestrom Om de aankomende eerstejaarsstudenten Electrical Engineering en Automotive te verwelkomen, heeft ook dit jaar weer de intake plaatsgevonden op 4 juni. Vers van hun eindexamen waren 71 scholieren aanwezig. Ze kregen een introductie van Bart Smolders over het Bachelor College, de majors Electrical Engineering en Automotive en hun individuele keuzevrijheid in vakken. Vervolgens moesten de scholieren aan de slag met hun jaar) te ontwerpen waarin hun innoverende bijdrage aan de maatschappij weergegeven was. Resultaten van deze (soms hilarische) innovaties staan in de foto s op deze pagina afgebeeld. Aansluitend werden deze voorpagina s plenair gepresenteerd en bekritiseerd. Ter afsluiting kregen de scholieren nog informatie over de inschrijving en de introweek en mochten ze vakantie gaan vieren. wiskundekennis. Via de clickers moest er een tiental meerkeuze wiskundesommetjes beantwoord worden, waarvan een aantal toch lastiger bleek dan verwacht. Op deze manier werd hen een spiegel voorgehouden om hen voor te bereiden op de ingangstoets bij Calculus in de eerste collegeweek in september. Als start van het intensieve coachingstraject in het Bachelor College, gingen de studenten na de koffiepauze in groepjes met één van de coaches aan de slag. Het team van coaches bestaat dit jaar uit Bart Smolders, Tjalling Tjalkens, Hans Hegt, Ramiro Serra, Jan Vleeshouwers, Sjoerd Hulshof en mijzelf, Rob Mestrom. Martine Greijmans, onze nieuwe studieadviseur voor Automotive, was ook bij de intake aanwezig. Na een voorstelrondje kregen de groepjes de opdracht om een voorpagina van een krant (over 15 September

18 IVaria Behind the scenes of Robocup 2013 By: Esin Ilhan \\ Personal experiences in the Adult Size Humanoid League RoboCup started with the following aim in 1997: to make the first fully automated robot team competing against a human team in Among the many leagues and challenges present in the RoboCup, probably the most challenging field is the Adult Size Humanoid League. This league does not only have robots resembling humans with legs, arms, and eyes, but also size wise these are the most human-like. TechUnited s Humanoid Team built all the hardware and software of the robot called TUlip, the name of which was given as a combination of TU/e and Tulip. Compared to smaller size robots, where multiple robots play against each other, in the leagues TUlip competes in, the matches are one-to-one. For immediate help, always one team member must be present behind the robot during the matches with the rule of not touching the robot. This is a necessity, since in case of a problem, the robot would collapse. A 1.5m high, 35kg weight robot falling down is surely a nice sight! RoboCup is not only a technological competition but also a clash of human nature. For a whole week we work hard from 8am to 11pm, from the opening of the competition hall until it closes. Usually, we are forced to leave the premises step by step by first turning off the lights, next by announcements, etc. Hard work, excitement of the matches, and Photo: Bart van Overbeeke sleeplessness are the psychological challenges that every RoboCup attendee faces. Constant testing of new algorithms, fixing the electrical/mechanical parts, lack of parts and finding innovative solutions to be ready when the match time arrives are priceless experiences. My experiences relate more to the hardware part. Being the sole female and electrical engineer, all the electrical problems are related to me. The problems are sometimes easy to detect, but in general time consuming. In case of serious problems, I put on my head light, get the tweezers and start an operation on the robot. This resembles a surgical operation on a human body. The power cables are blood vessels and the nerve system is the signal cabling, which makes me a medical robot doctor. So far, I have attended 4 RoboCup competitions on 4 different continents. Seeing a female always attracts people s attention, not only in local media but also in the other teams. There are of course female challengers but most of them are usually in office work or solely behind the computer. I would definitely like to see more female technical challengers. 16 connecthor

19 Behind the scenes of Robocup 2013 \\ Personal experiences in the Middle Sized League The start of Robocup 2013 By: Bob van Ninhuijs Varia I Robocup 2013 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, with over 2500 participants from around 40 countries is very impressive, especially for my first world tournament. Hi, my name is Bob van Ninhuijs and I participated in the Middle Sized League with the Tech United team from the TU/e. On the first day, we registered ourselves so we could enter the development areas. These first three days no games were played because all teams needed this time to assemble and calibrate the robots. To test some of our software and hardware, we asked other teams on the second and third day to play a practicing game. We evaluated these games to improve the robots. These improvements are applied during the tournament days. We programmed, tested, and calibrated from 8:00h to 23:00h. As these are long days, it was very rewarding to see the progress we achieved with the robots. Game day On Thursday, the teams were divided into groups. All teams in this group have to play against each other. The groups on Friday are determined based on the results from Thursday, and so on for Saturday. Friday was of course a special day because our queen Maxima came to watch one of our games. During these days we were able to win every game, we had no goals against us and we were able to show the audience the first long passes, and triple passes! On Sunday morning the semi-finals were played and we had to play against the brandnew robots from Cambada. With these new robots, Cambada had shown a lot of progress during the tournament, which had brought them into the semi-finals. Fortunately, we were able to defeat them with 6-0; still no goals against! Finals In the finals we needed to play against the Chinese team Water and as the moment of truth came closer, all team members became more nervous. Especially, because a couple of years ago Tech United had the same situation, standing in the finals with no goals against, but it lost the finals to Water. It was very exciting to see the stand fill up. It was estimated that about 5000 people were watching the game. Now it was time to start the game, and already very early in the game Water scored a goal which decreased the excitement, however, there was still hope. As we played further the score was 2-1 for Water. With only five seconds left we were able to equalize the score, and the whole crowd went wild. For me this was the most exciting game I ever watched! Game time was over, so extra-time was played, which consists of two halves each taking 5 minutes. Unfortunately, Water was able to score during this extra-time, therefore, Water won the game and so the world championship. Looking back to this week and year, we made a lot of progress and learned a lot. With this knowledge and enthusiasm of the team we will win next year for sure! September

20 IFaculteit Data Applications for Advanced Distribution Networks Operation By: Petr Kadurek Economical reasons, security of supply as well as the ecological background are the key drivers for changes happening at different levels of our energy delivery systems. Both the supply and the demand side of it will have to be redesigned in the search for available energy sources without harming our environment. That this process is happening, is visible especially at numerous premises of electricity network users connected to the electricity network, e.g. rooftop photovoltaic installations. Our electricity system therefore cannot be left behind without adjusting itself to become more flexible and capable of efficiently meeting our future needs. However, to transform the vision of our future sustainable power system into reality and real applications, a lot of research and development has to be done. To contribute to the research on this topic, I joined the Electrical Energy System group at TU/e in September 2009 to pursue my Ph.D. studies, which focused on data applications for advanced distribution network operation. Electricity distribution The electricity distribution network was designed for unidirectional power flows and has been operated in a relative reliable way for many decades. The insight into the operation of the distribution network is very limited and nearly no measurements have been conducted on it; a good starting point for my research! However, the distribution network as part of our electricity system will be exposed to many challenges, which will occur at network-user connections. More efficient c.3 Reliability c.1 Voltage level c.2 PQ (others aspects) c.4 Accomodation of DGs c.5 Accomodation of EVs c.6 DR (for DSO) c.8 Network monitoring c.7 DR (for others) c.10 Investment c.9 Theft detection use of energy in many applications can result in a higher use of electricity. The shift towards electro-mobility and the proliferation of distributed small-scale local generation are among the most important challenges for the future infrastructure. Many aspects are points for discussion in the concept of our future electricity infrastructure. The distribution-system operator (e.g. Alliander, Enexis or Stedin in the Netherlands) is responsible for a reliable and economical operation of the distribution network in its service area. In my research, I focused on the developments in the distribution network from the perspective of the network operator. The perspective of the distribution system operator is a very important one as this operator has the task to provide a reliable connection for the All combined Industry only Academia only Weight factor Fig.1: The ranking of the expected distribution network functionality for different groups of responders. Imbalance volume [MWh/PTU] electricity network users in an uncertain environment and effectively invest in distribution assets. Scope of my work Original Imbalance 1 % penetration level 5 % penetration level 10 % penetration level 20 % penetration level 30 % penetration level Duration [h] Fig.2: The impact of the proposed OLTC application on power system balancing. Estimated imbalance volumes are based on data for the Dutch power system in Within the scope of my dissertation, the technical challenges are assessed that are related to the supplied power quality assessment in distribution networks and the those that are related to the operation of a distribution network in the presence of modern technologies, such as distributed generation. Also, the solutions for these challenges in terms of application of data and advanced network technologies applicable to distribution network operators are assessed. The socioeconomical aspects, regulation, policy, and reliability assessment would be an interesting field for other students to be further explored. What can be done with our future networks? Before suggesting any improvements, it is important to realize what is actually needed and expected in the future. Therefore, the expected functionality of the future and current distribution network is considered in my work. Based on a matrix of criteria (c), the performance of the distribution network and the impact of different applications on its performance can be evaluated. This leads to guidelines for deployment of possible technological alternatives and assets, which 18 connecthor