Bilateral teleoperation of surface vessels in constrained environments under degraded communications.

While full autonomy is emerging for open-sea navigation, it remains unsuitable today for highly constrained maritime and inland waterway environments. In shallow waters, narrow canals, or port areas, the hydrodynamic complexity and traffic density require keeping a human operator in the decision-making loop.This thesis is part of a joint research project conducted by the LIS laboratory and the company NEAC (Caen).

The overall objective is the design of an innovative teleoperation system, from the control interface to software integration, with a strong component of experimental validation on a full-scale vessel.The thesis work will specifically focus on developing the bilateral control loop between the shore station and the vessel. The major scientific challenge will be to guarantee the stability and safety of this loop in the face of highly degraded wireless communication networks (time-varying delays, packet losses, aperiodic transmissions).

To overcome this challenge, the PhD student will first need to design continuous-discrete observers capable of providing robust and continuous estimation of the setpoints from asynchronous measurements. Secondly, advanced control laws will need to be synthesized, both on the operator side (control center) and on the vessel side (adaptation of embedded algorithms), to ensure the overall stability of the architecture.

The project will mainly take place at the LIS laboratory, with regular periods of integration and testing in close collaboration with the NEAC engineering team.

The scientific scope of the Systems Engineering Laboratory (LIS – UR 7478 – ENSICAEN – UNICAEN) primarily builds upon the foundations of dynamical systems theory.

The research activity of the LIS relies on the analysis and modeling of signals and systems, as well as the observation and control of nonlinear systems.

Within the framework of collaborative projects with other laboratories and companies, the laboratory's activities encompass the development of fundamental research, technology transfer, and the training of young researchers in fields such as data analysis, the design of LED lighting systems, the control of autonomous vessels and drone fleets, and the control of biochemical reactors…

The candidate must hold an engineering degree or a research Master's degree with a strong specialization in automatic control, control theory, or robotics. Solid analytical skills in control law synthesis, nonlinear observers, and stability analysis (Lyapunov approaches) are required, as well as an advanced mastery of prototyping and simulation environments (MATLAB/Simulink). Prior knowledge of Model Predictive Control (MPC), discrete-time systems, or time-delay systems will be an asset.

Beyond the theoretical background, as this project involves full-scale trials, a strong interest in experimental work and algorithmic implementation on hardware targets is required. The future PhD student must demonstrate scientific rigor, autonomy, and excellent interpersonal skills to integrate effectively within the LIS laboratory and the NEAC company.