
I’m a software engineer. My PhD topic is about researching and developing a transformation language for describing Digital Twins.
Who are you and what is your background?
My name’s Luigi Brandolini, I’m a software engineer Master graduated from the University of L’Aquila (Italy) in Computer Science in 2008, with many years of working experience behind me. I decided to apply for a PhD position because my professional specialization field has always been related to research, development, and teaching cutting edge technologies, both in the industry and in academia. My technical experience, in particular, is mainly focused on Web/Enterprise software design and development using mostly Java, JavaScript and Databases (SQL/NoSQL) technologies.
What is your PhD research/ topic about?
My PhD topic is about researching and developing a transformation language for describing Digital Twins that basically correspond to virtual representations of physical entities. In order to accomplish that, practices of Model Driven Engineering and ML technologies will be used together, so as to obtain software models with simultaneous data integration and inference.
What are the big challenges to be tackled and possible future impacts?
The biggest challenge is represented for sure by the integration of ML technologies into Model Driven Engineering for performing model transformations. The validation and the assessment of the outcomes in order to prove their correctness and quality, will also be crucial. So, at the end of this work, it will be possible to apply tools and methodologies developed to any kind of scenarios for obtaining optimizations, like, for instance, in the electric and urban transportation networks. This application, in particular, will have a big impact on the environmental transition, because it will be possible to enhance the design of such networks improving the recharge process of the bus batteries with consequent reduction of the energy consumption.
What is the configuration of your PhD research?
According to the fixed schedule, I will spend two of three years at the University of IMT Atlantique in Nantes with the supervision of the Prof. Massimo Tisi and the remaining one year at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology in Luxembourg City (Luxembourg) with the supervision of the research engineer Jean-Sébastien Sottet.
After a few weeks embarked as PhD fellow at IMT Atlantique, what is your first feeling about the programme and your institution?
I feel definitely very enthusiastic about my choice, because here at the IMT Atlantique I found an highly motivating and engaging environment. The topics I’m working on are extremely interesting and up-to-date, the working team is very close-knit and people are always available to help. Also the SEED program turned out great, because it offers a wide support, from the organization of training courses important to complete our path, to the development of our career.