This CV summarizes Lars Abrahamsson's personal and educational background, research profile, and scientific merits. The key points are:
- Lars received a Master's in applied mathematics in 2005 and a PhD in electrical engineering in 2012 from KTH, both focused on railway power supply systems.
- His research has centered on modeling and optimizing railway power supply operation and investment planning under uncertainty. This includes developing models of train power consumption and railway component interactions.
- More recently, his work has also looked at managing voltage instability risks in power grids with high renewable energy penetration through stochastic optimal power flow modeling.
Improving energy efficiency has always been the prime objective of the custom and automated digital circuit design techniques. However, as the field of design automation has matured over the last few decades, there have been no new automated design techniques, that can provide considerable improvements in circuit power, delay. Although emerging nano-devices are expected to replace the existing MOSFET devices, they are far from being as mature as semiconductor devices and their full potential and promises are many years away from being practical. The research described in this dissertation consists of four main parts. First is a new circuit architecture of a differential threshold logic flip-flop called PNAND. The PNAND gate is an edge-triggered multi-input sequential cell whose next state function is a threshold function of its inputs. Second a new approach, called hybridization, that replaces flip-flops and parts of their logic cones with PNAND cells is described. The resulting hybrid circuit, which consists of conventional logic cells and PNANDs, is shown to have significantly less power consumption, smaller area, less standby power and less power variation. Third, a new architecture of a field programmable array, called field programmable threshold logic array (FPTLA), in which the standard lookup table (LUT) is replaced by a PNAND is described. The FPTLA is shown to have as much as 50% lower energy delay product compared to conventional FPGA using well known FPGA modeling tool called VPR. Fourth, a novel clock skewing technique that makes use of the completion detection feature of the differential mode flip-flops is described.
International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) is an open access online peer reviewed international journal that publishes research and review articles in the fields of Computer Science, Neural Networks, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Plastic Engineering, Food Technology, Textile Engineering, Nano Technology & science, Power Electronics, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Computational mathematics, Image processing, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Environmental Engineering, VLSI Testing & Low Power VLSI Design etc.
A New Transistor Sizing Approach for Digital Integrated Circuits Using Firefl...VLSICS Design
Due to the fact that, the power consumption and speed of a VLSI circuit are dependent on the transistor
sizes, efficient transistor sizing is a new challenge for VLSI circuit designers. However, evolutionary
computation can be successfully used for complex VLSI transistor sizing which reduces the time to market
and enables the designer to find the optimized solutions for a non-linear and complex circuit design
process. In this paper, a new digital integrated circuit design approach is proposed based on the firefly
artificial intelligence optimization algorithm. In order to justify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm
in the design of VLSI circuits, an inverter (NOT gate) is designed and optimized by the proposed algorithm.
As the simulation results show, the inverter circuit has a very good performance for power and delay
parameters.
Improving energy efficiency has always been the prime objective of the custom and automated digital circuit design techniques. However, as the field of design automation has matured over the last few decades, there have been no new automated design techniques, that can provide considerable improvements in circuit power, delay. Although emerging nano-devices are expected to replace the existing MOSFET devices, they are far from being as mature as semiconductor devices and their full potential and promises are many years away from being practical. The research described in this dissertation consists of four main parts. First is a new circuit architecture of a differential threshold logic flip-flop called PNAND. The PNAND gate is an edge-triggered multi-input sequential cell whose next state function is a threshold function of its inputs. Second a new approach, called hybridization, that replaces flip-flops and parts of their logic cones with PNAND cells is described. The resulting hybrid circuit, which consists of conventional logic cells and PNANDs, is shown to have significantly less power consumption, smaller area, less standby power and less power variation. Third, a new architecture of a field programmable array, called field programmable threshold logic array (FPTLA), in which the standard lookup table (LUT) is replaced by a PNAND is described. The FPTLA is shown to have as much as 50% lower energy delay product compared to conventional FPGA using well known FPGA modeling tool called VPR. Fourth, a novel clock skewing technique that makes use of the completion detection feature of the differential mode flip-flops is described.
International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) is an open access online peer reviewed international journal that publishes research and review articles in the fields of Computer Science, Neural Networks, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Plastic Engineering, Food Technology, Textile Engineering, Nano Technology & science, Power Electronics, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Computational mathematics, Image processing, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Environmental Engineering, VLSI Testing & Low Power VLSI Design etc.
A New Transistor Sizing Approach for Digital Integrated Circuits Using Firefl...VLSICS Design
Due to the fact that, the power consumption and speed of a VLSI circuit are dependent on the transistor
sizes, efficient transistor sizing is a new challenge for VLSI circuit designers. However, evolutionary
computation can be successfully used for complex VLSI transistor sizing which reduces the time to market
and enables the designer to find the optimized solutions for a non-linear and complex circuit design
process. In this paper, a new digital integrated circuit design approach is proposed based on the firefly
artificial intelligence optimization algorithm. In order to justify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm
in the design of VLSI circuits, an inverter (NOT gate) is designed and optimized by the proposed algorithm.
As the simulation results show, the inverter circuit has a very good performance for power and delay
parameters.
SINK RELOCATION FOR NETWORK LIFETIME ENHANCEMENT METHOD IN WSNEditor IJMTER
Recent advances in micro manufacturing technology have enabled the event of cheap, normal
power, unique functional detector nodes for the wireless communication. Sensing applications have
normal conjointly as a reality of result. These embrace environmental observation, intrusion detection,
battleground police work, and so on. In a very wireless detector network (WSN), the way the restricted
power resources of sensors to increase that to conserve the network lifespan of the WSN as long as double
whereas activity the sensing and detected knowledge news tasks, is that the most important issue within
the network style. In a WSN, detector nodes deliver detected knowledge back to the sink as multi hopping.
The detector nodes are very close to the sink can usually consume additional battery power than others;
consequently, these nodes will been drain out their battery energy quickly and short the network lifespan
of the WSN. Sink relocation have associate degree economical network lifespan extension methodology,
that could avoids an excessive amount of battery energy for a selected cluster of detector nodes. during
this paper, we have a tendency to propose a moving strategy known as energy-aware sink relocation
(EASR) for mobile sinks in WSN. These projected mechanism uses info associated with the residual
battery energy of detector nodes to be adaptively alter the transmission vary of detector nodes and
therefore the relocating theme to the sink. Some theoretical and numerical analyze area unit given to point
out that the EASR methodology will extend the network lifespan of the WSN considerably
Fault model analysis by parasitic extraction method for embedded srameSAT Publishing House
IJRET : International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology is an international peer reviewed, online journal published by eSAT Publishing House for the enhancement of research in various disciplines of Engineering and Technology. The aim and scope of the journal is to provide an academic medium and an important reference for the advancement and dissemination of research results that support high-level learning, teaching and research in the fields of Engineering and Technology. We bring together Scientists, Academician, Field Engineers, Scholars and Students of related fields of Engineering and Technology
Fault model analysis by parasitic extraction method for embedded srameSAT Journals
Abstract Fault analysis plays a significant role in developing detailed fault models for subsequent diagnostics and debugging of a semiconductor memory product. Existing fault models were analyzed in terms of well known March algorithms. Such analysis is able to give information only on either detection of fault or correction. But they are failing to give information based on various constraints such as dynamic power analysis, propagation delay analysis, and the bit line capacitance influence while reading or writing the data. Scale down in technology causes changes in parasitic effects, which may cause additional source of faulty behavior. Hence we suggest an analysis which includes majority of these constraints with the help of layout based fault model. Finally different parametric values are compared for faulty and fault free SRAM cell. We found that although some of the defects can be mapped to existing fault models, there are many defects that result in undefined fault models. Keywords: fault models, March algorithms, dynamic power analysis, propagation delay analysis, bit line capacitance, layout based fault model, undefined fault models.
As the nodes in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have limited power, energy conservation is essential at different layers of the protocol stack to prolong lifetime. In our previous work, ”Priority based slot allocation for media access in wireless sensor networks” (PSAWSN), probability based priority scheme is used to allocate slots to competing nodes. Limitations of this work include 1) It does not handle dynamic and variable slot allocation based on varying requirements of nodes. 2) Error control is not taken into account. To overcome these limitations, we propose a Medium Access Control scheme using Priority Index (MACPI) that generates Priority Index (PI) to allocate varying slots based on parameters: message length (ML), node energy (NE), number of requests (NR) and message urgency (MU). Models have been de- signed for all these parameters and an expert system is proposed that makes decisions based on collective knowledge of these parameters. Analysis and simulation results for various message sizes and error conditions show that there is an improvement in terms of energy efficiency, optimal message length and throughput compared to the ”Reliable data deliveries using packet optimization in multi-hop underwater sensor networks”(RDPSN).
A verilog based simulation methodology for estimating statistical test for th...ijsrd.com
The low Power estimation is an important aspect in digital VLSI circuit design. The estimation includes a power dissipation of a circuit and hence this to be reduces. The power estimations are specific to a particular component of power. The process of optimization of circuits for low power, user should know the effects of design techniques on each component. There are different power dissipation methods for reduction in power component. In this paper, estimating the power like short circuit and the total power, power reduction technique and the application of different proposed technique has been presented here. Hence, it is necessary to provide the information about the effect on each of these components.
Dr. Robert Voigt from the Krell Institute presented this deck at the recent HPC Saudi conference.
"This talk will provide a historical perspective on the challenges of educating computational scientists based on my personal involvement over a number of years. Three decidedly different activities will be drawn on to indicate how one can successfully approach the challenge. The first is based on experiences at the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering at the NASA Langley Research Center where visiting students were exposed to multidisciplinary research driven by computer simulations. The second is the Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration, a component of the US Department of Energy (DOE). The third is the Computational Science Graduate Fellowship program funded by the DOE. The latter two programs provide students with exposure to multidisciplinary research and perhaps more unique, require them to spend a three month period at one of the DOE national laboratories. My experience with these three efforts suggest that development of computational scientists require three key components: class room exposure to applied mathematics, computer science and a scientific or engineering discipline; exposure to teams conducting multidisciplinary research; and a significant internship at a major research facility."
Watch a conversation with Dr. Robert Voight: http://wp.me/p3RLHQ-gBl
Sign up for our insideHPC Newsletter: http://insidehpc.com/newsletter
SINK RELOCATION FOR NETWORK LIFETIME ENHANCEMENT METHOD IN WSNEditor IJMTER
Recent advances in micro manufacturing technology have enabled the event of cheap, normal
power, unique functional detector nodes for the wireless communication. Sensing applications have
normal conjointly as a reality of result. These embrace environmental observation, intrusion detection,
battleground police work, and so on. In a very wireless detector network (WSN), the way the restricted
power resources of sensors to increase that to conserve the network lifespan of the WSN as long as double
whereas activity the sensing and detected knowledge news tasks, is that the most important issue within
the network style. In a WSN, detector nodes deliver detected knowledge back to the sink as multi hopping.
The detector nodes are very close to the sink can usually consume additional battery power than others;
consequently, these nodes will been drain out their battery energy quickly and short the network lifespan
of the WSN. Sink relocation have associate degree economical network lifespan extension methodology,
that could avoids an excessive amount of battery energy for a selected cluster of detector nodes. during
this paper, we have a tendency to propose a moving strategy known as energy-aware sink relocation
(EASR) for mobile sinks in WSN. These projected mechanism uses info associated with the residual
battery energy of detector nodes to be adaptively alter the transmission vary of detector nodes and
therefore the relocating theme to the sink. Some theoretical and numerical analyze area unit given to point
out that the EASR methodology will extend the network lifespan of the WSN considerably
Fault model analysis by parasitic extraction method for embedded srameSAT Publishing House
IJRET : International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology is an international peer reviewed, online journal published by eSAT Publishing House for the enhancement of research in various disciplines of Engineering and Technology. The aim and scope of the journal is to provide an academic medium and an important reference for the advancement and dissemination of research results that support high-level learning, teaching and research in the fields of Engineering and Technology. We bring together Scientists, Academician, Field Engineers, Scholars and Students of related fields of Engineering and Technology
Fault model analysis by parasitic extraction method for embedded srameSAT Journals
Abstract Fault analysis plays a significant role in developing detailed fault models for subsequent diagnostics and debugging of a semiconductor memory product. Existing fault models were analyzed in terms of well known March algorithms. Such analysis is able to give information only on either detection of fault or correction. But they are failing to give information based on various constraints such as dynamic power analysis, propagation delay analysis, and the bit line capacitance influence while reading or writing the data. Scale down in technology causes changes in parasitic effects, which may cause additional source of faulty behavior. Hence we suggest an analysis which includes majority of these constraints with the help of layout based fault model. Finally different parametric values are compared for faulty and fault free SRAM cell. We found that although some of the defects can be mapped to existing fault models, there are many defects that result in undefined fault models. Keywords: fault models, March algorithms, dynamic power analysis, propagation delay analysis, bit line capacitance, layout based fault model, undefined fault models.
As the nodes in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have limited power, energy conservation is essential at different layers of the protocol stack to prolong lifetime. In our previous work, ”Priority based slot allocation for media access in wireless sensor networks” (PSAWSN), probability based priority scheme is used to allocate slots to competing nodes. Limitations of this work include 1) It does not handle dynamic and variable slot allocation based on varying requirements of nodes. 2) Error control is not taken into account. To overcome these limitations, we propose a Medium Access Control scheme using Priority Index (MACPI) that generates Priority Index (PI) to allocate varying slots based on parameters: message length (ML), node energy (NE), number of requests (NR) and message urgency (MU). Models have been de- signed for all these parameters and an expert system is proposed that makes decisions based on collective knowledge of these parameters. Analysis and simulation results for various message sizes and error conditions show that there is an improvement in terms of energy efficiency, optimal message length and throughput compared to the ”Reliable data deliveries using packet optimization in multi-hop underwater sensor networks”(RDPSN).
A verilog based simulation methodology for estimating statistical test for th...ijsrd.com
The low Power estimation is an important aspect in digital VLSI circuit design. The estimation includes a power dissipation of a circuit and hence this to be reduces. The power estimations are specific to a particular component of power. The process of optimization of circuits for low power, user should know the effects of design techniques on each component. There are different power dissipation methods for reduction in power component. In this paper, estimating the power like short circuit and the total power, power reduction technique and the application of different proposed technique has been presented here. Hence, it is necessary to provide the information about the effect on each of these components.
Dr. Robert Voigt from the Krell Institute presented this deck at the recent HPC Saudi conference.
"This talk will provide a historical perspective on the challenges of educating computational scientists based on my personal involvement over a number of years. Three decidedly different activities will be drawn on to indicate how one can successfully approach the challenge. The first is based on experiences at the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering at the NASA Langley Research Center where visiting students were exposed to multidisciplinary research driven by computer simulations. The second is the Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration, a component of the US Department of Energy (DOE). The third is the Computational Science Graduate Fellowship program funded by the DOE. The latter two programs provide students with exposure to multidisciplinary research and perhaps more unique, require them to spend a three month period at one of the DOE national laboratories. My experience with these three efforts suggest that development of computational scientists require three key components: class room exposure to applied mathematics, computer science and a scientific or engineering discipline; exposure to teams conducting multidisciplinary research; and a significant internship at a major research facility."
Watch a conversation with Dr. Robert Voight: http://wp.me/p3RLHQ-gBl
Sign up for our insideHPC Newsletter: http://insidehpc.com/newsletter
Resume of Swaminathan - Master’s in Electrical Engineering, Power Systems
CV Newest 3
1. CV
Lars Abrahamsson
September 16, 2015
1 Personal Information
1.1 Name
Lars (Johan) Abrahamsson
1.2 Birth Date
1979-05-29
1.3 Housing address, phone number, e-mail address, and your web page
Housing Address:
Bergengatan 47, 5 tr.
SE-164 37 Kista
Sweden
Phone Number:
Home: +46 8 7510257
Mobile: +46 70 2562282
E-mail address:
lars.abrahamsson@ee.kth.se
web page:
Official (but not so maintained): www.kth.se/profile/ljab/
Research gate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lars_Abrahamsson
1.4 Current position
Postdoctoral researcher (2-year time-limited position, prolonged because of labour union commitments), 2013-12-18
– 2015-10-06, formally 80% research and 20% department duties – in practice that has varied because of fluctuating
funding conditions.
1.5 Previous positions and periods of appointment:
• 2015-08-19 – 2012-12-18, Doctoral candidate position (prolonged because of national and local labour union
commitments), Department of Electric Power Systems, School of Electrical Engineering, KTH (Royal Institute
of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden
• Winter 2002-2003 – summer 2005, Evening helping teacher in mathematics for students in need of support,
Department of Mathematics, LTU (Lule˚a University of Technology), Lule˚a, Sweden.
• Autumn 2004 – spring 2005, I did my Master’s thesis at Ericsson Research in Lule˚a. Title: ”Compression of
multichannel audio at low bitrates using the AMR-WB+ codec”.
• June 2004 – September 2004, I worked as a ”summer student” at CERN in Geneva, where I among other things
developed a MATLAB program simulating distributions of ions. I also achieved basic knowledge in the software
Opera from Vector Fields.
1
2. • June 2003 – August 2003, Trainee work, improving software calculating straightening of steel bands, at Swerea
MEFOS in Lule˚a, Sweden. This is what is called ”MAP100 Practice 12 weeks” in the attached transcript PDF:s
"Resultatintyg -2015-04-21-en (enbart LTU).pdf" and "Nationellt Resultatintyg -2015-04-21-en
(nationellt, procentuell f¨ordelning).pdf".
• August 2002 – December 2002, Student Consulting, Lule˚a, CAD-teacher employed by the hour.
• August 2002 – September 2002, I worked as a mathematics teacher for the engineering student beginners at
LTU, Lule˚a, Sweden.
• June 2002 – August 2002, Vattenfall, Porjus, tourist guide in power plants. It was a good German and English
training.
• May 2000 – August 2000 & June 2001 - August 2001, Phone support, Internet, Telenordia AB, Haparanda,
Sweden.
• January 2000 – May 2000, Evening courses in computer usage, ABF, in the civic hall, R˚ane˚a, Sweden.
• January 2000 – May 2000, Computer Technician at my old public school, R˚aneskolan, R˚ane˚a, Sweden.
1.6 Other information
• Autumn Term 2007, Local labour union commitment, 27.375 days (15 %)
• Spring Term 2008, Local labour union commitment, 27.375 days (35 %)
• Autumn Term 2008, Local labour union commitment, 63.875 days (35 %)
• Spring Term 2009, Local labour union commitment, 73 days (40 %)
• Autumn Term 2009, Local labour union commitment, 91.25 days (50 %)
• National PhD labour union association (SDF) presidency, 2009, equivalent to 30 days
• Spring Term 2010, Local labour union commitment, 91.25 days (50 %)
• Autumn Term 2010, Local labour union commitment, 76.65 days (42 %)
• National PhD labour union association (SDF) presidency, 2010, equivalent to 30 days
• Spring Term 2011, Local labour union commitment, 69.35 days (38 %)
• Autumn Term 2011, Local labour union commitment, 74.825 days (41 %)
• Spring Term 2012, Local labour union commitment, 73 days (40 %)
• Autumn Term 2012, Local labour union commitment, 73 days (40 %)
• Spring Term 2013, Local labour union commitment, 73 days (40 %)
• Autumn Term 2013, Local labour union commitment, 62.05 days (34 %)
• Spring Term 2014, Local labour union commitment, 91.25 days (30 %)
• Autumn Term 2014, Local labour union commitment, 54.75 days (30 %)
• Some, approximately 10 per year, sick-days from 2011 and on because of fistula surgeries. Can be checked in
detail if considered to be relevant.
• 33 days off-duty (unpaid leave) in Spring Term 2013.
2 Higher education qualification(s):
2.1 University degrees
2005, Major in applied mathematics within the Engineering Physics (F) programme, Master of Science, LTU (Lule˚a
University of Technology), Lule˚a, Sweden
2
3. 2.2 Licentiate and/or doctoral degrees
• ”Railway Power Supply Models and Methods for Long-term Investment Analysis”, Licentiate degree, Electrical
Engineering (Electric Power Systems), KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden, Sept. 2008.
Main supervisor: Lennart S¨oder.
• ”Optimal Railroad Power Supply System Operation and Design – Detailed system studies, and aggregated
investment models”, Doctoral Thesis, Electrical Engineering (Electric Power Systems), KTH (Royal Institute of
Technology), Stockholm, Sweden, Dec. 2012. Main supervisor: Lennart S¨oder.
2.3 Docent competence
None
2.4 Other qualification(s):
I have taken a course in Technical German, and a course in teaching and learning. Currently I am taking a course in
research supervision.
I attach certifications of courses and degrees taken to the application. This includes the courses within the
Engineering degree and for the Licentiate and Doctoral degrees.
3 Scientific merits
Disclaimer to Sections 3.1 and 3.2. I try to separate the contents of the two sections following the rule that Section 3.1
treats things I work with or have been working with, since I think that is what defines my research profile whereas
Section 3.2 treats what I want and plan to work with in the foreseeable future.
It is worth noting that I started writing this CV by the use of the Swedish version of the CV template, since that
was what I first could find. Later, when I found the English version of the CV template, it said ”... your research
profile after your PhD ...”. In the Swedish version, nothing is said about ”after PhD” regarding the the research
profile. Now, there is no time for any major changes of the text, so I keep it as if I used the Swedish template. At any
case, the profile should not have changed to much, and how do I lose achieved skills by graduating?
3
4. 3.1 Short description of my own research profile (max 2 pages)
3.1.1 Optimal railway power supply system operation and design
My doctoral project was originally aimed at investment planning in the railway power supply system (RPSS) under
uncertainty. Eventually I realized that before that can be done, one needs to determine how to model the consequences
on power and energy costs and traffic operation of various combinations of RPSS configurations and traffic demands.
Thus, a large portion of my research has been about assembling existing RPSS component models; train models,
and interlinking the mechanical properties of the train propulsion to the power consumption of the train. Many
then-existing published and openly available models were oversimplified considering the present-day computational
capacity of computers, and the strongly nonlinear properties of weak low-frequency AC grids.
My RPSS model development has been limited to static or pseudo-static studies. By pseudo-static I mean static
load-flow for each time step, where the resulting solution in one time step affect the problem setup in the following
time step. Train tractive as well as regenerative (when possible) force and power are limited by the voltage levels on
the catenary. The motors of the trains also have power and current limitations related to their rated capacities. Since
train accelerations are roughly dependent on
Ft − Fr = m · a (1)
P = Ft · v (2)
where Ft denotes the tractive force (or tractive effort), Fr the net resistive forces, m the train’s mass, a the acceleration
of the train, P the tractive power, and v the velocity of the train. Running resistance is typically modeled as a second
order polynomial function of velocity. The resistive forces, also depend on the changes in train potential energy due
to slopes/grades of the track. Depending on motor types, grid codes and regulations, the relations between active and
reactive power may vary.
While modeling the RPSS I addressed that RPSSs have not only temporal variation in the number of nodes due
to changing active train numbers and positions. The nodes also move due to the train movements. Train locations
and load sizes in consecutive time steps are also dynamically interlinked. A fixed node-number model approach was
published, in which the trains in each time step are represented proportionally by the pair of catenary nodes closest
to them. The main benefits having a fixed number of stationary nodes along the catenary are: that (1) the condition
number of the admittance matrix will be bounded, (2) simplified data management regarding models and results, and
(3) that RPSS and traffic operation can be jointly optimized over time. The latter, in turn, allows for instance smarter
operation planning of ESSs (energy storage systems) than using real-time measurements only. Optimizing the RPSS
over time also allows planned peak load shaving and more realistic energy efficient driving planning than the used
methods of today.
For RPSS investments, section impedances were identified as important to consider. Some RPSSs have clearly
defined section borders by the locations of neutral sections, whereas in interconnected RPSSs, like the Swedish one,
section borders are instead constituted by the converter stations, since they are voltage controlled power sources.
Effective impedances on sections are determined by catenary type, section length, whether the catenary is connected
to a railway transmission line or not, and if so, how the connection(s) are located geographically. Impedance in relation
to planned traffic levels and train types are used to determine possible limitations on traffic.
Capacity of installed and electrically available apparent power is also important to consider when planning for
RPSS expansion. The equipment should manage the peak loads. The stronger the grid, the installed capacity needs
to be located with less respect to the loads. I used artificial neural network models to approximate the nonlinear
relations between RPSS load and possible train delays, peak loads, and energy consumption.
I studied optimal placement of converter stations in a typical Swedish mainline case with respect to speed reduction
caused by voltage drops (first a DNLP, later reformulated to an MINLP), and optimal location of ESSs in a typical
Metro Madrid case study (an MILP).
Thorsten Sch¨utte identified increasing problems with existing transformer-fed public-grid-frequency AC railways
that would be solved by converter feeding. Moreover, there exist geographic areas in which the railway lines have
routinely been dismissed as uneconomical to electrify. Increased concern about climate changes and reduced power
electronic prices may have changed that. I used these ideas and added descriptions of various intermediate solutions
proposed mainly by East Asian researchers. Together with Stefan ¨Ostlund, we made a literature review paper arguing
for converter-fed railways.
In the latter part of my doctoral candidacy, I came in contact with Stefan ¨Ostlund, who previously had a doctoral
candidate that developed a converter concept using medium frequency transformers. We proposed a solution with a
distributed DC-link, shared by all converters in the RPSS. This distributed DC-link is connected to the public grid
through converters that can be placed comparatively freely. This reactivated the Swedish Transport Administration’s
interest in optimal operation of controllable converters in the railway. High-voltage DC lines can in contrast to AC
easier be cablified and buried.
During my postdoctoral period, I supervised a Master’s Thesis project about identifying traffic situations when
using decoupled mechanical and electrical models result in electrically infeasible solutions. Such solutions typically
4
5. overestimate train speeds and amounts of regenerated energy. The project also looked at optimal reactive locomotive-
power power flows (NLPs). I also worked with optimal commitment and load sharing models of rotary converter
stations (MINLPs).
3.1.2 Risk management of voltage instabilities by stochastic optimal power flows
With increased shares of renewable power production, the system impact of stochasticity of the power production will
increase. This motivates new models to be developed, and new things to consider for future transmission grids.
Traditionally, for tertiary frequency control considering stability limits, loads have been comparatively easy to
forecast, and the generation has been more or less controllable. With smaller variations it is easier finding a few repre-
sentative scenarios to study different demand and generation situations. Additionally, with few and large production
sites, it is easier identifying a number of relevant and representative outage scenarios that the system must be able to
cope with, the so-called N − X criterion.
With high production and consumption predictability, it is also possible to identify a small number of lines with
associated maximal power transmission levels for maintained power system stability. The important lines and their
maximal transmission levels can be computed beforehand and treated as bottlenecks. Traditionally, so-called trans-
mission margins are added to the maximal transmission levels of the bottlenecks. Technically, this can be regarded
as a risk reduction technique compensating for approximation errors made when identifying the important scenarios
and their associated probabilities.
The response times for changes in power generation in tertiary control are so long that one needs to assume that
decisions regarding changes in transmission system operation needs to be taken before the beginning of each coming 15
minutes time period. In the classical approach, the optimization of each 15 minutes period of power system operation
minimizes the re-dispatching costs under the constraint of not violating the transmission levels and margins. By this
approach, risk levels are not explicitly considered, but implicitly included in the choices of margin levels. Shedding
loads and curtailing renewable production can however be done rapidly, and these are possible actions to do at the
end of (or during) the 15 minutes period.
The above described classical approach will not do for future power systems consisting of large shares of renewables.
Wind and solar power production can in contrast to thermal power not be controlled but can be forecasted with
significant prediction errors. Even if rain is not exactly foreseeable, most hydro power plants are equipped with dams
for smoothing out the uncertainties. That makes hydro power production controllable but with other restrictions
than for thermal power. Moreover, thermal and hydro units are typically large and few, whereas wind and solar units
are small and many. This make N − X approaches obsolete, but also smoothes the impacts of outages. Finally, in
the future, consumers might respond actively to price variations, and their local small-scale production is likely to
increase. This makes consumer behavior less predictable.
Probabilities for each possible outage needs to be determined, as well as the distribution functions for power
production and loads. Stability limits and operational limits (grid codes) needs to be defined and properly modeled
within the optimal power flow problem. Now, when the variations are larger and the predictability is lower, one cannot
any longer rely on pre-computed bottlenecks. One needs to go back and study the underlying variables behind the
instabilities. This both allows and enforces the operating risk to be defined and modeled explicitly. By operating
risk, we here mean the probability of finding the power system in an unstable or forbidden point of operation in the
production/generation-space at the end of the 15 minutes period. The re-dispatching costs and expected disconnection
costs can be minimized under the constraint that the operating risk is at least as small as the number α. We now
explicitly consider the operating risk of the entire system. When the risk is explicitly computed, one can typically
reduce the optimal re-dispatching cost also for a present-day system. Since transfer margins implicitly and locally
considers risks, they tend to overestimate the vulnerability of the system as a whole.
Previous work of colleagues at EPS, KTH have identified all stability and operational limit violations as equally
severe. Models for finding the inner envelopes of the surfaces of these violations have thus been developed. In reality
however, the severity of the different violations differ. Therefore, I subdivide this monolithic surface into a number
of (possibly) overlapping surfaces. Some surfaces represent voltage instabilities, where violations should be avoided.
Other surfaces’ harmfulness increase with both the duration and the degree of surface border violation. A typical
example of the latter is thermal transfer constraints. The optimization model can be modified to allow lower and more
transparent operation costs for the TSO. Only the immediately instable points are considered by the risk constraint.
The other violations will instead be assigned costs that are minimized weighted together with the re-dispatch costs.
Alternative approaches exist and and are formulated with respect to the risk aversion of the TSO.
5
6. 3.2 Short description of planned research activity (max 2 pages)
Often in life, things come in between, and various time constraints makes you leave an interesting topic you feel
unfinished with. That can feel a bit unsatisfactory, but has the upside of leaving a number of research ideas for the
future that can mature in the back of the head until there is time for dealing with the stored ideas. In what follows,
I will present the research lines most active in my head, regarding grid operation, planning, and electrified transports
which I would like to finish or at least examine a bit deeper than I have been able to do this far. I mention electrified
transports instead of railways here in the beginning of the research plan, because technically most of the topics I
describe here can with no or small modifications be used also for electrified roads.
I have recently seen that research ideas similar to the ones I proposed for my postdoctoral project (before being
withdrawn and reduced to part-time) are gaining a broader interest not only nationally, but also on the European
level. That is a good sign, but is also a reason for me to get things going there before losing the headway to other
researchers.
3.2.1 Computation Issues
Tweaking solvers During my work regarding optimal locations of ESSs in a Spanish subway line, I realized that
I lack knowledge configuring CPLEX well for numerically challenging MILPs. The CPLEX sensitivity to algorithm
parameters was completely unknown to me before and made me curious. It is both theoretically interesting to
investigate CPLEX:s functionality deeper, as it is unavoidable before deeper studying this topic obtaining really
reliable results.
Computational Power Large and complex problems can sometimes be simplified, and/or the solving methods
be improved, to make problem solving reasonably time and memory consuming. In some cases however, combining
accuracy and large scale makes sense and no better solving methods are found. In such cases, heavier computation
power might be a part of the solution. Therefore, I am excited to investigate the applicability of GPUs, parallel
computers, or faster CPUs, for different heavy-computed problem types encountered in my research.
3.2.2 Improved RPSS Models
Fixed nodes I have a number of ideas regarding development, verification, and usage of the fixed node model
introduced in Section 3.1. Regarding development, the model needs to be sped up and generalized in functionality.
Computation time can be reduced by three main approaches: By (1) disabling the ability to optimize over time.
There would still exist relevant applications for such a model. Time can also be reduced by (2) wiser modeling and/or
algorithms more suited for the specific problem. The third approach discussed in Section 3.2.1, is (3) more powerful
computers. It is likely that the three approaches can be combined. When computation time is reduced, more functions
can be added.
The improved models will be verified on relevant problems. The usage of an efficient model will have positive
implications on the work described in Section 3.2.3
Component modeling One example of planned smaller model improvements regards the accuracy of AT (auto-
transformer) catenary systems. The shorter the catenary sections, and the higher the intersectional power flows, the
more erroneous will the modeling approach with point impedances at the power input nodes combined with length-
dependent impedances be. By modifying the train models slightly and removing the existing point impedance of the
AT catenary line model, accuracy improvement is expected at the expense of a slight increase in model complexity.
3.2.3 Smart RPSS Operation
RPSS grids were smart before the name was invented, they have always had active demand response, and in for example
Germany, the grid has for some time been used for trading between different public grid price areas. However, with
”new” technology like GPS, real time communication with vehicles and converter stations, and VSC technology; the
grids can become even smarter.
I aim to concentrate research on (A) efficient traffic control, and on optimal power system operation by fully
controlling (B) feeding converters and (C) ESSs, and (D) reactive control of on-vehicle converters. This control can
have mainly three different purposes; (a) peak load shaving, (b) energy efficiency (including regenerative braking), and
(c) maximizing tractive efforts limited by voltage drops. Controlling (A), (C), and to some extent (B) affects purpose
(a), whereas purpose (b) is affected by all four controls, and (c) is mainly affected by (B)-(D).
By studying a vast number of traffic scenarios, statistical data can be obtained for parameterizing continuous func-
tion approximators as well as classifiers (the latter for commitment of converters) for real-time smart-grid operation.
Last, but not least, I look forward to continue the work with optimal operation of rotary converters. Here, the
temporal dimension need to be included if considering thermal overloading and/or the startup costs associate to
converter commitment.
6
7. 3.2.4 Charging individual trains for consumed electricity
I have developed a couple of ideas for methods of charging for train power consumption. The aim is to charge for
the extra costs imposed to the infrastructure owner by the way the train is driven and with respect to the concurrent
degree of utilization of the RPSS. Such costs can for instance include connection fees, energy costs, and righteous
shares of the investment costs of the grid.
Transparency is crucial for the operators to be able to plan their traffic with respect to the costs for utilizing the
RPSS. When possible, presenting the marginal costs for active and reactive power in real-time to the driver, RPSS
efficiency could be further improved. Last, but not least, is is important to ensure that the electricity costs do not
exceed diesel fuel costs. That would be disastrous for the climate.
3.2.5 Studying alternative RPSS feeding technologies
Unbalanced railway loads and isolated catenary segments in transformer-fed RPSSs have been recognized as potential
problems in East Asia for some years. Recently, this issue is also addressed by the European railway sector. Therefore,
I can see both a personal technical interest in, and prospects for future funding for, studying electrical and economical
impacts of various means of feeding the railway: From simple transformer feeding, over more advanced (e.g. Scott
or Leblanc) transformer arrangements, power conditioners, and various co-phase-system designs, all the way to pure
converter feeding.
3.2.6 RPSS investment planning
Since my PhD project initially was about investment planning, I look forward to finish that research line up before I
die. I have since I last worked on the topic acquired knowledge and ideas about making the models more numerically
attractive.
3.2.7 Reliability
During the late spring of 2014, I was approached by a now recently graduated doctoral candidate at LTU working with
reliability of railway converters. We met a couple of times, and submitted a manuscript together. I have identified a
few prospects for future studies continuing where his project ended. One example is the optimal distribution of the
existing converters between the converter stations in Sweden with respect to converter reliability and traffic demand.
I can contribute with electric power engineering knowhow, accuracy, general statistical knowledge, and in defining
relevant availability states.
3.2.8 Risk Analysis
From the risk analysis project I have identified fewer possible spin-offs than for railway applications, being less
experienced in the field. I do however list some issues:
• When a line or a component is disconnected due to the risk of thermal overload, the grid may very well find a
new stable operating point afterwards. That has this far been neglected in the studies made.
• Similarly, a voltage instability does not have to lead to a total black out. In some cases, the system will stabilize
after shedding loads or curtailing production, or ”just” lead to net splits that does not have to bother the
consumers.
• In order to make the computations fast enough, a number of assumptions and approximations have been made.
Approximation errors are typically (evenly) distributed around zero. From the TSO:s point-of-view it would be
desirable if one could guarantee conservative approximations, where the approximations always lead to a safer
operation policy in reality than the model indicates. I have not looked into this, but it sounds interesting.
7
8. 3.3 List of Publications
The 5 most relevant publications for the position are attached separately, but are also marked with asterisks in the
below lists.
3.3.1 Peer-reviewed publications in international journals
Articles included in, or based on the doctoral thesis will be indicated. Where there are several authors, I will give
account for my contribution. This is done in every second (even) bullet in the below list. Every other second (odd)
bullet in the list is the publication in question.
• ∗
L. Abrahamsson, T. Sch¨utte, S. ¨Ostlund and L. S¨oder, ”An electromechanical moving load fixed node po-
sition and fixed node number railway power supply systems optimization model”, Transportation Research
Part C: Emerging Technologies, vol. 30, pp 23-40, May 2013. URL: https://eeweb01.ee.kth.se/upload/
publications/reports/2012/IR-EE-ES 2012 005.pdf.
• In this paper, the idea and work was mine, Thorsten and Stefan reviewed the paper before submission, and Lennart was my main
supervisor and the paper could clearly be seen as a result of my PhD project. The paper was a part of my PhD Thesis as a
submitted paper, and became accepted in the spring of 2013.
• ∗
L. Abrahamsson, T. Kjellqvist, and S. ¨Ostlund, ”High-voltage DC-feeder solution for electric railways”, IET
Power Electronics, vol. 5, issue 9, pp. 1776-1784, Nov. 2012. URL: https://eeweb01.ee.kth.se/upload/
publications/reports/2012/IR-EE-ES 2012 003.pdf.
• Here, the roles are more complicated. Tommy had written a draft with preliminary results while still being a doctoral candidate
under Stefan. I used the draft to create my own models for simulations. Stefan initiated the PhD project of Tommy and initiated the
conceptual idea. Stefan also gave advices about what is important and not, and explained some background details in the modeling
process. Finally, he reviewed the paper before submission. Some simulation experiences and results are thanks to Master’s student
John Laury that worked in parallel with the topic but with much more case studies. The paper was a part of my PhD Thesis.
• ∗
L. Abrahamsson, T. Sch¨utte, and S. ¨Ostlund, ”Use of Converters for Feeding of AC Railways for All Fre-
quencies”, Elsevier Energy for Sustainable Development, vol. 16, pp. 368-378, Sept. 2012. URL: https:
//eeweb01.ee.kth.se/upload/publications/reports/2012/IR-EE-ES 2012 002.pdf.
• Thorsten had brought up the initial idea. I found more literature, more arguments, translated, and reedited a draft written by
Thorsten Sch¨utte and Uwe Behmann in order to make it more academic. That draft later got published as [1]. When Stefan heard
about the idea he was a moral support and encouraged us to finish the idea and submit it. Stefan and Thorsten did review before
submission and were active in proposing literature. The paper was a part of my PhD Thesis.
• E. Pilo, L. Ruoco, A. Fernandez, and L. Abrahamsson, ”A mono-voltage equivalent model of bi-voltage auto-
transformer-based electrical systems in railways”, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 27, pp. 699-708,
Apr. 2012.
• Eduardo had the main idea, did the numerical study and wrote the paper. I contributed with a critical review and proposed
literature. Luis and Antonio used to be Eduardo’s supervisors during his doctoral candidacy. The main ideas of this paper belong
from that time and some preliminary results are presented in [2].
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Fast Estimation of Relations between Aggregated Train Power System Data
and Traffic Performance”, IEEE Journal of Vehicular Technology, vol. 60, pp. 16-29, Jan. 2011. URL:
https://eeweb01.ee.kth.se/upload/publications/reports/2010/IR-EE-ES 2010 024.pdf.
• I did the work. Lennart was the main supervisor and the project responsible. The paper was a part of my PhD Thesis.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Fast estimation of the relation between aggregated train power system informa-
tion and the power and energy converted”, Australian Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, vol. 6,
pp. 311-318, Aug. 2009.
• I did the work. Lennart was the main supervisor and the project responsible.
3.3.2 Books, Monographs, and Book Chapters
Here I’ve put my Licentiate Thesis – a monograph, and a book chapter made out of selected COMPRAIL proceedings.
• ∗
L. Abrahamsson, ”Railway Power Supply Models and Methods for Long-term Investment Analysis”, tech.
rep., Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, 2008. Licentiate Thesis. DOI: 10.13140/
RG.2.1.1258.7040. URL: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:117/FULLTEXT02.pdf.
8
9. • L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, Power Supply, Energy Management and Catenary Problems, vol. 39 of State-
of-the-art in Science and Engineering, ch. Fast estimation of aggregated results of many load flow solutions in
electric traction systems, pp. 157-169. WIT Press, 2010.
3.3.3 Conference proceedings
Pure conference abstracts are not listed here. In this section, only conference proceedings are listed. Some selected
attended conferences, where only presentations are given or posters are presented are considered in Section 3.3.4.
• L. Abrahamsson, R. Skogberg, S. ¨Ostlund, M. Lagos and L. S¨oder, ”Identifying electrically infeasible traffic
scenarios on the Iron Ore Line – Applied on the present-day system, converter station outages, and optimal
locomotive reactive power strategies”, 2015 Joint Rail Conference, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3798.2242, San Jos´e,
CA, USA, March 2015.
• L. Abrahamsson and S. ¨Ostlund, ”Optimizing the power flows in a railway power supply system fed by rotary
converters”, 2015 Joint Rail Conference, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4322.5128, San Jos´e, CA, USA, March 2015.
• J. Laury, M. Bollen, L. Abrahamsson, and S. ¨Ostlund, ”Some benefits of an HVDC feeder solution for railways”,
NORDAC 2014, Stockholm, Sweden, Sep. 2014. URL: http://pure.ltu.se/portal/files/100837555/1 1
John Laury.pdf.
• ´A. J. L´opez-L´opez, L. Abrahamsson, R. R. Pecharrom´an, A. Fern´andez-Cardador, P. Cucala, S. ¨Ostlund and
L. S¨oder, ”A Variable No-Load Voltage Scheme for Improving Energy Efficiency in DC-Electrified Mass Transit
Systems”, 2014 Joint Rail Conference, DOI: 10.1115/JRC2014-3818, Colorado Springs, CO, USA, April 2014.
• L. Abrahamsson, S. ¨Ostlund, and L. S¨oder, ”HVDC feeding with OPF and unit commitment for electric railways”,
in ESARS 2012, Bologna, Italy, Oct. 2012.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”An SOS2-based moving trains, fixed nodes, railway power system simulator”,
Presented at COMPRAIL 2012, New Forest, UK, Sept. 2012, Published in the COMPRAIL 2014 proceedings:
WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, vol. 135, DOI: 10.2495/CR140681, 2014. URL: https://eeweb01.
ee.kth.se/upload/publications/reports/2012/IR-EE-ES 2012 006.pdf.
• J. Laury, L. Abrahamsson, and S. ¨Ostlund, ”OPF for an HVDC Feeder Solution for the Railway Power Supply
System”, Presented at COMPRAIL 2012, New Forest, UK, Sept. 2012. Printed in the 2014 proceedings., DOI:
10.2495/CR140671.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Traction power system capacity limitations at various traffic levels”, in World
Congress on Railway Research, WCRR 2011, Lille, France, May 2011. URL: https://eeweb01.ee.kth.se/
upload/publications/reports/2011/IR-EE-ES 2011 009.pdf.
• ∗
L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Railway power supply investment decisions considering the voltage drops -
assuming the future traffic to be known”, in Intelligent System Applications to Power Systems, 2009. ISAP ’09.
15th International Conference on, pp. 1-6, Curitiba, Brazil, Nov. 2009. URL: https://eeweb01.ee.kth.se/
upload/publications/reports/2009/IR-EE-ES 2009 004.pdf.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Fast estimation of the relation between aggregated train power system informa-
tion and the power and energy converted”, in Universities Power Engineering Conference, 2008. AUPEC ’08.
Australasian, pp. 1-6, Sydney, Australia, Dec. 2008.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Fast estimation of aggregated results of many load flow solutions in electric
traction systems”, in Computers in Railways XI, pp. 411-423, Toledo, Spain, Sept. 2008.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Fast calculation of some important dimensioning factors of the railway power
supply system”, in MET’2007 8th International Conference Modern Electric Traction in Integrated XXI Century
Europe, vol. 8, Warsaw, Poland, Sept. 2007, DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3561.8086.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Fast Calculation of the Dimensioning Factors of the Railway Power Supply
System”, in Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements, vol. XIII, Prague, The Czech Republic,
pp. 85-96, July 2007.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Operation Simulation of Traction Systems.”, Published in the COMPRAIL 2008
proceedings, presented orally at COMPRAIL 2006, Prague, The Czech Republic, July 2006.
• L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Basic Modeling for Electric Traction Systems under Uncertainty”, in Universities
Power Engineering Conference, 2006. UPEC ’06. Proceedings of the 41st International, vol. 1, Newcastle upon
Tyne, UK, pp. 252-256, Sept. 2006.
9
10. 3.3.4 Other publications
Doctoral Thesis
• L. Abrahamsson, ”Optimal Railroad Power Supply System Operation and Design — Detailed system stud-
ies, and aggregated investment models”, PhD Thesis, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm,
Sweden, 2012. URL: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:574526/FULLTEXT01.pdf.
Open access computer programs or databases you have developed
A MATLAB-GAMS-based simulation software called TPSS (Train Power System Simulator) has been developed
and put online. However, no official documentation or users’ guide exists besides the comments in the code
and the publications, mainly in [3], mentioning the software. The software haven’t been updated significantly
since 2011, but is officially under perpetual construction. Main program developed by Lars Abrahamsson. Some
alternative program models have been added to TPSS, and are presented in Master’s Thesis [4].
• TPSS: Train Power System Simulator, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3273.9364
Popular science articles/presentations
• Popular science articles
– C. S. Blacutt, T. Sch¨utte, and L. Abrahamsson, ”Primary Generation of 162
3 Hz Railway Power in
Norway and Sweden (original title in German: Bahnenergie-Prim¨arerzeugung 162
3 Hz in Norwegen und
Schweden)”, Elektrische Bahnen, vol. 108, pp. 80-83, Mar. 2010. URL: https://eeweb01.ee.kth.
se/upload/publications/reports/2010/IR-EE-ES 2010 006.pdf.
• A Selection of presentations
– ”Identifying electrically infeasible traffic scenarios on the Iron Ore Line – Applied on the present-day
system, converter station outages, and optimal locomotive reactive power strategies”, 2015 Joint Rail
Conference, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2569.4245, San Jos´e, CA, USA, March 2015.
– ”Optimizing the power flows in a railway power supply system fed by rotary converters”, 2015 Joint
Rail Conference, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2045.1366, San Jos´e, CA, USA, March 2015.
– ”Optimal Operation of Railway Power Supply Systems”, 18th Nordic Seminar on Railway Technology,
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4142.2888, Bergen, Norway, Oct. 2014.
– ”Railway, energy efficient traffic (Original title in Swedish: J¨arnv¨ag, energieffektiv trafikering)”, The
Swedish Transport Administration’s R&D Day (Swedish title: Trafikverkets FoI-dag), DOI: 10.13140/
RG.2.1.3093.7122, Stockholm, Sweden, Sept. 2014.
– ”Optimal Placement of Energy Storage Systems with Regards to Energy Consumption A Case Study
Applied on a Representative Metropolitan DC Railway for Passenger Traffic”, Oral presentation only,
2014 Joint Rail Conference, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.5190.8644, Colorado Springs, CO, USA, April 2014.
– ”Improved railway power supply by the use of converters”, Presentation made as a visiting researcher
at IIT Madrid, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4148.4321, Madrid, Spain, Oct. 2013.
– ”Optimization of railway power supply systems - operation and design”, The Power System Day of the
Norwegian Railway Administration, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3624.1443, Oslo, Norway, June 2013.
– ”Optimization of railway power supply systems - operation and design”, the 17th Nordic Seminar on
Railway Technology 2012, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2332.5606, Tammsvik, Sweden, 3-4 October 2012.
• A Poster
– L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, ”Railway power supply investment decisions considering the voltage
drops assuming the future traffic to be known an MINLP formulation”, poster session at IEEE PES
GM, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3250.0647, 24-28 July 2011, Detroit, MI, USA.
3.4 Approved Grants
• ”Considering risks in power system operation and the consequence of different accepted risk levels”, Risk-
analysprogrammet, Elforsk (Stockholm, Sweden), 2014-01 to 2015-12. Postdoctoral research, part time, two
years. The research ideas were discussed between Camille Hamon (likely to become PhD from 29th of May
2015, but back then doctoral candidate at Electric Power Systems, KTH, Sweden), Lennart S¨oder (professor
at Electric Power Systems, KTH, Sweden) and me. The grant application was not extremely formal, and was
probably approved to a large extent due to the signature of Lennart.
10
11. • ”Optimal operation and optimal design of railway power supply systems”, Elektra (Stockholm, Sweden), 2013-
07 to 2015-06. Postdoctoral research, part time, two years. I wrote the application mainly by myself, but had
discussed and anchored the ideas with Niklas Biedermann and Anders B¨ulund at the Swedish Transport Admin-
istration beforehand. During the summer of 2012, Stefan ¨Ostlund (professor at Electrical Energy Conversion)
did a review of it before I submitted. Firstly, I was approved two years of full-time grants. The government did
however stop everything and forced people to reapply. The reapplication was told to be for half-time work.
• Future feeding systems for railroads, Elektra (Stockholm, Sweden), 2008-07 to 2010-12. The continuation project
from Licentiate degree to doctoral degree. I wrote it myself, but I wrote it in the fashion I thought that my main
supervisor, Elektra, and the Transport Administration (back then, the Railway Administration) wanted to see.
I did not write the application as if it would have been purely mine. I wanted to safe. That is it.
3.5 Network/research cooperation
• Regarding access to possibly needed power system measurement data from mainline railways, the applicant has
established contacts with Mats H¨ager and Niklas Biedermann at the Swedish Transport Administration.
• Within the field of RPSSs, contacts are established with the relevant groups on IIT, Comillas Pontifical University,
Madrid, Spain; University of Oviedo, Spain; and with LTU (Lule˚a University of Technology), Skellefte˚a, Sweden.
Here, a former faculty member of Comillas is also considered; Eduardo Pilo.
• Regarding reliability of railway converters, a contact has been established with Niklas Fransson at the Swedish
Transport Administration.
• No collaborative work is yet initialized, but contacts have been established regarding mixed integer program
modeling with the emphasis on railway applications with Carlo Mannino, SINTEF ICT, Oslo, Norway/University
of Rome La Sapienza, Italy.
• Regarding nonlinear and non-convex optimization in general, contacts have been established with Josef Kallrath,
Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, USA and Andres Ramos, IIT, Comillas, Madrid, Spain.
• I intend to keep and maintain the contacts with Thorsten Sch¨utte and his co-workers at Atkins, and with Stefan
¨Ostlund at E2C, KTH.
• I would also say, that the relation is good with the electric power supply division of the Norwegian Railway
Administration but for the moment they do not have too much money or internal time for research and devel-
opment.
3.6 Popular scientific communication of research results
Not really, besides the already mentioned [5], and possibly some of the presentations in Section 3.3.4.
3.7 National and international awards
None
3.8 Other scientific merits within and outside the university
I have reviewed articles for a number of Journals over the years, some of them are:
• IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology
• IEEE Transactions on Power Systems
• IET Transactions on Power Electronics
• IET Transactions on Electrical Systems in Transportation
• IET Transactions on Generation, Transmission and Distribution
• Elsevier Transportation Research Part C
• Elsevier Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory
11
12. 4 Pedagogical merits
4.1 Pedagogical training and Education
I have taken and passed the course ”LH201V Learning and Teaching” on 7.5 credits on KTH, as can bee seen in my
attached transcripts. Currently I am taking the course ”LH207V Research Supervision” on 3.0 credits.
It is likely that the next pedagogic course I take will be about grading and setting up goals for high marks.
12
13. 4.2 Pedagogical self reflection (max 2 pages)
We were supposed to learn how to make pedagogical self-reflections in the course LH201V, but the instructions were
vague and the related literature [6, 7] did not help much. The literature treated the become-a-docent procedure in
general, but did not particularly discuss self-reflections. In addition, our handing-ins were only marked by peers,
i.e. the blind were leading the blind, and not by the course teachers. This self reflection is anyhow a modified and
updated version of my handing-in for LH201V. I used a list of assisting questions in [6] as inspiration.
4.2.1 My strengths and weaknesses, planned and fulfilled improvements
A strength (and weakness) I have is feeling bad about not understanding things or making things up. Therefore, I
really make an effort to understand what I teach. I am curious by nature, so when asked a question I cannot answer
properly and promptly in the classroom, I bring up the question on the next occasion when I have had time to check
things up.
Since I am careful (some would say a pedant), I typically notice typos, logical flaws, or other errors in the course
material. To avoid misinterpretations I try to comment upon that.
I would like to improve efficiency when proofreading large chunks of text in reports and theses. Trying to be clear,
helpful, and careful is unfortunately time and energy consuming, especially when helping a less motivated student. In
LH201V I got ideas to better structuralize the Master’s Thesis course, but unfortunately I haven’t found time to go
through and structuralize my own notes since then yet. I like the idea of having a supervision time budget for projects
and will probably use it in some way in the future.
From the autumn of 2013, I document all feedback I give to each thesis student. Conversely, I demand to get back
similar documentation from their side, when responding my feedback. It should be clear to me which measures that
are taken, which comments are ignored and if so why, and which changes that has been done in the report.
I have fought hard with myself lately, not to promise to do things I am unlikely to be able to timely manage.
In the course ”Electric Power Systems”, the load-flow laboratory practical uses an aged department-developed
software tool. I have started to consider replacing it with modern alternative educational power system software.
4.2.2 ”New teaching strategies”
In System Planning, we use some of the ”new” methods in LH201V. In one, the students tick off a list of which tasks
they are willing to present for their fellow course participants. A subset of the students are pseudo-randomly selected
to present. If they gravely fail a task they have claimed they know; all the points from the presentation occasion will
be zeroed.
Another method consists of short lecture intermissions with follow-up questions ensuring that the students listen,
and don’t fall asleep. After me asking a question, the students first answer it individually. Then the students discuss
the question in small groups, and answer again. Finally, I guide the class collectively to the right answer. Here, the
students are supposed to learn that discussion improves the understanding and the long-term memory.
I consider the list-ticking a successful learning activity. It makes the students work, and forces them to deep
learning by presenting the problem and explaining its solution in front of fellow course participants. The activity
reduces the marking work-load on teachers and minimizes the response times for feedback. The intermission questions
vary a lot in success. Shy or uninterested students are hard to involve in the process. Clickers may improve the
activity, being a tool that gives a quick response and makes it easier for shy people to make their ”voices” heard.
4.2.3 Motivating different student categories and myself
If a student understands more than me in the topic I teach, I wonder why he/she chose the course. If it was mandatory,
I hope that he/she takes an extra course in parallel. Otherwise I might suggest a project course if the term has already
started.
For students that are good, but human, the best way of motivating them during class is to always indicate that
there are more to learn in the topic, and that things are not always as simple as described in the book or the home
assignments. Personally, I like doing such comments, because it makes me feel true. Moreover, I think the students
will feel less chocked and spend less time unlearning things when they eventually in the future realize that what they
were taught only were simplified descriptions of reality.
I like to help students who are interested and try hard, even if they are not the most skilled or successful ones.
I try to communicate that students should not feel ashamed if they do not understand everything immediately. If
someone has a question, it is likely that many other students have the same question without daring to ask it.
Students who wants help without trying themselves is probably one of my weaker spots as a teacher. I need to
improve in handling purely lazy or unmotivated/uninterested students. To illustrate: it feels unrewarding and unmo-
tivated to proofread (overly long) drafts of theses by unmotivated students that since they ”just want to graduate”,
are likely to disregard most of the hints and remarks given to them anyway.
13
14. The moments I like the most are when I make a student understand, grow, or take more interest in the topic.
Teachers should be curious, and show not only curiosity in the field taught and how it can be linked to research or
industrial applications, but also show an interest in teaching the field. I feel rewarded knowing that a large share of
the Master’s Thesis students I have had, have got good, relevant jobs afterwards.
4.2.4 The feeling between me and students, and me and pedagogical colleagues, respectively
I may not be the right (kind of) person to describe the feeling between me and the students. I try nevertheless to
be a friendly guy, making jokes, and cutting lots of crap while talking. Some students could possibly interpret my
straightforwardness as rudeness.
I think that the most important thing to do is to be yourself, because trying to be someone else takes too much
energy from the main activity – teaching! One should however never forget trying to be nice.
It is hard knowing how you are interpreted as a teaching colleague. I think nevertheless that I have had fruitful
dialogues regarding pedagogic ideas with the examiners in both System Planning (Mikael Amelin) and Electric Power
Systems (Stefan ¨Ostlund).
4.2.5 My attitude towards teaching
I have always liked to discuss things and explain things to others. So in general I have a positive attitude towards
teaching. I prefer lecturing and supervising before being the laboratory assistant or the exam marker. Typically the
two latter tasks are things that doctoral candidates and younger non-faculty researchers are set to do.
Personally, I am against group work since it is time-inefficient, and often leads to either edulcorated compromises,
freeloading, or to dictatorial rule. As a student, I learn best by at the same time listening to the teacher, reading what
the teacher writes or have written, and writing down my own lecture notes; that is, classical white-board teaching. I
believe for example that when teachers derive equations ”live”, in front of the students, it gives the students time for
reflection in contrast to Power Point presentations, where the results just pop up. However, I guess I am less orthodox
now than I was some years ago, and I can accept that different people have different learning preferences.
Regardless, I would not go as far in ”learning activities” as [8] and the LH201V-agenda does. Students should have
the freedom and the possibility to make their own prioritizations, to be able to focus on studies, and not be ”activated”
too much. A day that gets too fragmented by from-above-arranged activities leads to lots of inefficiency and stress.
Many deadlines along a study period can lead the student away from deeper learning and the motivation might get
lost.
I accept that rapid average-quality feedback is better than overdue high-quality feedback, and that peer-reviews
among students implemented in a good fashion may result in reduced teacher workload without decreased student
learning.
Last, but not least, I fully agree with [8] regarding constructive alignment; there should be a consistency between
what we tell students to learn, what we train them to do, and how we evaluate them. Generalized, in study programs,
there should also be a constructive alignment such that course goals reflect program goals, and that mandatory courses
come in the right time order and do not overlap each other.
4.2.6 Inhomogeneous student groups
By making group work optional, students can chose between individual own-responsibility-work, or group work with
lots of activities, respectively. This optionality would be a good strategy managing inhomogeneous student groups,
where different personality types prefer different ways of studying and processing information. The important thing
is to allow people to be different.
4.2.7 My goals for teaching and learning
I would like to learn better how to properly design course goals and the grading system for high marks, since LH201V
mainly focused on students passing or failing the courses.
One of my long-term goals and plans/dreams is to co-edit a book about electrified railways in English together
with a Spanish friend and colleague. The problem for both of us has been to find the time it takes to get started.
I have also identified an incompatibility in communication preferences between us; I prefer written form whereas he
prefers oral. He even preferred oral when we lived in different time zones.
14
15. 4.3 Teaching efforts/Educational Achievements
Here is a list of the courses I have been involved in at KTH. In the list, I try to mention which kinds of tasks I have
been involved in as well. All the EG* courses have been taught in both Swedish and English, except EG209U that
was purely held in Swedish. EJ1200 and MJ1146 are purely in Swedish since they are first cycle courses.
Since I do not have a formal teacher’s position, I cannot be the examiner. Thus, I have not been examiner for any
of these courses.
Even if I am a researcher, that does not make me an archeologist. Therefore, I have not attached any course syllabi
or course evaluations to prove what I have taught. If you insist however, I can try to get hold of them.
EG2020 ”Power Systems Basic Course”/”Elsystem grundkurs”.
• 7.5 credit
• Level C, Second cycle
• My involvement: oldest evidence found from early spring 2006 – end of spring 2009
• Helping students with and marking laboratory practical assignments.
• Proposing exam questions and solutions.
• Marking exams.
• I mainly worked with static analysis parts of the course.
EG2030 ”Power Systems Advanced Course”/”Elsystem forts¨attningskurs”.
• 7.5 credit
• Level D, Second cycle
• My involvement: 2006/2007 – 2009/2010
• Helping students with and marking laboratory practical assignments.
• Proposing exam questions and solutions.
• Marking exams.
• I mainly worked with static analysis parts of the course.
EG209U ”Electrical power engineering for the distribution grid’s analysis”/”Elkraftteknik f¨or distributionsn¨atets
analys”.
• 6 credit
• Level C, Second cycle
• My involvement: 2006/2007 – 2009/2010
• The course material was given beforehand, but was old, so complementary work was needed. This includes
some examples with solutions.
• Holding lectures in parts of the course
• Proposing exam questions and solutions.
• Marking exams.
EJ1200 ”Electric Power Systems”/”Eleffektsystem”.
• 7.5 credit
• Level C, First cycle
• My involvement: 2007/2008 – 2014/2015
• I have worked first as a lab assistant, and thereafter as responsible for the load flow laboratory practical.
• This includes marking study questions that the students should answer and hand in before the laboratory
practical class.
EG2050 ”System Planning”/”Systemplanering”.
• 7.5 credit
• Level C, Second cycle
• My involvement: 2011 – 2014
• Preparing lecture slides, with access to previous years’ slides as help/inspiration
15
16. • Holding lectures in all parts of the course but the Monte-Carlo part
• Proposing exam questions and solutions.
• Marking exams.
• Proposing the tasks for, leading and judging the presentations of group exercises
• Proposing home assignment questions and solutions.
• Marking home assignments.
MJ1145 ”Energy Systems”/”Energisystem”.
• 7.5 credit
• Level N/A, First cycle
• My involvement: 2014 – 2015
• Leading sessions for and judging presentations of home assignments in the power systems part of the course.
Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral Thesis supervision are treated in Section 4.4.
4.4 Experience of supervision
• All my Bachelor’s Thesis projects have been given to me and defined beforehand.
• For the Master’s Thesis projects, I have designed some myself, whereas others have been designed together with
others or purely by others.
• The only Doctoral Thesis project I have been (and am) involved in supervising was defined by others.
Since 2014, I co-supervise a doctoral candidate (John Laury, LTU) who’s project is focused on the impact of
different types of converters with significantly different amounts of inertia on the dynamic stability of the RPSS.
Master’s Theses supervised
• K. Karlsson, ”Load flow control and optimization using phase shifting equipment in combination with
Banverkets rotating converters”, Master’s thesis, KTH, 2006. URL: https://eeweb01.ee.kth.se/upload/
publications/reports/2006/XR-EE-EES 2006 02.pdf. Examiner: Lennart S¨oder.
• E. Guyot, ”Study on the development of the public transmission network around Go´eland until 2030”,
Master’s thesis, TRITA: XR-EE-ES 2008:002, Feb. 2008. URL: http://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/
get/diva2:609994/FULLTEXT01.pdf. Examiner: Mehrdad Ghandhari, EPS, KTH.
• A. Lundgren, ”Auxiliary power system with two low-voltage levels (Original title in Swedish: Hj¨alp-
kraftsystem med tv˚a l˚agsp¨anningsniv˚aer)”, Master’s thesis, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Apr.
2008. URL: https://eeweb01.ee.kth.se/upload/publications/reports/2008/XR-EE-ES 2008 005.
pdf. Examiner: Lennart S¨oder, EPS, KTH.
• B. Boullanger, ”Modeling and simulation of future railways”, Master’s thesis, Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH), Mar. 2009. Examiner: Lennart S¨oder, EPS, KTH.
• I. Nordmark, ”Comparative simulation and modelling of future railways’ electric power supplies (Origi-
nal title in Swedish: J¨amf¨orande simulering och modellering av framtida j¨arnv¨agars elenergif¨ors¨orjning)”,
Master’s thesis, Uppsala University (UU), June 2009. Examiners: Bengt Carlsson, Department of Infor-
mation Technology, Uppsala University, and Ulla Tengblad, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala
University.
• C. S. Blacutt, ”Direct generation of low frequency single phase AC for the railway in Norway and Sweden”,
Master’s thesis, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Aug. 2009. Examiner: Lennart S¨oder, EPS, KTH.
• P. Waeckerl´e, ”Potential of using Low Voltage Direct Current in local distribution network to improve the
overall efficiency”, TRITA: XR-EE-ES 2011:012, Master’s thesis, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology),
June 2011. URL: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:470829/FULLTEXT01.pdf. Exam-
iner: Lennart S¨oder.
• J. Laury, ”OPF for an HVDC feeder solution for AC railways”, Master’s thesis, Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH), Sept. 2012. XR-EE-E2C 2012:012. Examiner: Stefan ¨Ostlund, E2C, KTH.
Master’s Theses pending for finishing
• A. Sch¨ulke, ”Scenario-based multi-zone approach of wind power for steady state network studies”, Master’s
thesis, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Examiner: Lennart S¨oder.
16
17. • R. Skogberg, ”Railway power supply system models for static calculations in a modular design implementa-
tion – Usability illustrated by case-studies of northern Malmbanan”, Master’s thesis, KTH (Royal Institute
of Technology), Examiner: Lennart S¨oder.
• I also have had one person leaving for Elways AB before finishing, and another one to Vectura (now a part
of Sweco).
Bachelor’s Theses supervised
• K. G¨ucl¨u & A. S. Ahemed, ”The electrical grid in a wind power farm (Original title in Swedish: Eln¨atet i
en vindkraftpark)”, Bachelor’s thesis, 15 ECTS credits, KTH 2014. Supervisors: Mikael Amelin & Lars
Abrahamsson. Examiner: Mikael Amelin.
• K. Raouz & A. Mrad, ”Grid connection of a photovoltaic plant in Husby (Original title in Swedish:
N¨atanslutning av solcellsanl¨aggning i Husby”, Bachelor’s thesis, 15 ECTS credits, KTH 2014. Super-
visors: Mikael Amelin & Lars Abrahamsson. Examiner: Monika Olsson.
4.5 Teaching Material
I haven’t really participated in creating anything of significance. Probably some examples here and there on the
black/white board or in digital form. I made lecture slides for the System Planning course, but no printed material.
It could be worth mentioning, that I personally am not that fund of compendia. They should be used when there
are no other alternatives as I see it. Compendia designed for a specific course are less useful after finishing the course.
Compendia rarely span the field as broad as printed textbooks do, and they rarely have an index in the end of it as
most textbooks have.
4.6 Educational planning, administration, and management
Not really. The closest I get is participating as a student representative in the advisory group for the basic and
advanced levels of education on the mathematical department of LTU, Lule˚a, Sweden.
4.7 Network/Pedagogical cooperation
Not really.
4.8 Pedagogical awards
None.
4.9 Other pedagogical merits
• From 2006 to 2010 I was participating in teaching in the STF course ”Elkraftteknik f¨or distributionsn¨atsanalys
(Electrical power engineering for distribution grid analysis)” organized and managed by the department of
Electric Power Systems as KTH for STF. STF Ingenj¨orsutbildning is a postgraduate education institute [9].
Students could voluntarily write the exam to get university course credits. Then they qualified for the KTH
course called ”EG209U Elkraftteknik f¨or distributionsn¨atets analys (6 hp), (Electrical power engineering for the
distribution grid’s analysis)”
• From the winter 2002/03 until the summer of 2005 I worked as an evening helping teacher for students needing
extra help in mathematics at the institution of mathematics, at LTU, Lule˚a, Sweden.
• From August 2002 until December 2002 I worked for Student Consulting, Lule˚a, as a personal CAD-teacher
employed by the hour, teaching an employee on a local manufacturing company how to use the software in his
work.
• From August 2002 until September 2002 I worked as a mathematics teacher for engineering student beginners,
LTU, Lule˚a, Sweden.
• From June 2002 to August 2002 I worked for Vattenfall Service Nord AB, Porjus, as a tourist guide in mainly
the new and the old power plants in the village, but also manning a tourist information hut. Once I also had
the opportunity to co-guide some businessmen in Harspr˚anget. It was a good German and English training.
Partially this could be considered a pedagogical merit, because you explain technical and historical matters to
people with mixed knowledge and cultural backgrounds.
17
18. • From May 2000 to August 2000 & from June 2001 to August 2001 I worked with internet support over phone
for Telenordia AB, Haparanda, Sweden. Telenordia is now a part of Telenor Sweden. This is to some extent
very automatized labour, but it contains parts where you are supposed to explain technical matters to people
with very various technical and cultural backgrounds.
• From January 2000 until May 2000 I held courses in computer usage, mainly for pensioners, organized by ABF
(Sweden’s largest adult liberal education association [10]), in the civic hall, R˚ane˚a, Sweden.
5 Management Tasks and Positions
Not really, besides the union-related tasks already mentioned and described in other parts of this document.
6 Other Tasks/Additional Assignments
6.1 Chairperson/member/alternate member in boards/committees during the last five
years
6.1.1 Inside the academy
• Member of SULF/KTH board for more than five years. Chairperson since 2014.
• National SULF board member since the 2010 congress
• Chairman of SDF 2009 and 2010. Nominating committee member 2010 – 2013.
• Saco-S/KTH board member for more than five years until the 2015 annual meeting. Vice chairman from 2011
until the 2015 annual meeting.
• Member in the The Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers group of university labour union trustees until
2013, when the group was dissolved.
• Alternate member in the PhD student section of the KTH Student Union (THS). From more than five years –
spring 2011, and autumn 2012 – spring 2013.
6.1.2 Outside the academy
• Member in the Swedish Left Party in Stockholm County’s environment and climate committee 2011.
• Member in the board of the Kista Left Party association from more than five years until the annual meeting in
2011.
• Member in the District 6 (Kista/Sollentuna/Solna/Sundbyberg) board for the Stockholm Consumer Cooperative
Society, from more than five years until 2015.
6.2 Business Activities/Experience
During some years in the early half of the 00’s decade, I had my own firm for selling computers as a side project. I
never made much money of it though. Already then, it started to be tough getting hold of good equipment cheaper
than the larger companies. Moreover, I did not let it steal time from my studies.
6.3 Nonprofit/Pro bono work and Commissions/Positions of trust
Is it not totally clear what makes this section differ from the content of Section 6.1.2. Thus, I gather all such information
there, in one place.
18
19. 7 Reference Persons
Rikard Lingstr¨om
• I got to know Rikard through the labour union at KTH. I was initially the successor of Rikard in the local
Saco-S/KTH board as a doctoral candidate representative, and for 2009 I also succeeded him as the chair
of the Swedish national doctoral candidates association (SDF). In the end of his presidency of the local
labour union association at KTH, I was appointed one of two vice chairpersons. We’ve been working quite
closely together, also on the national level. During my time as an SDF chairman, and my first period in the
national board of SULF (Swedish Association of University Teachers), he was in the executive committee
of the national SULF board. I think that he is able to describe me as a person, and how i interact on a
workplace with others. My pros and cons.
• Rikard is a PhD from KTH, a graduate of the School of Chemical Engineering.
• Function: Head of Administration, Unit for Administration, Formas (The Swedish Research Council for
Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning)
• Contacts: Address: Kungsbron 21, Box 1206, SE-111 82 Stockholm, Sweden; Phone: +46 (0)8-775 40 11,
+46 (0)70-723 40 11; E-mail: rikard.lingstrom@formas.se; URL: http://www.formas.se/sv/Om-Formas/
Formas-Medarbetare/Forvaltningsenheten/Rikard-Lingstrom/.
Thorsten Sch¨utte
• I got to know Thorsten as he was appointed to be one of the (most active) members in my reference group
as a doctoral candidate. Our personalities match quite well, and he has been both a moral support and a
support regarding pure knowledge acquisition in relation to railway electrification. One of our publications
[11] is based upon an idea of his that I appreciated, and we formalized the original argumentation with more
details and a deeper literature review supporting our claims. The other publication [12] was an idea of mine,
worked out by me, but he contributed with a deep critical review of the article before submission. Thorsten
is probably a person that well can describe me as technical researcher. There is a risk that Thorsten is too
polite to tell you about my bad sides, but he is also a bad liar, so if you press him, you will get his view
upon me.
• Thorsten is a PhD from Uppsala University in Sweden. He worked at the Institute for High Voltage
Research, where he also achieved his senior lectureship (docentur).
• Function: Senior scientist, Atkins. Member of the advisory council of the (German) railway electrification
magazine ”Elektrische Bahnen”.
• Contacts: Address: Atkins Sverige AB, Kopparbergsv¨agen 8, SE-72213 V¨aster˚as, Sweden; Phone: +46 21
44014-30; Fax: -39; E-Mail: thorsten.schutte@atkinsglobal.com.
Mikael Amelin
• Mikael Amelin is a long-time colleague of mine. I strived for working for him as my institutional duties,
and after some years that happened. As an examiner in the System Planning course he gave me lots of
freedom as teacher and assistant, without signaling ignorance. He appreciates constructive criticism and
other people’s standpoints without having to agree on everything. Moreover, as my brain works in a way
that (I am a slow but careful reader) I tend to find typing errors and logical mistakes when reading texts. In
contrast to many people, Mikael appreciates quality improvement and does not get offended if I point out
errors, mistakes, or suggest other improvements. That is a personal quality I appreciate. Since we disagree
on some things, but have some basic values in common, discussing teaching and learning during lunches,
coffee brakes, and department meetings, have been uplifting activities for me. Even with awareness that I
due to family-related and work-related stress combined did not over-perform last time I participated in the
System Planning course, I think that Mike can give a fair description about me as a teacher, and probably
somewhat also about me as a person.
• Mikael is a PhD from KTH, Electric Power Systems, where he also achieved his senior lectureship (docentur).
• Function: Associate Professor, Department of Electric Power Systems, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology)
• Contacts: Address: School of Electrical Engineering, Electric Power Systems, Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH), Teknikringen 33, SE 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden; E-mail: mikael.amelin@ee.kth.se; Phone: +46 8
790 77 55; URL: www.kth.se/profile/amelin/.
19
20. References
[1] T. Sch¨utte and U. Behmann, “Converters in the railway power supply – Worldwide chances (original title in
German: Umrichter in der Bahnenergieversorgung – Chancen weltweit),” Elektrische Bahnen, vol. 109, no. 4–5,
pp. 254–257, 2011.
[2] E. Pilo, L. Ruoco, and A. Fern´andez, “A reduced representation of 2x25kV electrical systems for high-speed
railways,” in Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE/ASME Joint Rail Conference, pp. 199–205, Apr. 2003.
[3] L. Abrahamsson, “Railway Power Supply Models and Methods for Long-term Investment Analysis,” tech. rep.,
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, 2008. Licentiate Thesis.
[4] B. Boullanger, “Modeling and simulation of future railways,” Master’s thesis, Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH), 2009.
[5] C. S. Blacutt, T. Sch¨utte, and L. Abrahamsson, “Primary Generation of 16 2
3 Hz Railway Power in Norway and
Sweden (original title in German),” Elektrische Bahnen, vol. 108, no. 1–2, pp. 80–83, 2010.
[6] P. Seldin, The teaching portfolio, A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions.
2007. pp. 1-14, ISBN 188298269X.
[7] “Get yourself a pedagogic qualification portfolio (Original title in Swedish: ’Skaffa dig sj¨alv en pedagogisk merit-
portf¨olj’),” tech. rep., Uppsala University, 2005. URL: http://www.uadm.uu.se/upi/arkiv/rapporter/Skaffa%
20dig%20en%20pedagogisk%20meritportfolj.pdf.
[8] J. Biggs and C. Tang, Tecahing for Quality Learnning at University. 4 ed., 2011.
[9] “Information in English.” Online, 2015-04-22., Apr. 2015. URL: http://www.stf.se/kurser/
Information-in-English-/.
[10] “About ABF in English.” Online, 2015-04-22., Apr. 2015. URL: http://www.abf.se/Om-ABF/
About-ABF-in-English1/.
[11] L. Abrahamsson, T. Sch¨utte, and S. ¨Ostlund, “Use of converters for feeding of AC railways for all frequencies,”
Elsevier Energy for Sustainable Development, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 368–378, 2012.
[12] L. Abrahamsson and L. S¨oder, “An electro-mechanical moving load railway power systems optimization model,”
Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, vol. 30, pp. 23–40, May 2013.
20
