[agents] CEA position. Multiagent systems and Smart Grids

[JORGE JESUS GOMEZ SANZ]

In case you are interested:



*Keywords:* software development , Java, smart grids, multi-agent platform,
architecture



In the scope of the European Projects being developed at the CEA LIST (
http://www.cea.fr/english_portal) data analysis and system Intelligence lab
(LADIS) in the Paris (France) area, a research engineer position is
available for developers who are interested in multi-agent solutions for an
efficient management of the smart grid. The successful candidate will join
a research and development team working on a multi-agent platform, which is
being developed under several EU projects. The platform is intended for the
management and optimization of energy systems for the EU project THERMOSS.
THERMOSS aims at producing a MAS-based contribution to the wider deployment
of advanced building heating and cooling technologies in the EU, with a
view to significantly enhance energy efficiency of residential buildings
and to facilitate their connection to district heating and cooling networks.


*Working context:* The CEA is the French Alternative Energies and Atomic
Energy Commission. Leader in research, development and innovation with its
16000 employees, CEA is active in four main areas: low-carbon energies,
defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. Key
figures include about 150 start-ups since 1984 in the innovative
technologies sector, a 4,3 billion euros yearly budget and more than 530 EU
projects obtained with CEA participation under the European FP7 since 2007.
Inside CEA, the CEA LIST institute (700 researchers, located in the
Paris-Saclay scientific cluster) focuses its research activities on
developing innovative technologies for smart and complex systems. Its R&D
programs focus on interactive systems (ambient intelligence), embedded
systems (architecture, software and systems engineering), sensors and
signal processing (industrial control systems, health, security and
metrology). The LADIS is a CEA LIST lab (60 researchers, post-doctoral &
PhD students) whose activities aim at applying advanced artificial
intelligence, data/signal processing and software engineering approaches to
meet industrial needs, through its industrial partnerships and involvement
in collaborative research projects.


*Scientific scope:* In recent years, the LADIS lab of CEA LIST institute
has gained a deep expertise in the area of multi-agent systems. This
research thread, while still quite recent, is already very active and well
integrated in the related European research area. Thanks to the various
outstanding academic partnership we have developed, the coming years are
very promising, with several National and European collaborative projects.



*Job description:*  Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) have emerged as one of the
most promising technologies for the management of new energy systems [1,2].
However, this interrelation between MAS and energy systems still has many
challenges.

This position will take place in the scope of the European collaborative
research project THERMOSS. The aim of this project is to design, develop,
and demonstrate a multi-agent holonic platform for distributed management,
control and optimization of energy systems. Multi-agent optimization
protocols will be integrated in order to allow agents to coordinate their
different goals and bi-directional communications will be secured. Goals
will be based on individual interests (e.g. balance for distribution
operators; reduction of generation price for producers; reduction of
consumption and comfort maximization for consumers, etc.). Collective
optimization protocols will produce as output global agreed generation,
distribution, storage and consumption schedules.

The project involves prominent industrial organizations and research
institutes from the European energy, telecom and security fields.



The selected candidate will be fully involved in this project and will
contribute to all its related tasks. She/he will be part of a project team,
which includes two PhD students, one postdoc and two research engineers. The
aim will be to participate in the development of already existing
multi-agent platform (developed in the institute, in Java language).
Therefore, excellent skills in software development are a mandatory
requirement.




*Qualifications:*

?         Excellent proficiency in software, object-oriented (in particular
Java), programming languages and tools.

?         High motivation, self-learning and autonomy, teamwork skills

?         Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written English.

?         Background in R&D, multi-agent systems (in particular in the Java
Agent Development Framework platform), artificial intelligence and smart
grid are a plus.



The position is open (start planned in January 2017) for a duration of one
year, renewable.

*Salary & benefits:*

Depends on the applicant’s profile and experience. The position comes with
various social benefits (e.g. health insurance, public transport…).

*Application package:*


Please send the following documents by email to hassan.sleiman at cea.fr and
meritxell.vinyals at cea.fr in a single PDF file:

1.      CV with a list of at least 3 references

2.      A cover letter explaining your suitability and motivation for the
position.

3.      Available start date

*Contact Information:*

Hassan Sleiman (hassan.sleiman at cea.fr)
Meritxell Vinyals (meritxell.vinyals at cea.fr)



[1] S. D. J. McArthur; E. M. Davidson; V. M. Catterson; A. L. Dimeas; N. D.
Hatziargyriou; F. Ponci; T. Funabashi, “Multi-Agent Systems for Power
Engineering Applications – Part I: Concepts, Approaches, and Technical
Challenges”, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 22, No. 4, November
2007.



[2] Gregor Rohbogner, Simon Fey
<http://dblp.uni-trier.de/pers/hc/f/Fey:Simon>, Ulf Hahnel
<http://dblp.uni-trier.de/pers/hc/h/Hahnel:Ulf>, Pascal Benoit
<http://dblp.uni-trier.de/pers/hc/b/Benoit:Pascal>, Bernhard Wille-Haussmann
<http://dblp.uni-trier.de/pers/hc/w/Wille=Haussmann:Bernhard>, “What the
term Agent stands for in the Smart Grid, Definition of Agents and
Multi-Agent Systems from an Engineer's Perspective”, FedCSIS 2012
<http://dblp.uni-trier.de/db/conf/fedcsis/fedcsis2012.html#RohbognerFHBW12>:
1301-1305