Cybernetica
Encyclopedia
Cybernetica is a Norwegian technology company with headquarters in Trondheim
, Norway
. Cybernetica delivers systems for model predictive control
(MPC) and soft-sensing, as well as performing research and problem-solving for hire within the field of process control
, for customers within polymer
, metal
and petroleum industry
.
in the late 1990s. The aim of the company was to commercialize the results on model predictive control that grew out of these research projects. SINTEF
secured a stake in the newly founded company when it was formed, but the main shareholders were the original four employees http://www.tu.no/nyheter/ikt/article7166.ece.
At the onset, the company decided to focus on model-based control of industrial processes that were either nonlinear systems, batch production
or both. For these kinds of processes traditional linear and empirical model predictive control was considered less suitable. Development focused on developing products which were suitable to nonlinear processes as well as tailor-making nonlinear physical models for this intended use http://www.tu.no/nyheter/ikt/article7166.ece.
In the late 2000s, the company started work on building a model library written in Modelica
and on integrating models from Modelica
with their existing tools. This effort was motivated by needs for more complex models in oil and gas applications and by a desire for model re-use and reducing the time and cost of model synthesis https://www.modelica.org/events/modelica2008/Proceedings/sessions/session3b3.pdf http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/043/088/ecp09430067.pdf.
In the early 2010s, existing tools for fitting models were made more easily accessible for offline model tuning through development efforts in a new product called ModelFit http://www.cybernetica.info/v3/products/ModelFit/index.html.
Cybernetica holds an annual course on model predictive control through the Norwegian Society for Automation (NFA) http://www.nfaplassen.no/index.php?eventId=39&expand=257.
The main clients in the first ten years of the Company were Statoil
, Hydro Aluminium, Dynea, Ineos
, Eramet
, Elkem
and Arclin (US) http://www.cybernetica.no/v3/about/job/open_position/Utlysning_jobb_Cybernetica.pdf.
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Cybernetica delivers systems for model predictive control
Model predictive control
Model Predictive Control, or MPC, is an advanced method of process control that has been in use in the process industries such as chemical plants and oil refineries since the 1980s...
(MPC) and soft-sensing, as well as performing research and problem-solving for hire within the field of process control
Process control
Process control is a statistics and engineering discipline that deals with architectures, mechanisms and algorithms for maintaining the output of a specific process within a desired range...
, for customers within polymer
Polymer
A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
, metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
and petroleum industry
Petroleum industry
The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...
.
History
Cybernetica was founded on June 29, 2000 by Dr. Tor Steinar Schei, Prof. Bjarne A. Foss and Dr. Peter Singstad. The company grew out of industrial research projects on model predictive control (MPC) conducted at the department for Engineering cybernetics at SINTEFSINTEF
SINTEF , headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia. Every year, SINTEF supports research and development at 2,000 or so Norwegian and overseas companies via its research and development activity....
in the late 1990s. The aim of the company was to commercialize the results on model predictive control that grew out of these research projects. SINTEF
SINTEF
SINTEF , headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia. Every year, SINTEF supports research and development at 2,000 or so Norwegian and overseas companies via its research and development activity....
secured a stake in the newly founded company when it was formed, but the main shareholders were the original four employees http://www.tu.no/nyheter/ikt/article7166.ece.
At the onset, the company decided to focus on model-based control of industrial processes that were either nonlinear systems, batch production
Batch production
Batch production is a technique used in manufacturing, in which the object in question is created stage by stage over a series of workstations. Batch production is common in bakeries and in the manufacture of sports shoes, pharmaceutical ingredients , inks, paints and adhesives. In the manufacture...
or both. For these kinds of processes traditional linear and empirical model predictive control was considered less suitable. Development focused on developing products which were suitable to nonlinear processes as well as tailor-making nonlinear physical models for this intended use http://www.tu.no/nyheter/ikt/article7166.ece.
In the late 2000s, the company started work on building a model library written in Modelica
Modelica
Modelica is an object-oriented, declarative, multi-domain modeling language for component-oriented modeling of complex systems, e.g., systems containing mechanical, electrical, electronic, hydraulic, thermal, control, electric power or process-oriented subcomponents.The free Modelica languageis...
and on integrating models from Modelica
Modelica
Modelica is an object-oriented, declarative, multi-domain modeling language for component-oriented modeling of complex systems, e.g., systems containing mechanical, electrical, electronic, hydraulic, thermal, control, electric power or process-oriented subcomponents.The free Modelica languageis...
with their existing tools. This effort was motivated by needs for more complex models in oil and gas applications and by a desire for model re-use and reducing the time and cost of model synthesis https://www.modelica.org/events/modelica2008/Proceedings/sessions/session3b3.pdf http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/043/088/ecp09430067.pdf.
In the early 2010s, existing tools for fitting models were made more easily accessible for offline model tuning through development efforts in a new product called ModelFit http://www.cybernetica.info/v3/products/ModelFit/index.html.
Cybernetica holds an annual course on model predictive control through the Norwegian Society for Automation (NFA) http://www.nfaplassen.no/index.php?eventId=39&expand=257.
The main clients in the first ten years of the Company were Statoil
Statoil
Statoil ASA is a Norwegian petroleum company established in 1972. It merged with Norsk Hydro in 2007 and was known as StatoilHydro until 2009, when the name was changed back to Statoil ASA. The brand Statoil was retained as a chain of fuel stations owned by StatoilHydro...
, Hydro Aluminium, Dynea, Ineos
Ineos
INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom...
, Eramet
Eramet
Eramet is a French multinational mining and metallurgy company, listed on the Euronext Paris exchange under the symbol ERA.The company produces non-ferrous metals and derivatives, nickel alloys and superalloys, and high-performance special steels....
, Elkem
Elkem
Elkem is one of Norway's largest industrial companies, and one of the world's leading suppliers of metals and materials. The company's main products are aluminium, energy and silicon as well as specialised products such as ferrosilicon to foundries, microsilica and carbon...
and Arclin (US) http://www.cybernetica.no/v3/about/job/open_position/Utlysning_jobb_Cybernetica.pdf.
Products
The main product areas for Cybernetica are:- Model predictive controlModel predictive controlModel Predictive Control, or MPC, is an advanced method of process control that has been in use in the process industries such as chemical plants and oil refineries since the 1980s...
products to control the settings of industrial plants in real-time with the aim of maximizing throughput or some economic objective, to ensure that process constraints are met or to achieve a more smooth and stable process by rejecting disturbances. At the core of these products are always models custom-tailored for the plant and for use with model predictive control http://www.cybernetica.no/v3/products/eMPC/eMPC.pdf - Nonlinear Model predictive controlModel predictive controlModel Predictive Control, or MPC, is an advanced method of process control that has been in use in the process industries such as chemical plants and oil refineries since the 1980s...
an in-house developed suite for nonlinear model predictive control can be applied to control processes with strong nonlinearities and to batch processes, for instance polymer reactors http://www.cybernetica.no/v3/products/CENIT/CENIT.pdf. - Soft sensorSoft sensorSoft sensor or virtual sensor is a common name for software where several measurements are processed together. There may be dozens or even hundreds of measurements. The interaction of the signals can be used for calculating new quantities that need not be measured...
s
products to infer the value of un-measured variables from measurements by means of combining a plant model with mathematical methods such as the Kalman FilterKalman filterIn statistics, the Kalman filter is a mathematical method named after Rudolf E. Kálmán. Its purpose is to use measurements observed over time, containing noise and other inaccuracies, and produce values that tend to be closer to the true values of the measurements and their associated calculated...
http://www.cybernetica.name/v3/products/ModelOnLine/index.html - Dynamic Process simulationProcess simulationProcess simulation is used for the design, development, analysis, and optimization of technical processes and is mainly applied to chemical plants and chemical processes, but also to power stations, and similar technical facilities.- Main principle :...
simulators that are fitted using estimation theoryEstimation theoryEstimation theory is a branch of statistics and signal processing that deals with estimating the values of parameters based on measured/empirical data that has a random component. The parameters describe an underlying physical setting in such a way that their value affects the distribution of the...
to plant data and are used as process analogs in engineering analysis. These simulators give predictions of transient and dynamic behavior of the plant as well as the stationary responses, and can be used for operator training, "what-if" analysis or bottleneckBottleneckA bottleneck is a phenomenon where the performance or capacity of an entire system is limited by a single or limited number of components or resources. The term bottleneck is taken from the 'assets are water' metaphor. As water is poured out of a bottle, the rate of outflow is limited by the width...
analysis. These simulators can be implemented to run in real-time in parallel with process plant as an online modelOnline modelAn online model is a mathematical model which tracks and mirrors a plant or process in real-time, and which is implemented with some form of automatic adaptivity to compensate for model degredation over time.- Relationship to other kinds of models :...
.
External links
- Cybernetica - official homepage
- Sintef - Part owner
- Department of Engineering Cybernetics - At Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyNorwegian University of Science and TechnologyThe Norwegian University of Science and Technology , commonly known as NTNU, is located in Trondheim. NTNU is the second largest of the eight universities in Norway, and, as its name suggests, has the main national responsibility for higher education in engineering and technology...
- NFAplassen - Norwegian Society of Automation(NFA).
- "Lønnsom Matematikk" - News paper article in "Teknisk Ukeblad" from 2001(Norwegian)
- Arclin - official homepage
- Financial Data - link to historical summary of financial data from annual reports