Dr Will Midgley

Dr Will Midgley

Senior Lecturer
Engineering
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

Will is a Senior Lecturer in Mechatronics and Robotics in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UNSW Sydney. He received his PhD from Cambridge University, then went on to work for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan before returning to academia to work at Loughborough University and now working at UNSW Sydney.

Will is interested in using control engineering to help reduce emissions from transport. This has spanned work on modelling and building hydraulic hybrid heavy goods vehicles, using advanced control techniques to reduce the emissions of rail vehicles, optimising the fuel used by plug-in hybrid road vehicles, applying optimisation techniques to determine the best way to electrify railways and using resonant control to reduce the torque ripple produced by permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs - electric motors).

He has also worked on several applications of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to real-world engineering problems: using machine learning to deduce parameters of vehicles while in motion; developing neural networks to determine a vehicle's speed using machine vision; determining the properties of the road surface ahead of a vehicle using machine learning and machine vision.

For more details, visit his website: willmidgley.com or email him.

If you would like to do a PhD with Will, please get in touch with him.

Phone
+61 2 9385 4230
Location
Level 5, Room 510G Ainsworth Building (J17)
  • Book Chapters | 2022
    Ward C; Goodall R; Harrison T; Midgley W, 2022, 'Mechatronic Applications in Rail Systems and Technologies', in Hehenberger P; Habib M; Bradley D (ed.), EcoMechatronics: Challenges for Evolution, Development and Sustainability, Springer, pp. 155 - 175, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07555-1_10
  • Journal articles | 2024
    Rafaq MS; Midgley W; Steffen T, 2024, 'A Review of the State of the Art of Torque Ripple Minimization Techniques for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 20, pp. 1019 - 1031, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TII.2023.3272689
    Journal articles | 2023
    Abduraxman BM; Harrison T; Ward CP; Midgley WJB, 2023, 'Optimal intermittent electrification and its effect on battery sizing and energy saving using a high-fidelity train model', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, 237, pp. 1205 - 1218, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09544097231159179
    Journal articles | 2023
    Mwongera PK; Midgley WJ; Dixon R; Ward CP, 2023, 'Fault-tolerant control for sensor faults affecting an electromechanical railway track switch', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, 237, pp. 1111 - 1118, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09544097231154378
    Journal articles | 2023
    Zhan S; Midgley WJB; Chen WH; Steffen T, 2023, 'An Offline Closed-Form Optimal Predictive Power Management Strategy for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles', IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 31, pp. 543 - 554, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TCST.2022.3183896
    Journal articles | 2022
    Midgley WJB; Abrahams D; Garner CP; Caldwell N, 2022, 'Modelling and experimental validation of the performance of a digital displacement® hydraulic hybrid truck', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, 236, pp. 594 - 605, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09544070211026196
    Journal articles | 2022
    Steffen T; Rafaq MS; Midgley W, 2022, 'Comparing Different Resonant Control Approaches for Torque Ripple Minimisation in Electric Machines', Actuators, 11, pp. 349, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/act11120349
    Journal articles | 2021
    Abdurahman BM; Harrison T; Ward CP; Midgley WJB, 2021, 'An investigation into intermittent electrification strategies and an analysis of resulting CO2 emissions using a high-fidelity train model', Railway Engineering Science, 29, pp. 314 - 326, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40534-021-00248-9
    Journal articles | 2021
    Harrison TJ; Midgley WJB; Goodall RM; Ward CP, 2021, 'Development and control of a rail vehicle model to reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, 235, pp. 1237 - 1248, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0954409721993632
    Journal articles | 2021
    Midgley WJB; Henshaw MJDC; Alshuhri S, 2021, 'A systems-engineering approach to nation-scale problems: Municipal solid waste management in Saudi Arabia', Systems Engineering, 24, pp. 480 - 496, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sys.21597
    Journal articles | 2019
    Butlin T; Ghaderi P; Spelman G; Midgley WJB; Umehara R, 2019, 'A novel method for predicting the response variability of friction-damped gas turbine blades', Journal of Sound and Vibration, 440, pp. 372 - 398, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2018.10.013
    Journal articles | 2019
    Butlin T; Spelman G; Ghaderi P; Midgley WJB; Umehara R, 2019, 'Predicting response bounds for friction-damped gas turbine blades with uncertain friction coupling', Journal of Sound and Vibration, 440, pp. 399 - 411, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2018.08.037
    Journal articles | 2018
    Midgley WJB; Cebon D, 2018, 'Evaluation of a fuel-efficient urban delivery vehicle', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, 232, pp. 161 - 174, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0954407016689511
    Journal articles | 2016
    Midgley WJB; Cebon D, 2016, 'Control of a hydraulic regenerative braking system for a heavy goods vehicle', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, 230, pp. 1338 - 1350, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0954407015607780
    Journal articles | 2016
    Stettler MEJ; Midgley WJB; Swanson JJ; Cebon D; Boies AM, 2016, 'Greenhouse Gas and Noxious Emissions from Dual Fuel Diesel and Natural Gas Heavy Goods Vehicles', Environmental Science and Technology, 50, pp. 2018 - 2026, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b04240
    Journal articles | 2016
    Wilson G; Morrison G; Midgley W; Cebon D, 2016, 'Relationship between heavy vehicle speed limit and fleet fuel consumption on minor roads', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, 230, pp. 1461 - 1478, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0954406215573038
    Journal articles | 2013
    Midgley WJB; Cathcart H; Cebon D, 2013, 'Modelling of hydraulic regenerative braking systems for heavy vehicles', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, 227, pp. 1072 - 1084, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0954407012469168
    Journal articles | 2012
    Midgley WJB; Cebon D, 2012, 'Comparison of regenerative braking technologies for heavy goods vehicles in urban environments', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, 226, pp. 957 - 970, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0954407011433395
  • Conference Papers | 2023
    Fleming J; Midgley WJB, 2023, 'Energy-efficient automated driving: effect of a naturalistic eco-ACC on a following vehicle', in Proceedings - 2023 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics, ICM 2023, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICM54990.2023.10102074
    Conference Papers | 2023
    Midgley JBW; Fleming J; Otoofi M, 2023, 'Model-free Road Friction Estimation using Machine Learning', in Proceedings - 2023 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics, ICM 2023, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICM54990.2023.10102087
    Conference Papers | 2023
    Otoofi M; Midgley WJB; Laine L; Leon H; Justham L; Fleming J, 2023, 'Estimating friction coefficient using generative modelling', in Proceedings - 2023 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics, ICM 2023, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICM54990.2023.10101932
    Conference Papers | 2022
    Abduraxman BM; Ward C; Midgley W; Harrison T; Goodall R, 2022, 'Coupled Models with Contact Kinematics for Pantograph-Catenary Systems', in Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, pp. 168 - 178, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07305-2_18
    Conference Papers | 2022
    Abduraxman BM; Ward CP; Midgley WJB, 2022, 'A Dynamic Model for 2D Pantograph-Catenary Systems for Contact Tracking with Narrow Collector Head', in 2022 13th UKACC International Conference on Control, CONTROL 2022, pp. 110 - 111, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/Control55989.2022.9781436
    Conference Papers | 2022
    Rafaq MS; Midgley W; Steffen T, 2022, 'PROPORTIONAL-INTEGRAL-RESONANT CONTROL FOR THE PERIODIC DISTURBANCE MINIMIZATION OF THE PMSM', in IET Conference Proceedings, pp. 240 - 244, http://dx.doi.org/10.1049/icp.2022.1054
    Conference Papers | 2022
    Steffen T; Zhan S; Knowles J; Midgley W, 2022, 'An Input Linearized Powertrain Model for the Optimal Control of Hybrid Electric Vehicles', in SAE Technical Papers, http://dx.doi.org/10.4271/2022-01-0741
    Conference Papers | 2019
    Papadopoulos S; Galassini A; Ruksnaitis L; Farhat N; Kiselychnyk O; Midgley W; Degano M, 2019, 'SMART: Modular Architecture for Reliable Transportation', in IECON Proceedings (Industrial Electronics Conference), pp. 7135 - 7140, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IECON.2019.8926931
    Conference Papers | 2011
    Midgley W; Cebon D, 2011, 'Specifying a hydraulic regenerative braking system for an articulated urban delivery vehicle', in 2011 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, VPPC 2011, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/VPPC.2011.6043065

  • Don't Forget the Mortar! A New Approach to Engineering Education - £65,000 - Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) - 2022-23
  • Optimisation of Intermittent Electrification of Rail Transport for Near-Term Decarbonisation - £37,000 - DTE Network+ (UK) - 2021-22
  • Tyre-Road Friction Estimation using Maximum Entropy - £24,000 - EPSRC (UK) - 2021-22
  • Decarbonising High-Speed Bi-Mode Railway Vehicles through Optimal Power Control - £158,000 - RSSB  (UK) - 2019-20

  • IMechE T A Stewart-Dyer Prize/Frederick Harvey Trevithick Prize for “the most meritorious paper on the subject of railway engineering”, IMechE, (2022)
  • Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (now AdvanceHE) (2020-)
  • Best Poster Award, Intelligent Fluid Power Transmission and Control, University of Bath (2019)
  • 2012 SAGE Highly Commended Paper for “Comparison of regenerative braking technologies for heavy goods vehicles in urban environments” (2013)

My Research Supervision

External Advisor:

Mohammad Otoofi (Loughborough University, UK) - Computer vision for road surface identification