Research
Table of Contents
My research revolves around the control of networked and cyber-physical systems that require solving nonconvex optimization problems. In this problem setting, the computational complexity of a centralized problem formulation is high, posing a challenge for real-time control. The goal of my research is to reduce computation time while guaranteeing feasibility and improving solution quality.
Multi-agent motion planning for road vehicles #
I researched receding horizon motion planning for connected and autonomous vehicles combining nonconvex optimization with graph-based modeling and analysis. To reduce computation time and improve solution quality in networked control, I developed methods based on prioritized, distributed computation. My responsibilities included all conceptual development, software implementation in MATLAB and C++, as well as supervising and coordinating bachelor and master students contributing to the project.
You can find videos supporting my research results on YouTube.
Experiment Platforms #
The Cyber-Physical Mobility Lab (CPM Lab) is an open-source testbed for connected and autonomous vehicles, designed for research on distributed motion planning and control. It features 20 physical small-scale vehicles that can seamlessly interact with additional simulated agents. A unique service-oriented software architecture, based on a logical-execution-time approach, ensures reproducible experiments. I contributed to all parts of the CPM Lab with concepts, planning, and developing both hardware and C++ software.
Publications #
The latest list of my publications can be found on Google scholar.
Selected Publications #
- In Receding Horizon Control Using Graph Search for Multi-Agent Trajectory Planning, I combine receding horizon control with graph-based methods for motion planning of CAVs while guaranteeing recursive feasibility. The work is a collaboration with partners from Saarland University.
- I developed methods in prioritized computation for reducing the computation time and increasing the solution quality of the networked control system. In Limiting Computation Levels in Prioritized Trajectory Planning with Safety Guarantees, I bound the computation time of prioritized computation with an approach based on reachability analysis.
- I co-developed the CPM Lab, which is an open-source testbed for CAVs. My paper A Scaled Experiment Platform to Study Interactions Between Humans and CAVs, which won the IEEE ITSS Young Research Award, introduces human-driven vehicles to the CPM Lab to study the interaction between it and the CAVs.
Publication List #
Graph Coloring to Reduce Computation Time in Prioritized Planning
Patrick Scheffe, Julius Kahle, Bassam Alrifaee
Preprint,
2025
Simultaneous Computation with Multiple Prioritizations in Multi-Agent Motion Planning
Patrick Scheffe, Julius Kahle, Bassam Alrifaee
Preprint,
2025
A Survey on Small-Scale Testbeds for Connected and Automated Vehicles and Robot Swarms: A Guide for Creating a New Testbed
Armin Mokhtarian, Jianye Xu, Patrick Scheffe, Maximilian Kloock, Simon Schäfer, Heeseung Bang, Viet-Anh Le, Sangeet Ulhas, Johannes Betz, Sean Wilson, Spring Berman, Liam Paull, Amanda Prorok, Bassam Alrifaee
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine,
2024
Designing Maneuver Automata of Motion Primitives for Optimal Cooperative Trajectory Planning
Matheus V. A. Pedrosa, Patrick Scheffe, Bassam Alrifaee, Kathrin Flaßkamp
Cooperatively Interacting Vehicles: Methods and Effects of Automated Cooperation in Traffic,
2024
Limiting Computation Levels in Prioritized Trajectory Planning with Safety Guarantees
Patrick Scheffe, Jianye Xu, Bassam Alrifaee
2024 European Control Conference (ECC),
2024
Prioritized Trajectory Planning for Networked Vehicles Using Motion Primitives
Patrick Scheffe, Matheus V. A. Pedrosa, Kathrin Flaßkamp, Bassam Alrifaee
Cooperatively Interacting Vehicles: Methods and Effects of Automated Cooperation in Traffic,
2024
A Scaled Experiment Platform to Study Interactions Between Humans and CAVs
Patrick Scheffe, Bassam Alrifaee
2023 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV),
2023
An Architecture for Experiments in Connected and Automated Vehicles
Maximilian Kloock, Patrick Scheffe, Ole Gress, Bassam Alrifaee
IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems,
2023
Networked Model Predictive Control for Multi-Vehicle Decision-Making
Patrick Scheffe, Bassam Alrifaee, Stefan Kowalewski
Regelungstechnisches Kolloquium,
2023
Optimization-based Motion Primitive Automata for Autonomous Driving
Matheus V. A. Pedrosa, Patrick Scheffe, Bassam Alrifaee, Kathrin Flaßkamp
at - Automatisierungstechnik,
2023
Receding Horizon Control Using Graph Search for Multi-Agent Trajectory Planning
Patrick Scheffe, Matheus V. A. Pedrosa, Kathrin Flaßkamp, Bassam Alrifaee
IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology,
2023
Sequential Convex Programming Methods for Real-Time Optimal Trajectory Planning in Autonomous Vehicle Racing
Patrick Scheffe, Theodor Mario Henneken, Maximilian Kloock, Bassam Alrifaee
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles,
2023
Testing Distributed Trajectory Planning in the Cyber-Physical Mobility Lab
Maximilian Kloock, Patrick Scheffe, Bassam Alrifaee
at - Automatisierungstechnik,
2023
Increasing Feasibility with Dynamic Priority Assignment in Distributed Trajectory Planning for Road Vehicles
Patrick Scheffe, Georg Dorndorf, Bassam Alrifaee
IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC),
2022
Remote Teaching with the Cyber-Physical Mobility Lab
Armin Mokhtarian, Patrick Scheffe, Stefan Kowalewski, Bassam Alrifaee
IFAC-PapersOnLine,
2022
Cyber-Physical Mobility Lab: An Open-Source Platform for Networked and Autonomous Vehicles
Maximilian Kloock, Patrick Scheffe, Janis Maczijewski, Alexandru Kampmann, Armin Mokhtarian, Stefan Kowalewski, Bassam Alrifaee
European Control Conference (ECC),
2021
Networked and Autonomous Model-scale Vehicles for Experiments in Research and Education
Patrick Scheffe, Janis Maczijewski, Maximilian Kloock, Alexandru Kampmann, Andreas Derks, Stefan Kowalewski, Bassam Alrifaee
IFAC-PapersOnLine,
2020
Vision-Based Real-Time Indoor Positioning System for Multiple Vehicles
Maximilian Kloock, Patrick Scheffe, Isabelle Tülleners, Janis Maczijewski, Stefan Kowalewski, Bassam Alrifaee
IFAC-PapersOnLine,
2020
Distributed Model Predictive Intersection Control of Multiple Vehicles
Maximilian Kloock, Patrick Scheffe, Sascha Marquardt, Janis Maczijewski, Bassam Alrifaee, Stefan Kowalewski
IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC),
2019