About

Samidha Bhat, MD, MBA-H, is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Florida and a board-certified Family Medicine Physician at UF Health Jacksonville. She received her medical degree from Mahatma Gandhi Mission's Medical College in Navi Mumbai, India in 2003, and completed her Family Medicine residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During her residency, she also earned an MBA in Healthcare through the University of Pittsburgh – Katz School of Medicine. Dr. Bhat currently serves as the Medical Director at UF Health Jacksonville and has been in this role since 2025. She is committed to teaching and learning, emphasizing that learning makes you a good teacher and teaching makes you a good learner. Her academic interests include family medicine and primary care, and she has contributed to scholarly publications on topics such as suicide prevention and the health benefits of family medicine. Her professional focus is on providing comprehensive family medicine care, and she actively participates in academic and clinical activities within the Department of Community Health and Family Medicine at the University of Florida.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Control engineering
• Engineering
• Automotive engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Real-time computing
• Computer hardware
• Systems engineering
• Embedded system

Selected publications

• Digital twin based PID control modeling, design, and development for FPGA implementation

  2024 · 3 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Embedded system

  More and more mission-critical industrial systems are deploying hardware (e.g. FPGA) based controls these days for increased cyber-security and reliability eliminating cyber-risks which is higher for software based controls. These industrial systems include but not limited to healthcare devices, power supplies for 3D metal printing, wind turbine controls etc. Most of their controllers are based on proportional-integral-derivative-feedforward (PIDF) algorithms. This paper presents methodology for modeling, designing, and developing field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) based PIDF controller for a representative industrial system (referred to as a physical twin). A digital twin of the system is identified to optimally design and develop the controller for implementing on a resource-constraint FPGA. We also validate the digital electronic circuit of the controller on the physical twin and observe successful tracking of the target by that physical system. The observed error between the physical and digital twin control effort is ±0.2%. That error is caused due to the variance in sampling time of their control efforts. The physical twin control effort is logged using a JTAG cable. Its sampling time is found to be variable while the sampling time used for digital twin simulation is fixed causing the mismatch between digital and physical twin control efforts.

  PublisherDOI

• Adaptive speed controller with intelligent startup logic for remote control of mainline train locomotives

  IFAC-PapersOnLine · 2023

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Engineering
  • Control engineering

  The rail-road train operational companies globally, and particularly in Americas, have been facing a challenge of growing shortage of skilled human operators crew due to ongoing retirement wave of experienced aged operators combined with growing needs of crew for special slow-speed applications. This challenge can be addressed through development of advanced automation and control solution like Remote Control Locomotive (RCL) to help reduce the crew-size, improve train low-speed operational performance and productivity. This paper covers our R&D work towards a new mainline RCL product of Wabtec – one of the leading diesel-electric locomotives supplier from USA. This mainline RCL speed-controller solution is novel due to use of – i) model-cum-heuristics based intelligent open-loop startup logic & sequence control with smart exception-handling, and ii) the post-startup closed-loop adaptive speed control using novel self-adaptive formulation. This paper describes the RCL architecture, state-transition and sequence control scheme of intelligent open-loop start-up control, and the adaptive PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) speed-control algorithm. The performance of this novel RCL speed-controller is thoroughly evaluated and tuned using matlab-simulink framework using detailed in-house main-line locomotive-train simulator having real-life rail-track data and operational specifications. This novel RCL speed-control solution has been deployed on Wabtec's RCL Locotrol® controller product and field-validated on Wabtec's inhouse test-track at Erie, and some real-life tracks of mainline train operation customers including coalmine & other railroad applications. The performance of this novel RCL speed-controller is found satisfactory in terms of train and some exception handling, RCL speed tracking and regulation control behavior in the presence of realistic disturbances of grade-changes, train size and load changes across light & heavy trains. This solution is finally inducted and sold successfully as a new mainline RCL product offering by Wabtec.

  PublisherDOI

• Model-based Control Development of a Tier 4 Locomotive Engine with Exhaust Gas Re-circulation

  2021-12-20 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The Tier 4 emission standards for heavy duty diesel engines have a reduction of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$&gt; 70\%$</tex> in nitrous oxide (NOx) & particulate matter (PM) as compared to the Tier 3. Technology changes need to be introduced to meet these stringent norms. The paper discusses the model-based control development for a Tier 4 locomotive engine using Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) wherein part of the exhaust gas is re-circulated into the cylinder to reduce NOx formation. Since emissions are predominantly functions of how good combustion takes place inside the cylinder and how the engine breathes i.e. the conditions of the air and fuel entering and exiting the cylinder, control of oxygen-based indicators like the oxygen fraction in the intake manifold will be critical to identify the emission. The oxygen-based metrics can in turn be mapped to the flows & pressures in the air handling path. To accurately control these parameters advanced control techniques, need to be developed. The aforementioned controls problem is a complex and intellectually challenging one for the following reasons: (i) multi-input multi-output system dynamics with coupled control loops, (ii) non-minimum phase behavior, and (iii) limited sensor measurements etc. This paper describes the details of the controls development process. Specifically, we discuss (i) single input single output control scheme keeping in mind simplicity for real-time implementation, (ii) decoupling technique to minimize the coupling between the interacting loops, (iii) virtual actuator coupling to aid in control design, and (iv) scheduling the control gains for optimal performance throughout the operating range.

  PublisherDOI

• Model-Based Design and Optimization for Large Bore Engines: Some Industrial Case Studies

  Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power · 2020

  • Computer Science
  • Automotive engineering
  • Engineering

  Abstract Large bore reciprocating internal combustion (IC) engines are used in a wide variety of applications such as power generation, transportation, gas compression, mechanical drives, and mining. Each application has its own unique requirements that influence the engine design and control strategy. The system architecture and control strategy play a key role in meeting the requirements. Traditionally, control design has come in at a later stage of the development process, when the system design is almost frozen. Furthermore, transient performance requirements have not always been considered adequately at early design stages for large engines, thus limiting achievable controller performance. With rapid advances in engine modeling capability, it has now become possible to accurately simulate engine behavior in steady-states and transients. In this paper, we propose an integrated model-based approach to system design and control of reciprocating engines and outline ideas, processes, and real-world case studies for the same. Key benefits of this approach include optimized engine performance in terms of efficiency, transient response, emissions, system and cost optimization, and tools to evaluate various concepts before engine build thus leading to significant reduction in development time and cost.

  PublisherDOI

• Design and analysis of a mobile robot for storage and retrieval system

  IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering · 2018-09-20 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  The growth of the automation industry has been staggering and its continued growth has imbibed life to an aging industry. The application of robots has reduced the workload of humans and frees up the workforce off of monotonous, non-creative jobs and can be efficiently utilized for more fulfilling jobs. The aim of this research is to design and analyze a mobile robot for a storage and retrieval system. The robot has the objective of translating long racks in storage houses to different locations, instead of transporting the individual components in the racks. The main task of lifting the racks will be accomplished using a lead screw mechanism and a differential drive is used as the main drive. The challenges faced were mainly, distributing the load concentration equally along the chassis to ensure maximum stability and limiting the weight ratio of the robot to the racks to an optimal number. Design and analysis of the robot were carried out using CATIA and ANSYS, respectively.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Model Based Design and Optimization for Large Bore Engines: Some Industrial Case Studies

  2017-10-15 · 1 citations

  article

  Large bore reciprocating internal combustion engines are used in a wide variety of applications such as power generation, transportation, gas compression, mechanical drives, and mining. Each application has its own unique requirements that influence the engine design &amp; control strategy. The system architecture &amp; control strategy play a key role in meeting the requirements. Traditionally, control design has come in at a later stage of the development process, when the system design is almost frozen. Furthermore, transient performance requirements have not always been considered adequately at early design stages for large engines, thus limiting achievable controller performance. With rapid advances in engine modeling capability, it has now become possible to accurately simulate engine behavior in steady-states and transients. In this paper, we propose an integrated model-based approach to system design &amp; control of reciprocating engines and outline ideas, processes and real-world case studies for the same. Key benefits of this approach include optimized engine performance in terms of efficiency, transient response, emissions, system and cost optimization, tools to evaluate various concepts before engine build thus leading to significant reduction in development time &amp; cost.

  PublisherDOI

• Digital + physical confluence - Era of intelligent & interconnected machines

  Journal of Applied Mechanical Engineering · 2016-11-11

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Control-Oriented Design Using Surrogate-Based Optimization and Existence Conditions for Robust Performance

  AIAA Journal · 2011-11-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  M ISSION capability of a vehicle is ultimately evaluated by closed-loop performance. Such capability depends on a synergistic integration of aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and control, which results in flight dynamics that are optimal for the mission. Unfortunately, most systems such as aircraft are traditionally designed using a sequential series of open-loop optimizations that cannot account for, or optimize, any synergistic integrations. A formulation for design that inherently considers control must therefore be developed to enable optimal closed-loop performance. The issue of cost function is actually quite critical to the inclusion of control synthesis for design optimization. Every discipline has metrics that are unique to their objectives, so a single cost that encompasses all these metrics can be challenging to formulate. One approach that considers vibration control uses norms, both for vibration level and effort, as a cost in a linear-quadratic framework [1]. A mixed-norm approach is formulated that considers both H2 andH1 in summation to represent independent metrics of the design [2]. A positive-real condition across frequency is also introduced as a cost that has time-domain interpretations for design [3]. Several formulations formulate cost functions and solution methodologies for designs that include linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) associated with H1-norm synthesis. One generates a nonconvex formulation and uses iterations to solve the associated optimization [4]. Another approximates functions associated with perturbed state-spacematrices as LMIs to be solved using an iterative approach [5]. A two-step procedure is used for an optimization coupled with an LMI solver for the controller [6] as an multidisciplinary optimization approach. Another approach considers an iterative sequential control design and a coupled redesign with each iteration involving the solution of an LMI [7]. This Note introduces a control-oriented approach for design that avoids the common difficulties of simultaneous structure-control design, which is known to be nonconvex [8–11]. The approach actually considers an existence question that notes if a controller exists for a given structure that achieves a desired level of performance. The approach does not design both the structure and control to optimize a closed-loop norm; rather, it designs a structure for which a controller exists that optimizes a closed-loop norm. Formulations using control synthesis to minimize an H1-norm metric and anH2-norm are derived using their appropriate existence conditions. As important, a solution methodology is used based on surrogate modeling to avoid the iterations and expensive computations associated with techniques doing design with LMI expressions. The surrogate-based optimization is shown to be efficient and effective and exploring a design space to optimize the closed-loop metric.

  PublisherDOI

• Control-Oriented Design Using H-infinity Synthesis and Multiple Surrogates

  2010-04-12 · 5 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Lyapunov-Based Exponential Tracking Control of a Hypersonic Aircraft with Aerothermoelastic Effects

  Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics · 2010-07-01 · 144 citations

  article

  Hypersonicflight conditions produce temperature variations that can alter both the structural dynamics andflight dynamics. These aerothermoelastic effects are modeled by a nonlinear, temperature-dependent, parameter-varying state-space representation. The model includes an uncertain parameter-varying state matrix, an uncertain parameter-varying nonsquare (column-deficient) input matrix, and a nonlinear additive bounded disturbance. A Lyapunov-based continuous robust controller is developed that yields exponential tracking of a reference model, despite the presence of bounded nonvanishing disturbances. Simulation results for a hypersonic aircraft are provided to demonstrate the robustness and efficacy of the proposed controller. I.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Rick Lind

  University of Florida

  5 shared

• R. C. Lind

  3 shared

• Prashant Srinivasan

  Central Power Research Institute

  3 shared

• Manthram Sivasubramaniam

  General Electric (India)

  3 shared

• Z. D. Wilcox

  Armstrong Flight Research Center

  3 shared

• Warren E. Dixon

  University of Florida

  3 shared

• William MacKunis

  2 shared

• Manish Gupta

  2 shared