ODIN Supervisor: A Scilab driven platform for online advanced supervision of bioprocesses

Mélaine Gautier, Inria

The ODIN supervision platform has been developed to run advanced control algorithm developed in Scilab in order to optimize and make more reliable industrial biotechnological processes. 

The advanced algorithms, can be of two types:

  • The observer processes use the available information from sensors and off line measurements and provide information to the user on the state of the process (metabolic variables, process efficiency, risk of destabilization, failure, advice for the management). 
  • The controllers compute the input to be set to the actuators in order to optimize a criterion, stabilize the system or keep the process in a predefined working mode.

These algorithms are specifically developed for non- linear dynamical systems characterized by time scales from seconds to weeks, with only partial and noisy information on their internal states. These real-time algorithms use the efficient mathematical libraries proposed by Scilab.
A norm has been developed to set up these algorithms, with a systematic description of the different steps common to any observer or controller, based on differential or recurrent equations. ODIN includes a tailored editor of the Scilab algorithms, on the basis of their specific structure.
The Scilab engine is embedded in a C++ framework guarantying robustness and rapidity, the various modules are connected via CORBA. A device layer module ODIN manages the various A/D digital boards. The data together with some computational output are saved and exported into a data base. The sensor measurements together with the observers and controllers are displayed by a GUI module where the key information are presented to the user either through a synoptic of the process or time chronicles. 
The ODIN supervision platform has been used in particular to implement the algorithms developed by the BIOCORE Inria research team on a 60m2 microalgal pilot plant coupled with a 1m3 anaerobic digester. ODIN supervises lab scale bioreactors in various laboratories from INRA, CNRS and UPMC.

Paper signed by Melaine Gautier and Olivier Bernard, Inria