Interview of Prof. Ould-Abdeslam, Coordinator of Project ASIMUTE

Published on February 10, 2025

Project ASIMUTE is a European multidisciplinary research project that gathers women and men from various walks of life. Their experiences may be different but the people involved in the project are committed to the advancement of science. Let’s learn about their personal paths and motivations through a series of portraits.

For this first installment, Project ASIMUTE coordinator, Pr. Ould-Abdeslam, accepted to answer our questions.

Djaffar Ould-Abdeslam

Université de Haute-Alsace

Question 1: What is your personal path ? What has led you to have a scientific career ?

Project coordinator: During my engineering studies in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria, I had a research training in a laboratory. This experience inspired me to start studying automation, electronics and control systems. After my training, I started a Master degree in artificial intelligence and computer-aided manufacturing, which initiated me to artificial neural networks. Then, I started a thesis, supervised by Jean Mercklé in Mulhouse, which focused on artificial intelligence applied to electric systems. But back in those days, we were « out of the frame » because only a handful of people within the automation community worked on these topics. We had to work twice as hard to prove our results were significant.

Question 2: Why did you choose this area of research ?

Project coordinator: My interest in artificial intelligence became obvious during my thesis because I wanted to find actual solutions that would have real-world impacts on sustainable development, energy consumption and the development of alternative means of production so as to effectively decrease global carbon footprint. I personally believe that this area of research is related to humankind, the improvement of our society, a citizen’s daily life. Each solution put forward can have immediate outcomes. And as this research area is in its early stages, everything remains to be built.

Question 3: How is your area of research related to the project ?

Project coordinator: Luckily, my areas of research (artificial intelligence and energy) are at the heart of Project ASIMUTE. As the project coordinator, I had the opportunity to start building from these areas then find complementary partners in the Upper Rhine region eager to work on a project focused on sustainability.

Question 4: What was the initial question you asked yourself at the beginning of the project ?

Project coordinator: My anwser will be twofold. First, as Project leader, I wondered how to enhance interdisciplinary work. As you know, ASIMUTE encompasses various areas of research, such as sociology, law, technology or cybersecurity. My wish was for all areas of research to complement one another while, at the same time, stressing how essential each of them was to the project.

And, as a researcher, I questioned the practicability of the project. By definition, research implies an unknown but I wanted our results to have fast, real-world impacts on the Upper Rhine companies, public authorities and colleges.

By definition, research implies an unknown but I wanted our results to have fast, real-world impacts

Question 5: Have you answered this question so far?

Project coordinator: After the completion of the previous project (Project Smart Meter Inclusif, which gave us the opportunity to develop a smart meter device that helps households optimize energy consumption), we collected consumption data from devices that we had set up in experimental buildings. Thanks to these, we gathered our own data, that will increase in the future.

On a sociological level, we have gathered a load of data thanks to our current societal studies (WP3 and WP4). We actually have collected the answers of a citizen sample to a sociology survey. This gives us an idea of what could impede the use of a smart meter device within a household. These data are of the utmost importance because they give us the opportunity to either balance or change the use of our device.

On a technological level, Work package 10 has been developing a solution that aims at optimizing an electric vehicle battery’s self-consumption. This solution successfully passed the reviewing process of Journal of Energy Storage, a reknown qualitative scientific review. The article, submitted by Hadi Mawassi, Gilles Hermann, Lhassane Idoumghar and I, can be found on the Internet (link).

Question 6: What can you share with us about your current findings without revealing too much?

Project coordinator: There currently is no real recycling solution for electric vehicle batteries beyond their initial intent. But a group of scientists at the IRIMAS Institute has worked on tackling this issue because we believe that they can have a second life. First, we have to find a way to balance a battery’s inner cells thanks to artificial intelligence. In the aforementioned article, our novel approach demonstrates that a battery’s state of health, i.e. its aging process, is directly correlated to its state of charge. In other words : the older the state of health, the less precise the assessment of the state of charge. To extend a battery’s lifespan, the correlation between both states is necessary.

Question 7: When and why did you start working on environment-related projects ?

Project coordinator: This takes us back to the 2000s, during my thesis years. I worked on energy quality, more specifically on current harmonics, to figure out how a neural network would respond to outside « pollutions ». My findings proved that these « pollutions » accelerated an equipment’s aging. I thus decided to enhance my knowledge by developing solutions aimed at both reducing those pollutions and optimizing energy efficiency.

And, on a personal level, I love hiking and being awed by natural landscapes. I know I am really lucky to be able to see and enjoy such beautiful places. It is this natural balance that I want to preserve for future generations. This can be achieved only with the development of affordable innovative solutions. Otherwise, the effects of climate change will accelerate, intensifying droughts, starvation and forced migrations.

Question 8: Why is energy optimization important on a European scale ?

Project coordinator: First of all, Europe does not have much oil or fossil fuel ressources. We have to spare our reserves because exploiting them would aggravate global warming. As for renewable energies, such as solar panels or wind turbines, their use heavily relies on weather conditions. To solve that issue and align the moments of energy production with those of energy use, Europe must learn how to manage its energy efficiently. And this is exactly the goal of Project ASIMUTE : optimizing the use of European energy. It is necessary if we want to create a sustainable energy reserve and avoid potential supplying issues.

Question 9: Are you excited about other projects, be they yours or somebody else’s ?

Project coordinator: I can think of many but, unfortunately, I can pick just a few of them. There is CO2Inno, coordinated by Freiburg University, that works on a real lab named « Région d’innovation neutre en CO2 Rhin supérieur ». There is Project Energetic, developed by Strasbourg’s INSA , that ponders on how to optimize the use of electric batteries. There is INES, which has developed many projects focusing on the optimization of solar panels and their use. And, finally, there is Project SuMo-Rhine (Sustainable Mobility Rhine), supervised by Interreg, that intends to develop sustainable mobility in the Upper Rhine region. For me, these projects are analogous to ASIMUTE as they offer solutions that will have an impact on our society and the environment.

Question 10: How did the idea for this project come to mind ?

Project coordinator: At the end of Project SMI, the involved partners wanted to keep our dynamic collaboration alive with a brand new project. We had already created a link between smart devices and their use in civil society. And, we were keen on extending our knowledge of self-consumption. We considered several approaches, wondering what areas of research could relate to self-consumption. And, after sharpening our focus, we decided to work on self-consumption and energy optimization via a smart device.

Question 11: How did you find your academic partners?

Project coordinator: We were a small network of partners that had previously worked on Project SMI. Some partners still belong to the current group and some others had to leave as they had other academic commitments. As research requires much time and investment, they could not work on too many projects at the same time. So, from this new nucleus, we identified our needs and contacted partners that could satisfy them. It was an open process and any suggestion was welcome. Interreg was aware of that and suggested a new partner that perfectly aligned with our research. And, we definitely have no regret..

Question 12: The European Commission aside, was it difficult to attract additional investments for this project?

Project coordinator: A large majority of Project ASIMUTE is funded by the European Union, through the Interreg program, and also by the Swiss confederation and 4 of its cantons (Basel-City, Basel-Countryside, Jura and Aargau). Moreover, from the onset of the project, the academic partners committed to funding a part of the project and to offering their platforms and labs for free. This is an investment even though it isn’t a financial one. And I think it is important to highlight it.

Another source of investment, which is not direct, comes from our associate partners. There is no funding involved but they may get involved in various ways. For instance, they can open the doors to one of their facilities, provide counsel or their input.

As you can guess, the project members enjoy having these various investment sources.