Simon A. Pope

MEng, PhD

Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering

Lecturer

s.a.pope@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5186

Amy Johnson Building

Full contact details

Simon A. Pope
Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering
Amy Johnson Building
Portobello Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD

Profile

Dr Simon Pope has been with the department since 2000, first as an undergraduate student on the MEng in Mechanical Systems Engineering. He then undertook a PhD in the Space Systems Group studying methods for the detection and correction of magnetic noise in measurements made by magnetic field experiments onboard spacecraft. The results of his work were featured in an article in Nature and led to Dr Pope being made a full co-investigator on the Venus Express mission. During this time he also helped identify a new type of collisionless shock never before seen and led work on identifying nonlinear structures in the induced magnetosphere of Venus, which contribute to the atmospheric evolution of the planet.

Since his PhD, Dr Pope spent a short period of time as a researcher in the BAE Systems Centre for Research in Active Control (CRAC) that was based in the department. During this work he started to develop the idea of active mechanical metamaterials (artificial materials with properties not found in nature) and uncovered some previously unknown dynamic properties of large machinery rafts that are commonly used in Naval applications.

In his role as a lecturer, he has developed his work in active mechanical (elastic) metamaterials further and broadened this to include other areas of metamaterials, including fabrication. He has also helped develop the concept of a system with integrated prognostics and controllable self healing which can be applied to potentially improve performance and reliability in a range of application domains including, aerospace, energy and manufacturing. He has also continued the work from his PhD, both in terms of magnetic noise reduction in magnetic field measurements and scientific analysis of data from spacecraft (in-particular collisionless shock waves and non-linear processes associated with atmospheric evolution). Recently he has turned his interest to developing novel manufacturing process for reconfigurable and reusable devices, which inherently targets both the manufacture of novel 21st Century products and developing sustainable manufacturing processes.

Research interests

Active, tuneable and robotic acoustic/elastic/mechanical metamaterials (materials with negative valued and tuneable density and/or elastic modulus and other novel properties).
Developing novel manufacturing processes for reconfigurable devices and sustainable practices.
Active control of sound and vibration (algorithms, control of vibration in remote structures, energy redistribution in actively controlled structures).
Integration of next and future generation active/robotic materials (which often have embedded sensing, actuation and control) into sound, vibration, fluid flow control and other applications.
Detection and removal of magnetic noise in space based scientific measurements.
Nonlinear structures in space and planetary plasmas.

Publications

Journal articles

Kengne PLF, Sun C, Pope S & Ozturk E (2021) Integration and demonstration of force controlled support in pocket milling. Procedia CIRP, 101, 158-161.
Pope SA (2020) A survey of Venus shock crossings dominated by kinematic relaxation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 125(11).
Pope SA, Gedalin M & Balikhin MA (2019) The First Direct Observational Confirmation of Kinematic Collisionless Relaxation in Very Low Mach Number Shocks near the Earth. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 124(3), 1711-1725. View this article in WRRO
Chong GS, Pope SA, Walker SN, Frahm RA, Zhang T & Futaana Y (2018) A statistical study of ionospheric boundary wave formation at Venus. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. View this article in WRRO
Dimmock AP, Alho M, Kallio E, Pope SA, Zhang TL, Kilpua E, Pulkkinen TI, Futaana Y & Coates AJ (2018) The response of the Venusian plasma environment to the passage of an ICME: hybrid simulation results and Venus Express observations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. View this article in WRRO
Giagkiozis S, Walker SN, Pope SA & Collinson G (2017) Validation of single spacecraft methods for collisionless shock velocity estimation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. View this article in WRRO
Chong GS, Pope SA, Zhang T, Collinson GA, Walker SN & Balikhin MA (2017) A study of ionopause perturbation and associated boundary wave formation at Venus. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 122(4), 4284-4298. View this article in WRRO
Gonzalez FA, Badilita A-M, Baker A, Cho Y-H, Dhot N, Fedun V, Hare C, He T, Hobbs M, Javed M , Livesey H et al (2017) Project SunbYte: solar astronomy on a budget. Astronomy and Geophysics, 58(2), 2.24-2.25. View this article in WRRO
Kuponu OS, Kadirkamanathan , Bhattacharya B & Pope SA (2016) Using feedback control to actively regulate the healing rate of a self-healing process subjected to low cycle dynamic stress. Smart Materials and Structures, 25(5). View this article in WRRO
Ubaid U, Daley S, Pope SA & Zazas I (2016) Design of Stable and Broadband Remote Vibration Controllers for Systems With Local Nonminimum Phase Dynamics. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 24(2). View this article in WRRO
Ubaid U, Daley S & Pope SA (2015) Design of remotely located and multi-loop vibration controllers using a sequential loop closing approach. Control Engineering Practice, 38, 1-10. View this article in WRRO
Pelegrinis MT, Pope SA, Zazas I & Daley S (2015) Noise suppression using local acceleration feedback control of an active absorber. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, 229(6), 495-505. View this article in WRRO
Pope SA & Laalej H (2014) A multi-layer active elastic metamaterial with tuneable and simultaneously negative mass and stiffness. Smart Materials and Structures, 23(7). View this article in WRRO
Pope SA (2013) Double negative elastic metamaterial design through electrical-mechanical circuit analogies. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 60(7), 1467-1474.
Dimmock AP, Balikhin MA, Walker SN & Pope SA (2013) Dispersion of low frequency plasma waves upstream of the quasi-perpendicular terrestrial bow shock. Annales Geophysicae, 31(8), 1387-1395. View this article in WRRO
Pope SA, Laalej H & Daley S (2012) Performance and stability analysis of active elastic metamaterials with a tunable double negative response. Smart Materials and Structures, 21(12).
Walker SN, Balikhin MA, Zhang TL, Gedalin ME, Pope SA, Dimmock AP & Fedorov AO (2011) Unusual nonlinear waves in the Venusian magnetosheath. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 116(1).
Dimmock AP, Walker SN, Zhang TL & Pope SA (2011) Spatial scales of the magnetic ramp at the Venusian bow shock. Annales Geophysicae, 29(11), 2081-2088.
Pope SA, Zhang TL, Balikhin MA, Delva M, Hvizdos L, Kudela K & Dimmock AP (2011) Exploring planetary magnetic environments using magnetically unclean spacecraft: A systems approach to VEX MAG data analysis. Annales Geophysicae, 29(4), 639-647.
Pope SA & Daley S (2010) Viscoelastic locally resonant double negative metamaterials with controllable effective density and elasticity. Physics Letters, Section A: General, Atomic and Solid State Physics, 374(41), 4250-4255.
Pope SA, Balikhin MA, Zhang TL, Fedorov AO, Gedalin M & Barabash S (2009) Giant vortices lead to ion escape from Venus and re-distribution of plasma in the ionosphere. Geophysical Research Letters, 36(7).
Zhang TL, Pope S, Balikhin M, Russell CT, Jian LK, Volwerk M, Delva M, Baumjohann W, Wang C, Cao JB , Gedalin M et al (2008) Venus Express observations of an atypically distant bow shock during the passage of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection. Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets, 113(9).
Delva M, Zhang TL, Volwerk M, Vörös Z & Pope SA (2008) Proton cyclotron waves in the solar wind at Venus. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113(E9).
Zhang TL, Delva M, Baumjohann W, Volwerk M, Russell CT, Barabash S, Balikhin M, Pope S, Glassmeier KH, Kudela K , Wang C et al (2008) Initial Venus Express magnetic field observations of the Venus bow shock location at solar minimum. Planetary and Space Science, 56(6), 785-789.
Zhang TL, Delva M, Baumjohann W, Volwerk M, Russell CT, Barabash S, Balikhin M, Pope S, Glassmeier KH, Wang C & Kudela K (2008) Initial Venus Express magnetic field observations of the magnetic barrier at solar minimum. Planetary and Space Science, 56(6), 790-795.
Balikhin MA, Zhang TL, Gedalin M, Ganushkina NY & Pope SA (2008) Venus express observes a new type of shock with pure kinematic relaxation. Geophysical Research Letters, 35(1).
Zhang TL, Delva M, Baumjohann W, Auster HU, Carr C, Russell CT, Barabash S, Balikhin M, Kudela K, Berghofer G , Biernat HK et al (2007) Little or no solar wind enters Venus' atmosphere at solar minimum. Nature, 450(7170), 654-656.
Kuponu O, Kadirkamanathan V, Bhattacharya B & Pope S () A Material System with Integrated Fault Diagnosis and Feedback Controlled Self-Healing. International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing.

Conference proceedings papers

Rossiter J, Pope S, Jones B & Hedengren JD (2019) Evaluation and demonstration of take home laboratory kit. IFAC-PapersOnLine, Vol. 52(9) (pp 56-61), 7 July 2019 - 9 July 2019. View this article in WRRO
Uchenna D, Simon P & Lang Z-Q (2017) Analysis and design of a nonlinear vibration-based energy harvester - a frequency based approach. 2017 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), 3 July 2017 - 7 July 2017.
Pope SA (2017) Effective parameter identification and controller design for active mechanical metamaterials. 24th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, ICSV 2017
Uchenna D, Simon P & Zi-Qiang L (2017) Analysis, design and optimization of a nonlinear energy harvester. 24th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, ICSV 2017
Pope SA (2015) Active Elastic metamaterials with tuneable negative effective parameters (meta-mechanical-systems). 22nd International Congress on Sound and Vibration, ICSV 2015
Pope SA, Laalej H & Kadirkamanathan V (2014) An experimental analysis of an active elastic metamaterial. IFAC Proceedings Volumes (IFAC-PapersOnline), Vol. 3(PART 1) (pp 959-965)
Daley S, Ubaid U & Pope SA (2013) Design of remotely located and multi-loop vibration controllers using a sequential loop closing approach. 20th International Congress on Sound and Vibration 2013, ICSV 2013, Vol. 1 (pp 261-268)
Pelegrinis MT, Pope SA, Zazas I & Daley S (2013) Noise suppression using local acceleration feedback control of an active absorber. 20th International Congress on Sound and Vibration 2013, ICSV 2013, Vol. 1 (pp 253-260)
Reynolds M, Daley S, Gao Y, Humphrey V & Pope SA (2012) Controller architectures for optimum performance in practical active acoustic metamaterials. Acoustics2012 Conference. Nantes, France, 23 April 2012 - 27 April 2012.
Pelegrinis MT, Pope SA & Daley S (2012) Acoustic impedance matching using Loop Shaping PID controller design. IFAC Proceedings Volumes (IFAC-PapersOnline), Vol. 2(PART 1) (pp 323-328)
Ubaid U, Daley S, Pope S & Zazas I (2012) Experimental validation of a geometric method for the design of stable and broadband vibration controllers using a propeller blade test rig. Proceedings of the 2012 UKACC International Conference on Control, CONTROL 2012 (pp 369-374)
Pope SA, Laalej H, Daley S & Reynolds M (2012) Active elastic metamaterials with applications in vibration and acoustics. 41st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering 2012, INTER-NOISE 2012, Vol. 2 (pp 1563-1574)
Pope SA, Laalej H & Daley S (2012) Active elastic metamaterials with applications in vibration and acoustics. Acoustics2012 Conference. Nantes, France, 23 April 2012 - 27 April 2012.
Ubaid U, Daley S & Pope S (2011) Design of Remotely Located Stable Vibration Controllers for Non-minimum Phase Systems. DYNAMICS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING, 2011, VOL 4 (pp 1809-1818)
Ubaid U, Daley S & Pope S (2011) Broadband design of remotely located vibration control systems: A stable solution for non-minimum phase dynamics. 40th International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering 2011, INTER-NOISE 2011, Vol. 3 (pp 2487-2492)
Pope SA, Pelegrinis M & Daley S (2011) A consideration of impedance matching issues with metamaterials. 40th International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering 2011, INTER-NOISE 2011, Vol. 3 (pp 2013-2021)
Pope SA & Daley S (2010) Viscoelastic metamaterials with controllable properties. 39th International Congress on Noise Control Engineering 2010, INTER-NOISE 2010, Vol. 6 (pp 4849-4858)
Zazas I, Daley S & Pope S (2010) Marine diesel vibration isolation using an rls based harmonic control algorithm with frequency tracking. 39th International Congress on Noise Control Engineering 2010, INTER-NOISE 2010, Vol. 6 (pp 4806-4815)
Pope SA & Daley S (2009) Re-distribution of the energy in a system under discrete frequency active vibration control. 16th International Congress on Sound and Vibration 2009, ICSV 2009, Vol. 8 (pp 4677-4684)
Kuponu OS, Kadirkamanathan V, Bhattacharya B & Pope SA () Integrated Sensing, Monitoring and Healing of Composite Systems. Advances in Science and Technology, Vol. 101 (pp 62-68) View this article in WRRO
Pope SA & Daley S () Redistribution of the energy in a vibration isolation system under the action of discrete frequency active control. Proceedings of Active 2009. Ottawa, 20 August 2009 - 22 August 2009.

Preprints

Canzini E, Noguera MA, Pope S & Tiwari A (2024) Decision Making For Multi-Robot Fixture Planning Using Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Canzini E, Noguera MA, Pope S & Tiwari A (2023) Decision Making For Multi-Robot Fixture Planning Using Multi Agent Reinforcement Learning, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Pope SA () A Survey of Venus Shock Crossings Dominated by Kinematic Relaxation.

Grants

“What happens when you cross LEGO and a Star Trek Replicator?”, EPSRC (EP/T028661/1), £237,248 (Principal Investigator), 01/08/2020 – 31/07/2023.

“Integrated Sensing, Monitoring and Healing for Complex Autonomous Systems”, British Council, £20,400 (Co-Investigator), 01/03/2012 – 28/02/2014.

“Active Metamaterials for control of sound and vibration - A practical solution to creating negative refraction", EPSRC (EP/J003816/1), £94,291 (Principal Investigator), 01/02/2012 – 31/07/2013.

“Wind Turbine Monitoring and Control”, Vestas Wind Systems, £120,000 (Co-Investigator), 03/01/2012 – 30/04/2013.

“‘Sheffield Cluster postlaunch extension”, STFC, £210,003 (Co-Investigator), 01/01/2011 - 31/12/2012.

Teaching activities

ACS133: Physical Systems

ACS6127: Real-Time Embedded System