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Dra. Asunción Paloma Cucala García

Current position:
Professor
Research Area:
Association date:
04/Sep/1995
Location:
SM26. D-602
Phone extension number:
+34 91 542-2800 ext. 6269
Phone number:
915406269
Researcher ID:
Google Scholar ID:
SCOPUS:
ResearchGate:
IEEE:

Biography:

Paloma Cucala obtained a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Comillas Pontifical University in 2003, and a degree in Industrial Engineering specializing in electronics from the ICAI School of Engineering. She is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Telematic Systems and Computing of the School of Engineering of ICAI, Comillas Pontifical University, and Director of IIT. Until oct-2023 she was Deputy Director of Economic Affairs of IIT. Until 2022 she was coordinator of the Railway Systems area at IIT and coordinator of the Master in Railway Systems. Paloma Cucala has extensive experience in conducting applied research projects in collaboration with industry in the analysis, design, and improvement of the operation of railway systems. Specifically in the design of automatic traffic planning and regulation, energy efficiency and optimization of transport capacity, through modeling and simulation and optimization of railway systems and data analysis.rnrn


Areas of interest:

Modelling, simulation, design, management and control of railway systems, and their optimisation


Experience:

Design of planning and automatic traffic regulation of railway systems, energy efficiency and optimisation of transport capacity, by means of modelling and simulation and optimisation of railway systems and data analysis


Skills:

Complex systems modelling, simulation and optimisation.


Current research interests:

Energy efficiency in railways, traffic planning and regulation of railway systems, ATO, ATO over ERTMS, virtual coupling


Journal Publications

show 42 journal publications

Projects

show 73 projects

Conference Papers

show 45 conference papers

Invited Conferences and Seminars

  • Chair in "Round table: The contribution of the research to the future of rail, technology, defence and industrial sectors" 40th IIT Anniversary. Global and National Energy Decarbonization Challenges. Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica. Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Nov 2024.
  • Conference "The experience in the application of AI technologies to the IIT's railway sector" Jornada Técnica «Aplicación de las Tecnologías de la IA al Ferrocarril». Foro ICAITREN; Asociación de Ingenieros del ICAI; Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Oct 2024.
  • Conference "Opening session" Jornada Homenaje al Profesor Ignacio Pérez Arriaga. 40 Aniversario del IIT. Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica. Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Jul 2024.
  • Conference "Energy efficiency in the railway network" La liberalización del sector ferroviario: hacia un nuevo mercado eficiente. Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Apr 2019.
  • Workshop "Ecodriving: first results from the European research project MyRailS" EMRailS 2019 - Electrical Measurements for Energy Management in Railway. Instituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica; CIFI; Università degli studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli. Naples (Italy). Feb 2019.
  • Seminar "Energy efficiency in railways". Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Nov 2015.
  • Seminar "Energy efficiency in railways". Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Feb 2015.
  • Seminar "Energy efficiency in railways". Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). May 2014.
  • Conference "Allowing for future speed increases through the development and introduction of new onboard technology" High-Speed Rail Design, Build and Operations 2010. Barcelona (Spain). Jun - Jul 2010.
  • Conference "Conducción económica en líneas de alta velocidad. Diseño basado en simulación" III Jornadas Estrategias de Ahorro y Eficiencia energética en el Transporte Ferroviario. Escuela Politécnica de Ingeniería de Vilanova i la Geltrú. Vilanova i la Geltru (Spain). Jun 2010.
  • Conference "Energy efficiency in high speed train operation" Iberian Rail Development 2010. Global Railway Review. Madrid (Spain). Feb 2010.
  • Seminar "Operación eficiente del tráfico ferroviario" Aula de Investigación. Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Dec 2008.
show 12 invited conferences and seminars

Organization of Scientific Meetings

  • Organization of "Technical conference "Automatic Driving on Railways. ATO over ERTMS N2"". Asociación de Ingenieros del ICAI (Foro Icaitren); Escuela de Ingeniería ICAI-Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Oct 2023.
  • Organization of "The connected railway. How will the new big data technologies, the IoT, affect to the railway? ". Asociación de Ingenieros de ICAI; y Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Jun 2019.
  • Member of Committee at "5th International Conference Advanced Rail Technologies". Railway Research Institute; y Warsaw University of Technology. Warsaw (Poland). Nov 2016.
show 3 organization of scientific meetings

External Training Courses

  • Success cases. Efficiency in Railways Operation. Planification, regulation and ecodriving, in Curso de eficiencia energética en ferrocarriles. 3ª Edición. Railgrup, Barcelona (Spain). May 2015.
  • Success cases in traction systems. Efficient automatic driving. L9, in Curso de eficiencia energética en ferrocarriles. 3ª Edición. Railgrup, Barcelona (Spain). May 2015.
show 2 external training courses

Patents

  • "Sistema de aprovechamiento de energía eléctrica regenerada por un tren o disponible en catenaria, por parte de un vehículo eléctrico, y procedimiento asociado". Owner(s): Metro de Madrid, S.A.; Universidad Pontificia Comillas; Sistemas de Computación y Automática General S.A.; y Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas. Priority country: Madrid (Spain). Dec 2016
show 1 patents

External Relevant Positions

  • Expert evaluator of the applications for Assistant Professor in Railway Signalling Systems and Traffic Control (VL-2021-0041) Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). Online. Nov 2021 - Mar 2022.
  • Member of ICAITREN Committee Asociación de Ingenieros de ICAI. Madrid (Spain). Jan 2017 - Today.
  • Evaluator of "Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica" Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Madrid (Spain). Oct 2007 - Sep 2008.
  • Member of Spanish Railway Technology Platform Fundación de los Ferrocarriles Españoles. Madrid (Spain). Jan 2006 - Today.
show 4 external relevant positions

Media and research dissemination

show 2 media and research dissemination

Fellowships and Awards

show 7 fellowships and awards

Other Activities

  • Doctoral Defense Committee of "Martínez Fernández, P. «Estudio y optimización del consumo energético del ferrocarril mediante redes neuronales y algoritmos heurísticos»". Universitat Politècnica de València. Valencia (Spain). Nov 2019.
  • Doctoral Defense Committee of "Pineda Jaramillo, J.D. «Modelo de optimización del consumo energético en trenes mediante el diseño geométrico vertical sinusoidal y su impacto en el coste de la construcción de la infraestructura»". Universitat Politècnica de València. Valencia (Spain). Sep 2017.
  • Doctoral Defense Committee of "Puente Águeda, C. «Extraction and analysis of conditional and causal sentences for information retrieval»". Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid (Spain). Sep 2010.
show 3 other activities