A Setup for Active Fault Diagnosis

A setup for active fault diagnosis (AFD) of parametric faults in dynamic systems is formulated in this note. It is shown that it is possible to use the same setup for both open loop systems, closed-loop systems based on a nominal feedback controller as well as for closed-loop systems based on a reconfigured feedback controller. This will make the proposed AFD approach very useful in connection with fault tolerant control (FTC). The setup will make it possible to let the fault diagnosis part of the fault tolerant controller remain unchanged after a change in the feedback controller. The setup for AFD is based on the Youla–Jabr–Bongiorno–Kucera (YJBK) parameterization of all stabilizing feedback controllers and the dual YJBK parameterization. It is shown that the AFD is based directly on the dual YJBK transfer function matrix. This matrix will be named the fault signature matrix when it is used in connection with AFD.     

A genetic algorithm-based scheduler for multiproduct parallel machine sheet metal job shop

This paper presents a genetic algorithm-based job-shop scheduler for a flexible multi-product, parallel machine sheet metal job shop. Most of the existing research has focused only on permutation job shops in which the manufacturing sequence and routings are strictly in a predefined order. This effectively meant that only the jobs shops with little or no flexibility could be modeled using these models. The real life job shops may have flexibility of routing and sequencing. Our paper proposes one such model where variable sequences and multiple routings are possible. Another limitation of the existing literature was found to be negligence of the setup times. In many job shops like sheet metal shops, setup time may be a very sizable portion of the total make-span of the jobs, hence setup times will be considered in this work. One more flexibility type arises as a direct consequence of the routing flexibility. When there are multiple machines (parallel machines) to perform the same operation, the job could be routed to one or more of these machines to reduce the make-span. This is possible in situations where each job consists of a pre-defined quantity of a specified product. In other words, same job is quantity-wise split into two or more parts whenever it reduces the makespan. This effectively assumes that the setup cost is negligible. This model has been implemented on a real-life industry problem using VB.Net programming language. The results from the scheduler are found to be better than those obtained by simple sequencing rules.     

Rescheduling of parallel machines with stochastic processing and setup times

This paper tackles rescheduling for the unrelated parallel machine problem with sequence dependent setup times and different rates of breakdowns or urgent jobs arrivals. The jobs’ processing and setup times are stochastic for better depiction of the real world. A new repair rule which will be referred to as Minimum Weighted C_max Difference (MWCD) is developed and compared to existing algorithms using simulation.     

A Proposed Precision Network Measurements Architecture for the Philippine Research, Education, and Government Information Network (PREGINET)

The paper proposes a network measurements architecture for the Philippine research, education, and government information network (PREGINET). The proposed architecture is an NTP-based hybrid network measurements system, which offers precise measurements, easily managed, and less bandwidth-consuming system. An NTP via GPS setup is included in the architecture to provide precise time synchronization all over the network. This setup provides a precise time reference for both the source of the measurements data and the collecting or processing machines.The current network measurements implementations in PREGINET, as presented in the latter part of the paper, will provide a hint on what tools have to be developed in order to implement the proposed architecture.     

A comparison of setup strategies for printed circuit board assembly

This paper develops and tests a set of strategies for operating a single printed-circuit-board assembly machine. In particular, the paper addresses decisions associated with feeder changeover, placement sequencing, and board sequencing. Solution procedures are developed and implemented for a variety of setup management strategies, including group and partial setup. These procedures are tested on a range of problems to determine their relative performance under different production environments. The procedure for group setup is shown to be applicable when component commonality is high and changeovers are time consuming. Partial setup strategies, which focus on minimizing the total production time, are shown to adapt to changing production conditions and therefore outperform the other setup strategies.     

Capacitated lot-sizing and scheduling with sequence-dependent,period-overlapping and non-triangular setups

In production planning, sequence dependent setup times and costs are often incurred for switchovers from one product to another. When setup times and costs do not respect the triangular inequality, a situation may occur where the optimal solution includes more than one batch of the same product in a single period—in other words, at least one sub tour exists in the production sequence of that period. By allowing setup crossovers, flexibility is increased and better solutions can be found. In tight capacity conditions, or whenever setup times are significant, setup crossovers are needed to assure feasibility. We present the first linear mixed-integer programming extension for the capacitated lot-sizing and scheduling problem incorporating all the necessary features of sequence sub tours and setup crossovers. This formulation is more efficient than other well known lot-sizing and scheduling models.     

Scheduling of an unreliable manufacturing system with nonresumable setups

This paper considers the scheduling of a manufacturing system with nonresumable setup changes. The system considered involves an unreliable machine that can produce two part types. The switchover from one part type to the other incurs a given constant setup time. The setups are nonresumable, i.e. after a machine repair completion, a setup decision has to be made. The parts have specified constant processing time and constant demand rate. We give a continuous dynamic programming formulation of the problem, which is solved numerically. The optimal setup switching policies are shown to be hedging corridors. Two heuristics, for the determination of the hedging levels, are provided. We show, through simulation, that the two heuristics exhibit good performance.     

Pursuit formations of unicycles

In this paper, the stability of equilibrium formations for multiple unicycle systems in cyclic pursuit is studied in detail. The cyclic pursuit setup is particularly simple in that each unicycle i pursues only one other unicycle, unicycle i+1 (modulo n), where n is the number of unicycles. This research is principally motivated by the historical development of pursuit problems found in the mathematics and science literature, which dates as far back as 1732 and yet continues to be of current interest. On the other hand, it is anticipated that the analytical techniques and solutions pertaining to these problems will prove relevant to the study of multiagent systems and in cooperative control engineering.     

Optimizing memory allocation for multistage scheduling including setup times

Mapping linear workflow applications onto a set of homogeneous processors can be optimally solved in polynomial time for the throughput objective with fewer processors than stages. This result holds true even when setup times occur in the execution and homogeneous buffers are available for the storage of intermediate results. In this kind of application, several computation stages are interconnected as a linear application graph, and each stage holds a buffer of limited size where intermediate results are stored and a processor setup time occurs when passing from one stage to another. In this paper, we tackle the problem in which the buffer sizes are not given beforehand and must be fixed before the execution to maximize the throughput within each processor. The goal of this work is to minimize the cost induced by the setup times by allocating buffers that are proportinal in size to each other. We present a closed formula to compute the optimal buffer allocation in the case of nondecreasing setup costs in the linear application. For the case of unsorted setup times, we provide competitive heuristics that are validated via extensive simulation. Three nonscalable brute force algorithms are also provided to compare heuristic approaches to optimal ones for small applications and to evaluate the relevance of our approach.     

Auto-Calibrated Gaze Estimation Using Human Gaze Patterns

We present a novel method to auto-calibrate gaze estimators based on gaze patterns obtained from other viewers. Our method is based on the observation that the gaze patterns of humans are indicative of where a new viewer will look at. When a new viewer is looking at a stimulus, we first estimate a topology of gaze points (initial gaze points). Next, these points are transformed so that they match the gaze patterns of other humans to find the correct gaze points. In a flexible uncalibrated setup with a web camera and no chin rest, the proposed method is tested on ten subjects and ten images. The method estimates the gaze points after looking at a stimulus for a few seconds with an average error below \(4.5^{\circ }\). Although the reported performance is lower than what could be achieved with dedicated hardware or calibrated setup, the proposed method still provides sufficient accuracy to trace the viewer attention. This is promising considering the fact that auto-calibration is done in a flexible setup , without the use of a chin rest, and based only on a few seconds of gaze initialization data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to use human gaze patterns in order to auto-calibrate gaze estimators.     

Illumination setup planning for a hand-eye system based on an environmental model

In hand-eye systems for advanced robotic applications such as assembly, the degrees of freedom of the vision sensor should be increased and actively made use of to cope with unstable scene conditions. Particularly, in the case of using a simple vision sensor, an intelligent adaptation of the sensor is essential to compensate for its inability to adapt to a changing environment. This paper proposes a vision sensor setup planning system which operates based on environmental models and generates plans for using the sensor and its illumination assuming freedom of positioning for both. A typical vision task in which the edges of an object are measured to determine its position and orientation is assumed for the sensor setup planning. In this context, the system is able to generate plans for the camera and illumination position, and to select a set of edges best suited for determining the object's position. The system operates for stationary or moving objects by evaluating scene conditions such as edge length, contrast, and relative angles based on a model of the object and the task environment. Automatic vision sensor setup planning functions, as shown in this paper, will play an important role not only for autonomous robotic systems, but also for teleoperation systems in assisting advanced tasks.     

A hybrid flowshop scheduling model considering dedicated machines and lot-splitting for the solar cell industry

This paper studies a solar cell industry scheduling problem, which is similar to traditional hybrid flowshop scheduling (HFS). In a typical HFS problem, the allocation of machine resources for each order should be scheduled in advance. However, the challenge in solar cell manufacturing is the number of machines that can be adjusted dynamically to complete the job. An optimal production scheduling model is developed to explore these issues, considering the practical characteristics, such as hybrid flowshop, parallel machine system, dedicated machines, sequence independent job setup times and sequence dependent job setup times. The objective of this model is to minimise the makespan and to decide the processing sequence of the orders/lots in each stage, lot-splitting decisions for the orders and the number of machines used to satisfy the demands in each stage. From the experimental results, lot-splitting has significant effect on shortening the makespan, and the improvement effect is influenced by the processing time and the setup time of orders. Therefore, the threshold point to improve the makespan can be identified. In addition, the model also indicates that more lot-splitting approaches, that is, the flexibility of allocating orders/lots to machines is larger, will result in a better scheduling performance.     

Production setup-sequencing and lot-sizing at an animal nutrition plant through <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">atsp</Emphasis> subtour elimination and patching

This paper considers the usefulness of a production lot sizing and scheduling model at an animal nutrition plant with sequence-dependent setup times. The model covers multiple periods and is based on the asymmetric travelling salesman problem (atsp). It is applied initially to the case where the setup state is zeroed between periods, and then revised to model the carryover of the setup state from one period to the next. An iterative solution procedure based on subtour elimination is applied, and then enhanced by the inclusion of a subtour patching procedure. Case-based tests with actual plant data show that the subtour elimination is practicably fast where the setup state is zeroed between periods, but needs the patching procedure when the setup state is preserved, as is the situation at the plant. In this latter case, the subtour elimination and patching can be very fast, showing the method’s viability for operational lot sizing and sequencing in animal nutrition plants of the kind studied. Tests on perturbed plant data show that further algorithmic development is needed to tackle certain challenging variants found in other plants.     

A MAX-MIN ant system for unconstrained multi-level lot-sizing problems

In this paper, we present an ant-based algorithm for solving unconstrained multi-level lot-sizing problems called ant system for multi-level lot-sizing algorithm (ASMLLS). We apply a hybrid approach where we use ant colony optimization in order to find a good lot-sizing sequence, i.e. a sequence of the different items in the product structure in which we apply a modified Wagner–Whitin algorithm for each item separately. Based on the setup costs each ant generates a sequence of items. Afterwards a simple single-stage lot-sizing rule is applied with modified setup costs. This modification of the setup costs depends on the position of the item in the lot-sizing sequence, on the items which have been lot-sized before, and on two further parameters, which are tried to be improved by a systematic search. For small-sized problems ASMLLS is among the best algorithms, but for most medium- and large-sized problems it outperforms all other approaches regarding solution quality as well as computational time.     

Future Internet research and experimentation: The G-Lab approach

The German Lab (G-Lab) project aims to investigate architectural concepts and technologies for a new inter-networking architecture as an integrated approach between theoretic and experimental studies. Thus G-Lab consists of two major fields of activities: research studies of future network components and the design and setup of experimental facilities. Both are controlled by the same community to ensure that the experimental facility meets the demands of the researchers. Researchers gain access to virtualized resources or may gain exclusive access to resources if necessary. We present the current setup of the experimental facility, describing the available hardware, management of the platform, the utilization of the PlanetLab software and the user management. Moreover, a new approach to setup and deploy virtual network topologies will be described.     

A proposed approach for setup time reduction through integrating conventional SMED method with multiple criteria decision-making techniques

Short setup time is an essential element for the effective implementation of many lean pillars, i.e., JIT, and Kanban. Most of the current setup reduction methodologies are based on Shingo’s Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) that suggests the conversion of internal setup operations to external operations. However, the conventional SMED approach – as proposed by Shingo – does not possess a systematic approach to accomplish this conversion. Thus, a new approach is proposed in order to aid the process engineers in implementing SMED. The proposed approach is based on the conventional SMED, but also it incorporates Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Techniques (MCDM) to the third implementation phase. The MCDM techniques used in this work are Analytical Hierarchal Process (AHP), Preference Selection Index (PSI) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The proposed approach provides a systematic procedure for selecting the best setup technique among the available alternatives, and takes also into consideration other factors that affect the decision-making process; including: cost, energy, facility layout, safety, life, quality and maintenance. A real example of PVC industry is used to exemplify the approach. The results demonstrate the capability of the proposed approach in setup time reduction, which in turn will improve machines’ utilization, and increase the productivity and flexibility of the whole facility.     

传感器网络定向扩散机制中梯度生成算法的研究

如何生成优化的梯度是传感器网络定向扩散中的一个关键问题,本文在分析一种基本梯度生成算法的问题基础之上,利用兴趣包的转发次数对其进行改进,设计了一种分布式的最短路径梯度生成算法.该算法极大的降低了邻居节点间建立"平行梯度"和"逆向梯度"的概率,可构建从源节点到sink节点的多条最短路径.仿真表明,改进的算法可建立更为有效的梯度,从而使得定向扩散中数据报文沿着更短的路径传输,无线传感器网络的能量利用率更高.     

STATISTICAL LINGUISTIC LAWS IN ECOLOGICAL MODELS

This paper gives the theoretical setup so that an ecological model, as a particular mathematical model, can be considered a text written in a formal language (mathematics), and therefore, statistical linguistic laws can be applied to obtain information parameters in different semantic levels of the same model. The statistical laws will be useful to: a) compare semantic levels, submodels, and different models mutually; b) prove that information temperature parameter is an indirect measure of meaning: the significance or semantic component of information, opposed to significant, or comprehension, on the part of the observer (modeller) of the model text. We will apply these ideas in two practical examples.     

Choosing electronic supermarket customers

Electronic commerce setup costs can be expensive to the service provider. For this reason it is desirable that those who undergo the electronic commerce registration process do actually use the service. This current paper explores the notion of the use of a 'weighted application blank' (WAB) to identify individuals who will, or will not, use the electronic commerce service. Participants consisted of 174 individuals registered with an electronic supermarket. Participants completed a short attitudinal questionnaire assessing their attitudes to the electronic supermarket system. Use of the system was then monitored for six consecutive months. From the sample, 73 individuals never used the service in the six months after completion of the questionnaire and 40 used the service for at least five months. A linear discriminant analysis was then conducted to ascertain if a measure could be developed to discriminate between these two groups. The analysis identified that the two groups could be discriminated between, such that a 76.99% correct classification could be made based upon two questions. Next, the function derived from the non-shopper and consistent shopper groups was applied to the full 174 individuals, where the probability level of becoming a consistent shopper was calculated for each individual. False acceptance and false rejection rates were then calculated for each group after manipulating the cut-off source to illustrate how such a system could be used in the operational environment. Collectively, the results suggest that the WAB may be a useful tool in the selection of electronic commerce customers when the service provider incurs some setup costs.     

Multi-criteria selection of an Air Quality Model configuration based on quantitative and linguistic evaluations

This study presents the application of multi-criteria evaluation in the selection of an optimal configuration for an Air Quality Model. The simulation domains focus on the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. A set of 10 different configurations were considered as alternatives. These configurations included convective parameterization, 6th order diffusion and exclusion of data assimilation within the Planetary Boundary Layer. In addition, model integration in a continuous setup and in a segmented setup was also considered. The modeling variables were surface temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and sulfur dioxide. The performance of the meteorological fields was evaluated with statistical metrics together with the Local Trend Association measure and further used as criteria. The air pollution field was evaluated qualitatively with five expert-based linguistic criteria and further converted into numerical terms. Meteorological variables and sulfur dioxide were aggregated into two single arrays, one for representing meteorology and the other for representing transport of a large industrial plume. Pareto Fronts were constructed for these two arrays under different weights scenarios. Results suggested that a model with no parameterizations in continuous integration setup and a model with segmented integrations using 6th order diffusion were the optimal configurations to conduct future air quality studies.