Environmental Perception with Spatial Regularization Correlation Filter for Visual Tracking

With the introduction of correlation filtering (CF), the performance of visual object tracking is significantly improved. Circular shifts collecting samples is a key component of the CF tracker, and it also causes negative boundary effects. Most trackers add spatial regularization to alleviate boundary effects well. However, these trackers ignore the effect of environmental changes on tracking performance, and the filter discriminates poorly in the background interference. Here, to break these limitations, we propose a new correlation filter model, namely Environmental Perception with Spatial Regularization Correlation Filter for Visual Tracking. Specifically, we use the Average Peak to Correlation Energy (APCE) and the response value error between the two frames together to perceive environmental changes, which adjusts the learning rate to make the template more adaptable to environmental changes. To enhance the discriminatory capability of the filter, we use real background information as negative samples to train the filter model. In addition, the introduction of the regular term destroys the closed solution of CF, and this problem can be effectively solved by the use of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). Extensive experimental evaluations on three large tracking benchmarks are performed, which demonstrate the good performance of the proposed method over some of the state-of-the-art trackers.     

Safe and intuitive manual guidance of a robot manipulator using adaptive admittance control towards robot agility

Key areas of robot agility include methods that increase capability and flexibility of industrial robots and facilitate robot re-tasking. Manual guidance can achieve robot agility effectively, provided that a safe and smooth interaction is guaranteed when the user exerts an external force on the end effector. We approach this by designing an adaptive admittance law that can adjust its parameters to modify the robot compliance in critical areas of the workspace, such as near and on configuration singularities, joint limits, and workspace limits, for a smooth and safe operation. Experimental validation was done with two tests: a constraint activation test and a 3D shape tracing task. In the first one, we validate the proper response to constraints and in the second one, we compare the proposed approach with different admittance parameter tuning strategies using a drawing task where the user is asked to guide the robot to trace a 3D profile with an accuracy or speed directive and evaluate performance considering path length error and execution time as metrics, and a questionnaire for user perception. Results show that appropriate response to individual and simultaneous activation of the aforementioned constraints for a safe and intuitive manual guidance interaction is achieved and that the proposed parameter tuning strategy has better performance in terms of accuracy, execution time, and subjective evaluation of users.     

基于多传感器信息融合技术在灭火机器人系统的设计

提出一种通过多传感器信息融合技术来提高灭火机器人的火焰、距离检测的准确性,设计了由超声波、红外测距模块和数据融合模块组成的测距避障子系统;由红外火焰检测模块、数据融合模块组成的火焰检测子系统,在此基础上,采用自适应加权数据融合算法分别对多传感器检测的距离和火焰信息进行融合,以提高对火源目标判断的准确度;实验结果表明,设计的智能灭火机器人传感器软硬件系统测量相对误差小,能很好的反映火灾现场信息,满足火情探测和灭火需要,具有很强的使用价值。     

Improved results on frequency‐weighted balanced truncation and error bounds

In this paper, we present some new results on frequency‐weighted balanced truncation which is a significant improvement on Lin and Chiu's frequency‐weighted balanced truncation technique. The reduced‐order models, which are guaranteed to be stable in the case of double‐sided weighting, are obtained by direct truncation. Two sets of simple, elegant and easily calculatable a priori error bounds are also derived. Numerical examples and comparison with other well‐known techniques show the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Run-time generation of partial FPGA configurations

This paper presents and evaluates a method of generating partial bitstreams at run-time for dynamic reconfiguration of sections of an FPGA. The method is intended for use in adaptive embedded systems that employ run-time reconfiguration to achieve high flexibility and performance. The proposed approach combines partial bitstreams of coarse-grained components to produce a new partial bitstream implementing a given circuit netlist. Topological sorting of the netlist is used to determine the initial positions of individual components, whose placement is then improved by simulated annealing. Connection routing is done by a breadth-first search of the reconfigurable area based on a simplified resource model of the reconfigurable fabric. The desired partial bitstream is constructed by merging together the default bitstream of the reconfigurable area, the relocated partial bitstreams of the components, and the configurations of the switch matrices used for routing. The approach is embodied in a code library that applications can use to create new bitstreams at run-time. For the members of a set of 29 benchmarks (both synthetic and application-derived) having between five and 41 components, the complete process of bitstream generation takes between 8 s and 35 s when running on an embedded PowerPC 405 microprocessor clocked at 300 MHz.     

Adaptive fuzzy dynamic surface control for a class of perturbed nonlinear time-varying delay systems with unknown dead-zone

In this paper,adaptive dynamic surface control(DSC) is developed for a class of nonlinear systems with unknown discrete and distributed time-varying delays and unknown dead-zone.Fuzzy logic systems are used to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions.Then,by combining the backstepping technique and the appropriate Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals with the dynamic surface control approach,the adaptive fuzzy tracking controller is designed.Our development is able to eliminate the problem of "explosion of complexity" inherent in the existing backstepping-based methods.The main advantages of our approach include:1) for the n-th-order nonlinear systems,only one parameter needs to be adjusted online in the controller design procedure,which reduces the computation burden greatly.Moreover,the input of the dead-zone with only one adjusted parameter is much simpler than the ones in the existing results;2) the proposed control scheme does not need to know the time delays and their upper bounds.It is proven that the proposed design method is able to guarantee that all the signals in the closed-loop system are bounded and the tracking error is smaller than a prescribed error bound,Finally,simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

On‐off iterative adaptive controller for low‐power micro‐robotic step regulation

A novel model‐free iterative adaptive controller is presented for low‐power control of piezoelectric actuators. The controller uses simple adaptation rules based on known general behavior of piezoelectric actuators to adjust on‐off switching times to drive piezoelectric actuators through a desired transient step motion. Adaptation rules are based on small numbers of measurements taken during each iteration of the actuator movement. Combined with the use of only on‐off control inputs, controller implementation can be possible at much lower overall power levels than would be needed to implement a conventional control strategy such as through pulse‐width‐modulation (PWM) with real‐time feedback. Such power savings are particularly important for the intended controller application to piezoelectric microactuators driving autonomous terrestrial micro‐robots. A method for predicting convergence of systems with nominally linear dynamics and unknown, bounded nonlinearities is described, and applied to a sample target piezoelectric actuator. The controller is tested in simulation and experimentally on a piezoelectric cantilever actuator, and shows predicted convergence to the desired response. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Direct adaptive fuzzy control with membership function tuning

In this paper, a direct self‐structured adaptive fuzzy control is introduced for the class of nonlinear systems with unknown dynamic models. Control is accomplished by an adaptive fuzzy system with a fixed number of rules and adaptive membership functions. The reference signal and state errors are used to tune the membership functions and update them instantaneously. The Lyapunov synthesis method is also used to guarantee the stability of the closed loop system. The proposed control scheme is applied to an inverted pendulum and a magnetic levitation system, and its effectiveness is shown via simulation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Adaptive synchronization of master–slave systems with mixed neutral and discrete time‐delays and nonlinear perturbations

This paper investigates the delay‐dependent adaptive synchronization problem of the master and slave structure of linear systems with both constant neutral and time‐varying discrete time‐delays and nonlinear perturbations based on the Barbalat lemma and matching conditions. An adaption law which includes the master‐slave parameters is obtained by using the Lyapunov functional method and inequality techniques to synchronize the master‐slave systems without the knowledge of upper bounds of perturbation terms. Particularly, it is shown that the synchronization speed can be controlled by adjusting the update gain of the synchronization signal. A numerical example has been given to show the effectiveness of the method. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

A comparative study between dynamic adapted PSO and VNS for the vehicle routing problem with dynamic requests

Combinatorial optimization problems are usually modeled in a static fashion. In this kind of problems, all data are known in advance, i.e. before the optimization process has started. However, in practice, many problems are dynamic, and change while the optimization is in progress. For example, in the dynamic vehicle routing problem (DVRP), new orders arrive when the working day plan is in progress. In this case, routes must be reconfigured dynamically while executing the current simulation. The DVRP is an extension of a conventional routing problem, its main interest being the connection to many real word applications (repair services, courier mail services, dial-a-ride services, etc.). In this article, a DVRP is examined, and solving methods based on particle swarm optimization and variable neighborhood search paradigms are proposed. The performance of both approaches is evaluated using a new set of benchmarks that we introduce here as well as existing benchmarks in the literature. Finally, we measure the behavior of both methods in terms of dynamic adaptation.