A survey on tracking control of unmanned underwater vehicles: Experiments-based approach

This paper aims to provide a review of the conceptual design and theoretical framework of the main control schemes proposed in the literature for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Additionally, the objective of the paper is not only to present an overview of the recent control architectures validated on UUVs but also to give detailed experimental-based comparative studies of the proposed control schemes. To this end, the main control schemes, including proportional–integral–derivative (PID) based, sliding mode control (SMC) based, adaptive based, observation-based, model predictive control (MPC) based, combined control techniques, are revisited in order to consolidate the principal efforts made in the last two decades by the automatic control community in the field. Besides implementing some key tracking control schemes from the classification mentioned above on Leonard UUV, several real-time experimental scenarios are tested, under different operating conditions, to evaluate and compare the efficiency of the selected tracking control schemes. Furthermore, we point out potential investigation gaps and future research trends at the end of this survey.     

Data-driven diagnosis of the high-pressure hydrogen leakage in fuel cell vehicles based on relevance vector machine

The hydrogen pressure inside tanks and its adjacent pipes can reach up to 70 MPa in fuel cell vehicles. This is the weak links of hydrogen leakage. The diagnosis time of mainstream hydrogen leakage diagnosis method based on hydrogen concentration sensors (HCSs) is easily affected by the number and location of installed sensors. In this study, a data-driven diagnosis method is proposed for the high-pressure hydrogen leakage. Fisher discrimination analysis and linear least squares fitting are used for data preprocessing, relevance vector machine is used for pattern recognition. When the total volume of tanks is 82 L and the hydrogen leakage flow rate is larger than 2 g/s, the diagnosis accuracy of the proposed method is higher than 95% and the diagnosis time is constant. When the leakage location is far away from HCSs, the proposed method can the diagnose hydrogen leakage in a shorter time than mainstream method.     

Shared human–robot path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle

This paper considers the shared path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle by a single person. A passive measure of human intent is used to blend the human and machine inputs in a mixed initiative approach. The blending law is combined with saturated super-twisting sliding mode speed and heading controllers, so that exogenous disturbances can be counteracted via equivalent control. It is proven that when the proposed blending law is used, the combined control signals from both the human and automatic controller respect the actuator magnitude constraints of the machine. To demonstrate the approach, shared control experiments are performed using an unmanned ground vehicle, which follows a lawn mower pattern shaped path.     

Can hydrogen be the sustainable fuel for mobility in India in the global context?

This article provides a critical assessment of H₂ from the standpoint of more widespread use as a sustainable fuel for Indian mobility applications in the global context. The potential techno-economic advantages of utilizing H₂ for automobiles rather than battery electric vehicles or conventional internal combustion engine vehicles are emphasized. The present assessment demonstrates that H₂ production, storage, and distribution costs are the primary challenges, and a significant improvement is still necessary for H₂ to compete either against the internal combustion engine vehicle or the battery electric vehicle to win the race, arguably. The secondary challenges have also been demonstrated, which include the cost of the fuel cell stack and the modifications associated with internal combustion engine vehicles, as well as regulatory and safety concerns, which impede the widespread usage of H₂. It is critical that policy-making for sustainable mobility in India is possible with the aid of a National H₂ Energy Road-Map. This in turn can achieve a cost target of $0.5/kg for H₂.     

Impact of urban development on residents’ public transportation travel energy consumption in China: An analysis of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles alternatives

Urban development has an important influence on the energy consumption of transportation. To develop public transportation is one of the important ways to decrease the energy consumption of urban transportation. It is very urgent to upgrade technology to reduce the energy consumption and emissions of the vehicles constantly. The popularization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is the trend of the future automobile industry, which can effectively reduce traffic energy consumption and alleviate urban pollution. This article analyzes the impact of urban development on public transport and private transportation energy consumption from 2013 to 2015; and uses hydrogen fuel cell vehicles alternatives in urban public transport as a scenario. It shows that urban economic development can effectively reduce public transport. Population growth will increase greatly energy consumption of public transport, while larger cities with reasonable spatial density can reduce traffic energy consumption. Moreover, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can effectively reduce the energy consumption and pollution emissions of urban transportation during operating. Based on the above conclusions, this article will eventually provide targeted recommendations for the development of Chinese cities, public transport, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.     

Compound fault-tolerant attitude control for hypersonic vehicle with reaction control systems in reentry phase

In this paper, a novel compound fault-tolerant attitude control (FTC) scheme is proposed for reentry hypersonic vehicles with aerodynamic surfaces and reaction control systems (RCS) in the presence of parameter uncertainties, external disturbances and aerodynamic surfaces faults. Aerodynamic surfaces work as the primary actuators and RCS serve as auxiliary actuators. When aerodynamic surfaces cannot provide the required attitude control torque due to low dynamic pressure or faults, RCS are activated to assist aerodynamic surfaces to generate the residual torque. A nonlinear disturbance observer-based sliding mode controller is designed to calculate the required attitude control torque which can handle the parametric uncertainties and external disturbances together. The quadratic programming method is applied to obtain the optimal aerodynamic surfaces deflections from the required control torque. An innovative fuzzy rule-based decision-making system is design to solve the RCS control allocation problem, which is conceptually easy to understand and computationally efficiently compared with existing approaches. Based on quantized control theory, the closed-loop control system stability is rigorously analyzed. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of developed FTC scheme.     

Visual detection and tracking with UAVs,following a mobile object

ABSTRACT

Conception and development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) capable of detecting, tracking and following a moving object with unknown dynamics is presented in this work, considering a human face as a case of study. Object detection is accomplished by a Haar cascade classifier. Once an object is detected, it is tracked with the help of a Kalman Filter (KF), and an estimation of the relative position with respect to the target is obtained. A linear controller is used to validate the proposed vision scheme and for regulating the aerial robot's position in order to keep a constant distance with respect to the mobile target, employing as well the extra available information from the embedded sensors. The proposed system was extensively tested in real-time experiments, through different conditions, using a commercial quadcopter connected via wireless to a ground station running under the Robot Operative System (ROS). The proposed overall strategy shows a good performance even under disadvantageous conditions as outdoor flight, being robust against illumination changes, image noise and the presence of other people in the scene.     

发动机尾气余热驱动的吸附式空调系统仿真与测试

针对在高太阳辐射地区，柴油车驾驶室内使用车载空调会增加车辆发动机的耗油量、降低柴油车经济效益的问题，搭建了一套由发动机尾气余热驱动的吸附式车载空调系统。系统由填充有氯化钙/氯化锰/硫化膨胀石墨复合吸附剂的吸附床、蒸发器、冷凝器、储液罐和阀门组成，使用氨作为制冷剂，利用车辆在行驶时接触到的自然风为吸附床冷却，在发动机尾气余热的驱动下，为驾驶室内提供连续的制冷效果。结合仿真和实验测试，对所设计系统的制冷性能进行了分析，仿真结果表明，系统最优循环时间为45 min，系统的理论平均制冷功率可达3.5 kW以上，系统COP处于0.2~0.25之间。实验结果表明，在230℃的尾气温度条件下，系统能产生3 kW的平均制冷量。在40℃环境温度条件下，系统在蒸发器进出口处的平均温差为6.5℃，平均制冷量为3.2 kW。     

A terrain risk assessment method for military surveillance applications for mobile assets

This study proposes an analytical and flexible terrain risk assessment method for military surveillance applications for mobile assets. Considering the risk as the degree of possibility of insurgent presence, the assessment method offers an efficient evaluation of risk in the surrounding terrain for military combat operating posts or observation posts. The method is designed for unmanned aerial vehicles as the surveillance assets of choice to improve the effectiveness of their use. Starting with the area map and geographical data, the target terrain is first digitized for space representation. Then the data of nine geographical parameters are used to formulate five contributing risk factors. These factors are incorporated in an analytical framework to generate a composite map with risk scores that reveal the potential high-risk spots in the terrain. The proposed method is also applied to a real-life case study of COP Kahler in Afghanistan, which was a target for insurgent attacks in 2008. The results confirm that when evaluated with the developed method, the region that the insurgents used to approach COP Kahler has high concentration of high-risk cells.     

Assessing the cost-effectiveness of electric vehicles in European countries using integrated modeling

Electric vehicles (EVs) are considered alternatives to internal combustion engines due to their energy efficiency and contribution to CO₂ mitigation. The adoption of EVs depends on consumer preferences, including cost, social status and driving habits, although it is agreed that current and expected costs play a major role. We use a partial equilibrium model that minimizes total energy system costs to assess whether EVs can be a cost-effective option for the consumers of each EU27 member state up to 2050, focusing on the impact of different vehicle investment costs and CO₂ mitigation targets. We found that for an EU-wide greenhouse gas emission reduction cap of 40% and 70% by 2050 vis-à-vis 1990 emissions, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are cost-effective in the EU only by 2030 and only if their costs are 30% lower than currently expected. At the EU level, vehicle costs and the capability to deliver both short- and long-distance mobility are the main drivers of BEV deployment. Other drivers include each state’s national mobility patterns and the cost-effectiveness of alternative mitigation options, both in the transport sector, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) or biofuels, and in other sectors, such as renewable electricity.