Optimal H∞ general distance problem with degree constraint

In this paper the optimal H_∞, general distance problem, for continuous-time systems, with a prescribed degree on the solution is studied. The approach is based on designing the Hankel singular values using an imbedding idea. The problem is first imbedded into another problem with desirable characteristics on the Hankel singular values, then the solution to the original problem is retracted via a compression. The result is applicable to both the one-block and the four-block problems. A special case is given for illustration.     

Surface analysis and adsorption behavior of caffeine as an environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor at the copper/aqueous chloride solution interface

Abstract

Corrosion inhibitors based on environmentally friendly and harmless products are currently being studied and developed. The corrosion inhibition properties of caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) on copper corrosion in aqueous chloride solution (3.5?wt.% NaCl) are analysed here using stationary and transient electrochemical methods, and a theoretical study based on density functional theory is carried out. Caffeine is a very competitive compared to the chemical inhibitors that are often used for copper protection. Electrochemical and impedance experiments reveal that the protective efficiency of caffeine reaches a value of 96% at a concentration of 10^?2?mol L^?1. Based on these results, the Langmuir model appears to be the best representation of the adsorption of caffeine onto the copper surface. Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to determine the surface morphology and the chemical composition of the copper surface in chloride media, in the absence and presence of caffeine. The results show the development of a mechanism of corrosion inhibition. In order to confirm the correlation between the inhibitory effect and the molecular structure of caffeine, quantum chemical parameters are used to calculate its electronic properties.     

Stabilization of Fractional‐Order Linear Systems with State and Input Delay

This paper describes a variable structure control for fractional‐order systems with delay in both the input and state variables. The proposed method includes a fractional‐order state predictor to eliminate the input delay. The resulting state‐delay system is controlled through a sliding mode approach where the controller uses a sliding surface defined by fractional order integral. Then, the proposed control law ensures that the state trajectories reach the sliding surface in finite time. Based on recent results of Lyapunov stability theory for fractional‐order systems, the stability of the closed loop is studied. Finally, an illustrative example is given to show the interest of the proposed approach.     

An efficient hybrid multicast transport protocol for collaborative virtual environment with networked haptic

In recent years, we have witnessed a growing interest in the synchronous collaboration based class of applications. Several techniques for collaborative virtual environments (CVE), haptic, audio and visual environments (C-HAVE) have been designed. However, several challenging issues remain to be resolved before CVE and C-HAVE become a common place. In this paper, we focus on applications that are based on closely coupled and highly synchronized haptic tasks that require a high-level of coordination among the participants. Four main protocols have been designed to resolve the synchronization issues in such environments: the synchronous collaboration transport protocol, the selective reliable transmission protocol, the reliable multicast transport protocol and the scalable reliable multicast. While these four protocols have shown good performance for CVE and C-HAVE class of applications, none of these protocols has been able to meet all of the basic CVE requirements, i.e., scalability, reliability, synchronization, and minimum delay. In this paper, we present a hybrid protocol that is able to satisfy all of the CVE and C-HAVE requirements and discuss its implementation and results in two tele-surgery applications. This work is partially supported by Grants from Canada Research Chair Program, NSERC, OIT/Ontario Distinguished Researcher Award, Early Research Award and ORNEC Research Grant.     

A Navigation Aid for Blind People

This paper presents a navigation aid for the blind based on a microcontroller with synthetic speech output. The system consists of two vibrators, two ultrasonic sensors mounted on the user??s shoulders and another one integrated into the cane. It is able to give information to the blind about urban walking routes and to provide real-time information on the distance of over-hanging obstacles within 6 m along the travel path ahead of the user. The suggested system can then sense the surrounding environment via sonar sensors and sending vibro-tactile feedback to the user of the position of the closest obstacles in range. For the ultrasonic cane, it is used to detect any obstacle on the ground. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed system for blind navigation.     

Rotary flexible joint control by fractional order controllers

In this paper, a fractional order control law is proposed and implemented for the evaluation of trajectory tracking performance of a rotary flexible-joint system. A state feedback based fractional integral control scheme is used in this proposed method. In this scheme, state feedback is responsible for stabilizing the system. The compensator, in series with the fractional integrator leads to obtain a similar closed-loop transient response like Bode’s ideal transfer function. The effectiveness of the proposed controller in tracking and being robust against parameter uncertainties is demonstrated through simulation. In addition, to show the usefulness of the proposed control scheme, the fractional controller is compared to an integer state feedback control by simulation and through experimentation on the Quanser’s rotary flexible-joint system.     

Multilayer perceptron-based DFE with lattice structure

The severely distorting channels limit the use of linear equalizers and the use of the nonlinear equalizers then becomes justifiable. Neural-network-based equalizers, especially the multilayer perceptron (MLP)-based equalizers, are computationally efficient alternative to currently used nonlinear filter realizations, e.g., the Volterra type. The drawback of the MLP-based equalizers is, however, their slow rate of convergence, which limit their use in practical systems. In this work, the effect of whitening the input data in a multilayer perceptron-based decision feedback equalizer (DFE) is evaluated. It is shown from computer simulations that whitening the received data employing adaptive lattice channel equalization algorithms improves the convergence rate and bit error rate performances of multilayer perceptron-based DFE. The adaptive lattice algorithm is a modification to the one developed by Ling and Proakis (1985). The consistency in performance is observed in both time-invariant and time-varying channels. Finally, it is found in this work that, for time-invariant channels, the MLP DFE outperforms the least mean squares (LMS)-based DFE. However, for time-varying channels comparable performance is obtained for the two configurations.     

Ontologies for Specifying and Reconciling Contexts of Web Services

This paper presents an ontology-based approach for the specification (using as a definition language) and reconciliation (using as a mediation tool) of contexts of Web services. Web services are independent components that can be triggered and composed for the satisfaction of user needs (e.g., hotel booking). Because Web services originate from different providers, their composition faces the obstacle of the context heterogeneity featuring these Web services. An unawareness of this context heterogeneity during Web services composition and execution results in a lack of the quality and relevancy of information that permits tracking the composition, monitoring the execution, and handling exceptions.     

On business process monitoring using cross-flow coordination

This paper presents an approach for monitoring the execution progress of business processes. The monitoring focuses on the exceptions that could arise during this execution and, hence, could make the processes fail if not handled properly and timely. The approach relies on three flows known as control, communication, and navigation. The control flow connects tasks together with respect to a certain business logic. The communication flow captures the messages exchanged between persons/machines when they perform tasks of processes. Finally, the navigation flow captures the interactions between specialized networks that offer solutions to exceptions. These networks are built upon relations between tasks, between persons, and between machines. The coordination of control, communication, and navigation flows focuses on both the actions that are taken and the messages that are exchanged when handling exceptions. A system demonstrating flow development and coordination is, also, presented in the paper.