Integrating rotation from angular velocity

The integration of the rotation from a given angular velocity is often required in practice. The present paper explores how the choice of the parametrization of rotation, when employed in conjuction with different numerical time-integration schemes, effects the accuracy and the computational efficiency. Three rotation parametrizations - the rotational vector, the Argyris tangential vector and the rotational quaternion - are combined with three different numerical time-integration schemes, including classical explicit Runge-Kutta method and the novel midpoint rule proposed here. The key result of the study is the assessment of the integration errors of various parametrization-integration method combinations. In order to assess the errors, we choose a time-dependent function corresponding to a rotational vector, and derive the related exact time-dependent angular velocity. This is then employed in the numerical solution as the data. The resulting numerically integrated approximate rotations are compared with the analytical solution. A novel global solution error norm for discrete solutions given by a set of values at chosen time-points is employed. Several characteristic angular velocity functions, resulting in small, finite and fast oscillating rotations are studied.     

ANGULAR VELOCITY INTERPOLATION USING QUATERNION

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On Averaging Rotations

In this paper two common approaches to averaging rotations are compared to a more advanced approach based on a Riemannian metric. Very often the barycenter of the quaternions or matrices that represent the rotations are used as an estimate of the mean. These methods neglect that rotations belong to a non-linear manifold and re-normalization or orthogonalization must be applied to obtain proper rotations. These latter steps have been viewed as ad hoc corrections for the errors introduced by assuming a vector space. The article shows that the two approximative methods can be derived from natural approximations to the Riemannian metric, and that the subsequent corrections are inherent in the least squares estimation.     

On Averaging Rotations

In this paper two common approaches to averaging rotations are compared to a more advanced approach based on a Riemannian metric. Very often the barycenter of the quaternions or matrices that represent the rotations are used as an estimate of the mean. These methods neglect that rotations belong to a non-linear manifold and re-normalization or orthogonalization must be applied to obtain proper rotations. These latter steps have been viewed as ad hoc corrections for the errors introduced by assuming a vector space. The article shows that the two approximative methods can be derived from natural approximations to the Riemannian metric, and that the subsequent corrections are inherent in the least squares estimation.     

Singularity-free time integration of rotational quaternions using non-redundant ordinary differential equations

A novel ODE time stepping scheme for solving rotational kinematics in terms of unit quaternions is presented in the paper. This scheme inherently respects the unit-length condition without including it explicitly as a constraint equation, as it is common practice. In the standard algorithms, the unit-length condition is included as an additional equation leading to kinematical equations in the form of a system of differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). On the contrary, the proposed method is based on numerical integration of the kinematic relations in terms of the instantaneous rotation vector that form a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) on the Lie algebra \(\mathit{so}(3)\) of the rotation group \(\mathit{SO}(3)\). This rotation vector defines an incremental rotation (and thus the associated incremental unit quaternion), and the rotation update is determined by the exponential mapping on the quaternion group. Since the kinematic ODE on \(\mathit{so}(3)\) can be solved by using any standard (possibly higher-order) ODE integration scheme, the proposed method yields a non-redundant integration algorithm for the rotational kinematics in terms of unit quaternions, avoiding integration of DAE equations. Besides being ‘more elegant’—in the opinion of the authors—this integration procedure also exhibits numerical advantages in terms of better accuracy when longer integration steps are applied during simulation. As presented in the paper, the numerical integration of three non-linear ODEs in terms of the rotation vector as canonical coordinates achieves a higher accuracy compared to integrating the four (linear in ODE part) standard-quaternion DAE system. In summary, this paper solves the long-standing problem of the necessity of imposing the unit-length constraint equation during integration of quaternions, i.e. the need to deal with DAE’s in the context of such kinematical model, which has been a major drawback of using quaternions, and a numerical scheme is presented that also allows for longer integration steps during kinematic reconstruction of large three-dimensional rotations.     

Absolute nodal coordinate plane beam formulation for multibody systems dynamics

A new plane beam dynamic formulation for constrained multibody system dynamics is developed. Flexible multibody system dynamics includes rigid body dynamics and superimposed vibratory motions. The complexity of mechanical system dynamics originates from rotational kinematics, but the natural coordinate formulation does not use rotational coordinates, so that simple dynamic formulation is possible. These methods use only translational coordinates and simple algebraic constraints. A new formulation for plane flexible multibody systems are developed utilizing the curvature of a beam and point masses. Using absolute nodal coordinates, a constant mass matrix is obtained and the elastic force becomes a nonlinear function of the nodal coordinates. In this formulation, no infinitesimal or finite rotation assumptions are used and no assumption on the magnitude of the element rotations is made. The distributed body mass and applied forces are lumped to the point masses. Closed loop mechanical systems consisting of elastic beams can be modeled without constraints since the loop closure constraints can be substituted as beam longitudinal elasticity. A curved beam is modeled automatically. Several numerical examples are presented to show the effectiveness of this method.     

基于四元数的姿态非线性跟踪

计算机图形学中物体三维旋转通常用矩阵、欧拉角、四元数表示,用矩阵及欧拉角存在计算繁琐、旋转不均匀性及平衡环锁定等局限,四元数可以避免这些局限,并且几何意义明确,计算简单。研究用四元数表示物体的姿态,在四元数基本运算法则基础上提出并证明了“基于四元数的多个旋转运动合成规则”,然后将此规则为依据,推导出一种用来计算姿态非线性状态方程系数的方法,对非线性状态转移函数进行线性化,并且研究了测量方程函数的确定及线性化,借助扩展Kalman滤波实现了对姿态的跟踪。最后给出一滤波跟踪实例,验证此种方法是有效的。     

对偶四元数更新算法在划船运动下的优化设计

适合于计算机执行的对偶四元数更新算法是实现对偶四元数捷联惯导系统功能的关键。为此,将螺旋矢量作为工具,在给出螺旋矢量求解方法的基础上,通过分析合理选择划船运动作为测试条件,以二子样为例对基于螺旋矢量的对偶四元数更新算法进行优化设计。与传统的划船误差优化补偿算法在性能上进行分析与对比,结果表明,对偶优化算法具有一定的性能优势,它不但从结构上将旋转运动与平移运动统一表征,而且使2类运动参数的估计精度达到一致最优。     

给定Gauss曲率函数的旋转曲面的设计

旋转曲面的设计在CAD/CAM及CAGD中有重要作用.由于给定Gauss曲率函数的嵌入旋转曲面存在性问题已经得到较好的证明,故使得曲面的设计成为可能.给出了一种给定Gauss曲率函数的嵌入旋转曲面设计算法,该算法通过求解一个二阶微分方程,并适当选取初始条件,得到旋转曲面的位置矢量.最后,通过两个实例表明,该算法是可行的,为旋转曲面的工程设计与曲面造型提供了一个新方法.     

Modeling and control of flexible space stations

In this article, a preliminary formulation of large space structures and their stabilization is considered. The system consists of a (rigid) massive body and flexible configurations that consist of several beams, forming the space structure. The rigid body is located at the center of the space structure and may play the role of experimental modules. A complete dynamics of the system has been developed using Hamilton's principle. The equations that govern the motion of the complete system consist of six ordinary differential equations and several partial differential equations together with appropriate boundary conditions. The partial differential equations govern the vibration of flexible components. The ordinary differential equations describe the rotational and translational motion of the central body.The dynamics indicate very strong interaction among rigid-body translation, rigid-body rotation, and vibrations of flexible members through nonlinear couplings. Hence, any rotation of the rigid body induces vibration in the beams and vice versa. Also, any disturbance in the orbit induces vibration in the beams and wobbles in the body rotation and vice versa. This makes the system performance unsatisfactory for many practical applications. In this article, stabilization of the above-mentioned system subject to external disturbances is considered. The asymptotic stability of the perturbed system by application of velocity feedback controls is proved using Lyapunov's method.Numerical simulations are carried out in order to illustrate the impact of dynamic coupling or interaction among several members of the system and the effectiveness of the suggested feedback controls for stabilization. This study is expected to provide some insight into the complexity of modeling, analysis, and stabilization of actual space stations.     

Decomposition of a Finite Rotation into Three Rotations about Given Axes

This paper consists of two parts. The subject of Part I is the following problem.Given are the axis and the angle of a finite rotation about a fixed point.Given are, furthermore, the axes of three consecutive rotations. To be determined are the angles of the three consecutive rotations such that theirresultant rotation is the given rotation. Explicit solutions to this problemare developed. Conditions for the existence of real solutions are given. In certain cases called critical the first and the third angleare not individually determinate. Only their sum or their difference is. Conditionsspecifying critical cases are developed.In Part II of the paper the more general problem of decomposition of a finite screw displacement into three consecutive screw displacements about given screw axes is solved.The solution is achieved by applying the transference principle of Kotelnikov and Study to the solution of the rotation problem.     

C3连续的单位四元数插值样条曲线

目的 构造一类C³连续的单位四元数插值样条曲线,证明它的插值性和连续性,并把它应用于刚体关键帧动画设计中。方法 利用R³空间中插值样条曲线的5次多项式调配函数的累和形式构造了S³空间中单位四元数插值样条曲线,它不仅能精确通过一系列给定的方向,而且能生成C³连续的朝向曲线。结果 与Nielson的单位四元数均匀B样条插值曲线的迭代构造方法相比,所提方法避免了为获取四元数B样条曲线控制顶点对非线性方程组迭代求解的过程,提高了运算效率;与单位四元数代数三角混合插值样条曲线的构造方法（Su方法）相比,所提方法只用到多项式基,运算速度更快。本例中创建关键帧动画所需的时间与Nielson方法和Su方法相比平均下降了73%和33%。而且,相比前两种方法,所提方法产生的四元数曲线连续性更高,由C²连续提高到C³连续,这意味着动画中刚体的朝向变化更加自然。结论 仿真结果表明,本文方法对刚体关键帧动画设计是有效的,对实时性和流畅性要求高的动画设计场合尤为适用。     

Quaternions in molecular modeling

Quaternions are an important tool to describe the orientation of a molecule. This paper considers the use of quaternions in matching two conformations of a molecule, in interpolating rotations, in performing statistics on orientational data, in the random sampling of rotations, and in establishing grids in orientation space. These examples show that many of the rotational problems that arise in molecular modeling may be handled simply and efficiently using quaternions.     

Error analysis of pure rotation-based self-calibration

Self-calibration using pure rotation is a well-known technique and has been shown to be a reliable means for recovering intrinsic camera parameters. However, in practice, it is virtually impossible to ensure that the camera motion for this type of self-calibration is a pure rotation. In this paper, we present an error analysis of recovered intrinsic camera parameters due to the presence of translation. We derived closed-form error expressions for a single pair of images with nondegenerate motion; for multiple rotations for which there are no closed-form solutions, analysis was done through repeated experiments. Among others, we show that translation-independent solutions do exist under certain practical conditions. Our analysis can be used to help choose the least error-prone approach (if multiple approaches exist) for a given set of conditions.     

利用数字视频技术测量旋转速度的研究

基于视频的测量系统,具有非接触,安装维护简捷而且费用低等特点;本研究的目标就是利用摄像机对测量对象进行视频采集,然后提取相邻两帧图像;当运动对象进行简单的单轴旋转时,利用Hough变换(或Rando变换)技术进行直线的角度检测;计算出相邻帧的角度差,根据间隔时间,计算出角速度;当球体进行多轴旋转时,根据球体标志投影,结合三维空间刚体运动模型,利用一组特征点坐标,采用两步迭代交替估计运动参数,求得运动物体相对三维空间各个轴的角速度;并对特殊已知结构参数的运动物体给出了简化的计算方法,通过实验表明本方法测量结果满足要求.     

On the vectorial nature of the rotational degrees of freedom in spatial beam elements

In this note, it is shown that the rotational degrees of freedom at a node of a spatial finite beam element are the components of a vector regardless of their magnitudes, as long as the structure to be analysed is composed of slender beams, and what may prevent them from being considered as the components of a vector is the presence of significant transverse shear strains, which usually appear in short beams, rather than the magnitudes of the rotations.     

基于曲率的点云数据配准算法

为了实现不同视角下测得的数据的多视定位,提出一种点云数据配准算法。该算法针对近邻内的点,采用二次曲面逼近的方法来求得每个点的曲率,并根据曲率的Hausdorff距离来寻找有效点集,建立名义上的对应关系,最后用四元组法来求得坐标变换,把数据统一到一个坐标系下。该算法利用曲率的性质准确判断对应点集,解决了任意多视点云的拼合问题,试验结果验证了其有效性和精度。     

Spatial stability of shear deformable curved beams with non-symmetric thin-walled sections. II: F. E. solutions and parametric study

In the companion paper, an improved formulation for spatial stability analysis of shear deformable thin-walled curved beams with non-symmetric cross-sections is presented based on the displacement field considering both constant curvature effects and the second-order terms of semi-tangential rotations. Thus the elastic strain energy and the potential energy due to initial stress resultants are consistently derived. Also closed-form solutions for in-plane and lateral-torsional buckling of curved beams subjected to uniform compression and pure bending are newly derived for mono-symmetric thin-walled curved beams under simply supported and clamped end conditions. In this paper, F. E. procedures are developed by using curved and straight beam elements with non-symmetric cross-sections. Analytical and numerical solutions for spatial buckling of shear deformable thin-walled circular beams are presented and compared in order to illustrate the accuracy and the practical usefulness of this study. In addition, the extensive parametric studies are performed on spatial stability behavior of curved beams. Particularly transition and crossover phenomena of buckling mode shapes with change in curvature and length of beam on buckling for curved beams are investigated for the first time.     

基于四元数的航天器姿态非线性控制器

针对由四元数描述的航天器姿态控制系统进行了非线性反馈控制器设计.首先,得到一类含角速度测量的反馈控制律.该控制律不仅可以保证闭环系统是全局渐近稳定的,而且保证了2个期望的平衡位置都是稳定的.然后,利用基于四元数的滤波器取代角速度测量,得到一类无需角速度测量的反馈控制律.该控制律同样保证了闭环系统的全局渐近稳定性和2个稳定的期望平衡位置.值得注意的是,2个稳定的期望平衡位置,将促使由任意初始姿态出发的轨迹都就近收敛至任意期望平衡位置.最后,数值仿真展示了所得反馈控制律的优势.     

六组合传感器的测量算法研究

基于六组合高精度陀螺(如激光陀螺、光纤陀螺等)传感器测量载体的三向角速率和三向加速度的数据,对三向姿态角进行求解测量算法的研究。利用一种四元数法的数学间接计算方法,即利用四维空间中的四元数的性质和运算规则来研究三维空间中刚体转动的问题,在科研试飞测量中具有很好的实际应用价值。