Detection and localization of illegal electricity usage in power distribution line

Detection and localization of illegal electricity usage are important issue for power distribution companies. In order to detect illegal electricity usage, network current-based methods using smart meters were mostly used in previous researches. The main disadvantages of those methods are that they are unable to detect the exact location of illegal electricity usage. In addition, all users must be disconnected from the power system to detect the exact location. In this research, an inspection robot proposed for detecting and localizing of illegal electricity usage. The inspection robot can define location of illegal electricity usage on the air transmission line without disconnecting the end user’s electric connection. In addition, this method can indicate fault location of transmission line. This paper presents a novel mobile sensing-based localization method for illegal electricity usage by using an inspection robot, and it is verified through simulation and experiment results.     

霍夫空间中多足球机器人协作目标定位算法

针对嵌入式仿人足球机器人提出一种霍夫空间中的多机器人协作目标定位算法。机器人利用实验场地中的标志物采用基于三角几何定位方法进行自定位,把机器人多连杆模型进行简化,通过坐标系位姿变换把图像坐标系转换到世界坐标系中,实现机器人目标定位;在多机器人之间建立ZigBee无线传感器网络进行通信,把多个机器人定位的坐标点进行霍夫变换,在霍夫空间中进行最小二乘法线性拟合,获取最优参数,然后融合改进后的粒子滤波实现对目标小球的跟踪;最后在21自由度的仿人足球机器人上进行仿真和实验。数据结果表明,这种多机器人协作的定位算法的精度提高了约48%,在满足实时性的前提下,对目标的跟踪效果也得到了改善。     

Evolutionary computing based mobile robot localization

Evolutionary computing techniques, including genetic algorithms (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and ants system (AS) are applied to the localization problem of a mobile robot. Salient features of robot localization are that the system is partially dynamic and information for fitness evaluation is incomplete and corrupted by noise. In this research, variations to the above three evolutionary computing techniques are proposed to tackle the specific dynamic and noisy system. Their performances are compared based on simulation and experiment results and the feasibility of the proposed approach to mobile robot localization is demonstrated.     

Algorithms for acoustic localization based on microphone array in service robotics

This paper deals with the development of acoustic source localization algorithms for service robots working in real conditions. One of the main utilizations of these algorithms in a mobile robot is that the robot can localize a human operator and eventually interact with him/herself by means of verbal commands. The location of a speaking operator is detected with a microphone array based algorithm; localization information is passed to a navigation module which sets up a navigation mission using knowledge of the environment map. In fact, the system we have developed aims at integrating acoustic, odometric and collision sensors with the mobile robot control architecture. Good performance with real acoustic data have been obtained using neural network approach with spectral subtraction and a noise robust voice activity detector. The experiments show that the average absolute localization error is about 40 cm at 0 dB and about 10 cm at 10 dB of SNR for the named localization. Experimental results describing mobile robot performance in a talker following task are reported.     

Low-level grounding in a multimodal mobile service robot conversational system using graphical models

The main task of a service robot with a voice-enabled communication interface is to engage a user in dialogue providing an access to the services it is designed for. In managing such interaction, inferring the user goal (intention) from the request for a service at each dialogue turn is the key issue. In service robot deployment conditions speech recognition limitations with noisy speech input and inexperienced users may jeopardize user goal identification. In this paper, we introduce a grounding state-based model motivated by reducing the risk of communication failure due to incorrect user goal identification. The model exploits the multiple modalities available in the service robot system to provide evidence for reaching grounding states. In order to handle the speech input as sufficiently grounded (correctly understood) by the robot, four proposed states have to be reached. Bayesian networks combining speech and non-speech modalities during user goal identification are used to estimate probability that each grounding state has been reached. These probabilities serve as a base for detecting whether the user is attending to the conversation, as well as for deciding on an alternative input modality (e.g., buttons) when the speech modality is unreliable. The Bayesian networks used in the grounding model are specially designed for modularity and computationally efficient inference. The potential of the proposed model is demonstrated comparing a conversational system for the mobile service robot RoboX employing only speech recognition for user goal identification, and a system equipped with multimodal grounding. The evaluation experiments use component and system level metrics for technical (objective) and user-based (subjective) evaluation with multimodal data collected during the conversations of the robot RoboX with users.     

基于WLAN移动定位的个性化商品信息推荐平台

随着WLAN在室内环境的日益普及,基于现代的移动设备可以方便实时地获取各种有价值的WLAN数据,这对我们识别个体日常生活中的多样化行为提供了前所未有的机会。近年来,用户的兴趣点与行为模式挖掘等领域日益引起各界的广泛关注,设计了一套基于室内定位的推荐系统,基于用户的历史访问记录,实现从过载的信息中识别出用户感兴趣的内容。现有的位置服务通常只针对用户的室外位置数据,缺乏对室内数据的挖掘分析,忽略了室内位置数据中蕴含的大量语义信息。利用室内定位技术获取用户在商场中的活动轨迹,根据用户去过的店铺和浏览过的商品等历史信息,估算用户的兴趣爱好并进而向用户个性化地推荐感兴趣的商品,基于以上思路设计实现了一套基于室内定位和微信平台的个性化商品推荐系统。     

Cooperative localization and evaluation of small-scaled spherical underwater robots

With the goal of supporting localization requirements of our spherical underwater robots, such as multi robot cooperation and intelligent biological surveillance, a cooperative localization system of multi robot was designed and implemented in this study. Given the restrictions presented by the underwater environment and the small-sized spherical robot, an time of flight camera and microelectro mechanical systems (MEMS) sensor information fusion algorithm using coordinate normalization transfer models were adopted to construct the proposed system. To handle the problem of short location distance, limited range under fixed view of camera in the underwater environment, a MEMS inertial sensor was used to obtain the attitude information of robot and expanding the range of underwater visual positioning, the transmission of positioning information could implement through the normalization of absolute coordinate, then the positioning distance increased and realized the localization of multi robot system. Given the environmental disturbances in practical underwater scenarios, the Kalman filter model was used to minimizing the systematic positioning error. Based on the theoretical analysis and calculation, we describe experiments in underwater to evaluate the performance of cooperative localization. The experimental results confirmed the validity of the multi robot cooperative localization system proposed in this paper, and the distance of cooperative localization system proposed in this paper is larger than the visual positioning system we have developed previously.

     

基于头脑风暴优化算法的多机器人气味源定位

针对现有室内湍流环境下多机器人气味源搜索算法存在历史浓度信息利用率不高、缺少调节全局与局部搜索的机制等问题,提出头脑风暴优化（BSO）算法与逆风搜索结合的多机器人协同搜索算法。首先,将机器人已搜索位置初始化为个体,以机器人位置为中心聚类,有效利用了历史信息的指引作用;然后,将逆风搜索作为个体变异操作,动态调节选中一个类中个体或两个类中个体融合生成新个体的数量,有效调节了全局和局部搜索方式;最后,根据浓度和持久性两个指标对气味源进行确认。在有障碍和无障碍两个环境中将所提算法与三种群体智能多机器人气味源定位算法进行定位对比仿真实验,实验结果表明,所提算法的平均搜索时间减少33%以上,且定位准确率达到100%。该算法能够有效调节机器人全局和局部搜索关系,快速准确定位气味源。     

基于用户视觉能力的交互设备筛选方法

普适计算为智能环境通过多个交互设备向用户提供信息服务奠定了基础,但如何选择恰当的设备向用户提供服务仍是一项待解决的问题。论文基于用户视觉交互能力参数筛选出最优的交互设备提供服务。根据用户的视野范围和面部朝向,结合所在位置,计算显示设备相对于用户的双向可达性;根据用户的视力水平,结合显示界面字符大小,计算显示设备所显示信息对用户的可读性;综合以上两方面信息计算设备推荐率。利用具有不同视觉能力的用户对论文所提出方法进行了验证,实验结果表明所提出方法能选择出最与用户交互能力匹配的交互设备。     

A localization method for the Internet of Things

Many localization algorithms and systems have been developed by means of wireless sensor networks for both indoor and outdoor environments. To achieve higher localization accuracy, extra hardware equipments are utilized by most of the existing localization solutions, which increase the cost and considerably limit the location-based applications. The Internet of Things (IOT) integrates many technologies, such as Internet, Zigbee, Bluetooth, infrared, WiFi, GPRS, 3G, etc., which can enable different ways to obtain the location information of various objects. Location-based service is a primary service of the IOT, while localization accuracy is a key issue. In this paper, a higher accuracy localization scheme is proposed which can effectively satisfy diverse requirements for many indoor and outdoor location services. The proposed scheme composes of two phases: (1) the partition phase, in which the target region is split into small grids; (2) the localization refinement phase, in which a higher accuracy of localization can be obtained by applying an algorithm designed in the paper. A trial system is set up to verify correctness of the proposed scheme and furthermore to illustrate its feasibility and availability. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme can improve the localization accuracy.     

基于改进Canopy聚类的协同过滤推荐算法

推荐系统通过建立用户和信息产品之间的二元关系,利用用户行为产生的数据挖掘每个用户感兴趣的对象并进行推荐,基于用户的协同过滤是近年来的主流办法,但存在一定局限性：推荐时需要考虑全部用户,而单个用户往往只与少部分用户类似。为了解决这个问题,提出了基于改进Canopy聚类的协同过滤推荐算法,将用户模型数据密度、距离与用户活跃度结合,计算用户数据权值,对用户模型数据进行聚类。由于结合了Canopy的聚类思想,同一用户可以属于不同的类,符合用户可能对多领域感兴趣的情况。最后对每个Canopy中的用户进行相应的推荐,根据聚类结果与用户评分预测用户可能感兴趣的对象。通过在数据集MovieLens和million songs上与对比算法进行MAE、RMSE、NDGG三个指标的比较,验证了该算法能显著提高推荐系统预测与推荐的准确度。     

Simultaneous localization and mapping using the Geometric Projection Filter and correspondence graph matching

A common way of localization in robotics is using triangulation on a system composed of a sensor and some landmarks (which can be artificial or natural). First, when no identifying marks are set on the landmarks, their identification by a robust algorithm is a complex problem which may be solved using correspondence graphs. Secondly, when the localization system has no a priori information about its environment, it has to build its own map in parallel with estimating its position, a problem known as simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Recent works have proposed to solve this problem based on building a map made of invariant features. This paper describes the algorithms and data structure needed to deal with landmark matching, robot localization and map building in a single efficient process, unifying the previous approaches. Experimental results are presented using an outdoor robot car equipped with a two-dimensional scanning laser sensor.     

Auditory inspired methods for localization of multiple concurrent speakers

The use of microphone arrays offers enhancements of speech signals recorded in meeting rooms and office spaces. A common solution for speech enhancement in realistic environments with ambient noise and multi-path propagation is the application of so-called beamforming techniques. Such beamforming algorithms enhance signals at the desired angle using constructive interference while attenuating signals coming from other directions by destructive interference. However, these techniques require as a priori the time difference of arrival information of the source. Therefore, the source localization and tracking algorithms are an integral part of such a system. The conventional localization algorithms deteriorate in realistic scenarios with multiple concurrent speakers. In contrast to conventional methods, the techniques presented in this paper make use of pitch information of speech signals in addition to the location information. This “position–pitch”-based algorithm pre-processes the speech signals by a multiband gammatone filterbank that is inspired from the auditory model of the human inner ear. The role of this gammatone filterbank is analyzed and discussed in details. For a robust localization of multiple concurrent speakers, a frequency-selective criterion is explored that is based on a study of the human neural system's use of correlations between adjacent sub-band frequencies. This frequency-selective criterion leads to improved localization performance. To further improve localization accuracy, an algorithm based on grouping of spectro-temporal regions formed by pitch cues is presented. All proposed speaker localization algorithms are tested using a multichannel database where multiple concurrent speakers are active. The real-world recordings were made with a 24-channel uniform circular microphone array using loudspeakers and human speakers under various acoustic environments including moving concurrent speaker scenarios. The proposed techniques produced a localization performance that was significantly better than the state-of-the-art baseline in the scenarios tested.     

基于人工路标的易部署室内机器人全局定位系统

在一些布局易变或存在较多动态障碍物的室内,移动机器人的全局定位依然面临较大的应用挑战.针对这类场景,实现了一种新的基于人工路标的易部署室内机器人全局定位系统.该系统将人工路标粘贴在不易被遮挡的天花板上来作为参照物,仅依赖一个摄像头即能实现稳定的全局定位.整个系统根据具体的功能分为地图构建和全局定位两个过程.在地图构建过程中,系统使用激光SLAM算法所输出的位姿估计结果为基准,根据相机对路标点的观测信息来自动估计人工路标点在全局坐标系中的位姿,建立人工路标地图.而在全局定位过程中,该系统则是根据相机对地图中已知位姿的人工路标点的观测信息,结合里程计与IMU融合的预积分信息来对位姿进行实时估计.充分的实验测试表明,机器人在该系统所部署范围内运行的定位误差稳定在10 cm以内,且运行过程可以保证实时位姿输出,满足典型实际室内移动机器人全局定位的应用需求.     

Dynamic localization with hybrid trilateration for mobile robots in intelligent space

In this paper, we propose a new localization algorithm based on a hybrid trilateration algorithm for obtaining an accurate position of a robot in intelligent space. The proposed algorithm is also able to estimate a position of the moving robot by using the extended Kalman filter, taking into consideration time synchronization and velocity of the robot. For realizing the localization system, we employ several smart sensors as beacons on the ceiling in intelligent space and as a listener attached to the robot. Finally, simulation results show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed localization algorithm compared with existing trilateration algorithms.     

基于二维码视觉与激光雷达融合的高精度定位算法

为解决以蒙特卡罗定位算法为代表的激光室内定位算法存在的定位精度差和抗机器人绑架性能差的问题,以及传统二维码定位算法环境布置复杂且对机器人运行轨迹有严格要求的问题,提出了一种融合二维码视觉和激光雷达数据的移动机器人定位算法。机器人首先利用机器视觉技术搜索检测环境中的二维码,然后将检测出二维码的位姿分别转换至地图坐标系下,并融合生成先验位姿信息。而后以此作为初始位姿进行点云对准以得到优化后的位姿。同时引入里程计-视觉监督机制,从而有效解决了包括二维码信息缺失、二维码识别错误等由环境因素带来的问题,并保证了位姿的平滑性。基于移动机器人的实验结果表明,所提算法比经典的自适应蒙特卡罗定位（AMCL）算法的雷达采样点平均误差下降了92%,单次位姿计算时间减少了88%,可有效解决机器人绑架问题,并应用于以仓储机器人为代表的室内移动机器人。     

A learning particle swarm optimization algorithm for odor source localization

This paper is concerned with the problem of odor source localization using multi-robot system. A learning particle swarm optimization algorithm, which can coordinate a multi-robot system to locate the odor source, is proposed. First, in order to develop the proposed algorithm, a source probability map for a robot is built and updated by using concentration magnitude information, wind information, and swarm information. Based on the source probability map, the new position of the robot can be generated. Second, a distributed coordination architecture, by which the proposed algorithm can run on the multi-robot system, is designed. Specifically, the proposed algorithm is used on the group level to generate a new position for the robot. A consensus algorithm is then adopted on the robot level in order to control the robot to move from the current position to the new position. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is illustrated for the odor source localization problem.     

基于无线传感器网络的机器人定位跟踪研究

针对基于无线传感器网络的机器人定位提出了一种分段极大似然质心算法。将质心法引入极大似然估计算法中,通过计算已预测结果的质心提高目标位置的预测精度。考虑到WSN系统的超声定位实时性较差,采用扩展卡尔曼滤波算法将WSN系统改进定位算法与机器人航位推算进行融合以跟踪机器人位姿,从而提高了定位精度和系统动态性能。仿真结果表明：在不同锚节点个数和不同测距误差条件下,分段极大似然质心算法均能取得良好的定位效果;采用扩展卡尔曼滤波算法的数据融合,进一步提高了机器人轨迹跟踪的精度。     

基于Bluetooth和ZigBee相结合的信息分发器的设计

为了方便用户在特定的场景获得必要的数据服务,考虑到ZigBee和蓝牙共存的可行性,设计出将两者相结合的低成本普适网络环境下的信息分发器系统.该系统的硬件体系由蓝牙、ZigBee、传感器等主要模块构成,ZigBee模块负责无线通信网的组网并通过UART口和蓝牙模块通信,蓝牙模块运用蓝牙对象交换协议OBEX(object exchange)～r中的应用OPP(object push profile)对象"推"送规范来向蓝牙用户发送文件,改进了OPP推送算法来提高传输速率.     

Mobile robot localization based on PSO estimator

Localization is fundamental to autonomous operation of the mobile robot. A particle filter (PF) is widely used in mobile robot localization. However, the robot localization based PF has several limitations, such as sample impoverishment and a degeneracy problem, which reduce significantly its performance. Evolutionary algorithms, and more specifically their optimization capabilities, can be used in order to overcome PF based on localization weaknesses. In this paper, mobile robot localization based on a particle swarm optimization (PSO) estimator is proposed. In the proposed method, the robot localization converts dynamic optimization to find the best robot pose estimate, recursively. Unlike the localization based on PF, the resampling step is not required in the proposed method. Moreover, it does not require noise distribution. It searches stochastically along the state space for the best robot pose estimate. The results show that the proposed method is effective in terms of accuracy, consistency, and computational cost compared with localization based on PF and EKF.