Applications of Augmented Vision Head-Mounted Systems in Vision Rehabilitation

Vision loss typically affects either the wide peripheral vision (important for mobility), or central vision (important for seeing details). Traditional optical visual aids usually recover the lost visual function, but at a high cost for the remaining visual function. We have developed a novel concept of vision-multiplexing using augmented vision head-mounted display systems to address vision loss. Two applications are discussed in this paper. In the first, minified edge images from a head-mounted video camera are presented on a see-through display providing visual field expansion for people with peripheral vision loss, while still enabling the full resolution of the residual central vision to be maintained. The concept has been applied in daytime and nighttime devices. A series of studies suggested that the system could help with visual search, obstacle avoidance, and nighttime mobility. Subjects were positive in their ratings of device cosmetics and ergonomics. The second application is for people with central vision loss. Using an on-axis aligned camera and display system, central visibility is enhanced with 1:1 scale edge images, while still enabling the wide field of the unimpaired peripheral vision to be maintained. The registration error of the system was found to be low in laboratory testing.     

Examining the Effects of Conformal Terrain Features in Advanced Head‐Up Displays on Flight Performance and Pilot Situation Awareness

Synthetic vision systems (SVS) render terrain features for pilots through cockpit displays using a GPS database and three‐dimensional graphical models. Enhanced vision systems (EVS) present infrared imagery of terrain using a forward‐looking sensor in the nose of an aircraft. The ultimate goal of SVS and EVS technologies is to support pilots in achieving safety under low‐visibility and night conditions comparable to clear, day conditions. This study assessed pilot performance and situation awareness (SA) effects of SVS and EVS imagery in an advanced head‐up display (HUD) during a simulated landing approach under instrument meteorological conditions. Videos of the landing with various HUD configurations were presented to eight pilots with a superimposed tracking task. The independent variables included four HUD feature configurations (baseline [no terrain imagery], SVS, EVS, and a combination of SVS and EVS), two visibility conditions, and four legs of the flight. Results indicated that SVS increased overall SA but degraded flight path control performance because of visual confusion with other display features. EVS increased flight path control accuracy but decreased system (aircraft) awareness because of visual distractions. The combination of SVS and EVS generated offsetting effects. Display configurations did not affect pilot spatial awareness. Flight performance was not different among phases of the approach, but levels and types of pilot SA did vary from leg to leg. These results are applicable to development of adaptive HUD features to support pilot performance. They support the use of multidimensional measures of SA for insight on pilot information processing with advanced aviation displays. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Performance Analysis of The Auxiliary‐Model‐Based Multi‐Innovation Stochastic Newton Recursive Algorithm for Dual‐Rate Systems

The stochastic Newton recursive algorithm is studied for dual‐rate system identification. Owing to a lack of intersample measurements, the single‐rate model cannot be identified directly. The auxiliary model technique is adopted to provide the intersample estimations to guarantee the recursion process continues. Intersample estimations have a great influence on the convergence of parameter estimations, and one‐step innovation may lead to a large fluctuation or even divergence during the recursion. In the meantime, the sample covariance matrix may appear singular. The recursive process would cease for these reasons. In order to guarantee the recursion process and to also improve estimation accuracy, multi‐innovation is utilized for correcting the parameter estimations. Combining the auxiliary model and multi‐innovation theory, the auxiliary‐model‐based multi‐innovation stochastic Newton recursive algorithm is proposed for time‐invariant dual‐rate systems. The consistency of this algorithm is analyzed in detail. The final simulations confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Stability Analysis and Controller Design of Discrete Interval Type‐2 Fuzzy Systems

This paper is concerned with trajectory stabilization of a computer simulated model car with uncertain velocity via type‐2 fuzzy control systems. First, stability conditions of discrete interval type‐2 fuzzy control systems are given in accordance with the definition of stability in the sense of Lyapunov. Then, we approximate a computer simulated model car, whose dynamics are nonlinear and velocity is uncertain. A type‐2 Takagi–Sugeno TS fuzzy controller is designed to handle system uncertainty. The control rules, which guarantee stability of the system, are derived from the approximated model. The simulation results show that the type‐2 fuzzy control rules can effectively stabilize the car model.     

Iterative Learning Control for Linear Discrete‐Time Systems with Unknown High‐Order Internal Models: A Time‐Frequency Analysis Approach

This work focuses on the iterative learning control (ILC) for linear discrete‐time systems with unknown initial state and disturbances. First, multiple high‐order internal models (HOIMs) are introduced for the reference, initial state, and disturbances. Both the initial state and disturbance consist of two components, one strictly satisfies HOIM and the other is random bounded. Then, an ILC scheme is constructed according to an augmented HOIM that is the aggregation of all HOIMs. For all known HOIMs, an ILC design criterion is introduced to achieve satisfactory tracking performance based on the 2‐D theory. Next, the case with unknown HOIMs is discussed, where a time‐frequency‐analysis (TFA)‐based ILC algorithm is proposed. In this situation, it is shown that the tracking error inherits the unknown augmented HOIM that is an aggregation of all unknown HOIMs. Then, a TFA‐based method, e.g., the short‐time Fourier transformation (STFT), is employed to identify the unknown augmented HOIM, where the STFT could ignore the effect of the random bounded initial state and disturbances. A new ILC law is designed for the identified unknown augmented HOIM, which has the ability to reject the unknown the initial state and disturbances that strictly satisfy HOIMs. Finally, a gantry robot system with iteration‐invariant or slowly‐varying frequencies is given to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed TFA‐based ILC algorithm.     

On‐the‐Fly and Incremental Technique for Fault Diagnosis of Discrete Event Systems Modeled by Labeled Petri Nets

In this paper, we develop an on‐the‐fly and incremental technique for fault diagnosis of discrete event systems modeled by labeled Petri nets, in order to tackle the combinatorial explosion problem. K‐diagnosability, diagnosability, K_min (the minimum K ensuring diagnosability) and on‐line diagnosis are solved on the basis of the on‐the‐fly and incremental building of two structures, called respectively fault marking graph and fault marking set graph, in parallel. We build on existing results, namely those establishing necessary and sufficient conditions for diagnosability, but we bring mechanisms to make the checking of such conditions potentially more efficient. We show that, in general, analyzing or even building the whole reachability graph is unnecessary to analyze diagnosability and build an on‐line diagnoser. Our technique was implemented in a prototype tool called OF‐PENDA, and a railway level crossing benchmark is used to make a comparative discussion pertaining to efficiency in terms of time and memory relative to some existing approaches.     

Probability Analysis of Terminal Sliding Mode Control of Second‐Order Markovian Jump Systems

This paper explores the probability problems on terminal sliding mode control of second‐order nonlinear continuous Markovian jump systems. An equivalent control based terminal sliding mode control scheme is proposed that can guarantee the systems' finite time mean‐square stability. By introducing a multi‐step transition conditional probability, the novel reaching and sliding probabilities are derived for the situations where the control force is not strong enough. This indicates that the reaching and sliding probabilities are both monotonically bounded non‐decreasing non‐negative piecewise right‐continuous functions of the control parameter. A numerical example is given to show the feasibility of the theoretical results.     

A Reset‐Time Dependent Approach for Stability Analysis of Nonlinear Reset Control Systems

A reset mechanism in controller can affect the stability property of a closed loop control system. In a simple word, there are stable reset control systems with unstable base‐systems and also unstable reset systems with stable base‐systems. The Lyapunov stability theory is a strong tool to investigate the stability of a nonlinear system. In this paper, based on the well‐known Lyapunov stability concept, some stability conditions for nonlinear reset control systems are addressed. These conditions are dependent on the reset‐times and hence the reset‐time intervals are explicitly emerged in the stability conditions. Some applications of these results are used in numerical examples to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Valve Position‐based Control at Engine Key‐on of an Electro‐mechanical Valve Actuator for Camless Engines: A Robust Controller Tuning Via Bifurcation Analysis

Electro‐mechanical valve actuators (EMVA) formed by two opposed electromagnets and two balanced springs are appealing solutions to implement advanced combustion concepts for camless engines. A crucial control problem for this valve actuator regards the first valve lift manoeuvre (termed 'first catching') to be rapidly performed after each insertion of the engine ignition key, when the EMVA rests at middle position where electromagnets offer low control authority. The control problem is challenging due to system nonlinear behavior. Mathematically, the EMVA system can be assumed to be a spring‐mass impacting system affected by a non‐smooth friction force and a dynamic saturated magnetic force. In this work an effective valve position‐based first catching control strategy is proposed to control the strongly nonlinear system. Bifurcation analysis and parameter space simulations are used to study the closed‐loop system behavior and to tune the controller gains as well. The effectiveness of the control approach is validated through numerical simulations of a highly predictive dynamic model of the valve actuator developed by authors in a previous work.     

Algebraic Conditions for Stability Analysis of Linear Time‐Invariant Distributed Order Dynamic Systems: A Lagrange Inversion Theorem Approach

BIBO stability of linear time‐invariant (LTI) distributed order dynamic systems with non‐negative weight functions is investigated in this paper by using Lagrange inversion theorem. New sufficient conditions of stability/instability are presented for these systems accordingly. These algebraically simple conditions are relatively tight and their conservatism is adjustable.     

Application of Fuzzy Logic to Vehicle Classification Algorithm in Loop/Piezo‐Sensor Fusion Systems

Individual vehicle information, especially, vehicle classification data play a key role in Advanced Traffic Management and Information Systems (ATMIS). In inductive loop and piezo‐sensor fusion systems, traffic data such as the vehicle length and the distance between axles are used for vehicle classification. However, classification errors often occur in distinguishing passenger cars from small trucks and in distinguishing medium‐sized trucks from small trucks. It is mainly attributed to the fact that they are similar in lengths and have similar inter‐axle distances. To improve the performance in vehicle classification, we develop a new algorithm using a fuzzy logic. Vehicle weight and speed are used as the inputs to the fuzzy logic block. The output of the fuzzy logic block is a weighting factor to modify the calculated vehicle length. Experimental results show that the developed algorithm significantly improves the classification performance.     

Stability Analysis of Linear Shift‐Invariant Dynamics in Honeycomb Structure

This paper deals with the stability of linear shift‐invariant multidimensional dynamical systems defined on honeycomb structure. Two different honeycomb structures are discussed. The local dynamical states are assumed to be distributed to honeycomb cells in the first consideration, and they are assumed to be distributed to the nodes of honeycomb mesh in the second consideration. In each honeycomb structure, the fundamental linear shift‐invariant dynamics is introduced and then the stability criterion is presented.     

Robust Analysis of Discrete‐Time Lur'e Systems with Slope Restrictions Using Convex Optimization

This paper considers robust stability and robust performance analysis for discrete‐time linear systems subject to nonlinear uncertainty. The uncertainty set is described by memoryless, time‐invariant, sector bounded, and slope restricted nonlinearities. We first give an overview of the absolute stability criterion based on the Lur'e‐Postkinov Lyapunov function, along with a frequency domain condition. Subsequently, we derive sufficient conditions to compute the upper bounds of the worst case H₂ and worst case H∞ performance. For both robust stability testing and robust performance computation, we show that these sufficient conditions can be readily and efficiently determined by performing convex optimization over linear matrix inequalities.     

Cooperative Adaptive Fuzzy Output Feedback Control for Synchronization of Nonlinear Multi‐Agent Systems in the Presence of Input Saturation

This paper considers the leader‐following synchronization problem of nonlinear multi‐agent systems with unmeasurable states in the presence of input saturation. Each follower is governed by a class of strict‐feedback systems with unknown nonlinearities and the information of the leader can be accessed by only a small fraction of followers. An auxiliary system is introduced and its states are used to design the cooperative controllers for counteracting the effect of input saturation. By using fuzzy logic systems to approximate the unknown nonlinearities, local adaptive fuzzy observers are designed to estimate the unmeasurable states. Dynamic surface control (DSC) is employed to design distributed adaptive fuzzy output feedback controllers. The developed controllers guarantee that the outputs of all followers synchronize to that of the leader under directed communication graphs. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, it is proved that all signals in the closed‐loop systems are semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB), and the tracking error converges to a small neighborhood of the origin. An example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.     

Development of “H‐Shaped” monopole antenna for IEEE 802.11a and HIPERLAN 2 applications in the laptop computer

A very low profile and ultra‐thin “H‐Shaped” antenna for IEEE 802.11a and HIPERLAN 2 wireless applications in the laptop computer is developed. The antenna is designed using only a pure copper strip of size 17.5(L) × 4(W) mm² with thickness of only 0.035 mm. The novelty of the proposed antenna is that the antenna is designed with only one rectangular radiating strip without using any additional reactive components, vias or three dimensional structure. Furthermore, the proposed antenna does not require any additional ground plane for installing in laptops. The proposed antenna is comprised of one radiating strip, one rectangular stub, and two resonating slots, namely, “X” and “Y” of length 7.5 mm and 7 mm, respectively. The proposed structure resonates at around 5.5 GHz can cover the (5.15‐5.35/5.725‐5.825) GHz IEEE 802.11a and (5.15‐5.35/5.470‐5.725/5.725‐5.925) GHz HIPERLAN 2 bands. The fabricated prototype antenna has measured impedance bandwidth (VSWR<2) of 15% (5.10‐5.92 GHz) across the operating bands. The measured radiation patterns are nearly omnidirectional along with stable gain of 5 dBi. Moreover, the proposed antenna exhibits excellent radiation efficiency of around 90% across the operating bands. The simulated and measured results of antenna are found to be in good agreement. The very low profile and ultra‐thin structure make it an excellent candidate for wireless operations in the ultra‐thin laptop computers.     

Toward Universal Design in Public Transportation Systems: An Analysis of Low‐Floor Bus Passenger Behavior with Video Observations

This study aims to investigate the relationship between ergonomic comfort and the provision of accessibility features for mobility‐impaired persons in the use of public transportation systems in Korea. To deal with mobility issues in a public transportation environment, we chose the low‐floor bus as our research subject because it is the representative of a barrier‐free design solution. We collected data via video observation, which can overcome the limitations of traditional accessibility‐focused studies and laboratory studies by providing data on real usage patterns. We developed a framework to analyze the gathered data which includes user, space, tools, activities, and context. As a result, we observed existing difficulties of mobility‐impaired persons in terms of moving and supporting their bodies on the bus, despite the application of accessibility features. Furthermore, the design only for accessibility of mobility‐disabled persons can cause unexpected predicaments for the passengers who do not have physical handicaps. Drawing on these findings, we concluded that the concept of universal design in public transportation environments must be introduced in Korea. This study suggests video observation as a useful methodology for collecting data in dynamic environments. Additionally, our study is expected to contribute to how the concept of universal design can be implemented, and stimulate issues for ergonomic research based on our behavior pattern analysis.