Accurate estimation of environment parameters from ultrasonic data

This paper describes a robust and accurate ultrasonic sensing system for a mobile robot. The system continuously updates a local map of the environment in which obstacles are represented by straight lines or points in a robot centered coordinate frame. The presented algorithms use a Kalman filter for the reduction of the noise in the ultrasonic data and use a systematical error correction (‘bundle correction’) to reduce the uncertainty in obstacle direction. Experiments are carried out in simulation and with a real mobile robot system. Results show that the accuracy with which line parameters can be estimated is in the order of 1 degree for the orientation and about 2 cm for the position. The effect of the bundle correction is significant and maximal when the robot approaches walls under a small angle.     

Preparation,Properties and Applications of the Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Nanocomposite Based on Nanoporous Carbon Matrix

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - Nanoporous carbon matrix was prepared by the sol–gel process from pyrogallol-formaldehyde (PF) mixtures in water using picric...     

Compositional reasoning using intervals and time reversal

Interval Temporal Logic (ITL) is an established formalism for reasoning about time periods. We investigate some simple kinds of ITL formulas which have application to compositional reasoning and furthermore are closed under conjunction and the conventional temporal operator known both as “box” and “always”. Such closures help us modularly construct formulas from simple building blocks in a way which preserves useful compositional properties. The most important class considered here is called the 2-to-1 formulas. They offer an attractive framework for analysing sequential composition in ITL and provide the formal basis for most of the subsequent presentation. A key contribution of this work concerns a useful and apparently new and quite elementary mathematical theorem that 2-to-1 formulas are closed under “box”. We also use a natural form of time symmetry with 2-to-1 formulas. This extends known facts about such formulas by looking at them in reverse. An important example involves showing that 2-to-1 formulas are also closed under a variant of “box” for prefix subintervals rather than suffix ones. We then apply the compositional formulas obtained with time symmetry to analyse concurrent behaviour involving mutual exclusion in both Peterson’s algorithm and a new and more abstract one. At present, our study of mutual exclusion mainly serves as a kind of experimental “proof of concept” and research tool to develop and illustrate some of the logical framework’s promising features. We also discuss how time symmetry sometimes assists in reducing reasoning in ITL to conventional linear-time temporal logic.     

一种基于并联机构的航天器姿态模拟装置的设计开发

航天器发射升空前进行地面测试和试验是航天器研制过程中的重要环节。文中针对一种基于并联机构的姿态模拟装置的设计开发,从位置分析、速度分析和虚拟样机的建造和仿真分析等方面对3UPS-PU并联机构进行研究,完成姿态模拟装置的设计,为航天器装配、试验和测试设备的设计提供一种新的思路。     

Optimal imperfect preventive maintenance policy for equipment leased during successive periods

In this paper, we consider randomly failing equipment leased several times during their life cycle with a given warranty period. A mathematical model is developed to determine the optimal efficiency levels of preventive maintenance (PM) to be performed on the equipment between successive lease periods, maximising the expected total profit of the lessor over the equipment life cycle. The model considers the expected leasing revenue as well as the equipment acquisition cost and the average PM and repair costs. PM actions allow reducing the age of the equipment to a certain extent with a corresponding cost depending on the PM level adopted. The efficiency of the PM is determinant of the expected revenue during the next lease period. Given a set of K possible PM levels and the number of lease periods n over the equipment life cycle, K^{n?1 PM} strategies are possible. A genetic algorithm is proposed in order to obtain nearly optimal policies in situations where the number of possibilities K^n?1 is very high. Obtained numerical results are discussed. Small- and big-size instances of the problem are considered in the case of a service company in the oil and gas industry specialised in leasing specific equipment such as separators, to oil companies for production activities with a limited duration of several months like well testing or short production tests.     

Absolute Stability of Nonlinear Systems with Two Additive Time-varying Delay Components

In this paper, we present a new sufficient condition for absolute stability of Lure system with two additive time-varying delay components. This criterion is expressed as a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which can be readily tested by using standard numerical software. We use this new criterion to stabilize a class of nonlinear time-delay systems. Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the applicability of the results using standard numerical software.     

A Complex View of Barycentric Mappings

Barycentric coordinates are very popular for interpolating data values on polyhedral domains. It has been recently shown that expressing them as complex functions has various advantages when interpolating two‐dimensional data in the plane, and in particular for holomorphic maps. We extend and generalize these results by investigating the complex representation of real‐valued barycentric coordinates, when applied to planar domains. We show how the construction for generating real‐valued barycentric coordinates from a given weight function can be applied to generating complex‐valued coordinates, thus deriving complex expressions for the classical barycentric coordinates: Wachspress, mean value, and discrete harmonic. Furthermore, we show that a complex barycentric map admits the intuitive interpretation as a complex‐weighted combination of edge‐to‐edge similarity transformations, allowing the design of “home‐made” barycentric maps with desirable properties. Thus, using the tools of complex analysis, we provide a methodology for analyzing existing barycentric mappings, as well as designing new ones.     

Solvability conditions and solutions to perfect regulation problem under measurement output feedback

The problem of perfect regulation is to design a family of control laws for a given plant such that the resulting overall closed-loop system is internally stable and its controlled output can be reduced to zero arbitrarily fast from any initial condition. Such a problem was heavily studied by many researchers in the 1970s and early 1980s. However, to the best of our knowledge, all of the earlier results deal only with the problem under full state feedback. In this paper, we solve the long-standing problem of perfect regulation via measurement output feedback for general linear time-invariant multivariable systems. In particular, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions under which the problem of perfect regulation via measurement output feedback is solvable for general systems, and, under these conditions, construct two families of feedback laws, one of full order and the other reduced order, that solve the problem.