Target tracking of autonomous robotic vehicles using range‐only measurements: a switched logic‐based control strategy

This paper considers the pursuing or target tracking problem where an autonomous robotic vehicle is required to move towards a maneuvering target using range‐only measurements. We propose a switched logic‐based control strategy to solve the pursuing problem that can be described as comprising a continuous cycle of two distinct phases: (1) the determination of the bearing, and (2) the steering control of the vehicle to follow the direction computed in the previous step while the range is decreasing. We provide guaranteed conditions under which the switched closed‐loop system achieves convergence of the relative distance error to a small neighborhood around zero. Simulation results are presented and discussed.Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An investigation on effect of high pressure post injection on soot and NO emissions in a DI diesel engine

NO and Soot trade off is an important challenge for engineers in DI Diesel engines. This paper, introduces multiple injection as a strategy for simultaneous reduction of NO and Soot emissions on a DI diesel engine and also proposes a new concept of variable injection pressure and studies its effect on the engine emissions. To evaluate the benefits of multiple injection strategies and to reveal combustion mechanism, modified three dimensional CFD code KIVA-3V was developed. Results showed that using post injection with appropriate dwell between injection pulses has a great effect on simultaneous reduction of the emissions. Based on computational results, NO reduction formation mechanism in multiple injection strategy is as a single injection with retarded injection timing. It is shown that reduction in soot formation is because of the fact that in split fuel injection the soot, which is producing rich regions at the head of fuel spray, are not replenished by newly injected fuel in post injection pulse. Also increasing injection pressure in post injection will reduce the Soot emission dramatically while NO emission is in control for increase of fuel burning rate in post injection pulse.     

Minimizing maximum tardiness and delivery costs in a batched delivery system

High delivery costs usually urge manufacturers to dispatch their jobs in batches. However, dispatching the jobs in batches can have profound negative effects on important scheduling objective functions such as minimizing maximum tardiness. This paper considers a single machine scheduling problem with the aim of minimizing the maximum tardiness and delivery costs in a single-machine scheduling problem with batched delivery system. A mathematical model is developed for this problem which can serve to solve it with the help of a commercial solver. However, due to the fact that this model happens to be a mixed integer nonlinear programming model the solver cannot guarantee to reach the global solution. For this reason, a branch and bound algorithm (B&B) is presented to obtain the global solution. Besides, a heuristic algorithm for calculation of the initial upper bound is introduced. Computational results show that the algorithm can be beneficial for solving this problem, especially for large size instances.