Driving assistance system applied in curves for real vehicles | Sistema de ayuda a la conducción en curvas para vehículos reales

Decreasing the accidents on highway and urban environments is the main motivation for the research and developing of driving assistance systems, also called ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). In recent years, there are many applications of these systems in commercial vehicles: ABS systems, Cruise Control (CC), parking assistance and warning systems (including GPS), among others. However, the implementation of driving assistance systems on the steering wheel is more limited, because of their complexity and sensitivity. This paper is focused in the development, test and implementation of a driver assistance system for controlling the steering wheel in curve zones. This system is divided in two levels: an inner control loop which permits to execute the position and speed target, softening the action over the steering wheel, and a second control outer loop (controlling for fuzzy logic) that sends the reference to the inner loop according the environment and vehicle conditions. The tests have been done in different curves and speeds. The system has been proved in a commercial vehicle with satisfactory results.

Renewable energies Driven by Feed-on Tariffs. Photovoltaic vs Wind Energy Development in Spain

Although others regulations regarding feed-in tariffs for photovoltaics (PV) existed in Spain previously, the one that meant a paradigm change was the introduction in 2007 of law R.D.661/2007 which established a feed-in tariff of 41,75 cents/kWh if the installed capacity was greater than 100KWp and 44,04 cents/kWh if it was smaller. The high level of the subsidies together with the lack of a limit for the total installed capacity originates the well-known Spanish photovoltaic boom. In September 2008 the installed PV capacity accounted for 3.2GWp (while the official objective stated in the national renewable roadmap was only 400MWp). To avoid this situation a new law, R.D. 1578/2008, was proclaimed which established a decreasing feed-in tariff of 32 cents/kWh (for ground installations) and 34 cents/kWh (for rooftops) and it limited the annual installed capacity to 500MWp. Although it was successful in limiting the PV subsidies total costs, the successive and sudden changes in regulations resulted very harmful to the local PV industry. In this article, the strong influence of feed-in tariff in the development of PV installed capacity and market evolution in Spain will be analyzed in detail. In addition, a comparison with other subsidized technologies which installed capacity has had a smoother evolution, as wind energy, will be presented.

Development of a methodology and tool to evaluate the impact of ICT measures on road transport emissions

The paper presents the main elements of a project entitled ICT-Emissions that aims at developing a novel methodology to evaluate the impact of ICT-related measures on mobility, vehicle energy consumption and CO2 emissions of vehicle fleets at the local scale, in order to promote the wider application of the most appropriate ICT measures. The proposed methodology combines traffic and emission modelling at micro and macro scales. These will be linked with interfaces and submodules which will be specifically designed and developed. A number of sources are available to the consortium to obtain the necessary input data. Also, experimental campaigns are offered to fill in gaps of information in traffic and emission patterns. The application of the methodology will be demonstrated using commercially available software. However, the methodology is developed in such a way as to enable its implementation by a variety of emission and traffic models. Particular emphasis is given to (a) the correct estimation of driver behaviour, as a result of traffic-related ICT measures, (b) the coverage of a large number of current vehicle technologies, including ICT systems, and (c) near future technologies such as hybrid, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles. The innovative combination of traffic, driver, and emission models produces a versatile toolbox that can simulate the impact on energy and CO2 of infrastructure measures (traffic management, dynamic traffic signs, etc.), driver assistance systems and ecosolutions (speed/cruise control, start/stop systems, etc.) or a combination of measures (cooperative systems).The methodology is validated by application in the Turin area and its capacity is further demonstrated by application in real world conditions in Madrid and Rome.

Development of a sensorimotor algorithm able to deal with unforeseen pushes and its implementation based on VHDL

Development of a Sensorimotor Algorithm Able to Deal with Unforeseen Pushes and Its Implementation Based on VHDL is the title of my thesis which concludes my Bachelor Degree in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería y Sistemas de Telecomunicación of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. It encloses the overall work I did in the Neurorobotics Research Laboratory from the Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin during my ERASMUS year in 2015. This thesis is focused on the field of robotics, specifically an electronic circuit called Cognitive Sensorimotor Loop (CSL) and its control algorithm based on VHDL hardware description language. The reason that makes the CSL special resides in its ability to operate a motor both as a sensor and an actuator. This way, it is possible to achieve a balanced position in any of the robot joints (e.g. the robot manages to stand) without needing any conventional sensor. In other words, the back electromotive force (EMF) induced by the motor coils is measured and the control algorithm responds depending on its magnitude. The CSL circuit contains mainly an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a driver. The ADC consists on a delta-sigma modulation which generates a series of bits with a certain percentage of 1's and 0's, proportional to the back EMF. The control algorithm, running in a FPGA, processes the bit frame and outputs a signal for the driver. This driver, which has an H bridge topology, gives the motor the ability to rotate in both directions while it's supplied with the power needed. The objective of this thesis is to document the experiments and overall work done on push ignoring contractive sensorimotor algorithms, meaning sensorimotor algorithms that ignore large magnitude forces (compared to gravity) applied in a short time interval on a pendulum system. This main objective is divided in two sub-objectives: (1) developing a system based on parameterized thresholds and (2) developing a system based on a push bypassing filter. System (1) contains a module that outputs a signal which blocks the main Sensorimotor algorithm when a push is detected. This module has several different parameters as inputs e.g. the back EMF increment to consider a force as a push or the time interval between samples. System (2) consists on a low-pass Infinite Impulse Response digital filter. It cuts any frequency considered faster than a certain push oscillation. This filter required an intensive study on how to implement some functions and data types (fixed or floating point data) not supported by standard VHDL packages. Once this was achieved, the next challenge was to simplify the solution as much as possible, without using non-official user made packages. Both systems behaved with a series of interesting advantages and disadvantages for the elaboration of the document. Stability, reaction time, simplicity or computational load are one of the many factors to be studied in the designed systems. RESUMEN. Development of a Sensorimotor Algorithm Able to Deal with Unforeseen Pushes and Its Implementation Based on VHDL es un Proyecto de Fin de Grado (PFG) que concluye mis estudios en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería y Sistemas de Telecomunicación de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. En él se documenta el trabajo de investigación que realicé en el Neurorobotics Research Laboratory de la Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin durante el año 2015 mediante el programa de intercambio ERASMUS. Este PFG se centra en el campo de la robótica y en concreto en un circuito electrónico llamado Cognitive Sensorimotor Loop (CSL) y su algoritmo de control basado en lenguaje de modelado hardware VHDL. La particularidad del CSL reside en que se consigue que un motor haga las veces tanto de sensor como de actuador. De esta manera es posible que las articulaciones de un robot alcancen una posición de equilibrio (p.ej. el robot se coloca erguido) sin la necesidad de sensores en el sentido estricto de la palabra. Es decir, se mide la propia fuerza electromotriz (FEM) inducida sobre el motor y el algoritmo responde de acuerdo a su magnitud. El circuito CSL se compone de un convertidor analógico-digital (ADC) y un driver. El ADC consiste en un modulador sigma-delta, que genera una serie de bits con un porcentaje de 1's y 0's determinado, en proporción a la magnitud de la FEM inducida. El algoritmo de control, que se ejecuta en una FPGA, procesa esta cadena de bits y genera una señal para el driver. El driver, que posee una topología en puente H, provee al motor de la potencia necesaria y le otorga la capacidad de rotar en cualquiera de las dos direcciones. El objetivo de este PFG es documentar los experimentos y en general el trabajo realizado en algoritmos Sensorimotor que puedan ignorar fuerzas de gran magnitud (en comparación con la gravedad) y aplicadas en una corta ventana de tiempo. En otras palabras, ignorar empujones conservando el comportamiento original frente a la gravedad. Para ello se han desarrollado dos sistemas: uno basado en umbrales parametrizados (1) y otro basado en un filtro de corte ajustable (2). El sistema (1) contiene un módulo que, en el caso de detectar un empujón, genera una señal que bloquea el algoritmo Sensorimotor. Este módulo recibe diferentes parámetros como el incremento necesario de la FEM para que se considere un empujón o la ventana de tiempo para que se considere la existencia de un empujón. El sistema (2) consiste en un filtro digital paso-bajo de respuesta infinita que corta cualquier variación que considere un empujón. Para crear este filtro se requirió un estudio sobre como implementar ciertas funciones y tipos de datos (coma fija o flotante) no soportados por las librerías básicas de VHDL. Tras esto, el objetivo fue simplificar al máximo la solución del problema, sin utilizar paquetes de librerías añadidos. En ambos sistemas aparecen una serie de ventajas e inconvenientes de interés para el documento. La estabilidad, el tiempo de reacción, la simplicidad o la carga computacional son algunas de las muchos factores a estudiar en los sistemas diseñados. Para concluir, también han sido documentadas algunas incorporaciones a los sistemas: una interfaz visual en VGA, un módulo que compensa el offset del ADC o la implementación de una batería de faders MIDI entre otras.