Poster : Understanding interactions between autonomous animal control and temperament when cattle are subjected to virtual fencing applications

Virtual fencing has the potential to control grazing livestock. Understanding and refi ning the cues that can alter behaviour is an integral part of autonomous animal control. A series of tests have been completed to explore the relationship between temperament and control. Prior to exposure to virtual fencing control the animals were scored for temperament using fl ight speed and a sociability index using contact logging devices. The behavioural response of 30, Belmont Red steers were observed for behavioural changes when presented with cues prior to receiving an electrical stimulation. A control and four treatments designed to interrupt the animal’s movement down an alley were tested. The treatments consisted of sound plus electrical stimulation, vibration plus electrical stimulation, a visual cue plus electrical stimulation and electrical stimulation by itself. The treatments were randomly applied to each animal over fi ve consecutive trials. A control treatment in which no cues were applied was used to establish a basal behavioural pattern. A trial was considered completed after each animal had been retained behind the cue barrier for at least 60 sec. All cues and electrical stimulation were manually applied from a laptop located on a portable 3.5 m tower located immediately outside the alley. The electric stimulation consisted of 1.0 Kv of electricity. Electric stimulation, sound and vibration along with the Global Position System (GPS) hardware to autonomously record the animal’s path within the alley were recorded every second.

A Hybrid AUV design for shallow water reef navigation

The highly unstructured nature of coral reef environments makes them difficult for current robotic vehicles to efficiently navigate. Typical research and commercial platforms have limited autonomy within these environments and generally require tethers and significant external infrastructure. This paper outlines the development of a new robotic vehicle for underwater monitoring and surveying in highly unstructured environments and presents experimental results illustrating the vehicle’s performance. The hybrid AUV design developed by the CSIRO robotic reef monitoring team realises a compromise between endurance, manoeuvrability and functionality. The vehicle represents a new era in AUV design specifically focused at providing a truly low-cost research capability that will progress environmental monitoring through unaided navigation, cooperative robotics, sensor network distribution and data harvesting.

Data collection, storage and retrieval with an underwater sensor network

In this paper we present a novel platform for underwater sensor networks to be used for long-term monitoring of coral reefs and �sheries. The sensor network consists of static and mobile underwater sensor nodes. The nodes communicate point-to-point using a novel high-speed optical communication system integrated into the TinyOS stack, and they broadcast using an acoustic protocol integrated in the TinyOS stack. The nodes have a variety of sensing capabilities, including cameras, water temperature, and pressure. The mobile nodes can locate and hover above the static nodes for data muling, and they can perform network maintenance functions such as deployment, relocation, and recovery. In this paper we describe the hardware and software architecture of this underwater sensor network. We then describe the optical and acoustic networking protocols and present experimental networking and data collected in a pool, in rivers, and in the ocean. Finally, we describe our experiments with mobility for data muling in this network.

Vibration isolation for autonomous helicopter flight

The mechanisms of helicopter flight create a unique, high-vibration environment which can play havoc with the accurate operation of on-board sensors. Vibration isolation of electronic sensors from structural borne oscillations is paramount to their reliable and accurate use. Effective isolation is achieved by realising a trade-off between the properties of the suspended instrument package, and the isolation mechanism. This is made more difficult as the weight and size of the sensors and computing hardware decreases with advances in technology. This paper presents a history of the design, challenges, constraints and construction of an integrated isolated vision and sensor platform and landing gear for the CSIRO autonomous X-Cell helicopter. The results of isolation performance and in-flight tests of the platform in autonomous flight are presented.

Obstacle-free range determination for rail track maintenance vehicles

Maintenance trains travel in convoy. In Australia, only the first train of the convoy pays attention to the track sig- nalization (the other convoy vehicles simply follow the preceding vehicle). Because of human errors, collisions can happen between the maintenance vehicles. Although an anti-collision system based on a laser distance meter is already in operation, the existing system has a limited range due to the curvature of the tracks. In this paper, we introduce an anti-collision system based on vision. The two main ideas are, (1) to warp the camera image into an image where the rails are parallel through a projective transform, and (2) to track the two rail curves simultaneously by evaluating small parallel segments. The performance of the system is demonstrated on an image dataset.

Experiments in visual localisation around underwater structures

Localisation of an AUV is challenging and a range of inspection applications require relatively accurate positioning information with respect to submerged structures. We have developed a vision based localisation method that uses a 3D model of the structure to be inspected. The system comprises a monocular vision system, a spotlight and a low-cost IMU. Previous methods that attempt to solve the problem in a similar way try and factor out the effects of lighting. Effects, such as shading on curved surfaces or specular reflections, are heavily dependent on the light direction and are difficult to deal with when using existing techniques. The novelty of our method is that we explicitly model the light source. Results are shown of an implementation on a small AUV in clear water at night.

On-board mass monitoring of heavy vehicles : results of testing program

The Transport Certification Australia on-board mass feasibility project is testing various on-board mass devices in a range of heavy vehicles (HVs). Extensive field tests of on-board mass measurement systems for HVs have been conducted during 2008. These tests were of accuracy, robustness and tamper-evidence of heavy vehicle on-board mass telematics. All the systems tested showed accuracies within approximately +/- 500 kg of gross combination mass or approximately +/- 2% of the attendant weighbridge reading. Analysis of the dynamic data also showed encouraging results and has raised the possibility of use of such dynamic information in tamper evidence in two areas. This analysis was to determine if the use of averaged dynamic data could identify potential tampering or incorrect operating procedures as well as the possibility of dynamic measurements flagging a tamper event by the use of metrics including a tampering index (TIX). Technical and business options to detect tamper events will now be developed during implementation of regulatory OBM system application to Australian heavy vehicles (HVs).