A Beacon based Localization System for Autonomous Mobile Robots and its Applications in Traffic and Transport Control

ACCURATE sensing of vehicle position and attitude is still a very challenging problem in many mobile robot applications. The mobile robot vehicle applications must have some means of estimating where they are and in which direction they are heading. Many existing indoor positioning systems are limited in workspace and robustness because they require clear lines-of-sight or do not provide absolute, driftfree measurements.The research work presented in this dissertation provides a new approach to position and attitude sensing system designed specifically to meet the challenges of operation in a realistic, cluttered indoor environment, such as that of an office building, hospital, industrial or warehouse. This is accomplished by an innovative assembly of infrared LED source that restricts the spreading of the light intensity distribution confined to a sheet of light and is encoded with localization and traffic information. This Digital Infrared Sheet of Light Beacon (DISLiB) developed for mobile robot is a high resolution absolute localization system which is simple, fast, accurate and robust, without much of computational burden or significant processing. Most of the available beacon's performance in corridors and narrow passages are not satisfactory, whereas the performance of DISLiB is very encouraging in such situations. This research overcomes most of the inherent limitations of existing systems.The work further examines the odometric localization errors caused by over count readings of an optical encoder based odometric system in a mobile robot due to wheel-slippage and terrain irregularities. A simple and efficient method is investigated and realized using an FPGA for reducing the errors. The detection and correction is based on redundant encoder measurements. The method suggested relies on the fact that the wheel slippage or terrain irregularities cause more count readings from the encoder than what corresponds to the actual distance travelled by the vehicle.The application of encoded Digital Infrared Sheet of Light Beacon (DISLiB) system can be extended to intelligent control of the public transportation system. The system is capable of receiving traffic status input through a GSM (Global System Mobile) modem. The vehicles have infrared receivers and processors capable of decoding the information, and generating the audio and video messages to assist the driver. The thesis further examines the usefulness of the technique to assist the movement of differently-able (blind) persons in indoor or outdoor premises of his residence.The work addressed in this thesis suggests a new way forward in the development of autonomous robotics and guidance systems. However, this work can be easily extended to many other challenging domains, as well.

Slot-Loaded Compact Microstrip Antenna for Dual-Frequency Operation

Dual frequency operation is achieved from a compact microstrip antenna by loading a pair of narrow slots close to its radiating edges. The two frequencies have parallel polarization planes and similar radiation characteristics. The ratio between the two operating frequencies can be tuned in the range (1.14-1. 24), which is much smaller than that of similar designs. The above excellent radiation characteristics are achieved along with an area reduction of - 75% compared to the standard rectangular patch

Slot coupled sqaure microstrip antenna for compact dual-frequency operation

A novel dual frequency design of a square microstrip antenna coaxially fed along the diagonal with a chip capacitor mounted at the bottom of the stub is introduced. This design provides enhanced area reduction and good cross-polarization levels. The antenna design can be used as a compact antenna system where limited size is a major requirement. The details of the antenna design and experimental results are presented

Compact Microstrip Slot Antenna for Broadband Operation

An arrow-shaped microstrip antenna with a pair of narrow slots embedded near the non-radiating edges gives wide impedance bandwidth. The experimental and simulated (!E3D) results show that antenna bandwidth is -3.5 times that of a conventional patch with the added advantage of reduced antenna size. The radiation characteristics are found to he uniform throughout the operating band

Integrated internal PIFA for UMTS operation of clamshell mobile phones

novel design of at internal PIFA integrated with an RF-shielding metal case for application in a clamshell or fielder-tvpe mobile phone is presented. The integrated PIFA has a bent and tapered radiating arm in order to easily fit in the casing of the clamshell mobile phone as an internal antenna. The integrated PlEA can also provide a wide operating bandwidth fir UM7S (1920-2170 MHz) operation. In addition, for the clamshell mobile phone in either the talk or standby condition, only a small effect on the operating bandwidth of the integrated PIFA is obtained. The experimental results of the proposed design are presented

Circular microstrip antenna with a sector-slot for dual-port operation

Design of a dual-port circular patch antenna with a sector-slot for dual-frequency operation is presented. The antenna resonates at two distinct frequencies with orthogonal polarizations and broad radiation characteristics. Unlike the conventional circular patch, this antenna can be microstrip-fed to operate at either of the resonances. The two polarizations can be simultaneously excited using two electromagnetically coupled ports with an isolation better than −30 dB between the ports. This antenna has the added advantage of size reduction of 44% compared to the conventional circular patch without any reduction in gain.

Planning And Operation Problems Of Indian Major Ports With Special Emphasis On Cochin Port

Rapid changes in the technological environment of marine logistics and the increasing integration of waterborne, air and land transport systems have fostered a revolution in the design and operations of transport vehicles, cargo handling technology, and terminal facilities. This in turn has caused major changes in the functions of and uses of ports. From literature, it was found that these changes were very slow in case of Indian ports and the performances of port operations were poor when compared with similar ports in the same region. It was also found that a very few studies were conducted to identify the reasons for slow improvements in the performances of Indian major ports. In this thesis, an attempt is made to find out the operational problems of Indian major ports and to analyze the reasons for it. Some solutions have also been found out using management tools