Experimental Modeling and Control Strategies on an Open Mobile Robot Platform PRIM

This research work deals with the problem of modeling and design of low level speed controller for the mobile robot PRIM. The main objective is to develop an effective educational tool. On one hand, the interests in using the open mobile platform PRIM consist in integrating several highly related subjects to the automatic control theory in an educational context, by embracing the subjects of communications, signal processing, sensor fusion and hardware design, amongst others. On the other hand, the idea is to implement useful navigation strategies such that the robot can be served as a mobile multimedia information point. It is in this context, when navigation strategies are oriented to goal achievement, that a local model predictive control is attained. Hence, such studies are presented as a very interesting control strategy in order to develop the future capabilities of the system

Local model predictive control experiences with differential driven wheeled mobile robots

This work extends a previously developed research concerning about the use of local model predictive control in differential driven mobile robots. Hence, experimental results are presented as a way to improve the methodology by considering aspects as trajectory accuracy and time performance. In this sense, the cost function and the prediction horizon are important aspects to be considered. The aim of the present work is to test the control method by measuring trajectory tracking accuracy and time performance. Moreover, strategies for the integration with perception system and path planning are briefly introduced. In this sense, monocular image data can be used to plan safety trajectories by using goal attraction potential fields

Mission control system for dam inspection with an AUV

This paper presents a complete control architecture that has been designed to fulfill predefined missions with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The control architecture has three levels of control: mission level, task level and vehicle level. The novelty of the work resides in the mission level, which is built with a Petri network that defines the sequence of tasks that are executed depending on the unpredictable situations that may occur. The task control system is composed of a set of active behaviours and a coordinator that selects the most appropriate vehicle action at each moment. The paper focuses on the design of the mission controller and its interaction with the task controller. Simulations, inspired on an industrial underwater inspection of a dam grate, show the effectiveness of the control architecture

On AUV control architecture

This paper surveys control architectures proposed in the literature and describes a control architecture that is being developed for a semi-autonomous underwater vehicle for intervention missions (SAUVIM) at the University of Hawaii. Conceived as hybrid, this architecture has been organized in three layers: planning, control and execution. The mission is planned with a sequence of subgoals. Each subgoal has a related task supervisor responsible for arranging a set of pre-programmed task modules in order to achieve the subgoal. Task modules are the key concept of the architecture. They are the main building blocks and can be dynamically re-arranged by the task supervisor. In our architecture, deliberation takes place at the planning layer while reaction is dealt through the parallel execution of the task modules. Hence, the system presents both a hierarchical and an heterarchical decomposition, being able to show a predictable response while keeping rapid reactivity to the dynamic environment

A Gain Scheduling Model Predictive Controller for Blood Glucose Control in Type 1 Diabetes

This paper presents a control strategy for blood glucose(BG) level regulation in type 1 diabetic patients. To design the controller, model-based predictive control scheme has been applied to a newly developed diabetic patient model. The controller is provided with a feedforward loop to improve meal compensation, a gain-scheduling scheme to account for different BG levels, and an asymmetric cost function to reduce hypoglycemic risk. A simulation environment that has been approved for testing of artificial pancreas control algorithms has been used to test the controller. The simulation results show a good controller performance in fasting conditions and meal disturbance rejection, and robustness against model–patient mismatch and errors in meal estimation

Quantified set inversion with applications to control

This paper describes a new reliable method, based on modal interval analysis (MIA) and set inversion (SI) techniques, for the characterization of solution sets defined by quantified constraints satisfaction problems (QCSP) over continuous domains. The presented methodology, called quantified set inversion (QSI), can be used over a wide range of engineering problems involving uncertain nonlinear models. Finally, an application on parameter identification is presented

Identification and Semiactive Control of Smart Structures Equipped with Magnetorheological Actuators

This paper deals with the problem of identification and semiactive control of smart structures subject to unknown external disturbances such as earthquake, wind, etc. The experimental setup used is a 6-story test structure equipped with shear-mode semiactive magnetorheological actuators being installed in WUSCEEL. The experimental results obtained have verified the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithms

Decentralized model reference control of flexible cable-stayed beam structures

A decentralized model reference controller is designed to reduce the magnitude of the transversal vibration of a flexible cable-stayed beam structure induced by a seismic excitation. The controller design is made based on the principle of sliding mode such that a priori knowledge

Semiactive backstepping control for vibration attenuation in structures equipped with magnetorheological actuatorscat

This paper deals with the problem of semiactive vibration control of civil engineering structures subject to unknown external disturbances (for example, earthquakes, winds, etc.). Two kinds of semiactive controllers are proposed based on the backstepping control technique. The experimental setup used is a 6-story test structure equipped with shear-mode semiactive magnetorheological dampers being installed in the Washington University Structural Control and Earthquake Engineering Laboratory (WUSCEEL). The experimental results obtained have verified the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithms

Studies about the atomic capabilities concept for linear control systems in physical multi-agent environments

This paper shows the impact of the atomic capabilities concept to include control-oriented knowledge of linear control systems in the decisions making structure of physical agents. These agents operate in a real environment managing physical objects (e.g. their physical bodies) in coordinated tasks. This approach is presented using an introspective reasoning approach and control theory based on the specific tasks of passing a ball and executing the offside manoeuvre between physical agents in the robotic soccer testbed. Experimental results and conclusions are presented, emphasising the advantages of our approach that improve the multi-agent performance in cooperative systems

Predictive motion control of a mirosot mobile robot

This paper discusses predictive motion control of a MiRoSoT robot. The dynamic model of the robot is deduced by taking into account the whole process - robot, vision, control and transmission systems. Based on the obtained dynamic model, an integrated predictive control algorithm is proposed to position precisely with either stationary or moving obstacle avoidance. This objective is achieved automatically by introducing distant constraints into the open-loop optimization of control inputs. Simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of such control strategy for the deduced dynamic model

A mixed H2/H∞-based semiactive control for vibration mitigation in flexible structures

In this paper, we address this problem through the design of a semiactive controller based on the mixed H2/H∞ control theory. The vibrations caused by the seismic motions are mitigated by a semiactive damper installed in the bottom of the structure. It is meant by semiactive damper, a device that absorbs but cannot inject energy into the system. Sufficient conditions for the design of a desired control are given in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). A controller that guarantees asymptotic stability and a mixed H2/H∞ performance is then developed. An algorithm is proposed to handle the semiactive nature of the actuator. The performance of the controller is experimentally evaluated in a real-time hybrid testing facility that consists of a physical specimen (a small-scale magnetorheological damper) and a numerical model (a large-scale three-story building)

QFT control for vibration reduction in structures equipped with MR dampers

This short paper addresses the problem of designing a QFT (quantitative feedback theory) based controllers for the vibration reduction in a 6-story building structure equipped with shear-mode magnetorheological dampers. A new methodology is proposed for characterizing the nonlinear hysteretic behavior of the MR damper through the uncertainty template in the Nichols chart. The design procedure for QFT control design is briefly presented

Callejero Digital de Andalucía Unificado

El proyecto de Callejero Digital de Andalucía Unificado (CDAU) tiene como objetivo la coordinación de iniciativas, hasta ahora divergentes, para la construcción y el mantenimiento continuo de un callejero digital único. La Junta de Andalucía lidera este proyecto en el que actualmente participan Cartociudad, las 8 diputaciones provinciales y el Ayuntamiento de Sevilla. Uno de los principales retos del proyecto es involucrar a la administración local en el mantenimiento del callejero digital. Los ayuntamientos, como órgano más cercano al territorio, son los más capacitados para detectar los cambios en vías y portales. Para la consecución de este objetivo se estructura, por un lado, un programa encaminado a consolidar una firme comunidad de usuarios que se beneficie de todas las ventajas que brinda un callejero digital. Sólo a través de esta motivación se conseguirá la participación en el proyecto. Por otro lado, se proveerá a los ayuntamientos de una aplicación Web para el mantenimiento del callejero digital. Esta aplicación permite a un ayuntamiento conectarse al sistema de la Junta de Andalucía y remitir cambios de vías y portales sustituyendo radicalmente el concepto de edición SIG tradicional. La aplicación permite que una persona, no necesariamente experta en Sistemas de Información Geográfica, sea capaz de remitir cambios en el callejero digital mediante mecanismos agiles y simplificados. El sistema, de una forma totalmente transparente al usuario, mantiene de forma automática el siempre complejo tramificado de vías y el registro histórico de las mismas. El sistema está construido en su totalidad con componentes de Software Libre (Postgis, GeoTools, GeoServer y OpenLayers) Actualmente 16 ayuntamientos mantienen la información geográfica a través de este sistema y el objetivo es que en el 2014 la totalidad de municipios mantenga el callejero digital unificado, con aportaciones de distintas consejerías, las diputaciones provinciales y el propio ciudadano

Cartociudad apuesta por el Software Libre

CartoCiudad es una base de datos de red viaria, cartografía urbana einformación censal y postal generada a partir de datos de organismos oficiales de toda España que permite la localización de direcciones y el cálculo de rutas y áreas de influencia. El Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), junto con las comunidades autónomas con las que se han firmado convenios de colaboración, es el encargado de integrar información procedente de la Dirección General del Catastro, del Instituto Nacional de Estadística, de la Sociedad Estatal de Correos y Telégrafos y de los organismos cartográficos de las comunidades autónomas con información procedente de sus bases de datos para formar CartoCiudad. Desde el principio del proyecto ha existido un especial interés en la utilización de software libre de Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG). Así lo demuestra la utilización de herramientas libres de código abierto para la publicación de los servicios web estándar de CartoCiudad: WMS utilizando GeoServer, WFS empleando Deegree, WPS utilizando 52º North y WMS-C con TileCache, todos ellos desplegados en servidores Apache y Apache Tomcat. Después de varios años utilizando las mismas herramientas de control de calidad y debido al cambio del modelo de datos en respuesta a las necesidades de los usuarios, se está trabajando en una nueva herramienta de edición y control de calidad de CartoCiudad sobre gvSIG en colaboración con proDEVELOP. Esto supone una actualización de la metodología de producción en CartoCiudad aprovechando el dinamismo y la flexibilidad de las soluciones de código abierto. Por último, se están analizando las ventajas e inconvenientes de migrar el repositorio de datos de CartoCiudad desde una base de datos Oracle (Spatial) a una PostgreSQL (PostGIS) en combinación con el módulo pgRouting, con el objetivo de contar con las mismas funcionalidades de las que se dispone en la actualidad