Mini-micro unmanned aerial vehicle intelligence: a threat to land vehicles

Increasing use of commercial off-the-shelf Mini-Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MAV) systems with enhanced intelligence methodologies can potentially be a threat, if this technology falls into the wrong hands. In this study, we investigate the level of threat imposed on critical infrastructure using different MAV swarm artificial intelligence traits and coordination methodologies. The critical infrastructure in consideration is a moving commercial land vehicle that may be transporting for example an important civil servant or politician. Non-dimensional fitness functions used for measuring MAV mission effectiveness have been established for the case studies considered in this paper. The findings indicated that increased in intelligent and coordination level elevate teams' efficiency, therefore poses a higher degree of threat to targeted land vehicle. Observations from the study have suggested that memory-based cooperative technique provides a consistent efficiency compared to other methods for the mission objectives considered in this paper. © 2014 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.

Assessing students’ experiences in a virtual learning environment

CONTEXTTechnology has played an important role in the provision of educational equity for learners inAustralian communities. Engaging off-campus students through technology resources is vital for avirtual learning environment in engineering education. To ensure a positive experience for thestudents in off-campus (virtual) learning, the use of modern technology is crucial for collaborative andactive learning.PURPOSEDesign based education is a combination of project based and problem based approaches. Throughsmall or big projects, students work in teams with combinations of off-campus and on-campusstudents. Integration of technology resources takes place within these groups through collaborativelearning and active learning. Even though the facilities and technology support are provided for offcampusstudents, there is always a gap in fulfilling the off-campus students’ learning expectations in avirtual learning environment. Technology plays an important role in providing student engagement insolving design problems, which is a need for the distance learner community in future. The purpose ofthis study is to evaluate students’ experiences on the use of technology in learning and teaching,which is delivered in off-campus mode.APPROACHThe cohorts of students involved in this online survey are from first year undergraduate engineering inTrimester 2, 2016. The online survey analysis of students’ perceptions will help teaching staff to betterunderstand and assess off-campus students’ experiences, challenges and barriers in a virtual learningenvironment.RESULTSThe distance learners’ experiences are analysed from an online survey. This online survey analysesthe students’ experiences on use of technology and how it supports and enhances students learning indistance mode. It also analyses the student learning experiences on project/design-based learningapproach in engineering. In this particular unit (Electrical Systems), students work in teams of 2-3 onlab work and other assignments. The analysed results also discuss the students’ perceptions onteamwork, communication, interaction and assessment.CONCLUSIONSThe aim of the engineering curriculum is to provide learning and teaching support equally for both oncampusand off-campus students. From the analysed survey results, this study reveals that the use oftechnology plays a vital role in students learning from availability and accessibility of materials toassessment methods, lab tutorials, and online seminars. In a project/design based learningcurriculum, the distance learners have an equal opportunity to enhance the learning skills as the oncampusstudents experience in a study environment.

"Tomorrow's car" : Deakin Universities new cross vehicle that combines the best of 2 worlds

Motorbike riders are 34-times more likely to die in a crash compared to car drivers per km travelled (1). Such safety risks together with special skill requirements for the driver and much lower comfort compared to normal cars are the main reasons why motorbikes represent only a fraction of all vehicle sales in developed countries. Deakin University is developing a revolutionary cross-over fun vehicle with ultra low fuel consumption and emissions. This new vehicle generation combines the best of two worlds: the fun to drive, low cost, and small size of a scooter together with the safety, comfort and easiness to operate of a car. The result is a vehicle that is more fuel efficient than most cars or even scooters.

Various tilting cross over vehicles have been presented over the last decade that were trying to automate the tilting control of narrow vehicles to make them safer. Examples of these concepts are the Carver, Clever and in some way also the MP3 scooter from Piaggio. The problem with fully enclosed concepts like the Carver or Clever is that they require very complex and therefore also expensive tilting control systems so that the vehicles are not price competitive compared to low cost micro cars or even normal small cars. The MP3 on the other hand comes with a tilting control system which is only semi automatic so that typical car advantages - comprehensive safety features like crush zones, roll over protection, air bags, safety belts or comfort features like full weather protection including heating and cooling – can not be provided.

Deakin’s approach is quite different to the above mentioned concepts. The requirements were derived based on two different investigations: The first step was a critical evaluation of social trends and the second step was an in-depth benchmarking study of existing concepts which identified the typical strengths and weaknesses of these concepts. In a critical next step a new concept was created that addresses most of the weaknesses of existing tilting three-wheelers in a holistic approach by setting clear priority rankings for the vehicle targets, based on current trends. The priorities were set in the following order: Safety, Affordability, Fun and Efficiency (SAFE).

The key feature that enables an enclosed tilting vehicle is a fully automatic tilting control system. With an automatic tilting control system the driver does not need to put the feet on the ground to balance the vehicle when he stops, so the vehicle can be built with a full enclosure. This allows the implementation of typical car like safety features (seat belts, roll over structure, crush zones, air bags). The SafeRide™ tilting control system is a passive system that involves the driver’s balancing sense in its feedback control system. The vehicle has typical scooter like steering characteristics, where the steering is initiated through countersteering. Another safety critical design feature is the crush zone between the two front wheels which is not possible with only one front wheel or with the powertrain positioned between the front wheels, as the powertrain can’t absorb a lot of energy due to its structural stiffness and density. The passive tilting control system is quite simple and therefore makes the vehicle very affordable, an important factor for successful commercialisation.

Another advantage of integrating the human balancing senses in the feedback control of the tilting system is that the system kicks in slightly after the human balancing reacts. In some instances that can generate the typical adrenalin thrill known from riding a bike. This fun factor is quite common with many trend sports like mountain biking, surfing, roller-skating, snowboarding, or skateboarding. Some of these sports have seen very rapid growth only a short time after they have been invented. Utilising the human balancing system during driving also makes the vehicle safer as the adrenalin is produced after reaching a semi-stable driving condition that is controlled by the vehicles tilting control system, but before the vehicle reaches an unstable driving condition that can not be controlled by the vehicle but only (eventually) by the driver – if he has got the required driving skill and if he is alert enough.

Efficiency superior to most cars and scooters is achieved by the aerodynamics of a fully enclosed body structure in combination with the small frontal area of a typical scooter and the droplet shape enabled by the relatively wide front with 2 wheels and the very narrow tail with only one rear wheel. The passive tilting system also contributes to the extreme efficiency as the system only draws some small electrical power for the electronic control unit. Another feature is a low cost exhaust energy recovery system which is discussed in another paper.

Nonlinear controller design for vehicle-to-grid systems with output LCL filters

This paper presents a nonlinear controller design for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems with LCL output filters. The V2G systems are modeled with LCL output filters in order to eliminate harmonics for improving power qualities and the nonlinear controller is designed based on the feedback linearization. The feasibility of using the appropriate feedback linearization approaches, either partial or exact, is also investigated through the feedback linearizability of V2G systems. In this paper, partial feedback linearization is used to design the controller with a capability of sharing both active and reactive power in V2G systems. The performance of the proposed controller controller is evaluated on a single-phase full-bridge converter-based V2G system with an LCL output filter and compared to that of without any filter. Simulation results clearly demonstrate the harmonic elimination capabilities of the proposed V2G structure with the proposed control scheme.

Static output feedback frequency stabilization of time-delay power systems with coordinated electric vehicles state of charge control

In this paper, for the first time, electric vehicles are used for both the primary and secondary frequency controls to support power plants to rapidly suppress fluctuations in the system frequency due to load disturbances. Via networked control and wide-area communication infrastructures, multiple interval time-varying delays exist in the communication channels between the control center, power plant, and an aggregation of electric vehicles. By coordinating batteries’ state of charge control, the behaviors of the vehicle owners and the uncertainties imposed by the changes of the batteries’ state of charge are taken intoconsideration. A power system model incorporating multiple time-varying delays and uncertainties is first proposed. Then, a robust static output feedback frequency controller is designed to guarantee the resulting closed-loop system stable with an H∞ attenuation level. By utilizing a novel integral inequality, namely refined-Jensen inequality, and an improved reciprocally convex combination, the design conditions are formulated in terms of tractable linear matrix inequalities which can be efficiently solved by various computational tools. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified by extensive simulations.