NetCDF based data archiving system applied to ITER Fast Plant System Control prototype

EURATOM/CIEMAT and Technical University of Madrid (UPM) have been involved in the development of a FPSC [1] (Fast Plant System Control) prototype for ITER, based on PXIe (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation). One of the main focuses of this project has been data acquisition and all the related issues, including scientific data archiving. Additionally, a new data archiving solution has been developed to demonstrate the obtainable performances and possible bottlenecks of scientific data archiving in Fast Plant System Control. The presented system implements a fault tolerant architecture over a GEthernet network where FPSC data are reliably archived on remote, while remaining accessible to be redistributed, within the duration of a pulse. The storing service is supported by a clustering solution to guaranty scalability, so that FPSC management and configuration may be simplified, and a unique view of all archived data provided. All the involved components have been integrated under EPICS [2] (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System), implementing in each case the necessary extensions, state machines and configuration process variables. The prototyped solution is based on the NetCDF-4 [3] and [4] (Network Common Data Format) file format in order to incorporate important features, such as scientific data models support, huge size files management, platform independent codification, or single-writer/multiple-readers concurrency. In this contribution, a complete description of the above mentioned solution is presented, together with the most relevant results of the tests performed, while focusing in the benefits and limitations of the applied technologies.

Simulation of AC, DC, and AC-DC coupled mini-grids. In search of the most efficient system

Renewable energy hybrid systems and mini-grids for electrification of rural areas are known to be reliable and more cost efficient than grid extension or only-diesel based systems. However, there is still some uncertainty in some areas, for example, which is the most efficient way of coupling hybrid systems: AC, DC or AC-DC? With the use of Matlab/Simulink a mini-grid that connects a school, a small hospital and an ecotourism hostel has been modelled. This same mini grid has been coupled in the different possible ways and the system’s efficiency has been studied. In addition, while keeping the consumption constant, the generation sources and the consumption profile have been modified and the effect on the efficiency under each configuration has also been analysed. Finally different weather profiles have been introduced and, again, the effect on the efficiency of each system has been observed.

Structural health monitoring network system with wireless communications inside closed aerospace structures

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) requires integrated "all in one" electronic devices capable of performing analysis of structural integrity and on-board damage detection in aircraft?s structures. PAMELA III (Phased Array Monitoring for Enhanced Life Assessment, version III) SHM embedded system is an example of this device type. This equipment is capable of generating excitation signals to be applied to an array of integrated piezoelectric Phased Array (PhA) transducers stuck to aircraft structure, acquiring the response signals, and carrying out the advanced signal processing to obtain SHM maps. PAMELA III is connected with a host computer in order to receive the configuration parameters and sending the obtained SHM maps, alarms and so on. This host can communicate with PAMELA III through an Ethernet interface. To avoid the use of wires where necessary, it is possible to add Wi-Fi capabilities to PAMELA III, connecting a Wi-Fi node working as a bridge, and to establish a wireless communication between PAMELA III and the host. However, in a real aircraft scenario, several PAMELA III devices must work together inside closed structures. In this situation, it is not possible for all PAMELA III devices to establish a wireless communication directly with the host, due to the signal attenuation caused by the different obstacles of the aircraft structure. To provide communication among all PAMELA III devices and the host, a wireless mesh network (WMN) system has been implemented inside a closed aluminum wingbox. In a WMN, as long as a node is connected to at least one other node, it will have full connectivity to the entire network because each mesh node forwards packets to other nodes in the network as required. Mesh protocols automatically determine the best route through the network and can dynamically reconfigure the network if a link drops out. The advantages and disadvantages on the use of a wireless mesh network system inside closed aerospace structures are discussed.

Unattended motion detection system based on the mammalian retina

Sensing systems in living bodies offer a large variety of possible different configurations and philosophies able to be emulated in artificial sensing systems. Motion detection is one of the areas where different animals adopt different solutions and, in most of the cases, these solutions reflect a very sophisticated form. One of them, the mammalian visual system, presents several advantages with respect to the artificial ones. The main objective of this paper is to present a system, based on this biological structure, able to detect motion, its sense and its characteristics. The configuration adopted responds to the internal structure of the mammalian retina, where just five types of cells arranged in five layers are able to differentiate a large number of characteristics of the image impinging onto it. Its main advantage is that the detection of these properties is based purely on its hardware. A simple unit, based in a previous optical logic cell employed in optical computing, is the basis for emulating the different behaviors of the biological neurons. No software is present and, in this way, no possible interference from outside affects to the final behavior. This type of structure is able to work, once the internal configuration is implemented, without any further attention. Different possibilities are present in the architecture to be presented: detection of motion, of its direction and intensity. Moreover, some other characteristics, as symmetry may be obtained.

Design techniques for xilinx virtex FPGA configuration memory scrubbers

SRAM-based FPGAs are in-field reconfigurable an unlimited number of times. This characteristic, together with their high performance and high logic density, proves to be very convenient for a number of ground and space level applications. One drawback of this technology is that it is susceptible to ionizing radiation, and this sensitivity increases with technology scaling. This is a first order concern for applications in harsh radiation environments, and starts to be a concern for high reliability ground applications. Several techniques exist for coping with radiation effects at user application. In order to be effective they need to be complemented with configuration memory scrubbing, which allows error mitigation and prevents failures due to error accumulation. Depending on the radiation environment and on the system dependability requirements, the configuration scrubber design can become more or less complex. This paper classifies and presents current and novel design methodologies and architectures for SRAM-based FPGAs, and in particular for Xilinx Virtex-4QV/5QV, configuration memory scrubbers.

A Knowledge Model for Automatic Configuration of Traffic Messages

This paper describes a knowledge model for a configuration problem in the do-main of traffic control. The goal of this model is to help traffic engineers in the dynamic selection of a set of messages to be presented to drivers on variable message signals. This selection is done in a real-time context using data recorded by traffic detectors on motorways. The system follows an advanced knowledge-based solution that implements two abstract problem solving methods according to a model-based approach recently proposed in the knowledge engineering field. Finally, the paper presents a discussion about the advantages and drawbacks found for this problem as a consequence of the applied knowledge modeling ap-proach.

A Propose-and-revise System for Real-time Traffic Management

The aim of this paper is to describe an intelligent system for the problem of real time road traffic control. The purpose of the system is to help traffic engineers in the selection of the state of traffic control devices on real time, using data recorded by traffic detectors on motorways. The system follows an advanced knowledge-based approach that implements an abstract generic problem solving method, called propose-and-revise, which was proposed in Artificial Intelligence, within the knowledge engineering field, as a standard cognitive structure oriented to solve configuration design problems. The paper presents the knowledge model of such a system together with the strategy of inference and describes how it was applied for the case of the M-40 urban ring for the city of Madrid.

Advanced system of planning and organization of classes at the university

This document is the result of a process of web development to create a tool that will allow to Cracow University of Technology consult, create and manage timetables. The technologies chosen for this purpose are Apache Tomcat Server, My SQL Community Server, JDBC driver, Java Servlets and JSPs for the server side. The client part counts on Javascript, jQuery, AJAX and CSS technologies to perform the dynamism. The document will justify the choice of these technologies and will explain some development tools that help in the integration and development of all this elements: specifically, NetBeans IDE and MySQL workbench have been used as helpful tools. After explaining all the elements involved in the development of the web application, the architecture and the code developed are explained through UML diagrams. Some implementation details related to security are also deeper explained through sequence diagrams. As the source code of the application is provided, an installation manual has been developed to run the project. In addition, as the platform is intended to be a beta that will be grown, some unimplemented ideas for future development are also exposed. Finally, some annexes with important files and scripts related to the initiation of the platform are attached. This project started through an existing tool that needed to be expanded. The main purpose of the project along its development has focused on setting the roots for a whole new platform that will replace the existing one. For this goal, it has been needed to make a deep inspection on the existing web technologies: a web server and a SQL database had to be chosen. Although the alternatives were a lot, Java technology for the server was finally selected because of the big community backwards, the easiness of modelling the language through UML diagrams and the fact of being free license software. Apache Tomcat is the open source server that can use Java Servlet and JSP technology. Related to the SQL database, MySQL Community Server is the most popular open-source SQL Server, with a big community after and quite a lot of tools to manage the server. JDBC is the driver needed to put in contact Java and MySQL. Once we chose the technologies that would be part of the platform, the development process started. After a detailed explanation of the development environment installation, we used UML use case diagrams to set the main tasks of the platform; UML class diagrams served to establish the existing relations between the classes generated; the architecture of the platform was represented through UML deployment diagrams; and Enhanced entity–relationship (EER) model were used to define the tables of the database and their relationships. Apart from the previous diagrams, some implementation issues were explained to make a better understanding of the developed code - UML sequence diagrams helped to explain this. Once the whole platform was properly defined and developed, the performance of the application has been shown: it has been proved that with the current state of the code, the platform covers the use cases that were set as the main target. Nevertheless, some requisites needed for the proper working of the platform have been specified. As the project is aimed to be grown, some ideas that could not be added to this beta have been explained in order not to be missed for future development. Finally, some annexes containing important configuration issues for the platform have been added after proper explanation, as well as an installation guide that will let a new developer get the project ready. In addition to this document some other files related to the project are provided: - Javadoc. The Javadoc containing the information of every Java class created is necessary for a better understanding of the source code. - database_model.mwb. This file contains the model of the database for MySQL Workbench. This model allows, among other things, generate the MySQL script for the creation of the tables. - ScheduleManager.war. The WAR file that will allow loading the developed application into Tomcat Server without using NetBeans. - ScheduleManager.zip. The source code exported from NetBeans project containing all Java packages, JSPs, Javascript files and CSS files that are part of the platform. - config.properties. The configuration file to properly get the names and credentials to use the database, also explained in Annex II. Example of config.properties file. - db_init_script.sql. The SQL query to initiate the database explained in Annex III. SQL statements for MySQL initialization. RESUMEN. Este proyecto tiene como punto de partida la necesidad de evolución de una herramienta web existente. El propósito principal del proyecto durante su desarrollo se ha centrado en establecer las bases de una completamente nueva plataforma que reemplazará a la existente. Para lograr esto, ha sido necesario realizar una profunda inspección en las tecnologías web existentes: un servidor web y una base de datos SQL debían ser elegidos. Aunque existen muchas alternativas, la tecnología Java ha resultado ser elegida debido a la gran comunidad de desarrolladores que tiene detrás, además de la facilidad que proporciona este lenguaje a la hora de modelarlo usando diagramas UML. Tampoco hay que olvidar que es una tecnología de uso libre de licencia. Apache Tomcat es el servidor de código libre que permite emplear Java Servlets y JSPs para hacer uso de la tecnología de Java. Respecto a la base de datos SQL, el servidor más popular de código libre es MySQL, y cuenta también con una gran comunidad detrás y buenas herramientas de modelado, creación y gestión de la bases de datos. JDBC es el driver que va a permitir comunicar las aplicaciones Java con MySQL. Tras elegir las tecnologías que formarían parte de esta nueva plataforma, el proceso de desarrollo tiene comienzo. Tras una extensa explicación de la instalación del entorno de desarrollo, se han usado diagramas de caso de UML para establecer cuáles son los objetivos principales de la plataforma; los diagramas de clases nos permiten realizar una organización del código java desarrollado de modo que sean fácilmente entendibles las relaciones entre las diferentes clases. La arquitectura de la plataforma queda definida a través de diagramas de despliegue. Por último, diagramas EER van a definir las relaciones entre las tablas creadas en la base de datos. Aparte de estos diagramas, algunos detalles de implementación se van a justificar para tener una mejor comprensión del código desarrollado. Diagramas de secuencia ayudarán en estas explicaciones. Una vez que toda la plataforma haya quedad debidamente definida y desarrollada, se va a realizar una demostración de la misma: se demostrará cómo los objetivos generales han sido alcanzados con el desarrollo actual del proyecto. No obstante, algunos requisitos han sido aclarados para que la plataforma trabaje adecuadamente. Como la intención del proyecto es crecer (no es una versión final), algunas ideas que se han podido llevar acabo han quedado descritas de manera que no se pierdan. Por último, algunos anexos que contienen información importante acerca de la plataforma se han añadido tras la correspondiente explicación de su utilidad, así como una guía de instalación que va a permitir a un nuevo desarrollador tener el proyecto preparado. Junto a este documento, ficheros conteniendo el proyecto desarrollado quedan adjuntos. Estos ficheros son: - Documentación Javadoc. Contiene la información de las clases Java que han sido creadas. - database_model.mwb. Este fichero contiene el modelo de la base de datos para MySQL Workbench. Esto permite, entre otras cosas, generar el script de iniciación de la base de datos para la creación de las tablas. - ScheduleManager.war. El fichero WAR que permite desplegar la plataforma en un servidor Apache Tomcat. - ScheduleManager.zip. El código fuente exportado directamente del proyecto de Netbeans. Contiene todos los paquetes de Java generados, ficheros JSPs, Javascript y CSS que forman parte de la plataforma. - config.properties. Ejemplo del fichero de configuración que permite obtener los nombres de la base de datos - db_init_script.sql. Las consultas SQL necesarias para la creación de la base de datos.

Power-Aware Multi-Objective Evolvable Hardware System on an FPGA

Dynamic and Partial Reconfiguration (DPR) allows a system to be able to modify certain parts of itself during run-time. This feature gives rise to the capability of evolution: changing parts of the configuration according to the online evaluation of performance or other parameters. The evolution is achieved through a bio-inspired model in which the features of the system are identified as genes. The objective of the evolution may not be a single one; in this work, power consumption is taken into consideration, together with the quality of filtering, as the measure of performance, of a noisy image. Pareto optimality is applied to the evolutionary process, in order to find a representative set of optimal solutions as for performance and power consumption. The main contributions of this paper are: implementing an evolvable system on a low-power Spartan-6 FPGA included in a Wireless Sensor Network node and, by enabling the availability of a real measure of power consumption at run-time, achieving the capability of multi-objective evolution, that yields different optimal configurations, among which the selected one will depend on the relative “weights” of performance and power consumption.

GTH-UPM system for search on speech evaluation

This paper describes the GTH-UPM system for the Albayzin 2014 Search on Speech Evaluation. Teh evaluation task consists of searching a list of terms/queries in audio files. The GTH-UPM system we are presenting is based on a LVCSR (Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition) system. We have used MAVIR corpus and the Spanish partition of the EPPS (European Parliament Plenary Sessions) database for training both acoustic and language models. The main effort has been focused on lexicon preparation and text selection for the language model construction. The system makes use of different lexicon and language models depending on the task that is performed. For the best configuration of the system on the development set, we have obtained a FOM of 75.27 for the deyword spotting task.

CompactRIO: advanced data acquisition systems integration in CODAC Core System

Las herramientas de configuración basadas en lenguajes de alto nivel como LabVIEW permiten el desarrollo de sistemas de adquisición de datos basados en hardware reconfigurable FPGA muy complejos en un breve periodo de tiempo. La estandarización del ciclo de diseño hardware/software y la utilización de herramientas como EPICS facilita su integración con la plataforma de adquisición y control ITER CODAC CORE SYSTEM (CCS) basada en Linux. En este proyecto se propondrá una metodología que simplificará el ciclo completo de integración de plataformas novedosas, como cRIO, en las que el funcionamiento del hardware de adquisición puede ser modificado por el usuario para que éste se amolde a sus requisitos específicos. El objetivo principal de este proyecto fin de master es realizar la integración de un sistema cRIO NI9159 y diferentes módulos de E/S analógica y digital en EPICS y en CODAC CORE SYSTEM (CCS). Este último consiste en un conjunto de herramientas software que simplifican la integración de los sistemas de instrumentación y control del experimento ITER. Para cumplir el objetivo se realizarán las siguientes tareas: • Desarrollo de un sistema de adquisición de datos basado en FPGA con la plataforma hardware CompactRIO. En esta tarea se realizará la configuración del sistema y la implementación en LabVIEW para FPGA del hardware necesario para comunicarse con los módulos: NI9205, NI9264, NI9401.NI9477, NI9426, NI9425 y NI9476 • Implementación de un driver software utilizando la metodología de AsynDriver para integración del cRIO con EPICS. Esta tarea requiere definir todos los records necesarios que exige EPICS y crear las interfaces adecuadas que permitirán comunicarse con el hardware. • Implementar la descripción del sistema cRIO y del driver EPICS en el sistema de descripción de plantas de ITER llamado SDD. Esto automatiza la creación de las aplicaciones de EPICS que se denominan IOCs. SUMMARY The configuration tools based in high-level programing languages like LabVIEW allows the development of high complex data acquisition systems based on reconfigurable hardware FPGA in a short time period. The standardization of the hardware/software design cycle and the use of tools like EPICS ease the integration with the data acquisition and control platform of ITER, the CODAC Core System based on Linux. In this project a methodology is proposed in order to simplify the full integration cycle of new platforms like CompactRIO (cRIO), in which the data acquisition functionality can be reconfigured by the user to fits its concrete requirements. The main objective of this MSc final project is to develop the integration of a cRIO NI-9159 and its different analog and digital Input/Output modules with EPICS in a CCS. The CCS consists of a set of software tools that simplifies the integration of instrumentation and control systems in the International Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER) experiment. To achieve such goal the following tasks are carried out: • Development of a DAQ system based on FPGA using the cRIO hardware platform. This task comprehends the configuration of the system and the implementation of the mandatory hardware to communicate to the I/O adapter modules NI9205, NI9264, NI9401, NI9477, NI9426, NI9425 y NI9476 using LabVIEW for FPGA. • Implementation of a software driver using the asynDriver methodology to integrate such cRIO system with EPICS. This task requires the definition of the necessary EPICS records and the creation of the appropriate interfaces that allow the communication with the hardware. • Develop the cRIO system’s description and the EPICS driver in the ITER plant description tool named SDD. This development will automate the creation of EPICS applications, called IOCs.

Analysis of air flow past and through the 2415-3S airfoil for an unmanned aerial vehicle with internal propulsion system

This paper deals with the prediction of velocity fields on the 2415-3S airfoil which will be used for an unmanned aerial vehicle with internal propulsion system and in this way analyze the air flow through an internal duct of the airfoil using computational fluid dynamics. The main objective is to evaluate the effect of the internal air flow past the airfoil and how this affects the aerodynamic performance by means of lift and drag forces. For this purpose, three different designs of the internal duct were studied; starting from the base 2415-3S airfoil developed in previous investigation, basing on the hypothesis of decreasing the flow separation produced when the propulsive airflow merges the external flow, and in this way obtaining the best configuration. For that purpose, an exhaustive study of the mesh sensitivity was performed. It was used a non-structured mesh since the computational domain is three-dimensional and complex. The selected mesh contains approximately 12.5 million elements. Both the computational domain and the numerical solution were made with commercial CAD and CFD software, respectively. Air, incompressible and steady was analyzed. The boundary conditions are in concordance with experimental setup in the AF 6109 wind tunnel. The k-e model is utilized to describe the turbulent flow process as followed in references. Results allowed obtaining velocity contours as well as lift and drag coefficients and also the location of separation and reattachment regions in some cases for zero degrees of angle of attack on the internal and external surfaces of the airfoil. Finally, the selection of the configuration with the best aerodynamic performance was made, selecting the option without curved baffles.

Numerical analysis of air flow past the 2415-3S airfoil for an unmanned aerial vehicle with internal propulsion system

This paper deals with the prediction of pressure and velocity fields on the 2415-3S airfoil which will be used for and unmanned aerial vehicle with internal propulsion system and in this way analyze the air flow through an internal duct of the airfoil using computational fluid dynamics. The main objective is to evaluate the effect of the internal air flow past the airfoil and how this affects the aerodynamic performance by means of lift and drag forces. For this purpose, three different designs of the internal duct were studied; starting from the base 2415-3S airfoil developed in previous investigation, basing on the hypothesis of decreasing the flow separation produced when the propulsive airflow merges the external flow, and in this way obtaining the best configuration. For that purpose, an exhaustive study of the mesh sensitivity was performed. It was used a non-structured mesh since the computational domain is tridimensional and complex. The selected mesh contains approximately 12.5 million elements. Both the computational domain and the numerical solution were made with commercial CAD and CFD software respectively. Air, incompressible and steady was analyzed. The boundary conditions are in concordance with experimental setup in the AF 6109 wind tunnel. The k-ε model is utilized to describe the turbulent flow process as followed in references. Results allowed obtaining pressure and velocity contours as well as lift and drag coefficients and also the location of separation and reattachment regions in some cases for zero degrees of angle of attack on the internal and external surfaces of the airfoil. Finally, the selection of the configuration with the best aerodynamic performance was made, selecting the option without curved baffles.

Frequency control support of a wind-solar isolated system by a hydropower plant with long tail-race tunnel

Pumped storage hydro plants (PSHP) can provide adequate energy storage and frequency regulation capacities in isolated power systems having significant renewable energy resources. Due to its high wind and solar potential, several plans have been developed for La Palma Island in the Canary archipelago, aimed at increasing the penetration of these energy sources. In this paper, the performance of the frequency control of La Palma power system is assessed, when the demand is supplied by the available wind and solar generation with the support of a PSHP which has been predesigned for this purpose. The frequency regulation is provided exclusively by the PSHP. Due to topographic and environmental constraints, this plant has a long tail-race tunnel without a surge tank. In this configuration, the effects of pressure waves cannot be neglected and, therefore, usual recommendations for PID governor tuning provide poor performance. A PI governor tuning criterion is proposed for the hydro plant and compared with other criteria according to several performance indices. Several scenarios considering solar and wind energy penetration have been simulated to check the plant response using the proposed criterion. This tuning of the PI governor maintains La Palma system frequency within grid code requirements.

A meanfield approach to the thermodynamics of a protein-solvent system with application to the oligomerization of the tumor suppressor p53

The thermodynamic stability and oligomerization status of the tumor suppressor p53 tetramerization domain have been studied experimentally and theoretically. A series of hydrophilic mutations at Met-340 and Leu-344 of human p53 were designed to disrupt the hydrophobic dimer–dimer interface of the tetrameric oligomerization domain of p53 (residues 325–355). Meanfield calculations of the free energy of the solvated mutants as a function of interdimer distance were compared with experimental data on the thermal stability and oligomeric state (tetramer, dimer, or equilibrium mixture of both) of each mutant. The calculations predicted a decreasing stability and oligomeric state for the following amino acids at residue 340: Met (tetramer) > Ser Asp, His, Gln, > Glu, Lys (dimer), whereas the experimental results showed the following order: Met (tetramer) > Ser > Gln > His, Lys > Asp, Glu (dimers). For residue 344, the calculated trend was Leu (tetramer) > Ala > Arg, Gln, Lys (dimer), and the experimental trend was Leu (tetramer) > Ala, Arg, Gln, Lys (dimer). The discrepancy for the lysine side chain at residue 340 is attributed to the dual nature of lysine, both hydrophobic and charged. The incorrect prediction of stability of the mutant with Asp at residue 340 is attributed to the fact that within the meanfield approach, we use the wild-type backbone configuration for all mutants, but low melting temperatures suggest a softening of the α-helices at the dimer–dimer interface. Overall, this initial application of meanfield theory toward a protein-solvent system is encouraging for the application of the theoretical model to more complex systems.