A conceptual design of a wireless sensor actuator system for optimising energy and well-being in a building

This article presents a prototype model based on a wireless sensor actuator network (WSAN) aimed at optimizing both energy consumption of environmental systems and well-being of occupants in buildings. The model is a system consisting of the following components: a wireless sensor network, `sense diaries', environmental systems such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, and a central computer. A multi-agent system (MAS) is used to derive and act on the preferences of the occupants. Each occupant is represented by a personal agent in the MAS. The sense diary is a new device designed to elicit feedback from occupants about their satisfaction with the environment. The roles of the components are: the WSAN collects data about physical parameters such as temperature and humidity from an indoor environment; the central computer processes the collected data; the sense diaries leverage trade-offs between energy consumption and well-being, in conjunction with the agent system; and the environmental systems control the indoor environment.

Reach & grasp therapy: Design and control of a 9-DOF robotic neuro-rehabilitation system

This paper presents the Gentle/G integrated system for reach & grasp therapy retraining following brain injury. The design, control and integration of an experimental grasp assistance unit is described for use in robot assisted stroke rehabilitation. The grasp assist unit is intended to work with the hardware and software of the Gentle/S robot although the hardware could be adapted to other rehabilitation applications. When used with the Gentle/S robot a total of 6 active and 3 passive degrees of freedom are available to provide active, active assist or passive grasp retraining in combination with reaching movements in a reach-grasp-transfer-release sequence.

Design and evaluation of intelligent classifier based intrusion detection system

We have discovered a novel approach of intrusion detection system using an intelligent data classifier based on a self organizing map (SOM). We have surveyed all other unsupervised intrusion detection methods, different alternative SOM based techniques and KDD winner IDS methods. This paper provides a robust designed and implemented intelligent data classifier technique based on a single large size (30x30) self organizing map (SOM) having the capability to detect all types of attacks given in the DARPA Archive 1999 the lowest false positive rate being 0.04 % and higher detection rate being 99.73% tested using full KDD data sets and 89.54% comparable detection rate and 0.18% lowest false positive rate tested using corrected data sets.

Design, implementation and testing of an intelligent knowledge-based system for the supervisory control of a hot rolling mill

This paper describes the design, implementation and testing of an intelligent knowledge-based supervisory control (IKBSC) system for a hot rolling mill process. A novel architecture is used to integrate an expert system with an existing supervisory control system and a new optimization methodology for scheduling the soaking pits in which the material is heated prior to rolling. The resulting IKBSC system was applied to an aluminium hot rolling mill process to improve the shape quality of low-gauge plate and to optimise the use of the soaking pits to reduce energy consumption. The results from the trials demonstrate the advantages to be gained from the IKBSC system that integrates knowledge contained within data, plant and human resources with existing model-based systems. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design and development of a haptic dental training system - hapTEL

This paper presents a novel design of a virtual dental training system (hapTEL) using haptic technology. The system allows dental students to learn and practice procedures such as dental drilling, caries removal and cavity preparation for tooth restoration. This paper focuses on the hardware design, development and evaluation aspects in relation to the dental training and educational requirements. Detailed discussions on how the system offers dental students a natural operational position are documented. An innovative design of measuring and connecting the dental tools to the haptic device is also shown. Evaluation of the impact on teaching and learning is discussed.

Spectral design and verification of HIRDLS filters and antireflection coatings using an integrated system performance approach

The HIRDLS instrument contains 21 spectral channels spanning a wavelength range from 6 to 18mm. For each of these channels the spectral bandwidth and position are isolated by an interference bandpass filter at 301K placed at an intermediate focal plane of the instrument. A second filter cooled to 65K positioned at the same wavelength but designed with a wider bandwidth is placed directly in front of each cooled detector element to reduce stray radiation from internally reflected in-band signals, and to improve the out-of-band blocking. This paper describes the process of determining the spectral requirements for the two bandpass filters and the antireflection coatings used on the lenses and dewar window of the instrument. This process uses a system throughput performance approach taking the instrument spectral specification as a target. It takes into account the spectral characteristics of the transmissive optical materials, the relative spectral response of the detectors, thermal emission from the instrument, and the predicted atmospheric signal to determine the radiance profile for each channel. Using this design approach an optimal design for the filters can be achieved, minimising the number of layers to improve the in-band transmission and to aid manufacture. The use of this design method also permits the instrument spectral performance to be verified using the measured response from manufactured components. The spectral calculations for an example channel are discussed, together with the spreadsheet calculation method. All the contributions made by the spectrally active components to the resulting instrument channel throughput are identified and presented.

Power distribution network design aided by an expert system

The next couple of years will see the need for replacement of a large amount of life-expired switchgear on the UK 11 kV distribution system. Latest technology and alternative equipment have made the choice of replacement a complex task. The authors present an expert system as an aid to the decision process for the design of the 11 kV power distribution network.

Performance statistics of a head-operated force-reflecting rehabilitation robot system

Researchers in the rehabilitation engineering community have been designing and developing a variety of passive/active devices to help persons with limited upper extremity function to perform essential daily manipulations. Devices range from low-end tools such as head/mouth sticks to sophisticated robots using vision and speech input. While almost all of the high-end equipment developed to date relies on visual feedback alone to guide the user providing no tactile or proprioceptive cues, the “low-tech” head/mouth sticks deliver better “feel” because of the inherent force feedback through physical contact with the user's body. However, the disadvantage of a conventional head/mouth stick is that it can only function in a limited workspace and the performance is limited by the user's strength. It therefore seems reasonable to attempt to develop a system that exploits the advantages of the two approaches: the power and flexibility of robotic systems with the sensory feedback of a headstick. The system presented in this paper reflects the design philosophy stated above. This system contains a pair of master-slave robots with the master being operated by the user's head and the slave acting as a telestick. Described in this paper are the design, control strategies, implementation and performance evaluation of the head-controlled force-reflecting telestick system.

Design of an active arm support for assisting arm movements

In this paper we have explored areas of application for health care manipulators and possible user groups. We have shown the steps in the design approach to the conceptual mechanism from the AAS. The future work will be measurement from properties of the muscle with the elbow parameterization test-bed to get a database to design one part of the control area from the AAS. More work on the mechanical design is required before a functional prototype can be built.

A virtual head-stick rehabilitation robot system

For individuals with upper-extremity motor disabilities, the head-stick is a simple and intuitive means of performing manipulations because it provides direct proprioceptive information to the user. Through practice and use of inherent proprioceptive cues, users may become quite adept at using the head-stick for a number of different tasks. The traditional head-stick is limited, however, to the user's achievable range of head motion and force generation, which may be insufficient for many tasks. The authors describe an interface to a robot system which emulates the proprioceptive qualities of a traditional head-stick while also allowing for augmented end-effector ranges of force and motion. The design and implementation of the system in terms of coordinate transforms, bilateral telemanipulator architecture, safety systems, and system identification of the master is described, in addition to preliminary evaluation results.

Minimising the latency induced by consistency control, within a large scale multi-user distributed virtual reality system

Where users are interacting in a distributed virtual environment, the actions of each user must be observed by peers with sufficient consistency and within a limited delay so as not to be detrimental to the interaction. The consistency control issue may be split into three parts: update control; consistent enactment and evolution of events; and causal consistency. The delay in the presentation of events, termed latency, is primarily dependent on the network propagation delay and the consistency control algorithms. The latency induced by the consistency control algorithm, in particular causal ordering, is proportional to the number of participants. This paper describes how the effect of network delays may be reduced and introduces a scalable solution that provides sufficient consistency control while minimising its effect on latency. The principles described have been developed at Reading over the past five years. Similar principles are now emerging in the simulation community through the HLA standard. This paper attempts to validate the suggested principles within the schema of distributed simulation and virtual environments and to compare and contrast with those described by the HLA definition documents.