Error modeling and calibration of exteroceptive sensors for accurate mapping applications

Reliable robotic perception and planning are critical to performing autonomous actions in uncertain, unstructured environments. In field robotic systems, automation is achieved by interpreting exteroceptive sensor information to infer something about the world. This is then mapped to provide a consistent spatial context, so that actions can be planned around the predicted future interaction of the robot and the world. The whole system is as reliable as the weakest link in this chain. In this paper, the term mapping is used broadly to describe the transformation of range-based exteroceptive sensor data (such as LIDAR or stereo vision) to a fixed navigation frame, so that it can be used to form an internal representation of the environment. The coordinate transformation from the sensor frame to the navigation frame is analyzed to produce a spatial error model that captures the dominant geometric and temporal sources of mapping error. This allows the mapping accuracy to be calculated at run time. A generic extrinsic calibration method for exteroceptive range-based sensors is then presented to determine the sensor location and orientation. This allows systematic errors in individual sensors to be minimized, and when multiple sensors are used, it minimizes the systematic contradiction between them to enable reliable multisensor data fusion. The mathematical derivations at the core of this model are not particularly novel or complicated, but the rigorous analysis and application to field robotics seems to be largely absent from the literature to date. The techniques in this paper are simple to implement, and they offer a significant improvement to the accuracy, precision, and integrity of mapped information. Consequently, they should be employed whenever maps are formed from range-based exteroceptive sensor data. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for Real Time Monitoring of Evacuation Process

Fiber bragg grating (FBG) sensors have been widely used for number of sensing applications like temperature, pressure, acousto-ultrasonic, static and dynamic strain, refractive index change measurements and so on. Present work demonstrates the use of FBG sensors in in-situ measurement of vacuum process with simultaneous leak detection capability. Experiments were conducted in a bell jar vacuum chamber facilitated with conventional Pirani gauge for vacuum measurement. Three different experiments have been conducted to validate the performance of FBG sensor in monitoring vacuum creating process and air bleeding. The preliminary results of FBG sensors in vacuum monitoring have been compared with that of commercial Pirani gauge sensor. This novel technique offers a simple alternative to conventional method for real time monitoring of evacuation process. Proposed FBG based vacuum sensor has potential applications in vacuum systems involving hazardous environment such as chemical and gas plants, automobile industries, aeronautical establishments and leak monitoring in process industries, where the electrical or MEMS based sensors are prone to explosion and corrosion.

Spectral Finite Element Modeling of Complex Structures for Applications in Real-time Structural Health Monitoring

In this paper we discuss the recent progresses in spectral finite element modeling of complex structures and its application in real-time structural health monitoring system based on sensor-actuator network and near real-time computation of Damage Force Indicator (DFI) vector. A waveguide network formalism is developed by mapping the original variational problem into the variational problem involving product spaces of 1D waveguides. Numerical convergence is studied using a h()-refinement scheme, where is the wavelength of interest. Computational issues towards successful implementation of this method with SHM system are discussed.

Differentially Selective Chemosensor with Fluorescence Off-On Responses on Cu2+ and Zn2+ Ions in Aqueous Media and Applications in Pyrophosphate Sensing, Live Cell Imaging, and Cytotoxicity

A new benzoyl hydrazone based chemosensor R is synthesized by Schiff base condensation of 2,6-diformyl-4-methylphenol and phenyl carbohydrazide and acts as a highly selective fluorescence sensor for Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions in aqueous media. The reaction of R with CuCl2 or ZnCl2 forms the corresponding dimeric dicopper(II) Cu-2(R)(CH3O)-(NO3)](2)(CH3O)(2) (R-Cu2+) and dizinc(1) Zn-2(R)(2)](NO3)(2) (R-Zn2+) complexes, which are characterized, as R, by conventional techniques including single-crystal X-ray analysis. Electronic absorption and fluorescence titration studies of R with different metal cations in a CH3CN/0.02 M HEPES buffer medium (pH = 7.3) show a highly selective binding affinity only toward Cu(2+)and Zn2+ ions even in the presence of other commonly coexisting ions such as Ne+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, and Hg2+. Quantification of the fluorescence titration analysis shows that the chemosensor R can indicate the presence of Cu2+ and Zn2+ even at very low concentrations of 17.3 and 16.5 ppb, respectively. R-Zn2+ acts as a selective metal-based fluorescent sensor for inorganic pyrophosphate ion (PPi) even in the presence of other common anions such as F-, Cl-, Br-, I-, CH3COO-, CO32-, HCO3-, N-3(-), SO42-, PPi, AMP, ADP, and ATP in an aqueous medium. The propensity of R as a bioimaging fluorescent probe to detect Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions in human cervical HeLa cancer cell lines and their cytotoxicity against human cervical (HeLa), breast cancer (MCF7), and noncancer breast epithelial (MCF10a) cells have also been investigated. R-Cu2+ shows better cytotoxicity and sensitivity toward cancer cells over noncancer cells than R and R-Zn2+ under identical conditions, with the appearance of apoptotic bodies.

Colored polydimethylsiloxane micropillar arrays for high throughput measurements of forces applied by genetic model organisms

Measuring forces applied by multi-cellular organisms is valuable in investigating biomechanics of their locomotion. Several technologies have been developed to measure such forces, for example, strain gauges, micro-machined sensors, and calibrated cantilevers. We introduce an innovative combination of techniques as a high throughput screening tool to assess forces applied by multiple genetic model organisms. First, we fabricated colored Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micropillars where the color enhances contrast making it easier to detect and track pillar displacement driven by the organism. Second, we developed a semiautomated graphical user interface to analyze the images for pillar displacement, thus reducing the analysis time for each animal to minutes. The addition of color reduced the Young's modulus of PDMS. Therefore, the dye-PDMS composite was characterized using Yeoh's hyperelastic model and the pillars were calibrated using a silicon based force sensor. We used our device to measure forces exerted by wild type and mutant Caenorhabditis elegans moving on an agarose surface. Wild type C. elegans exert an average force of similar to 1 mu N on an individual pillar and a total average force of similar to 7.68 mu N. We show that the middle of C. elegans exerts more force than its extremities. We find that C. elegans mutants with defective body wall muscles apply significantly lower force on individual pillars, while mutants defective in sensing externally applied mechanical forces still apply the same average force per pillar compared to wild type animals. Average forces applied per pillar are independent of the length, diameter, or cuticle stiffness of the animal. We also used the device to measure, for the first time, forces applied by Drosophila melanogaster larvae. Peristaltic waves occurred at 0.4Hz applying an average force of similar to 1.58 mu N on a single pillar. Our colored microfluidic device along with its displacement tracking software allows us to measure forces applied by multiple model organisms that crawl or slither to travel through their environment. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Design of a Portable Compliant Device for Estimating the Failure-Load of Mesoscale Cemented Sand Specimens

In this paper, we present the design and development of a portable, hand-operated composite compliant mechanism for estimating the failure-load of cm-sized stiff objects whose stiffness is of the order of 10 s of kN/m. The motivation for the design comes from the need to estimate the failure-load of mesoscale cemented sand specimens in situ, which is not possible with traditional devices used for large specimens or very small specimens. The composite compliant device, developed in this work, consists of two compliant mechanisms: a force-amplifying compliant mechanism (FaCM) to amplify sufficiently the force exerted by hand in order to break the specimen and a displacement-amplifying compliant mechanism (DaCM) to enable measurement of the force using a proximity sensor. The two mechanisms are designed using the selection-maps technique to amplify the force up to 100N by about a factor of 3 and measure the force with a resolution of 15 mN. The composite device, made using a FaCM, a DaCM, and a Hall effect-based proximity sensor, was tested on mesoscale cemented sand specimens that were 10mm in diameter and 20mm in length. The results are compared with those of a large commercial instrument. Through the experiments, it was observed that the failure-load of the cemented sand specimens varied from 0.95N to 24.33 N, depending on the percentage of cementation and curing period. The estimation of the failure-load using the compliant device was found to be within 1.7% of the measurements obtained using the commercial instrument and thus validating the design. The details of the design, prototyping, specimen preparation, testing, and the results comprise the paper.

流动相似律在气流式倾角传感器中的应用

气流式惯性传感器因其独特的优点引起大家的关注,但是环境温度不可避免地对气流式传感器性能有影响,会产生严重的温度漂移.它不仅局限了传感器的应用范围,而且还影响了传感器性能的进一步提高.本文通过数值模拟的方法,研究了环境温度变化时气流式倾角传感器腔体内的流场变化,分析了流场变化对传感器性能的影响机理,并利用相似理论讨论了一种新的消除环境温度影响的解决办法.结果表明,可以通过设计的补偿电路改变热源温度使流场保持相似来消除环境温度的影响.

Studies of ambient organic and inorganic aerosol in Southern California

The negative impacts of ambient aerosol particles, or particulate matter (PM), on human health and climate are well recognized. However, owing to the complexity of aerosol particle formation and chemical evolution, emissions control strategies remain difficult to develop in a cost effective manner. In this work, three studies are presented to address several key issues currently stymieing California's efforts to continue improving its air quality.

Gas-phase organic mass (GPOM) and CO emission factors are used in conjunction with measured enhancements in oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA) relative to CO to quantify the significant lack of closure between expected and observed organic aerosol concentrations attributable to fossil-fuel emissions. Two possible conclusions emerge from the analysis to yield consistency with the ambient organic data: (1) vehicular emissions are not a dominant source of anthropogenic fossil SOA in the Los Angeles Basin, or (2) the ambient SOA mass yields used to determine the SOA formation potential of vehicular emissions are substantially higher than those derived from laboratory chamber studies. Additional laboratory chamber studies confirm that, owing to vapor-phase wall loss, the SOA mass yields currently used in virtually all 3D chemical transport models are biased low by as much as a factor of 4. Furthermore, predictions from the Statistical Oxidation Model suggest that this bias could be as high as a factor of 8 if the influence of the chamber walls could be removed entirely.

Once vapor-phase wall loss has been accounted for in a new suite of laboratory chamber experiments, the SOA parameterizations within atmospheric chemical transport models should also be updated. To address the numerical challenges of implementing the next generation of SOA models in atmospheric chemical transport models, a novel mathematical framework, termed the Moment Method, is designed and presented. Assessment of the Moment Method strengths and weaknesses provide valuable insight that can guide future development of SOA modules for atmospheric CTMs.

Finally, regional inorganic aerosol formation and evolution is investigated via detailed comparison of predictions from the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ version 4.7.1) model against a suite of airborne and ground-based meteorological measurements, gas- and aerosol-phase inorganic measurements, and black carbon (BC) measurements over Southern California during the CalNex field campaign in May/June 2010. Results suggests that continuing to target sulfur emissions with the hopes of reducing ambient PM concentrations may not the most effective strategy for Southern California. Instead, targeting dairy emissions is likely to be an effective strategy for substantially reducing ammonium nitrate concentrations in the eastern part of the Los Angeles Basin.

Abundance of cetatceans in the southern U.S. North Atlantic Ocean during summer 1998

The U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act requires that the abundance of marine mammals in U.S. waters be assessed. Because this requirement had not been met for a large portion of the North Atlantic Ocean (U.S. waters south of Maryland), a ship-based, line-transect survey was conducted with a 68 m research ship between Maryland (38.00°N) and central Florida (28.00°N) from the 10-m isobath to the boundary of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. The study area (573,000 km2) was surveyed between 8 July and 17 August 1998. Minimum abundance estimates were based on 4163 km of effort and 217 sightings of at least 13 cetacean species and other taxonomic categories. The most commonly sighted species (number of groups) were bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus (38); sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus (29); Atlantic spotted dolphins, Stenella frontalis (28); and Risso’s dolphins, Grampus griseus (22). The most abundant species (abundance; coeffi cient of variation) were Atlantic spotted dolphins (14,438; 0.63); bottlenose dolphins (13,085; 0.40); pantropical spotted dolphins, S. attenuate (12,747; 0.56); striped dolphins, S. coeruleoalba (10,225; 0.91); and Risso’s dolphins (9533; 0.50). The abundance estimate for the Clymene dolphin, S. clymene (6086; 0.93), is the first for the U.S. Atlantic Ocean. Sperm whales were the most abundant large whale (1181; 0.51). Abundances for other species or taxonomic categories ranged from 20 to 5109. There were an estimated 77,139 (0.23) cetaceans in the study area. Bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins were encountered primarily in continental shelf (<200 m) and continental slope waters (200−2000 m). All other species were generally sighted in oceanic waters (>200 m). The distribution of some species varied north to south. Striped dolphins, Clymene dolphins, and sperm whales were sighted primarily in the northern part of the study area; whereas pantropical spotted dolphins were sighted primarily in the southern portion.

Electrogenerated chemiluminescence sensors using Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) doped in silica nanoparticles

A novel electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) sensor based on Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)-doped silica (RuDS) nanoparticles conjugated with a biopolymer chitosan membrane was developed. These uniform RuDS nanoparticles ( similar to 40 nm) were prepared by a water-in-oil microemulsion method and were characterized by electrochemical and transmission electron microscopy technology. The Ru( bpy)(3)(2+)-doped interior maintained its high ECL efficiency, while the exterior nanosilica prevented the luminophor from leaching out into the aqueous solution due to the electrostatic interaction. This is the first attempt to branch out the application of RuDS nanoparticles into the field of ECL, and since a large amout of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) was immobilized three-dimensionally on the electrode, the Ru( bpy)(3)(2+) ECL signal could be enhanced greatly, which finally resulted in the increased sensitivity. This sensor shows a detection limit of 2.8 nM for tripropylamine, which is 3 orders of magnitude lower than that observed at a Nafion-based ECL sensor. Furthermore, the present ECL sensor displays outstanding long-term stability.

POLYANILINE-DISPERSED MERCURY-ELECTRODE FOR THE DETECTION OF MONOCHLORAMINE AND DICHLORAMINE

A novel type of electrochemical detector based on a polyaniline-dispersed mercury-coated glassy carbon chemically modified electrode was investigated for the detection of monochloramine and dichloramine. A polyaniline dispersed-mercury modified electrode, which was prepared by coating polyaniline on a thin mercury film electrode using fast-sweep voltammetry, was developed. The selectivity could be altered using various counter ions incorporated into the polymer. The results indicated that the use of a conducting polymer-based electrochemical sensor for the selective determination of chloramine is a feasible approach.

基于二维位置敏感探测器的空间对接过程研究

为了准确地捕捉机器人空间对接的传感器信息,从对接机构的设计入手,研究了空间对接中传感器的选择、改制和基于传感器信息的空间对接问题.考虑到安装空间的限制和处理的信息量太多,提出了利用二维位置敏感探测器(PSD)配合红外发光器阵列的方法完成机器人的空间对接.通过对位置敏感探测器工作原理的分析和对传感器特性的试验,提出了在PSD光敏面上增加光学装置的方法以扩大它的探测范围和精度,同时大大减小了它对光信号的依赖程度.把该方法应用于可重构模块化探测机器人系统中,提出了基于传感器信息的轨迹规划方法,对子机器人空间对接过程的仿真试验验证了轨迹规划和空间对接的可行性.

基于DSP的动态传感器网络实验平台的设计和开发

介绍了一种基于DSP2812的动态传感器网络实验平台的设计与开发.该实验平台的设计由配备各种低成本、低功耗的传感器和无线通信模块的可移动的传感器节点组成.在介绍动态传感器网络实验平台的各个组成部分之后,对系统进行了的基本实验测试,并给出了测试结果.*

基于局部线性嵌入映射的非线性传感器故障诊断研究

当今社会，随着系统复杂度越来越高以及对系统可靠性、安全性要求的日益提高，故障诊断越来越受到人们的重视，在这其中，非线性系统由于自身的特点，一直是故障诊断中的一个热点和难点。本文针对这个问题，对非线性系统传感器故障诊断的若干关键技术进行了深入研究，旨在建立一种相对通用的非线性系统传感器故障诊断方法。本论文研究的主要内容包括系统数据故障特征提取、故障检测、故障识别等。对于故障数据的特征提取问题，在深入分析现有各种算法的基础上，结合非线性传感器数据的特点，将现有的局部线性嵌入映射算法（LLE）引入到故障诊断中来。LLE算法克服了传统线性方法如主元分析（PCA）法在非线性系统上应用的局限，同时也具有以下几个突出的优点：1、能够很好的表达数据的内在流形结构，保留数据特征，这点在故障诊断中有重要的意义，可以比较好的保留原有数据的故障特征；2、不存在局部最优解；3、算法本身参数的选择很少，适合于工程应用。特征提取的研究为后续的故障检测与故障诊断打下基础。同时对原有的LLE算法本身存在的一些缺陷做了一定的改进，完善了其在故障诊断中的应用。LLE算法假设每个数据点及其近邻是局部线性的，因此近邻的选择就不能改变数据的固有流形。从这个概念出发，引入切空间距离代替传统的欧式空间距离，使近邻点的选择更加符合局部线性的要求，从而能更好的提高数据的输入/输出映射质量。针对LLE算法中内在维数难以估计的问题，在算法中应用分形中相关维的计算方法，用线性拟和方法改进了G-P算法，实现了线性区域的自动选择，提高了内在维数估计的精度。最后，通过核函数估计的方法，建立一个数据投影模型，可以实现实时数据到特征空间的直接投影，避免重复的计算权重矩阵，减少了计算复杂度。特征提取之后，针对故障检测问题，提出了一种基于空间分布的故障检测方法，通过将系统数据与高维空间分布相结合，把同一状态下的系统数据近似成为同一分布下的样本采样，检测实时数据是否服从系统正常状态下的分布，从而完成数据的故障检测。同时，结合LLE算法中的核函数投影方法，实现了数据在投影的同时完成故障判别，减少了计算复杂度。在故障检测的基础上，提出了基于投影寻踪的方法进行故障识别。对原有的投影寻踪的应用方法做了一定的修改，通过对最优投影向量的模式匹配完成故障的识别。首先建立各种故障状态下与正常数据之间的最优投影向量的数据库，然后将实时数据的最优投影向量与历史故障进行模式匹配，从而完成故障识别。为了提高投影向量寻找的速度与精度，采用粒子群优化算法，这也可以同时避免算法陷入局部极值点。最后，在总结全文的基础上，讨论了基于局部线性嵌入映射算法在理论及应用上有待于进一步研究的若干问题。

PUMA760基于红外接近觉控制与编程实验系统

本文介绍 PUMA760 工业机器人基于红外接近觉传感器信号控制与编程实验系统。提出了搜索信号极值确定基准相对位置的方法,在位置控制系统中加入了基于传感器信号控制的指令,使 PUMA760完成了快速寻找、接近、定位和抓取非完全固定方位和高度的工件的动作.