Arquitectura de Control para la Conducción Autónoma de Vehículos en Entornos Urbanos y Autovías

Hoy en día, el desarrollo tecnológico en el campo de los sistemas inteligentes de transporte (ITS por sus siglas en inglés) ha permitido dotar a los vehículos con diversos sistemas de ayuda a la conducción (ADAS, del inglés advanced driver assistance system), mejorando la experiencia y seguridad de los pasajeros, en especial del conductor. La mayor parte de estos sistemas están pensados para advertir al conductor sobre ciertas situaciones de riesgo, como la salida involuntaria del carril o la proximidad de obstáculos en el camino. No obstante, también podemos encontrar sistemas que van un paso más allá y son capaces de cooperar con el conductor en el control del vehículo o incluso relegarlos de algunas tareas tediosas. Es en este último grupo donde se encuentran los sistemas de control electrónico de estabilidad (ESP - Electronic Stability Program), el antibloqueo de frenos (ABS - Anti-lock Braking System), el control de crucero (CC - Cruise Control) y los más recientes sistemas de aparcamiento asistido. Continuando con esta línea de desarrollo, el paso siguiente consiste en la supresión del conductor humano, desarrollando sistemas que sean capaces de conducir un vehículo de forma autónoma y con un rendimiento superior al del conductor. En este trabajo se presenta, en primer lugar, una arquitectura de control para la automatización de vehículos. Esta se compone de distintos componentes de hardware y software, agrupados de acuerdo a su función principal. El diseño de la arquitectura parte del trabajo previo desarrollado por el Programa AUTOPIA, aunque introduce notables aportaciones en cuanto a la eficiencia, robustez y escalabilidad del sistema. Ahondando un poco más en detalle, debemos resaltar el desarrollo de un algoritmo de localización basado en enjambres de partículas. Este está planteado como un método de filtrado y fusión de la información obtenida a partir de los distintos sensores embarcados en el vehículo, entre los que encontramos un receptor GPS (Global Positioning System), unidades de medición inercial (IMU – Inertial Measurement Unit) e información tomada directamente de los sensores embarcados por el fabricante, como la velocidad de las ruedas y posición del volante. Gracias a este método se ha conseguido resolver el problema de la localización, indispensable para el desarrollo de sistemas de conducción autónoma. Continuando con el trabajo de investigación, se ha estudiado la viabilidad de la aplicación de técnicas de aprendizaje y adaptación al diseño de controladores para el vehículo. Como punto de partida se emplea el método de Q-learning para la generación de un controlador borroso lateral sin ningún tipo de conocimiento previo. Posteriormente se presenta un método de ajuste on-line para la adaptación del control longitudinal ante perturbaciones impredecibles del entorno, como lo son los cambios en la inclinación del camino, fricción de las ruedas o peso de los ocupantes. Para finalizar, se presentan los resultados obtenidos durante un experimento de conducción autónoma en carreteras reales, el cual se llevó a cabo en el mes de Junio de 2012 desde la población de San Lorenzo de El Escorial hasta las instalaciones del Centro de Automática y Robótica (CAR) en Arganda del Rey. El principal objetivo tras esta demostración fue validar el funcionamiento, robustez y capacidad de la arquitectura propuesta para afrontar el problema de la conducción autónoma, bajo condiciones mucho más reales a las que se pueden alcanzar en las instalaciones de prueba. ABSTRACT Nowadays, the technological advances in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) field have led the development of several driving assistance systems (ADAS). These solutions are designed to improve the experience and security of all the passengers, especially the driver. For most of these systems, the main goal is to warn drivers about unexpected circumstances leading to risk situations such as involuntary lane departure or proximity to other vehicles. However, other ADAS go a step further, being able to cooperate with the driver in the control of the vehicle, or even overriding it on some tasks. Examples of this kind of systems are the anti-lock braking system (ABS), cruise control (CC) and the recently commercialised assisted parking systems. Within this research line, the next step is the development of systems able to replace the human drivers, improving the control and therefore, the safety and reliability of the vehicles. First of all, this dissertation presents a control architecture design for autonomous driving. It is made up of several hardware and software components, grouped according to their main function. The design of this architecture is based on the previous works carried out by the AUTOPIA Program, although notable improvements have been made regarding the efficiency, robustness and scalability of the system. It is also remarkable the work made on the development of a location algorithm for vehicles. The proposal is based on the emulation of the behaviour of biological swarms and its performance is similar to the well-known particle filters. The developed method combines information obtained from different sensors, including GPS, inertial measurement unit (IMU), and data from the original vehicle’s sensors on-board. Through this filtering algorithm the localization problem is properly managed, which is critical for the development of autonomous driving systems. The work deals also with the fuzzy control tuning system, a very time consuming task when done manually. An analysis of learning and adaptation techniques for the development of different controllers has been made. First, the Q-learning –a reinforcement learning method– has been applied to the generation of a lateral fuzzy controller from scratch. Subsequently, the development of an adaptation method for longitudinal control is presented. With this proposal, a final cruise control controller is able to deal with unpredictable environment disturbances, such as road slope, wheel’s friction or even occupants’ weight. As a testbed for the system, an autonomous driving experiment on real roads is presented. This experiment was carried out on June 2012, driving from San Lorenzo de El Escorial up to the Center for Automation and Robotics (CAR) facilities in Arganda del Rey. The main goal of the demonstration was validating the performance, robustness and viability of the proposed architecture to deal with the problem of autonomous driving under more demanding conditions than those achieved on closed test tracks.

Uniform tire quality grading: treadwear course monitoring--IV. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Manual for the construction and maintenance of skid surfaces corresponding to those prepared by Texas Transportation Institute under National Bureau of Standards contract CST-451. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Uniform tire quality grading treadwear course monitoring. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

History of tracks and track testing at the Air Force Missile Development Center, Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico,

Bibliographical references in "Notes."

Test vector generation for the phase II ATLAS event filter trigger upgrade

In the near future, the LHC experiments will continue to be upgraded as the LHC luminosity will increase from the design 1034 to 7.5 × 1034, with the HL-LHC project, to reach 3000 × f b−1 of accumulated statistics. After the end of a period of data collection, CERN will face a long shutdown to improve overall performance by upgrading the experiments and implementing more advanced technologies and infrastructures. In particular, ATLAS will upgrade parts of the detector, the trigger, and the data acquisition system. It will also implement new strategies and algorithms for processing and transferring the data to the final storage. This PhD thesis presents a study of a new pattern recognition algorithm to be used in the trigger system, which is a software designed to provide the information necessary to select physical events from background data. The idea is to use the well-known Hough Transform mathematical formula as an algorithm for detecting particle trajectories. The effectiveness of the algorithm has already been validated in the past, independently of particle physics applications, to detect generic shapes in images. Here, a software emulation tool is proposed for the hardware implementation of the Hough Transform, to reconstruct the tracks in the ATLAS Trigger and Data Acquisition system. Until now, it has never been implemented on electronics in particle physics experiments, and as a hardware implementation it would provide overall latency benefits. A comparison between the simulated data and the physical system was performed on a Xilinx UltraScale+ FPGA device.

Adapting The Sniffin' Sticks Olfactory Test To Diagnose Parkinson's Disease In Estonia.

The aim of the study was to develop a culturally adapted translation of the 12-item smell identification test from Sniffin' Sticks (SS-12) for the Estonian population in order to help diagnose Parkinson's disease (PD). A standard translation of the SS-12 was created and 150 healthy Estonians were questioned about the smells used as response options in the test. Unfamiliar smells were replaced by culturally familiar options. The adapted SS-12 was applied to 70 controls in all age groups, and thereafter to 50 PD patients and 50 age- and sex-matched controls. 14 response options from 48 used in the SS-12 were replaced with familiar smells in an adapted version, in which the mean rate of correct response was 87% (range 73-99) compared to 83% with the literal translation (range 50-98). In PD patients, the average adapted SS-12 score (5.4/12) was significantly lower than in controls (average score 8.9/12), p < 0.0001. A multiple linear regression using the score in the SS-12 as the outcome measure showed that diagnosis and age independently influenced the result of the SS-12. A logistic regression using the SS-12 and age as covariates showed that the SS-12 (but not age) correctly classified 79.0% of subjects into the PD and control category, using a cut-off of <7 gave a sensitivity of 76% and specificity of 86% for the diagnosis of PD. The developed SS-12 cultural adaption is appropriate for testing olfaction in Estonia for the purpose of PD diagnosis.

Effect Of Exercise Test On Pulmonary Function Of Obese Adolescents.

to investigate the pulmonary response to exercise of non-morbidly obese adolescents, considering the gender. a prospective cross-sectional study was conducted with 92 adolescents (47 obese and 45 eutrophic), divided in four groups according to obesity and gender. Anthropometric parameters, pulmonary function (spirometry and oxygen saturation [SatO2]), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), respiratory rate (RR), and respiratory muscle strength were measured. Pulmonary function parameters were measured before, during, and after the exercise test. BP and HR were higher in obese individuals during the exercise test (p = 0.0001). SatO2 values decreased during exercise in obese adolescents (p = 0.0001). Obese males had higher levels of maximum inspiratory and expiratory pressures (p = 0.0002) when compared to obese and eutrophic females. Obese males showed lower values of maximum voluntary ventilation, forced vital capacity, and forced expiratory volume in the first second when compared to eutrophic males, before and after exercise (p = 0.0005). Obese females had greater inspiratory capacity compared to eutrophic females (p = 0.0001). Expiratory reserve volume was lower in obese subjects when compared to controls (p ≤ 0,05). obese adolescents presented changes in pulmonary function at rest and these changes remained present during exercise. The spirometric and cardiorespiratory values were different in the four study groups. The present data demonstrated that, in spite of differences in lung growth, the model of fat distribution alters pulmonary function differently in obese female and male adolescents.

The Lea Grating Test In Assessing Detection Grating Acuity In Normal Infants Less Than 4 Months Of Age.

To assess binocular detection grating acuity using the LEA GRATINGS test to establish age-related norms in healthy infants during their first 3 months of life. In this prospective, longitudinal study of healthy infants with clear red reflex at birth, responses to gratings were measured at 1, 2, and 3 months of age using LEA gratings at a distance of 28 cm. The results were recorded as detection grating acuity values, which were arranged in frequency tables and converted to a one-octave scale for statistical analysis. For the repeated measurements, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the detection grating acuity results between ages. A total of 133 infants were included. The binocular responses to gratings showed development toward higher mean values and spatial frequencies, ranging from 0.55 ± 0.70 cycles per degree (cpd), or 1.74 ± 0.21 logMAR, in month 1 to 3.11 ± 0.54 cpd, or 0.98 ± 0.16 logMAR, in month 3. Repeated ANOVA indicated differences among grating acuity values in the three age groups. The LEA GRATINGS test allowed assessment of detection grating acuity and its development in a cohort of healthy infants during their first 3 months of life.

The Geometric Curvature Of The Spine Of Runners During Maximal Incremental Effort Test.

This study sought to analyse the behaviour of the average spinal posture using a novel investigative procedure in a maximal incremental effort test performed on a treadmill. Spine motion was collected via stereo-photogrammetric analysis in thirteen amateur athletes. At each time percentage of the gait cycle, the reconstructed spine points were projected onto the sagittal and frontal planes of the trunk. On each plane, a polynomial was fitted to the data, and the two-dimensional geometric curvature along the longitudinal axis of the trunk was calculated to quantify the geometric shape of the spine. The average posture presented at the gait cycle defined the spine Neutral Curve. This method enabled the lateral deviations, lordosis, and kyphosis of the spine to be quantified noninvasively and in detail. The similarity between each two volunteers was a maximum of 19% on the sagittal plane and 13% on the frontal (p<0.01). The data collected in this study can be considered preliminary evidence that there are subject-specific characteristics in spinal curvatures during running. Changes induced by increases in speed were not sufficient for the Neutral Curve to lose its individual characteristics, instead behaving like a postural signature. The data showed the descriptive capability of a new method to analyse spinal postures during locomotion; however, additional studies, and with larger sample sizes, are necessary for extracting more general information from this novel methodology.

Twin-twin Transfusion Syndrome: Neurodevelopmental Screening Test.

Objective To assess the neurodevelopmental functions (cognition, language and motor function) of survivors of twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Method Observational cross-sectional study of a total of 67 monochorionic diamniotic twins who underwent fetoscopic laser coagulation (FLC) for treatment of TTTS. The study was conducted at the Center for Investigation in Pediatrics (CIPED), Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Ages ranged from one month and four days to two years four months. Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development Screening Test-III, were used for evaluation. Results Most children reached the competent category and were classified as having appropriate performance. The preterm children scored worse than term infants for gross motor subtest (p = 0.036). Conclusion The majority of children reached the expected development according to their age. Despite the good neurodevelopment, children classified at risk should be monitored for development throughout childhood.

Evaluation of the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of water from the River Paraíba do Sul, in Brazil, with the Allium cepa L. test

This work investigated the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of water from the River Paraíba do Sul (Brazil) using Allium cepa roots. An anatomo-morphological parameter (root length), mitotic indices, and frequency of micronuclei were analysed. Eight bulbs were chosen at random for treatment for 24 to 120 hours with the River water collected in the years of 2005 and 2006 from sites in the cities of Tremembé and Aparecida (São Paulo state, Brazil). Daily measurements of the length of the roots grown from each bulb were carried out throughout the experiment. Mitotic index (MI) and frequency of micronuclei (MN) were determined for 2000 cells per root, using 3-5 root tips from other bulbs (7-10). Only in the roots treated with samples of the River water collected in 2005 in Tremembé city was there a decrease in the root length growth compared to the respective control. However, a reduction in MI values was verified for both sites analysed for that year. Considering the data involving root length growth and especially MI values, a cytotoxic potential is suggested for the water of the River Paraíba do Sul at Tremembé and Aparecida, in the year of 2005. On the other hand, since in this year the MN frequency was not affected with the river water treatments, genotoxicity is not assumed for the river water sampled at the aforementioned places.

Comparison between the 1% and 2% ibopamine provocative test in primary open-angle glaucoma patients: sensitivity, specificity and tolerability

PURPOSE: To compare intraocular pressure (IOP) rise in normal individuals and primary open-angle glaucoma patients and the safety and efficacy of ibopamine eye drops in different concentrations as a provocative test for glaucoma. METHODS: Glaucoma patients underwent (same eye) the ibopamine provocative test with two concentrations, 1% and 2%, in a random sequence at least 3 weeks apart, but not more than 3 months. The normal individuals were randomly submitted to one of the concentrations of ibopamine (1% and 2%). The test was considered positive if there was an IOP rise greater than 3 or 4 mmHg at 30 or 45 minutes to test which subset of the test has the best sensitivity (Se)/specificity (Sp). RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in any of the IOP measurements, comparing 1% with 2% ibopamine. The IOP was significantly higher at 30 and 45 minutes with both concentrations (p<0.001). The best sensitivity/specificity ratio was achieved with the cutoff point set as greater than 3 mmHg at 45 minutes with 2% ibopamine (area under the ROC curve: 0.864, Se: 84.6%; Sp:73.3%). All patients described a slight burning after ibopamine's instillation. CONCLUSION: 2% ibopamine is recommended as a provocative test for glaucoma. Because both concentrations have similar ability to rise IOP, 1% ibopamine may be used to treat ocular hypotony.

Applying a new version of the Brazilian-Portuguese UPSIT smell test in Brazil

Standardized olfactory tests are now available to quantitatively assess disorders of olfaction. A Brazilian-Portuguese version of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) is currently being developed specifically for the Brazilian population. The most recent Brazilian-Portuguese version of the UPSIT (UPSIT-Br2) was administered to 88 Brazilian subjects who had no history of neurological or otorhinolaryngological disease. UPSIT-Br2 scores decreased with age, were lower in men than in women, and were lower in subjects with lower income. The degree to which the poorer performance of subjects with lower socio-economic status reflects lack of familiarity with test items is not known. Although this version of the UPSIT provides a sensitive and useful test of smell function for the Brazilian population, a revision of some test items is needed to achieve comparable norms to those found using the North American UPSIT in the United States.