50,263 research outputs found
Efficient Hybrid Continuous-Time/Discrete-Time Cascade Modulators for Wideband Applications
This paper analyses the use of hybrid continuous-time/discrete-time cascade ΣΔ modulators for the implementation of power-efficient analog-to-digital converters in broadband wireless communication systems. Two alternative implementations of multi-rate cascade architectures are studied and compared with conventional single-rate continuous-time topologies, taking into account the impact of main circuit-level error mechanisms, namely: mismatch, finite dc gain and gain-bandwidth product. In all cases, closed-form design equations are derived for the nonideal in-band noise power of all ΣΔ modulators under study, providing analytical relationships between their system-level performance and the corresponding circuit-level error parameters. Theoretical predictions match simulation results, showing that the lowest performance degradation is obtained by a new kind of multi-rate hybrid ΣΔ modulator, in which the front-end (continuous-time) stage operates at a higher rate than the back-end (discrete-time) stages. As a case study, the design of a hybrid GmC/switched-capacitor fourth-order (two-stage, 4-bit) cascade ΣΔ modulator is discussed to illustrate the potential benefits of the presented approachMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2010-14825/MI
Development of an automated aircraft subsystem architecture generation and analysis tool
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new computational framework to address future
preliminary design needs for aircraft subsystems. The ability to investigate multiple candidate
technologies forming subsystem architectures is enabled with the provision of automated architecture
generation, analysis and optimization. Main focus lies with a demonstration of the frameworks
workings, as well as the optimizers performance with a typical form of application problem.
Design/methodology/approach – The core aspects involve a functional decomposition, coupled
with a synergistic mission performance analysis on the aircraft, architecture and component levels.
This may be followed by a complete enumeration of architectures, combined with a user defined
technology filtering and concept ranking procedure. In addition, a hybrid heuristic optimizer, based on
ant systems optimization and a genetic algorithm, is employed to produce optimal architectures in both
component composition and design parameters. The optimizer is tested on a generic architecture
design problem combined with modified Griewank and parabolic functions for the continuous space.
Findings – Insights from the generalized application problem show consistent rediscovery of the
optimal architectures with the optimizer, as compared to a full problem enumeration. In addition
multi-objective optimization reveals a Pareto front with differences in component composition as well
as continuous parameters.
Research limitations/implications – This paper demonstrates the frameworks application on a
generalized test problem only. Further publication will consider real engineering design problems.
Originality/value – The paper addresses the need for future conceptual design methods of complex
systems to consider a mixed concept space of both discrete and continuous nature via automated methods
Mechanisms for the generation and regulation of sequential behaviour
A critical aspect of much human behaviour is the generation and regulation of sequential activities. Such behaviour is seen in both naturalistic settings such as routine action and language production and laboratory tasks such as serial recall and many reaction time experiments. There are a variety of computational mechanisms that may support the generation and regulation of sequential behaviours, ranging from those underlying Turing machines to those employed by recurrent connectionist networks. This paper surveys a range of such mechanisms, together with a range of empirical phenomena related to human sequential behaviour. It is argued that the empirical phenomena pose difficulties for most sequencing mechanisms, but that converging evidence from behavioural flexibility, error data arising from when the system is stressed or when it is damaged following brain injury, and between-trial effects in reaction time tasks, point to a hybrid symbolic activation-based mechanism for the generation and regulation of sequential behaviour. Some implications of this view for the nature of mental computation are highlighted
Modeling the Internet of Things: a simulation perspective
This paper deals with the problem of properly simulating the Internet of
Things (IoT). Simulating an IoT allows evaluating strategies that can be
employed to deploy smart services over different kinds of territories. However,
the heterogeneity of scenarios seriously complicates this task. This imposes
the use of sophisticated modeling and simulation techniques. We discuss novel
approaches for the provision of scalable simulation scenarios, that enable the
real-time execution of massively populated IoT environments. Attention is given
to novel hybrid and multi-level simulation techniques that, when combined with
agent-based, adaptive Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS) approaches,
can provide means to perform highly detailed simulations on demand. To support
this claim, we detail a use case concerned with the simulation of vehicular
transportation systems.Comment: Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on High
Performance Computing and Simulation (HPCS 2017
Safety verification of a fault tolerant reconfigurable autonomous goal-based robotic control system
Fault tolerance and safety verification of control
systems are essential for the success of autonomous robotic
systems. A control architecture called Mission Data System
(MDS), developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, takes
a goal-based control approach. In this paper, a method for
converting goal network control programs into linear hybrid
systems is developed. The linear hybrid system can then be
verified for safety in the presence of failures using existing
symbolic model checkers. An example task is simulated in
MDS and successfully verified using HyTech, a symbolic model
checking software for linear hybrid systems
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