Towards the development of a smart flying sensor: illustration in the field of precision agriculture

Sensing is an important element to quantify productivity, product quality and to make decisions. Applications, such as mapping, surveillance, exploration and precision agriculture, require a reliable platform for remote sensing. This paper presents the first steps towards the development of a smart flying sensor based on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The concept of smart remote sensing is illustrated and its performance tested for the task of mapping the volume of grain inside a trailer during forage harvesting. Novelty lies in: (1) the development of a position-estimation method with time delay compensation based on inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors and image processing; (2) a method to build a 3D map using information obtained from a regular camera; and (3) the design and implementation of a path-following control algorithm using model predictive control (MPC). Experimental results on a lab-scale system validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology

A reclaimer scheduling problem arising in coal stockyard management

We study a number of variants of an abstract scheduling problem inspired by the scheduling of reclaimers in the stockyard of a coal export terminal. We analyze the complexity of each of the variants, providing complexity proofs for some and polynomial algorithms for others. For one, especially interesting variant, we also develop a constant factor approximation algorithm.Comment: 26 page

Physics data management tools: computational evolutions and benchmarks

The development of a package for the management of physics data is described: its design, implementation and computational benchmarks. This package improves the data management tools originally developed for Geant4 physics models based on the EADL, EEDL and EPDL97 data libraries. The implementation exploits recent evolutions of the C++ libraries appearing in the C++0x draft, which are intended for inclusion in the next C++ ISO Standard. The new tools improve the computational performance of physics data management.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in proceedings of the Joint International Conference on Supercomputing in Nuclear Applications and Monte Carlo 2010 (SNA + MC2010

Network Topology and Time Criticality Effects in the Modularised Fleet Mix Problem

In this paper, we explore the interplay between network topology and time criticality in a military logistics system. A general goal of this work (and previous work) is to evaluate land transportation requirements or, more specifically, how to design appropriate fleets of military general service vehicles that are tasked with the supply and re-supply of military units dispersed in an area of operation. The particular focus of this paper is to gain a better understanding of how the logistics environment changes when current Army vehicles with fixed transport characteristics are replaced by a new generation of modularised vehicles that can be configured task-specifically. The experimental work is conducted within a well developed strategic planning simulation environment which includes a scenario generation engine for automatically sampling supply and re-supply missions and a multi-objective meta-heuristic search algorithm (i.e. Evolutionary Algorithm) for solving the particular scheduling and routing problems. The results presented in this paper allow for a better understanding of how (and under what conditions) a modularised vehicle fleet can provide advantages over the currently implemented system

Design implications of the new harmonised probabilistic damage stability regulations

In anticipation of the forthcoming new harmonised regulations for damage stability, SOLAS Chapter II-1, proposed in IMO MSC 80 and due for enforcement in 2009, a number of ship owners and consequentially yards and classification societies are venturing to exploit the new degrees of freedom afforded by the probabilistic concept of ship subdivision. In this process, designers are finding it rather difficult to move away from the prescription mindset that has been deeply ingrained in their way of conceptualising, creating and completing a ship design. Total freedom it appears is hard to cope with and a helping hand is needed to guide them in crossing the line from prescriptive to goal-setting design. This will be facilitated considerably with improved understanding of what this concept entails and of its limitations and range of applicability. This paper represents an attempt in this direction, based on the results of a research study, financed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the UK, to assess the design implications of the new harmonised rules on passenger and cargo ships