Dynamic modeling, simulation and experimental investigation on cycling-trainers equipped with suspensions considering human biomechanical characteristics

At present, to meet the innervation and the comfort of cycling-trainers, the trend of deploying suspension system is still upwards. However, there is no reliable dynamic model for cycling-trainers equipped with suspension systems, and the influence of the suspension damping on the dynamic responses needs to be explored. In this paper, based on a commercially available cycling-trainer with suspension systems, a non-linear dynamic model of trainer-human coupled system was established. According to the bench test, the damping coefficient of suspension dampers was measured. By the cycling test, the dynamic model was validated. The test values of the vertical acceleration of the human lower trunk are in agreement with the simulation values, in which the maximum deviation is less than 15.0 % and the root mean square deviation is less than 8.0 %. Based on the model, the influences of the damper damping on the dynamic responses were analyzed. The results show that the influence laws of the suspension damping characteristics on the human body responses vary greatly under the different riding frequencies, and an optimal damping exists to avoid excessive fatigue caused by vibration under the medium and low frequency riding conditions. The established model and the revealed rules can provide useful reference for the suspension design and optimization of cycling-trainers

Design and Testing of Virtual Reality Cycling Exergame Using Handheld Controller

Nowadays, people are busy with gadgets, social media and playing video games that tends their bodies to physically inactive. However, Virtual Reality (VR) exergaming in literature has proven to be one of the best solutions to encourage these sedentary people to live in a healthier lifestyle. Exergaming refers to a combination of video games with a physical exercise that rely on the technology that can track body movement. Hence, this project aims to develop a cycling exergame that integrate with HTC Vive hand controller in VR. There are four phases have been carried out namely (i) problem investigation, (ii) designing the game structure, (iii) implementation of VR cycling exergame, and (iv) testing and evaluation. The usability testing results shows the users feedback on the development of VR Exergame for cycling in terms of the user interface design, player interaction, difficulty of the game and user satisfaction in understanding the game. The user acceptance testing results shows that this game works accordingly, however there are some suggestion and expectation from user that can be measured for improvement and enhancement in future works. Based on the result, this project is successfully produced a cycling exergame in VR and significantly improve the user experience in VR

Bicyclist Longitudinal Motion Modeling

69A43551747123Bike is a promising, human-powered, and emission-free transportation mode that is being increasingly advocated as a sustainable mode of transportation due to its significant positive impacts on congestion and the environment. Cities in the United States have experienced a rapid increase in bicycle ridership over the past decade. However, despite the growing popularity of bicycles for short-distance commuting and even for mid-distance recreational trips, researchers have generally ignored the investigation of bicycle traffic flow dynamics. Due to the shared space and frequent interactions among heterogeneous road users, bicycle flow dynamics should be evaluated to determine the tendency of lateral dispersion and its effects on traffic efficiency and safety. Therefore, this research effort proposes to model bicyclist longitudinal motion while accounting for bicycle interactions using vehicular traffic flow techniques. From the comparison of different states of motion for these two transport modes, the authors assumed there is no major difference between vehicular and bicyclist traffic characteristics. The study revamps the Fadhloun-Rakha car-following model previously developed by the research team to make it representative of bicycle traffic flow dynamics. The possibility of capturing cyclists\u2019 behaviors through revamping certain aspects of existing car-following models is investigated. Accordingly, 33 participants were recruited to ride the bike simulator and drive the car simulator simultaneously. The participants were recruited to operate a bike-simulator in order to test the proposed model under realistic traffic conditions and verify the output of the proposed model formulation remains valid when bicyclists are operating under realistic traffic conditions. Both simulators were integrated together, and each participant could inform about the location of another participant in the simulation interval. Six scenarios based on the initial position of the bike and car were developed. Based on the collected data, the Fadhloun-Rakha model was validated to ensure the development of a good descriptor for speed and acceleration and deceleration behaviors. A reliable sample including 100 model parameters values was selected. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) for the mentioned sample was obtained, and the smallest RMSE in each scenario was identified. Using the obtained RMSEs, the speed and acceleration trajectories for the smallest RMSE in each scenario were drawn. Eventually, the optimal values of the model parameters (a,b,d) in each scenario were specified

A survey on Quality of Experience of Virtual and Augmented Reality environments

Οι εφαρμογές εικονικής και επαυξημένης πραγματικότητας αποτελούν μια νέα και πολλά υποσχόμενη τεχνολογία, με εφαρμογές στην ιατρική, την εκπαίδευση, τα βιντεοπαιχνίδια, το ηλεκτρονικό εμπόριο και πολλές άλλες. Αυτή η τεχνολογία θέτει μια νέα πρόκληση για τους σχεδιαστές εφαρμογών, καθώς και για τους παρόχους υπηρεσιών δικτύου, επειδή είναι εντατική ως προς τους απαιτούμενους πόρους ώστε να είναι σε θέση να παρέχει συναρπαστική εμπειρία στους χρήστες της. Αυτή η πρόκληση γίνεται ακόμη πιο δύσκολη στα δίκτυα κινητής τηλεφωνίας, λόγω παραγόντων που είναι δύσκολο να μοντελοποιηθούν και να προβλεφθούν, όπως η κινητικότητα, η στρατηγική μεταβίβασης και η κατανομή πόρων. Αυτή η διπλωματική φιλοδοξεί να παράσχει μια ανασκόπηση των τεχνικών και μεθόδων εκτίμησης της ποιότητας της εμπειρίας (QoE) και των μεθόδων που έχουν αναπτυχθεί γύρω από αυτές τις εφαρμογές. Στην πρώτη ενότητα, εξετάζουμε τις στρατηγικές παροχής QoE για εφαρμογές εικονικής πραγματικότητας. Αυτή η ενότητα εξετάζει αρκετές περιπτώσεις εφαρμογών εικονικής πραγματικότητας, όπως ένα λογισμικό προσομοίωσης βαρέων μηχανημάτων, μια εκπαιδευτική εφαρμογή και άλλες ψηφιακές εφαρμογές εμβύθισης. Το εύρος και η ποικιλία των εφαρμογών και των μεθόδων εκτίμησης της ποιότητας της εμπειρίας οδηγούν σε αντικρουόμενα συμπεράσματα σχετικά με τις μεθόδους αξιολόγησης QoE. Στην επόμενη ενότητα αναφερόμαστε σε εφαρμογές επαυξημένης πραγματικότητας, και πάλι με μια αναφορά σε μια μεγάλη ποικιλία εφαρμογών, όπως ένας βοηθός επαυξημένης πραγματικότητας, βιντεοπαιχνίδια επαυξημένης πραγματικότητας και άλλες ψηφιακές εφαρμογές. Τα συμπεράσματα σε αυτήν την ενότητα είναι πιο ισχυρά και τα συναισθήματα των ανθρώπων μπορούν να σχηματίσουν πιο ουσιαστικά πορίσματα. Στην τελευταία ενότητα διερευνούμε την QoE σε εφαρμογές εικονικής και επαυξημένης πραγματικότητας για κινητές συσκευές και κινητά δίκτυα. Σε αυτό το μέρος ασχολούμαστε με πιο τεχνικές πτυχές όπως η διαχείριση της κινητικότητας, οι στρατηγικές μεταβίβασης και οι αλγόριθμοι κατανομής πόρων και ο αντίκτυπος που έχουν αυτοί στην εμπειρία των χρηστών.Virtual and augmented reality applications constitute a new and promising technology, with applications in medicine, education, gaming, e-commerce and many more. This technology poses a new challenge to application designers, as well as network service providers, because it is resource intensive in order to be able to provide the immersive experience to its users. This task becomes even more challenging in mobile networks, due to factors that are difficult to be modeled and predicted, such as mobility, handoff strategy and resource allocation. This thesis aspires to provide a review of Quality of Experience (QoE) estimation and provision techniques and methods that have been developed around these applications. In the first section, we review QoE provisioning strategies for virtual reality applications. This section examines some corner cases of augmented reality applications, such as a heavy machinery simulation software, an educational application, and many digital immersive applications. The scope and diversity of applications and implementation methods lead to some conflicting conclusions in relation to QoE evaluation methods. In the next section we refer to augmented reality applications, again with a reference to a wide variety of applications such as an augmented reality task assistant, augmented reality video games and digital immersive applications. The conclusions in this section are more robust and peoples’ feelings can form more meaningful aggregations. In the last section we investigate the QoE in virtual and augmented reality applications when these applications are implemented in mobile devices. Τhis part is concerned with more technical aspects such as mobility management, handoff strategies and resource allocation algorithms and their impact on users’ experience