Semantic middleware for industrial sensors

For many years, plant engineers have used data collected from industrial sensors for supporting the diagnosis of failures. Recently, data scientists are using these data to make predictions on industrial processes. However, the meaning and the relationships of each specific sensor is unknown to people outside the engineering context. Conventional approaches to create a semantic layer for industrial sensors require a rigid “term alignment” followed by a lot of manual efforts. Hence, the problem is frequently set aside by industries. However, this condition limits the usage of advanced analytics tools in industries, preventing the capture of potential benefits. Since there are naming conventions and some other rules defined by engineers, this study takes these standards into account and analyze the metadata of sensors intending to automate the creation of a semantic middleware able to indicate the meaning of each sensor and its relationships with other sensors, equipments, areas, plants and other entities. This study intends to answer the following research question: Which approach could automate the creation of a semantic middleware for industrial sensors? In order to address the objectives of this study, we performed an empirical research using sensor metadata from three different plants from a mining company. As a result, we present MINDSense, a method that creates an ontology capable of describing the meaning of industrial sensors and its relationships. We conclude that this method contributes to leverage advanced analytics in industries and to increase the potential of new studies on top of industrial sensors data

Multi-Agent Decision Support Tool to Enable Interoperability among Heterogeneous Energy Systems

Worldwide electricity markets are undergoing a major restructuring process. One of the main reasons for the ongoing changes is to enable the adaptation of current market models to the new paradigm that arises from the large-scale integration of distributed generation sources. In order to deal with the unpredictability caused by the intermittent nature of the distributed generation and the large number of variables that contribute to the energy sector balance, it is extremely important to use simulation systems that are capable of dealing with the required complexity. This paper presents the Tools Control Center (TOOCC), a framework that allows the interoperability between heterogeneous energy and power simulation systems through the use of ontologies, allowing the simulation of scenarios with a high degree of complexity, through the cooperation of the individual capacities of each system. A case study based on real data is presented in order to demonstrate the interoperability capabilities of TOOCC. The simulation considers the energy management of a microgrid of a real university campus, from the perspective of the network manager and also of its consumers/producers, in a projection for a typical day of the winter of 2050.This work has been developed in the scope of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 641794 (project DREAM-GO); CONTEST project - SAICT-POL/23575/2016; and has also been supported by FEDER Funds through COMPETE program and from National Funds through FCT under the project UID/EEA/00760/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

NeBula: TEAM CoSTAR’s robotic autonomy solution that won phase II of DARPA subterranean challenge

This paper presents and discusses algorithms, hardware, and software architecture developed by the TEAM CoSTAR (Collaborative SubTerranean Autonomous Robots), competing in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. Specifically, it presents the techniques utilized within the Tunnel (2019) and Urban (2020) competitions, where CoSTAR achieved second and first place, respectively. We also discuss CoSTAR’s demonstrations in Martian-analog surface and subsurface (lava tubes) exploration. The paper introduces our autonomy solution, referred to as NeBula (Networked Belief-aware Perceptual Autonomy). NeBula is an uncertainty-aware framework that aims at enabling resilient and modular autonomy solutions by performing reasoning and decision making in the belief space (space of probability distributions over the robot and world states). We discuss various components of the NeBula framework, including (i) geometric and semantic environment mapping, (ii) a multi-modal positioning system, (iii) traversability analysis and local planning, (iv) global motion planning and exploration behavior, (v) risk-aware mission planning, (vi) networking and decentralized reasoning, and (vii) learning-enabled adaptation. We discuss the performance of NeBula on several robot types (e.g., wheeled, legged, flying), in various environments. We discuss the specific results and lessons learned from fielding this solution in the challenging courses of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge competition.Peer ReviewedAgha, A., Otsu, K., Morrell, B., Fan, D. D., Thakker, R., Santamaria-Navarro, A., Kim, S.-K., Bouman, A., Lei, X., Edlund, J., Ginting, M. F., Ebadi, K., Anderson, M., Pailevanian, T., Terry, E., Wolf, M., Tagliabue, A., Vaquero, T. S., Palieri, M., Tepsuporn, S., Chang, Y., Kalantari, A., Chavez, F., Lopez, B., Funabiki, N., Miles, G., Touma, T., Buscicchio, A., Tordesillas, J., Alatur, N., Nash, J., Walsh, W., Jung, S., Lee, H., Kanellakis, C., Mayo, J., Harper, S., Kaufmann, M., Dixit, A., Correa, G. J., Lee, C., Gao, J., Merewether, G., Maldonado-Contreras, J., Salhotra, G., Da Silva, M. S., Ramtoula, B., Fakoorian, S., Hatteland, A., Kim, T., Bartlett, T., Stephens, A., Kim, L., Bergh, C., Heiden, E., Lew, T., Cauligi, A., Heywood, T., Kramer, A., Leopold, H. A., Melikyan, H., Choi, H. C., Daftry, S., Toupet, O., Wee, I., Thakur, A., Feras, M., Beltrame, G., Nikolakopoulos, G., Shim, D., Carlone, L., & Burdick, JPostprint (published version

A survey on the development status and application prospects of knowledge graph in smart grids

With the advent of the electric power big data era, semantic interoperability and interconnection of power data have received extensive attention. Knowledge graph technology is a new method describing the complex relationships between concepts and entities in the objective world, which is widely concerned because of its robust knowledge inference ability. Especially with the proliferation of measurement devices and exponential growth of electric power data empowers, electric power knowledge graph provides new opportunities to solve the contradictions between the massive power resources and the continuously increasing demands for intelligent applications. In an attempt to fulfil the potential of knowledge graph and deal with the various challenges faced, as well as to obtain insights to achieve business applications of smart grids, this work first presents a holistic study of knowledge-driven intelligent application integration. Specifically, a detailed overview of electric power knowledge mining is provided. Then, the overview of the knowledge graph in smart grids is introduced. Moreover, the architecture of the big knowledge graph platform for smart grids and critical technologies are described. Furthermore, this paper comprehensively elaborates on the application prospects leveraged by knowledge graph oriented to smart grids, power consumer service, decision-making in dispatching, and operation and maintenance of power equipment. Finally, issues and challenges are summarised.Comment: IET Generation, Transmission & Distributio

Energy Management of Distributed Generation Systems

The book contains 10 chapters, and it is divided into four sections. The first section includes three chapters, providing an overview of Energy Management of Distributed Systems. It outlines typical concepts, such as Demand-Side Management, Demand Response, Distributed, and Hierarchical Control for Smart Micro-Grids. The second section contains three chapters and presents different control algorithms, software architectures, and simulation tools dedicated to Energy Management Systems. In the third section, the importance and the role of energy storage technology in a Distribution System, describing and comparing different types of energy storage systems, is shown. The fourth section shows how to identify and address potential threats for a Home Energy Management System. Finally, the fifth section discusses about Economical Optimization of Operational Cost for Micro-Grids, pointing out the effect of renewable energy sources, active loads, and energy storage systems on economic operation

NeBula: Team CoSTAR's robotic autonomy solution that won phase II of DARPA Subterranean Challenge

This paper presents and discusses algorithms, hardware, and software architecture developed by the TEAM CoSTAR (Collaborative SubTerranean Autonomous Robots), competing in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. Specifically, it presents the techniques utilized within the Tunnel (2019) and Urban (2020) competitions, where CoSTAR achieved second and first place, respectively. We also discuss CoSTAR¿s demonstrations in Martian-analog surface and subsurface (lava tubes) exploration. The paper introduces our autonomy solution, referred to as NeBula (Networked Belief-aware Perceptual Autonomy). NeBula is an uncertainty-aware framework that aims at enabling resilient and modular autonomy solutions by performing reasoning and decision making in the belief space (space of probability distributions over the robot and world states). We discuss various components of the NeBula framework, including (i) geometric and semantic environment mapping, (ii) a multi-modal positioning system, (iii) traversability analysis and local planning, (iv) global motion planning and exploration behavior, (v) risk-aware mission planning, (vi) networking and decentralized reasoning, and (vii) learning-enabled adaptation. We discuss the performance of NeBula on several robot types (e.g., wheeled, legged, flying), in various environments. We discuss the specific results and lessons learned from fielding this solution in the challenging courses of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge competition.The work is partially supported by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004), and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Aerial Vehicles

This book contains 35 chapters written by experts in developing techniques for making aerial vehicles more intelligent, more reliable, more flexible in use, and safer in operation.It will also serve as an inspiration for further improvement of the design and application of aeral vehicles. The advanced techniques and research described here may also be applicable to other high-tech areas such as robotics, avionics, vetronics, and space