2,162 research outputs found

    Advanced manned space flight simulation and training: An investigation of simulation host computer system concepts

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    The findings of a preliminary investigation by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in simulation host computer concepts is presented. It is designed to aid NASA in evaluating simulation technologies for use in spaceflight training. The focus of the investigation is on the next generation of space simulation systems that will be utilized in training personnel for Space Station Freedom operations. SwRI concludes that NASA should pursue a distributed simulation host computer system architecture for the Space Station Training Facility (SSTF) rather than a centralized mainframe based arrangement. A distributed system offers many advantages and is seen by SwRI as the only architecture that will allow NASA to achieve established functional goals and operational objectives over the life of the Space Station Freedom program. Several distributed, parallel computing systems are available today that offer real-time capabilities for time critical, man-in-the-loop simulation. These systems are flexible in terms of connectivity and configurability, and are easily scaled to meet increasing demands for more computing power

    The icub software architecture: evolution and lessons learned

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    The complexity of humanoid robots is increasing with the availability of new sensors, embedded CPUs and actuators. This wealth of technologies allows researchers to investigate new problems like whole-body force control, multi-modal human-robot interaction and sensory fusion. Under the hood of these robots, the software architecture has an important role: it allows researchers to get access to the robot functionalities focusing primarily on their research problems, it supports code reuse to minimize development and debugging, especially when new hardware becomes available. But more importantly it allows increasing the complexity of the experiments that can be implemented before system integration becomes unmanageable and debugging draws more resources than research itself. In this paper we illustrate the software architecture of the iCub humanoid robot and the software engineering best practices that have emerged driven by the needs of our research community. We describe the latest developments at the level of the middleware supporting interface definition and automatic code generation, logging, ROS compatibility and channel prioritization. We show the robot abstraction layer and how it has been modified to better address the requirements of the users and to support new hardware as it became available. We also describe the testing framework we have recently adopted for developing code using a test driven methodology. We conclude the paper discussing the lessons we have learned during the past eleven years of software development on the iCub humanoid robot

    Technology for the Future: In-Space Technology Experiments Program, part 2

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    The purpose of the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) In-Space Technology Experiments Program In-STEP 1988 Workshop was to identify and prioritize technologies that are critical for future national space programs and require validation in the space environment, and review current NASA (In-Reach) and industry/ university (Out-Reach) experiments. A prioritized list of the critical technology needs was developed for the following eight disciplines: structures; environmental effects; power systems and thermal management; fluid management and propulsion systems; automation and robotics; sensors and information systems; in-space systems; and humans in space. This is part two of two parts and contains the critical technology presentations for the eight theme elements and a summary listing of critical space technology needs for each theme

    The role of RPA/Low-Code in process transformation. How well-implemented RPA/Low-Code projects can help transform a company´s process development?

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    Project Work presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Data Science and Advanced Analytics, specialization in Business AnalyticsOver the past few years, the increasing global adoption of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) by companies has become more noticeable. However, at the national level, this trend has not yet gained significant relevance, making it an important factor for companies to distinguish themselves in their respective markets. With this in mind, Worten decided last year to embark on a strategy focused on Digitalization and Process Automation. The goal was not only to strengthen its current market position but also to reaffirm its commitment as a digital company that keeps up with emerging market trends. Therefore, the aim of the two projects developed was to assist Worten in this new phase of process change, particularly in the introduction of robotic process automation within the organization. The primary objective was to introduce the concept of automation in the most appropriate manner, starting with defining best practices for the successful implementation of RPA processes. Additionally, apart from creating a guide of best practices, it was also important to raise awareness among employees about the changes and advantages that process automation can bring. Hence, the implementation of these best practices in practical cases within the organization was also requested

    TDMAとDCFの組み合わせによるアドホックネットワーク上でのQoS通信の実現方式

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     An ad hoc network does not rely on the fixed network infrastructure; it uses a distributed network management method. With the popularity of the smart devices, ad hoc network has received more and more attention, supporting QoS in ad hoc network has become inevitable. Many researches have been done for provision of QoS in ad hoc networks. These researches can be divided into three types. The first type is contention-based approach which is the most widely used. IEEE 802.11e MAC (media access control) protocol belongs to this type which is an extension of IEEE 802.11 DCF(Distributed Coordination Function). It specifies a procedure to guarantee QoS by providing more transmission opportunities for high priority data. However, since IEEE 802.11eis designed based on the premise that access points are used, when the number of QoS flows increases, packet collisions could occur in multi-hop ad hoc network. The second type is using TDMA-based approach. The TDMA approach can provide contention-free access for QoS traffics through the appropriate time slot reservation. The current TDMA approaches reserve time slots for both QoS traffics and best-effort traffics. However, it is difficult for TDMA as the only approach to allocating channel access time for best-effort traffics sincet he required bandwidth of the best-effort traffics changes frequently. We propose a QoS scheme, which takes advantage of both contention-based approach and TDMA-based approach. In the proposed scheme, contention-based approach DCF provides easy and fair channel time for best-effort traffics, and TDMA approach serves the QoS traffics. A time frame structure is designed to manage the bandwidth allocation. A time frame is divided into two periods, specifically the TDMA periods and the DCF periods. The proportion of two periods is decided by QoS traffics. Therefore the QoS traffics are given absolutely higher priority than best-effort traffics. In order to guarantee the transmission of each QoS packet in TDMA period, a time slot assignment algorithm based on QoS data rate has been proposed. The proposed scheme also employs an admission control scheme, which rejects the new QoS user when the channel capacity is reached. In addition, we provide the configuration of the proposed scheme in the mobile environment. The procedures are designed for route changes and new-adding users.  The proposed scheme is simulated in the QualNet simulator. In the static environment, the performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated in the case of a gradual increase in the number TCP flows and in the case of gradual increase in QoS data rate. Simulation results show that in the static environment the proposed scheme can not only provide effective QoS performance, but also can provide good support for best-effort flows. In the mobile environment, we simulated the performance of the proposed scheme at different moving speed (maximum is 5 Km/h) when the ARF (Auto Rate Fallback) is available. From the simulation results, in a specific mobile environment, the proposed scheme can support the QoS transmission well.電気通信大学201

    Towards a Business Process Complexity Analysis Framework Based on Textual Data and Event Logs

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    Being an established discipline, Business Process Management (BPM) confronts various challenges related to digitization and rapid penetration of technologies into business processes (BPs). As a result, both generated and used data, such as textual data and event logs, grow exponentially, complicating the decision-making. Event logs are typically used to analyze BPs from several perspectives, including complexity. Recent approaches to BP complexity analyses focus on BP models and event logs, limiting the consideration of textual data. Hence, we propose a BP complexity analysis framework combining textual data and event logs. The framework has been conceptualized based on the IT Service Management (ITSM) case study of an international telecom provider and further developed in the IT department of an academic institution. The latter has also been used to investigate the value of the framework. Our preliminary findings show that the framework can enable comprehensive process redesign and improvements

    On the Modeling of Dynamic-Systems using Sequence-based Deep Neural-Networks

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    The objective of this thesis is the adaptation and development of sequence-based Neural-Networks (NNs) applied to the modeling of dynamic systems. More specifically, we will focus our study on 2 sub-problems: the modeling of time-series, the modeling and control of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. These 2 sub-problems will be explored through the modeling of crops, and the modeling and control of robots. To solve these problems, we build on NNs and training schemes allowing our models to out-perform the state-of-the-art results in their respective fields. In the irrigation field, we show that NNs are powerful tools capable of modeling the water consumption of crops while observing only a portion of what is currently required by reference methods. We further demonstrate the potential of NNs by inferring irrigation recommendations in real-time. In robotics, we show that prioritization techniques can be used to learn better robot dynamic models. We apply the models learned using these methods inside an Model Predictive Control (MPC) controller, further demonstrating their benefits. Additionally, we leverage Dreamer, an Model Based Reinforcement Learning (MBRL) agent, to solve visuomotor tasks. We demonstrate that MBRL controllers can be used for sensor-based control on real robots without being trained on real systems. Adding to this result, we developed a physics-guided variant of DREAMER. This variation of the original algorithm is more flexible and designed for mobile robots. This novel framework enables reusing previously learned dynamics and transferring environment knowledge to other robots. Furthermore, using this new model, we train agents to reach various goals without interacting with the system. This increases the reusability of the learned models and makes for a highly data-efficient learning scheme. Moreover, this allows for efficient dynamics randomization, creating robust agents that transfer well to unseen dynamics.Ph.D
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