16,612 research outputs found
A laboratory breadboard system for dual-arm teleoperation
The computing architecture of a novel dual-arm teleoperation system is described. The novelty of this system is that: (1) the master arm is not a replica of the slave arm; it is unspecific to any manipulator and can be used for the control of various robot arms with software modifications; and (2) the force feedback to the general purpose master arm is derived from force-torque sensor data originating from the slave hand. The computing architecture of this breadboard system is a fully synchronized pipeline with unique methods for data handling, communication and mathematical transformations. The computing system is modular, thus inherently extendable. The local control loops at both sites operate at 100 Hz rate, and the end-to-end bilateral (force-reflecting) control loop operates at 200 Hz rate, each loop without interpolation. This provides high-fidelity control. This end-to-end system elevates teleoperation to a new level of capabilities via the use of sensors, microprocessors, novel electronics, and real-time graphics displays. A description is given of a graphic simulation system connected to the dual-arm teleoperation breadboard system. High-fidelity graphic simulation of a telerobot (called Phantom Robot) is used for preview and predictive displays for planning and for real-time control under several seconds communication time delay conditions. High fidelity graphic simulation is obtained by using appropriate calibration techniques
ARGES: an Expert System for Fault Diagnosis Within Space-Based ECLS Systems
ARGES (Atmospheric Revitalization Group Expert System) is a demonstration prototype expert system for fault management for the Solid Amine, Water Desorbed (SAWD) CO2 removal assembly, associated with the Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) System. ARGES monitors and reduces data in real time from either the SAWD controller or a simulation of the SAWD assembly. It can detect gradual degradations or predict failures. This allows graceful shutdown and scheduled maintenance, which reduces crew maintenance overhead. Status and fault information is presented in a user interface that simulates what would be seen by a crewperson. The user interface employs animated color graphics and an object oriented approach to provide detailed status information, fault identification, and explanation of reasoning in a rapidly assimulated manner. In addition, ARGES recommends possible courses of action for predicted and actual faults. ARGES is seen as a forerunner of AI-based fault management systems for manned space systems
DyPS: Dynamic Processor Switching for Energy-Aware Video Decoding on Multi-core SoCs
In addition to General Purpose Processors (GPP), Multicore SoCs equipping
modern mobile devices contain specialized Digital Signal Processor designed
with the aim to provide better performance and low energy consumption
properties. However, the experimental measurements we have achieved revealed
that system overhead, in case of DSP video decoding, causes drastic
performances drop and energy efficiency as compared to the GPP decoding. This
paper describes DyPS, a new approach for energy-aware processor switching (GPP
or DSP) according to the video quality . We show the pertinence of our solution
in the context of adaptive video decoding and describe an implementation on an
embedded Linux operating system with the help of the GStreamer framework. A
simple case study showed that DyPS achieves 30% energy saving while sustaining
the decoding performanc
The development of a prototype intelligent user interface subsystem for NASA's scientific database systems
The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) has initiated an Intelligent Data Management (IDM) research effort which has as one of its components the development of an Intelligent User Interface (IUI).The intent of the latter is to develop a friendly and intelligent user interface service that is based on expert systems and natural language processing technologies. The purpose is to support the large number of potential scientific and engineering users presently having need of space and land related research and technical data but who have little or no experience in query languages or understanding of the information content or architecture of the databases involved. This technical memorandum presents prototype Intelligent User Interface Subsystem (IUIS) using the Crustal Dynamics Project Database as a test bed for the implementation of the CRUDDES (Crustal Dynamics Expert System). The knowledge base has more than 200 rules and represents a single application view and the architectural view. Operational performance using CRUDDES has allowed nondatabase users to obtain useful information from the database previously accessible only to an expert database user or the database designer
Teaching Concurrent Software Design: A Case Study Using Android
In this article, we explore various parallel and distributed computing topics
from a user-centric software engineering perspective. Specifically, in the
context of mobile application development, we study the basic building blocks
of interactive applications in the form of events, timers, and asynchronous
activities, along with related software modeling, architecture, and design
topics.Comment: Submitted to CDER NSF/IEEE-TCPP Curriculum Initiative on Parallel and
Distributed Computing - Core Topics for Undergraduate
The JPL telerobotic Manipulator Control and Mechanization (MCM) subsystem
The Manipulator Control and Mechanization (MCM) subsystem of the telerobot system provides the real-time control of the robot manipulators in autonomous and teleoperated modes and real time input/output for a variety of sensors and actuators. Substantial hardware and software are included in this subsystem which interfaces in the hierarchy of the telerobot system with the other subsystems. The other subsystems are: run time control, task planning and reasoning, sensing and perception, and operator control subsystem. The architecture of the MCM subsystem, its capabilities, and details of various hardware and software elements are described. Important improvements in the MCM subsystem over the first version are: dual arm coordinated trajectory generation and control, addition of integrated teleoperation, shared control capability, replacement of the ultimate controllers with motor controllers, and substantial increase in real time processing capability
Understanding Next-Generation VR: Classifying Commodity Clusters for Immersive Virtual Reality
Commodity clusters offer the ability to deliver higher performance computer graphics at lower prices than traditional graphics supercomputers. Immersive virtual reality systems demand notoriously high computational requirements to deliver adequate real-time graphics, leading to the emergence of commodity clusters for immersive virtual reality. Such clusters deliver the graphics power needed by leveraging the combined power of several computers to meet the demands of real-time interactive immersive computer graphics.However, the field of commodity cluster-based virtual reality is still in early stages of development and the field is currently adhoc in nature and lacks order. There is no accepted means for comparing approaches and implementers are left with instinctual or trial-and-error means for selecting an approach.This paper provides a classification system that facilitates understanding not only of the nature of different clustering systems but also the interrelations between them. The system is built from a new model for generalized computer graphics applications, which is based on the flow of data through a sequence of operations over the entire context of the application. Prior models and classification systems have been too focused in context and application whereas the system described here provides a unified means for comparison of works within the field
Disparity map generation based on trapezoidal camera architecture for multiview video
Visual content acquisition is a strategic functional block of any visual system. Despite its wide possibilities,
the arrangement of cameras for the acquisition of good quality visual content for use in multi-view video
remains a huge challenge. This paper presents the mathematical description of trapezoidal camera
architecture and relationships which facilitate the determination of camera position for visual content
acquisition in multi-view video, and depth map generation. The strong point of Trapezoidal Camera
Architecture is that it allows for adaptive camera topology by which points within the scene, especially the
occluded ones can be optically and geometrically viewed from several different viewpoints either on the
edge of the trapezoid or inside it. The concept of maximum independent set, trapezoid characteristics, and
the fact that the positions of cameras (with the exception of few) differ in their vertical coordinate
description could very well be used to address the issue of occlusion which continues to be a major
problem in computer vision with regards to the generation of depth map
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