1,292 research outputs found
Development and Validation of Functional Model of a Cruise Control System
Modern automobiles can be considered as a collection of many subsystems
working with each other to realize safe transportation of the occupants.
Innovative technologies that make transportation easier are increasingly
incorporated into the automobile in the form of functionalities. These new
functionalities in turn increase the complexity of the system framework present
and traceability is lost or becomes very tricky in the process. This hugely
impacts the development phase of an automobile, in which, the safety and
reliability of the automobile design should be ensured. Hence, there is a need
to ensure operational safety of the vehicles while adding new functionalities
to the vehicle. To address this issue, functional models of such systems are
created and analysed. The main purpose of developing a functional model is to
improve the traceability and reusability of a system which reduces development
time and cost. Operational safety of the system is ensured by analysing the
system with respect to random and systematic failures and including safety
mechanism to prevent such failures. This paper discusses the development and
validation of a functional model of a conventional cruise control system in a
passenger vehicle based on the ISO 26262 Road Vehicles - Functional Safety
standard. A methodology for creating functional architectures and an
architecture of a cruise control system developed using the methodology are
presented.Comment: In Proceedings FESCA 2016, arXiv:1603.0837
A Functional Reasoning Framework and Dependency Modeling Scheme for Mechatronics Conceptual Design Support
RĂSUMĂ
La conception mĂ©catronique est un processus de design pluridisciplinaire, il repose sur l'intĂ©gration synergique des domaines dâingĂ©nierie mĂ©canique, Ă©lectrique, contrĂŽle et logiciel pour concevoir des produits qui surpassent les autres produits en termes d'efficacitĂ©, de prĂ©cision, de coĂ»t et de fiabilitĂ©. Toutefois, cela a un coĂ»t, la conception de systĂšmes multidisciplinaire est une tĂąche ardue qui exige beaucoup de coordination et de coopĂ©ration entre les ingĂ©nieurs concepteurs. Beaucoup de ces difficultĂ©s ont Ă©tĂ© reportĂ©es dans les domaines acadĂ©mique et industriel. Il en ressort que la communication technique entre les concepteurs appartenant Ă diverses disciplines dâingĂ©nierie se fait trĂšs difficilement et ce en raison de l'absence d'un langage commun pour reprĂ©senter les diffĂ©rents concepts. Ceci entraĂźne des difficultĂ©s majeures Ă transfĂ©rer les modĂšles et les informations pertinentes entre les domaines ce qui entrave la possibilitĂ© dâappliquer un processus de dĂ©veloppement intĂ©grĂ© (concurrent). Pourtant, dâune part, un processus de conception intĂ©grĂ© et dynamique doit ĂȘtre suivi pour rĂ©duire le temps de conception du projet et ainsi rĂ©duire les couts et supporter l'innovation. Dâautre part, la conception multidisciplinaire se traduit par lâintroduction dâun grand nombre de dĂ©pendances durant la conception, rendant ainsi les activitĂ©s de conception difficile Ă synchroniser entravant le processus intĂ©grĂ©.
En raison de l'absence d'outil de support informatique pour le design conceptuel, et l'importance de considérer les dépendances le plus tÎt possible dans le processus de conception, un cadre de raisonnement fonctionnel en conjonction avec un systÚme de modélisation des dépendances (liées au produit) ont été développés dans ce mémoire de maßtrise.
Le cadre de raisonnement fonctionnel a Ă©tĂ© rĂ©alisĂ© par la personnalisation du langage SysML (Systems Modeling Language), et par le dĂ©veloppement dâun module dâextension (plug-in) dans l'outil de modĂ©lisation MagicDraw (No Magic, Inc.). Le plug-in intĂšgre un systĂšme expert Ă base de rĂšgles (CLIPS : C Language Integrated Production System - NASA) qui permet dâencapsuler les connaissances d'ingĂ©nierie sous la forme de rĂšgles pour analyser et effectuer des tĂąches sur des diagrammes fonctionnels.
Une nouvelle approche d'acquisition et une reprĂ©sentation schĂ©matique de dĂ©pendances ont Ă©tĂ© proposĂ©es. La notion de "mĂ©ta-dĂ©pendances» a Ă©tĂ© introduite pour modĂ©liser les dĂ©pendances qui sont partagĂ©es par un grand nombre d'Ă©lĂ©ments dans un mĂȘme systĂšme.----------ABSTRACT
Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary design process that relies on the synergic integration of mechanical, electrical, control, and software engineering to deliver products that outperform their competitors in terms of efficiency, precision, cost and reliability. However, this comes at a cost, designing multi-disciplinary systems is a challenging task that requires a lot of coordination and cooperation between designers. Several challenges are reported by both academic and industry-related literature. One of the most important is the tedious communication between engineering designers from various disciplines due to a lack of a common language to represent concepts. This leads to difficulties in transferring models and pertinent information between domains. To succeed in nowadays competitive markets, a concurrent and dynamic design process should be followed to reduce the project lead-time and spark innovation. However, such a process results in many dependencies as a consequence of multi-disciplinary design and it is often difficult to streamline the design activities.
Due to the lack of existing computational support tools for conceptual design of mechatronics and the importance of taking dependencies (product related) into account as early as possible in the design process, a functional reasoning framework as well as a dependency modeling scheme were developed in this master thesis.
The functional reasoning framework was realised by customizing the SysML (Systems Modeling Language) language and developing a plug-in in the modeling tool MagicDraw (No Magic, Inc.). The plug-in integrates the rule-based expert system CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System - NASA) that allows encapsulating engineering knowledge in the form of rules to analyze and perform tasks on functional diagrams.
A new acquisition method and representation scheme of dependencies was proposed in this master thesis. The concept of âmeta-dependencyâ was introduced to model dependencies shared by a large number of elements in a same mechatronic system or sub-system. It allows engineering designers to efficiently and abstractly capture dependencies early in the deign process and reduces the number of relationships to be built manually between dependent elements in the system
The Internet of Things: the future or the end of mechatronics.
The advent and increasing implementation of user configured and user oriented systems structured around the use of cloud configured information and the Internet of Things is presenting a new range and class of challenges to the underlying concepts of integration and transfer of functionality around which mechatronics is structured. It is suggested that the ways in which system designers and educators in particular respond to and manage these changes and challenges is going to have a significant impact on the way in which both the Internet of Things and mechatronics develop over time. The paper places the relationship between the Internet of Things and mechatronics into perspective and considers the issues and challenges facing systems designers and implementers in relation to managing the dynamics of the changes required
An approach to open virtual commissioning for component-based automation
Increasing market demands for highly customised products with shorter time-to-market and
at lower prices are forcing manufacturing systems to be built and operated in a more efficient
ways. In order to overcome some of the limitations in traditional methods of automation
system engineering, this thesis focuses on the creation of a new approach to Virtual
Commissioning (VC).
In current VC approaches, virtual models are driven by pre-programmed PLC control
software. These approaches are still time-consuming and heavily control expertise-reliant as
the required programming and debugging activities are mainly performed by control
engineers. Another current limitation is that virtual models validated during VC are difficult
to reuse due to a lack of tool-independent data models. Therefore, in order to maximise the
potential of VC, there is a need for new VC approaches and tools to address these limitations.
The main contributions of this research are: (1) to develop a new approach and the related
engineering tool functionality for directly deploying PLC control software based on
component-based VC models and reusable components; and (2) to build tool-independent
common data models for describing component-based virtual automation systems in order to
enable data reusability. [Continues.
Production Engineering and Management
The annual International Conference on Production Engineering and Management takes place for the sixth time his year, and can therefore be considered a well - established event that is the result of the joint effort of the OWL University of Applied Sciences and the University of Trieste. The conference has been established as an annual meeting under the Double Degree Master Program âProduction Engineering and Managementâ by the two partner universities.
The main goal of the conference is to provide an opportunity for students, researchers and professionals from Germany, Italy and abroad, to meet and exchange information, discuss experiences, specific practices and technical solutions used in planning, design and management of production and service systems. In addition, the conference is a platform aimed at presenting research projects, introducing young academics to the tradition of
Symposiums and promoting the exchange of ideas between the industry and the academy. Especially the contributions of successful graduates of the Double Degree Master Program âProduction Engineering and Managementâ and those of other postgraduate researchers from several European countries have been enforced.
This yearâs special focus is on Direct Digital Manufacturing in the context of Industry 4.0, a topic of great interest for the global industry. The concept is spreading, but the actual solutions must be presented in order to highlight
the practical benefits to industry and customers. Indeed, as Henning Banthien, Secretary General of the German
âPlattform Industrie 4.0â project office, has recently remarked, âIndustry 4.0 requires a close alliance amongst the private sector, academia, politics and trade unionsâ in order to be âtranslated into practice and be implemented nowâ.
PEM 2016 takes place between September 29 and 30, 2016 at the OWL University of Applied Sciences in Lemgo. The program is defined by the Organizing and Scientific Committees and clustered into scientific sessions
covering topics of main interest and importance to the participants of the conference. The scientific sessions deal
with technical and engineering issues, as well as management topics, and include contributions by researchers from academia and industry. The extended abstracts and full papers of the contributions underwent a double -
blind review process. The 24 accepted presentations are assigned, according to their subject, to one of the following sessions: âDirect Digital Manufacturing in the Context of Industry 4.0â, âIndustrial Engineering and Lean Managementâ, âManagement Techniques and Methodologiesâ, âWood Processing Technologies and Furniture Productionâ and âInnovation Techniques and Methodologies
COMPUTATIONAL FOUNDATIONS FOR COMPUTER AIDED CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF MULTIPLE INTERACTION-STATE MECHATRONIC DEVICES
Increasing autonomy and intelligence in mechatronic devices requires them to be multiple interaction-state devices. Different modes of operations and different types of interactions with the use-environment require the device to have multiple interaction-states, each state capable of producing a different behavior to meet its intended requirements. For multiple interaction-state mechatronic devices, a satisfactory framework does not exist for representing, evaluating, and synthesizing design concepts. Hence, majority of mechatronic designers currently use informal methods for representing and evaluating design concepts during the conceptual design. This leads to the following problems. First, informal representation of design concepts hinders information exchange and reuse. Second, in absence of a validation methodology, it is not clear how to determine if a proposed design concept is consistent with the requirements. Finally, designers cannot perform computer aided evaluation during the conceptual design stage.
This dissertation focuses in the area of computational foundations for representing, validating, evaluating, and synthesizing design concepts of multiple interaction-state mechatronic devices. A modeling and simulation framework has been developed for representing design concepts behind multiple interaction-state mechatronic devices. The problem of consistency-checking of interaction-states has been studied and an algorithm has been developed for solving the interaction consistency-checking problem. The problem of determining the presence of unsafe parameter values has been studied and an algorithm has been developed to determine whether an interaction-state in the proposed design concept can attain unsafe parameter values. Algorithms have been developed for evaluating design concepts based on the maximum power consumption and sharability of components. Finally, algorithms have been developed for automatically synthesizing transition diagrams for meeting the desired behavior specifications, given a components library.
We believe that the results reported in this dissertation will provide the underlying foundations for constructing the next generation computer aided design tools for conceptual design of mechatronic devices. We expect that these tools would streamline the product development process, facilitate information reuse, and reduce product development time
Tools for improving high-dose-rate prostate cancer brachytherapy using three-dimensional ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging
High-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) is an interstitial technique for the treatment of intermediate and high-risk localized prostate cancer that involves placement of a radiation source directly inside the prostate using needles. Dose-escalated whole-gland treatments have led to improvements in survival, and tumour-targeted treatments may offer future improvements in therapeutic ratio. The efficacy of tumour-targeted HDR-BT depends on imaging tools to enable accurate dose delivery to prostate sub-volumes. This thesis is focused on implementing ultrasound tools to improve HDR-BT needle localization accuracy and efficiency, and evaluating dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) for tumour localization.
First, we implemented a device enabling sagittally-reconstructed 3D (SR3D) ultrasound, which provides sub-millimeter resolution in the needle insertion direction. We acquired SR3D and routine clinical images in a cohort of 12 consecutive eligible HDR-BT patients, with a total of 194 needles. The SR3D technique provided needle insertion depth errors within 5 mm for 93\% of needles versus 76\% for the clinical imaging technique, leading to increased precision in dose delivered to the prostate.
Second, we implemented an algorithm to automatically segment multiple HDR-BT needles in a SR3D image. The algorithm was applied to the SR3D images from the first patient cohort, demonstrating mean execution times of 11.0 s per patient and successfully segmenting 82\% of needles within 3 mm.
Third, we augmented SR3D imaging with live-2D sagittal ultrasound for needle tip localization. This combined technique was applied to another cohort of 10 HDR-BT patients, reducing insertion depth errors compared to routine imaging from a range of [-8.1 mm, 7.7 mm] to [-6.2 mm, 5.9 mm].
Finally, we acquired DCE-MRI in 16 patients scheduled to undergo prostatectomy, using either high spatial resolution or high temporal resolution imaging, and compared the images to whole-mount histology. The high spatial resolution images demonstrated improved high-grade cancer classification compared to the high temporal resolution images, with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.79 and 0.70, respectively.
In conclusion, we have translated and evaluated specialized imaging tools for HDR-BT which are ready to be tested in a clinical trial investigating tumour-targeted treatment
Maintainability and evolvability of control software in machine and plant manufacturing -- An industrial survey
Automated Production Systems (aPS) have lifetimes of up to 30-50 years,
throughout which the desired products change ever more frequently. This
requires flexible, reusable control software that can be easily maintained and
evolved. To evaluate selected criteria that are especially relevant for
maturity in software maintainability and evolvability of aPS, the approach
SWMAT4aPS+ builds on a questionnaire with 52 questions. The three main research
questions cover updates of software modules and success factors for both
cross-disciplinary development as well as reusable models. This paper presents
the evaluation results of 68 companies from machine and plant manufacturing
(MPM). Companies providing automation devices and/or engineering tools will be
able to identify challenges their customers in MPM face. Validity is ensured
through feedback of the participating companies and an analysis of the
statistical unambiguousness of the results. From a software or systems
engineering point of view, almost all criteria are fulfilled below
expectations
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