Measurements, Models, Systems and Design

531 s.

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe need for position and orientation information in a wide variety of applications has led to the development of equally varied methods for providing it. Amongst the alternatives, inertial navigation is a solution that o ffers self-contained operation and provides angular rate, orientation, acceleration, velocity, and position information. Until recently, the size, cost, and weight of inertial sensors has limited their use to vehicles with relatively large payload capacities and instrumentation budgets. However, the development of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) inertial sensors now o ers the possibility of using inertial measurement in smaller, even human-scale, applications. Though much progress has been made toward this goal, there are still many obstacles. While operating independently from any outside reference, inertial measurement su ers from unbounded errors that grow at rates up to cubic in time. Since the reduced size and cost of these new miniaturized sensors comes at the expense of accuracy and stability, the problem of error accumulation becomes more acute. Nevertheless, researchers have demonstrated that useful results can be obtained in real-world applications. The research presented herein provides several contributions to the development of human-scale inertial navigation. A calibration technique allowing complex sensor models to be identified using inexpensive hardware and linear solution techniques has been developed. This is shown to provide significant improvements in the accuracy of the calibrated outputs from MEMS inertial sensors. Error correction algorithms based on easily identifiable characteristics of the sensor outputs have also been developed. These are demonstrated in both one- and three-dimensional navigation. The results show significant improvements in the levels of accuracy that can be obtained using these inexpensive sensors. The algorithms also eliminate empirical, application-specific simplifications and heuristics, upon which many existing techniques have depended, and make inertial navigation a more viable solution for tracking the motion around us

Identification of robotic manipulators' inverse dynamics coefficients via model-based adaptive networks

The values of a given manipulator's dynamics coefficients need to be accurately identified in order to employ model-based algorithms in the control of its motion. This thesis details the development of a novel form of adaptive network which is capable of accurately learning the coefficients of systems, such as manipulator inverse dynamics, where the algebraic form is known but the coefficients' values are not. Empirical motion data from a pair of PUMA 560s has been processed by the Context-Sensitive Linear Combiner (CSLC) network developed, and the coefficients of their inverse dynamics identified. The resultant precision of control is shown to be superior to that achieved from employing dynamics coefficients derived from direct measurement. As part of the development of the CSLC network, the process of network learning is examined. This analysis reveals that current network architectures for processing analogue output systems with high input order are highly unlikely to produce solutions that are good estimates throughout the entire problem space. In contrast, the CSLC network is shown to generalise intrinsically as a result of its structure, whilst its training is greatly simplified by the presence of only one minima in the network's error hypersurface. Furthermore, a fine-tuning algorithm for network training is presented which takes advantage of the CSLC network's single adaptive layer structure and does not rely upon gradient descent of the network error hypersurface, which commonly slows the later stages of network training

HIGH-FREQUENCY MOTION RESIDUALS IN MULTIBEAM ECHOSOUNDER DATA: ANALYSIS AND ESTIMATION

Advances in multibeam sonar mapping and data visualization have increasingly brought to light the subtle integration errors remaining in bathymetric datasets. Traditional field calibration procedures, such as the patch test, just account for static orientation bias and sonar-to-position latency. This, however, ignores the generally subtler integration problems that generate time-varying depth errors. Such dynamic depth errors are the result of an unknown offset in one or more of orientation, space, sound speed or time between the sonar and ancillary sensors. Such errors are systematic, and thus should be predictable, based on their relationship between the input data and integrated output. A first attempt at addressing this problem utilized correlations between motion and temporally smoothed, ping-averaged residuals. The known limitations of that approach, however, included only being able to estimate the dominant integration error, imperfectly accounting for irregularly spaced sounding distribution and only working in shallow water. This thesis presents a new and improved means of considering the dynamics of the integration error signatures which can address multiple issues simultaneously, better account for along-track sounding distribution, and is not restricted to shallow water geometry. The motion-driven signatures of six common errors are simultaneously identified. This is achieved through individually considering each sounding’s input-error relationship along extended sections of a single swath corridor. Such an approach provides a means of underway system optimization using nothing more than the bathymetry of typical seafloors acquired during transit. Initial results of the new algorithm are presented using data generated from a simulator, with known inputs and integration errors, to test the efficacy of the method. Results indicate that successful estimation requires conditions of significant vessel motion over periods of a few tens of seconds as well as smooth, gently rolling bathymetry along the equivalent spatial extent covered by the moving survey platform

An Overview on Application of Machine Learning Techniques in Optical Networks

Today's telecommunication networks have become sources of enormous amounts of widely heterogeneous data. This information can be retrieved from network traffic traces, network alarms, signal quality indicators, users' behavioral data, etc. Advanced mathematical tools are required to extract meaningful information from these data and take decisions pertaining to the proper functioning of the networks from the network-generated data. Among these mathematical tools, Machine Learning (ML) is regarded as one of the most promising methodological approaches to perform network-data analysis and enable automated network self-configuration and fault management. The adoption of ML techniques in the field of optical communication networks is motivated by the unprecedented growth of network complexity faced by optical networks in the last few years. Such complexity increase is due to the introduction of a huge number of adjustable and interdependent system parameters (e.g., routing configurations, modulation format, symbol rate, coding schemes, etc.) that are enabled by the usage of coherent transmission/reception technologies, advanced digital signal processing and compensation of nonlinear effects in optical fiber propagation. In this paper we provide an overview of the application of ML to optical communications and networking. We classify and survey relevant literature dealing with the topic, and we also provide an introductory tutorial on ML for researchers and practitioners interested in this field. Although a good number of research papers have recently appeared, the application of ML to optical networks is still in its infancy: to stimulate further work in this area, we conclude the paper proposing new possible research directions

Optimal input design and parameter estimation for continuous-time dynamical systems

Diese Arbeit behandelt die Themengebiete Design of Experiments (DoE) und Parameterschätzung für zeitkontinuierliche Systeme, welche in der modernen Regelungstheorie eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Im gewählten Kontext untersucht DoE die Auswirkungen von verschiedenen Rahmenbedingungen von Simulations- bzw. Messexperimenten auf die Qualität der Parameterschätzung, wobei der Fokus auf der Anwendung der Theorie auf praxisrelevante Problemstellungen liegt. Dafür wird die weithin bekannte Fisher-Matrix eingeführt und die resultierende nicht lineare Optimierungsaufgabe angeschrieben. An einem PT1-System wird der Informationsgehalt von Signalen und dessen Auswirkungen auf die Parameterschätzung gezeigt. Danach konzentriert sich die Arbeit auf ein Teilgebiet von DoE, nämlich Optimal Input Design (OID), und wird am Beispiel eines 1D-Positioniersystems im Detail untersucht. Ein Vergleich mit häufig verwendeten Anregungssignalen zeigt, dass generierte Anregungssignale (OID) oft einen höheren Informationsgehalt aufweisen und mit genaueren Schätzwerten einhergeht. Zusätzlicher Benefit ist, dass Beschränkungen an Eingangs-, Ausgangs- und Zustandsgrößen einfach in die Optimierungsaufgabe integriert werden können. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit behandelt Methoden zur Parameterschätzung von zeitkontinuierlichen Modellen mit dem Fokus auf der Verwendung von Modulationsfunktionen (MF) bzw. Poisson-Moment Functionals (PMF) zur Vermeidung der zeitlichen Ableitungen und Least-Squares zur Lösung des resultierenden überbestimmten Gleichungssystems. Bei verrauschten Messsignalen ergibt sich daraus sofort die Problematik von nicht erwartungstreuen Schätzergebnissen (Bias). Aus diesem Grund werden Methoden zur Schätzung und Kompensation von Bias Termen diskutiert. Beitrag dieser Arbeit ist vor allem die detaillierte Aufarbeitung eines Ansatzes zur Biaskompensation bei Verwendung von PMF und Least-Squares für lineare Systeme und dessen Erweiterung auf (leicht) nicht lineare Systeme. Der vorgestellte Ansatz zur Biaskompensation (BC-OLS) wird am nicht linearen 1D-Servo in der Simulation und mit Messdaten validiert und in der Simulation mit anderen Methoden, z.B., Total-Least-Squares verglichen. Zusätzlich wird der Ansatz von PMF auf die weiter gefasste Systemklasse der Modulationsfunktionen (MF) erweitert. Des Weiteren wird ein praxisrelevantes Problem der Parameteridentifikation diskutiert, welches auftritt, wenn das Systemverhalten nicht gänzlich von der Identifikationsgleichung beschrieben wird. Am 1D-Servo wird gezeigt, dass ein Deaktivieren und Reaktivieren der PMF Filter mit geeigneter Initialisierung diese Problematik einfach löst.This thesis addresses two topics that play a significant role in modern control theory: design of experiments (DoE) and parameter estimation methods for continuous-time (CT) models. In this context, DoE focuses on the impact of experimental design regarding the accuracy of a subsequent estimation of unknown model parameters and applying the theory to real-world applications and its detailed analysis. We introduce the Fisher-information matrix (FIM), consisting of the parameter sensitivities and the resulting highly nonlinear optimization task. By a first-order system, we demonstrate the computation of the information content, its visualization, and an illustration of the effects of higher Fisher information on parameter estimation quality. After that, the topic optimal input design (OID), a subarea of DoE, will be thoroughly explored on the practice-relevant linear and nonlinear model of a 1D-position servo system. Comparison with standard excitation signals shows that the OID signals generally provide higher information content and lead to more accurate parameter estimates using least-squares methods. Besides, this approach allows taking into account constraints on input, output, and state variables. In the second major topic of this thesis, we treat parameter estimation methods for CT systems, which provide several advantages to identify discrete-time (DT) systems, e.g., allows physical insight into model parameters. We focus on modulating function method (MFM) or Poisson moment functionals (PMF) and least-squares to estimate unknown model parameters. In the case of noisy measurement data, the problem of biased parameter estimation arises immediately. That is why we discuss the computation and compensation of the so-called estimation bias in detail. Besides the detailed elaboration of a bias compensating estimation method, this work’s main contribution is, based on PMF and least squares for linear systems, the extension to at least slightly nonlinear systems. The derived bias-compensated ordinary least-squares (BCOLS) approach for obtaining asymptotically unbiased parameter estimates is tested on a nonlinear 1D-servo model in the simulation and measurement. A comparison with other methods for bias compensation or avoidance, e.g., total least-squares (TLS), is performed. Additionally, the BC-OLS method is applied to the more general MFM. Furthermore, a practical issue of parameter estimation is discussed, which occurs when the system behavior leaves and re-enters the space covered by the identification equation. Using the 1D-servo system, one can show that disabling and re-enabling the PMF filters with appropriate initialization can solve this problem