Architecture, Design, and Implementation of a Rapidly Prototyped Virtual Environment for a Military Spaceplane

The new Global Engagement vision places increased emphasis on the Air Force\u27s ability to control and exploit space. A military spaceplane combining reliable access to space, high operational tempos, and multi-mission capabilities is in conceptual stages of development. Virtual environment technology provides an opportunity to investigate system requirements and unconventional interface paradigms for this unique vehicle. A virtual environment architecture and design based on support for a rapid prototyping development process, separation of concerns, and user interface development is presented. The rapid prototyping process allowed management of changing requirements via an evolutionary approach to implementation. Separation of the activities performed by the virtual environment into classes enabled high performance through computational distribution, prevented modifications from rippling through the system and impeding development, and promoted reuse of computation and geometric models. A technique was developed to reduce the flimmer induced by the large spatial extent of the virtual environment. The architecture succeeded in providing a flexible framework for the AFIT Virtual Spaceplane. The Virtual Spaceplane is a large-scale virtual environment within which an immersed user commands a military spaceplane through atmospheric and orbital regimes to complete several simulated missions via an unconventional virtual interface

Bridging the high-level model to execution platform for design space exploration and implementation

This paper presents a new modeling methodology for embedded systems. This methodology fills the gap between high-level AADL models and the hardware execution platform described at low-level. It enables an architectural exploration phase at different levels of abstraction to refine and increase system’s performances. The main objective of the proposed approach is to reduce the complexity of development, while improving system’s robustness and enhance product quality. This is achieved through virtual prototyping of the complete system to perform early validation in the design flow

Virtual Cycle-accurate Hardware and Software Co-simulation Platform for Cellular IoT

Modern embedded development flows often depend on FPGA board usage for pre-ASIC system verification. The purpose of this project is to instead explore the usage of Electronic System Level (ESL) hardware-software co-simulation through the usage of ARM SoC Designer tool to create a virtual prototype of a cellular IoT modem and thereafter compare the benefits of including such a methodology into the early development cycle. The virtual system is completely developed and executed on a host computer, without the requirement of additional hardware. The virtual prototype hardware is based on C++ ARM verified cycle-accurate models generated from RTL hardware descriptions, High-level synthesis (HLS) pre-synthesis SystemC HW accelerator models and behavioural models which implement the ARM Cycle-accurate Simulation Interface (CASI). The micro-controller of the virtual system which is based on an ARM Cortex-M processor, is capable of executing instructions from a memory module. This report documents the virtual prototype implementation and compares both the software performance and cycle-accuracy of various virtual micro-controller configurations to a commercial reference development board. By altering factors such as memory latencies and bus interconnect subsystem arbitration in co-simulations, the software cycle-count performance of the development board was shown possible to reproduce within a 5% error margin, at the cost of approximately 266 times slower execution speed. Furthermore, the validity of two HLS pre-synthesis hardware models is investigated and proven to be functionally accurate within three clock cycles of individual block latency compared to post-synthesis FPGA synthesized implementations. The final virtual prototype system consisted of the micro-controller and two cellular IoT hardware accelerators. The system runs a FreeRTOS 9.0.0 port, executing a multi-threaded program at an average clock cycle simulation frequency of 10.6 kHz.-Designing and simulating embedded computer systems virtually. Cellular internet of things (IoT) is a new technology that will enable the interconnection of everything: from street lights and parking meters to your gas or water meter at home, wireless cellular networks will allow information to be shared between devices. However, in order for these systems to provide any useful data, they need to include a computer chip with a system to manage the communication itself, enabling the connection to a cellular network and the actual transmission and reception of data. Such a chip is called an embedded chip or system. Traditionally, the design and verification of digital embedded systems, that is to say a system which has both hardware and software components, had to be done in two steps. The first step consists of designing all the hardware, testing it, integrating it and producing it physically on silicon in order to verify the intended functionality of all the components. The second step thus consists of taking the hardware that has been developed and designing the software: a program which will have to execute in complete compliance to the hardware that has been previously developed. This poses two main issues: the software engineers cannot begin their work properly until the hardware is finished, which makes the process very long, and the fact that the hardware has been printed on silicon greatly restricts the possibility of doing changes to accommodate late system requirement alterations; which is quite likely for a tailor-made application specific system such as a cellular IoT chip. A currently widespread technology used to mitigate the previously mentioned negative aspects of embedded design, is the employment of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) development boards which often contain a micro-controller (with a processor and some memories), and a gate array connected to it. The FPGA part consists of a lattice of digital logic gates which can be programmed to interconnect and represent the functionality of the hardware being designed. The processor can thus execute software instructions placed on the memories and the hardware being developed can be programmed into the gate array in order to integrate and verify a full hardware and software system. Nevertheless, this boards are expensive and limit the design to the hardware components available commercially in the different off-the-shelf models, e.g. a specific processor which might not be the desired one. Now imagine there is a way to design hardware components such as processors in the traditional way, however once the hardware has been implemented it can be integrated together with software without the need of printing a physical silicon chip specifically for this purpose. That would be extremely convenient and would save lots of time, would it not? Fortunately, this is already possible due to Electronic System Level (ESL) design, which is compilation of techniques that allow to design, simulate and partially verify a digital chip, all within any normal laptop or desktop computer. Moreover, some ESL tools such as the one investigated in this project, allow you to even simulate a program code written specifically for this hardware; this is known as virtual hardware software co-simulation. The reliability of simulation must however be considered when compared to a traditional two-step methodology or FPGA board usage to verify a full system. This is because a virtual hardware simulation can have several degrees of accuracy, depending on the specificity of component models that make up the virtual prototype of the digital system. Therefore, in order to use co-simulation techniques with a high degree of confidence for verification, the highest accuracy degree should be employed if possible to guarantee that what is being simulated will match the reality of a silicon implementation. The clock cycle-accurate level is one of the highest accuracy system simulation methods available, and it consists of representing the digital states of all hardware components such as signals and registers, in a cycle-by-cycle manner. By using the ARM SoC Designer ESL tool, we have co-designed and co-simulated several microcontrollers on a detailed, cycle-accurate level and confirmed its behaviour by comparing it to a physical reference target development board. Finally, a more complex virtual prototype of a cellular IoT system was also simulated, including a micro-controller running a a real-time operating system (RTOS), hardware accelerators and serial data interfacing. Parts of this virtual prototype where compared to an FPGA board to evaluate the pros and cons of incorporating virtual system simulation into the development cycle and to what extent can ESL methods substitute traditional verification techniques. The ease of interchanging hardware, simplicity of development, simulation speed and the level of debug capabilities available when developing in a virtual environment are some of the aspects of ARM SoC Designer discussed in this thesis. A more in depth description of the methodology and results can be found in the report titled "Virtual Cycle-accurate Hardware and Software Co-simulation Platform for Cellular IoT"

The use of a kinematic contraint map to prepare the structure for a dimensional variation analysis model

Dimensional variation analysis (DVA) models are widely used in the automotive industry to predict how minor variations in the size, shape and location of the component parts are likely to propagate throughout a body structure, suspension, engine or transmission system and how this will affect the overall assembly, operation and performance. This paper is one of in series of four papers that describe how different techniques can be utilised to aid the creation and application of DVA models. This paper explains the development and use of the kinematic constraint map (KCM) method to prepare, in advance, the most appropriate structure for a DVA model. The KCM method provides a concise and comprehensive graphical method that, in one document, can identify all the physical constraints that govern the location and (where applicable) the motion of each component within a complete mechanical system. Once complete, the KCM for a mechanical system contains sufficient information to fully define the structure of the subsequent DVA model. The other three papers cover the use of virtual fixtures, jigs and gauges to achieve the necessary component location and the required variation measurements; the use of two stage DVA models to simulate interdependence between different model configurations and the use of 3D plots to display large numbers of DVA results as a single 3D shape

Selected topics in information technology : series 1

This volume is devoted to the recent developments on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems and applications spread across various domain. It seeks to illustrate the potential of Information Technology for a wide range of applications via a systematic collection of recent methods, procedures, and applications designed to solve real-life problems. This book contains ten chapters that emphasize recent information technologies development. Each chapter has been carefully selected to represent a distinctive domain, each with its own unique theoretical, methodological, and empirical developments of solutions on different platforms. The content of this book is organized as follows: Chapter 1 models an assistive ICT solution for people with health concerns by monitoring the patients’ general well-being and medicine intake. In Chapter 2, a standard brick-and-mortar directory kiosk is transformed to allow a virtual walkthrough through an experiential approach. Chapter 3 details out a proof of concept for a monitoring system dedicated for air quality for upto-the-minute information that helps user optimize their decisions. Chapter 4 looks into tailoring human resource management system for home furnishing business. Apart from monitoring and management system, Chapter 5 presents a yet another management system but for facilitators in managing campus orientation programs. Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 are social systems for planning a wedding and marriage matchmaking. The online systems cater from pre-to post wedding, hence suggesting a complete chain of new business model. In Chapter 8, an online practical exam system focuses on one specific course for an undergraduate program at UTHM. Finally, Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 present interesting information systems for expecting mothers and a decision support system for promoting Korean skincare products online. The opportunities now afforded by ICT as deliberated in this book ensures that there is great potential to serve a wide range of audiences. The editors would like to thank chapters’ contributors for their valuable contributions to make this book a success. The edited research book would not have been possible without them

Ein Tag in Assiut

VIRTUAL PROTOTYPING has been generally adopted in product development in order to minimise the traditional reliance on testing of physical prototypes. It thus constitutes a major step towards solving the conflict of actual increasing development cost and time due to increasing customer demands on one side, and the need to decrease development cost and time due to increasing competition on the other. Particularly challenging for the off-road equipment industry is that its products, working machines, are complex in architecture. Tightly coupled, non-linear sub-systems of different technical domains make prediction and optimisation of the complete system’s dynamic behaviour difficult. Furthermore, in working machines the human operator is essential for the performance of the total system. Properties such as productivity, fuel efficiency, and operability are all not only dependent on inherent machine properties and working place conditions, but also on how the operator uses the machine. This is an aspect that is traditionally neglected in dynamic simulations, because the modelling needs to be extended beyond the technical system. The research presented in this thesis focuses on wheel loaders, which are representative for working machines. The technical system and the influence of the human operator is analysed, and so-called short loading cycles are described in depth. Two approaches to rule-based simulation models of a wheel loader operator are presented and used in simulations. Both operator models control the machine model by means of engine throttle, lift and tilt lever, steering wheel, and brake only – just as a human operator does. Also, only signals that a human operator can sense are used in the models. It is demonstrated that both operator models are able to adapt to basic variations in workplace setup and machine capability. Thus, a “human element” can be introduced into dynamic simulation of working machines, giving more relevant answers with respect to operator-influenced complete-machine properties such as productivity, fuel efficiency, and operability already in the concept phase of the product development process.ISRN/Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic 2005:44</p

Virtual engineering and commissioning to support the lifecycle of a manufacturing assembly system

Prior to the physical build of the industrial automation system, some challenges arise, such as processes’ cycle times calculations, ergonomics and safety evaluation, and the integration of separate machines to the complete production shops. This, in turn, requires reconfiguring the processes and component parameters. As a result, the lifecycle of the system development is prolonged, and the potential for erroneous performance increases. In modern digital manufacturing environments, virtual engineering (VE) and virtual commissioning (VC) serve as effective tools to tackle the aforementioned problems and their consequences. The virtual models developed for VE and VC not only assist system developers in the physical build stage but also in the following stages of the system lifecycle by providing a common virtual model, a digital twin (DT), of the manufacturing processes and the product. This developed model should possess the ability to simulate the system behaviour, e.g., the mechanics, kinematics, speed and acceleration profiles. Three stakeholders are involved in the development process: the machine builder, system integrator and end user. The current work focuses on the virtual engineering approach to support the entire lifecycle of a manufacturing system from the machine builder, system integrator and end user perspectives. For this purpose, it puts forward a systematic methodology of implementing VC and VE using a toolset developed by the Automation Systems Group at the University of Warwick within an industrial project. The suggested methodology is illustrated in a case study where a digital twin of a physical station was modelled, developed and tested in parallel with the physical machine development and build. Finally, the benefits and limitations are highlighted based on the gained outcomes and the implemented activities

Intelligent business processes composition based on mas, semantic and cloud integration (IPCASCI)

[EN]Component reuse is one of the techniques that most clearly contributes to the evolution of the software industry by providing efficient mechanisms to create quality software. Reuse increases both software reliability, due to the fact that it uses previously tested software components, and development productivity, and leads to a clear reduction in cost. Web services have become are an standard for application development on cloud computing environments and are essential in business process development. These services facilitate a software construction that is relatively fast and efficient, two aspects which can be improved by defining suitable models of reuse. This research work is intended to define a model which contains the construction requirements of new services from service composition. To this end, the composition is based on tested Web services and artificial intelligent tools at our disposal. It is believed that a multi-agent architecture based on virtual organizations is a suitable tool to facilitate the construction of cloud computing environments for business processes from other existing environments, and with help from ontological models as well as tools providing the standard BPEL (Business Process Execution Language). In the context of this proposal, we must generate a new business process from the available services in the platform, starting with the requirement specifications that the process should meet. These specifications will be composed of a semi-free description of requirements to describe the new service. The virtual organizations based on a multi-agent system will manage the tasks requiring intelligent behaviour. This system will analyse the input (textual description of the proposal) in order to deconstruct it into computable functionalities, which will be subsequently treated. Web services (or business processes) stored to be reused have been created from the perspective of SOA architectures and associated with an ontological component, which allows the multi-agent system (based on virtual organizations) to identify the services to complete the reuse process. The proposed model develops a service composition by applying a standard BPEL once the services that will compose the solution business process have been identified. This standard allows us to compose Web services in an easy way and provides the advantage of a direct mapping from Business Process Management Notation diagrams

A Research Framework for the Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization of Wind Turbines

The design of very large wind turbines is a complex task which requires the development of dedicated tools and techniques. In this chapter, we present a system-level design procedure based on the combination of multi-body numerical models of the turbine and a multilevel optimization scheme. The overall design aims at the minimization of the cost of energy (COE) through the optimization of all the characteristics of the turbine, and the procedure automatically manages all the simulations required to compute relevant loads and displacements. This unique setup allows the designer to conduct trade-off studies in a highly realistic virtual environment and is an ideal test bench for advanced research studies in which it is important to assess the economic impact of specific design choices. Examples of such studies include the impact of stall-induced vibrations on fatigue, the development of active/passive control laws for large rotors, and the complete definition of 10–20 MW reference turbines