High-speed civil transport flight- and propulsion-control technological issues

Technology advances required in the flight and propulsion control system disciplines to develop a high speed civil transport (HSCT) are identified. The mission and requirements of the transport and major flight and propulsion control technology issues are discussed. Each issue is ranked and, for each issue, a plan for technology readiness is given. Certain features are unique and dominate control system design. These features include the high temperature environment, large flexible aircraft, control-configured empennage, minimizing control margins, and high availability and excellent maintainability. The failure to resolve most high-priority issues can prevent the transport from achieving its goals. The flow-time for hardware may require stimulus, since market forces may be insufficient to ensure timely production. Flight and propulsion control technology will contribute to takeoff gross weight reduction. Similar technology advances are necessary also to ensure flight safety for the transport. The certification basis of the HSCT must be negotiated between airplane manufacturers and government regulators. Efficient, quality design of the transport will require an integrated set of design tools that support the entire engineering design team

Space life sciences: A status report

The scientific research and supporting technology development conducted in the Space Life Sciences Program is described. Accomplishments of the past year are highlighted. Plans for future activities are outlined. Some specific areas of study include the following: Crew health and safety; What happens to humans in space; Gravity, life, and space; Sustenance in space; Life and planet Earth; Life in the Universe; Promoting good science and good will; Building a future for the space life sciences; and Benefits of space life sciences research

Guided self-organisation in open distributed systems

[no abstract

OPTYMALIZACJA PROCESÓW ZARZĄDZANIA BUDYNKAMI KOMERCYJNYMI Z WYKORZYSTANIEM SYSTEMÓW ANALIZY ZACHOWAŃ UŻYTKOWNIKÓW WSPOMAGANYCH INTELIGENCJĄ OBLICZENIOWĄ I RTI

The aim of the presented project was to create a comprehensive building management system equipped with a network of wireless and energy-efficient sensors that collect data about users and on their basis control final devices such as lighting, ventilation, air conditioning and heating. In the presented system, end devices can be both products offered by the market (commercial) and proprietary solutions (own). This is to allow the adaptation of commercial radio communication protocols with high integration capabilities and common occurrence. In addition, the system has been enriched with an innovative system of tracking and building navigation and access control, which are supported by a network of radio beacons and radio-tomographic imaging technology (RTI). The whole system is to be supervised by computational intelligence learned from scratch.Celem prezentowanego projektu było stworzenie kompleksowego systemu zarządzania budynkiem wyposażonego w sieć bezprzewodowych i energooszczędnych czujników, które zbierają dane o użytkownikach i na ich podstawie sterują urządzeniami końcowymi, takimi jak oświetlenie, wentylacja, klimatyzacja i ogrzewanie. W prezentowanym systemie urządzeniami końcowymi mogą być zarówno produkty oferowane przez rynek (komercyjne), jak i rozwiązania autorskie (własne). Ma to na celu umożliwienie adaptacji komercyjnych protokołów komunikacji radiowej o dużych możliwościach integracyjnych i powszechnym występowaniu. Dodatkowo system został wzbogacony o innowacyjny system śledzenia i nawigacji po budynkach oraz kontroli dostępu, które są wspomagane przez sieć radiolatarni oraz technologię obrazowania radiowo-tomograficznego (RTI). Nad całością systemu ma czuwać inteligencja obliczeniowa wyuczona od podstaw

Complexity, parallel computation and statistical physics

The intuition that a long history is required for the emergence of complexity in natural systems is formalized using the notion of depth. The depth of a system is defined in terms of the number of parallel computational steps needed to simulate it. Depth provides an objective, irreducible measure of history applicable to systems of the kind studied in statistical physics. It is argued that physical complexity cannot occur in the absence of substantial depth and that depth is a useful proxy for physical complexity. The ideas are illustrated for a variety of systems in statistical physics.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Issues Related to the Emergence of the Information Superhighway and California Societal Changes, IISTPS Report 96-4

The Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies (IISTPS) at San José State University (SJSU) conducted this project to review the continuing development of the Internet and the Information Superhighway. Emphasis was placed on an examination of the impact on commuting and working patterns in California, and an analysis of how public transportation agencies, including Caltrans, might take advantage of the new communications technologies. The document reviews the technology underlying the current Internet “structure” and examines anticipated developments. It is important to note that much of the research for this limited-scope project was conducted during 1995, and the topic is so rapidly evolving that some information is almost automatically “dated.” The report also examines how transportation agencies are basically similar in structure and function to other business entities, and how they can continue to utilize the emerging technologies to improve internal and external communications. As part of a detailed discussion of specific transportation agency functions, it is noted that the concept of a “Roundtable Forum,” growing out of developments in Concurrent Engineering, can provide an opportunity for representatives from multiple jurisdictions to utilize the Internet for more coordinated decision-making. The report also included an extensive analysis of demographic trends in California in recent years, such as commute and recreational activities, and identifies how the emerging technologies may impact future changes

Skill-based reconfiguration of industrial mobile robots

Caused by a rising mass customisation and the high variety of equipment versions, the exibility of manufacturing systems in car productions has to be increased. In addition to a exible handling of production load changes or hardware breakdowns that are established research areas in literature, this thesis presents a skill-based recon guration mechanism for industrial mobile robots to enhance functional recon gurability. The proposed holonic multi-agent system is able to react to functional process changes while missing functionalities are created by self-organisation. Applied to a mobile commissioning system that is provided by AUDI AG, the suggested mechanism is validated in a real-world environment including the on-line veri cation of the recon gured robot functionality in a Validity Check. The present thesis includes an original contribution in three aspects: First, a recon - guration mechanism is presented that reacts in a self-organised way to functional process changes. The application layer of a hardware system converts a semantic description into functional requirements for a new robot skill. The result of this mechanism is the on-line integration of a new functionality into the running process. Second, the proposed system allows maintaining the productivity of the running process and exibly changing the robot hardware through provision of a hardware-abstraction layer. An encapsulated Recon guration Holon dynamically includes the actual con guration each time a recon guration is started. This allows reacting to changed environment settings. As the resulting agent that contains the new functionality, is identical in shape and behaviour to the existing skills, its integration into the running process is conducted without a considerable loss of productivity. Third, the suggested mechanism is composed of a novel agent design that allows implementing self-organisation during the encapsulated recon guration and dependability for standard process executions. The selective assignment of behaviour-based and cognitive agents is the basis for the exibility and e ectiveness of the proposed recon guration mechanism

An architectural framework for self-configuration and self-improvement at runtime

[no abstract