Infrastructure Design, Signalling and Security in Railway

Railway transportation has become one of the main technological advances of our society. Since the first railway used to carry coal from a mine in Shropshire (England, 1600), a lot of efforts have been made to improve this transportation concept. One of its milestones was the invention and development of the steam locomotive, but commercial rail travels became practical two hundred years later. From these first attempts, railway infrastructures, signalling and security have evolved and become more complex than those performed in its earlier stages. This book will provide readers a comprehensive technical guide, covering these topics and presenting a brief overview of selected railway systems in the world. The objective of the book is to serve as a valuable reference for students, educators, scientists, faculty members, researchers, and engineers

A lunar base reference mission for the phased implementation of bioregenerative life support system components

Previous design efforts of a cost effective and reliable regenerative life support system (RLSS) provided the foundation for the characterization of organisms or 'biological processors' in engineering terms and a methodology was developed for their integration into an engineered ecological LSS in order to minimize the mass flow imbalances between consumers and producers. These techniques for the design and the evaluation of bioregenerative LSS have now been integrated into a lunar base reference mission, emphasizing the phased implementation of components of such a BLSS. In parallel, a designers handbook was compiled from knowledge and experience gained during past design projects to aid in the design and planning of future space missions requiring advanced RLSS technologies. The lunar base reference mission addresses in particular the phased implementation and integration of BLS parts and includes the resulting infrastructure burdens and needs such as mass, power, volume, and structural requirements of the LSS. Also, operational aspects such as manpower requirements and the possible need and application of 'robotics' were addressed

Growth of diesel exhaust particulate matter in a ventilated mine tunnel

The objective of this work was to study the formation and evolutionary characteristics of aerosols, originating from the exhaust plume of a diesel engine operating in a ventilated mine tunnel. To extract these characteristics, precise cross-sectional scalar exhaust maps of CO2, temperature, and aerosol concentration were generated and used to track the time averaged axial development of the plume. These maps were then used to position aerosol size distribution samples within critical regions of the plume. This approach was found to provide an efficient and thorough record of aerosol formation and evolution, as a result of naturally dispersed diesel exhaust in mine environments.;A diesel exhaust plume is made up of a complex spatial and temporally dependent array of various exhaust constituents. The state (i.e. temperature and partial pressures) of these constituents, as they travel through space, will depend on the nature of the plume and its environment. Laboratory studies usually simulate plume processes through sudden fully mixed systems. However, this approach compromises the complex path dependent processes present within natural plumes. This discrepancy can significantly affect the trends reported for the generation and transformation of diesel exhaust aerosols, which are dependent to a large extent on fuel sulfur level, temperature, species\u27 partial pressures, residence time, and dilution ratio. Some studies have been performed which preserve the natural evolution of the plume (i.e. vehicle chasing), but only demonstrate crude spatial development through the collection of relatively coarse and imprecisely positioned samples. As such, vehicle chasing studies result in relatively primitive descriptions of the formation and evolution of diesel exhaust aerosols. Consequently the following study was designed to efficiently extract detailed relationships that exist between the aerosols and other variables of a naturally occurring exhaust plume.;During this study, a digital three-axis probe placement device was developed and used to position time averaged exhaust samples precisely throughout the plume. Mapping software was also created and interfaced with the device, allowing a continued awareness of the relative probe positions with respect to the emerging plume. Scalar exhaust maps were extracted through the use of a NDIR CO2 analyzer, K-type thermocouple, and a handheld TSI CPC3007 particle counter. These maps were used to strategically position aerosol size distribution samples measured by a TSI Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS). This approach was employed to save time without incurring any losses in the quality of trends found from aerosol size distribution samples.;The results of this study reveal the intricate 3-dimensional paths traveled by developing aerosols under natural mixing. These paths are marked by continually changing exhaust states known to affect aerosol evolution. As such, spatial trends observed in aerosol data were found highly diverse over distances spanning as little as a few inches. These trends showed growth in the nuclei mode at distances as far as 20 feet from the exhaust source. Beyond 20 feet, the nuclei mode experienced considerable losses nearing 1 order of magnitude at a distance of ∼200 feet from the exhaust source. In spite of this loss, the accumulation mode was found virtually unaffected throughout the entire 200 foot test region of the tunnel

Feature Papers of Drones - Volume I

[EN] The present book is divided into two volumes (Volume I: articles 1–23, and Volume II: articles 24–54) which compile the articles and communications submitted to the Topical Collection ”Feature Papers of Drones” during the years 2020 to 2022 describing novel or new cutting-edge designs, developments, and/or applications of unmanned vehicles (drones). Articles 1–8 are devoted to the developments of drone design, where new concepts and modeling strategies as well as effective designs that improve drone stability and autonomy are introduced. Articles 9–16 focus on the communication aspects of drones as effective strategies for smooth deployment and efficient functioning are required. Therefore, several developments that aim to optimize performance and security are presented. In this regard, one of the most directly related topics is drone swarms, not only in terms of communication but also human-swarm interaction and their applications for science missions, surveillance, and disaster rescue operations. To conclude with the volume I related to drone improvements, articles 17–23 discusses the advancements associated with autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and enhanced flight plannin

Mobile Robots Navigation

Mobile robots navigation includes different interrelated activities: (i) perception, as obtaining and interpreting sensory information; (ii) exploration, as the strategy that guides the robot to select the next direction to go; (iii) mapping, involving the construction of a spatial representation by using the sensory information perceived; (iv) localization, as the strategy to estimate the robot position within the spatial map; (v) path planning, as the strategy to find a path towards a goal location being optimal or not; and (vi) path execution, where motor actions are determined and adapted to environmental changes. The book addresses those activities by integrating results from the research work of several authors all over the world. Research cases are documented in 32 chapters organized within 7 categories next described

Fourth Annual Workshop on Space Operations Applications and Research (SOAR 90)

The proceedings of the SOAR workshop are presented. The technical areas included are as follows: Automation and Robotics; Environmental Interactions; Human Factors; Intelligent Systems; and Life Sciences. NASA and Air Force programmatic overviews and panel sessions were also held in each technical area

An intelligent multi-floor mobile robot transportation system in life science laboratories

In this dissertation, a new intelligent multi-floor transportation system based on mobile robot is presented to connect the distributed laboratories in multi-floor environment. In the system, new indoor mapping and localization are presented, hybrid path planning is proposed, and an automated doors management system is presented. In addition, a hybrid strategy with innovative floor estimation to handle the elevator operations is implemented. Finally the presented system controls the working processes of the related sub-system. The experiments prove the efficiency of the presented system

NASA space station automation: AI-based technology review

Research and Development projects in automation for the Space Station are discussed. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based automation technologies are planned to enhance crew safety through reduced need for EVA, increase crew productivity through the reduction of routine operations, increase space station autonomy, and augment space station capability through the use of teleoperation and robotics. AI technology will also be developed for the servicing of satellites at the Space Station, system monitoring and diagnosis, space manufacturing, and the assembly of large space structures

Aerial Vehicles

This book contains 35 chapters written by experts in developing techniques for making aerial vehicles more intelligent, more reliable, more flexible in use, and safer in operation.It will also serve as an inspiration for further improvement of the design and application of aeral vehicles. The advanced techniques and research described here may also be applicable to other high-tech areas such as robotics, avionics, vetronics, and space