Method of testing the readiness of means of transport with the use of semi-Markov processes

In the analysis of the readiness of means of transport, the Markov and semi-Markov processes are particularly applicable, allowing for the description of the usage process over long periods of time, determination of indicators of the exploitability and readiness of the used set of objects, as well as simulation of long-term forecasts of the usage process results. The studies presented in the literature usually concern the theoretical side of the matter, mainly the construction of formal models of the process of changing the operating states of a vehicle. Less attention is paid to the empirical side, especially with regard to the actual conditions of use. Examples of experimental observations presented in the literature most often concern individual cases. This paper lists selected irregularities and presents an example of a study of a real transport system based on semi-Markov processes

Information Theory and Its Application in Machine Condition Monitoring

Condition monitoring of machinery is one of the most important aspects of many modern industries. With the rapid advancement of science and technology, machines are becoming increasingly complex. Moreover, an exponential increase of demand is leading an increasing requirement of machine output. As a result, in most modern industries, machines have to work for 24 hours a day. All these factors are leading to the deterioration of machine health in a higher rate than before. Breakdown of the key components of a machine such as bearing, gearbox or rollers can cause a catastrophic effect both in terms of financial and human costs. In this perspective, it is important not only to detect the fault at its earliest point of inception but necessary to design the overall monitoring process, such as fault classification, fault severity assessment and remaining useful life (RUL) prediction for better planning of the maintenance schedule. Information theory is one of the pioneer contributions of modern science that has evolved into various forms and algorithms over time. Due to its ability to address the non-linearity and non-stationarity of machine health deterioration, it has become a popular choice among researchers. Information theory is an effective technique for extracting features of machines under different health conditions. In this context, this book discusses the potential applications, research results and latest developments of information theory-based condition monitoring of machineries

Estimation of real traffic radiated emissions from electric vehicles in terms of the driving profile using neural networks

The increment of the use of electric vehicles leads to a worry about measuring its principal source of environmental pollution: electromagnetic emissions. Given the complexity of directly measuring vehicular radiated emissions in real traffic, the main contribution of this PhD thesis is to propose an indirect solution to estimate such type of vehicular emissions. Relating the on-road vehicular radiated emissions with the driving profile is a complicated task. This is because it is not possible to directly measure the vehicular radiated interferences in real traffic due to potential interferences from another electromagnetic wave sources. This thesis presents a microscopic artificial intelligence model based on neural networks to estimate real traffic radiated emissions of electric vehicles in terms of the driving dynamics. Instantaneous values of measured speed and calculated acceleration have been used to characterize the driving profile. Experimental electromagnetic interference tests have been carried out with a Vectrix electric motorcycle as well as Twizy electric cars in semi-anechoic chambers. Both the motorcycle and the car have been subjected to different urban and interurban driving profiles. Time Domain measurement methodology of electromagnetic radiated emissions has been adopted in this work to save the overall measurement time. The relationship between the magnetic radiated emissions of the Twizy and the corresponding speed has been very noticeable. Maximum magnetic field levels have been observed during high speed cruising in extra-urban driving and acceleration in urban environments. A comparative study of the prediction performance between various static and dynamic neural models has been introduced. The Multilayer Perceptron feedforward neural network trained with Extreme Learning Machines has achieved the best estimation results of magnetic radiated disturbances as function of instantaneous speed and acceleration. In this way, on-road magnetic radiated interferences from an electric vehicle equipped with a Global Positioning System can be estimated. This research line will allow quantify the pollutant electromagnetic emissions of electric vehicles and study new policies to preserve the environment

Estimation of real traffic radiated emissions from electric vehicles in terms of the driving profile using neural networks

The increment of the use of electric vehicles leads to a worry about measuring its principal source of environmental pollution: electromagnetic emissions. Given the complexity of directly measuring vehicular radiated emissions in real traffic, the main contribution of this PhD thesis is to propose an indirect solution to estimate such type of vehicular emissions. Relating the on-road vehicular radiated emissions with the driving profile is a complicated task. This is because it is not possible to directly measure the vehicular radiated interferences in real traffic due to potential interferences from another electromagnetic wave sources. This thesis presents a microscopic artificial intelligence model based on neural networks to estimate real traffic radiated emissions of electric vehicles in terms of the driving dynamics. Instantaneous values of measured speed and calculated acceleration have been used to characterize the driving profile. Experimental electromagnetic interference tests have been carried out with a Vectrix electric motorcycle as well as Twizy electric cars in semi-anechoic chambers. Both the motorcycle and the car have been subjected to different urban and interurban driving profiles. Time Domain measurement methodology of electromagnetic radiated emissions has been adopted in this work to save the overall measurement time. The relationship between the magnetic radiated emissions of the Twizy and the corresponding speed has been very noticeable. Maximum magnetic field levels have been observed during high speed cruising in extra-urban driving and acceleration in urban environments. A comparative study of the prediction performance between various static and dynamic neural models has been introduced. The Multilayer Perceptron feedforward neural network trained with Extreme Learning Machines has achieved the best estimation results of magnetic radiated disturbances as function of instantaneous speed and acceleration. In this way, on-road magnetic radiated interferences from an electric vehicle equipped with a Global Positioning System can be estimated. This research line will allow quantify the pollutant electromagnetic emissions of electric vehicles and study new policies to preserve the environment

Machine Learning Approaches for Traffic Flow Forecasting

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) as a field has emerged quite rapidly in the recent years. A competitive solution coupled with big data gathered for ITS applications needs the latest AI to drive the ITS for the smart and effective public transport planning and management. Although there is a strong need for ITS applications like Advanced Route Planning (ARP) and Traffic Control Systems (TCS) to take the charge and require the minimum of possible human interventions. This thesis develops the models that can predict the traffic link flows on a junction level such as road traffic flows for a freeway or highway road for all traffic conditions. The research first reviews the state-of-the-art time series data prediction techniques with a deep focus in the field of transport Engineering along with the existing statistical and machine leaning methods and their applications for the freeway traffic flow prediction. This review setup a firm work focussed on the view point to look for the superiority in term of prediction performance of individual statistical or machine learning models over another. A detailed theoretical attention has been given, to learn the structure and working of individual chosen prediction models, in relation to the traffic flow data. In modelling the traffic flows from the real-world Highway England (HE) gathered dataset, a traffic flow objective function for highway road prediction models is proposed in a 3-stage framework including the topological breakdown of traffic network into virtual patches, further into nodes and to the basic links flow profiles behaviour estimations. The proposed objective function is tested with ten different prediction models including the statistical, shallow and deep learning constructed hybrid models for bi-directional links flow prediction methods. The effectiveness of the proposed objective function greatly enhances the accuracy of traffic flow prediction, regardless of the machine learning model used. The proposed prediction objective function base framework gives a new approach to model the traffic network to better understand the unknown traffic flow waves and the resulting congestions caused on a junction level. In addition, the results of applied Machine Learning models indicate that RNN variant LSTMs based models in conjunction with neural networks and Deep CNNs, when applied through the proposed objective function, outperforms other chosen machine learning methods for link flow predictions. The experimentation based practical findings reveal that to arrive at an efficient, robust, offline and accurate prediction model apart from feeding the ML mode with the correct representation of the network data, attention should be paid to the deep learning model structure, data pre-processing (i.e. normalisation) and the error matrices used for data behavioural learning. The proposed framework, in future can be utilised to address one of the main aims of the smart transport systems i.e. to reduce the error rates in network wide congestion predictions and the inflicted general traffic travel time delays in real-time

Advanced Fault Diagnosis and Health Monitoring Techniques for Complex Engineering Systems

Over the last few decades, the field of fault diagnostics and structural health management has been experiencing rapid developments. The reliability, availability, and safety of engineering systems can be significantly improved by implementing multifaceted strategies of in situ diagnostics and prognostics. With the development of intelligence algorithms, smart sensors, and advanced data collection and modeling techniques, this challenging research area has been receiving ever-increasing attention in both fundamental research and engineering applications. This has been strongly supported by the extensive applications ranging from aerospace, automotive, transport, manufacturing, and processing industries to defense and infrastructure industries

30th International Conference on Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Engineering Management (COMADEM 2017)

Proceedings of COMADEM 201

Running Dynamics of Rail Vehicles

The investigation of rail vehicle running dynamics plays an important role in the more than 200 year development of railway vehicles and infrastructure. Currently, there are a number of new requirements for rail transport associated with the reduced environmental impact, energy consumption and wear, whilst increasing train speed and passenger comfort. Therefore, the running dynamics of rail vehicles is still a research topic that requires improved simulation tools and experimental procedures. The book focuses on the current research topics in railway vehicles running dynamics. Special attention is given to high-speed railway transport, acoustic and vibrational impact of railway transport to the surroundings, optimization of energy supply systems for railway transport, traction drives optimization and wear of wheels and rails