Tribological Performance of the Head-Disk Interface in Perpendicular Magnetic Recording and Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording

International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that hard disk drives will still be the main storage device for storing digital data in the next 10 years, holding approximately 80% of the data inside data centers. To increase the areal density of hard disk drives, the mechanical spacing between the head and disk surface has decreased to approximately 1nm. At such a small spacing, tribology of the head-disk interface, including head-disk contacts, wear, material buildup, and lubricant transfer, become increasingly more important for the reliability of hard disk drives. In addition to small spacing, heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology aims to deliver higher areal density recording by heating up the media surface to a few hundred Celsius degrees, facilitating the writing process. High temperature at the head and disk surfaces cause serious reliability issues for the head-disk interface (HDI). Therefore, understanding of the main factors that affect the reliability of the head-disk interface is an essential task. In this dissertation, the effect of bias voltage and helium environment on the tribological performance of the head-disk interface is investigated. To do this, we first simulated the flying characteristics of the slider as a function of bias voltage in air and helium environment. Thereafter, an experimental study was performed using custom built tester located inside a sealed environmental chamber to study the effect of air and helium on wear and lubricant redistribution at the head-disk interface during load-unload. We investigated the effect of bias voltage and relative humidity on wear, material buildup, and nano-corrosion on the slider surface. Finally, we have studied laser current and laser optical power in heat-assisted magnetic recording as a function of operating radius, head-disk clearance, media design, and their effects on the life-time of the head-disk interface. The results of this dissertation provide guidance for the effect of bias voltage, relative humidity, and helium environment on wear, material buildup, corrosion, and lubricant transfer at the head-disk interface. More importantly, our experimental study in heat-assisted magnetic recording leads to a better understanding of the main factors that cause failure of the HAMR head-disk interface. Our results are important for the improvement of the tribological performance and reliability of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) and heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head-disk interface

Transfer Learning-Based Crack Detection by Autonomous UAVs

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have recently shown great performance collecting visual data through autonomous exploration and mapping in building inspection. Yet, the number of studies is limited considering the post processing of the data and its integration with autonomous UAVs. These will enable huge steps onward into full automation of building inspection. In this regard, this work presents a decision making tool for revisiting tasks in visual building inspection by autonomous UAVs. The tool is an implementation of fine-tuning a pretrained Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for surface crack detection. It offers an optional mechanism for task planning of revisiting pinpoint locations during inspection. It is integrated to a quadrotor UAV system that can autonomously navigate in GPS-denied environments. The UAV is equipped with onboard sensors and computers for autonomous localization, mapping and motion planning. The integrated system is tested through simulations and real-world experiments. The results show that the system achieves crack detection and autonomous navigation in GPS-denied environments for building inspection

Simulating naturalistic instruction: the case for a voice mediated interface for assistive technology for cognition

A variety of brain pathologies can result in difficulties performing complex behavioural sequences. Assistive technology for cognition (ATC) attempts support of complex sequences with the aim of reducing disability. Traditional ATCs are cognitively demanding to use and thus have had poor uptake. A more intuitive interface may allow ATCs to reach their potential. Insights from psychological science may be useful to technologists in this area. We propose that an auditory-verbal interface is more intuitive than a visual interface and reduces cognitive demands on users. Two experiments demonstrate a novel ATC, the General User Interface for Disorders of Execution (GUIDE). GUIDE is novel because it simulates normal conversational prompting to support task performance. GUIDE provides verbal prompts and questions and voice recognition allows the user to interact with the GUIDE. Research with non-cognitively impaired participants and a single participant experiment involving a person with vascular dementia provide support for using interactive auditory-verbal interfaces. Suggestions for the future development of auditory-verbal interfaces are discussed

System configuration and executive requirements specifications for reusable shuttle and space station/base

System configuration and executive requirements specifications for reusable shuttle and space station/bas

Crew interface definition study, phase 1

The timeline analysis of the Shuttle orbiter missions which was conducted in the Phase I Crew Interface Definition Study and the requirements for the man-in-the-loop simulation study are presented. Mission definitions and objectives are presented as they relate to various Shuttle Orbiter missions. The requirements for crew participation and the information required by the crew are discussed, and finally the rationale behind the display concept and calling procedures is given. The simulation objectives, the simulation mechanization, including a detailed presentation of the display and control concept, the simulator test plan and the results are discussed

Experiments for Satellite and Material Recovery from Orbit. Volume III - Experiment Missions Final Report

Experiment missions for OSO satellite rendezvous, capture, material recovery, refurbishment, and extravehicular operation wor