A survey on fractional order control techniques for unmanned aerial and ground vehicles

In recent years, numerous applications of science and engineering for modeling and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) systems based on fractional calculus have been realized. The extra fractional order derivative terms allow to optimizing the performance of the systems. The review presented in this paper focuses on the control problems of the UAVs and UGVs that have been addressed by the fractional order techniques over the last decade

Methods of Technical Prognostics Applicable to Embedded Systems

Hlavní cílem dizertace je poskytnutí uceleného pohledu na problematiku technické prognostiky, která nachází uplatnění v tzv. prediktivní údržbě založené na trvalém monitorování zařízení a odhadu úrovně degradace systému či jeho zbývající životnosti a to zejména v oblasti komplexních zařízení a strojů. V současnosti je technická diagnostika poměrně dobře zmapovaná a reálně nasazená na rozdíl od technické prognostiky, která je stále rozvíjejícím se oborem, který ovšem postrádá větší množství reálných aplikaci a navíc ne všechny metody jsou dostatečně přesné a aplikovatelné pro embedded systémy. Dizertační práce přináší přehled základních metod použitelných pro účely predikce zbývající užitné životnosti, jsou zde popsány metriky pomocí, kterých je možné jednotlivé přístupy porovnávat ať už z pohledu přesnosti, ale také i z pohledu výpočetní náročnosti. Jedno z dizertačních jader tvoří doporučení a postup pro výběr vhodné prognostické metody s ohledem na prognostická kritéria. Dalším dizertačním jádrem je představení tzv. částicového filtrovaní (particle filtering) vhodné pro model-based prognostiku s ověřením jejich implementace a porovnáním. Hlavní dizertační jádro reprezentuje případovou studii pro velmi aktuální téma prognostiky Li-Ion baterii s ohledem na trvalé monitorování. Případová studie demonstruje proces prognostiky založené na modelu a srovnává možné přístupy jednak pro odhad doby před vybitím baterie, ale také sleduje možné vlivy na degradaci baterie. Součástí práce je základní ověření modelu Li-Ion baterie a návrh prognostického procesu.The main aim of the thesis is to provide a comprehensive overview of technical prognosis, which is applied in the condition based maintenance, based on continuous device monitoring and remaining useful life estimation, especially in the field of complex equipment and machinery. Nowadays technical prognosis is still evolving discipline with limited number of real applications and is not so well developed as technical diagnostics, which is fairly well mapped and deployed in real systems. Thesis provides an overview of basic methods applicable for prediction of remaining useful life, metrics, which can help to compare the different approaches both in terms of accuracy and in terms of computational/deployment cost. One of the research cores consists of recommendations and guide for selecting the appropriate forecasting method with regard to the prognostic criteria. Second thesis research core provides description and applicability of particle filtering framework suitable for model-based forecasting. Verification of their implementation and comparison is provided. The main research topic of the thesis provides a case study for a very actual Li-Ion battery health monitoring and prognostics with respect to continuous monitoring. The case study demonstrates the prognostic process based on the model and compares the possible approaches for estimating both the runtime and capacity fade. Proposed methodology is verified on real measured data.

Estimation and prediction of road traffic flow using particle filter for real-time traffic control

Real-data testing results of a real-time state estimator and predictor are presented with particular focus on the feature of enabling of detector fault alarms and also its relation to queue-length based traffic control. A parameter and state estimator/predictor is developed by using particle filter. The simulation testing results are quite satisfactory and promising for further work on developing a hybrid model of traffic flow that captures the transition between low and high intensity. By using this hybrid model, it may be more feasible to achieve the significant feature of automatic adaptation to changing system condition

A simple state-based prognostic model for filter clogging

In today's maintenance planning, fuel filters are replaced or cleaned on a regular basis. Monitoring and implementation of prognostics on filtration system have the potential to avoid costs and increase safety. Prognostics is a fundamental technology within Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM). Prognostic models can be categorised into three major categories: 1) Physics-based models 2) Data-driven models 3) Experience-based models. One of the challenges in the progression of the clogging filter failure is the inability to observe the natural clogging filter failure due to time constraint. This paper presents a simple solution to collect data for a clogging filter failure. Also, it represents a simple state-based prognostic with duration information (SSPD) method that aims to detect and forecast clogging of filter in a laboratory based fuel rig system. The progression of the clogging filter failure is created unnaturally. The degradation level is divided into several groups. Each group is defined as a state in the failure progression of clogging filter. Then, the data is collected to create the clogging filter progression states unnaturally. The SSPD method consists of three steps: clustering, clustering evaluation, and remaining useful life (RUL) estimation. Prognosis results show that the SSPD method is able to predicate the RUL of the clogging filter accurately

A Combined Stochastic and Greedy Hybrid Estimation Capability for Concurrent Hybrid Models with Autonomous Mode Transitions

Robotic and embedded systems have become increasingly pervasive in applicationsranging from space probes and life support systems to robot assistants. In order to act robustly in the physical world, robotic systems must be able to detect changes in operational mode, such as faults, whose symptoms manifest themselves only in the continuous state. In such systems, the state is observed indirectly, and must therefore be estimated in a robust, memory-efficient manner from noisy observations.Probabilistic hybrid discrete/continuous models, such as Concurrent Probabilistic Hybrid Automata (CPHA) are convenient modeling tools for such systems. In CPHA, the hidden state is represented with discrete and continuous state variables that evolve probabilistically. In this paper, we present a novel method for estimating the hybrid state of CPHA that achieves robustness by balancing greedy and stochastic search. The key insight is that stochastic and greedy search methods, taken together, are often particularly effective in practice.To accomplish this, we first develop an efficient stochastic sampling approach for CPHA based on Rao-Blackwellised Particle Filtering. We then propose a strategy for mixing stochastic and greedy search. The resulting method is able to handle three particularly challenging aspects of real-world systems, namely that they 1) exhibit autonomous mode transitions, 2) consist of a large collection of concurrently operating components, and 3) are non-linear. Autonomous mode transitions, that is, discrete transitions that depend on thecontinuous state, are particularly challenging to address, since they couple the discrete and continuous state evolution tightly. In this paper we extend the class of autonomous mode transitions that can be handled to arbitrary piecewise polynomial transition distributions.We perform an empirical comparison of the greedy and stochastic approaches to hybrid estimation, and then demonstrate the robustness of the mixed method incorporated with our HME (Hybrid Mode Estimation) capability. We show that this robustness comes at only a small performance penalty