Assessment of Different Technologies for Improving Visibility during Foggy Weather in Mining and Transportation Sectors

Generally during foggy weather in winter season, mining operation remains suspended for hours due to problem of visibility. Foggy weather also leads to accidents, loss of life and infrastructure damages in mining and transportation sectors. This paper discusses about the existing technologies for improving visibility in transportation sector and suitability assessment of these technologies in mines for uninterrupted mining operations in foggy weathe

A Wireless Angle and Position Tracking Concept for Live Data Control of Advanced, Semi-Automated Manufacturing Processes

Despite recent industrial automation advances, small series production still requires a considerable amount of manual work, and training, and monitoring of workers is consuming a significant amount of time and manpower. Adopting live monitoring of the stages in manual production, along with the comprehensive representation of production steps, may help resolve this problem. For ergonomic live support, the overall system presented in this paper combines localization, torque control, and a rotation counter in a novel approach to monitor of semi-automated manufacturing processes. A major challenge in this context is tracking, especially hand-guided tools, without the disruptions and restrictions necessary with rigid position encoders. In this paper, a promising measurement concept involving wireless wave-based sensors for close-range position tracking in industrial surroundings is proposed. By using simple beacons, the major share of processing is transferred to fixed nodes, allowing for reduced hardware size and power consumption for the wireless mobile units. This requires designated localization approaches relying on only relative phase information, similar to the proposed Kalman-filter-based-beam-tracking approach. Measurement results show a beam-tracking accuracy of about 0.58 ∘ in azimuth and 0.89 ∘ in elevation, resulting in an overall tracking accuracy of about 3.18 cm

A Micromachined Millimeter-Wave Radar Technology for Indoor Navigation

A compact, light-weight, low-power MMW radar system operating at 240 GHz is introduced to enable autonomous navigation of micro robotic platforms in complex environments. The short wavelength at the operating frequency band (1.25mm @ 240 GHz) enables implementation of the radar front-end components on a silicon wafer stack using micromachining techniques. This work presents the design, fabrication technology, and measurement methodology of components for the micromachined MMW radar and the phenomenology of such radars in indoor environments. Novel passive structures are developed to realize a fully micromachined radar front-end. Low loss cavity-backed CPW (CBCPW) lines (0.12 dB/mm @ 240 GHz), broadband transitions from the CBCPW line to rectangular waveguide (IL13 dB; BW: 39%), MMIC chip integration transitions, and waveguide directional couplers are designed to fully integrate active and passive components of the radar. Also a membrane-supported miniaturized-element FSS image-reject filter (IL25 dB in the stopband) is developed for MMW radar applications. The structures are designed compatible with micromachining technology and optimized for minimum insertion loss. The designed components are then realized over a two layer stack of silicon wafers. Multi-step structures are realized on one of the wafers and the membrane-supported features are implemented on the other wafer. A novel multistep DRIE technique is utilized to enhance the profile quality of the fabricated structures. Measurement techniques are developed to enable accurate and repeatable characterization of the on-wafer components at MMW and higher frequency bands. A novel waveguide probe S-parameter measurement technique is introduced for non-contact characterization of the multi-port components using a two-port network analyzer. To examine the utilization of the proposed 240 GHz radar for collision avoidance and building interior mapping applications, the interaction of electromagnetic waves with objects in the indoor environments is investigated. An instrumentation radar is utilized to collect backscatter data from corridors in an indoor setting. The collected data is used to form radar images for obstacle detection. The radar images are co-registered in a global coordinate matrix to form a complete map of the interior layout. Image processing techniques are used to enhance the final layout map.PhDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107273/1/moallem_1.pd

A new Measure for Optimization of Field Sensor Network with Application to LiDAR

This thesis proposes a solution to the problem of modeling and optimizing the field sensor network in terms of the coverage performance. The term field sensor is referred to a class of sensors which can detect the regions in 2D/3D spaces through non-contact measurements. The most widely used field sensors include cameras, LiDAR, ultrasonic sensor, and RADAR, etc. The key challenge in the applications of field sensor networks, such as area coverage, is to develop an effective performance measure, which has to involve both sensor and environment parameters. The nature of space distribution in the case of the field sensor incurs a great deal of difficulties for such development and, hence, poses it as a very interesting research problem. Therefore, to tackle this problem, several attempts have been made in the literature. However, they have failed to address a comprehensive and applicable approach to distinctive types of field sensors (in 3D), as only coverage of a particular sensor is usually addressed at the time. In addition, no coverage model has been proposed yet for some types of field sensors such as LiDAR sensors. In this dissertation, a coverage model is obtained for the field sensors based on the transformation of sensor and task parameters into the sensor geometric model. By providing a mathematical description of the sensor’s sensing region, a performance measure is introduced which characterizes the closeness between a single sensor and target configurations. In this regard, the first contribution is developing an Infinity norm based measure which describes the target distance to the closure of the sensing region expressed by an area-based approach. The second contribution can be geometrically interpreted as mapping the sensor’s sensing region to an n-ball using a homeomorphism map and developing a performance measure. The third contribution is introducing the measurement principle and establishing the coverage model for the class of solid-state (flash) LiDAR sensors. The fourth contribution is point density analysis and developing the coverage model for the class of mechanical (prism rotating mechanism) LiDAR sensors. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed coverage model is illustrated by simulations, experiments, and comparisons is carried out throughout the dissertation. This coverage model is a powerful tool as it applies to the variety of field sensors

Lähestymistapa autonomiseen törmäyksenestoon Monorail-kuljetinjärjestelmässä

Collision Avoidance Systems are utilized both in industry and traffic in attempt to prevent material losses and injuries. These systems are implemented using sensors, communication systems or a combination of these. The most used sensors in collision avoidance applications are optical, electromagnetic and ultrasonic sensors. The communicationbased systems use both wireless and wired communications utilizing various protocols. This document describes the process of creating a prototype of a sensor-based Collision Avoidance System for Cimcorp Monorail Transfer system. Monorail Transfer is an automatic transportation system used in tire manufacturing plants for moving the tires between different process stations. It consists of a rail, which is either fastened into the roof of the plant or into a leg-like support structure, carriers which move along the rail and a cell controller. The aim is to prevent the collisions between the carriers and between carriers and other objects. The aim of the work is to have a functional prototype of an autonomous, sensor-based Collision Avoidance System which does not depend on Wi-Fi. The work begins with introducing the concept of Monorail Transfer in detail. Next the technologies behind the existing collision avoidance systems in industry and traffic are reviewed. The sensor types used in the implementations are identified and reviewed. Their suitability for the Monorail is considered. It is found that electromagnetic and optical sensors would be most suitable for the system. Electromagnetic sensors are discarded due to their high price and power consumption. Communication-based systems are reviewed. The Monorail Transfer’s current Collision Avoidance System is studied. After the theoretical part the new system is designed after defining its requirements. The sensors are chosen and reviewed. A Raspberry Pi 2 model B is chosen for pre-processing the sensor data prior to introducing it to the PLC’s in the Monorail Transfer. The Collision Avoidance software is programmed in Node.js, the communications between the PLC and Raspberry Pi are programmed in Node.js and the Graphical User Interface is implemented using HTML5, CSS and JS. The system is tested thoroughly and modified according to the findings. The prototype is found to be functional. Finally the document ends with conclusions about the implemented prototyp

SpiderFab(TradeMark):Process for On-Orbit Construction of Kilometer-Scale Apertures

The SpiderFab effort investigated the value proposition and technical feasibility of radically changing the way we build and deploy spacecraft by enabling space systems to fabricate and integrate key components on-orbit. Weeveloped an architecture for a SpiderFab system, identifying the key capabilities, and detailed two concept implementations of this architecture, one specialized for fabricating support trusses for large solar arrays, and the second a robotic system capable of fabricating spacecraft components such as antenna reflectors. We then performed analyses to evaluate the value proposition for on-orbit fabrication, and in each case found that the dramatic improvements in structural performance and packing efficiency enabled by on-orbit fabrication can provide order-of-magnitude improvements in key system metrics. For phased-array radars, SpiderFab enables order-of-magnitude increases in gain-per-stowed-volume. For the New Worlds Observer mission, SpiderFab construction of a starshade can provide a ten-fold increase in the number of Earth-like planets discovered per dollar. For communications systems, SpiderFab can change the cost equation for large antenna reflectors, enabling affordable deployment of much larger apertures than feasible with current deployable technologies. To establish the technical feasibility, we identified methods for combining several additive manufacturing technologies with robotic assembly technologies, metrology sensors, and thermal control techniques to provide the capabilities required to implement a SpiderFab system. We performed proof-of-concept level testing of these approaches, in each case demonstrating that the proposed solutions are feasible, and establishing the SpiderFab architecture at TRL-3. Further maturation of SpiderFab to mission-readiness is well-suited to an incremental development program. Affordable smallsat demonstrations will prepare the technology for full-scale demonstration that will unlock the full potential of the SpiderFab architecture by flight qualifying and validating an on-orbit fabrication and integration process that can be re-used to reduce the life-cycle cost and increase power, bandwidth, resolution, and sensitivity for a wide range of NASA Science and Exploration missions

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 324)

This bibliography lists 200 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during May, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 356 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in June 1982

INSPEX: design and integration of a portable/wearable smart spatial exploration system

The INSPEX H2020 project main objective is to integrate automotive-equivalent spatial exploration and obstacle detection functionalities into a portable/wearable multi-sensor, miniaturised, low power device. The INSPEX system will detect and localise in real-time static and mobile obstacles under various environmental conditions in 3D. Potential applications range from safer human navigation in reduced visibility, small robot/drone obstacle avoidance systems to navigation for the visually/mobility impaired, this latter being the primary use-case considered in the project

Edge Artificial Intelligence for Real-Time Target Monitoring

The key enabling technology for the exponentially growing cellular communications sector is location-based services. The need for location-aware services has increased along with the number of wireless and mobile devices. Estimation problems, and particularly parameter estimation, have drawn a lot of interest because of its relevance and engineers' ongoing need for higher performance. As applications expanded, a lot of interest was generated in the accurate assessment of temporal and spatial properties. In the thesis, two different approaches to subject monitoring are thoroughly addressed. For military applications, medical tracking, industrial workers, and providing location-based services to the mobile user community, which is always growing, this kind of activity is crucial. In-depth consideration is given to the viability of applying the Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Receiver Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) localization algorithms in real-world situations. We presented two prospective systems, discussed them, and presented specific assessments and tests. These systems were put to the test in diverse contexts (e.g., indoor, outdoor, in water...). The findings showed the localization capability, but because of the low-cost antenna we employed, this method is only practical up to a distance of roughly 150 meters. Consequently, depending on the use-case, this method may or may not be advantageous. An estimation algorithm that enhances the performance of the AoA technique was implemented on an edge device. Another approach was also considered. Radar sensors have shown to be durable in inclement weather and bad lighting conditions. Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radars are the most frequently employed among the several sorts of radar technologies for these kinds of applications. Actually, this is because they are low-cost and can simultaneously provide range and Doppler data. In comparison to pulse and Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radar sensors, they also need a lower sample rate and a lower peak to average ratio. The system employs a cutting-edge surveillance method based on widely available FMCW radar technology. The data processing approach is built on an ad hoc-chain of different blocks that transforms data, extract features, and make a classification decision before cancelling clutters and leakage using a frame subtraction technique, applying DL algorithms to Range-Doppler (RD) maps, and adding a peak to cluster assignment step before tracking targets. In conclusion, the FMCW radar and DL technique for the RD maps performed well together for indoor use-cases. The aforementioned tests used an edge device and Infineon Technologies' Position2Go FMCW radar tool-set