Planning and Real Time Control of a Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery System

This paper introduces the planning and control software of a teleoperating robotic system for minimally invasive surgery. It addresses the problem of how to organize a complex system with 41 degrees of freedom including robot setup planning, force feedback control and nullspace handling with three robotic arms. The planning software is separated into sequentially executed planning and registration procedures. An optimal setup is first planned in virtual reality and then adapted to variations in the operating room. The real time control system is composed of hierarchical layers. The design is flexible and expandable without losing performance. Structure, functionality and implementation of planning and control are described. The robotic system provides the surgeon with an intuitive hand-eye-coordination and force feedback in teleoperation for both hands

A Comprehensive Overview on 5G-and-Beyond Networks with UAVs: From Communications to Sensing and Intelligence

Due to the advancements in cellular technologies and the dense deployment of cellular infrastructure, integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the fifth-generation (5G) and beyond cellular networks is a promising solution to achieve safe UAV operation as well as enabling diversified applications with mission-specific payload data delivery. In particular, 5G networks need to support three typical usage scenarios, namely, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine-type communications (mMTC). On the one hand, UAVs can be leveraged as cost-effective aerial platforms to provide ground users with enhanced communication services by exploiting their high cruising altitude and controllable maneuverability in three-dimensional (3D) space. On the other hand, providing such communication services simultaneously for both UAV and ground users poses new challenges due to the need for ubiquitous 3D signal coverage as well as the strong air-ground network interference. Besides the requirement of high-performance wireless communications, the ability to support effective and efficient sensing as well as network intelligence is also essential for 5G-and-beyond 3D heterogeneous wireless networks with coexisting aerial and ground users. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of the latest research efforts on integrating UAVs into cellular networks, with an emphasis on how to exploit advanced techniques (e.g., intelligent reflecting surface, short packet transmission, energy harvesting, joint communication and radar sensing, and edge intelligence) to meet the diversified service requirements of next-generation wireless systems. Moreover, we highlight important directions for further investigation in future work.Comment: Accepted by IEEE JSA

View on 5G Architecture: Version 1.0

The current white paper focuses on the produced results after one year research mainly from 16 projects working on the abovementioned domains. During several months, representatives from these projects have worked together to identify the key findings of their projects and capture the commonalities and also the different approaches and trends. Also they have worked to determine the challenges that remain to be overcome so as to meet the 5G requirements. The goal of 5G Architecture Working Group is to use the results captured in this white paper to assist the participating projects achieve a common reference framework. The work of this working group will continue during the following year so as to capture the latest results to be produced by the projects and further elaborate this reference framework. The 5G networks will be built around people and things and will natively meet the requirements of three groups of use cases: • Massive broadband (xMBB) that delivers gigabytes of bandwidth on demand • Massive machine-type communication (mMTC) that connects billions of sensors and machines • Critical machine-type communication (uMTC) that allows immediate feedback with high reliability and enables for example remote control over robots and autonomous driving. The demand for mobile broadband will continue to increase in the next years, largely driven by the need to deliver ultra-high definition video. However, 5G networks will also be the platform enabling growth in many industries, ranging from the IT industry to the automotive, manufacturing industries entertainment, etc. 5G will enable new applications like for example autonomous driving, remote control of robots and tactile applications, but these also bring a lot of challenges to the network. Some of these are related to provide low latency in the order of few milliseconds and high reliability compared to fixed lines. But the biggest challenge for 5G networks will be that the services to cater for a diverse set of services and their requirements. To achieve this, the goal for 5G networks will be to improve the flexibility in the architecture. The white paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we discuss the key business and technical requirements that drive the evolution of 4G networks into the 5G. In section 3 we provide the key points of the overall 5G architecture where as in section 4 we elaborate on the functional architecture. Different issues related to the physical deployment in the access, metro and core networks of the 5G network are discussed in section 5 while in section 6 we present software network enablers that are expected to play a significant role in the future networks. Section 7 presents potential impacts on standardization and section 8 concludes the white paper

A container-based architecture to provide services from SDR devices

Rádio Definido por Software (SDR) é um dispositivo de rádio programável que, conectado a um computador ou como uma solução embarcada, pode transmitir e receber informações usando ondas de rádio. A característica de programabilidade do SDR e sua largura de banda de rádio frequência (RF) estendem sua aplicação a diversas áreas que incluem aviação, satélite, radar e dispositivos móveis. O emprego do SDR tem despertado grande interesse na provisão de serviços de rede. Atuando como uma interface sem-fio multiprogramável na borda de redes cabeadas, o SDR é capaz de transmitir, receber e decodificar informações de rádio. Estas informações são usadas para fornecer serviços, como por exemplo uma página de internet contendo um mapa de rastreamento de aeronaves em tempo real, e gráficos de monitoramento de sensores. No entanto, para ser usado para esta finalidade, o SDR deve integrar-se às correntes tecnologias dos ambientes de rede, como NFV, SDN, containerização, e a computação em nuvem. Esta dissertação está focada na integração do SDR com a technologia de containerização. É proposta uma arquitetura para geração de serviços usando contâineres e o SDR como dispositivo de borda. Usando diferentes modelos de SDRs (USRP, LimeSDR e RTL-SDR), a plataforma GNURadio e Docker containers, dois cenários de aplicação da arquitetura são apresentados, nos quais a comunicação ADS-B e LoRa são implementadas. A avaliação da solução proposta é realizada comparando-se a geração de serviço com a arquitetura, (com dois níveis de isolação de rede), e sem a arquitetura. O tempo de lançamento e de resposta dos serviços, e a utilização dos recursos computacionais são comparados, mostrando que a arquitetura tem impacto nesses fatores. Este impacto aumenta conforme o nível de isolação de rede utilizado. Por outro lado a arquitetura aplica uma topologia que converte os componentes funcionais do serviço em blocos modulares, tornando possível sua aplicação em diferentes projetos de RF, e oferece benefícios não funcionais, como a capacidade de prover serviços em tempo real, emprego com diferentes modelos de SDR, e isolação de rede. Além disso, a arquitetura adiciona uma série de características de controle herdadas da tecnologia de virtualização.Software Defined Radio is a programmable radio device that, when connected to a computer or as an embedded solution, can transmit and receive data information using radio waves. The programming features of the SDR and its RF bandwidth range extends the application possibility to several areas, including aviation, satellite, radar, and mobile communication. SDR has drawn great attention to network service provision. Acting as a multi-programmable air interface at the edge of wired network environments, SDR can receive, decode and forward radio information, which is used to generate the services. Examples of services including real-time flight tracker web pages, and sensor monitoring data charts. However, to provide network services, SDR must integrate into complex network environments where recent technologies, such as NFV, SDN, containerization and cloud computing, are applied. This thesis addresses the integration of SDRs with containerization. It proposes an easy-to-deploy container-based architecture to provide network services from SDR devices. Using different types of SDR devices (USRP, LimeSDR and RTL-SDR), GNURadio platform and Docker Container, two use cases of the proposed architecture are presented, demonstrating scenarios where ADSB and LoRa communication are implemented in order to provide services to end-users. Evaluation of the proposed solution is performed comparing two models of service provision: with the proposed architecture (two levels of network isolation), and without the architecture. The overhead time added to launch the services, the time response and computational resource utilization are compared, showing that there is an overhead added by the architecture which impacts on the system performance. The overhead increases with the applied network isolation level. Conversely, the architecture converts the service functional components into modular components, its application can be extended to different RF projects and SDR types, and offers non-functional benefits such as, real-time capability, network isolation, fine setting of communication parameters, and a set of control and configuration features inherited from container virtualization platform

Radio and computing resource management in SDR clouds

The aim of this thesis is defining and developing the concept of an efficient management of radio and computing resources in an SDR cloud. The SDR cloud breaks with today's cellular architecture. A set of distributed antennas are connected by optical fibre to data processing centres. The radio and computing infrastructure can be shared between different operators (virtualization), reducing costs and risks, while increasing the capacity and creating new business models and opportunities. The data centre centralizes the management of all system resources: antennas, spectrum, computing, routing, etc. Specially relevant is the computing resource management (CRM), whose objective is dynamically providing sufficient computing resources for a real-time execution of signal processing algorithms. Current CRM techniques are not designed for wireless applications. We demonstrate that this imposes a limit on the wireless traffic a CRM entity is capable to support. Based on this, a distributed management is proposed, where multiple CRM entities manage a cluster of processors, whose optimal size is derived from the traffic density. Radio resource management techniques (RRM) also need to be adapted to the characteristics of the new SDR cloud architecture. We introduce a linear cost model to measure the cost associated to the infrastructure resources consumed according to the pay-per-use model. Based on this model, we formulate the efficiency maximization power allocation problem (EMPA). The operational costs per transmitted bit achieved by EMPA are 6 times lower than with traditional power allocation methods. Analytical solutions are obtained for the single channel case, with and without channel state information at the transmitter. It is shown that the optimal transmission rate is an increasing function of the product of the channel gain with the operational costs divided by the power costs. The EMPA solution for multiple channels has the form of water-filling, present in many power allocation problems. In order to be able to obtain insights about how the optimal solution behaves as a function of the problem parameters, a novel technique based on ordered statistics has been developed. This technique allows solving general water-filling problems based on the channel statistics rather than their realization. This approach has allowed designing a low complexity EMPA algorithm (2 to 4 orders of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art algorithms). Using the ordered statistics technique, we have shown that the optimal transmission rate behaviour with respect to the average channel gains and cost parameters is equivalent to the single channel case and that the efficiency increases with the number of available channels. The results can be applied to design more efficient SDR clouds. As an example, we have derived the optimal ratio of number of antennas per user that maximizes the efficiency. As new users enter and leave the network, this ratio should be kept constant, enabling and disabling antennas dynamically. This approach exploits the dynamism and elasticity provided by the SDR cloud. In summary, this dissertation aims at influencing towards a change in the communications system management model (typically RRM), considering the introduction of the new infrastructure model (SDR cloud), new business models (based on Cloud Computing) and a more conciliatory view of an efficient resource management, not only focused on the optimization of the spectrum usage.El objetivo de esta tesis es de nir y desarrollar el concepto de gesti on e ciente de los recursos de radio y computaci on en un SDR cloud. El SDR cloud rompe con la estructura del sistema celular actual. Un conjunto de antenas distribuidas se conectan a centros de procesamiento mediante enlaces de comunicaci on de bra optica. La infraestructura de radio y procesamiento puede ser compartida entre distintos operadores (virtualizacion), disminuyendo costes y riesgos, aumentando la capacidad y abriendo nuevos modelos y oportunidades de negocio. La centralizaci on de la gesti on del sistema viene soportada por el centro de procesamiento, donde se realiza una gesti on de todos los recursos del sistema: antenas, espectro, computaci on, enrutado, etc. Resulta de especial relevancia la gesti on de los recursos de computaci on (CRM) cuyo objetivo es el de proveer, din amicamente, de su cientes recursos de computaci on para la ejecuci on en tiempo real de algoritmos de procesado del señal. Las t ecnicas actuales de CRM no han sido diseñadas para aplicaciones de comunicaciones. Demostramos que esta caracter stica impone un l ímite en el tr áfi co que un gestor CRM puede soportar. En base a ello, proponemos una gesti on distribuida donde m ultiples entidades CRM gestionan grupos de procesadores, cuyo tamaño optimo se deriva de la densidad de tr áfi co. Las t ecnicas actuales de gesti on de recursos radio (RRM) tambi en deben ser adaptadas a las caracter sticas de la nueva arquitectura SDR cloud. Introducimos un modelo de coste lineal que caracteriza los costes asociados al consumo de recursos de la infraestructura seg un el modelo de pago-por-uso. A partir de este modelo, formulamos el problema de asignaci on de potencia de m axima e ciencia (EMPA). Mediante una asignaci on EMPA, los costes de operaci on por bit transmitido son del orden de 6 veces menores que con los m etodos tradicionales. Se han obtenido soluciones anal ticas para el caso de un solo canal, con y sin informacion del canal disponible en el transmisor, y se ha demostrado que la velocidad optima de transmisi on es una funci on creciente del producto de la ganancia del canal por los costes operativos dividido entre los costes de potencia. La soluci on EMPA para varios canales satisface el modelo "water- lling", presente en muchos tipos de optimizaci on de potencia. Con el objetivo de conocer c omo esta se comporta en funci on de los par ametros del sistema, se ha desarrollado una t ecnica nueva basada en estadí sticas ordenadas. Esta t ecnica permite solucionar el problema del water- lling bas andose en la estadí stica del canal en vez de en su realizaci on. Este planteamiento, despu es de profundos an alisis matem aticos, ha permitido desarrollar un algoritmo de asignaci on de potencia de baja complejidad (2 a 4 ordenes de magnitud m as r apido que el estado del arte). Mediante esta t ecnica, se ha demostrado que la velocidad optima de transmisi on se comporta de forma equivalente al caso de un solo canal y que la e ciencia incrementa a medida que aumentan el numero de canales disponibles. Estos resultados pueden aplicarse a diseñar un SDR cloud de forma m as e ciente. A modo de ejemplo, hemos obtenido el ratio optimo de n umero de antenas por usuario que maximiza la e ciencia. A medida que los usuarios entran y salen de la red, este ratio debe mantenerse constante, a fin de mantener una efi ciencia lo m as alta posible, activando o desactivando antenas din amicamente. De esta forma se explota completamente el dinamismo ofrecido por una arquitectura el astica como el SDR cloud. En de nitiva, este trabajo pretende incidir en un cambio del modelo de gesti on de un sistema de comunicaciones (t ípicamente RRM) habida cuenta de la introducci on de una nueva infraestructura (SDR cloud), nuevos modelos de negocio (basados en Cloud Computing) y una visi on m as integradora de la gesti on e ciente de los recursos del sistema, no solo centrada en la optimizaci on del uso del espectro

2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy

This document is an update (new photos used) of the PDF version of the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy that will be available to download on the OCT Public Website. The updated 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy, or "technology dictionary", uses a technology discipline based approach that realigns like-technologies independent of their application within the NASA mission portfolio. This tool is meant to serve as a common technology discipline-based communication tool across the agency and with its partners in other government agencies, academia, industry, and across the world

Satellite Communications

This study is motivated by the need to give the reader a broad view of the developments, key concepts, and technologies related to information society evolution, with a focus on the wireless communications and geoinformation technologies and their role in the environment. Giving perspective, it aims at assisting people active in the industry, the public sector, and Earth science fields as well, by providing a base for their continued work and thinking

D6.6 Final report on the METIS 5G system concept and technology roadmap

This deliverable presents the METIS 5G system concept which was developed to fulfil the requirements of the beyond-2020 connected information society and to extend today’s wireless communication systems to include new usage scenarios. The METIS 5G system concept consists of three generic 5G services and four main enablers. The three generic 5G services are Extreme Mobile BroadBand (xMBB), Massive Machine- Type Communications (mMTC), and Ultra-reliable Machine-Type Communication (uMTC). The four main enablers are Lean System Control Plane (LSCP), Dynamic RAN, Localized Contents and Traffic Flows, and Spectrum Toolbox. An overview of the METIS 5G architecture is given, as well as spectrum requirements and considerations. System-level evaluation of the METIS 5G system concept has been conducted, and we conclude that the METIS technical objectives are met. A technology roadmap outlining further 5G development, including a timeline and recommended future work is given.Popovski, P.; Mange, G.; Gozalvez -Serrano, D.; Rosowski, T.; Zimmermann, G.; Agyapong, P.; Fallgren, M.... (2014). D6.6 Final report on the METIS 5G system concept and technology roadmap. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/7676