High throughput microbalance and methods of using same

The method and apparatus is particularly adapted for providing microbalance measurement of solid materials as part of a combinatorial research program. The method and apparatus contemplate monitoring the response of a resonator holding a sample and correlating the response with mass change in the samples

Tuning an output-only dual Kalman filter for displacement estimation from measured accelerations

University of Minnesota M.S. thesis. July 2019. Major: Civil Engineering. Advisors: Lauren Linderman, Carol Shield. 1 computer file (PDF); v, 48 pages.Direct measurement of the vertical displacement of bridge superstructures is typically not feasible; therefore, methods to estimate displacement from acceleration measurements exist. Joint input-state estimation techniques based on Kalman-type filters have been used for estimating displacements, but the task of tuning the filter is not straightforward. Therefore, this work explored a tuning procedure for the output-only implementation of the dual Kalman filter for displacement estimation via noisy acceleration measurements. The validity of the tuning procedure was demonstrated using simulated systems and experimental tests, and good dynamic displacement estimates were achieved in all cases. The approach indicated that model noise (e.g., due to poor system identification results) did not affect the tuning process as much as measurement noise. The output-only formulation of the problem caused the input estimates to lose physical meaning; however, the input estimator increased state estimation performance under various loading types as compared to a single Kalman filter

Robustness analysis of evolutionary controller tuning using real systems

A genetic algorithm (GA) presents an excellent method for controller parameter tuning. In our work, we evolved the heading as well as the altitude controller for a small lightweight helicopter. We use the real flying robot to evaluate the GA's individuals rather than an artificially consistent simulator. By doing so we avoid the ldquoreality gaprdquo, taking the controller from the simulator to the real world. In this paper we analyze the evolutionary aspects of this technique and discuss the issues that need to be considered for it to perform well and result in robust controllers

High throughput microbalance and methods of using same

A method and apparatus for measurement of mass of small sample sizes. The method and apparatus is particularly adapted for providing microbalance measurement of solid materials as part of a combinatorial research program. The method and apparatus contemplate monitoring the response of a resonator holding a sample and correlating the response with mass change in the samples