Optimisation of Mobile Communication Networks - OMCO NET

The mini conference “Optimisation of Mobile Communication Networks” focuses on advanced methods for search and optimisation applied to wireless communication networks. It is sponsored by Research & Enterprise Fund Southampton Solent University. The conference strives to widen knowledge on advanced search methods capable of optimisation of wireless communications networks. The aim is to provide a forum for exchange of recent knowledge, new ideas and trends in this progressive and challenging area. The conference will popularise new successful approaches on resolving hard tasks such as minimisation of transmit power, cooperative and optimal routing

Architectures for embedded multimodal sensor data fusion systems in the robotics : and airport traffic suveillance ; domain

Smaller autonomous robots and embedded sensor data fusion systems often suffer from limited computational and hardware resources. Many ‘Real Time’ algorithms for multi modal sensor data fusion cannot be executed on such systems, at least not in real time and sometimes not at all, because of the computational and energy resources needed, resulting from the architecture of the computational hardware used in these systems. Alternative hardware architectures for generic tracking algorithms could provide a solution to overcome some of these limitations. For tracking and self localization sequential Bayesian filters, in particular particle filters, have been shown to be able to handle a range of tracking problems that could not be solved with other algorithms. But particle filters have some serious disadvantages when executed on serial computational architectures used in most systems. The potential increase in performance for particle filters is huge as many of the computational steps can be done concurrently. A generic hardware solution for particle filters can relieve the central processing unit from the computational load associated with the tracking task. The general topic of this research are hardware-software architectures for multi modal sensor data fusion in embedded systems in particular tracking, with the goal to develop a high performance computational architecture for embedded applications in robotics and airport traffic surveillance domain. The primary concern of the research is therefore: The integration of domain specific concept support into hardware architectures for low level multi modal sensor data fusion, in particular embedded systems for tracking with Bayesian filters; and a distributed hardware-software tracking systems for airport traffic surveillance and control systems. Runway Incursions are occurrences at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft. The growing traffic volume kept runway incursions on the NTSB’s ‘Most Wanted’ list for safety improvements for over a decade. Recent incidents show that problem is still existent. Technological responses that have been deployed in significant numbers are ASDE-X and A-SMGCS. Although these technical responses are a significant improvement and reduce the frequency of runway incursions, some runway incursion scenarios are not optimally covered by these systems, detection of runway incursion events is not as fast as desired, and they are too expensive for all but the biggest airports. Local, short range sensors could be a solution to provide the necessary affordable surveillance accuracy for runway incursion prevention. In this context the following objectives shall be reached. 1) Show the feasibility of runway incursion prevention systems based on localized surveillance. 2) Develop a design for a local runway incursion alerting system. 3) Realize a prototype of the system design using the developed tracking hardware.Kleinere autonome Roboter und eingebettete Sensordatenfusionssysteme haben oft mit stark begrenzter Rechenkapazität und eingeschränkten Hardwareressourcen zu kämpfen. Viele Echtzeitalgorithmen für die Fusion von multimodalen Sensordaten können, bedingt durch den hohen Bedarf an Rechenkapazität und Energie, auf solchen Systemen überhaupt nicht ausgeführt werden, oder zu mindesten nicht in Echtzeit. Der hohe Bedarf an Energie und Rechenkapazität hat seine Ursache darin, dass die Architektur der ausführenden Hardware und der ausgeführte Algorithmus nicht aufeinander abgestimmt sind. Dies betrifft auch Algorithmen zu Spurverfolgung. Mit Hilfe von alternativen Hardwarearchitekturen für die generische Ausführung solcher Algorithmen könnten sich einige der typischerweise vorliegenden Einschränkungen überwinden lassen. Eine Reihe von Aufgaben, die sich mit anderen Spurverfolgungsalgorithmen nicht lösen lassen, lassen sich mit dem Teilchenfilter, einem Algorithmus aus der Familie der Bayesschen Filter lösen. Bei der Ausführung auf traditionellen Architekturen haben Teilchenfilter gegenüber anderen Algorithmen einen signifikanten Nachteil, allerdings ist hier ein großer Leistungszuwachs durch die nebenläufige Ausführung vieler Rechenschritte möglich. Eine generische Hardwarearchitektur für Teilchenfilter könnte deshalb die oben genannten Systeme stark entlasten. Das allgemeine Thema dieses Forschungsvorhabens sind Hardware-Software-Architekturen für die multimodale Sensordatenfusion auf eingebetteten Systemen - speziell für Aufgaben der Spurverfolgung, mit dem Ziel eine leistungsfähige Architektur für die Berechnung entsprechender Algorithmen auf eingebetteten Systemen zu entwickeln, die für Anwendungen in der Robotik und Verkehrsüberwachung auf Flughäfen geeignet ist. Das Augenmerk des Forschungsvorhabens liegt dabei auf der Integration von vom Einsatzgebiet abhängigen Konzepten in die Architektur von Systemen zur Spurverfolgung mit Bayeschen Filtern, sowie auf verteilten Hardware-Software Spurverfolgungssystemen zur Überwachung und Führung des Rollverkehrs auf Flughäfen. Eine „Runway Incursion“ (RI) ist ein Vorfall auf einem Flugplatz, bei dem ein Fahrzeug oder eine Person sich unerlaubt in einem Abschnitt der Start- bzw. Landebahn befindet, der einem Verkehrsteilnehmer zur Benutzung zugewiesen wurde. Der wachsende Flugverkehr hat dafür gesorgt, das RIs seit über einem Jahrzehnt auf der „Most Wanted“-Liste des NTSB für Verbesserungen der Sicherheit stehen. Jüngere Vorfälle zeigen, dass das Problem noch nicht behoben ist. Technologische Maßnahmen die in nennenswerter Zahl eingesetzt wurden sind das ASDE-X und das A-SMGCS. Obwohl diese Maßnahmen eine deutliche Verbesserung darstellen und die Zahl der RIs deutlich reduzieren, gibt es einige RISituationen die von diesen Systemen nicht optimal abgedeckt werden. Außerdem detektieren sie RIs ist nicht so schnell wie erwünscht und sind - außer für die größten Flughäfen - zu teuer. Lokale Sensoren mit kurzer Reichweite könnten eine Lösung sein um die für die zuverlässige Erkennung von RIs notwendige Präzision bei der Überwachung des Rollverkehrs zu erreichen. Vor diesem Hintergrund sollen die folgenden Ziele erreicht werden. 1) Die Machbarkeit eines Runway Incursion Vermeidungssystems, das auf lokalen Sensoren basiert, zeigen. 2) Einen umsetzbaren Entwurf für ein solches System entwickeln. 3) Einen Prototypen des Systems realisieren, das die oben gennannte Hardware zur Spurverfolgung einsetzt

Book of abstracts of the 24th Euro Working Group on Transportation Meeting

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Epävarmuus sähköbussien ajosykleissä

Electric vehicles are in the brink of breakthrough in the automotive industry, and battery electric city buses are no exception. However, the costs are still high compared to conventional buses with internal combustion engines. A thorough electric city bus system planning is an effective way to curb the high costs, where, accurate knowledge about the specific energy consumption of the bus route is required. This study utilized route energy consumption sensitivity analysis to create a reliable energy consumption forecast for a light traffic semi-urban bus route. The analysis was performed with the Monte Carlo method where the number of stops was addressed as the uncertainty. The uncertainty was modeled with a normal distributed probability density function. The process of creating and utilizing the energy consumption sensitivity analysis is also presented. First, ten base driving cycles were measured in actual buses operating an actual bus line. Artificial driving cycles were synthesized from the measured cycles, based on the Monte Carlo sampling method. The fluctuating accelerations and speeds of different runs on the route are addressed by compiling the synthe-sized cycles from parts of the measured cycles. The synthesized driving cycles were simulated with a validated energy flow model of a battery electric bus. As a result, an energy consumption distribution for the route was acquired. The energy consumption distribution includes all the outcomes obtained with the Monte Carlo method. The distribution also functions as an energy consumption forecast for the route. It was found out that the distance specific energy consumptions in the route fell between 0.483 kWh/km and 0.722 kWh/km. Which means, there is a 49.4 % variation between the extremes, when the number of bus stops varies. However, a closer result analysis proved that there is an 80 percent chance that the predicted consumption falls between 0.561 kWh/km and 0.642 kWh/km. Thus, it is denoted only 14.4 % variation is most likely present between the ex-tremes. Additionally, the study suggested that lower accelerations result in lower consumptions. Driving cycles with less than average accelerations resulted in 5.6 % lower consumptions compared to cycles with higher than average accelerations. Thus, it can be concluded that the number of bus stops greatly affected the energy consumption. In addition, Monte Carlo method proved to be worthwhile tool to clarify the effects of uncertainty.Sähköajoneuvot ovat lyömässä läpi ajoneuvojen piirissä, eivätkä sähköbussit ole poikkeus. Siitä huolimatta, akkusähköbussien kustannukset ovat yhä korkeat perinteisiin polttomoottoroituihin busseihin verrattuna. Sähköbussisysteemien huolellinen suunnittelu on yksi tapa, jolla korkeita kustannuksia saadaan vähennettyä. Onnistunut suunnittelu tosin edellyttää, että bussireitin energiankulutus tunnetaan tarkoin. Tässä tutkimuksessa suoritettiin herkkyysanalyysi bussireitin energiankulutuksesta, minkä avulla bussin kulutusta reitillä voitiin tarkoin kuvata ja ennustaa. Analyysi toteutettiin Monte Carlo menetelmän avulla, missä epävarmuutena käsiteltiin bussipysäkkien määrää. Epävarmuutta mallinnettiin normaalijakautuneella tiheysfunktiolla. Tässä työssä esitellään prosessit herkkyysanalyysin tekemiseen. Ensiksi bussireitti mitattiin kymmenen kertaa. Mittausdatan pohjilta syntetisoitiin tuhansia ajosyklejä Monte Carlo samplausmenetelmän avulla. Syntetisoidut ajosyklit tehtiin yhdistelemällä osia mitatuista sykleistä, jolloin niissä huomioitiin ajosyklien vaihtelevat kiihtyvyydet ja nopeudet. Lopuksi ajosyklit simuloitiin validoidulla sähköbussin energia-virtamallilla. Tuloksena saatiin energiankulutusjakauma reitille. Energiankulutusjakauma käsittää kaikki Monte Carlo menetelmällä saadut energiankulutuksen tulokset, mistä voidaan johtopäätöksenä tehdä energiankulutusennuste bussireitille. Saatiin selville, että kilometrikohtaiset energiankulutukset aset-tuvat 0.483 kWh/km ja 0.722 kWh/km välille. Tämä tarkoittaa, että kulutus voi vaihdella jopa 49.4 % ääripäiden välillä, kun pysähdysten määrä reitillä muuttuu. Siitä huolimatta, tulosanalyysi osoitti, että 80 % todennäköisyydellä kulutus pysyy arvojen 0.561 kWh/km ja 0.642 kWh/km välillä. Eli todennäköisimmin vaihtelua ääriarvojen välillä olisi vain 14.4 %. Energiankulutusjakauman lisäksi tutkimus osoitti, että pienemmät kiihtyvyydet johtivat keskimäärin pienempiin kulutuksiin. Ajosykleillä, joissa positiiviset kiihtyvyydet olivat keskimääräistä pienempiä, saadut energiankulutukset olivat keskimäärin 5.6 % pienempiä kuin ajosykleillä, joissa kiihtyvyydet olivat keskimääräistä suurempia. Lopuksi voidaan siis todeta, että bussipysäkkien määrä vaikuttaa suuresti energiankulutukseen. Monte Carlo menetelmä on hyödyllinen työkalu kuvaamaan epävarmuutta ja sen vaikutuksia

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 304)

This bibliography lists 453 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in May 1994. Subject coverage includes: design, construction and testing of aircraft and aircraft engines; aircraft components, equipment, and systems; ground support systems; and theoretical and applied aspects of aerodynamics and general fluid dynamics

Adaptive Perception, State Estimation, and Navigation Methods for Mobile Robots

In this cumulative habilitation, publications with focus on robotic perception, self-localization, tracking, navigation, and human-machine interfaces have been selected. While some of the publications present research on a PR2 household robot in the Robotics Learning Lab of the University of California Berkeley on vision and machine learning tasks, most of the publications present research results while working at the AutoNOMOS-Labs at Freie Universität Berlin, with focus on control, planning and object tracking for the autonomous vehicles "MadeInGermany" and "e-Instein"

Safety‐oriented discrete event model for airport A‐SMGCS reliability assessment

A detailed analysis of State of the Art Technologies and Procedures into Airport Advanced-Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems has been provided in this thesis, together with the review ofStatistical Monte Carlo Analysis, Reliability Assessment and Petri Nets theories. This practical and theoretical background has lead the author to the conclusion that there is a lack of linkage in between these fields. At the same of time the rapid increasing of Air Traffic all over the world, has brought in evidence the urgent need of practical instruments able to identify and quantify the risks connected with Aircraft operations on the ground, since the Airport has shown to be the actual ‘bottle neck’ of the entire Air Transport System. Therefore, the only winning approach to such a critical matter has to be multi-disciplinary, sewing together apparently different subjects, coming from the most disparate areas of interest and trying to fulfil the gap. The result of this thesis work has come to a start towards the end, when a Timed Coloured Petri Net (TCPN) model of a ‘sample’ Airport A-SMGCS has been developed, that is capable of taking into account different orders of questions arisen during these recent years and tries to give them some good answers. The A-SMGCS Airport model is, in the end, a parametric tool relying on Discrete Event System theory, able to perform a Reliability Analysis of the system itself, that: • uses a Monte Carlo Analysis applied to a Timed Coloured Petri Net, whose purpose is to evaluate the Safety Level of Surface Movements along an Airport • lets the user to analyse the impact of Procedures and Reliability Indexes of Systems such as Surface Movement Radars, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, Airport Lighting Systems, Microwave Sensors, and so on… onto the Safety Level of Airport Aircraft Transport System • not only is a valid instrument in the Design Phase, but it is useful also into the Certifying Activities an in monitoring the Safety Level of the above mentioned System with respect to changes to Technologies and different Procedures.This TCPN model has been verified against qualitative engineering expectations by using simulation experiments and occupancy time schedules generated a priori. Simulation times are good, and since the model has been written into Simulink/Stateflow programming language, it can be compiled to run real-time in C language (Real-time workshop and Stateflow Coder), thus relying on portable code, able to run virtually on any platform, giving even better performances in terms of execution time. One of the most interesting applications of this work is the estimate, for an Airport, of the kind of A-SMGCS level of implementation needed (Technical/Economical convenience evaluation). As a matter of fact, starting from the Traffic Volume and choosing the kind of Ground Equipment to be installed, one can make predictions about the Safety Level of the System: if the value is compliant with the TLS required by ICAO, the A-SMGCS level of Implementation is sufficiently adequate. Nevertheless, even if the Level of Safety has been satisfied, some delays due to reduced or simplified performances (even if Safety is compliant) of some of the equipment (e.g. with reference to False Alarm Rates) can lead to previously unexpected economical consequences, thus requiring more accurate systems to be installed, in order to meet also Airport economical constraints. Work in progress includes the analysis of the effect of weather conditions and re-sequencing of a given schedule. The effect of re-sequencing a given schedule is not yet enough realistic since the model does not apply inter arrival and departure separations. However, the model might show some effect on different sequences based on runway occupancy times. A further developed model containing wake turbulence separation conditions would be more sensitive for this case. Hence, further work will be directed towards: • The development of On-Line Re-Scheduling based on the available actual runway/taxiway configuration and weather conditions. • The Engineering Safety Assessment of some small Italian Airport A-SMGCSs (Model validation with real data). • The application of Stochastic Differential Equations systems in order to evaluate the collision risk on the ground inside the Place alone on the Petri Net, in the event of a Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA), by adopting Reich Collision Risk Model. • Optimal Air Traffic Control Algorithms Synthesis (Adaptive look-ahead Optimization), by Dynamically Timed Coloured Petri Nets, together with the implementation of Error-Recovery Strategies and Diagnosis Functions