Engine power measurement without external load based on vibration signal

The vibration signals from engines contain information about the engine conditions. Engine power is an important parameter that indicates the state of an engine. In this manuscript, a method for measuring the engine power, using the vibration signals from the engine, is developed. In our proposed method, the power of the engine is measured based on the principle of no-load measurement. The discrete values of rotation speed are computed from the vibration signal, using wavelet transforms, the Hilbert envelope, and three autocorrelations. By comparing various curve-fitting and interpolation methods, an optimal method for curve fitting the discrete acceleration data is chosen, and the corresponding times of the starting speed and terminal speed are calculated using the analytical formulas of the fitted curve. Finally, the maximum engine power is obtained from the calibration tests. Experimental results show that the overall performance is good and that the maximum power measurement accuracy is 98.4 % after accurate calibration. This meets the requirements of the power measurement accuracy under the condition of no load

Design and development of bilayer sensor systems for biomedical and automotive applications

This investigation concerned the design and development of a novel measurement system that incorporates bilayer sensors for monitoring applications in the biomedical and automotive industry. The bilayer sensors are made primarily from a configuration of soft magnetic material on a non magnetic substrate that is used to enhance the changes in the relative permeability of the material, caused by tensile or compressive stresses. Three modulation techniques were examined as a method for convening the sensor signal information this is the first use of the phase (PM) and frequency (FM) modulation methods in conjunction with bilayer sensors. The measurement system incorporated, in software code, a range of mathematical concepts used for extracting and processing the sensor information signal. The use of simulated and acquired modulation signals allowed the comparison of the modulation techniques. Optimisation of the bilayer sensor was considered by studying the effects of the bilayer sensor physical dimensions and parameters on its performance. Also the thermal stability of the bilayer sensor and FM system was examined. Physiological measurements for the detection and monitoring of cardio respiratory activities were conducted. A bilayer sensor measurement system was used for the first time not only to detect but also to map the normal heartbeat rate through the hemo-dynamics of the carotid artery. The system was used to monitor a range of respiratory activities such as normal respiration, deep inhalation/exhalation and apnoea. The application of the sensor is a non-invasive and a non-disturbing method for monitoring biomedical activities related to skin curvature changes. The bilayer sensor measurement system was used for monitoring of airflow in turbulent conditions. Measurements were conducted for a variety of airflows and at a range of distances from the centre of the tube, were the flow is at maximum. Furthermore the effect of substrate thickness and material choice was investigated on the performance of the sensor. This investigation led to the design and construction of a novel measurement system than can successfully detect and quantify displacements in the micron range. The application of this system to biomedical and automotive applications showed the universality and adaptability of the bilayer sensors and its measurement method

Recent Advances and Future Trends in Nanophotonics

Nanophotonics has emerged as a multidisciplinary frontier of science and engineering. Due to its high potential to contribute to breakthroughs in many areas of technology, nanophotonics is capturing the interest of many researchers from different fields. This Special Issue of Applied Sciences on “Recent advances and future trends in nanophotonics” aims to give an overview on the latest developments in nanophotonics and its roles in different application domains. Topics of discussion include, but are not limited to, the exploration of new directions of nanophotonic science and technology that enable technological breakthroughs in high-impact areas mainly regarding diffraction elements, detection, imaging, spectroscopy, optical communications, and computing

Recent Trends in Communication Networks

In recent years there has been many developments in communication technology. This has greatly enhanced the computing power of small handheld resource-constrained mobile devices. Different generations of communication technology have evolved. This had led to new research for communication of large volumes of data in different transmission media and the design of different communication protocols. Another direction of research concerns the secure and error-free communication between the sender and receiver despite the risk of the presence of an eavesdropper. For the communication requirement of a huge amount of multimedia streaming data, a lot of research has been carried out in the design of proper overlay networks. The book addresses new research techniques that have evolved to handle these challenges

Radio Science Experiment Data Analysis in the framework of the ESA Missions “Venus Express" and “Rosetta"

Occultation measurements exploit an observational geometry in which the spacecraft to Earth communication link is interrupted by the planet itself. Coherent, high-rate (100 ksamples/s) sampling of the down-converted RF incoming signal enables the OL receiving system to safeguard the high dynamics (up to 2 kHz/s) of the weak signals (attenuation > 50dB) emerging from the deep layers of the Venus atmosphere. The purpose of the developed software package, the Open-Loop data processing software (OL SW), is to extract the information embedded in noise by means of an iterative strategy. Essential skill of the OL SW is the progressive reduction of the signal bandwidth while at the same time maintaining high time resolution of the data. This implies high spacial resolution of the sounded media (i.e., the Venus atmosphere) and the capability of resolving effects of multipath propagation