GadenTools: a toolkit for testing and simulating robotic olfaction tasks with Jupyter Notebook support

This work presents GadenTools, a toolkit designed to ease the development and integration of mobile robotic olfaction applications by enabling a convenient and user-friendly access to Gaden’s realistic gas dispersion simulations. It is based on an easy-to-use Python API, and includes an extensive tutorial developed with Jupyter Notebook and Google Colab technologies. A detailed set of examples illustrates aspects ranging from basic access to sensory data or the generation of ground truth images, to the more advanced implementation of plume tracking algorithms, all in an online web-editor with no installation requirements. All the resources, including the source code, are made available in an online open repository.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Quantitative Evaluation of Residential Virtual Energy Storage in Comparison to Battery Energy Storage: A Cyber-Physical Systems

Virtual energy storage (VES) refers to an indirect method of storing energy without using a battery. In a residential setting, VES uses the building structure interior appurtenances together with its physical properties as an energy storage device. It represents a methodology in energy storage mechanisms to help with load management in residential microgrids. It is an approach that is critical to the necessary paradigm shift from the less flexible and more costly demand response energy market of the present to the more flexible and potentially less costly availability response energy market of the future. This work quantifies VES monetary cost-savings potential for residential homes, as part of an effort to develop smart systems (using power sensors, and simple computation and control mechanisms) to assist individuals in making decisions about energy use that will save energy and, consequently, electricity costs. The project also compares the cost-effectiveness of VES to that of battery energy storage (BES)¿currently the more traditional and widely-advocated-for approach to energy storage for load management. In addition, this project devises a load management framework for a residential microgrid, where strategies that enable energy and cost savings for both utilities and consumers are tested. To make a home act as its own storage device, we need to intelligently control its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Through this control, we can harness the house\u27s thermal storage abilities by methods such as preheating or precooling the house (with due consideration to user comfort) during periods when energy is less expensive so that this heat or coolness will be retained during higher-cost periods. A well-insulated residential home equipped with sensing technology and intermittent generation resources will be utilized as a testbed for this project. Using a testbed is advantageous as it provides realistic results as well as a platform where behavior of the home can be learned. By combining modeling techniques with test results from a live testbed, cost-saving solutions can be simulated and later evaluated. This work provides a means to determine how to reduce peak demand and save costs for both utilities and consumers by changing consumer behavior, while respecting consumer thermal comfort preferences. Additionally, by creating the aforementioned modeling framework, we provide the load management community with tools by which they can readily test their optimization algorithms. By so doing, more efficient algorithms can be developed (potentially leading to increased residential energy efficiency)

Ethical Control of Unmanned Systems: lifesaving/lethal scenarios for naval operations

Prepared for: Raytheon Missiles & Defense under NCRADA-NPS-19-0227This research in Ethical Control of Unmanned Systems applies precepts of Network Optional Warfare (NOW) to develop a three-step Mission Execution Ontology (MEO) methodology for validating, simulating, and implementing mission orders for unmanned systems. First, mission orders are represented in ontologies that are understandable by humans and readable by machines. Next, the MEO is validated and tested for logical coherence using Semantic Web standards. The validated MEO is refined for implementation in simulation and visualization. This process is iterated until the MEO is ready for implementation. This methodology is applied to four Naval scenarios in order of increasing challenges that the operational environment and the adversary impose on the Human-Machine Team. The extent of challenge to Ethical Control in the scenarios is used to refine the MEO for the unmanned system. The research also considers Data-Centric Security and blockchain distributed ledger as enabling technologies for Ethical Control. Data-Centric Security is a combination of structured messaging, efficient compression, digital signature, and document encryption, in correct order, for round-trip messaging. Blockchain distributed ledger has potential to further add integrity measures for aggregated message sets, confirming receipt/response/sequencing without undetected message loss. When implemented, these technologies together form the end-to-end data security that ensures mutual trust and command authority in real-world operational environments—despite the potential presence of interfering network conditions, intermittent gaps, or potential opponent intercept. A coherent Ethical Control approach to command and control of unmanned systems is thus feasible. Therefore, this research concludes that maintaining human control of unmanned systems at long ranges of time-duration and distance, in denied, degraded, and deceptive environments, is possible through well-defined mission orders and data security technologies. Finally, as the human role remains essential in Ethical Control of unmanned systems, this research recommends the development of an unmanned system qualification process for Naval operations, as well as additional research prioritized based on urgency and impact.Raytheon Missiles & DefenseRaytheon Missiles & Defense (RMD).Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Verification and Validation in Cyber Physical Systems: Research Challenges and a Way Forward

Abstract—It is widely held that debugging cyber-physical sys-tems (CPS) is challenging; to date, empirical studies investigating research challenges in CPS verification and validation have not been done. As a result, the exact challenges facing CPS developers in the real world remain at best unquantified and at worst unknown, and the research directions the community should undertake are not clearly identified. In this paper, we review our recent empirical study of real-world CPS developers. This position paper then uses the findings from this study to highlight the discovered key challenges and to present a research trajectory to address these challenges. I

Critical Infrastructure Modeling: An Approach to Characterizing Interdependencies of Complex Networks & Control Systems

Critical infrastructure control systems face many challenges entering the 21st century, including natural disasters, cyber attacks, and terrorist attacks. Revolutionary change is required to solve many existing issues, including gaining greater situational awareness and resiliency through embedding modeling and advanced control algorithms in smart sensors and control devices instead of in a central controller. To support design, testing, and component analysis, a flexible simulation and modeling capability is needed. Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory are developing and evaluating such a capability through their CIPRsim modeling and simulation framework

ADOPTION OF DIGITAL TWIN WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

Digital twins have the potential to support the decision-makers that design, build, operate, and maintain the platforms that the Department of the Navy (DON) relies upon to conduct naval operations. However, the thin body of knowledge on digital twins presents a challenge for the DON as the range of applications and risks associated with onboarding digital twins are still unclear. This thesis conducts a qualitative technology assessment to determine the effects that adopting digital twins has on the DON’s enterprise architecture. Analysis of an enterprise-wide adoption identifies opportunities and risks of digital twins within the context of the DON’s strategy, processes, people, technology, cyber security, and risk management. The business value provided by digital twins is principally dependent upon the aggregate risk value of the physical platform and the fidelity and frequency of the digital twin’s synchronizations.Captain, United States Marine CorpsCaptain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited