129,238 research outputs found
Design and concept of renewable energy driven auto-detectable railway level crossing systems in Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s railway system mostly uses typical manual railway crossing techniques or boom gates through its 2955.53 km rail route all over the country. Accidents frequently happen at railway crossings due to the lack of quickly operating gate systems, and to fewer safety measures at the railway crossing as well. Currently, there are very few automatic railway crossing systems available (without obstacle detectors). Additionally, all of them are dependent on the national power grid, without a backup plan for any emergency cases. Bangladesh is still running a bit behind in generating enough power for its consumption; hence, it is not possible to have a continuous power supply at all times all over the countryside. We aim to design and develop a smart railway crossing system with an obstacle detector to prevent common types of accidents at railway crossing points. We use two infrared (IR) sensors to operate the railway crossing systems, which are controlled by an Arduino Uno. This newly designed level crossing system is run with the help of sustainable renewable energy, which is cost-effective and eco-friendly, and applied under the national green energy policy towards achieving sustainable development in Bangladesh as a part of the global sustainable goal to face climate change challenges. We have summarized the simulated the results of several renewable energy sources, including a hybrid system, and optimized the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and the payback periods
Universal Arduino-based experimenting system to support teaching of natural sciences
The rapid evolution of intelligent electronic devices makes information
technology, computer science and electronics strongly related to the teaching
of natural sciences. Today almost everybody has a smart phone that can convert
light, temperature, movement, sound to numbers, therefore all these can be
processed, analysed, displayed, stored, shared by software applications. The
fundamental question is how education can follow this knowledge and how can
education take its advantages. Components and methods of modern technology are
available for education also, teachers and students can play with parts and
tools which were previously used only by engineers. A good example is the very
popular Arduino board which is practically an industrial microcontroller whose
pins are wired to easy-to-use connectors on a printed circuit board. In this
paper we show a universal system which we have developed for the Arduino
platform to support experimenting and understanding of the most fundamental
principles of the operation of modern devices. We show our related educational
concept and discuss the most important features of the system. Open source
hardware and software are available and we provide a number of video tutorials
as well
User preferences on route instruction types for mobile indoor route guidance
Adaptive mobile wayfinding systems are being developed to ease wayfinding in the indoor environment. They present wayfinding information to the user, which is adapted to the context. Wayfinding information can be communicated by using different types of route instructions, such as text, photos, videos, symbols or a combination thereof. The need for a different type of route instruction may vary at decision points, for example because of its complexity. Furthermore, these needs may be different for different user characteristics (e.g., age, gender, level of education). To determine this need for information, an online survey has been executed where participants rated 10 different route instruction types at several decision points in a case study building. Results show that the types with additional text were preferred over those without text. The photo instructions, combined with text, generally received the highest ratings, especially from first-time visitors. 3D simulations were appreciated at complex decision points and by younger people. When text (with symbols) is considered as a route instruction type, it is best used for the start or end instruction
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