Fish tracking technology development. Phases 1 and 2, project definition desk study and equipment

The document reports on the major findings from a definition study to appraise the options to develop fish tracking equipment, in particular tags and data logging systems, in order to improve the effeciency of the Agency tracking studies and to obtain a greater understanding of fish biology. The definition study was in two parts. The first, Phase 1, collated and evaluated all the known tracking systems that may be suitable for studies of fish which are either produced commercially or have been constructed for specific in-house studies. Phase 2 was an evaluation of all the tracking equipment considered to merit further investigation in Phase 1. The deficiencies between existing and required technologies to improve the efficiency of Agency's tracking studies and to obtain a greater understanding of fish biology are also identified

Accurate angle-of-arrival measurement using particle swarm optimization

As one of the major methods for location positioning, angle-of-arrival (AOA) estimation is a significant technology in radar, sonar, radio astronomy, and mobile communications. AOA measurements can be exploited to locate mobile units, enhance communication efficiency and network capacity, and support location-aided routing, dynamic network management, and many location-based services. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for AOA estimation in colored noise fields and harsh application scenarios. By modeling the unknown noise covariance as a linear combination of known weighting matrices, a maximum likelihood (ML) criterion is established, and a particle swarm optimization (PSO) paradigm is designed to optimize the cost function. Simulation results demonstrate that the paired estimator PSO-ML significantly outperforms other popular techniques and produces superior AOA estimates

Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

Empowering and assisting natural human mobility: The simbiosis walker

This paper presents the complete development of the Simbiosis Smart Walker. The device is equipped with a set of sensor subsystems to acquire user-machine interaction forces and the temporal evolution of user's feet during gait. The authors present an adaptive filtering technique used for the identification and separation of different components found on the human-machine interaction forces. This technique allowed isolating the components related with the navigational commands and developing a Fuzzy logic controller to guide the device. The Smart Walker was clinically validated at the Spinal Cord Injury Hospital of Toledo - Spain, presenting great acceptability by spinal chord injury patients and clinical staf

Bridges Structural Health Monitoring and Deterioration Detection Synthesis of Knowledge and Technology

INE/AUTC 10.0

Automatic Processing of High-Rate, High-Density Multibeam Echosounder Data

Multibeam echosounders (MBES) are currently the best way to determine the bathymetry of large regions of the seabed with high accuracy. They are becoming the standard instrument for hydrographic surveying and are also used in geological studies, mineral exploration and scientific investigation of the earth\u27s crustal deformations and life cycle. The significantly increased data density provided by an MBES has significant advantages in accurately delineating the morphology of the seabed, but comes with the attendant disadvantage of having to handle and process a much greater volume of data. Current data processing approaches typically involve (computer aided) human inspection of all data, with time-consuming and subjective assessment of all data points. As data rates increase with each new generation of instrument and required turn-around times decrease, manual approaches become unwieldy and automatic methods of processing essential. We propose a new method for automatically processing MBES data that attempts to address concerns of efficiency, objectivity, robustness and accuracy. The method attributes each sounding with an estimate of vertical and horizontal error, and then uses a model of information propagation to transfer information about the depth from each sounding to its local neighborhood. Embedded in the survey area are estimation nodes that aim to determine the true depth at an absolutely defined location, along with its associated uncertainty. As soon as soundings are made available, the nodes independently assimilate propagated information to form depth hypotheses which are then tracked and updated on-line as more data is gathered. Consequently, we can extract at any time a “current-best” estimate for all nodes, plus co-located uncertainties and other metrics. The method can assimilate data from multiple surveys, multiple instruments or repeated passes of the same instrument in real-time as data is being gathered. The data assimilation scheme is sufficiently robust to deal with typical survey echosounder errors. Robustness is improved by pre-conditioning the data, and allowing the depth model to be incrementally defined. A model monitoring scheme ensures that inconsistent data are maintained as separate but internally consistent depth hypotheses. A disambiguation of these competing hypotheses is only carried out when required by the user. The algorithm has a low memory footprint, runs faster than data can currently be gathered, and is suitable for real-time use. We call this algorithm CUBE (Combined Uncertainty and Bathymetry Estimator). We illustrate CUBE on two data sets gathered in shallow water with different instruments and for different purposes. We show that the algorithm is robust to even gross failure modes, and reliably processes the vast majority of the data. In both cases, we confirm that the estimates made by CUBE are statistically similar to those generated by hand

Technical aspects of a demonstration tape for three-dimensional sound displays

This document was developed to accompany an audio cassette that demonstrates work in three-dimensional auditory displays, developed at the Ames Research Center Aerospace Human Factors Division. It provides a text version of the audio material, and covers the theoretical and technical issues of spatial auditory displays in greater depth than on the cassette. The technical procedures used in the production of the audio demonstration are documented, including the methods for simulating rotorcraft radio communication, synthesizing auditory icons, and using the Convolvotron, a real-time spatialization device