Low complexity hardware oriented H.264/AVC motion estimation algorithm and related low power and low cost architecture design

制度:新 ; 報告番号:甲2999号 ; 学位の種類:博士(工学) ; 授与年月日:2010/3/15 ; 早大学位記番号:新525

Mechatronic Systems

Mechatronics, the synergistic blend of mechanics, electronics, and computer science, has evolved over the past twenty five years, leading to a novel stage of engineering design. By integrating the best design practices with the most advanced technologies, mechatronics aims at realizing high-quality products, guaranteeing at the same time a substantial reduction of time and costs of manufacturing. Mechatronic systems are manifold and range from machine components, motion generators, and power producing machines to more complex devices, such as robotic systems and transportation vehicles. With its twenty chapters, which collect contributions from many researchers worldwide, this book provides an excellent survey of recent work in the field of mechatronics with applications in various fields, like robotics, medical and assistive technology, human-machine interaction, unmanned vehicles, manufacturing, and education. We would like to thank all the authors who have invested a great deal of time to write such interesting chapters, which we are sure will be valuable to the readers. Chapters 1 to 6 deal with applications of mechatronics for the development of robotic systems. Medical and assistive technologies and human-machine interaction systems are the topic of chapters 7 to 13.Chapters 14 and 15 concern mechatronic systems for autonomous vehicles. Chapters 16-19 deal with mechatronics in manufacturing contexts. Chapter 20 concludes the book, describing a method for the installation of mechatronics education in schools

Biologically-inspired Motion Control for Kinematic Redundancy Resolution and Self-sensing Exploitation for Energy Conservation in Electromagnetic Devices

This thesis investigates particular topics in advanced motion control of two distinct mechanical systems: human-like motion control of redundant robot manipulators and advanced sensing and control for energy-efficient operation of electromagnetic devices. Control of robot manipulators for human-like motions has been one of challenging topics in robot control for over half a century. The first part of this thesis considers methods that exploits robot manipulators’ degrees of freedom for such purposes. Jacobian transpose control law is investigated as one of the well-known controllers and sufficient conditions for its universal convergence are derived by using concepts of “stability on a manifold” and “transferability to a sub-manifold”. Firstly, a modification on this method is proposed to enhance the rectilinear trajectory of the robot end-effector. Secondly, an abridged Jacobian controller is proposed that exploits passive control of joints to reduce the attended degrees of freedom of the system. Finally, the application of minimally-attended controller for human-like motion is introduced. Electromagnetic (EM) access control systems are one of growing electronic systems which are used in applications where conventional mechanical locks may not guarantee the expected safety of the peripheral doors of buildings. In the second part of this thesis, an intelligent EM unit is introduced which recruits the selfsensing capability of the original EM block for detection purposes. The proposed EM device optimizes its energy consumption through a control strategy which regulates the supply to the system upon detection of any eminent disturbance. Therefore, it draws a very small current when the full power is not needed. The performance of the proposed control strategy was evaluated based on a standard safety requirement for EM locking mechanisms. For a particular EM model, the proposed method is verified to realize a 75% reduction in the power consumption

Advanced Photonic Sciences

The new emerging field of photonics has significantly attracted the interest of many societies, professionals and researchers around the world. The great importance of this field is due to its applicability and possible utilization in almost all scientific and industrial areas. This book presents some advanced research topics in photonics. It consists of 16 chapters organized into three sections: Integrated Photonics, Photonic Materials and Photonic Applications. It can be said that this book is a good contribution for paving the way for further innovations in photonic technology. The chapters have been written and reviewed by well-experienced researchers in their fields. In their contributions they demonstrated the most profound knowledge and expertise for interested individuals in this expanding field. The book will be a good reference for experienced professionals, academics and researchers as well as young researchers only starting their carrier in this field

Algorithm and design improvements for indirect time of flight range imaging cameras

This thesis describes the development of a compact and modularised indirect time of flight range imaging camera. These cameras commonly use the Amplitude Modulated Continuous Wave (AMCW) technique. For this technique, an entire scene is illuminated with light modulated at a high frequency. An image sensor is also modulated and the phase shift introduced between the two modulation signals, due to the transit time of the light reflecting off objects in the scene and returning to the camera, is used to measure the distance. The system constructed for this thesis is controlled by a Cyclone III FPGA and is capable of producing full field of view range images in real time with no additional computational resources. A PMD19K-2 sensor is used as the modulatable image sensor, and is capable of modulation frequencies up to 40 MHz. One significant issue identified with this range imaging technology is that the precision of the range measurements are often dependent on the properties of the object being measured. The dynamic range of the camera is therefore very important when imaging high contrast scenes. Variable Frame Rate Imaging is a novel technique that is developed as part of this thesis and is shown to have promise for addressing this issue. Traditional theory for indirect time of flight cameras is expanded to describe this technique and is experimentally verified. A comparison is made between this technique and traditional High Dynamic Range Imaging. Furthermore, this technique is extended to provide a constant precision measurement of a scene, regardless of the properties of the objects in the scene. It is shown that the replacement of the standard phase detection algorithm with a different algorithm can both reduce the linearity error in the phase measurements caused by harmonics in the correlation waveform and ameliorate axial motion error caused by relative motion of the camera and the object being measured. The new algorithm requires a trivial increase in computational power over the standard algorithm and can be implemented without any significant changes to the standard hardware used in indirect time of flight cameras. Finally, the complete system is evaluated in a number of real world scenarios. Applications in both 3D modelling and mobile robotics are demonstrated and tests are performed for a variety of scenarios including dynamic scenes using a Pioneer 2 robot

Planet Earth 2011

The failure of the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 to effectively reach a global agreement on emission reduction targets, led many within the developing world to view this as a reversal of the Kyoto Protocol and an attempt by the developed nations to shirk out of their responsibility for climate change. The issue of global warming has been at the top of the political agenda for a number of years and has become even more pressing with the rapid industrialization taking place in China and India. This book looks at the effects of climate change throughout different regions of the world and discusses to what extent cleantech and environmental initiatives such as the destruction of fluorinated greenhouse gases, biofuels, and the role of plant breeding and biotechnology. The book concludes with an insight into the socio-religious impact that global warming has, citing Christianity and Islam

An historical geography of the Nilgiri cinchona plantations, 1860-1900

In 1859, the British government launched an expedition to South America with the aim of collecting seeds and plants of the quinine-producing cinchona tree for establishing plantations in British India, so as to relieve the British Government of the escalating costs and uncertainties in the supply of this valuable, and increasingly popular anti-malarial drug. Drawing on recent work on the commodities of empire, tropical acclimatization, and imperial medicine, this thesis provides a detailed study of the first British cinchona plantations established on the Nilgiri Hills of Southern India. Focused on the period between 1860 and 1900, and at the local geographic scale, the research critically examines the engagement and connections between government officials, planters, venture capitalists, labourers, plant material and ideas in the context of the cinchona plantations through a thorough study of archival and secondary sources. Contributions are also made to the study of the spaces of science and the management of the tropical environment. Cinchona is placed in a wider context of the history of botany and plantations in the Nilgiri region, and the major events in the development of cinchona plantations described. In the resulting historical geography the Nilgiri cinchona plantations emerge as a 'nodal' point in the global cinchona network that also relied upon global networks of imperial power, capital and leisure tourism. The experiment was essentially an exertion of power but one that also demonstrated the very vulnerable nature of the empire

An historical geography of the Nilgiri cinchona plantations, 1860-1900

In 1859, the British government launched an expedition to South America with the aim of collecting seeds and plants of the quinine-producing cinchona tree for establishing plantations in British India, so as to relieve the British Government of the escalating costs and uncertainties in the supply of this valuable, and increasingly popular anti-malarial drug. Drawing on recent work on the commodities of empire, tropical acclimatization, and imperial medicine, this thesis provides a detailed study of the first British cinchona plantations established on the Nilgiri Hills of Southern India. Focused on the period between 1860 and 1900, and at the local geographic scale, the research critically examines the engagement and connections between government officials, planters, venture capitalists, labourers, plant material and ideas in the context of the cinchona plantations through a thorough study of archival and secondary sources. Contributions are also made to the study of the spaces of science and the management of the tropical environment. Cinchona is placed in a wider context of the history of botany and plantations in the Nilgiri region, and the major events in the development of cinchona plantations described. In the resulting historical geography the Nilgiri cinchona plantations emerge as a 'nodal' point in the global cinchona network that also relied upon global networks of imperial power, capital and leisure tourism. The experiment was essentially an exertion of power but one that also demonstrated the very vulnerable nature of the empire

From Secret Knowledge to Mass Production: The Wet Copper Industry of Song China (960-1279)

“Wet copper” refers to refined copper, which is obtained from cupriferous substances by means of solution in water and precipitation on iron (hydrometallurgical methods) rather than by a conventional ore melting process (pyrometallurgical methods). Knowledge about certain parts of this method already existed for many centuries mainly in the secret alchemist literature of China, when towards the end of the 11th century the Song state decided to use wet copper for its coinage. In numerous places in south-east China, large facilities employing tens of thousands of workers and producing more than 1 000 tons of copper annually were established. While during the beginning of the 12th century, still most of China’s copper was obtained with conventional methods, ore deposits soon became exhausted and production numbers declined rapidly. Already by the second half of the 12th century, wet copper accounted for the lion’s share of the urgently needed mint metal and developed into one of the state’s most essential industries. After the Mongol conquests, many parts of the complex system of state-owned industries in China fell into disarray and in particular mint metal production enjoyed no priority anymore because the monetary system of the following Yuan dynasty chiefly relied on paper money. When in the 16th century in Europe the first sources mentioned the appearance of wet copper, in China hardly anything was known about it anymore. Only by the end of the 19th century, facilities operated by the Japanese can be found in Taiwan and only during the second half of the 20th century in Mainland China. In the central focus of this thesis are issues like the circumstances leading to innovation and large-scale application of knowledge about wet copper, the technological details of different hydrometallurgical methods, the administrative integration of the state institutions in charge of wet copper production and the way they managed the operation of wet copper facilities, the correlations between the quantitative developments of wet copper production and the monetary policy of the Song state as well as the attempts to understand and explain metallurgical processes by contemporaries. Beyond this, the decline of wet copper production at the end of the Song period and its development in other world regions as well as in modern China are analysed. As an outstandingly important source for the understanding and integration of questions related to copper production and minting in Song China, a complete annotated translation of the “Rhapsody of the Great Smelting” (Daye fu 大冶賦) is attached to this thesis.Der Begriff „wet copper“ oder „Nasskupfer bezieht sich auf Reinkupfer, welches aus kupferhaltigen Substanzen durch Lösung in Wasser und Ausfällung auf Eisen (hydrometallurgische Methoden) anstelle von konventionellen Schmelzprozessen (pyrometallurgische Methoden) gewonnen wird. Als gegen Ende des 11. Jahrhunderts der Song-Staat entschied, Nasskupfer als Münzmetall zu nutzen, waren zumindest Teile des dafür nötigen Wissens bereits seit Jahrhunderten zumeist in geheimen alchemistischen Schriften vorhanden. An zahlreichen Orten im Südosten Chinas wurden große Anlagen eingerichtet, die zehntausende Arbeiter beschäftigten und mehr als 1 000 Tonnen Kupfer jährlich produzieren konnten. Während noch zu Beginn des 12. Jahrhunderst der großteil des Chinesischen Kupfers mit konventionellen Methoden gewonnen wurde, gingen die Produktionszahlen bald darauf rapide zurück, weil viele der Lagerstätten erschöpft waren. So machte Nasskupfer bereits während der zweiten Hälfte des 12. Jahrhunderst den Großteil des dringend benötigten Münzmetalls aus und seine Herstellung wurde damit zu einem der wichtigsten Gewerbezweige für den Staat. Nach der Eroberung Chinas durch die Mongolen gerieten viele Teile des komplexen Systems der staatseigenen Produktionsstätten in Unordnung und besonders die Gewinnung von Münzmetallen genoss keine hohe Priorität mehr, weil das Geldsystem der nachfolgenden Yuan-Dynastie hauptsächlich auf Papiergeld ausgelegt war. Als im 16. Jahrhundert erste Quellen in Europa auftauchten, die die Existenz von Nasskupfer belegen, war die Technik in China bereits sehr weit gehend in Vergesssenheit greaten. Erst gegen Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts finden sich Anlagen, die auf Taiwan von den Japanern betrieben wurden und erst in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts auf dem Festland. Das Hauptaugenmerk dieser Arbeit liegt auf Themen wie den Umständen, die zu Innovation und großangelegter Anwendung von des bestehenden Wissens über Nasskupfer führten, die technischen Details der verschiedenen hydrometallurgischen Methoden, die administrative Einbindung der staatlichen Instutionen, in deren Aufgabenbereich die Produktion von Nasskupfer fiel sowie deren Umgang mit Fragen des Betriebs der Anlagen, dem Zusammenhang zwischen quantitativer Entwicklung der Nasskupferproduktion und Geldpolitik oder die zeitgenössischen Bestrebungen, die Hintergründe metallurgische Phänomene und Prozesse zu verstehen. Darüber hinaus werden auch der Niedergang der Nasskupfergewinnung zum Ende der Songzeit und deren Entwicklung in anderen Weltregionen sowie im modernen China untersucht. Da es seine Quelle von herausragender Bedeutung für das Verständnis des Themas sowie dessen Integration in den Kontext des songzeitlichen Münzwesens darstellt, ist eine vollständige annotierte Übersetzung der „Rhapsodie vom Großen Schmelzen“ (Daye fu 大冶賦) dieser Arbeit beigefügt