Study of the implementation of an autonomous driving system

Aquest treball pretén ser una guia introductòria al món de la intel·ligència artificial, aplicada més concretament al món de la conducció autònoma. L’aplicació final en la que es vol implementar tot el coneixement desenvolupat al llarg d’aquest treball no és genèrica, entenent com a tal un cotxe autònom que podria circular pel carrer. Per contra té una finalitat més concreta i menys complexa a nivell de seguretat: l’aplicació a un cotxe de competició de la Formula Student. Al llarg del document s’explica tant la teoria necessària per aventurar-se en aquest món com també totes les eines necessàries per dur a terme l’entrenament d’una intel·ligència artificial capaç d’aprendre a conduir per ella mateixa. Així mateix, també es descriu tot el procés realitzat per trobar el model més òptim amb les eines utilitzades i comentaris per aprendre a interpretar els resultats. Cal destacar que la realització d’aquest treball és merament una introducció a aquest món i que, per bé que els resultats obtinguts són esperançadors i possiblement serviran de base per a futurs desenvolupament sobre el tema, no poden ser aplicats directament a l’aplicació final per falta de complexitat i diversitat de casos en l’entrenament del model

Precise Stellar Radial Velocities of an M Dwarf with a Michelson Interferometer and a Medium-resolution Near-infrared Spectrograph

Precise near-infrared radial velocimetry enables efficient detection and transit verification of low-mass extrasolar planets orbiting M dwarf hosts, which are faint for visible-wavelength radial velocity surveys. The TripleSpec Exoplanet Discovery Instrument, or TEDI, is the combination of a variable-delay Michelson interferometer and a medium-resolution (R=2700) near-infrared spectrograph on the Palomar 200" Hale Telescope. We used TEDI to monitor GJ 699, a nearby mid-M dwarf, over 11 nights spread across 3 months. Analysis of 106 independent observations reveals a root-mean-square precision of less than 37 m/s for 5 minutes of integration time. This performance is within a factor of 2 of our expected photon-limited precision. We further decompose the residuals into a 33 m/s white noise component, and a 15 m/s systematic noise component, which we identify as likely due to contamination by telluric absorption lines. With further development this technique holds promise for broad implementation on medium-resolution near-infrared spectrographs to search for low-mass exoplanets orbiting M dwarfs, and to verify low-mass transit candidates.Comment: 55 pages and 13 figures in aastex format. Accepted by PAS

Analysis of Fermi-LAT data from Tucana-II: Possible constraints on the Dark Matter models with an intriguing hint of a signal

Tucana-II (Tuc-II), a recently discovered and confirmed Ultra Faint Dwarf Spheroidal galaxy, has a high mass to light ratio as well as a large line-of-sight stellar velocity dispersion, thus making it an ideal candidate for an indirect dark matter (DM) search. In this paper, we have analyzed nine years of $\gamma$-ray data obtained from the \textit{Fermi}-LAT instrument from the direction of Tuc-II. The fact that a very weak significant $\gamma$-ray excess ($2.2\sigma$) over the background of Tuc-II have been detected from the location of this galaxy. We have observed that this excess of $\gamma$-ray emission from the of location Tuc-II rises with longer periods of data. If WIMP pair annihilation is assumed for this faint emission, for $b\bar{b}$ annihilation channel the test statistics (TS) value peaks at DM mass $\sim$ 14 GeV and for $\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ annihilation channel it peaks at DM mass 4 GeV. It is then called for an estimation of the $95\%$ confidence level upper limit of the possible velocity weighted self-annihilation cross-section of the DM particles (WIMPs) within Tuc-II by fitting the observed $\gamma$-ray flux with spectra expected for DM annihilation. The estimated upper limits of the cross-sections from Tuc-II are then compared with two other dwarf galaxies that are considered to be good DM candidates in several studies. We have also compared our results with the cross-sections obtained in various popular theoretical models of the WIMPs to find that our results impose reasonable tight constraints on the parameter spaces of those DM models. In the concluding section, we compared our results with the similar results obtained from a combined dSph analysis by the \textit{Fermi}-LAT collaboration as well as the results obtained from the studies of DM in the dwarf galaxies by the major ground-based Cherenkov experiments.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, 7 table

Real-time Aerial Vehicle Detection and Tracking using a Multi-modal Optical Sensor

Vehicle tracking from an aerial platform poses a number of unique challenges including the small number of pixels representing a vehicle, large camera motion, and parallax error. For these reasons, it is accepted to be a more challenging task than traditional object tracking and it is generally tackled through a number of different sensor modalities. Recently, the Wide Area Motion Imagery sensor platform has received reasonable attention as it can provide higher resolution single band imagery in addition to its large area coverage. However, still, richer sensory information is required to persistently track vehicles or more research on the application of WAMI for tracking is required. With the advancements in sensor technology, hyperspectral data acquisition at video frame rates become possible as it can be cruical in identifying objects even in low resolution scenes. For this reason, in this thesis, a multi-modal optical sensor concept is considered to improve tracking in adverse scenes. The Rochester Institute of Technology Multi-object Spectrometer is capable of collecting limited hyperspectral data at desired locations in addition to full-frame single band imagery. By acquiring hyperspectral data quickly, tracking can be achieved at reasonableframe rates which turns out to be crucial in tracking. On the other hand, the relatively high cost of hyperspectral data acquisition and transmission need to be taken into account to design a realistic tracking. By inserting extended data of the pixels of interest we can address or avoid the unique challenges posed by aerial tracking. In this direction, we integrate limited hyperspectral data to improve measurement-to-track association. Also, a hyperspectral data based target detection method is presented to avoid the parallax effect and reduce the clutter density. Finally, the proposed system is evaluated on realistic, synthetic scenarios generated by the Digital Image and Remote Sensing software

First Weak-lensing Results from "See Change": Quantifying Dark Matter in the Two Z>1.5 High-redshift Galaxy Clusters SPT-CL J2040-4451 and IDCS J1426+3508

We present a weak-lensing study of SPT-CLJ2040-4451 and IDCSJ1426+3508 at z=1.48 and 1.75, respectively. The two clusters were observed in our "See Change" program, a HST survey of 12 massive high-redshift clusters aimed at high-z supernova measurements and weak-lensing estimation of accurate cluster masses. We detect weak but significant galaxy shape distortions using IR images from the WFC3, which has not yet been used for weak-lensing studies. Both clusters appear to possess relaxed morphology in projected mass distribution, and their mass centroids agree nicely with those defined by both the galaxy luminosity and X-ray emission. Using an NFW profile, for which we assume that the mass is tightly correlated with the concentration parameter, we determine the masses of SPT-CL J2040-4451 and IDCS J1426+3508 to be M_{200}=8.6_{-1.4}^{+1.7}x10^14 M_sun and 2.2_{-0.7}^{+1.1}x10^14 M_sun, respectively. The weak-lensing mass of SPT-CLJ2040-4451 shows that the cluster is clearly a rare object. Adopting the central value, the expected abundance of such a massive cluster at z>1.48 is only ~0.07 in the parent 2500 sq. deg. survey. However, it is yet premature to claim that the presence of this cluster creates a serious tension with the current LCDM paradigm unless that tension will remain in future studies after marginalizing over many sources of uncertainties such as the accuracy of the mass function and the mass-concentration relation at the high mass end. The mass of IDCSJ1426+3508 is in excellent agreement with our previous ACS-based weak-lensing result while the much higher source density from our WFC3 imaging data makes the current statistical uncertainty ~40% smaller.Comment: Accepted to Ap

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory: Instrumentation and Online Systems

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic-kilometer-scale high-energy neutrino detector built into the ice at the South Pole. Construction of IceCube, the largest neutrino detector built to date, was completed in 2011 and enabled the discovery of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. We describe here the design, production, and calibration of the IceCube digital optical module (DOM), the cable systems, computing hardware, and our methodology for drilling and deployment. We also describe the online triggering and data filtering systems that select candidate neutrino and cosmic ray events for analysis. Due to a rigorous pre-deployment protocol, 98.4% of the DOMs in the deep ice are operating and collecting data. IceCube routinely achieves a detector uptime of 99% by emphasizing software stability and monitoring. Detector operations have been stable since construction was completed, and the detector is expected to operate at least until the end of the next decade.Comment: 83 pages, 50 figures; updated with minor changes from journal review and proofin