Empirical measurements of small unmanned aerial vehicle co-axial rotor systems

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (SUAV) are beginning to dominate the area of intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) in forward operating battlefield scenarios. Of particular interest are vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) variants. Within this category co-axial rotor designs have been adopted due to their inherent advantages of size and power to weight ratio. The inter-rotor spacing attribute of a co-axial rotor system appears to offer insight into the optimum design characteristic. The H/D ratio has been cited as a significant factor in many research papers, but to date has lacked an empirical value or an optimal dimensionless condition. In this paper the H/D ratio of a SUAV has been explored thoroughly, reviewing the performance of these systems at incremental stages, the findings from this study have shown that a range of H/D ratios in the region of (0.41-0.65) is advantageous in the performance of SUAV systems. This finding lends itself to the theory of inter-rotor spacing as a non-dimensionally similar figure, which cannot be applied across a spectrum of systems; this could be attributed to the viscous losses of flight at low Reynolds Numbers (< 50,000

Observers can always generate nonlocal correlations without aligning measurements by covering all their bases

Quantum theory allows for correlations between the outcomes of distant measurements that are inconsistent with any locally causal theory, as demonstrated by the violation of a Bell inequality. Typical demonstrations of these correlations require careful alignment between the measurements, which requires distant parties to share a reference frame. Here, we prove, following a numerical observation by Shadbolt et al., that if two parties share a Bell state and each party randomly chooses three orthogonal measurements, then the parties will always violate a Bell inequality. Furthermore, we prove that this probability is highly robust against local depolarizing noise, in that small levels of noise only decrease the probability of violating a Bell inequality by a small amount. We also show that generalizing to N parties increases the robustness against noise. These results improve on previous ones that only allowed a high probability of violating a Bell inequality for large numbers of parties.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. v2: updated reference. v3: published versio

Design and development of a pole climbing surveillance robot

The cost of installing, monitoring and servicing a fixed camera system can be high and not all areas are in need of constant surveying. The increase in crime in urban areas emphasizes the need for a more effective and efficient surveillance system, as a result could lead to fewer crimes. A temporary surveillance unit which is able to climb to gain an elevated view has great potential for both military and civilian application. This paper highlights how the patent pending climbing robotic system (PC-101) was developed to be used by London’s Metropolitan Police Forensic Department for analysing outdoor crime scenes especially that related to car accidents. When cars are involved in accidents in the Metropolitan area, depending on the scale of the incident, the road generally has to be shut off to traffic if there are serious casualties. Elevated images are required for cases which may be taken to court, which then the images are then used as evidence, therefore regulations on the quality and perspectives of the image have to be met. By climbing a range of existing street furniture such as street lamp post, a temporary platform eliminates the use of larger special vehicle which struggles to get to the crime scene as well as cuts down the duration of the road closure. 98% of London street lamps in the Metropolitan area are constructed out of steel structures which make the use of magnetic wheels for locomotion an ideal solution to the climbing problem. Once remote controlled to the top of the lamp post, the PC-101 makes use of its actuated camera arm/gimbal to take the required shot, which can be seen on the ground control unit. A surveillance tool of this sort can be used for many applications which include crowd/riot control, crime scene investigations, monitoring hostile environments and even the monitoring of nature within urban environment

Developing a low-cost beer dispensing robotic system for the service industry

As the prices of commercially available electronic and mechanical components decrease, manufacturers such as Devantech and Revolution Education have made encoded motor controller systems and microcontrollers very accessible to engineers and designers. This has made it possible to design sophisticated robotic and mechatronic systems very rapidly and at relatively low cost. A recent project in the Autonomous Systems Lab at Middlesex University, UK was to design and build a small, automated, robotic bartender based around the 5 litre Heineken 'Draughtkeg' system, which is capable of patrolling a bar and dispensing beer when signalled to by a customer. Because the system was designed as a commercial product, design constraints focused on keeping the build cost down, and so electronic components were sourced from outside companies and interfaced with a bespoke chassis and custom mechanical parts designed and manufactured on site at the University. All the programming was conducted using the proprietary BASIC language, which is freely available from the PicAXE supplier at no cost. This paper will discuss the restrictions involved in building a robot chassis around 'off-theshelf' components, and the issues arising from making the human-machine interaction intuitive whilst only using low-cost ultrasonic sensors. Programming issues will also be discussed, such as the control of accuracy when interfacing a PicAXE microcontroller with a Devantech MD25 Motor Controller board. Public live testing of the system was conducted at the Kinetica Art Fair 2010 event in London and has since been picked up by websites such as Engadget.com and many others. Feedback on the system will be described, as well as the refinements made as a result of these test

Statistical interaction modeling of bovine herd behaviors

While there has been interest in modeling the group behavior of herds or flocks, much of this work has focused on simulating their collective spatial motion patterns which have not accounted for individuality in the herd and instead assume a homogenized role for all members or sub-groups of the herd. Animal behavior experts have noted that domestic animals exhibit behaviors that are indicative of social hierarchy: leader/follower type behaviors are present as well as dominance and subordination, aggression and rank order, and specific social affiliations may also exist. Both wild and domestic cattle are social species, and group behaviors are likely to be influenced by the expression of specific social interactions. In this paper, Global Positioning System coordinate fixes gathered from a herd of beef cows tracked in open fields over several days at a time are utilized to learn a model that focuses on the interactions within the herd as well as its overall movement. Using these data in this way explores the validity of existing group behavior models against actual herding behaviors. Domain knowledge, location geography and human observations, are utilized to explain the causes of these deviations from this idealized behavior

Multiple consecutive initiation of replication producing novel brush-like intermediates at the termini of linear viral dsDNA genomes with hairpin ends.

Linear dsDNA replicons with hairpin ends are found in the three domains of life, mainly associated with plasmids and viruses including the poxviruses, some phages and archaeal rudiviruses. However, their replication mechanism is not clearly understood. In this study, we find that the rudivirus SIRV2 undergoes multiple consecutive replication reinitiation events at the genomic termini. Using a strand-displacement replication strategy, the multiple reinitiation events from one parental template yield highly branched intermediates corresponding to about 30 genome units which generate exceptional ‘brush-like’ structures. Moreover, our data support the occurrence of an additional strand-coupled bidirectional replication from a circular dimeric intermediate. The multiple reinitiation process ensures rapid copying of the parental viral genome and will enable protein factors involved in viral genome replication to be specifically localised intracellularly, thereby helping the virus to avoid host defence mechanisms

Tn7 Transposition

This project addressed a variety of aspects of the bacterial transposon Tn7. Firstly, the known sequence of the element was completed and the entire sequence compiled and presented. This was analysed with particular emphasis on the evolutionary implications of a series of directly repeated DNA motifs in the interior of Tn7 were discussed. These repeats were tested by gel retardation analysis for potential function as binding sites for Tn7 encoded proteins. These data are presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 deals with the construction of plasmids designed to co-ordinately over-express the TnsA, B, C and D proteins. These plasmids were tested for their ability to support transposition in vivo. One plasmid gave rise to a peculiar phenomenon in these assays,, a model is proposed for its action. A number of attempts to establish a Tn7 in vitro reaction are also described. Chapter 5 addresses the level of TnsD activity present in various cell extracts. An interaction between TnsD and one or more of TnsABC is detected and investigated and found be regulated by the hydrolysis of ATP. In the absence of ATP and magnesium ions a TnsABCD extract has no TnsD activity detectable by gel retardation assays, however in the presence of ATP and magnesium the same extract displays a detectable activity. Extracts containing TnsC and TnsD or TnsD on its own are not affected in this way. Chapter 6 presents data, initially identifying an IHF binding site in the attTn7 locus and localising the sequence determinants required for binding. IHF is demonstrated to induce a bend at the locus is demonstrated. The role of IHF in vivo in Tn7 transposition is investigated and it is demonstrated that transposition is reduced 6 fold in the absence of IHF. The potential role of IHF in the expression of the phoS gene, adjacent to attTn7 is also addressed

Quantifying Compliance Costs for Small Businesses in New Zealand

This paper reports on a small-scale study of the compliance costs of small New Zealand businesses. Participating firms were asked to keep a record of both time spent and expenditure directly incurred over a thirteen-week period. This differs from previous studies that rely on a firm's recall of how much time has been spent on compliance over the previous year. The results suggest that New Zealand small businesses on average spend less time and money on compliance than has been indicated in previous studies. However a number offirms do perceive compliance to be a major issue and in some cases this perception prevents firms from expanding

Differential regulation of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 and -2 by insulin in the baboon (Papio anubis) endometrium

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of insulin on expression and synthesis of IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2 in the baboon endometrium in vitro.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Baboon endometrial explants collected from cycling, ovariectomized, steroid-treated, simulated-pregnant and pregnant animals were cultured for 48 h in the presence or absence of insulin, with or without estradiol, progesterone and hCG.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Insulin clearly inhibited IGFBP-1 production and mRNA expression in a time- and dose-dependent manner, whereas IGFBP-2 synthesis was not significantly affected. The inhibitory effects of insulin on IGFBP-1 were more evident in explants of non-pregnant tissue or tissue away from the implantation site. In the absence of insulin, synthesis of IGFBP-1 was induced in explants with low levels of de novo synthesis whereas IGFBP-2 synthesis was inhibited. This effect was potentiated by steroids and hCG in the explant cultures.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Insulin differentially regulates endometrial IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2 secretion in the baboon.</p

Investigating the use of unmanned plant machinery on construction sites

The UK Construction Sector has been estimated to contribute 8% of the UK’s GDP [1]. The worldwide recession has forced construction companies to introduce and adopt cost saving measures to increase productivity. Several robotic building systems are in development for the Construction Sector such as the PERI’s Automatic Climbing System [2] and Brokk’s remote-controlled demolition machines [3], but there has been little implementation on live sites. Construction sites by their very nature are dynamically changing environments, so if human input was removed entirely, a robot would need a high level of awareness of the current state of the building project in order to navigate and carry out its task