Performance and Results of the Triple Buffering Built-In in a Raspberry PI to Optimize the Distribution of Information from a Smart Sensor

“ The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/978-3-319-07593-8_33"Currently, 3D sensors can be considered an evolution of cameras by providing the image with its depth information. These sensors have a generic function and the programmer has to process the received information in order to be adapted and used in a specific environment. In robots navigation, the 3D information can be useful for basic behaviours such as obstacles avoidance or even more complex behaviours such as maps generation . In this article an image management system provided by the xTion intelligent sensor is presented. The xTion sensor provides a VGA image and a 3D depth, which allows it to be used for several purposes. In order to distribute the data, it is acquired, processed and sent to several clients with a triple buffer system modified to serve the most recent image to the client. The system is programmed in C for Linux and built-in in a Raspberry PI. The article exposes the performance and results from monitoring the frame's delay comparing it with a simple and a double buffer system widely used in this kind of systems.Coordinated project COBAMI: Mission-based Hierarchical Control. Education and Science Department, Spanish Government. CICYT: MICINN: DPI2011-28507-C02-01/02 and project “Real time distributed control systems” of the Support Program for Research and Development 2012 UPV (PAID-06-12).Jiménez García, JL.; Poza Luján, JL.; Posadas Yagüe, JL.; Baselga Masiá, D.; Simó Ten, JE. (2014). Performance and Results of the Triple Buffering Built-In in a Raspberry PI to Optimize the Distribution of Information from a Smart Sensor. En Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence, 11th International Conference. Springer. 279-286. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07593-8_33S279286Brignell, J.E.: The future of intelligent sensors: a problem of technology or ethics? Sensors and Actuators 56, 11–15 (1996)Fernandes, J., Laranjeira, J., Novais, P., Marreiros, G., Neves, J.: A Context Aware Architecture to Support People with Partial Visual Impairments. In: Omatu, S., Neves, J., Rodriguez, J.M.C., Paz Santana, J.F., Gonzalez, S.R. (eds.) Distrib. Computing & Artificial Intelligence. AISC, vol. 217, pp. 333–340. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)Chien-Hui, L., Kuan-Wei, L., Ting-Hua, C., Che-Chen, C., Charles, H.-P.: Fall Detection by a SVM-Based Cloud System with Motion Sensors. In: Yueh-Min, H., Han-Chieh, C., Der-Jiunn, D., James J (Jong Hyuk), P. (eds.) Advanced Technologies, Embedded and Multimedia for Human-centric Computing. LNEE, vol. 260, pp. 37–45. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)Grzejszczak, T., Mikulski, M., Szkodny, T., Jędrasiak, K.: Gesture Based Robot Control. In: Bolc, L., Tadeusiewicz, R., Chmielewski, L.J., Wojciechowski, K. (eds.) ICCVG 2012. LNCS, vol. 7594, pp. 407–413. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)Lee, C.S., Gyu, M.L., Woo, S.R.: Standardization and challenges of smart ubiquitous networks in ITU-T. IEEE Communications Magazine 51(10), 102–110 (2013)Dias, D.M., Mukherjee, R., Sitaram, D., Tewari, R.: Buffering and Caching in Large-Scale Video Servers. In: Prac. of COMPCON (1995)Tagami, Y., Watanabe, M., Yamaguchi, Y.: Development Environment of 3D Graphics Systems. Fujitsu Scientific & Technical Journal 49(1), 64–70 (2013)Khan, S., Bailey, D., Gupta, G.: Simulation of Triple Buffer Scheme. In: Second International Conference on Computer and Electrical Engineering (2009)ASUS: Xtion Pro Live, http://www.asus.comEdwards, C.: Not-so-humble raspberry pi gets big ideas. Engineering & Technology 8(3), 30–33 (2013)Poza-Luján, J.L., Posadas-Yagüe, J.L., Simó-Ten, J.E.: Quality of Control and Quality of Service in Mobile Robot Navigation. International Journal of Imaging and Robotics 8(1) (2014)Norman Villaroman, N., Rowe, D., Swan, B.: Teaching natural user interaction using OpenNI and the Microsoft Kinect sensor. In: Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Information Technology Education (SIGITE 2011), pp. 227–232. ACM, New York (2011)Bradski, G., Kaehler, A.: Learning OpenCV: Computer vision with the OpenCV library. O’reilly (2008)Ollero, A.: Intelligent mobile robot navigation. STAR, vol. 16. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)Freese, M., Singh, S., Ozaki, F., Matsuhira, N.: Virtual Robot Experimentation Platform V-REP: A Versatile 3D Robot Simulator. In: Ando, N., Balakirsky, S., Hemker, T., Reggiani, M., von Stryk, O. (eds.) SIMPAR 2010. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 6472, pp. 51–62. Springer, Heidelberg (2010

Towards an Intrinsically safe, optically powered sensor system

Sensor systems in which both the communication and power to the electronic sub-systems at the sensor head are provided optically are very attractive from the point of view of electromagnetic isolation. Recent trends in micro-electronics are providing devices that will work at the maximum voltage permitted by European standards for intrinsic safety. The limitations of power available via optical transmission place a heavy constraint on the design of protocols to carry out two way communication. A key problem is also how to partition the intelligence at the two ends of the fibre link. Appropriate sub-systems have been designed, built and tested

Optical power and intelligent sensors

The possibilities of optically powered intelligent sensors are studied by means of a model realised in MSI. Proposals are made for simplified communication protocols that allow the power budget to be optimised. Measurements are made under control of commands transmitted along the optical power line and data returned. this is achieved with an electrical power at the sensor head of less than 100 µW, enabling the system to operate with an optical power of the order of 1 mW

An investigation of the effect of poling conditions on the characteristics of screen-printed piezoceramics

A study of the effect of poling conditions on screen-printed piezoceramics was undertaken. Printable pastes were produced, using a commercially available lead zirconate titanate (PZT) powder, mixed with two types of binder, lead (II) oxide and a lead borosilicate glass. Sample devices were fabricated using the two paste types and processed, using standard thick film techniques, before being poled under varying conditions. Samples were compared by measurement of piezoelectric charge constant, d33 and using scanning electron microscopy techniques. Temperature and time are shown to increase poling efficiency, while poling field reaches an optimum at 2-3 MV m-1. The PZT layers start to fail through a process of dielectric breakdown at fields of 3.5 MV m-1 and above