Longitudinal vehicle dynamics : a comparison of physical and data-driven models under large-scale real-world driving conditions

Mathematical models of vehicle dynamics will form essential components of future autonomous vehicles. They may be used within inverse or forward control loops, or within predictive learning systems. Often, nonlinear physical models are used in this context, which, though conceptually simple (especially for decoupled, longitudinal dynamics), may be computationally costly to parameterise and also inaccurate if they omit vehicle-specific dynamics. In this study we sought to determine the relative merits of a commonly used nonlinear physical model of vehicle dynamics versus data-driven models in large-scale real-world driving conditions. To this end, we compared the performance of a standard nonlinear physical model with a linear state-space model and a neural network model. The large-scale experimental data was obtained from two vehicles; a Lancia Delta car and a Jeep Renegade sport utility vehicle. The vehicles were driven on regular, public roads, during normal human driving, across a range of road gradients. Both data-driven models outperformed the physical model. The neural network model performed best for both vehicles; the state-space model performed almost as well as the neural network for the Lancia Delta, but fell short for the Jeep Renegade whose dynamics were more strongly nonlinear. Our results suggest that the linear data-driven model gives a good trade-off in accuracy and simplicity, whilst the neural network model is most accurate and is extensible to more nonlinear operating conditions, and finally that the widely used physical model may not be the best choice for control design

Curve warning driver support systems. A sensitivity analysis to errors in the estimation of car velocity

n/

Parâmetros fotossintéticos e crescimento em mudas de bertholletia excelsa e carapa guianensis em resposta a pré-aclimatação a pleno sol e estresse hídrico moderado

Light and water are important factors that may limit the growth and development of higher plants. The aim of this study was to evaluate photosynthetic parameters and growth in seedlings of Bertholletia excelsa and Carapa guianensis in response to pre-acclimation to full sunlight and mild water stress. I used six independent pre-acclimation treatments (0, 90 (11h15-12h45), 180 (10h30-13h30), 360 (09h00-15h00), 540 (07h30-16h30) and 720 min (06h00-18h00)) varying the time of exposure to full sunlight (PFS) during 30 days, followed by whole-day outdoor exposure for 120 days. Before PFS, the plants were kept in a greenhouse at low light levels (0.8 mol m-2 day-1). The PFS of 0 min corresponded to plants constantly kept under greenhouse conditions. From the beginning to the end of the experiment, each PFS treatment was submitted to two water regimesmoderate water stress (MWS, pre-dawn leaf water potential (ΨL) of -500 to -700 kPa) and without water stress (WWS, ΨL of -300 kPa, soil kept at field capacity). Plants under MWS received only a fraction of the amount of water applied to the well-watered ones. At the end of the 120-day-period under outdoor conditions, I evaluated light saturated photosynthesis (Amax), stomatal conductance (g s), transpiration (E) and plant growth. Both Amax and g s were higher for all plants under the PFS treatment. Stem diameter growth rate and Amax were higher for C. guianensis subjected to MWS than in well-watered plants. The contrary was true for B. excelsa. The growth of seedlings was enhanced by exposure to full sunlight for 180 minutes in both species. However, plants of B. excelsa were sensitive to moderate water stress. The higher photosynthetic rates and faster growth of C. guianensis under full sun and moderate water stress make this species a promissory candidate to be tested in reforestation programs.A luz e a água são importantes fatores que limitam o crescimento e o desenvolvimento das plantas. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar os paâmetros fotossintéticos e o crescimento em mudas de Bertholletia excelsa e Carapa guianensis em resposta a pré-aclimatação à luz solar plena e estresse hídrico moderado. Foram usados seis independentes tratamentos de pré-aclimatação a pleno sol (PFS), sendo estes de (0, 90 (11h15-12h45), 180 (10h30-13h30), 360 (09h00-15h00), 540 (07h30-16h30) e 720 min (06h00-18h00)) durante 30 dias seguidos por um período de exposição a pleno sol de 120 dias durante o dia todo. Antes da PFS, as plantas foram mantidas em casa de vegetação a baixos níveis de luz (0,8 mol m-2 dia-1). O PFS de 0 min correspondeu às plantas mantidas constatemente na casa de vegetação. Cada tratamento de PFS foi submetido desde o início até o final do experimento a dois regimes hídricos, denominado de estresse hídrico moderado (MWS, potencial hidrico da folha medido antes do amanhecer (ΨL) de -500 a -700 kPa) e sem estresse hídrico (WWS , ΨL de -300 kPa, solo mantido na capacidade de campo). As plantas do tratamento MWS receberam apenas uma fração do volume de água fornecido para aquelas do tratamento WWS. No final do período de 120 dias foi avaliada a fotossíntese saturada por luz (Amax), a condutância estomática (g s), transpiração (E) e o crescimento. Amax e g s foram maiores em todas as plantas sob o tratamento de PFS. A taxa de crescimento em diâmetro e Amax foram maiores em plantas de C. guianensis submetidas à MWS. O contrário foi observado em B. excelsa. O crescimento das mudas foi maior nas plantas expostas à luz solar em 180 minutos em ambas as espécies. Entretanto, as plantas de B. excelsa foram mais sensíveis ao estresse hídrico moderado. C. guianensis foi à especie que teve melhor desempenho fotossintético e crescimento sob estresse hídrico moderado e luz solar plena. Portanto, essa espécie tem grande potencialidade para ser testada em programas de reflorestamento

Hybrid cancellation of ripple disturbances arising in AC/DC converters

In AC/DC converters, a peculiar periodic nonsmooth waveform arises, the so-called ripple. In this paper we propose a novel model that captures this nonsmoothness by means of a hybrid dynamical system performing state jumps at certain switching instants, and we illustrate its properties with reference to a three phase diode bridge rectifier. As the ripple corrupts an underlying desirable signal, we propound two observer schemes ensuring asymptotic estimation of the ripple, the first with and the second without knowledge of the switching instants. Our theoretical developments are well placed in the context of recent techniques for hybrid regulation and constitute a contribution especially for our second observer, where the switching instants are estimated. Once asymptotic estimation of the ripple is achieved, the ripple can be conveniently canceled from the desirable signal, and thanks to the inherent robustness properties of the proposed hybrid formulation, the two observer schemes require only that the desirable signal is slowly time varying compared to the ripple. Exploiting this fact, we illustrate the effectiveness of our second hybrid observation law on experimental data collected from the Joint European Torus tokamak