Multiradio Resource Management: Parallel Transmission for Higher Throughput?

Mobile communication systems beyond the third generation will see the interconnection of heterogeneous radio access networks (UMTS, WiMax, wireless local area networks, etc.) in order to always provide the best quality of service (QoS) to users with multimode terminals. This scenario poses a number of critical issues, which have to be faced in order to get the best from the integrated access network. In this paper, we will investigate the issue of parallel transmission over multiple radio access technologies (RATs), focusing the attention on the QoS perceived by final users. We will show that the achievement of a real benefit from parallel transmission over multiple RATs is conditioned to the fulfilment of some requirements related to the kind of RATs, the multiradio resource management (MRRM) strategy, and the transport-level protocol behaviour. All these aspects will be carefully considered in our investigation, which will be carried out partly adopting an analytical approach and partly by means of simulations. In this paper, in particular, we will propose a simple but effective MRRM algorithm, whose performance will be investigated in IEEE802.11a-UMTS and IEEE802.11a-IEEE802.16e heterogeneous networks (adopted as case studies)

Nonlinear vibrations of functionally graded cylindrical shells: effect of the companion mode participation

In this paper, the effect of the companion mode participation on the nonlinear vibrations of functionally graded (FGM) cylindrical shells is analyzed. The Sanders-Koiter theory is applied to model the nonlinear dynamics of the system in the case of finite amplitude of vibration. The shell deformation is described in terms of longitudinal, circumferential and radial displacement fields. Simply supported boundary conditions are considered. The displacement fields are expanded by means of a double mixed series based on Chebyshev polynomials for the longitudinal variable and harmonic functions for the circumferential variable. Both driven and companion modes are considered. Numerical analyses are carried out in order to characterize the nonlinear response when the shell is subjected to an harmonic external load. A convergence analysis is carried out by considering a different number of axisymmetric and asymmetric modes. The present study is focused on modelling the nonlinear travelling-wave response of the shell in the circumferential direction with the companion mode participation

Effect of the boundary conditions on the vibrations of functionally graded shells

In this paper, the effect of the boundary conditions on the nonlinear vibration of functionally graded circular cylindrical shells is analyzed. The Sanders-Koiter theory is applied to model the nonlinear dynamics of the system in the case of finite amplitude of vibration. The shell deformation is described in terms of longitudinal, circumferential and radial displacement fields. Numerical analyses are carried out in order to characterize the nonlinear response when the shell is subjected to an harmonic external load; different geometries and material distributions are considered. A convergence analysis is carried out in order to determine the correct number of the modes to be used; the role of the axisymmetric and asymmetric modes is carefully analyzed. The effect of the geometry on the nonlinear response is investigated; i.e. thickness and radius are varied; simply supported, clamped-clamped and free-free shells are considered. The effect of the constituent volume fractions and the configurations of the constituent materials on the natural frequencies and nonlinear response are studied

Mobile WiMAX Performance Investigation

Although the Mobile-WiMAX technology is being deployed in the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and in the Mideast, there are still ongoing discussions about the potential of this technology. What is really remarkable, in fact, with regard to the Mobile-WiMAX profile, is the high number of degrees of freedom that are left to manufacturers. The final decision on a lot of very basic and crucial aspects, such as, just to cite few of them, the bandwidth, the frame duration, the duplexing scheme and the up/downlink traffic asymmetry, are left to implementers. It follows that the performance of this technology is not clear yet, even to network operators. This consideration motivated our work, which is focused on the derivation of an analytical framework that, starting from system parameters and implementation choices, allows to evaluate the performance level provided by this technology, carefully taking all aspects of IEEE802.16e into account. In particular, the analysis starts from the choices to be made at the physical layer, among those admitted by the specification, and "goes up" through the protocol pillar to finally express the application layer throughput and the number of supported voice over IP (VoIP) users, carefully considering "along the way" all characteristics of the the medium access control (MAC) layer, the resource allocation strategies, the overhead introduced, the inherent inefficiencies, etc

Virtual Prototyping of a Compliant Spindle for Robotic Deburring

At the current state-of-the-art, Robotic Deburring (RD) has been successfully adopted in many industrial applications, but it still needs improvements in terms of final quality. In fact, the effectiveness of a RD process is highly influenced by the limited accuracyof the robot motions and by the unpredictable variety of burr size/shape. Tool compliance partially solves the problem, although dedicated engineering design tools are strictly needed, in order to identify those optimized parameters and RD strategies that allow achieving the best quality and cost-effectiveness. In this context, the present paper proposes a CAD-based Virtual Prototype (VP) of a pneumatic compliant spindle, suitable to assess the process efficiency in different case scenarios. The proposed VP is created by integrating a 3D multi-body model of the spindle mechanical structure with the behavioural model of the process forces, as adapted from previous literature. Numerical simulations are provided, concerning the prediction of both cutting forces and surface finishing accuracy

Design and Virtual Prototyping of a Variable Stiffness Joint via Shape Optimization in a CAD/CAE Environment

During the latest decade, collaborative robots, namely machines specifically designed for the physical interaction with humans, have been gradually making their transition from laboratories to real-world applications [1]. Naturally, whenever the envisaged task would benefit form physical human-machine interaction, safety and dependability become issues of paramount importance [2]. Nonetheless, especially when dealing with collaborative operations in the manufacturing industry, safety regulations may lead the plant designer to face opposite goals. On one hand, robots should indeed be designed so as to never cause harm to people (both during regular functioning or in case of failure). On the other hand, the wide-spread use of industrial manipulators traditionally leverages on their capabilities to carry rather high payloads, while achieving a very fast and precise positioning of the end-effector. These requirements are usually pursued by coupling powerful actuation systems with extremely rigid mechanical structures, which hardly comply with safety needs whenever the workers are supposed to enter the robot workspace. Therefore, the engineering challenge when designing collaborative robotics systems, which have to be safe and efficient at the same time, is usually tackled via the following strategies: i) by enhancing the robot sensory apparatus; ii) by adopting active control strategies; iii) by reducing the inertia of any moving part employing lightweight materials whenever possible. In parallel, as previously proven by several researchers [3], another way to actually implement safe machines for collaborative tasks is to increase (rather than minimize) the inherent compliance of their mechanical structure [4], simultaneously introducing the possibility to actively vary such compliance during the robot movements. This capability can be implemented, for instance, by means of Variable Stiffness Joints (VSJ), namely particular actuation systems which allow to independently control the position of an output link along with the transmission stiffness. In light of this consideration, the present talk describes the design of a novel VSJ architecture, depicted in Fig. 1a. The VSJ can achieve stiffness modulation via the use of a pair of compliant mechanisms with distributed compliance, which act as nonlinear springs with proper torque-deflection characteristic. These elastic elements are composed of slender beams whose neutral axis is described by a spline curve with non-trivial shape. The beam geometry is determined by leveraging on a CAD/CAE framework that allows for the shape optimization of complex flexures. In particular, the design method makes use of the modeling and simulation capabilities of a parametric CAD seamlessly connected to a FEM tool. For validation purposes, proof-concept 3D printed prototypes of both elastic elements (Fig. 1a) and overall VSJ (Fig. 1b) are finally produced and tested (Fig. 1c). Experimental results fully confirm that the VSJ behaves as expected. BIBLIOGRAFY [1] Heyer, C., 2010. \u201cHuman-robot interaction and future industrial robotics applications\u201d. Proceeding of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 4749\u20134754. [2] Fryman, J., and Matthias, B., 2012. \u201cSafety of industrial robots: From conventional to collaborative applications\u201d. Proceeding of ROBOTIK, 7th German Conference on Robotics, May, pp. 1\u20135. [3] Bicchi, A., and Tonietti, G., 2004. \u201cFast and soft arm tactics: Dealing with the safety-performance trade-off in robot arms design and control\u201d. IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 11(2), pp. 22\u201333. [4] Berselli, G., Guerra, A., Vassura, G., and Andrisano, A. O., 2014. \u201cAn engineering method for comparing selectively compliant joints in robotic structures\u201d. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 19(6), pp. 1882\u20131895

Nonlinear vibrations and energy distribution of carbon nanotubes

The nonlinear vibrations of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes are analysed. The Sanders-Koiter thin shell theory is applied in order to obtain the elastic strain and kinetic energy. The carbon nanotube deformation is described in terms of axial, circumferential and radial displacement fields. The theory considers geometric nonlinearities due to large amplitude of vibration. The displacement fields are expanded by means of a double series based on harmonic functions for the circumferential variable and Chebyshev polynomials for the longitudinal variable. The Rayleigh-Ritz method is applied to obtain approximate natural frequencies and mode shapes. Free boundary conditions are considered. In the nonlinear analysis, the three displacement fields are re-expanded by using approximate eigenfunctions. An energy approach based on the Lagrange equations is then considered to obtain a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The total energy distribution of the shell is studied by considering combinations of different vibration modes. The effect of the conjugate modes is analysed

Nonlinear oscillations and energy localization in carbon nanotubes

In this paper, the low-frequency nonlinear oscillations and energy localizations of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs) are analysed. The SWNTs dynamics is studied within the framework of the Sanders-Koiter thin shell theory. The circumferential flexure vibration modes (CFMs) are considered. Simply supported boundary conditions are investigated. Two different approaches are compared, based on numerical and analytical models. The numerical model uses a double series expansion for the displacement fields based on the Chebyshev polynomials and harmonic functions. The Lagrange equations are considered to obtain a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations of motion which are solved using the implicit Runge-Kutta numerical method. The analytical model considers a reduced form of the shell theory assuming small circumferential and tangential shear deformations. The Galerkin procedure is used to get the nonlinear ordinary differential equations of motion which are solved using the multiple scales analytical method. The natural frequencies obtained by considering the two approaches are compared in linear field. The effect of the aspect ratio on the analytic and numerical values of the localization threshold is investigated in nonlinear field

Smart city pilot projects using LoRa and IEEE802.15.4 technologies

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), through wireless communications and the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, are the enabling keys for transforming traditional cities into smart cities, since they provide the core infrastructure behind public utilities and services. However, to be effective, IoT-based services could require different technologies and network topologies, even when addressing the same urban scenario. In this paper, we highlight this aspect and present two smart city testbeds developed in Italy. The first one concerns a smart infrastructure for public lighting and relies on a heterogeneous network using the IEEE 802.15.4 short-range communication technology, whereas the second one addresses smart-building applications and is based on the LoRa low-rate, long-range communication technology. The smart lighting scenario is discussed providing the technical details and the economic benefits of a large-scale (around 3000 light poles) flexible and modular implementation of a public lighting infrastructure, while the smart-building testbed is investigated, through measurement campaigns and simulations, assessing the coverage and the performance of the LoRa technology in a real urban scenario. Results show that a proper parameter setting is needed to cover large urban areas while maintaining the airtime sufficiently low to keep packet losses at satisfactory levels