Non-GNSS Smartphone Pedestrian Navigation Using Barometric Elevation and Digital Map-Matching

Pedestrian navigation in outdoor environments where global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are unavailable is a challenging problem. Existing technologies that have attempted to address this problemoften require external reference signals or specialized hardware, the extra size,weight, power, and cost of which are unsuitable for many applications. This article presents a real-time, self-contained outdoor navigation application that uses only the existing sensors on a smartphone in conjunction with a preloaded digital elevation map. The core algorithm implements a particle filter, which fuses sensor data with a stochastic pedestrian motion model to predict the user’s position. The smartphone’s barometric elevation is then compared with the elevation map to constrain the position estimate. The system developed for this research was deployed on Android smartphones and tested in several terrains using a variety of elevation data sources. The results fromthese experiments showthe systemachieves positioning accuracies in the tens of meters that do not grow as a function of time

Multi-objective Database Queries in Combined Knapsack and Set Covering Problem Domains

Database queries are one of the most important functions of a relational database. Users are interested in viewing a variety of data representations, and this may vary based on database purpose and the nature of the stored data. The Air Force Institute of Technology has approximately 100 data logs which will be converted to the standardized Scorpion Data Model format. A relational database is designed to house this data and its associated sensor and non-sensor metadata. Deterministic polynomial-time queries were used to test the performance of this schema against two other schemas, with databases of 100 and 1000 logs of repeated data and randomized metadata. Of these approaches, the one that had the best performance was chosen as AFIT’s database solution, and now more complex and useful queries need to be developed to enable filter research. To this end, consider the combined Multi-Objective Knapsack/Set Covering Database Query. Algorithms which address The Set Covering Problem or Knapsack Problem could be used individually to achieve useful results, but together they could offer additional power to a potential user. This paper explores the NP-Hard problem domain of the Multi-Objective KP/SCP, proposes Genetic and Hill Climber algorithms, implements these algorithms using Java, populates their data structures using SQL queries from two test databases, and finally compares how these algorithms perform

FAST: FAST Analysis of Sequences Toolbox.

FAST (FAST Analysis of Sequences Toolbox) provides simple, powerful open source command-line tools to filter, transform, annotate and analyze biological sequence data. Modeled after the GNU (GNU's Not Unix) Textutils such as grep, cut, and tr, FAST tools such as fasgrep, fascut, and fastr make it easy to rapidly prototype expressive bioinformatic workflows in a compact and generic command vocabulary. Compact combinatorial encoding of data workflows with FAST commands can simplify the documentation and reproducibility of bioinformatic protocols, supporting better transparency in biological data science. Interface self-consistency and conformity with conventions of GNU, Matlab, Perl, BioPerl, R, and GenBank help make FAST easy and rewarding to learn. FAST automates numerical, taxonomic, and text-based sorting, selection and transformation of sequence records and alignment sites based on content, index ranges, descriptive tags, annotated features, and in-line calculated analytics, including composition and codon usage. Automated content- and feature-based extraction of sites and support for molecular population genetic statistics make FAST useful for molecular evolutionary analysis. FAST is portable, easy to install and secure thanks to the relative maturity of its Perl and BioPerl foundations, with stable releases posted to CPAN. Development as well as a publicly accessible Cookbook and Wiki are available on the FAST GitHub repository at https://github.com/tlawrence3/FAST. The default data exchange format in FAST is Multi-FastA (specifically, a restriction of BioPerl FastA format). Sanger and Illumina 1.8+ FastQ formatted files are also supported. FAST makes it easier for non-programmer biologists to interactively investigate and control biological data at the speed of thought

Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research Consortium: Accelerating Evidence-Based Practice of Genomic Medicine

Despite rapid technical progress and demonstrable effectiveness for some types of diagnosis and therapy, much remains to be learned about clinical genome and exome sequencing (CGES) and its role within the practice of medicine. The Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) consortium includes 18 extramural research projects, one National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) intramural project, and a coordinating center funded by the NHGRI and National Cancer Institute. The consortium is exploring analytic and clinical validity and utility, as well as the ethical, legal, and social implications of sequencing via multidisciplinary approaches; it has thus far recruited 5,577 participants across a spectrum of symptomatic and healthy children and adults by utilizing both germline and cancer sequencing. The CSER consortium is analyzing data and creating publically available procedures and tools related to participant preferences and consent, variant classification, disclosure and management of primary and secondary findings, health outcomes, and integration with electronic health records. Future research directions will refine measures of clinical utility of CGES in both germline and somatic testing, evaluate the use of CGES for screening in healthy individuals, explore the penetrance of pathogenic variants through extensive phenotyping, reduce discordances in public databases of genes and variants, examine social and ethnic disparities in the provision of genomics services, explore regulatory issues, and estimate the value and downstream costs of sequencing. The CSER consortium has established a shared community of research sites by using diverse approaches to pursue the evidence-based development of best practices in genomic medicine

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Radar Based Navigation in Unknown Terrain

There is a great need to develop non-GPS based methods for positioning and navigation in situations where GPS is not available. This research focuses on the development of an Ultra-Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (UWB-OFDM) radar as a navigation sensor in GPS-denied environments. A side-looking vehicle-fixed UWB-OFDM radar is mounted to a ground or aerial vehicle continuously collecting data. A set of signal processing algorithms and methods are developed which use the raw radar data to aide in calculating the vehicle position and velocity via a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) approach. The radar processing algorithms detect strong, persistent, and stationary reflectors embedded in the environment and extract range/Doppler measurements to them. If the radar is the only sensor available, the measurements are used to directly compute the vehicle position. If an existing navigation platform is available, the measurements are combined with the other sensors in an EKF. The developed algorithms are tested via both a series of airborne simulations and a ground-based experiment. The computed navigation solution performance is analyzed with the following sensor availability: radar-only, INS-only, and combined radar/INS. In both simulations and experimental scenarios, the integrated INS/UWB-OFDM system shows significant improvements over an INS-only navigation solution

PERFORMANCE OF A CONTINUOUS SUPERSONIC EXPANSION DISCHARGE NOZZLE EVALUATED BY LASER-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801; Departments of Chemistry and Astronomy, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801We have recently constructed a prototype continuous supersonic expansion discharge nozzle for the production of rotationally cold molecular ions. To assess the performance of this source, we have employed laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy to measure the rotational temperature distributions of I$_2$ and N$_2^+$ as a function of position within the expansion. These measurements are performed on the $B^3\Pi_{0_u^+} - X^1\Sigma_g^+$ (6-0), (8-1), (10-2), and (12-3) bands of I$_2$ at 608 nm and the $A^2\Pi_u - X^2\Sigma_g^+$ (4-0) band of N$_2^+$ at 614 nm using a tunable cw dye laser. The temperature distributions obtained act as a feedback mechanism that aids in refinement of the source design with the aim of optimizing the densities and temperatures of the species within the expansion