The economic competitiveness and emissions of battery electric vehicles in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Xin; Doering, Otto C.; Tyner, Wallace E.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We evaluate the life-cycle cost and emissions of BEVs in China. • BEVs are not economically competitive compared with ICEVs in the Chinese market. • The value of emission reductions is small compared with the subsidy on BEVs. • The CO 2 emission reduction from BEVs is relatively constant over the time. • BEVs likely will not be economically competitive in China before 2031. - Abstract: Electric vehicles (EVs) have high energy efficiency and low pollutant and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with conventional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). This study examines the economic competitiveness of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the Chinese market. BEVs are compared with ICEVs using benefit-cost analyses from the perspectives of consumers, society and GHG emissions. A life-cycle cost model is developed to evaluate the lifetime cost of a vehicle. The results show that, with central government subsidies, the BEV life-cycle private cost (LCPC) is about 1.4 times higher than comparable ICEVs. Central government subsidies on BEVs will not be cost effective and efficient unless the annual external cost reduction from using BEV reaches $2500 for a compact vehicle or $3600 for a multi-purpose vehicle. That total cost level would imply a carbon cost of more than $2100 per ton. The current life-cycle external cost reductions from using BEV are around $2000–$2300, which are smaller than government subsidies or LCPC differences between BEV and ICEV. Further projections show that BEVs likely will not be economically competitive in the Chinese market before 2031

Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility Overview - Germany Visit

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-10

the current and future force Survivability Robotics – Intelligent Systems Vehicle Electronics & Architecture Fuel, Water, Bridging ...Test Cell • Engine Generator Test Lab • Full Vehicle Environmental Test Cell • Hybrid Electric Reconfigurable Moveable Integration Testbed (HERMIT...Converter Conducted competitive runoff evaluations on Bridging Boat engine candidates Completed independent durability assessment of OEM

40 CFR 1051.620 - When may a manufacturer obtain an exemption for competition recreational vehicles?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... competition: (i) The vehicle or engine may not be displayed for sale in any public dealership. (ii) Sale of... exemption for competition recreational vehicles? 1051.620 Section 1051.620 Protection of Environment... ENGINES AND VEHICLES Compliance Provisions § 1051.620 When may a manufacturer obtain an exemption for...

The design and results of an algorithm for intelligent ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, Matthew; Milam, Justin; Tote, Caleb; Riggins, Robert N.

2010-01-01

This paper addresses the design, design method, test platform, and test results of an algorithm used in autonomous navigation for intelligent vehicles. The Bluefield State College (BSC) team created this algorithm for its 2009 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) robot called Anassa V. The BSC robotics team is comprised of undergraduate computer science, engineering technology, marketing students, and one robotics faculty advisor. The team has participated in IGVC since the year 2000. A major part of the design process that the BSC team uses each year for IGVC is a fully documented "Post-IGVC Analysis." Over the nine years since 2000, the lessons the students learned from these analyses have resulted in an ever-improving, highly successful autonomous algorithm. The algorithm employed in Anassa V is a culmination of past successes and new ideas, resulting in Anassa V earning several excellent IGVC 2009 performance awards, including third place overall. The paper will discuss all aspects of the design of this autonomous robotic system, beginning with the design process and ending with test results for both simulation and real environments.

Ground Vehicle System Integration (GVSI) and Design Optimization Model

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Horton, William

1996-01-01

This report documents the Ground Vehicle System Integration (GVSI) and Design Optimization Model GVSI is a top-level analysis tool designed to support engineering tradeoff studies and vehicle design optimization efforts...

Modeling ground vehicle acoustic signatures for analysis and synthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haschke, G.; Stanfield, R.

1995-01-01

Security and weapon systems use acoustic sensor signals to classify and identify moving ground vehicles. Developing robust signal processing algorithms for this is expensive, particularly in presence of acoustic clutter or countermeasures. This paper proposes a parametric ground vehicle acoustic signature model to aid the system designer in understanding which signature features are important, developing corresponding feature extraction algorithms and generating low-cost, high-fidelity synthetic signatures for testing. The authors have proposed computer-generated acoustic signatures of armored, tracked ground vehicles to deceive acoustic-sensored smart munitions. They have developed quantitative measures of how accurately a synthetic acoustic signature matches those produced by actual vehicles. This paper describes parameters of the model used to generate these synthetic signatures and suggests methods for extracting these parameters from signatures of valid vehicle encounters. The model incorporates wide-bandwidth and narrow- bandwidth components that are modulated in a pseudo-random fashion to mimic the time dynamics of valid vehicle signatures. Narrow- bandwidth feature extraction techniques estimate frequency, amplitude and phase information contained in a single set of narrow frequency- band harmonics. Wide-bandwidth feature extraction techniques estimate parameters of a correlated-noise-floor model. Finally, the authors propose a method of modeling the time dynamics of the harmonic amplitudes as a means adding necessary time-varying features to the narrow-bandwidth signal components. The authors present results of applying this modeling technique to acoustic signatures recorded during encounters with one armored, tracked vehicle. Similar modeling techniques can be applied to security systems

Learning Mobility: Adaptive Control Algorithms for the Novel Unmanned Ground Vehicle (NUGV)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Blackburn, Mike

2003-01-01

Mobility is a serious limiting factor in the usefulness of unmanned ground vehicles, This paper contains a description of our approach to develop control algorithms for the Novel Unmanned Ground Vehicle (NUGV...

Piecewise affine control for fast unmanned ground vehicles

OpenAIRE

Benine Neto , André; Grand , Christophe

2012-01-01

International audience; Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) may experience skidding when moving at high speeds, and therefore have its safety jeopardized. For this reason the nonlinear dynamics of lateral tire forces must be taken into account into the design of steering controllers for autonomous vehicles. This paper presents the design of a state feedback piecewise affine controller applied to an UGV to coordinate the steering and torque distribution inputs in order to reduce vehicle skidding on...

An SINS/GNSS Ground Vehicle Gravimetry Test Based on SGA-WZ02

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruihang Yu

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In March 2015, a ground vehicle gravimetry test was implemented in eastern Changsha to assess the repeatability and accuracy of ground vehicle SINS/GNSS gravimeter—SGA-WZ02. The gravity system developed by NUDT consisted of a Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SINS, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS remote station on test vehicle, a GNSS static master station on the ground, and a data logging subsystem. A south-north profile of 35 km along the highway in eastern Changsha was chosen and four repeated available measure lines were obtained. The average speed of a vehicle is 40 km/h. To assess the external ground gravity disturbances, precise ground gravity data was built by CG-5 precise gravimeter as the reference. Under relative smooth conditions, internal accuracy among repeated lines shows an average agreement at the level of 1.86 mGal for half wavelengths about 1.1 km, and 1.22 mGal for 1.7 km. The root-mean-square (RMS of difference between calculated gravity data and reference data is about 2.27 mGal/1.1 km, and 1.74 mGal/1.7 km. Not all of the noises caused by vehicle itself and experiments environments were eliminated in the primary results. By means of selecting reasonable filters and improving the GNSS observation conditions, further developments in ground vehicle gravimetry are promising.

Electric vehicle charge patterns and the electricity generation mix and competitiveness of next generation vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masuta, Taisuke; Murata, Akinobu; Endo, Eiichi

2014-01-01

Highlights: • The energy system of whole of Japan is analyzed in this study. • An advanced model based on MARKAL is used for the energy system analysis. • The impact of charge patterns of EVs on electricity generation mix is evaluated. • Technology competitiveness of the next generation vehicles is also evaluated. - Abstract: The nuclear accident of 2011 brought about a reconsideration of the future electricity generation mix of power systems in Japan. A debate on whether to phase out nuclear power plants and replace them with renewable energy sources is taking place. Demand-side management becomes increasingly important in future Japanese power systems with a large-scale integration of renewable energy sources. This paper considers the charge control of electric vehicles (EVs) through demand-side management. There have been many studies of the control or operation methods of EVs known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G), and it is important to evaluate both their short-term and long-term operation. In this study, we employ energy system to evaluate the impact of the charge patterns of EVs on both the electricity generation mix and the technology competitiveness of the next generation vehicles. An advanced energy system model based on Market Allocation (MARKAL) is used to consider power system control in detail

Inhibitory Competition between Shape Properties in Figure-Ground Perception

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Mary A.; Skow, Emily

2008-01-01

Theories of figure-ground perception entail inhibitory competition between either low-level units (edge or feature units) or high-level shape properties. Extant computational models instantiate the 1st type of theory. The authors investigated a prediction of the 2nd type of theory: that shape properties suggested on the ground side of an edge are…

The Effect of Predicted Vehicle Displacement on Ground Crew Task Performance and Hardware Design

Science.gov (United States)

Atencio, Laura Ashley; Reynolds, David W.

2011-01-01

NASA continues to explore new launch vehicle concepts that will carry astronauts to low- Earth orbit to replace the soon-to-be retired Space Transportation System (STS) shuttle. A tall vertically stacked launch vehicle (> or =300 ft) is exposed to the natural environment while positioned on the launch pad. Varying directional winds and vortex shedding cause the vehicle to sway in an oscillating motion. Ground crews working high on the tower and inside the vehicle during launch preparations will be subjected to this motion while conducting critical closeout tasks such as mating fluid and electrical connectors and carrying heavy objects. NASA has not experienced performing these tasks in such environments since the Saturn V, which was serviced from a movable (but rigid) service structure; commercial launchers are likewise attended by a service structure that moves away from the vehicle for launch. There is concern that vehicle displacement may hinder ground crew operations, impact the ground system designs, and ultimately affect launch availability. The vehicle sway assessment objective is to replicate predicted frequencies and displacements of these tall vehicles, examine typical ground crew tasks, and provide insight into potential vehicle design considerations and ground crew performance guidelines. This paper outlines the methodology, configurations, and motion testing performed while conducting the vehicle displacement assessment that will be used as a Technical Memorandum for future vertically stacked vehicle designs.

Space imaging infrared optical guidance for autonomous ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Akiyama, Akira; Kobayashi, Nobuaki; Mutoh, Eiichiro; Kumagai, Hideo; Yamada, Hirofumi; Ishii, Hiromitsu

2008-08-01

We have developed the Space Imaging Infrared Optical Guidance for Autonomous Ground Vehicle based on the uncooled infrared camera and focusing technique to detect the objects to be evaded and to set the drive path. For this purpose we made servomotor drive system to control the focus function of the infrared camera lens. To determine the best focus position we use the auto focus image processing of Daubechies wavelet transform technique with 4 terms. From the determined best focus position we transformed it to the distance of the object. We made the aluminum frame ground vehicle to mount the auto focus infrared unit. Its size is 900mm long and 800mm wide. This vehicle mounted Ackerman front steering system and the rear motor drive system. To confirm the guidance ability of the Space Imaging Infrared Optical Guidance for Autonomous Ground Vehicle we had the experiments for the detection ability of the infrared auto focus unit to the actual car on the road and the roadside wall. As a result the auto focus image processing based on the Daubechies wavelet transform technique detects the best focus image clearly and give the depth of the object from the infrared camera unit.

Teleoperated Visual Inspection and Surveillance with Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viatcheslav Tretyakov

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces our robotic system named UGAV (Unmanned Ground-Air Vehicle consisting of two semi-autonomous robot platforms, an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV. The paper focuses on three topics of the inspection with the combined UGV and UAV: (A teleoperated control by means of cell or smart phones with a new concept of automatic configuration of the smart phone based on a RKI-XML description of the vehicles control capabilities, (B the camera and vision system with the focus to real time feature extraction e.g. for the tracking of the UAV and (C the architecture and hardware of the UAV

Aeroelastic Ground Wind Loads Analysis Tool for Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ivanco, Thomas G.

2016-01-01

Launch vehicles are exposed to ground winds during rollout and on the launch pad that can induce static and dynamic loads. Of particular concern are the dynamic loads caused by vortex shedding from nearly-cylindrical structures. When the frequency of vortex shedding nears that of a lowly-damped structural mode, the dynamic loads can be more than an order of magnitude greater than mean drag loads. Accurately predicting vehicle response to vortex shedding during the design and analysis cycles is difficult and typically exceeds the practical capabilities of modern computational fluid dynamics codes. Therefore, mitigating the ground wind loads risk typically requires wind-tunnel tests of dynamically-scaled models that are time consuming and expensive to conduct. In recent years, NASA has developed a ground wind loads analysis tool for launch vehicles to fill this analytical capability gap in order to provide predictions for prelaunch static and dynamic loads. This paper includes a background of the ground wind loads problem and the current state-of-the-art. It then discusses the history and significance of the analysis tool and the methodology used to develop it. Finally, results of the analysis tool are compared to wind-tunnel and full-scale data of various geometries and Reynolds numbers.

Assessing the ground vibrations produced by a heavy vehicle traversing a traffic obstacle.

Science.gov (United States)

Ducarne, Loïc; Ainalis, Daniel; Kouroussis, Georges

2018-01-15

Despite advancements in alternative transport networks, road transport remains the dominant mode in many modern and developing countries. The ground-borne motions produced by the passage of a heavy vehicle over a geometric obstacle (e.g. speed hump, train tracks) pose a fundamental problem in transport annoyance in urban areas. In order to predict the ground vibrations generated by the passage of a heavy vehicle over a geometric obstacle, a two-step numerical model is developed. The first step involves simulating the dynamic loads generated by the heavy vehicle using a multibody approach, which includes the tyre-obstacle-ground interaction. The second step involves the simulation of the ground wave propagation using a three dimensional finite element model. The simulation is able to be decoupled due to the large difference in stiffness between the vehicle's tyres and the road. First, the two-step model is validated using an experimental case study available in the literature. A sensitivity analysis is then presented, examining the influence of various factors on the generated ground vibrations. Factors investigated include obstacle shape, obstacle dimensions, vehicle speed, and tyre stiffness. The developed model can be used as a tool in the early planning stages to predict the ground vibrations generated by the passage of a heavy vehicle over an obstacle in urban areas. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Systems Engineering Approach To Ground Combat Vehicle Survivability In Urban Operations

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-01

GROUND COMBAT VEHICLE SURVIVABILITY IN URBAN OPERATIONS 5. FUNDING NUMBERS N/A 6. AUTHOR(S) Luhai Wong 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS...distance of 100m in the model , which is reasonable due to the constrained nature of an urban environment. This thesis also uses the key parameters...ENGINEERING APPROACH TO GROUND COMBAT VEHICLE SURVIVABILITY IN URBAN OPERATIONS by Luhai Wong September 2016 Thesis Advisor: Christopher A

Investigations into near-real-time surveying for geophysical data collection using an autonomous ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Phelps, Geoffrey A.; Ippolito, C.; Lee, R.; Spritzer, R.; Yeh, Y.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are cooperatively investigating the utility of unmanned vehicles for near-real-time autonomous surveys of geophysical data collection. Initially focused on unmanned ground vehicle collection of magnetic data, this cooperative effort has brought unmanned surveying, precision guidance, near-real-time communication, on-the-fly data processing, and near-real-time data interpretation into the realm of ground geophysical surveying, all of which offer advantages over current methods of manned collection of ground magnetic data. An unmanned ground vehicle mission has demonstrated that these vehicles can successfully complete missions to collect geophysical data, and add advantages in data collection, processing, and interpretation. We view the current experiment as an initial phase in further unmanned vehicle data-collection missions, including aerial surveying.

Wavelet-based ground vehicle recognition using acoustic signals

Science.gov (United States)

Choe, Howard C.; Karlsen, Robert E.; Gerhart, Grant R.; Meitzler, Thomas J.

1996-03-01

We present, in this paper, a wavelet-based acoustic signal analysis to remotely recognize military vehicles using their sound intercepted by acoustic sensors. Since expedited signal recognition is imperative in many military and industrial situations, we developed an algorithm that provides an automated, fast signal recognition once implemented in a real-time hardware system. This algorithm consists of wavelet preprocessing, feature extraction and compact signal representation, and a simple but effective statistical pattern matching. The current status of the algorithm does not require any training. The training is replaced by human selection of reference signals (e.g., squeak or engine exhaust sound) distinctive to each individual vehicle based on human perception. This allows a fast archiving of any new vehicle type in the database once the signal is collected. The wavelet preprocessing provides time-frequency multiresolution analysis using discrete wavelet transform (DWT). Within each resolution level, feature vectors are generated from statistical parameters and energy content of the wavelet coefficients. After applying our algorithm on the intercepted acoustic signals, the resultant feature vectors are compared with the reference vehicle feature vectors in the database using statistical pattern matching to determine the type of vehicle from where the signal originated. Certainly, statistical pattern matching can be replaced by an artificial neural network (ANN); however, the ANN would require training data sets and time to train the net. Unfortunately, this is not always possible for many real world situations, especially collecting data sets from unfriendly ground vehicles to train the ANN. Our methodology using wavelet preprocessing and statistical pattern matching provides robust acoustic signal recognition. We also present an example of vehicle recognition using acoustic signals collected from two different military ground vehicles. In this paper, we will

41 CFR 101-39.307 - Grounds for withdrawal of vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... VEHICLES 39-INTERAGENCY FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 39.3-Use and Care of GSA Interagency Fleet Management... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Grounds for withdrawal of vehicle. 101-39.307 Section 101-39.307 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property...

Numerical Investigation of Aerodynamic Braking for a Ground Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Devanuri, Jaya Krishna

2018-06-01

The purpose of this article is to observe the effect of an air brake on the aerodynamics of a ground vehicle and also to study the influence of change in the parameters like the velocity of the vehicle, the angle of inclination, height, and position of the air brake on the aerodynamics of the vehicle body. The test subject used is an Ahmed body which is a generic 3D car body as it retains all the aerodynamic characteristics of a ground vehicle. Numerical investigation has been carried out by RNG k-ɛ turbulence model. Results are presented in terms of streamlines and drag coefficient to understand the influence of pertinent parameters on flow physics. It is found that with the use of an air brake, though the drag coefficient remains more or less constant with velocity, it increases with the increase in height and angle of inclination of the air brake. But the effect of position of air brake on the coefficient of drag is surprising since for certain heights of the air brake the drag coefficient is maximum at the foremost point and as the air brake moves towards the rear it is first observed to decrease and then increase. It is also observed that with the increase in height of the air brake the drag coefficient monotonically decreases as the position of the air brake is moved towards the rear. Taguchi method has been employed with L16 orthogonal array to obtain the optimal configuration for the air brake. For each of the selected parameters, four different levels have been chosen to obtain the maximum drag coefficient value. The study could provide an invaluable database for the optimal design of an airbrake for a ground vehicle.

X-43A Vehicle During Ground Testing

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

The X-43A Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, or 'Hyper-X' is seen here undergoing ground testing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California in December 1999. The X-43A was developed to research a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only

Magneto-rheological suspensions for improving ground vehicle's ride comfort, stability, and handling

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadian, Mehdi

2017-10-01

A state-of-the-art discussion on the applications of magneto-rheological (MR) suspensions for improving ride comfort, handling, and stability in ground vehicles is discussed for both road and rail applications. A historical perspective on the discovery and engineering development of MR fluids is presented, followed by some of the common methods for modelling their non-Newtonian behaviour. The common modes of the MR fluids are discussed, along with the application of the fluid in valve mode for ground vehicles' dampers (or shock absorbers). The applications span across nearly all road vehicles, including automobiles, trains, semi-trucks, motorcycles, and even bicycles. For each type of vehicle, the results of some of the past studies is presented briefly, with reference to the originating study. It is discussed that Past experimental and modelling studies have indicated that MR suspensions provide clear advantages for ground vehicles that far surpasses the performance of passive suspension. For rail vehicles, the primary advantage is in terms of increasing the speed at which the onset of hunting occurs, whereas for road vehicles - mainly automobiles - the performance improvements are in terms of a better balance between vehicle ride, handling, and stability. To further elaborate on this point, a single-suspension model is used to develop an index-based approach for studying the compromise that is offered by vehicle suspensions, using the H2 optimisation approach. Evaluating three indices based on the sprung-mass acceleration, suspension rattlespace, and tyre deflection, it is clearly demonstrated that MR suspensions significantly improve road vehicle's ride comfort, stability, and handling in comparison with passive suspensions. For rail vehicles, the simulation results indicate that using MR suspensions with an on-off switching control can increase the speed at which the on-set of hunting occurs by as much as 50% to more than 300%.

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Perception Using Thermal Infrared Cameras

Science.gov (United States)

Rankin, Arturo; Huertas, Andres; Matthies, Larry; Bajracharya, Max; Assad, Christopher; Brennan, Shane; Bellut, Paolo; Sherwin, Gary

2011-01-01

TIR cameras can be used for day/night Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) autonomous navigation when stealth is required. The quality of uncooled TIR cameras has significantly improved over the last decade, making them a viable option at low speed Limiting factors for stereo ranging with uncooled LWIR cameras are image blur and low texture scenes TIR perception capabilities JPL has explored includes: (1) single and dual band TIR terrain classification (2) obstacle detection (pedestrian, vehicle, tree trunks, ditches, and water) (3) perception thru obscurants

Life-cycle private-cost-based competitiveness analysis of electric vehicles in China considering the intangible cost of traffic policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diao, Qinghua; Sun, Wei; Yuan, Xinmei; Li, Lili; Zheng, Zhi

2016-01-01

Highlights: • LCCs of BEVs and CVs are compared, considering the effects of traffic policy. • BEVs are economically competitive with both national and local subsidies. • Traffic policies have a significant impact on the competitiveness of BEVs. • The promotion of electric vehicles should prioritize mega-cities. - Abstract: Electric vehicles produce zero tailpipe emissions during operation and have thus been considered a most promising method for providing mobility while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the transportation sector in the future. The life-cycle cost of electric vehicles has been widely studied to evaluate their competitiveness compared to conventional vehicles. However, the competitiveness of electric vehicles is highly dependent on government promotion policies, and the effects of non-economic incentive policies are currently difficult to include in life-cycle cost analysis. These non-economic effects are usually measured by the intangible cost. Traffic policies represent typical non-economic incentive policies. In China, electric vehicles are exempted from purchase restrictions (license plate control policy) and driving restrictions; thus, the intangible cost of traffic policies has significant effects on the comparison of electric vehicles and conventional vehicles. In this paper, from the consumers’ perspective, the intangible cost of purchase and driving restrictions is modeled and expressed in monetary terms; then, the impact of these non-economic incentive policies are compared with subsidies and other costs of vehicles. Thus, a more comprehensive comparison between electric and conventional vehicles can be provided. Using three selected typical battery electric vehicles and three correspondingly similarly sized conventional vehicles in China, the private life-cycle costs of battery electric vehicles and conventional vehicles are calculated and compared, a parametric variation analysis is performed, and the effects of economic

A study on the nondestructive test optimum design for a ground tracked combat vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim Byeong Ho; Seo, Jae Hyun; Gil, Hyeon Jun [Defence Agency for Technology and Quality, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Seon Hyeong [Hanwha Techwin Co.,Ltd., Changwon (Korea, Republic of); Seo, Sang Chul [Changwon National University, Changwon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

In this study, a nondestructive test (NDT) is performed to inspect the optimal design of a ground tracked combat vehicle for self-propelled artillery, tank, and armored vehicles. The minimum qualification required for personnel performing the NDT of a ground tracked combat vehicle was initially established in US military standards, and then applied to the Korean defense specifications to develop a ground tracked combat vehicle. However, the qualification standards of an NDT inspector have been integrated into NAS410 through the military and commercial specifications unification project that were applied in the existing aerospace/defense industry public standard. The design method for this study was verified by applying the optimal design to the liquid penetrant testing Al forging used in self-propelled artillery. This confirmed the reliability and soundness of the product.

Mesh Optimization for Ground Vehicle Aerodynamics

OpenAIRE

Adrian Gaylard; Essam F Abo-Serie; Nor Elyana Ahmad

2010-01-01

Mesh optimization strategy for estimating accurate drag of a ground vehicle is proposed based on examining the effect of different mesh parameters.  The optimized mesh parameters were selected using design of experiment (DOE) method to be able to work in a...

Application of a distributed systems architecture for increased speed in image processing on an autonomous ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Adam A.; Momin, Orko; Shin, Young Ho; Shakya, Rahul; Nepal, Kumud; Ahlgren, David J.

2010-01-01

This paper presents the application of a distributed systems architecture to an autonomous ground vehicle, Q, that participates in both the autonomous and navigation challenges of the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition. In the autonomous challenge the vehicle is required to follow a course, while avoiding obstacles and staying within the course boundaries, which are marked by white lines. For the navigation challenge, the vehicle is required to reach a set of target destinations, known as way points, with given GPS coordinates and avoid obstacles that it encounters in the process. Previously the vehicle utilized a single laptop to execute all processing activities including image processing, sensor interfacing and data processing, path planning and navigation algorithms and motor control. National Instruments' (NI) LabVIEW served as the programming language for software implementation. As an upgrade to last year's design, a NI compact Reconfigurable Input/Output system (cRIO) was incorporated to the system architecture. The cRIO is NI's solution for rapid prototyping that is equipped with a real time processor, an FPGA and modular input/output. Under the current system, the real time processor handles the path planning and navigation algorithms, the FPGA gathers and processes sensor data. This setup leaves the laptop to focus on running the image processing algorithm. Image processing as previously presented by Nepal et. al. is a multi-step line extraction algorithm and constitutes the largest processor load. This distributed approach results in a faster image processing algorithm which was previously Q's bottleneck. Additionally, the path planning and navigation algorithms are executed more reliably on the real time processor due to the deterministic nature of operation. The implementation of this architecture required exploration of various inter-system communication techniques. Data transfer between the laptop and the real time processor using UDP packets

Ground control station software design for micro aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Walendziuk, Wojciech; Oldziej, Daniel; Binczyk, Dawid Przemyslaw; Slowik, Maciej

2017-08-01

This article describes the process of designing the equipment part and the software of a ground control station used for configuring and operating micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). All the works were conducted on a quadrocopter model being a commonly accessible commercial construction. This article contains a characteristics of the research object, the basics of operating the micro aerial vehicles (MAV) and presents components of the ground control station model. It also describes the communication standards for the purpose of building a model of the station. Further part of the work concerns the software of the product - the GIMSO application (Generally Interactive Station for Mobile Objects), which enables the user to manage the actions and communication and control processes from the UAV. The process of creating the software and the field tests of a station model are also presented in the article.

Deployment of Shaped Charges by a Semi-Autonomous Ground Vehicle

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Herkamp, John F

2007-01-01

.... BigFoot incorporates improved communication range over previous Autonomous Ground Vehicles and an updated user interface that includes controls for the arm and camera by interfacing multiple microprocessor...

Real-Time and High-Fidelity Simulation Environment for Autonomous Ground Vehicle Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, Jonathan; Myint, Steven; Kuo, Calvin; Jain, Abhi; Grip, Havard; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Overholt, Jim

2013-01-01

This paper reports on a collaborative project between U.S. Army TARDEC and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to develop a unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) simulation model using the ROAMS vehicle modeling framework. Besides modeling the physical suspension of the vehicle, the sensing and navigation of the HMMWV vehicle are simulated. Using models of urban and off-road environments, the HMMWV simulation was tested in several ways, including navigation in an urban environment with obstacle avoidance and the performance of a lane change maneuver.

A usage-centered evaluation methodology for unmanned ground vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Diggelen, J. van; Looije, R.; Mioch, T.; Neerincx, M.A.; Smets, N.J.J.M.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a usage-centered evaluation method to assess the capabilities of a particular Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) for establishing the operational goals. The method includes a test battery consisting of basic tasks (e.g., slalom, funnel driving, object detection). Tests can be of

Exploring the mechanisms of vehicle front-end shape on pedestrian head injuries caused by ground impact.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Sha; Li, Jiani; Xu, Jun

2017-09-01

In pedestrian-vehicle accidents, pedestrians typically suffer from secondary impact with the ground after the primary contact with vehicles. However, information about the fundamental mechanism of pedestrian head injury from ground impact remains minimal, thereby hindering further improvement in pedestrian safety. This study addresses this issue by using multi-body modeling and computation to investigate the influence of vehicle front-end shape on pedestrian safety. Accordingly, a simulation matrix is constructed to vary bonnet leading-edge height, bonnet length, bonnet angle, and windshield angle. Subsequently, a set of 315 pedestrian-vehicle crash simulations are conducted using the multi-body simulation software MADYMO. Three vehicle velocities, i.e., 20, 30, and 40km/h, are set as the scenarios. Results show that the top governing factor is bonnet leading-edge height. The posture and head injury at the instant of head ground impact vary dramatically with increasing height because of the significant rise of the body bending point and the movement of the collision point. The bonnet angle is the second dominant factor that affects head-ground injury, followed by bonnet length and windshield angle. The results may elucidate one of the critical barriers to understanding head injury caused by ground impact and provide a solid theoretical guideline for considering pedestrian safety in vehicle design. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing of Manned Spacecraft: Historical Precedent

Science.gov (United States)

Lemke, Paul R.; Tuma, Margaret L.; Askins, Bruce R.

2008-01-01

For the first time in nearly 30 years, NASA is developing a new manned space flight launch system. The Ares I will carry crew and cargo to not only the International Space Station, but onward for the future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The Ares I control system and structural designs use complex computer models for their development. An Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test (IVGVT) will validate the efficacy of these computer models. The IVGVT will reduce the technical risk of unexpected conditions that could place the vehicle or crew in jeopardy. The Ares Project Office's Flight and Integrated Test Office commissioned a study to determine how historical programs, such as Saturn and Space Shuttle, validated the structural dynamics of an integrated flight vehicle. The study methodology was to examine the historical record and seek out members of the engineering community who recall the development of historic manned launch vehicles. These records and interviews provided insight into the best practices and lessons learned from these historic development programs. The information that was gathered allowed the creation of timelines of the historic development programs. The timelines trace the programs from the development of test articles through test preparation, test operations, and test data reduction efforts. These timelines also demonstrate how the historical tests fit within their overall vehicle development programs. Finally, the study was able to quantify approximate staffing levels during historic development programs. Using this study, the Flight and Integrated Test Office was able to evaluate the Ares I Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test schedule and workforce budgets in light of the historical precedents to determine if the test had schedule or cost risks associated with it.

Implicit memory for novel figure-ground displays includes a history of cross-border competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Mary A; Lampignano, Daniel W

2003-08-01

When configural cues specify that a figure lies on opposite sides of a repeated border in prime andprobe shapes, probe latencies are longer than when prime and probe borders are unrelated. Do such results reflect negative priming for the shape of the prime ground or cross-border competition from figure memory? The present study tested these alternatives by adding partial closure as a competing cue and reducing the similarity between the prime ground and the shape of the probe. Results supported the cross-border competition interpretation. Additional findings were that partial closure is a configural cue and that response effects can emerge from the potential shape on the ground side of a border. One prior experience was sufficient for these effects.

Research on application of LADAR in ground vehicle recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, Jinhui; Shen, Zhuoxun

2009-11-01

For the requirement of many practical applications in the field of military, the research of 3D target recognition is active. The representation that captures the salient attributes of a 3D target independent of the viewing angle will be especially useful to the automatic 3D target recognition system. This paper presents a new approach of image generation based on Laser Detection and Ranging (LADAR) data. Range image of target is obtained by transformation of point cloud. In order to extract features of different ground vehicle targets and to recognize targets, zernike moment properties of typical ground vehicle targets are researched in this paper. A technique of support vector machine is applied to the classification and recognition of target. The new method of image generation and feature representation has been applied to the outdoor experiments. Through outdoor experiments, it can be proven that the method of image generation is stability, the moments are effective to be used as features for recognition, and the LADAR can be applied to the field of 3D target recognition.

Estimating Hedonic Price Indices for Ground Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

I N S T I T U T E F O R D E F E N S E A N A L Y S E S Estimating Hedonic Price Indices for Ground Vehicles (Presentation) David M. Tate Stanley...gathering and maintaining the data needed , and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any...currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE JUN 2015 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Estimating Hedonic Price

The on-line electric vehicle wireless electric ground transportation systems

CERN Document Server

Cho, Dong

2017-01-01

This book details the design and technology of the on-line electric vehicle (OLEV) system and its enabling wireless power-transfer technology, the “shaped magnetic field in resonance” (SMFIR). The text shows how OLEV systems can achieve their three linked important goals: reduction of CO2 produced by ground transportation; improved energy efficiency of ground transportation; and contribution to the amelioration or prevention of climate change and global warming. SMFIR provides power to the OLEV by wireless transmission from underground cables using an alternating magnetic field and the reader learns how this is done. This cable network will in future be part of any local smart grid for energy supply and use thereby exploiting local and renewable energy generation to further its aims. In addition to the technical details involved with design and realization of a fleet of vehicles combined with extensive subsurface charging infrastructure, practical issues such as those involved with pedestrian safety are c...

Probabilistic Tracking and Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles in Urban Environments

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-05

Vehicles in Urban Environments The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not contrued as an...Pine Tree Road Ithaca, NY 14850 -2820 ABSTRACT Probabilistic Tracking and Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles in Urban Environments...Probabilistic Anticipation for Autonomous Robots in Urban Environments, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, (04 2014): 0. doi: 10.1109/TRO.2013.2291620 Isaac

INERTIAL TECHNOLOGIES IN SYSTEMS FOR STABILIZATION OF GROUND VEHICLES EQUIPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olha Sushchenko

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The vibratory inertial technology is a recent modern inertial technology. It represents the most perspective approach to design of inertial sensors, which can be used in stabilization and tracking systems operated on vehicles of the wide class. The purpose of the research is to consider advantages of this technology in comparison with laser and fiber-optic ones. Operation of the inertial sensors on the ground vehicles requires some improvement of the Coriolis vibratory gyroscope with the goal to simplify information processing, increase reliability, and compensate bias. Methods: Improvement of the Coriolis vibratory gyroscope includes introducing of the phase detector and additional excitation unit. The possibility to use the improved Coriolis vibratory gyroscope in the stabilization systems operated on the ground vehicles is shown by means of analysis of gyroscope output signal. To prove efficiency of the Coriolis vibratory gyroscope in stabilization system the simulation technique is used. Results: The scheme of the improved Coriolis vibratory gyroscope including the phase detector and additional excitation unit is developed and analyzed. The way to compensate bias is determined. Simulation of the stabilization system with the improved Coriolis vibratory gyroscope is carried out. Expressions for the output signals of the improved Coriolis vibratory gyroscope are derived. The error of the output signal is estimated and the possibility to use the modified Coriolis vibratory gyroscope in stabilization systems is proved. The results of stabilization system simulation are given. Their analysis is carried out. Conclusions: The represented results prove efficiency of the proposed technical decisions. They can be useful for design of stabilization platform with instrumental equipment operated on moving vehicles of the wide class.

An investigation of drag reduction on box-shaped ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Muirhead, V. U.

1976-01-01

A wind tunnel investigation was conducted to determine the reduction in drag which could be obtained by making various configuration changes to a box-shaped ground vehicle. Tests were conducted at yaw (relative wind) angles of 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 degrees and Reynolds numbers of 300,000 to 850,000. The power required to overcome the aerodynamic drag was reduced by a maximum of 73% for a head wind for the best configuration relative to the smooth bottom box-shape, or 75% relative to the rough bottom box-shape. The reduction for a 20 MPH wind at 30 deg to the vehicle path was, respectively, 77% and 79%.

The development of ground unmanned vehicles, driver assistance systems and components according to patent publications

Science.gov (United States)

Saykin, A. M.; Tuktakiev, G. S.; Zhuravlev, A. V.; Zaitseva, E. P.

2018-02-01

The paper contains the analysis of the main trends in the patenting of ground unmanned vehicles, driver assistance systems (ADAS) and unmanned vehicle components abroad during the period from 2010 to 2016. The conclusion was made that the intensity of their patenting abroad increased.

The role of above-ground competition and nitrogen vs. phosphorus enrichment in seedling survival of common European plant species of semi-natural grasslands.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias Ceulemans

Full Text Available Anthropogenic activities have severely altered fluxes of nitrogen and phosphorus in ecosystems worldwide. In grasslands, subsequent negative effects are commonly attributed to competitive exclusion of plant species following increased above-ground biomass production. However, some studies have shown that this does not fully account for nutrient enrichment effects, questioning whether lowering competition by reducing grassland productivity through mowing or herbivory can mitigate the environmental impact of nutrient pollution. Furthermore, few studies so far discriminate between nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. We performed a full factorial experiment in greenhouse mesocosms combining nitrogen and phosphorus addition with two clipping regimes designed to relax above-ground competition. Next, we studied the survival and growth of seedlings of eight common European grassland species and found that five out of eight species showed higher survival under the clipping regime with the lowest above-ground competition. Phosphorus addition negatively affected seven plant species and nitrogen addition negatively affected four plant species. Importantly, the negative effects of nutrient addition and higher above-ground competition were independent of each other for all but one species. Our results suggest that at any given level of soil nutrients, relaxation of above-ground competition allows for higher seedling survival in grasslands. At the same time, even at low levels of above-ground competition, nutrient enrichment negatively affects survival as compared to nutrient-poor conditions. Therefore, although maintaining low above-ground competition appears essential for species' recruitment, for instance through mowing or herbivory, these management efforts are likely to be insufficient and we conclude that environmental policies aimed to reduce both excess nitrogen and particularly phosphorus inputs are also necessary.

Single Fuel Concept for Croatian Army Ground Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Spudić

2008-05-01

Full Text Available During the process of approaching the European associationsand NATO the Republic of Croatia has accepted the singlefuel concept for all ground vehicles of the Croatian Army.Croatia has also undertaken to insure that all aircraft, motorvehicles and equipment with turbo-engines or with pressurizedfuel injection, for participation in NATO and PfP led operationscan • operate using the kerosene-based aviation fuel(NATO F-34. The paper gives a brief overview and the resultsof the earned out activities in the Armed Forces of the Republicof Croatia, the expected behaviour of the motor vehicle andpossible delays caused by the use of kerosene fuel (NATOF-34 as fuel for motor vehicles. The paper also gives the advantagesand the drawbacks of the single fuel concept. By acquiringnew data in the Croatian Armed Forces and experienceexchange with other nations about the method of using fuelF-34, the development of the technologies of engine manufacturingand its vital parts or by introducing new standards in theproductjon of fuels and additives new knowledge will certainlybe acquired for providing logistics support in the area of operations,and its final implementation will be a big step forward forthe Republic of Croatia towards Europe and NATO.

Effect of vertical ground motion on earthquake-induced derailment of railway vehicles over simply-supported bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Zhibin; Pei, Shiling; Li, Xiaozhen; Liu, Hongyan; Qiang, Shizhong

2016-11-01

The running safety of railway vehicles on bridges can be negatively affected by earthquake events. This phenomenon has traditionally been investigated with only the lateral ground excitation component considered. This paper presented results from a numerical investigation on the contribution of vertical ground motion component to the derailment of vehicles on simply-supported bridges. A full nonlinear wheel-rail contact model was used in the investigation together with the Hertzian contact theory and nonlinear creepage theory, which allows the wheel to jump vertically and separate from the rail. The wheel-rail relative displacement was used as the criterion for derailment events. A total of 18 ground motion records were used in the analysis to account for the uncertainty of ground motions. The results showed that inclusion of vertical ground motion will likely increase the chance of derailment. It is recommended to include vertical ground motion component in earthquake induced derailment analysis to ensure conservative estimations. The derailment event on bridges was found to be more closely related to the deck acceleration rather than the ground acceleration.

LWIR passive perception system for stealthy unmanned ground vehicle night operations

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Daren; Rankin, Arturo; Huertas, Andres; Nash, Jeremy; Ahuja, Gaurav; Matthies, Larry

2016-05-01

Resupplying forward-deployed units in rugged terrain in the presence of hostile forces creates a high threat to manned air and ground vehicles. An autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) capable of navigating stealthily at night in off-road and on-road terrain could significantly increase the safety and success rate of such resupply missions for warfighters. Passive night-time perception of terrain and obstacle features is a vital requirement for such missions. As part of the ONR 30 Autonomy Team, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed a passive, low-cost night-time perception system under the ONR Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism Applied Research program. Using a stereo pair of forward looking LWIR uncooled microbolometer cameras, the perception system generates disparity maps using a local window-based stereo correlator to achieve real-time performance while maintaining low power consumption. To overcome the lower signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution of LWIR thermal imaging technologies, a series of pre-filters were applied to the input images to increase the image contrast and stereo correlator enhancements were applied to increase the disparity density. To overcome false positives generated by mixed pixels, noisy disparities from repeated textures, and uncertainty in far range measurements, a series of consistency, multi-resolution, and temporal based post-filters were employed to improve the fidelity of the output range measurements. The stereo processing leverages multi-core processors and runs under the Robot Operating System (ROS). The night-time passive perception system was tested and evaluated on fully autonomous testbed ground vehicles at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. This paper describes the challenges, techniques, and experimental results of developing a passive, low-cost perception system for night-time autonomous navigation.

Standards and Specifications for Ground Processing of Space Vehicles: From an Aviation-Based Shuttle Project to Global Application

Science.gov (United States)

Ingalls, John; Cipolletti, John

2011-01-01

Proprietary or unique designs and operations are expected early in any industry's development, and often provide a competitive early market advantage. However, there comes a time when a product or industry requires standardization for the whole industry to advance...or survive. For the space industry, that time has come. Here, we will focus on standardization of ground processing for space vehicles and their ground systems. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, and emergence of a new global space race, affordability and sustainability are more important now than ever. The growing commercialization of the space industry and current global economic environment are driving greater need for efficiencies to save time and money. More RLV's (Reusable Launch Vehicles) are being developed for the gains of reusability not achievable with traditional ELV's (Expendable Launch Vehicles). More crew/passenger vehicles are also being developed. All of this calls for more attention needed for ground processing-repeatedly before launch and after landing/recovery. RLV's should provide more efficiencies than ELV's, as long as MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) is well-planned-even for the unplanned problems. NASA's Space Shuttle is a primary example of an RLV which was supposed to thrive on reusability savings with efficient ground operations, but lessons learned show that costs were (and still are) much greater than expected. International standards and specifications can provide the commonality needed to simplify design and manufacturing as well as to improve safety, quality, maintenance, and operability. There are standards organizations engaged in the space industry, but ground processing is one of the areas least addressed. Challenges are encountered due to various factors often not considered during development. Multiple vehicle elements, sites, customers, and contractors pose various functional and integration difficulties. Resulting technical publication structures

Robust H∞ output-feedback control for path following of autonomous ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Chuan; Jing, Hui; Wang, Rongrong; Yan, Fengjun; Chadli, Mohammed

2016-03-01

This paper presents a robust H∞ output-feedback control strategy for the path following of autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs). Considering the vehicle lateral velocity is usually hard to measure with low cost sensor, a robust H∞ static output-feedback controller based on the mixed genetic algorithms (GA)/linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach is proposed to realize the path following without the information of the lateral velocity. The proposed controller is robust to the parametric uncertainties and external disturbances, with the parameters including the tire cornering stiffness, vehicle longitudinal velocity, yaw rate and road curvature. Simulation results based on CarSim-Simulink joint platform using a high-fidelity and full-car model have verified the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.

Impact of Friction Reduction Technologies on Fuel Economy for Ground Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2009-08-13

UNCLAS: Dist A. Approved for public release IMPACT OF FRICTION REDUCTION TECHNOLOGIES ON FUEL ECONOMY FOR GROUND VEHICLES G. R. Fenske , R. A. Erck...PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) G.R. Fenske ; R.A. Erck; O.O. Ajayi; A. Masoner’ A.S. Confort 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Navigation and Coverage Hole Patching in Wireless Sensor Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Guyu

2013-01-01

This dissertation presents a study of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) navigation and coverage hole patching in coordinate-free and localization-free Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Navigation and coverage maintenance are related problems since coverage hole patching requires effective navigation in the sensor network environment. A…

A model predictive speed tracking control approach for autonomous ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Min; Chen, Huiyan; Xiong, Guangming

2017-03-01

This paper presents a novel speed tracking control approach based on a model predictive control (MPC) framework for autonomous ground vehicles. A switching algorithm without calibration is proposed to determine the drive or brake control. Combined with a simple inverse longitudinal vehicle model and adaptive regulation of MPC, this algorithm can make use of the engine brake torque for various driving conditions and avoid high frequency oscillations automatically. A simplified quadratic program (QP) solving algorithm is used to reduce the computational time, and the approach has been applied in a 16-bit microcontroller. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated via simulations and vehicle tests, which were carried out in a range of speed-profile tracking tasks. With a well-designed system structure, high-precision speed control is achieved. The system can robustly model uncertainty and external disturbances, and yields a faster response with less overshoot than a PI controller.

A study on optimization of hybrid drive train using Advanced Vehicle Simulator (ADVISOR)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Same, Adam; Stipe, Alex; Grossman, David; Park, Jae Wan [Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616 (United States)

2010-10-01

This study investigates the advantages and disadvantages of three hybrid drive train configurations: series, parallel, and ''through-the-ground'' parallel. Power flow simulations are conducted with the MATLAB/Simulink-based software ADVISOR. These simulations are then applied in an application for the UC Davis SAE Formula Hybrid vehicle. ADVISOR performs simulation calculations for vehicle position using a combined backward/forward method. These simulations are used to study how efficiency and agility are affected by the motor, fuel converter, and hybrid configuration. Three different vehicle models are developed to optimize the drive train of a vehicle for three stages of the SAE Formula Hybrid competition: autocross, endurance, and acceleration. Input cycles are created based on rough estimates of track geometry. The output from these ADVISOR simulations is a series of plots of velocity profile and energy storage State of Charge that provide a good estimate of how the Formula Hybrid vehicle will perform on the given course. The most noticeable discrepancy between the input cycle and the actual velocity profile of the vehicle occurs during deceleration. A weighted ranking system is developed to organize the simulation results and to determine the best drive train configuration for the Formula Hybrid vehicle. Results show that the through-the-ground parallel configuration with front-mounted motors achieves an optimal balance of efficiency, simplicity, and cost. ADVISOR is proven to be a useful tool for vehicle power train design for the SAE Formula Hybrid competition. This vehicle model based on ADVISOR simulation is applicable to various studies concerning performance and efficiency of hybrid drive trains. (author)

Modeling and Simulation of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle Power System

Science.gov (United States)

2014-03-28

Wilhelm, A. N., Surgenor, B. W., and Pharoah, J. G., “Design and evaluation of a micro-fuel-cell-based power system for a mobile robot,” Mechatronics ... Embedded Control Systems ], Control Engineering, 91–116, Birkhuser Boston (2005). [12] Alur, R., Courcoubetis, C., Halbwachs, N., Henzinger, T., Ho, P.-H...Modeling and Simulation of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle Power System John Brodericka∗, Jack Hartnerb, Dawn Tilburya, and Ella Atkinsa aThe University

A hybrid multi-objective imperialist competitive algorithm and Monte Carlo method for robust safety design of a rail vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Nejlaoui, Mohamed; Houidi, Ajmi; Affi, Zouhaier; Romdhane, Lotfi

2017-10-01

This paper deals with the robust safety design optimization of a rail vehicle system moving in short radius curved tracks. A combined multi-objective imperialist competitive algorithm and Monte Carlo method is developed and used for the robust multi-objective optimization of the rail vehicle system. This robust optimization of rail vehicle safety considers simultaneously the derailment angle and its standard deviation where the design parameters uncertainties are considered. The obtained results showed that the robust design reduces significantly the sensitivity of the rail vehicle safety to the design parameters uncertainties compared to the determinist one and to the literature results.

Aircraft and ground vehicle friction correlation test results obtained under winter runway conditions during joint FAA/NASA Runway Friction Program

Science.gov (United States)

Yager, Thomas J.; Vogler, William A.; Baldasare, Paul

1988-01-01

Aircraft and ground vehicle friction data collected during the Joint FAA/NASA Runway Friction Program under winter runway conditions are discussed and test results are summarized. The relationship between the different ground vehicle friction measurements obtained on compacted snow- and ice-covered conditions is defined together with the correlation to aircraft tire friction performance under similar runway conditions.

The 17th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition: Intelligent Robots Built by Intelligent Students

Science.gov (United States)

2009-11-23

intelligent mobile robots. The competition has been highly praised by faculty advisors as an excellent multidisciplinary design experience for...States Naval Academy Robo -Goat 60 0:54 21 Oakland University Moonwalker 54 0:22 22 Tennessee Technological University Andros 53 1:06 23 California...Naval Academy Robo -Goat 622.00 20 University of Michigan – Dearborn Rhino 568.50 21 Georgia Institute of Technology Candiii 533.00 22 Rose-Hulman

On the radar cross section (RCS) prediction of vehicles moving on the ground

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sabihi, Ahmad [Department of Mathematical Sciences, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2014-12-10

As readers should be aware, Radar Cross Section depends on the factors such as: Wave frequency and polarization, Target dimension, angle of ray incidence, Target’s material and covering, Type of radar system as monostatic or bistatic, space in which contains target and propagating waves, and etc. Having moved or stationed in vehicles can be effective in RCS values. Here, we investigate effective factors in RCS of moving targets on the ground or sea. Image theory in electromagnetic applies to be taken into account RCS of a target over the ground or sea.

On the radar cross section (RCS) prediction of vehicles moving on the ground

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabihi, Ahmad

2014-01-01

As readers should be aware, Radar Cross Section depends on the factors such as: Wave frequency and polarization, Target dimension, angle of ray incidence, Target’s material and covering, Type of radar system as monostatic or bistatic, space in which contains target and propagating waves, and etc. Having moved or stationed in vehicles can be effective in RCS values. Here, we investigate effective factors in RCS of moving targets on the ground or sea. Image theory in electromagnetic applies to be taken into account RCS of a target over the ground or sea

Flow Characteristics of Ground Vehicle Wake and Its Response to Flow Control

Science.gov (United States)

Sellappan, Prabu; McNally, Jonathan; Alvi, Farrukh

2017-11-01

Air pollution, fuel shortages, and cost savings are some of the many incentives for improving the aerodynamics of vehicles. Reducing wake-induced aerodynamic drag, which is dependent on flow topology, on modern passenger vehicles is important for improving fuel consumption rates which directly affect the environment. In this research, an active flow control technique is applied on a generic ground vehicle, a 25°Ahmed model, to investigate its effect on the flow topology in the near-wake. The flow field of this canonical bluff body is extremely rich, with complex and unsteady flow features such as trailing wake vortices and c-pillar vortices. The spatio-temporal response of these flow features to the application of steady microjet actuators is investigated. The responses are characterized independently through time-resolved and volumetric velocity field measurements. The accuracy and cost of volumetric measurements in this complex flow field through Stereoscopic- and Tomographic- Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) will also be commented upon. National Science Foundation PIRE Program.

Personnel and Vehicle Data Collection at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) and its Distribution for Research

Science.gov (United States)

2015-10-01

28 Magnetometer Applied Physics Model 1540-digital 3-axis fluxgate 5 Amplifiers Alligator Technologies USBPGF-S1 programmable instrumentation...Acoustic, Seismic, magnetic, footstep, vehicle, magnetometer , geophone, unattended ground sensor (UGS) 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION

Impact of mesh tracks and low-ground-pressure vehicle use on blanket peat hydrology

Science.gov (United States)

McKendrick-Smith, Kathryn; Holden, Joseph; Parry, Lauren

2016-04-01

Peatlands are subject to multiple uses including drainage, farming and recreation. Low-ground-pressure vehicle access is desirable by land owners and tracks facilitate access. However, there is concern that such activity may impact peat hydrology and so granting permission for track installation has been problematic, particularly without evidence for decision-making. We present the first comprehensive study of mesh track and low-ground-pressure vehicle impacts on peatland hydrology. In the sub-arctic oceanic climate of the Moor House World Biosphere Reserve in the North Pennines, UK, a 1.5 km long experimental track was installed to investigate hydrological impacts. Surface vegetation was cut and the plastic mesh track pinned into the peat surface. The experimental track was split into 7 treatments, designed to reflect typical track usage (0 - 5 vehicle passes per week) and varying vehicle weight. The greatest hydrological impacts were expected for sections of track subject to more frequent vehicle use and in close proximity to the track. In total 554 dipwells (including 15 automated recording at 15-min intervals) were monitored for water-table depth, positioned to capture potential spatial variability in response. Before track installation, samples for vertical and lateral hydraulic conductivity (Ks) analysis (using the modified cube method) were taken at 0-10 cm depth from a frequently driven treatment (n = 15), an infrequently driven treatment (0.5 passes per week) (n = 15) and a control site with no track/driving (n = 15). The test was repeated after 16 months of track use. We present a spatially and temporally rich water-table dataset from the study site showing how the impacts of the track on water table are spatially highly variable. Water-table depths across the site were shallow, typically within the upper 10 cm of the peat profile for > 75% of the time. We show that mesh track and low-ground-pressure vehicle impacts on water-table depth were small except

Achieving integrated convoys: cargo unmanned ground vehicle development and experimentation

Science.gov (United States)

Zych, Noah; Silver, David; Stager, David; Green, Colin; Pilarski, Thomas; Fischer, Jacob

2013-05-01

The Cargo UGV project was initiated in 2010 with the aim of developing and experimenting with advanced autonomous vehicles capable of being integrated unobtrusively into manned logistics convoys. The intent was to validate two hypotheses in complex, operationally representative environments: first, that unmanned tactical wheeled vehicles provide a force protection advantage by creating standoff distance to warfighters during ambushes or improvised explosive device attacks; and second, that these UGVs serve as force multipliers by enabling a single operator to control multiple unmanned assets. To assess whether current state-of-the-art autonomous vehicle technology was sufficiently capable to permit resupply missions to be executed with decreased risk and reduced manpower, and to assess the effect of UGVs on customary convoy tactics, the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory and the Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise sponsored Oshkosh Defense and the National Robotics Engineering Center to equip two standard Marine Corps cargo trucks for autonomous operation. This paper details the system architecture, hardware implementation, and software modules developed to meet the vehicle control, perception, and planner requirements compelled by this application. Additionally, the design of a custom human machine interface and an accompanying training program are described, as is the creation of a realistic convoy simulation environment for rapid system development. Finally, results are conveyed from a warfighter experiment in which the effectiveness of the training program for novice operators was assessed, and the impact of the UGVs on convoy operations was observed in a variety of scenarios via direct comparison to a fully manned convoy.

Magnetic Sensor for Detection of Ground Vehicles Based on Microwave Spin Wave Generation in Ferrite Films

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Slavin, A; Tiberkevich, V; Bankowski, E

2006-01-01

We propose to use the magnetic signatures, formed either by the residual magnetization or by deformation of the local Earth's magnetic field by large metal masses, for distant detection of ground vehicles...

Infrared stereo calibration for unmanned ground vehicle navigation

Science.gov (United States)

Harguess, Josh; Strange, Shawn

2014-06-01

The problem of calibrating two color cameras as a stereo pair has been heavily researched and many off-the-shelf software packages, such as Robot Operating System and OpenCV, include calibration routines that work in most cases. However, the problem of calibrating two infrared (IR) cameras for the purposes of sensor fusion and point could generation is relatively new and many challenges exist. We present a comparison of color camera and IR camera stereo calibration using data from an unmanned ground vehicle. There are two main challenges in IR stereo calibration; the calibration board (material, design, etc.) and the accuracy of calibration pattern detection. We present our analysis of these challenges along with our IR stereo calibration methodology. Finally, we present our results both visually and analytically with computed reprojection errors.

Estudo da competitividade dos principais autoveículos compactos brasileiros A study on the competitiveness of the most important compact automotive vehicles manufactured in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Hidalgo Sanchez

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Este artigo relata a metodologia e os resultados da pesquisa empírica qualitativa realizada para identificar os fatores determinantes da competitividade dos principais autoveículos compactos brasileiros produzidos pela Fiat, Ford, General Motors e Volkswagen. Optou-se pela utilização da metodologia prescrita pelo modelo de campos e armas da competição, visto que é qualitativa e quantitativa e consegue representar com bastante clareza as estratégias competitivas de negócios e as operacionais da empresa. Os resultados obtidos confirmaram as hipóteses, validadas segundo o método popperiano dedutivo de prova: 1 não há diferença estatisticamente significativa entre os campos da competição escolhidos para os autoveículos mais competitivos e os escolhidos para os menos competitivos, pois todos eles competem basicamente em projeto, qualidade e preço do produto; e 2 o foco (variável matemática que mede o alinhamento das armas da competição aos campos da competição escolhidos para cada veículo explica por que um autoveículo é mais competitivo que outro.This article describes the methodology and the results of a study carried out to identify the determinants of competitiveness of the most important compact automotive vehicles produced by the four major car manufacturers operating in Brazil: Fiat, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen. The methodology chosen was the one suggested by the Fields and Weapons of the Competition model, because it is both qualitative and quantitative, and because it provides a very clear representation of the competitive business and operational strategies of companies. The results validated the hypotheses formulated, and it is possible to conclude that: 1 there is no statistically significant difference between the fields of competition chosen for the more competitive automotive vehicles and the ones chosen for the less competitive, since they all compete primarily on design, quality and price of product

A Leader-path-following formation system for AGVs with multi-sensor data fusion based vehicle tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Wen; Zhao, Xijun; Yu, Yufeng; Fang, Yongkun; Wang, Chao; Yang, Tianfu

2017-09-01

Caravans composed of vehicles with different functionality or trafficability raise the demand that formation system structure shall allow vehicles to deviate from the path to be followed when necessary. In this paper, a formation system is developed for autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) who follow the path of a leader vehicle while retaining the ability of deviation from the reference path. In addition, it improves robustness of preceding vehicle localization by fusing Lidar tracking, camera tracking results with predecessor’s global position within an extended Kalman filter (EKF) in case that one or more sources of preceding vehicle localization is not reliable. The system is applied on real AGV platforms and won the 3rd place in an AGV competition in China.

A pose estimation method for unmanned ground vehicles in GPS denied environments

Science.gov (United States)

Tamjidi, Amirhossein; Ye, Cang

2012-06-01

This paper presents a pose estimation method based on the 1-Point RANSAC EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) framework. The method fuses the depth data from a LIDAR and the visual data from a monocular camera to estimate the pose of a Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) in a GPS denied environment. Its estimation framework continuy updates the vehicle's 6D pose state and temporary estimates of the extracted visual features' 3D positions. In contrast to the conventional EKF-SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) frameworks, the proposed method discards feature estimates from the extended state vector once they are no longer observed for several steps. As a result, the extended state vector always maintains a reasonable size that is suitable for online calculation. The fusion of laser and visual data is performed both in the feature initialization part of the EKF-SLAM process and in the motion prediction stage. A RANSAC pose calculation procedure is devised to produce pose estimate for the motion model. The proposed method has been successfully tested on the Ford campus's LIDAR-Vision dataset. The results are compared with the ground truth data of the dataset and the estimation error is ~1.9% of the path length.

Hybrid Map-Based Navigation Method for Unmanned Ground Vehicle in Urban Scenario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huiyan Chen

2013-07-01

Full Text Available To reduce the data size of metric map and map matching computational cost in unmanned ground vehicle self-driving navigation in urban scenarios, a metric-topological hybrid map navigation system is proposed in this paper. According to the different positioning accuracy requirements, urban areas are divided into strong constraint (SC areas, such as roads with lanes, and loose constraint (LC areas, such as intersections and open areas. As direction of the self-driving vehicle is provided by traffic lanes and global waypoints in the road network, a simple topological map is fit for the navigation in the SC areas. While in the LC areas, the navigation of the self-driving vehicle mainly relies on the positioning information. Simultaneous localization and mapping technology is used to provide a detailed metric map in the LC areas, and a window constraint Markov localization algorithm is introduced to achieve accurate position using laser scanner. Furthermore, the real-time performance of the Markov algorithm is enhanced by using a constraint window to restrict the size of the state space. By registering the metric maps into the road network, a hybrid map of the urban scenario can be constructed. Real unmanned vehicle mapping and navigation tests demonstrated the capabilities of the proposed method.

Pneumatic vehicle. Research and design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lokodi Zsolt

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This experimental vehicle was designed for an international competition organized by Bosch Rexroth yearly in Hungary. The purpose of this competition is to design, build and race vehicles with a fuel source of compressed gas. The race consists of multiple events: longest run distance, the smartness track and the best acceleration event. These events test to the limit the capabilities of the designed vehicles.

Development of a Model-Based Systems Engineering Application for the Ground Vehicle Robotics Sustainment Industrial Base

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-04

Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering Technology Symposium HC Human Capital HIIT Helsinki Institute of Information Technology UNCLASSIFIED vii...Technology (TKK), and the Helsinki Institute of Information Technology ( HIIT ), the report introduced the concept and the state-of-the-art in the market

NASA Planning for Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Ground Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Letchworth, Gary; Schlierf, Roland

2011-01-01

tools included Kaizen/Lean events, mockups and human factors analysis. The majority of products developed by this team are applicable as KSC prepares 21st Century Ground Systems for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System.

Unmanned Ground Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

2001-11-01

Systems ( JAUGS ). JAUGS is a JRP technology initiative under the cognizance of the Aviation and Missile Command Research, Development and Engineering Center...AMRDEC). The JAUGS focus is on developing a high-level command and control architecture for UGVs. As defined in the JRP Glossary, “ JAUGS is an upper...vehicle platforms and missions. JAUGS uses the Society of Automotive Engineers Generic Open Architecture framework to classify UGV interfaces and

The Optimal Steering Control System using Imperialist Competitive Algorithm on Vehicles with Steer-by-Wire System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Hunaini

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Steer-by-wire is the electrical steering systems on vehicles that are expected with the development of an optimal control system can improve the dynamic performance of the vehicle. This paper aims to optimize the control systems, namely Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC and the Proportional, Integral and Derivative (PID control on the vehicle steering system using Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA. The control systems are built in a cascade, FLC to suppress errors in the lateral motion and the PID control to minimize the error in the yaw motion of the vehicle. FLC is built has two inputs (error and delta error and single output. Each input and output consists of three Membership Function (MF in the form of a triangular for language term "zero" and two trapezoidal for language term "negative" and "positive". In order to work optimally, each MF optimized using ICA to get the position and width of the most appropriate. Likewise, in the PID control, the constant at each Proportional, Integral and Derivative control also optimized using ICA, so there are six parameters of the control system are simultaneously optimized by ICA. Simulations performed on vehicle models with 10 Degree Of Freedom (DOF, the plant input using the variables of steering that expressed in the desired trajectory, and the plant outputs are lateral and yaw motion. The simulation results showed that the FLC-PID control system optimized by using ICA can maintain the movement of vehicle according to the desired trajectory with lower error and higher speed limits than optimized with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO.

Sperm competition promotes diversity of sperm bundles in Ohomopterus ground beetles

Science.gov (United States)

Takami, Yasuoki; Sota, Teiji

2007-07-01

Diversification of sperm morphology has been investigated in the context of sperm competition, but the adaptive significance of sperm bundles is still unclear. In analyzing 10 taxa of the genus Carabus subgenus Ohomopterus and one related Carabus ground beetles, we found that dimorphic sperm bundles occurred in most species with varied degrees of bimodality, whereas sperm were generally monomorphic. Comparative analyses with phylogenetically independent contrasts revealed that the sizes of large and small sperm bundles evolved more rapidly than, and were not correlated with, the length of sperm, suggesting more intense selection on sperm bundle sizes and their independent responses to different evolutionary forces. The size of large sperm bundles was positively correlated with male genital morphology (pertinent to displacement of rival spermatophores) and postcopulatory guarding duration as well as male body length, suggesting that larger sperm bundles have been favored when the risk of spermatophore displacement is high. Larger sperm bundles may be advantageous because of their ability to migrate more rapidly into the spermatheca. In contrast, no clear association was detected between the small sperm bundle size and mating traits despite its rapid diversification. The present study provides the first record of heteromorphic sperm bundles, the diversity of which may be promoted by sperm competition.

Monocular Camera/IMU/GNSS Integration for Ground Vehicle Navigation in Challenging GNSS Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis Akos

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Low-cost MEMS-based IMUs, video cameras and portable GNSS devices are commercially available for automotive applications and some manufacturers have already integrated such facilities into their vehicle systems. GNSS provides positioning, navigation and timing solutions to users worldwide. However, signal attenuation, reflections or blockages may give rise to positioning difficulties. As opposed to GNSS, a generic IMU, which is independent of electromagnetic wave reception, can calculate a high-bandwidth navigation solution, however the output from a self-contained IMU accumulates errors over time. In addition, video cameras also possess great potential as alternate sensors in the navigation community, particularly in challenging GNSS environments and are becoming more common as options in vehicles. Aiming at taking advantage of these existing onboard technologies for ground vehicle navigation in challenging environments, this paper develops an integrated camera/IMU/GNSS system based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF. Our proposed integration architecture is examined using a live dataset collected in an operational traffic environment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed integrated system provides accurate estimations and potentially outperforms the tightly coupled GNSS/IMU integration in challenging environments with sparse GNSS observations.

Monocular camera/IMU/GNSS integration for ground vehicle navigation in challenging GNSS environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Tianxing; Guo, Ningyan; Backén, Staffan; Akos, Dennis

2012-01-01

Low-cost MEMS-based IMUs, video cameras and portable GNSS devices are commercially available for automotive applications and some manufacturers have already integrated such facilities into their vehicle systems. GNSS provides positioning, navigation and timing solutions to users worldwide. However, signal attenuation, reflections or blockages may give rise to positioning difficulties. As opposed to GNSS, a generic IMU, which is independent of electromagnetic wave reception, can calculate a high-bandwidth navigation solution, however the output from a self-contained IMU accumulates errors over time. In addition, video cameras also possess great potential as alternate sensors in the navigation community, particularly in challenging GNSS environments and are becoming more common as options in vehicles. Aiming at taking advantage of these existing onboard technologies for ground vehicle navigation in challenging environments, this paper develops an integrated camera/IMU/GNSS system based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Our proposed integration architecture is examined using a live dataset collected in an operational traffic environment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed integrated system provides accurate estimations and potentially outperforms the tightly coupled GNSS/IMU integration in challenging environments with sparse GNSS observations.

Monocular Camera/IMU/GNSS Integration for Ground Vehicle Navigation in Challenging GNSS Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Tianxing; Guo, Ningyan; Backén, Staffan; Akos, Dennis

2012-01-01

Low-cost MEMS-based IMUs, video cameras and portable GNSS devices are commercially available for automotive applications and some manufacturers have already integrated such facilities into their vehicle systems. GNSS provides positioning, navigation and timing solutions to users worldwide. However, signal attenuation, reflections or blockages may give rise to positioning difficulties. As opposed to GNSS, a generic IMU, which is independent of electromagnetic wave reception, can calculate a high-bandwidth navigation solution, however the output from a self-contained IMU accumulates errors over time. In addition, video cameras also possess great potential as alternate sensors in the navigation community, particularly in challenging GNSS environments and are becoming more common as options in vehicles. Aiming at taking advantage of these existing onboard technologies for ground vehicle navigation in challenging environments, this paper develops an integrated camera/IMU/GNSS system based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Our proposed integration architecture is examined using a live dataset collected in an operational traffic environment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed integrated system provides accurate estimations and potentially outperforms the tightly coupled GNSS/IMU integration in challenging environments with sparse GNSS observations. PMID:22736999

Advanced protection technology for ground combat vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosse, Timothy G

2012-01-01

Just as highway drivers use radar detectors to attempt to stay ahead of police armed with the latest radar technology, the Armed Forces are locked in a spiral to protect combat vehicles and their crews against the latest threats in both the contemporary operating environment and the anticipated operating environment (ie, beyond 2020). In response to bigger, heavier, or better-protected vehicles, adversaries build and deploy larger explosive devices or bombs. However, making improvements to combat vehicles is much more expensive than deploying larger explosives. In addition, demand is increasing for lighter-weight vehicles capable of rapid deployment. Together, these two facts give the threat a clear advantage in the future. To protect vehicles and crews, technologies focusing on detection and hit avoidance, denial of penetration, and crew survivability must be combined synergistically to provide the best chance of survival on the modern battlefield.

Effects of above- and below-ground competition from shrubs on photosynthesis, transpiration and growth in Quercus robur L

Science.gov (United States)

Anna M. Jensen; Magnus Lof; Emile S. Gardiner

2011-01-01

For a tree seedling to successfully establish in dense shrubbery, it must maintain function under heterogeneous resource availability. We evaluated leaf-level acclimation in photosynthetic capacity, seedling-level transpiration, and seedling morphology and growth to gain an understanding of the effects of above- and below-ground competition on Quercus robur seedlings....

Evaluation of two transport aircraft and several ground test vehicle friction measurements obtained for various runway surface types and conditions. A summary of test results from joint FAA/NASA Runway Friction Program

Science.gov (United States)

Yager, Thomas J.; Vogler, William A.; Baldasare, Paul

1990-01-01

Tests with specially instrumented NASA Boeing 737 and 727 aircraft together with several different ground friction measuring devices were conducted for a variety of runway surface types and conditions. These tests are part of joint FAA/NASA Aircraft/Ground Vehicle Runway Friction Program aimed at obtaining a better understanding of aircraft ground handling performance under adverse weather conditions and defining relationships between aircraft and ground vehicle tire friction measurements. Aircraft braking performance on dry, wet, snow and ice-covered runway conditions is discussed as well as ground vehicle friction data obtained under similar runway conditions. For a given contaminated runway surface condition, the correlation between ground vehicles and aircraft friction data is identified. The influence of major test parameters on friction measurements such as speed, test tire characteristics, type and amount of surface contaminant, and ambient temperature are discussed. The effect of surface type on wet friction levels is also evaluated from comparative data collected on grooved and ungrooved concrete and asphalt surfaces.

A stable isotopic view on lianas' and trees' below ground competition for water

Science.gov (United States)

De Deurwaerder, Hannes; Hervé-Fernández, Pedro; Stahl, Clément; Bonal, Damien; Burban, Benoît; Petronelli, Pascal; Boeckx, Pascal; Verbeeck, Hans

2017-04-01

Various studies highlight an increase in liana abundance and biomass in the neotropics in the last decades. To date, the reason why this growth form expresses this trend is still unclear. One of the proposed hypotheses ascribes tropical lianas, in comparison to tropical trees, of being able to adapt better to increased drought conditions resulting from climate change. Moreover, lianas presumably have a deeper root system, providing access to deeper soil layers less susceptible for dehydration during drought events. A dual stable water isotopic approach (δ18O and δ2H) enables studying vegetation below ground competition and in combination with Bayesian mixing models can provide insight in the fractional contribution of distinct soil layer depths. In this perspective, precipitation (bulk and through fall), bulk soil (at different depths), stream and xylem water of both lianas and trees were sampled between October 7-13, 2015. The study focusses on two distinct plots differing in soil texture (sand and clay), localized in close vicinity of the Guyana flux tower at Paracou (French Guyana). Our study highlights the erroneous of the deep tap root hypothesis and provides new insights in water and nutrient competition between tropical lianas and trees during dry season. Lianas isotopic signature is enriched compared to those of trees. This can be linked to water source depth and soil seasonal replenishment. Moreover, liana displaying a very active soil surface root activity, efficiently capturing the low amount of dry season precipitation, while trees show to tap the deeper and less drought susceptible soil layers. A strategy, which not only results in a spatial niche separation in the underground competition for water, but it also provides lianas with a definite advantage in nutrient competition.

Electric and Hybrid Vehicle System Research and Development Project: Hybrid Vehicle Potential Assessment. Volume VI. Cost analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hardy, K.S.

1979-09-30

The purpose of the cost analysis is to determine the economic feasibility of a variety of hybrid vehicles with respect to conventional vehicles specifically designed for the same duty cycle defined by the mission analysis. Several different hybrid configurations including parallel, parallel-flywheel, and series vehicles were evaluated. The ramifications of incorporating examples of advanced batteries, these being the advanced lead-acid, nickel-zinc, and sodium sulfur were also investigated. Vehicles were specifically designed with these batteries and for the driving cycles specified by the mission. Simulated operation on the missions yielded the energy consumption (petroleum and/or electricity) over the driving cycles. It was concluded that: in the event that gasoline prices reach $2.50 to $3.00/gal, hybrid vehicles in many applications will become economically competitive with conventional vehicles without subsidization; in some commercial applications hybrid vehicles could be economically competitive, when the gasoline price ranges from $1.20 to $1.50/gal. The cost per kWh per cycle of the advanced batteries is much more important economically than the specific energy; the series hybrid vehicles were found to be more expensive in comparison to the parallel or parallel-flywheel hybrids when designed as passenger vehicles; and hybrid vehicles designed for private use could become economically competitive and displace up to 50% of the fuel normally used on that mission if subsidies of $500 to $2000 were supplied to the owner/operator. (LCL)

Competitive responses of seedlings and understory plants in longleaf pine woodlands: separating canopy influences above and below ground

Science.gov (United States)

Stephen D. Pecot; Robert J. Mitchell; Brian J. Palik; Barry Moser; J. Kevin Hiers

2007-01-01

A trenching study was used to investigate above- and below-ground competition in a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris P. Mill.) woodland. Trenched and nontrenched plots were replicated in the woodland matrix, at gap edges, and in gap centers representing a range of overstory stocking. One-half of each plot received a herbicide treatment to remove the...

Inhibitory competition in figure-ground perception: context and convexity.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Mary A; Salvagio, Elizabeth

2008-12-15

Convexity has long been considered a potent cue as to which of two regions on opposite sides of an edge is the shaped figure. Experiment 1 shows that for a single edge, there is only a weak bias toward seeing the figure on the convex side. Experiments 1-3 show that the bias toward seeing the convex side as figure increases as the number of edges delimiting alternating convex and concave regions increases, provided that the concave regions are homogeneous in color. The results of Experiments 2 and 3 rule out a probability summation explanation for these context effects. Taken together, the results of Experiments 1-3 show that the homogeneity versus heterogeneity of the convex regions is irrelevant. Experiment 4 shows that homogeneity of alternating regions is not sufficient for context effects; a cue that favors the perception of the intervening regions as figures is necessary. Thus homogeneity alone does not alone operate as a background cue. We interpret our results within a model of figure-ground perception in which shape properties on opposite sides of an edge compete for representation and the competitive strength of weak competitors is further reduced when they are homogeneous.

A study on model fidelity for model predictive control-based obstacle avoidance in high-speed autonomous ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiechao; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Stein, Jeffrey L.; Ersal, Tulga

2016-11-01

This paper investigates the level of model fidelity needed in order for a model predictive control (MPC)-based obstacle avoidance algorithm to be able to safely and quickly avoid obstacles even when the vehicle is close to its dynamic limits. The context of this work is large autonomous ground vehicles that manoeuvre at high speed within unknown, unstructured, flat environments and have significant vehicle dynamics-related constraints. Five different representations of vehicle dynamics models are considered: four variations of the two degrees-of-freedom (DoF) representation as lower fidelity models and a fourteen DoF representation with combined-slip Magic Formula tyre model as a higher fidelity model. It is concluded that the two DoF representation that accounts for tyre nonlinearities and longitudinal load transfer is necessary for the MPC-based obstacle avoidance algorithm in order to operate the vehicle at its limits within an environment that includes large obstacles. For less challenging environments, however, the two DoF representation with linear tyre model and constant axle loads is sufficient.

The Seismic Response of High-Speed Railway Bridges Subjected to Near-Fault Forward Directivity Ground Motions Using a Vehicle-Track-Bridge Element

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Ling-kun

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA project ground motion library, the finite element model of the high-speed railway vehicle-bridge system is established. The model was specifically developed for such system that is subjected to near-fault ground motions. In addition, it accounted for the influence of the rail irregularities. The vehicle-track-bridge (VTB element is presented to simulate the interaction between train and bridge, in which a train can be modeled as a series of sprung masses concentrated at the axle positions. For the short period railway bridge, the results from the case study demonstrate that directivity pulse effect tends to increase the seismic responses of the bridge compared with far-fault ground motions or nonpulse-like motions and the directivity pulse effect and high values of the vertical acceleration component can notably influence the hysteretic behaviour of piers.

Increasing the competitiveness of e-vehicles in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Figenbaum, Erik; Fearnley, Nils; Pfaffenbichler, Paul; Hjorthol, Randi; Kolbenstvedt, Marika; Emmerling, Bettina; Jellinek, Reinhard; Bonnema, Gerrit Maarten; Ramjerdi, Farideh; Iversen, Lykke Møller

2014-01-01

The 2011 EU White Paper on Transport sets ambitious goals for phasing out conventionally fuelled cars in cities. Take-up and expansion of electric vehicles (e-vehicles, or electromobility) are one way to achieve this, as proposed by, i.a., the European Green Cars Initiative, the EU Action Plan on

Online Aerial Terrain Mapping for Ground Robot Navigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Peterson

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This work presents a collaborative unmanned aerial and ground vehicle system which utilizes the aerial vehicle’s overhead view to inform the ground vehicle’s path planning in real time. The aerial vehicle acquires imagery which is assembled into a orthomosaic and then classified. These terrain classes are used to estimate relative navigation costs for the ground vehicle so energy-efficient paths may be generated and then executed. The two vehicles are registered in a common coordinate frame using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS and all image processing is performed onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle, which minimizes the data exchanged between the vehicles. This paper describes the architecture of the system and quantifies the registration errors between the vehicles.

Constraint Embedding for Vehicle Suspension Dynamics

OpenAIRE

Jain Abhinandan; Kuo Calvin; Jayakumar Paramsothy; Cameron Jonathan

2016-01-01

The goal of this research is to achieve close to real-time dynamics performance for allowing auto-pilot in-the-loop testing of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) for urban as well as off-road scenarios. The overall vehicle dynamics performance is governed by the multibody dynamics model for the vehicle, the wheel/terrain interaction dynamics and the onboard control system. The topic of this paper is the development of computationally efficient and accurate dynamics model for ground vehicles with ...

Real-time Accurate Surface Reconstruction Pipeline for Vision Guided Planetary Exploration Using Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Eduardo DeBrito

2012-01-01

This report discusses work completed over the summer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology. A system is presented to guide ground or aerial unmanned robots using computer vision. The system performs accurate camera calibration, camera pose refinement and surface extraction from images collected by a camera mounted on the vehicle. The application motivating the research is planetary exploration and the vehicles are typically rovers or unmanned aerial vehicles. The information extracted from imagery is used primarily for navigation, as robot location is the same as the camera location and the surfaces represent the terrain that rovers traverse. The processed information must be very accurate and acquired very fast in order to be useful in practice. The main challenge being addressed by this project is to achieve high estimation accuracy and high computation speed simultaneously, a difficult task due to many technical reasons.

Vehicle Test Facilities at Aberdeen Proving Ground

Science.gov (United States)

1981-07-06

warehouse and rough terrain forklifts. Two 5-ton-capacity manual chain hoists at the rear of the table regulate its slope from 0 to 40 percent. The overall...Capacity at 24-Inch Load Center. 5. TOP/ HTP 2-2-608, Braking, Wheeled Vehicles, 15 Jav.&ry 1971. 6. TOP 2-2-603, Vehicle Fuel Consumption, 1 November 1977. A-1 r -. ’,’

Intercomparison of unmanned aerial vehicle and ground-based narrow band spectrometers applied to crop trait monitoring in organic potato production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Domingues Franceschini, Marston; Bartholomeus, Harm; Apeldoorn, van Dirk; Suomalainen, Juha; Kooistra, Lammert

2017-01-01

Vegetation properties can be estimated using optical sensors, acquiring data on board of different platforms. For instance, ground-based and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-borne spectrometers can measure reflectance in narrow spectral bands, while different modelling approaches, like regressions

Integrated vehicle control and guidance systems in unmanned ground vehicles for commercial applications

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, Chase H.

1995-01-01

While there is a lot of recent development in the entire IVHS field, very few have had the opportunity to combine the many areas of development into a single integrated `intelligent' unmanned vehicle. One of our systems was developed specifically to serve a major automobile manufacturer's need for an automated vehicle chassis durability test facility. Due to the severity of the road surface human drivers could not be used. A totally automated robotic vehicle driver and guidance system was necessary. In order to deliver fixed price commercial projects now, it was apparent system and component costs were of paramount importance. Cyplex has developed a robust, cost effective single wire guidance system. This system has inherent advantages in system simplicity. Multi-signal (per vehicle lane) systems complicate path planning and layout when multiple lanes and lane changes are required, as on actual highways. The system has demonstrated high enough immunity to rain and light snow cover that normal safety reductions in speed are adequate to stay within the required system performance envelope. This system and it's antenna interface have shown the ability to guide the vehicle at slow speeds (10 MPH) with a tracking repeatability of plus or minus 1/8 of an inch. The basic guide and antenna system has been tested at speeds up to 80 mph. The system has inherently superior abilities for lane changes and precision vehicle placement. The operation of this system will be described and the impact of a system that is commercially viable now for highway and off road use will be discussed.

Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Autonomous Non-Destructive Testing of FRP Bridge Decks

Science.gov (United States)

Klinkhachorn, P.; Mercer, A. Scott; Halabe, Udaya B.; GangaRao, Hota V. S.

2007-03-01

Current non-destructive techniques for defect analysis of FRP bridge decks have a narrow scope. These techniques are very good at detecting certain types of defects but are not robust enough to detect all defects by themselves. For example, infrared thermography (IRT) can detect air filled defects and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is good at detecting water filled ones. These technologies can be combined to create a more robust defect detection scheme. To accomplish this, an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) has been designed that incorporates both IR and GPR analysis to create a comprehensive defect map of a bridge deck. The UGV autonomously surveys the deck surface and acquires data. The UGV has two 1.5 GHz ground coupled GPR antennas that are mounted on the front of the UGV to collect GPR data. It also incorporates an active heating source and a radiometric IR camera to capture IR images of the deck, even in less than ideal weather scenarios such as cold cloudy days. The UGV is designed so that it can collect data in an assembly line fashion. It moves in 1 foot increments. When moving, it collects GPR data from the two antennas. When it stops it heats a section of the deck. The next time it stops to heat a section, the IR camera is analyzing the preheated deck section while preparing for the next section. Because the data is being continually collected using this method, the UGV can survey the entire deck in an efficient and timely manner.

Constraint Embedding for Vehicle Suspension Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jain Abhinandan

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The goal of this research is to achieve close to real-time dynamics performance for allowing auto-pilot in-the-loop testing of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV for urban as well as off-road scenarios. The overall vehicle dynamics performance is governed by the multibody dynamics model for the vehicle, the wheel/terrain interaction dynamics and the onboard control system. The topic of this paper is the development of computationally efficient and accurate dynamics model for ground vehicles with complex suspension dynamics. A challenge is that typical vehicle suspensions involve closed-chain loops which require expensive DAE integration techniques. In this paper, we illustrate the use the alternative constraint embedding technique to reduce the cost and improve the accuracy of the dynamics model for the vehicle.

Simulation of Ground Winds Time Series for the NASA Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV)

Science.gov (United States)

Adelfang, Stanley I.

2008-01-01

Simulation of wind time series based on power spectrum density (PSD) and spectral coherence models for ground wind turbulence is described. The wind models, originally developed for the Shuttle program, are based on wind measurements at the NASA 150-m meteorological tower at Cape Canaveral, FL. The current application is for the design and/or protection of the CLV from wind effects during on-pad exposure during periods from as long as days prior to launch, to seconds or minutes just prior to launch and seconds after launch. The evaluation of vehicle response to wind will influence the design and operation of constraint systems for support of the on-pad vehicle. Longitudinal and lateral wind component time series are simulated at critical vehicle locations. The PSD model for wind turbulence is a function of mean wind speed, elevation and temporal frequency. Integration of the PSD equation over a selected frequency range yields the variance of the time series to be simulated. The square root of the PSD defines a low-pass filter that is applied to adjust the components of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of Gaussian white noise. The first simulated time series near the top of the launch vehicle is the inverse transform of the adjusted FFT. Simulation of the wind component time series at the nearest adjacent location (and all other succeeding next nearest locations) is based on a model for the coherence between winds at two locations as a function of frequency and separation distance, where the adjacent locations are separated vertically and/or horizontally. The coherence function is used to calculate a coherence weighted FFT of the wind at the next nearest location, given the FFT of the simulated time series at the previous location and the essentially incoherent FFT of the wind at the selected location derived a priori from the PSD model. The simulated time series at each adjacent location is the inverse Fourier transform of the coherence weighted FFT. For a selected

Value estimation of end of life vehicles as a source of competitive advantage for dismantling station

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monika Kosacka

2016-03-01

Full Text Available   Background: End of Life vehicles become an emerging problem because of the type of waste which they are. Each country is creating own recycling network where ELVs are well secured and recycled. Poland is a country where the system is not working correct because of a high absorption of ELVs by illegal dismantling entities which are more competitive than legal elements of recycling network. The problem is well known but there is still lack of solution. The purpose of this article is to present the concept of tools for the valuation of ELVs in order to improve the competitiveness of disassembly stations. Methods: The research methodology consists of a literature review as well as observations, surveys, BPMN and UML diagrams. On the basis of literature review and observations the problem was identified. The surveys were elaborated in order to identify requirements for the concept of the tool. BPMN and UML diagrams were used to model the processes in dismantling station and the information flow between the user and the tool. Results: There was established a concept of the tool - ELV's Calculator which support decisions of ELV's value estimation. Conclusions: Improving competitiveness of legal dismantling station is extremely important issue in order to provide safe for Environment and People and economically justified ELVs' management. Legal entities have to follow the law what makes their business cost higher. This paper provides a solution of encouraging people to return ELVs to legal dismantlers by offering them price adequate to market demand.    

Stability control for high speed tracked unmanned vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Pape, Olivier; Morillon, Joel G.; Houbloup, Philippe; Leveque, Stephane; Fialaire, Cecile; Gauthier, Thierry; Ropars, Patrice

2005-05-01

The French Military Robotic Study Program (introduced in Aerosense 2003), sponsored by the French Defense Procurement Agency and managed by Thales as the prime contractor, focuses on about 15 robotic themes which can provide an immediate "operational add-on value". The paper details the "automatic speed adjustment" behavior (named SYR4), developed by Giat Industries Company, which main goal is to secure the teleoperated mobility of high speed tracked vehicles on rough grounds; more precisely, the validated low level behavior continuously adjusts the vehicle speed taking into account the teleperator wish AND the maximum speed that the vehicle can manage safely according to the commanded radius of curvature. The algorithm is based on a realistic physical model of the ground-tracks relation, taking into account many vehicle and ground parameters (such as ground adherence and dynamic specificities of tracked vehicles). It also deals with the teleoperator-machine interface, providing a balanced strategy between both extreme behaviors: a) maximum speed reduction before initiating the commanded curve; b) executing the minimum possible radius without decreasing the commanded speed. The paper presents the results got from the military acceptance tests performed on tracked SYRANO vehicle (French Operational Demonstrator).

48 CFR 908.7101 - Motor vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Motor vehicles. 908.7101 Section 908.7101 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY COMPETITION ACQUISITION PLANNING REQUIRED SOURCES OF SUPPLIES AND SERVICES Acquisition of Special Items 908.7101 Motor vehicles. ...

Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Development and Global Competitiveness of US Space Transportation Industry: Critical Success Factors Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Enyinda, Chris I.

2002-01-01

In response to the unrelenting call in both public and private sectors fora to reduce the high cost associated with space transportation, many innovative partially or fully RLV (Reusable Launch Vehicles) designs (X-34-37) were initiated. This call is directed at all levels of space missions including scientific, military, and commercial and all aspects of the missions such as nonrecurring development, manufacture, launch, and operations. According to Wertz, tbr over thirty years, the cost of space access has remained exceedingly high. The consensus in the popular press is that to decrease the current astronomical cost of access to space, more safer, reliable, and economically viable second generation RLVs (SGRLV) must be developed. Countries such as Brazil, India, Japan, and Israel are now gearing up to enter the global launch market with their own commercial space launch vehicles. NASA and the US space launch industry cannot afford to lag behind. Developing SGRLVs will immeasurably improve the US's space transportation capabilities by helping the US to regain the global commercial space markets while supporting the transportation capabilities of NASA's space missions, Developing the SGRLVs will provide affordable commercial space transportation that will assure the competitiveness of the US commercial space transportation industry in the 21st century. Commercial space launch systems are having difficulty obtaining financing because of the high cost and risk involved. Access to key financial markets is necessary for commercial space ventures. However, public sector programs in the form of tax incentives and credits, as well as loan guarantees are not yet available. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussion and assess the critical success factors germane for RLVs development and US global competitiveness.

Analysis of product efficiency of hybrid vehicles and promotion policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Hyundo; Oh, Inha

2010-01-01

The key aim of this study is to evaluate the product efficiency of current hybrid vehicles and suggest effective policies to promote hybrid vehicles in the Korean automobile market and development trends of hybrid vehicles. The efficiency levels for car models sold in Korea, including hybrid ones, were measured using the recently developed discrete additive data envelopment analysis (DEA) model that reflects consumer preference. The result of the analysis shows that current hybrid vehicles on the market are still at lower competitive advantage than traditional car models with conventional combustion engines and we can suggest a mix of incentive policies to promote the competitiveness of hybrid vehicles. In addition, we also identify two distinctive trends of hybrid vehicle development: environment-oriented hybrid vehicles and performance-oriented hybrid vehicles. It implies that the government should take account of development trends of hybrid vehicles to achieve the policy goals in designing support schemes and automobile companies that are willing to develop hybrid vehicles can also gain some insights for making strategic decisions. (author)

High-Throughput Phenotyping of Plant Height: Comparing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Ground LiDAR Estimates.

Science.gov (United States)

Madec, Simon; Baret, Fred; de Solan, Benoît; Thomas, Samuel; Dutartre, Dan; Jezequel, Stéphane; Hemmerlé, Matthieu; Colombeau, Gallian; Comar, Alexis

2017-01-01

The capacity of LiDAR and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to provide plant height estimates as a high-throughput plant phenotyping trait was explored. An experiment over wheat genotypes conducted under well watered and water stress modalities was conducted. Frequent LiDAR measurements were performed along the growth cycle using a phénomobile unmanned ground vehicle. UAV equipped with a high resolution RGB camera was flying the experiment several times to retrieve the digital surface model from structure from motion techniques. Both techniques provide a 3D dense point cloud from which the plant height can be estimated. Plant height first defined as the z -value for which 99.5% of the points of the dense cloud are below. This provides good consistency with manual measurements of plant height (RMSE = 3.5 cm) while minimizing the variability along each microplot. Results show that LiDAR and structure from motion plant height values are always consistent. However, a slight under-estimation is observed for structure from motion techniques, in relation with the coarser spatial resolution of UAV imagery and the limited penetration capacity of structure from motion as compared to LiDAR. Very high heritability values ( H 2 > 0.90) were found for both techniques when lodging was not present. The dynamics of plant height shows that it carries pertinent information regarding the period and magnitude of the plant stress. Further, the date when the maximum plant height is reached was found to be very heritable ( H 2 > 0.88) and a good proxy of the flowering stage. Finally, the capacity of plant height as a proxy for total above ground biomass and yield is discussed.

A prospective assessment of electric vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

This document proposes a synthetic version of a cost-benefit analysis study of the development of electric vehicles (all-electric vehicles and hybrid-re-chargeable vehicles) by 2020. The authors have assessed the replacement of a conventional thermal engine vehicle by an electric vehicle. They comment the results obtained for the both types of electric vehicle. They outline that costs of ownership of electric vehicles are higher in 2010 but become competitive in 2020, and that environmental benefits are already present in 2010 but depend on the electricity production mode. They observe that some other environmental impacts are not taken into account, outline that a recharge station network has to be developed, and discuss the cost of this infrastructure

Method of Controlling Steering of a Ground Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Andrew D. (Inventor); Bluethmann, William J. (Inventor); Lee, Chunhao J. (Inventor); Vitale, Robert L. (Inventor); Guo, Raymond (Inventor); Atluri, Venkata Prasad (Inventor)

2016-01-01

A method of controlling steering of a vehicle through setting wheel angles of a plurality of modular electronic corner assemblies (eModules) is provided. The method includes receiving a driving mode selected from a mode selection menu. A position of a steering input device is determined in a master controller. A velocity of the vehicle is determined, in the master controller, when the determined position of the steering input device is near center. A drive mode request corresponding to the selected driving mode to the plurality of steering controllers is transmitted to the master controller. A required steering angle of each of the plurality of eModules is determined, in the master controller, as a function of the determined position of the steering input device, the determined velocity of the vehicle, and the selected first driving mode. The eModules are set to the respective determined steering angles.

Vehicle model for tyre-ground contact force evaluation

OpenAIRE

Jiao, Lejia

2013-01-01

Economic development and growing integration process of world trade increases the demand for road transport. In 2008, the freight transportation by road in Sweden reached 42 million tonne-kilometers. Sweden has a tradition of long and heavy trucks combinations. Lots of larger vehicles, with a maximum length of 25.25 meters and weight of 60 tonnes, are used in national traffic. Heavier road transport and widely use of large vehicles contribute to the damages of pavement. According to a recent ...

Increasing the competitiveness of maintenance contract rates by using an alternative methodology for the calculation of average vehicle maintenance costs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Carstens

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Companies tend to outsource transport to fleet management companies to increase efficiencies if transport is a non-core activity. The provision of fleet management services on contract introduces a certain amount of financial risk to the fleet management company, specifically fixed rate maintenance contracts. The quoted rate needs to be sufficient and also competitive in the market. Currently the quoted maintenance rates are based on the maintenance specifications of the manufacturer and the risk management approach of the fleet management company. This is usually reflected in a contingency that is included in the quoted maintenance rate. An alternative methodology for calculating the average maintenance cost for a vehicle fleet is proposed based on the actual maintenance expenditures of the vehicles and accepted statistical techniques. The proposed methodology results in accurate estimates (and associated confidence limits of the true average maintenance cost and can beused as a basis for the maintenance quote.

Forming of Sustainable City Competitiveness in the PRC

OpenAIRE

Shvydanenko Oleg; Antonyuk Bogdan

2017-01-01

The article describes theoretical principles of international competitiveness of cities. The main methodological grounds of modern models of countries sustainable competitive development are studied. Taking into account the key trends in globalization, the main determinants of forming high competitive status of cities are comprehensively described. Benchmarking of sustainable competitiveness of PRC cities and provinces has been performed, and up-to-date priorities of balanced d...

Neural evidence for competition-mediated suppression in the perception of a single object.

Science.gov (United States)

Cacciamani, Laura; Scalf, Paige E; Peterson, Mary A

2015-11-01

Multiple objects compete for representation in visual cortex. Competition may also underlie the perception of a single object. Computational models implement object perception as competition between units on opposite sides of a border. The border is assigned to the winning side, which is perceived as an object (or "figure"), whereas the other side is perceived as a shapeless ground. Behavioral experiments suggest that the ground is inhibited to a degree that depends on the extent to which it competed for object status, and that this inhibition is relayed to low-level brain areas. Here, we used fMRI to assess activation for ground regions of task-irrelevant novel silhouettes presented in the left or right visual field (LVF or RVF) while participants performed a difficult task at fixation. Silhouettes were designed so that the insides would win the competition for object status. The outsides (grounds) suggested portions of familiar objects in half of the silhouettes and novel objects in the other half. Because matches to object memories affect the competition, these two types of silhouettes operationalized, respectively, high competition and low competition from the grounds. The results showed that activation corresponding to ground regions was reduced for high- versus low-competition silhouettes in V4, where receptive fields (RFs) are large enough to encompass the familiar objects in the grounds, and in V1/V2, where RFs are much smaller. These results support a theory of object perception involving competition-mediated ground suppression and feedback from higher to lower levels. This pattern of results was observed in the left hemisphere (RVF), but not in the right hemisphere (LVF). One explanation of the lateralized findings is that task-irrelevant silhouettes in the RVF captured attention, allowing us to observe these effects, whereas those in the LVF did not. Experiment 2 provided preliminary behavioral evidence consistent with this possibility. Copyright �

Research of Obstacle Recognition Technology in Cross-Country Environment for Unmanned Ground Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhao Yibing

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Being aimed at the obstacle recognition problem of unmanned ground vehicles in cross-country environment, this paper uses monocular vision sensor to realize the obstacle recognition of typical obstacles. Firstly, median filtering algorithm is applied during image preprocessing that can eliminate the noise. Secondly, image segmentation method based on the Fisher criterion function is used to segment the region of interest. Then, morphological method is used to process the segmented image, which is preparing for the subsequent analysis. The next step is to extract the color feature S, color feature a and edge feature “verticality” of image are extracted based on the HSI color space, the Lab color space, and two value images. Finally multifeature fusion algorithm based on Bayes classification theory is used for obstacle recognition. Test results show that the algorithm has good robustness and accuracy.

Vehicle barrier systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sena, P.A.

1986-01-01

The ground vehicle is one of the most effective tools available to an adversary force. Vehicles can be used to penetrate many types of perimeter barriers, transport equipment and personnel rapidly over long distances, and deliver large amounts of explosives directly to facilities in suicide missions. The function of a vehicle barrier system is to detain or disable a defined threat vehicle at a selected distance from a protected facility. Numerous facilities are installing, or planning to install, vehicle barrier systems and many of these facilities are requesting guidance to do so adequately. Therefore, vehicle barriers are being evaluated to determine their stopping capabilities so that systems can be designed that are both balanced and capable of providing a desired degree of protection. Equally important, many of the considerations that should be taken into account when establishing a vehicle barrier system have been identified. These considerations which pertain to site preparation, barrier selection, system integration and operation, and vehicle/barrier interaction, are discussed in this paper

Foreign launch competition growing

Science.gov (United States)

Brodsky, R. F.; Wolfe, M. G.; Pryke, I. W.

1986-07-01

A survey is given of progress made by other nations in providing or preparing to provide satellite launch services. The European Space Agency has four generations of Ariane vehicles, with a fifth recently approved; a second launch facility in French Guiana that has become operational has raised the possible Ariane launch rate to 10 per year, although a May failure of an Ariane 2 put launches on hold. The French Hermes spaceplane and the British HOTOL are discussed. Under the auspices of the Italian National Space Plane, the Iris orbital transfer vehicle is developed and China's Long March vehicles and the Soviet Protons and SL-4 vehicles are discussed; the Soviets moreover are apparently developing not only a Saturn V-class heavy lift vehicle with a 150,000-kg capacity (about five times the largest U.S. capacity) but also a space shuttle and a spaceplane. Four Japanese launch vehicles and some vehicles in an Indian program are also ready to provide launch services. In this new, tough market for launch services, the customers barely outnumber the suppliers. The competition develops just as the Challenger and Titan disasters place the U.S. at a disadvantage and underline the hard work ahead to recoup its heretofore leading position in launch services.

Vehicle electrification. Quo vadis?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brinkman, N. [GM Global Research and Development, Warren, MI (United States); Eberle, U.; Formanski, V.; Grebe, U.D.; Matthe, R. [General Motors Europe, Ruesselsheim (Germany)

2012-11-01

This publication describes the development of electrified propulsion systems from the invention of the automobile to the present and then provides an outlook on expected technology progress. Vehicle application areas for the various systems are identified based on a range of energy supply chains and the technological limits of electric powertrain components. GM anticipates that vehicle electrification will increase in the future. Battery-electric vehicles will become competitive for some applications, especially intra-urban, short-distance driving. Range-extended electric vehicles provide longer driving range and offer full capability; with this technology, electric vehicles can serve as the prime vehicle for many customers. Hydrogen-powered fuel cell-electric powertrains have potential for application across most of the vehicle segments. They produce zero emissions during all phases of operation, offer short refueling times, but have powertrain cooling and hydrogen storage packaging constraints. While the market share of electrified vehicles is expected to increase significantly, GM expects conventional powertrains with internal combustion engines to also have a long future - however, a lot of them will be supported by various levels of electrification. (orig.)

Future of Autonomous Ground Logistics: Convoys in the Department of Defense

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-13

operations. Figure 3 History of Autonomous Vehicles44 Civilian car manufactures have included elements of autonomous vehicles in their...in the area of autonomous vehicles , equal to the capabilities of civilian robotics programs. These contests and competitions inspire new ideas...data into the vehicles , loaded the vehicles with the supplies and drove them to the staging area. From the staging area, the autonomous vehicles self

FY2016 Vehicle Systems Annual Progress Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2017-10-31

Vehicle Systems is concerned with advancing light-, medium-, and heavy-duty (HD) vehicle systems to support DOE’s goals of developing technologies for the U.S. transportation sector that enhance national energy security,increase U.S. competitiveness in the global economy, and support improvement of U.S. transportation and energy infrastructure.

Infrastructure-friendly vehicles to support Texas economic competitiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-01

The researchers reviewed and extended the work done under Project 0-6736, Rider 36 OS/OW Vehicle Fees : Study, and other similar efforts currently underway in Texas and other states and at the federal and international : level to evaluate the effects...

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Perception Using Thermal Infrared Cameras

Science.gov (United States)

Rankin, Arturo; Huertas, Andres; Matthies, Larry; Bajracharya, Max; Assad, Christopher; Brennan, Shane; Bellutta, Paolo; Sherwin, Gary W.

2011-01-01

The ability to perform off-road autonomous navigation at any time of day or night is a requirement for some unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) programs. Because there are times when it is desirable for military UGVs to operate without emitting strong, detectable electromagnetic signals, a passive only terrain perception mode of operation is also often a requirement. Thermal infrared (TIR) cameras can be used to provide day and night passive terrain perception. TIR cameras have a detector sensitive to either mid-wave infrared (MWIR) radiation (3-5?m) or long-wave infrared (LWIR) radiation (8-12?m). With the recent emergence of high-quality uncooled LWIR cameras, TIR cameras have become viable passive perception options for some UGV programs. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has used a stereo pair of TIR cameras under several UGV programs to perform stereo ranging, terrain mapping, tree-trunk detection, pedestrian detection, negative obstacle detection, and water detection based on object reflections. In addition, we have evaluated stereo range data at a variety of UGV speeds, evaluated dual-band TIR classification of soil, vegetation, and rock terrain types, analyzed 24 hour water and 12 hour mud TIR imagery, and analyzed TIR imagery for hazard detection through smoke. Since TIR cameras do not currently provide the resolution available from megapixel color cameras, a UGV's daytime safe speed is often reduced when using TIR instead of color cameras. In this paper, we summarize the UGV terrain perception work JPL has performed with TIR cameras over the last decade and describe a calibration target developed by General Dynamics Robotic Systems (GDRS) for TIR cameras and other sensors.

Modeling Human Steering Behavior During Path Following in Teleoperation of Unmanned Ground Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirinejad, Hossein; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Ersal, Tulga

2018-04-01

This paper presents a behavioral model representing the human steering performance in teleoperated unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Human steering performance in teleoperation is considerably different from the performance in regular onboard driving situations due to significant communication delays in teleoperation systems and limited information human teleoperators receive from the vehicle sensory system. Mathematical models capturing the teleoperation performance are a key to making the development and evaluation of teleoperated UGV technologies fully simulation based and thus more rapid and cost-effective. However, driver models developed for the typical onboard driving case do not readily address this need. To fill the gap, this paper adopts a cognitive model that was originally developed for a typical highway driving scenario and develops a tuning strategy that adjusts the model parameters in the absence of human data to reflect the effect of various latencies and UGV speeds on driver performance in a teleoperated path-following task. Based on data collected from a human subject test study, it is shown that the tuned model can predict both the trend of changes in driver performance for different driving conditions and the best steering performance of human subjects in all driving conditions considered. The proposed model with the tuning strategy has a satisfactory performance in predicting human steering behavior in the task of teleoperated path following of UGVs. The established model is a suited candidate to be used in place of human drivers for simulation-based studies of UGV mobility in teleoperation systems.

The IXV Ground Segment design, implementation and operations

Science.gov (United States)

Martucci di Scarfizzi, Giovanni; Bellomo, Alessandro; Musso, Ivano; Bussi, Diego; Rabaioli, Massimo; Santoro, Gianfranco; Billig, Gerhard; Gallego Sanz, José María

2016-07-01

The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) is an ESA re-entry demonstrator that performed, on the 11th February of 2015, a successful re-entry demonstration mission. The project objectives were the design, development, manufacturing and on ground and in flight verification of an autonomous European lifting and aerodynamically controlled re-entry system. For the IXV mission a dedicated Ground Segment was provided. The main subsystems of the IXV Ground Segment were: IXV Mission Control Center (MCC), from where monitoring of the vehicle was performed, as well as support during pre-launch and recovery phases; IXV Ground Stations, used to cover IXV mission by receiving spacecraft telemetry and forwarding it toward the MCC; the IXV Communication Network, deployed to support the operations of the IXV mission by interconnecting all remote sites with MCC, supporting data, voice and video exchange. This paper describes the concept, architecture, development, implementation and operations of the ESA Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV) Ground Segment and outlines the main operations and lessons learned during the preparation and successful execution of the IXV Mission.

A simple approach to a vision-guided unmanned vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Archibald, Christopher; Millar, Evan; Anderson, Jon D.; Archibald, James K.; Lee, Dah-Jye

2005-10-01

This paper describes the design and implementation of a vision-guided autonomous vehicle that represented BYU in the 2005 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC), in which autonomous vehicles navigate a course marked with white lines while avoiding obstacles consisting of orange construction barrels, white buckets and potholes. Our project began in the context of a senior capstone course in which multi-disciplinary teams of five students were responsible for the design, construction, and programming of their own robots. Each team received a computer motherboard, a camera, and a small budget for the purchase of additional hardware, including a chassis and motors. The resource constraints resulted in a simple vision-based design that processes the sequence of images from the single camera to determine motor controls. Color segmentation separates white and orange from each image, and then the segmented image is examined using a 10x10 grid system, effectively creating a low resolution picture for each of the two colors. Depending on its position, each filled grid square influences the selection of an appropriate turn magnitude. Motor commands determined from the white and orange images are then combined to yield the final motion command for video frame. We describe the complete algorithm and the robot hardware and we present results that show the overall effectiveness of our control approach.

Semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicle control system

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Jonathan; Lee, Dah-Jye; Schoenberger, Robert; Wei, Zhaoyi; Archibald, James

2006-05-01

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) have advantages over people in a number of different applications, ranging from sentry duty, scouting hazardous areas, convoying goods and supplies over long distances, and exploring caves and tunnels. Despite recent advances in electronics, vision, artificial intelligence, and control technologies, fully autonomous UGVs are still far from being a reality. Currently, most UGVs are fielded using tele-operation with a human in the control loop. Using tele-operations, a user controls the UGV from the relative safety and comfort of a control station and sends commands to the UGV remotely. It is difficult for the user to issue higher level commands such as patrol this corridor or move to this position while avoiding obstacles. As computer vision algorithms are implemented in hardware, the UGV can easily become partially autonomous. As Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) become larger and more powerful, vision algorithms can run at frame rate. With the rapid development of CMOS imagers for consumer electronics, frame rate can reach as high as 200 frames per second with a small size of the region of interest. This increase in the speed of vision algorithm processing allows the UGVs to become more autonomous, as they are able to recognize and avoid obstacles in their path, track targets, or move to a recognized area. The user is able to focus on giving broad supervisory commands and goals to the UGVs, allowing the user to control multiple UGVs at once while still maintaining the convenience of working from a central base station. In this paper, we will describe a novel control system for the control of semi-autonomous UGVs. This control system combines a user interface similar to a simple tele-operation station along with a control package, including the FPGA and multiple cameras. The control package interfaces with the UGV and provides the necessary control to guide the UGV.

A nonlinear model predictive control formulation for obstacle avoidance in high-speed autonomous ground vehicles in unstructured environments

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiechao; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Stein, Jeffrey L.; Ersal, Tulga

2018-06-01

This paper presents a nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) formulation for obstacle avoidance in high-speed, large-size autono-mous ground vehicles (AGVs) with high centre of gravity (CoG) that operate in unstructured environments, such as military vehicles. The term 'unstructured' in this context denotes that there are no lanes or traffic rules to follow. Existing MPC formulations for passenger vehicles in structured environments do not readily apply to this context. Thus, a new nonlinear MPC formulation is developed to navigate an AGV from its initial position to a target position at high-speed safely. First, a new cost function formulation is used that aims to find the shortest path to the target position, since no reference trajectory exists in unstructured environments. Second, a region partitioning approach is used in conjunction with a multi-phase optimal control formulation to accommodate the complicated forms the obstacle-free region can assume due to the presence of multiple obstacles in the prediction horizon in an unstructured environment. Third, the no-wheel-lift-off condition, which is the major dynamical safety concern for high-speed, high-CoG AGVs, is ensured by limiting the steering angle within a range obtained offline using a 14 degrees-of-freedom vehicle dynamics model. Thus, a safe, high-speed navigation is enabled in an unstructured environment. Simulations of an AGV approaching multiple obstacles are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Hybrid FSAE Vehicle Realization

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-01

The goal of this multi-year project is to create a fully functional University of Idaho entry in the hybrid FSAE competition. Vehicle integration is underway as part of a variety of 2010-11 senior design projects. This leverages a variety of analytic...

Control of autonomous ground vehicles: a brief technical review

Science.gov (United States)

Babak, Shahian-Jahromi; Hussain, Syed A.; Karakas, Burak; Cetin, Sabri

2017-07-01

This paper presents a brief review of the developments achieved in autonomous vehicle systems technology. A concise history of autonomous driver assistance systems is presented, followed by a review of current state of the art sensor technology used in autonomous vehicles. Standard sensor fusion method that has been recently explored is discussed. Finally, advances in embedded software methodologies that define the logic between sensory information and actuation decisions are reviewed.

Lightning and surge protection of large ground facilities

Science.gov (United States)

Stringfellow, Michael F.

1988-04-01

The vulnerability of large ground facilities to direct lightning strikes and to lightning-induced overvoltages on the power distribution, telephone and data communication lines are discussed. Advanced electrogeometric modeling is used for the calculation of direct strikes to overhead power lines, buildings, vehicles and objects within the facility. Possible modes of damage, injury and loss are discussed. Some appropriate protection methods for overhead power lines, structures, vehicles and aircraft are suggested. Methods to mitigate the effects of transients on overhead and underground power systems as well as within buildings and other structures are recommended. The specification and location of low-voltage surge suppressors for the protection of vulnerable hardware such as computers, telecommunication equipment and radar installations are considered. The advantages and disadvantages of commonly used grounding techniques, such as single point, multiple and isolated grounds are compared. An example is given of the expected distribution of lightning flashes to a large airport, its buildings, structures and facilities, as well as to vehicles on the ground.

Hot Ground Vibration Tests

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Ground vibration tests or modal surveys are routinely conducted to support flutter analysis for subsonic and supersonic vehicles. However, vibration testing...

Association of Prehospital Mode of Transport With Mortality in Penetrating Trauma: A Trauma System-Level Assessment of Private Vehicle Transportation vs Ground Emergency Medical Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Wandling, Michael W; Nathens, Avery B; Shapiro, Michael B; Haut, Elliott R

2018-02-01

Time to definitive care following injury is important to the outcomes of trauma patients. Prehospital trauma care is provided based on policies developed by individual trauma systems and is an important component of the care of injured patients. Given a paucity of systems-level trauma research, considerable variability exists in prehospital care policies across trauma systems, potentially affecting patient outcomes. To evaluate whether private vehicle prehospital transport confers a survival advantage vs ground emergency medical services (EMS) transport following penetrating injuries in urban trauma systems. Retrospective cohort study of data included in the National Trauma Data Bank from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2012, comprising 298 level 1 and level 2 trauma centers that contribute data to the National Trauma Data Bank that are located within the 100 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States. Of 2 329 446 patients assessed for eligibility, 103 029 were included in this study. All patients were 16 years or older, had a gunshot wound or stab wound, and were transported by ground EMS or private vehicle. In-hospital mortality. Of the 2 329 446 records assessed for eligibility, 103 029 individuals at 298 urban level 1 and level 2 trauma centers were included in the analysis. The study population was predominantly male (87.6%), with a mean age of 32.3 years. Among those included, 47.9% were black, 26.3% were white, and 18.4% were Hispanic. Following risk adjustment, individuals with penetrating injuries transported by private vehicle were less likely to die than patients transported by ground EMS (odds ratio [OR], 0.38; 95% CI, 0.31-0.47). This association remained statistically significant on stratified analysis of the gunshot wound (OR,  0.45; 95% CI, 0.36-0.56) and stab wound (OR,  0.32; 95% CI, 0.20-0.52) subgroups. Private vehicle transport is associated with a significantly lower likelihood of death when compared with

Aerodynamic Problems of Launch Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyong Chol Chou

1984-09-01

Full Text Available The airflow along the surface of a launch vehicle together with vase flow of clustered nozzles cause problems which may affect the stability or efficiency of the entire vehicle. The problem may occur when the vehicle is on the launching pad or even during flight. As for such problems, local steady-state loads, overall steady-state loads, buffet, ground wind loads, base heating and rocket-nozzle hinge moments are examined here specifically.

Evaluating Alternative Fuel Vehicles from Technical, Environmental and Economic Perspectives: Case of Light-Duty Vehicles in Iran

OpenAIRE

Vahid Aryanpur; Ehsan Shafiei

2012-01-01

This paper presents an environmental and technoeconomic evaluation of light duty vehicles in Iran. A comprehensive well-to-wheel (WTW) analysis is applied to compare different automotive fuel chains, conventional internal combustion engines and innovative vehicle powertrains. The study examines the competitiveness of 15 various pathways in terms of energy efficiencies, GHG emissions, and levelized cost of different energy carriers. The results indicate that electric vehic...

3-D model-based vehicle tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Lou, Jianguang; Tan, Tieniu; Hu, Weiming; Yang, Hao; Maybank, Steven J

2005-10-01

This paper aims at tracking vehicles from monocular intensity image sequences and presents an efficient and robust approach to three-dimensional (3-D) model-based vehicle tracking. Under the weak perspective assumption and the ground-plane constraint, the movements of model projection in the two-dimensional image plane can be decomposed into two motions: translation and rotation. They are the results of the corresponding movements of 3-D translation on the ground plane (GP) and rotation around the normal of the GP, which can be determined separately. A new metric based on point-to-line segment distance is proposed to evaluate the similarity between an image region and an instantiation of a 3-D vehicle model under a given pose. Based on this, we provide an efficient pose refinement method to refine the vehicle's pose parameters. An improved EKF is also proposed to track and to predict vehicle motion with a precise kinematics model. Experimental results with both indoor and outdoor data show that the algorithm obtains desirable performance even under severe occlusion and clutter.

Intelligent Unmanned Vehicle Systems Suitable For Individual or Cooperative Missions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matthew O. Anderson; Mark D. McKay; Derek C. Wadsworth

2007-04-01

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been researching autonomous unmanned vehicle systems for the past several years. Areas of research have included unmanned ground and aerial vehicles used for hazardous and remote operations as well as teamed together for advanced payloads and mission execution. Areas of application include aerial particulate sampling, cooperative remote radiological sampling, and persistent surveillance including real-time mosaic and geo-referenced imagery in addition to high resolution still imagery. Both fixed-wing and rotary airframes are used possessing capabilities spanning remote control to fully autonomous operation. Patented INL-developed auto steering technology is taken advantage of to provide autonomous parallel path swathing with either manned or unmanned ground vehicles. Aerial look-ahead imagery is utilized to provide a common operating picture for the ground and air vehicle during cooperative missions. This paper will discuss the various robotic vehicles, including sensor integration, used to achieve these missions and anticipated cost and labor savings.

Assessment of Above- and Below-ground Competition between Sesame (Sesamume indicum L. and Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus and Its Effects on Sesame Yield and Yield Components

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.J Yanegh

2013-08-01

Full Text Available This study carried out in a factorial layout on completely randomaized block design with three replications, to evaluate the above- and below- ground competition between sesame (Sesamum indicum and pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus, and their impacts on sesame yield and yield component. The experimental treatments were all combination of crop-weed competition (shoot competition, root competition and root-shoot competition and sesame plant densitys (1, 2 and 4 plant per pot. Plants were sown in plastic pots (24 cm diameter and 28 cm height in year 2010, at feild of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. For study the shoot competition of sesame-pigweed, the roots were separated by plastic when the pots were filled with soil before sowing the seeds. Three weeks after emerging, shoots of plants were separated vertical barrier (30 x 70 cm for studing root competition. Results showed that competition treatments had a significant effect on seed weight per plant and yield components except 1000 seed weight. Among competition produced higher yield and yield components compared to othere treatments. However, sesame and pigweed biological weight in root-shoot competition was 2.6 and 13.7 respectively, that was higher than other competition treatments and was significant. Capsule number in main and sub branches, capsule number in plant, seed number in capsule and seed number in plant in complete competition treatment was 15, 2.58, 17.5, 43.7 and 693.89 respectively, that was higher than other treatments and differences among them was significant. Sesame density also had a significant effect on seed weight per plant and yield components. When low density were used (one plant, yield and yield components was more, therefore in one plant per pot density biological weight of sesame was 3.82 gr, and in higher densities the mentioned traits decreased significantly.

Vehicle routing with dynamic travel times : a queueing approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Woensel, van T.; Kerbache, L.; Peremans, H.; Vandaele, N.J.

2008-01-01

Transportation is an important component of supply chain competitiveness since it plays a major role in the inbound, inter-facility, and outbound logistics. In this context, assigning and scheduling vehicle routes is a crucial management problem. In this paper, a vehicle routing problem with dynamic

Fuel cell usage in motor vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vellone, R.

1998-01-01

Much interest has been aroused by fuel cell usage in motor vehicles, since this technology seems to overcome the conventional limits by other kinds of drive, i.e. the high environmental impact of internal-combustion engines and the drawbacks of electric battery vehicles in terms of maximum operating range and battery recharge time. After 2010 its costs are expected to fall in competitive levels with internal-combustion engines [it

High-Energy Laser Weapon Integration with Ground Vehicles

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hafften, Michael; Stratton, Robert

2004-01-01

.... The architecture of an electric, solid-state HEL weapon system would likely be based upon a hybrid electric vehicle that provides a common electrical power source for the propulsion and weapon subsystems...

Electric vehicles in imperfect electricity markets: The case of Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schill, Wolf-Peter

2011-01-01

We use a game-theoretic model to analyze the impacts of a hypothetical fleet of plug-in electric vehicles on the imperfectly competitive German electricity market. Electric vehicles bring both additional demand and additional storage capacity to the market. We determine the effects on prices, welfare, and electricity generation for various cases with different players in charge of vehicle operations. Vehicle loading increases generator profits, but decreases consumer surplus in the power market. If excess vehicle batteries can be used for storage, welfare results are reversed: generating firms suffer from the price-smoothing effect of additional storage, whereas power consumers benefit despite increasing overall demand. Strategic players tend to under-utilize the storage capacity of the vehicle fleet, which may have negative welfare implications. In contrast, we find a market power-mitigating effect of electric vehicle recharging on oligopolistic generators. Overall, electric vehicles are unlikely to be a relevant source of market power in Germany in the foreseeable future. - Highlights: → We study the effect of electric vehicles on an imperfectly competitive electricity market. → We apply a game-theoretic model to the German market. → There is a market power-mitigating effect of vehicle loading on oligopolistic generating firms. → Consumers benefit from electric vehicles if excess battery capacity can be used for grid storage. → Electric vehicles are unlikely to be a source of market power in Germany in the near future.

Crewed Space Vehicle Battery Safety Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Jeevarajan, Judith A.; Darcy, Eric C.

2014-01-01

This requirements document is applicable to all batteries on crewed spacecraft, including vehicle, payload, and crew equipment batteries. It defines the specific provisions required to design a battery that is safe for ground personnel and crew members to handle and/or operate during all applicable phases of crewed missions, safe for use in the enclosed environment of a crewed space vehicle, and safe for use in launch vehicles, as well as in unpressurized spaces adjacent to the habitable portion of a space vehicle. The required provisions encompass hazard controls, design evaluation, and verification. The extent of the hazard controls and verification required depends on the applicability and credibility of the hazard to the specific battery design and applicable missions under review. Evaluation of the design and verification program results shall be completed prior to certification for flight and ground operations. This requirements document is geared toward the designers of battery systems to be used in crewed vehicles, crew equipment, crew suits, or batteries to be used in crewed vehicle systems and payloads (or experiments). This requirements document also applies to ground handling and testing of flight batteries. Specific design and verification requirements for a battery are dependent upon the battery chemistry, capacity, complexity, charging, environment, and application. The variety of battery chemistries available, combined with the variety of battery-powered applications, results in each battery application having specific, unique requirements pertinent to the specific battery application. However, there are basic requirements for all battery designs and applications, which are listed in section 4. Section 5 includes a description of hazards and controls and also includes requirements.

Influence of Traffic Vehicles Against Ground Fundamental Frequency Prediction using Ambient Vibration Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Kamarudin, A. F.; Noh, M. S. Md; Mokhatar, S. N.; Anuar, M. A. Mohd; Ibrahim, A.; Ibrahim, Z.; Daud, M. E.

2018-04-01

Ambient vibration (AV) technique is widely used nowadays for ground fundamental frequency prediction. This technique is easy, quick, non-destructive, less operator required and reliable result. The input motions of ambient vibration are originally collected from surrounding natural and artificial excitations. But, careful data acquisition controlled must be implemented to reduce the intrusion of short period noise that could imply the quality of frequency prediction of an investigated site. In this study, investigation on the primary noise intrusion under peak (morning, afternoon and evening) and off peak (early morning) traffic flows (only 8 meter from sensor to road shoulder) against the stability and quality of ground fundamental frequency prediction were carried out. None of specific standard is available for AV data acquisition and processing. Thus, some field and processing parameters recommended by previous studies and guideline were considered. Two units of 1 Hz tri-axial seismometer sensor were closely positioned in front of the main entrance Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. 15 minutes of recording length were taken during peak and off peak periods of traffic flows. All passing vehicles were counted and grouped into four classes. Three components of ambient vibration time series recorded in the North-South: NS, East-West: EW and vertical: UD directions were automatically computed into Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR), by using open source software of GEOPSY for fundamental ground frequency, Fo determination. Single sharp peak pattern of HVSR curves have been obtained at peak frequencies between 1.33 to 1.38 Hz which classified under soft to dense soil classification. Even identical HVSR curves pattern with close frequencies prediction were obtained under both periods of AV measurement, however the total numbers of stable and quality windows selected for HVSR computation were significantly different but both have satisfied the requirement

Disentangling Competition Among Platform Driven Strategic Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric

2015-01-01

In platform-driven markets, competitive advantage is derived from superior platform design and configurations. For this reason, platform owners strive to create unique and inimitable platform configurals to maintain and extend their competitiveness within network economies. To disentangle firm...... competition within platform-driven markets, we opted for the UK mobile payment market as our empirical setting. By embracing the theoretical lens of strategic groups and digital platforms, this study supplements prior research by deriving a taxonomy of platform-driven strategic groups that is grounded...

Asynchronous vehicle pose correction using visual detection of ground features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harnarinesingh, Randy E S; Syan, Chanan S

2014-01-01

The inherent noise associated with odometry manifests itself as errors in localization for autonomous vehicles. Visual odometry has been previously used in order to supplement classical vehicle odometry. However, visual odometry is limited in its ability to reduce errors in localization for large travel distances that entail the cumulative summing of individual frame-to-frame image errors. In this paper, a novel machine vision approach for tiled surfaces is proposed to address this problem. Tile edges in a laboratory environment are used to define a travel trajectory for the Quansar Qbot (autonomous vehicle) built on the iRobot iRoomba platform with a forward facing camera. Tile intersections are used to enable asynchronous error recovery for vehicle position and orientation. The proposed approach employs real-time image classification and is feasible for error mitigation for large travel distances. The average position error for an 8m travel distance using classical odometry was measured to be 0.28m. However, implementation of the proposed approach resulted in an error of 0.028m. The proposed approach therefore significantly reduces pose estimation error and could be used to supplement existing modalities such as GPS and Laser-based range sensors

Advanced Wireless Power Transfer Vehicle and Infrastructure Analysis (Presentation)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gonder, J.; Brooker, A.; Burton, E.; Wang, J.; Konan, A.

2014-06-01

This presentation discusses current research at NREL on advanced wireless power transfer vehicle and infrastructure analysis. The potential benefits of E-roadway include more electrified driving miles from battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or even properly equipped hybrid electric vehicles (i.e., more electrified miles could be obtained from a given battery size, or electrified driving miles could be maintained while using smaller and less expensive batteries, thereby increasing cost competitiveness and potential market penetration). The system optimization aspect is key given the potential impact of this technology on the vehicles, the power grid and the road infrastructure.

Obstacle detection system for underground mining vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cohen, P.; Polotski, V.; Piotte, M.; Melamed, F. [Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Montreal, PQ (Canada)

1998-01-01

A device for detecting obstacles by autonomous vehicles navigating in mine drifts is described. The device is based upon structured lighting and the extraction of relevant features from images of obstacles. The system uses image profile changes, ground and wall irregularities, disturbances of the vehicle`s trajectory, and impaired visibility to detect obstacles, rather than explicit three-dimensional scene reconstruction. 7 refs., 5 figs.

14 CFR 415.117 - Ground safety.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Ground safety. 415.117 Section 415.117... TRANSPORTATION LICENSING LAUNCH LICENSE Safety Review and Approval for Launch of an Expendable Launch Vehicle From a Non-Federal Launch Site § 415.117 Ground safety. (a) General. An applicant's safety review...

ROBIN: a platform for evaluating automatic target recognition algorithms: I. Overview of the project and presentation of the SAGEM DS competition

Science.gov (United States)

Duclos, D.; Lonnoy, J.; Guillerm, Q.; Jurie, F.; Herbin, S.; D'Angelo, E.

2008-04-01

The last five years have seen a renewal of Automatic Target Recognition applications, mainly because of the latest advances in machine learning techniques. In this context, large collections of image datasets are essential for training algorithms as well as for their evaluation. Indeed, the recent proliferation of recognition algorithms, generally applied to slightly different problems, make their comparisons through clean evaluation campaigns necessary. The ROBIN project tries to fulfil these two needs by putting unclassified datasets, ground truths, competitions and metrics for the evaluation of ATR algorithms at the disposition of the scientific community. The scope of this project includes single and multi-class generic target detection and generic target recognition, in military and security contexts. From our knowledge, it is the first time that a database of this importance (several hundred thousands of visible and infrared hand annotated images) has been publicly released. Funded by the French Ministry of Defence (DGA) and by the French Ministry of Research, ROBIN is one of the ten Techno-vision projects. Techno-vision is a large and ambitious government initiative for building evaluation means for computer vision technologies, for various application contexts. ROBIN's consortium includes major companies and research centres involved in Computer Vision R&D in the field of defence: Bertin Technologies, CNES, ECA, DGA, EADS, INRIA, ONERA, MBDA, SAGEM, THALES. This paper, which first gives an overview of the whole project, is focused on one of ROBIN's key competitions, the SAGEM Defence Security database. This dataset contains more than eight hundred ground and aerial infrared images of six different vehicles in cluttered scenes including distracters. Two different sets of data are available for each target. The first set includes different views of each vehicle at close range in a "simple" background, and can be used to train algorithms. The second set

Competitiveness analysis on the grounds of information from the annual financial statements of the enterprise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivanova Rositsa

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Competitiveness is a category which is innate in every economic subject. It shows itself in the conditions of market competition. Between competition and competitiveness objectively exist mutual relations and dependence. The presence of competition is a prerequisite for rise of competitiveness and for its manifestation in the real business. In the scientific literature, there is no synonymous definition of the nature of competitiveness. This paper represents an attempt at systematization of the views on this scientific issue. The methodology and the methods of competitiveness analysis should be based on a system of methods. The purpose of this paper is to present possibilities for use of information from the annual financial statements of the enterprises for analysis of their competitiveness by taking into consideration the legislative decisions and the specific business conditions in the Republic of Bulgaria. .

Remotely detected vehicle mass from engine torque-induced frame twisting

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, Troy R.; Salvaggio, Carl; Faulring, Jason W.; Sweeney, Glenn D.

2017-06-01

Determining the mass of a vehicle from ground-based passive sensor data is important for many traffic safety requirements. This work presents a method for calculating the mass of a vehicle using ground-based video and acoustic measurements. By assuming that no energy is lost in the conversion, the mass of a vehicle can be calculated from the rotational energy generated by the vehicle's engine and the linear acceleration of the vehicle over a period of time. The amount of rotational energy being output by the vehicle's engine can be calculated from its torque and angular velocity. This model relates remotely observed, engine torque-induced frame twist to engine torque output using the vehicle's suspension parameters and engine geometry. The angular velocity of the engine is extracted from the acoustic emission of the engine, and the linear acceleration of the vehicle is calculated by remotely observing the position of the vehicle over time. This method combines these three dynamic signals; engine induced-frame twist, engine angular velocity, and the vehicle's linear acceleration, and three vehicle specific scalar parameters, into an expression that describes the mass of the vehicle. This method was tested on a semitrailer truck, and the results demonstrate a correlation of 97.7% between calculated and true vehicle mass.

Road-Following Formation Control of Autonomous Ground Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, Masahiro; Droge, Greg; Grip, Havard; Toupet, Olivier; Scrapper, Chris; Rahmani, Amir

2015-01-01

This work presents a novel cooperative path planning for formation keeping robots traversing along a road with obstacles and possible narrow passages. A unique challenge in this problem is a requirement for spatial and temporal coordination between vehicles while ensuring collision and obstacle avoidance.

Space vehicle field unit and ground station system

Science.gov (United States)

Judd, Stephen; Dallmann, Nicholas; Delapp, Jerry; Proicou, Michael; Seitz, Daniel; Michel, John; Enemark, Donald

2017-09-19

A field unit and ground station may use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and share a common architecture, where differences in functionality are governed by software. The field units and ground stations may be easy to deploy, relatively inexpensive, and be relatively easy to operate. A novel file system may be used where datagrams of a file may be stored across multiple drives and/or devices. The datagrams may be received out of order and reassembled at the receiving device.

AWARE: Platform for Autonomous self-deploying and operation of Wireless sensor-actuator networks cooperating with unmanned AeRial vehiclEs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ollero, Anibal; Bernard, Markus; La Civita, Marco; van Hoesel, L.F.W.; Marron, Pedro J.; Lepley, Jason; de Andres, Eduardo

This paper presents the AWARE platform that seeks to enable the cooperation of autonomous aerial vehicles with ground wireless sensor-actuator networks comprising both static and mobile nodes carried by vehicles or people. Particularly, the paper presents the middleware, the wireless sensor network,

Batteries for electric road vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodenough, John B; Braga, M Helena

2018-01-15

The dependence of modern society on the energy stored in a fossil fuel is not sustainable. An immediate challenge is to eliminate the polluting gases emitted from the roads of the world by replacing road vehicles powered by the internal combustion engine with those powered by rechargeable batteries. These batteries must be safe and competitive in cost, performance, driving range between charges, and convenience. The competitive performance of an electric car has been demonstrated, but the cost of fabrication, management to ensure safety, and a short cycle life have prevented large-scale penetration of the all-electric road vehicle into the market. Low-cost, safe all-solid-state cells from which dendrite-free alkali-metal anodes can be plated are now available; they have an operating temperature range from -20 °C to 80 °C and they permit the design of novel high-capacity, high-voltage cathodes providing fast charge/discharge rates. Scale-up to large multicell batteries is feasible.

Design of an urban driverless ground vehicle

OpenAIRE

Benenson , Rodrigo; Parent , Michel ,

2008-01-01

International audience; This paper presents the design and implementation of a driverless car for populated urban environments. We propose a system that explicitly map the static obstacles, detects and track the moving obstacle, consider the unobserved areas, provide a motion plan with safety guarantees and executes it. All of it was implemented and integrated into a single computer maneuvering on real time an electric vehicle into an unvisited area with moving obstacles. The overview of the ...

Task and Motion Planning for Selective Weed Conrol using a Team of Autonomous Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hameed, Ibrahim; la Cour-Harbo, Anders; Hansen, Karl Damkjær

2014-01-01

with the right amount. In this article, a task and motion planning for a team of autonomous vehicles to reduce chemicals in farming is presented. Field data are collected by small unmanned helicopters equipped with a range of sensors, including multispectral and thermal cameras. Data collected are transmitted...... to a ground station to be analyzed and triggers aerial and ground-based vehicles to start close inspection and/or plant/weed treatment in specified areas. A complete trajectory is generated to enable ground-based vehicle to visit infested areas and start chemical/mechanical weed treatment....

An adaptable, low cost test-bed for unmanned vehicle systems research

Science.gov (United States)

Goppert, James M.

2011-12-01

An unmanned vehicle systems test-bed has been developed. The test-bed has been designed to accommodate hardware changes and various vehicle types and algorithms. The creation of this test-bed allows research teams to focus on algorithm development and employ a common well-tested experimental framework. The ArduPilotOne autopilot was developed to provide the necessary level of abstraction for multiple vehicle types. The autopilot was also designed to be highly integrated with the Mavlink protocol for Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) communication. Mavlink is the native protocol for QGroundControl, a MAV ground control program. Features were added to QGroundControl to accommodate outdoor usage. Next, the Mavsim toolbox was developed for Scicoslab to allow hardware-in-the-loop testing, control design and analysis, and estimation algorithm testing and verification. In order to obtain linear models of aircraft dynamics, the JSBSim flight dynamics engine was extended to use a probabilistic Nelder-Mead simplex method. The JSBSim aircraft dynamics were compared with wind-tunnel data collected. Finally, a structured methodology for successive loop closure control design is proposed. This methodology is demonstrated along with the rest of the test-bed tools on a quadrotor, a fixed wing RC plane, and a ground vehicle. Test results for the ground vehicle are presented.

Who does what in China’s new energy vehicle industry?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Yingqi; Kokko, Ari

2013-01-01

This paper provides an overview of the Chinese new energy vehicle industry and discusses the role of state in the industry’s development. Chinese policies have aimed to promote the development of new energy technologies and to reduce the consumer price of new energy vehicles. Chinese authorities have also been concerned about the balance between collaboration and competition in the sector, since most key actors are owned by the state. One solution has been the establishment of a number of industry alliances linking auto enterprises, universities and research institutes, to promote both collaboration (within each alliance) and competition (between alliances). - Highlights: ► Government support is needed to balance the cost advantages of traditional cars. ► Main enterprises owned by state makes hard to balance collaboration with competition. ► The state has established some industry alliances to develop technologies for NEV. ► There is close collaboration within each alliance, but competition between them. ► Private firms fall outside the alliances and rely on foreign collaborations

A review on the major sources of the interior sound vibration and riding comfort in vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

AlDhahebi, Adel Mohammed; Junoh, Ahmad Kadri; Ahmed, Amran

2016-10-01

Vehicle interior comfort is a crucial criteria that is considered by the perspective customer when purchasing a new vehicle. Meanwhile, automotive industries face the challenges for producing vehicles with better design criteria that meet the expectations of customers and eventually promote higher competitive advantages in areas of acoustic performance, cost effectiveness, product weight, and global competitive market. This review presents the major sources that influence the generation of noise and vibration in the interior part of the vehicles. It also demonstrates the relative methods that are used to assess the interior acoustics and vibration and further improve the riding comfort. This study is of a particular importance for acoustical researchers and automobile engineers, where it brings about suggestions and fundamentals that can contribute to acoustical comfort in vehicles.

Test bed for applications of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filiberto Muñoz Palacios

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the development and implementation of a test bed for applications of heterogeneous unmanned vehicle systems. The test bed consists of unmanned aerial vehicles (Parrot AR.Drones versions 1 or 2, Parrot SA, Paris, France, and Bebop Drones 1.0 and 2.0, Parrot SA, Paris, France, ground vehicles (WowWee Rovio, WowWee Group Limited, Hong Kong, China, and the motion capture systems VICON and OptiTrack. Such test bed allows the user to choose between two different options of development environments, to perform aerial and ground vehicles applications. On the one hand, it is possible to select an environment based on the VICON system and LabVIEW (National Instruments or robotics operating system platforms, which make use the Parrot AR.Drone software development kit or the Bebop_autonomy Driver to communicate with the unmanned vehicles. On the other hand, it is possible to employ a platform that uses the OptiTrack system and that allows users to develop their own applications, replacing AR.Drone’s original firmware with original code. We have developed four experimental setups to illustrate the use of the Parrot software development kit, the Bebop Driver (AutonomyLab, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada, and the original firmware replacement for performing a strategy that involves both ground and aerial vehicle tracking. Finally, in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed test bed for the implementation of advanced controllers, we present experimental results of the implementation of three consensus algorithms: static, adaptive, and neural network, in order to accomplish that a team of multiagents systems move together to track a target.

Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Program 18th annual report to Congress for Fiscal Year 1994

Science.gov (United States)

1995-04-01

The Department remains focused on the technologies that are critical to making electric and hybrid vehicles commercially viable and competitive with current production gasoline-fueled vehicles in performance, reliability, and affordability. During Fiscal Year 1994, significant progress was made toward fulfilling the intent of Congress. The Department and the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (a partnership of the three major domestic automobile manufacturers) continued to work together and to focus the efforts of battery developers on the battery technologies that are most likely to be commercialized in the near term. Progress was made in industry cost-shared contracts toward demonstrating the technical feasibility of fuel cells for passenger bus and light duty vehicle applications. Two industry teams which will develop hybrid vehicle propulsion technologies have been selected through competitive procurement and have initiated work, in Fiscal Year 1994. In addition, technical studies and program planning continue, as required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, to achieve the goals of reducing the transportation sector dependence on imported oil, reducing the level of environmentally harmful emissions, and enhancing industrial productivity and competitiveness.

Technologies for low-bandwidth high-latency unmanned ground vehicle control

Science.gov (United States)

Pace, Teresa; Cogan, Ken; Hunt, Lee; Restine, Paul

2014-05-01

Automation technology has evolved at a rapid pace in recent years; however, many real-world problems require contextual understanding, problem solving, and other forms of higher-order thinking that extends beyond the capabilities of robots for the foreseeable future. This limits the complexity of automation which can be supplied to modern unmanned ground robots (UGV) and necessitates human-in-the-loop monitoring and control for some portions of missions. In order for the human operator to make decisions and provide tasking during key portions of the mission, existing solutions first derive significant information from a potentially dense reconstruction of the scene utilizing LIDAR, video, and other onboard sensors. A dense reconstruction contains too much data for real-time transmission over a modern wireless data link, so the robot electronics must first condense the scene representation prior to transmission. The control station receives this condensed scene representations and provides visual information to the human operator; the human operator then provides tele-operation commands in real-time to the robot. This paper discusses approaches to dense scene reduction of the data required to transmit to a human-in-the loop as well as the challenges associated with them. In addition, the complex and unstructured nature of real-world environments increases the need for tele-operation. Furthermore, many environments reduce the bandwidth and increase the latency of the link. Ultimately, worsening conditions will cause the tele-operation control process to break down, rendering the robot ineffective. In a worst-case scenario, extreme conditions causing a complete loss-of-communications could result in mission failure and loss of the vehicle.

Launch and Landing Effects Ground Operations (LLEGO) Model

Science.gov (United States)

2008-01-01

LLEGO is a model for understanding recurring launch and landing operations costs at Kennedy Space Center for human space flight. Launch and landing operations are often referred to as ground processing, or ground operations. Currently, this function is specific to the ground operations for the Space Shuttle Space Transportation System within the Space Shuttle Program. The Constellation system to follow the Space Shuttle consists of the crewed Orion spacecraft atop an Ares I launch vehicle and the uncrewed Ares V cargo launch vehicle. The Constellation flight and ground systems build upon many elements of the existing Shuttle flight and ground hardware, as well as upon existing organizations and processes. In turn, the LLEGO model builds upon past ground operations research, modeling, data, and experience in estimating for future programs. Rather than to simply provide estimates, the LLEGO model s main purpose is to improve expenses by relating complex relationships among functions (ground operations contractor, subcontractors, civil service technical, center management, operations, etc.) to tangible drivers. Drivers include flight system complexity and reliability, as well as operations and supply chain management processes and technology. Together these factors define the operability and potential improvements for any future system, from the most direct to the least direct expenses.

China’s electric vehicle subsidy scheme: Rationale and impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hao, Han; Ou, Xunmin; Du, Jiuyu; Wang, Hewu; Ouyang, Minggao

2014-01-01

To promote the market penetration of electric vehicles (EV), China launched the Electric Vehicle Subsidy Scheme (EVSS) in Jan 2009, followed by an update in Sep 2013, which we named phase I and phase II EVSS, respectively. In this paper, we presented the rationale of China’s two-phase EVSS and estimated their impacts on EV market penetration, with a focus on the ownership cost analysis of battery electric passenger vehicles (BEPV). Based on the ownership cost comparison of five defining BEPV models and their counterpart conventional passenger vehicle (CPV) models, we concluded that in the short term, especially before 2015, China’s EVSS is very necessary for BEPVs to be cost competitive compared with CPVs. The transition from phase I to phase II EVSS will generally reduce subsidy intensity, thus resulting in temporary rise of BEPV ownership cost. However, with the decrease of BEPV manufacturing cost, the ownership cost of BEPV is projected to decrease despite of the phase-out mechanism under phase II EVSS. In the mid term of around 2015–2020, BEPV could become less or not reliant on subsidy to maintain cost competitiveness. However, given the performance disadvantages of BEPV, especially the limited electric range, China’s current EVSS is not sufficient for the BEPV market to take off. Technology improvement associated with battery cost reduction has to play an essential role in starting up China’s BEPV market. - Highlights: • China’s phase I and phase II electric vehicle subsidy schemes were reviewed. • Major electric vehicle models in China’s vehicle market were reviewed. • The ownership costs of five defining electric passenger vehicle models were compared. • Policies to promote electric vehicle deployment in China were discussed

US Army TARDEC Ground Vehicle Mobility: Dynamics Modeling, Simluation, and Research

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-24

DRIVEN. WARFIGHTER FOCUSED. For official use only Stair Climbing of a Small Robot Robotic Vehicle Step Climbing UNCLASSIFIED For official use only...NOTES NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, mobility, and robotics section. Briefing to the jet propulsion lab. 14. ABSTRACT N/A 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16...JLTV GCV M2 M915 ASV FTTS HMMWV Platforms Supported APDSmall Robot UNCLASSIFIED For official use only Mobility Events • Vehicle stability • Ride

EADS Roadmap for Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Eymar, Patrick; Grimard, Max

2002-01-01

still think about the future, especially at industry level in order to make the most judicious choices in technologies, vehicle types as well as human resources and facilities specialization (especially after recent merger moves). and production as prime contractor, industrial architect or stage provider have taken benefit of this expertise and especially of all the studies ran under national funding and own financing on reusable vehicles and ground/flight demonstrators have analyzed several scenarios. VEHICLES/ASTRIUM SI strategy w.r.t. launch vehicles for the two next decades. Among the main inputs taken into account of course visions of the market evolutions have been considered, but also enlargement of international cooperations and governments requests and supports (e.g. with the influence of large international ventures). 1 patrick.eymar@lanceurs.aeromatra.com 2

Medium Duty Electric Vehicle Demonstration Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mackie, Robin J. D. [Smith Electric Vehicles Corporation, Kansas City, MO (United States)

2015-05-31

The Smith Electric Vehicle Demonstration Project (SDP) was integral to the Smith business plan to establish a manufacturing base in the United States (US) and produce a portfolio of All Electric Vehicles (AEV’s) for the medium duty commercial truck market. Smith focused on the commercial depot based logistics market, as it represented the market that was most ready for the early adoption of AEV technology. The SDP enabled Smith to accelerate its introduction of vehicles and increase the size of its US supply chain to support early market adoption of AEV’s that were cost competitive, fully met the needs of a diverse set of end users and were compliant with Federal safety and emissions requirements. The SDP accelerated the development and production of various electric drive vehicle systems to substantially reduce petroleum consumption, reduce vehicular emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), and increase US jobs.

Pre-flight physical simulation test of HIMES reentry test vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Kawaguchi, Jun'ichiro; Inatani, Yoshifumi; Yonemoto, Koichi; Hosokawa, Shigeru

ISAS is now developing a small reentry test vehicle, which is 2m long with a 1.5m wing span and weighs about 170 kg, for the purpose of exploring high angle-of-attack aerodynamic attitude control issue in supersonic and hypersonic speed. The flight test, employing 'Rockoon' launch system, is planned as a preliminary design verification for a fully reusable winged rocket named HIMES (Highly Maneuverable Experimental Space) vehicle. This paper describes the results of preflight ground test using a motion table system. This ground system test is called 'physical simulation' aimed at: (1) functional verification of side-jet system, aerodynamic surface actuators, battery and onboard avionics; and (2) guidance and control law evaluation, in total hardware-in-the-loop system. The pressure of side-jet nozzles was measured to provide exact thrust characteristics of reaction control. The dynamics of vehicle motion was calculated in real-time by the ground simulation computer.

The Special Purpose Vehicle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fomcenco, Alex

2013-01-01

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the situation where two companies appear as originators or sponsors behind a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) can be described as a merger, although on micro scale. Are the underlying grounds behind the creation of an SPV much different than those...

Hydraulic regenerative system for a light vehicle

OpenAIRE

Orpella Aceret, Jordi; Guinart Trayter, Xavier

2009-01-01

The thesis is based in a constructed light vehicle that must be improved by adding a hydraulic energy recovery system. This vehicle named as TrecoLiTH, participated in the Formula Electric and Hybrid competition (Formula EHI) 2009 in Italy -Rome- and won several awards. This system consists in two hydraulic motors hub mounted which are used to store fluid at high pressure in an accumulator when braking. Through a valve the pressure will flow from the high pressure accumulator to the low press...

Competitive Traffic Assignment in Road Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krylatov Alexander Y.

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Recently in-vehicle route guidance and information systems are rapidly developing. Such systems are expected to reduce congestion in an urban traffic area. This social benefit is believed to be reached by imposing the route choices on the network users that lead to the system optimum traffic assignment. However, guidance service could be offered by different competitive business companies. Then route choices of different mutually independent groups of users may reject traffic assignment from the system optimum state. In this paper, a game theoretic approach is shown to be very efficient to formalize competitive traffic assignment problem with various groups of users in the form of non-cooperative network game with the Nash equilibrium search. The relationships between the Wardrop’s system optimum associated with the traffic assignment problem and the Nash equilibrium associated with the competitive traffic assignment problem are investigated. Moreover, some related aspects of the Nash equilibrium and the Wardrop’s user equilibrium assignments are also discussed.

TARDEC Overview: Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-04

Fuel & Water Distribution • Force Sustainment • Construction Equipment • Bridging • Assured Mobility Systems Robotics • TALON • PackBot • MARCbot...Equipment • Mechanical Countermine Equipment • Tactical Bridging Intelligent Ground Systems • Autonomous Robotics Systems • Safe Operations...Test Cell • Hybrid Electric Reconfigurable Moveable Integration Testbed (HERMIT) • Electro-chemical Analysis and Research Lab (EARL) • Battery Lab • Air

Students To Race Solar-Powered Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

4 1999 — Middle school students from across the state next week will race model solar cars designed Race Solar-Powered Vehicles For more information contact: e:mail: Public Affairs Golden, Colo., May 12 inches high. The 20-meter race is a double elimination competition with awards going to the five

The Application of the Human Engineering Modeling and Performance Laboratory for Space Vehicle Ground Processing Tasks at Kennedy Space Center

Science.gov (United States)

Woodbury, Sarah K.

2008-01-01

The introduction of United Space Alliance's Human Engineering Modeling and Performance Laboratory began in early 2007 in an attempt to address the problematic workspace design issues that the Space Shuttle has imposed on technicians performing maintenance and inspection operations. The Space Shuttle was not expected to require the extensive maintenance it undergoes between flights. As a result, extensive, costly resources have been expended on workarounds and modifications to accommodate ground processing personnel. Consideration of basic human factors principles for design of maintenance is essential during the design phase of future space vehicles, facilities, and equipment. Simulation will be needed to test and validate designs before implementation.

Proposal for a model for competitiveness analysis in environmental sustainability in automotive segment companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luís Henrique Rodrigues

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The competitive landscape for companies has been changing over time, featuring an increase in competitiveness in cost, quality, reliability, agility and more recently by a concern for environmental and social factors. This work aims to propose an exploratory analysis model to evaluate companies’ sustainability competitiveness. The model proposes the grouping of companies into clusters, ranking them according to the adoption of lean manufacturing practices, environmental management and human resources, and allocating them into quadrants according to the higher or lower production of waste in their manufacturing processes. The adherence to the model is made with a sample of automotive segment companies (auto parts and motor vehicle manufacturers. The work is classified as one of a practical nature, exploratory, qualitative, and using the survey method. The conclusion that 37.5% of auto parts companies are grouped into clusters that lead to the reduction of waste, with practices in lean manufacturing and environmental management which adjust to competitive factors in the sustainability of motor vehicle manufacturers, is noteworthy.

Target validation for FCV technology development in Japan from energy competition point of view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ENDO Eiichi

2006-01-01

The objective of this work is to validate the technical targets in the governmental hydrogen energy road-map of Japan by analyzing market penetration of fuel cell vehicle(FCV)s and effects of fuel price and carbon tax on it from technology competition point of view. In this analysis, an energy system model of Japan based on MARKAL is used. The results of the analysis show that hydrogen FCVs could not have cost-competitiveness until 2030 without carbon tax, including the governmental actual plan of carbon tax. However, as the carbon tax rate increases, instead of conventional vehicles including gasoline hybrid electric vehicle, hydrogen FCVs penetrate to the market earlier and more. By assuming higher fuel price and severer carbon tax rate, market share of hydrogen FCVs approaches to the governmental goal. This suggests that cheaper vehicle cost and/or hydrogen price than those targeted in the road-map is required. At the same time, achievement of the technical targets in the road-map also allows to attain the market penetration target of hydrogen FCVs in some possible conditions. (authors)

Semiconductors enable efficient solutions in electric vehicles; Halbleiter ermoeglichen effiziente Loesungen in Elektrofahrzeugen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adlkofer, Hans [Infineon Technologies AG, Muenchen (Germany)

2010-07-01

The automotive industry currently enters a new phase of the competition. The successful addressing of vehicles with electric motors is in the focus of he competition. Electric vehicles which save the electrical energy in batteries may not replace immediately all fuel-powered vehicles in the given transport infrastructure. The semiconductor industry needs to provide solutions and technologies in order to increase the efficiency of electric vehicles and further to reduce the operating costs. Thus, the author of the contribution under consideration reports on possible ways to this target using a battery balancing system considering the amortization of such a system. The presented active battery cell management system may monitor the charging and discharging of the battery by means of a software monitor so that an energy recovery system is supported optimally. It ensures a reliable operation, prevents accidental premature battery failure and enables cost savings of about 10 % for the whole set of batteries.

Project Guardian: Optimizing Electronic Warfare Systems for Ground Combat Vehicles

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Parks, Jack G; Jackson, William; Revello, James; Soltesz, James

1995-01-01

.... The study, Project Guardian, represents a new process for determining the optimum set of sensors and countermeasures for a specific vehicle class under the constraints of threat projection, combat...

Emerging Needs for Pervasive Passive Wireless Sensor Networks on Aerospace Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, William C.; Juarez, Peter D.

2014-01-01

NASA is investigating passive wireless sensor technology to reduce instrumentation mass and volume in ground testing, air flight, and space exploration applications. Vehicle health monitoring systems (VHMS) are desired on all aerospace programs to ensure the safety of the crew and the vehicles. Pervasive passive wireless sensor networks facilitate VHMS on aerospace vehicles. Future wireless sensor networks on board aerospace vehicles will be heterogeneous and will require active and passive network systems. Since much has been published on active wireless sensor networks, this work will focus on the need for passive wireless sensor networks on aerospace vehicles. Several passive wireless technologies such as microelectromechanical systems MEMS, SAW, backscatter, and chipless RFID techniques, have all shown potential to meet the pervasive sensing needs for aerospace VHMS applications. A SAW VHMS application will be presented. In addition, application areas including ground testing, hypersonic aircraft and spacecraft will be explored along with some of the harsh environments found in aerospace applications.

The logistics, the key for the competitiveness of the Spanish vehicle manufacturing plants; La logistica, clave para la competitividad de las plantas espanolas de fabricacion de vehiculos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia Lopez, A.

2012-07-01

This article aims to outline the logistics chain in the automotive sector and analyze the current situation of the different modes of transport for finished vehicles. Nowadays the Spanish production plants depend on the export, wage levels are very close to the European average and transport costs are winning importance. With the integration of new EU countries with cheaper labor costs and more favorable geographical situation, the distribution logistics become a key variable for the competitiveness of Spanish automotive industry. All data used come from official sources and are as updated as possible. (Author)

A multi-objective location routing problem using imperialist competitive algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Mohammad Golmohammadi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, most manufacturing units try to locate their requirements and the depot vehicle routing in order to transport the goods at optimum cost. Needless to mention that the locations of the required warehouses influence on the performance of vehicle routing. In this paper, a mathematical programming model to optimize the storage location and vehicle routing are presented. The first objective function of the model minimizes the total cost associated with the transportation and storage, and the second objective function minimizes the difference distance traveled by vehicles. The study uses Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA to solve the resulted problems in different sizes. The preliminary results have indicated that the proposed study has performed better than NSGA-II and PAES methods in terms of Quality metric and Spacing metric.

Greenhouse vegetable production in The Netherlands and Switzerland: A grounded look at sector competitiveness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mann, S.; Breukers, A.; Schweiger, J.; Mack, G.

2011-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory that is sufficiently adapted to sector competitiveness. The case of greenhouse vegetable production in The Netherlands and Switzerland is used to explain differences in sector competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews

Efficiency improvement for vehicle powertrains using energy integration techniques

OpenAIRE

Dimitrova, Zlatina; Maréchal, François

2016-01-01

The main design criteria for the modern sustainable development of vehicle powertrains are the high energy efficiency of the conversion system, the competitive cost and the lowest possible environmental impacts. The need for efficiency improvement of the vehicle energy system induces the search for an innovative methodology during the design process. In this article the energy services for mobility and comfort are integrated. The energy integration of the mobility and the comfort service is a...

Design of Fuzzy Enhanced Hierarchical Motion Stabilizing Controller of Unmanned Ground Vehicle in Three DimensionalSpace

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yue Ma

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, stabilizing control of tracked unmanned ground vehicle in 3-D space was presented. Firstly, models of major modules of tracked UGV were established. Next, to reveal the mechanism of disturbances applied on the UGV, two kinds of representative disturbances (slope and general disturbances in yaw motion were discussed in depth. Consequently, an attempting PID method was employed to compensate the impacts of disturbances andsimulation results proved the validity for disturbance incited by slope force, but revealed the lack for general disturbance on yaw motion. Finally, a hierarchical fuzzy controller combined with PID controller was proposed. In lower level, there were two PID controllers to compensate the disturbance of slope force, and on top level, the fuzzy logic controller was employed to correct the yaw motion error based on the differences between the model and the real UGV, which was able to guide the UGV maintain on the stable state. Simulation results demonstrated the excellent effectiveness of the newly designed controller.

Bidirectional DC-DC converter fed drive for electric vehicle system ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Batteries are the primary energy-storage devices in ground vehicles. Now days battery fed electric drives are commonly being used for electric vehicles applications, due to various advantages, such as: nearly zero emission, guaranteed load leveling, good transient operation and energy recovery during braking operation.

Vehicle Technology Simulation and Analysis Tools | Transportation Research

Science.gov (United States)

Analysis Tools NREL developed the following modeling, simulation, and analysis tools to investigate novel design goals (e.g., fuel economy versus performance) to find cost-competitive solutions. ADOPT Vehicle Simulator to analyze the performance and fuel economy of conventional and advanced light- and

Innovative control systems for tracked vehicle platforms

CERN Document Server

2014-01-01

 This book has been motivated by an urgent need for designing and implementation of innovative control algorithms and systems for tracked vehicles. Nowadays the unmanned vehicles are becoming more and more common. Therefore there is a need for innovative mechanical constructions capable of adapting to various applications regardless the ground, air or water/underwater environment. There are multiple various activities connected with tracked vehicles. They can be distributed among three main groups: design and control algorithms, sensoric and vision based in-formation, construction and testing mechanical parts of unmanned vehicles. Scientists and researchers involved in mechanics, control algorithms, image processing, computer vision, data fusion, or IC will find this book useful.

Motion Control of Four-Wheel Independently Actuated Electric Ground Vehicles considering Tire Force Saturations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rongrong Wang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A vehicle stability control approach for four-wheel independently actuated (FWIA electric vehicles is presented. The proposed control method consists of a higher-level controller and a lower-level controller. An adaptive control-based higher-level controller is designed to yield the vehicle virtual control efforts to track the desired vehicle motions due to the possible modeling inaccuracies and parametric uncertainties. The lower-level controller considering tire force saturation is given to allocate the required control efforts to the four in-wheel motors for providing the desired tire forces. An analytic method is given to distribute the high-level control efforts, without using the numerical-optimization-based control allocation algorithms. Simulations based on a high-fidelity, CarSim, and full-vehicle model show the effectiveness of the control approach.

Analysis Methodology for Optimal Selection of Ground Station Site in Space Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Nieves-Chinchilla, J.; Farjas, M.; Martínez, R.

2013-12-01

Optimization of ground station sites is especially important in complex missions that include several small satellites (clusters or constellations) such as the QB50 project, where one ground station would be able to track several spatial vehicles, even simultaneously. In this regard the design of the communication system has to carefully take into account the ground station site and relevant signal phenomena, depending on the frequency band. To propose the optimal location of the ground station, these aspects become even more relevant to establish a trusted communication link due to the ground segment site in urban areas and/or selection of low orbits for the space segment. In addition, updated cartography with high resolution data of the location and its surroundings help to develop recommendations in the design of its location for spatial vehicles tracking and hence to improve effectiveness. The objectives of this analysis methodology are: completion of cartographic information, modelling the obstacles that hinder communication between the ground and space segment and representation in the generated 3D scene of the degree of impairment in the signal/noise of the phenomena that interferes with communication. The integration of new technologies of geographic data capture, such as 3D Laser Scan, determine that increased optimization of the antenna elevation mask, in its AOS and LOS azimuths along the horizon visible, maximizes visibility time with spatial vehicles. Furthermore, from the three-dimensional cloud of points captured, specific information is selected and, using 3D modeling techniques, the 3D scene of the antenna location site and surroundings is generated. The resulting 3D model evidences nearby obstacles related to the cartographic conditions such as mountain formations and buildings, and any additional obstacles that interfere with the operational quality of the antenna (other antennas and electronic devices that emit or receive in the same bandwidth

[Behavioral mechanisms of spatial competition between red wood ants (Formica aquilonia) and ground beetles (Carabidae)].

Science.gov (United States)

Dorosheva, E A; Reznikova, Zh I

2006-01-01

Behavioral aspects of spatial competition between red wood ants (Formica aquilonia) and six mass species of Carabidae were studied in field and laboratory experiments. We showed that red wood ants essentially influence spatial distribution of ground beetles on their common territories. Transplantation experiments suggest that in newly established ants' settlements stronger forms of interrelations arise than in old stable colony. To examine the ability of beetles to avoid collisions with ants we used two experimental techniques. In laboratory, we tested carabids ability to avoid a clash in a Y-shaped labyrinth containing an active tethered ant in one section. In field experiments we compared quantitative characteristics of movements (such as crookedness of individual trajectories, speed of movement, the time spent on stops) for beetles placed close to ants foraging routes and on ant-free plots. All beetles studied displayed a clear tendency to learn, that is, to modity their behavior in order to avoid collisions with ants. Species that exhibited best parameters of learning were closer to ants by their size and characteristic movement, namely, Pterostichus oblogopunctatus and P. magus. Beetles' stereotyped behavioral tactics can be considered universal for avoiding collisions with any subject (for instance, with an ant) of a certain size and speed of movements. A set of tactics in the labyrinth included: (1) attempts to round the ant; (2) turns away after touching the ant with antennae; (3) turns away without a contact; (4) avoidances of a dangerous section; (5) stops near the ant with the antennae hidden. Comparing pairwise difference between four species shows that beetles use species-specific preference for definite combinations of tactics. Effective learning allows carabids to penetrate into ant foraging territory and partly avoide interference competition. It seems that red wood ants are not inclined to learn to avoid collisions with competing carabid species

Designing a concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system in adjunct with a silicon photovoltaic panel for a solar competition car

Science.gov (United States)

Arias-Rosales, Andrés.; Barrera-Velásquez, Jorge; Osorio-Gómez, Gilberto; Mejía-Gutiérrez, Ricardo

2014-06-01

Solar competition cars are a very interesting research laboratory for the development of new technologies heading to their further implementation in either commercial passenger vehicles or related applications. Besides, worldwide competitions allow the spreading of such ideas where the best and experienced teams bet on innovation and leading edge technologies, in order to develop more efficient vehicles. In these vehicles, some aspects generally make the difference such as aerodynamics, shape, weight, wheels and the main solar panels. Therefore, seeking to innovate in a competitive advantage, the first Colombian solar vehicle "Primavera", competitor at the World Solar Challenge (WSC)-2013, has implemented the usage of a Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) system as a complementary solar energy module to the common silicon photovoltaic panel. By harvesting sunlight with concentrating optical devices, CPVs are capable of maximizing the allowable photovoltaic area. However, the entire CPV system weight must be less harmful than the benefit of the extra electric energy generated, which in adjunct with added manufacture and design complexity, has intervened in the fact that CPVs had never been implemented in a solar car in such a scale as the one described in this work. Design considerations, the system development process and implementation are presented in this document considering both the restrictions of the context and the interaction of the CPV system with the solar car setup. The measured data evidences the advantage of using this complementary system during the competition and the potential this technology has for further developments.

Experimental Insights into Ground-State Selection of Quantum XY Pyrochlores

Science.gov (United States)

Hallas, Alannah M.; Gaudet, Jonathan; Gaulin, Bruce D.

2018-03-01

Extensive experimental investigations of the magnetic structures and excitations in the XY pyrochlores have been carried out over the past decade. Three families of XY pyrochlores have emerged: Yb2B2O7, Er2B2O7, and, most recently, [Formula: see text]Co2F7. In each case, the magnetic cation (either Yb, Er, or Co) exhibits XY anisotropy within the local pyrochlore coordinates, a consequence of crystal field effects. Materials in these families display rich phase behavior and are candidates for exotic ground states, such as quantum spin ice, and exotic ground-state selection via order-by-disorder mechanisms. In this review, we present an experimental summary of the ground-state properties of the XY pyrochlores, including evidence that they are strongly influenced by phase competition. We empirically demonstrate the signatures for phase competition in a frustrated magnet: multiple heat capacity anomalies, suppressed TN or TC, sample- and pressure-dependent ground states, and unconventional spin dynamics.

The electric vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchez duran, R.

2010-01-01

The decarbonization of transport is a key element in both energy and environmental European policies as well as one of the levers that will help us achieve the goals of improving energy efficiency, reducing CO 2 emissions and energy dependence. The use of electricity compared to other low-carbon fuels such as bio fuels and hydrogen has the advantage of its existing infrastructure (power generation plants, transmission and distribution networks), being only necessary to developed recharging infrastructures. We emphasize the role of electricity networks and their evolution, which will enable to manage demand and maximise the potential of renewable energies. The idea of an electric vehicle is not a recent one but dates back to the beginning of the last century, when first units appeared. Unfortunately, technological barriers were too high at the time to let them succeed. Namely those barriers limited the range of the electric vehicle due to problems with battery recharges. Nowadays, those difficulties have almost been solved and we can state that institutional support and coordination among all actors involved have made the electric vehicle a plausible reality. While the technological improvements needed for the electric vehicle to become cost competitive are carried out, the plug-in hybrid vehicle represents the intermediate step to reach a total decarbonization of transport. Endesa is committed to this revolution in transport mobility and believes that now is the right time to focus our efforts on it. Our goal is to contribute to a more balanced and sustainable world in the near future. (Author)

Spatial heterogeneity of plant-soil feedback affects root interactions and interspecific competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Hendriks, Marloes; Ravenek, Janneke M; Smit-Tiekstra, Annemiek E; van der Paauw, Jan Willem; de Caluwe, Hannie; van der Putten, Wim H; de Kroon, Hans; Mommer, Liesje

2015-08-01

Plant-soil feedback is receiving increasing interest as a factor influencing plant competition and species coexistence in grasslands. However, we do not know how spatial distribution of plant-soil feedback affects plant below-ground interactions. We investigated the way in which spatial heterogeneity of soil biota affects competitive interactions in grassland plant species. We performed a pairwise competition experiment combined with heterogeneous distribution of soil biota using four grassland plant species and their soil biota. Patches were applied as quadrants of 'own' and 'foreign' soils from all plant species in all pairwise combinations. To evaluate interspecific root responses, species-specific root biomass was quantified using real-time PCR. All plant species suffered negative soil feedback, but strength was species-specific, reflected by a decrease in root growth in own compared with foreign soil. Reduction in root growth in own patches by the superior plant competitor provided opportunities for inferior competitors to increase root biomass in these patches. These patterns did not cascade into above-ground effects during our experiment. We show that root distributions can be determined by spatial heterogeneity of soil biota, affecting plant below-ground competitive interactions. Thus, spatial heterogeneity of soil biota may contribute to plant species coexistence in species-rich grasslands. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

Final report: U.S. competitive position in automotive technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Albert, Michael B.; Cheney, Margaret; Thomas, Patrick; Kroll, Peter

2002-09-30

Patent data are presented and analyzed to assess the U.S. competitive position in eleven advanced automotive technology categories, including automotive fuel cells, hydrogen storage, advanced batteries, hybrid electric vehicles and others. Inventive activity in most of the technologies is found to be growing at a rapid pace, particularly in advanced batteries, automotive fuel cells and ultracapacitors. The U.S. is the clear leader in automotive fuel cells, on-board hydrogen storage and light weight materials. Japan leads in advanced batteries, hybrid electric vehicles, ultracapacitors, and appears to be close to overtaking the U.S. in other areas of power electronics.

The objective of ETS student clubs : designing innovative and powerful vehicles; L'objectif des clubs etudiants de l'ETS : concevoir des vehicules innovateurs et peformants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

LeBrun, F. [La Boite de Comm., Montreal, PQ (Canada)

2003-12-01

The reputation of the Ecole de Technologie Superieure (ETS) at the University of Quebec has grown over the past few years at university competitions. Four student clubs have designed innovative and energy efficient vehicles. They are: (1) Mini-Baja, an amphibious all-terrain vehicle, (2) Evolution, a car with low fuel consumption, (3) Eclipse, a solar-powered vehicle, and (4) Photon, a solar-powered boat. A brief outline was provided for each vehicle. The Mini-Baja and Evolution were registered for the prestigious competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Eclipse took part in the American Solar Challenge, while Photon took part in the SolarSplash, the World Championship of Solar Boating. All these clubs also participated in Energia, a competition organized by the Agence Quebecoise pour la Maitrise de l'Energie (AQME). Mini-Baja achieved first place in the 2003 competitions and was awarded the Dayton Cup. It also placed first in the design category and the ease of maintaining a vehicle. Evolution, which participated in Supermileage 2003, placed third. Evolution placed first at the Energia 2002 competition. Eclipse V won first place at the AVENIR Environnement competition, while Photon II won first place at Solar Splash 2003, the World Championship of Solar boating, as well as special awards for team work, for the design of the electric system, and the general design of the boat. It finished second for the quality of the technical report, and third for the endurance competition.

Managing the Diffusion of Low Emission Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van der Vooren, A.; Alkemade, F. [Innovation Studies Group, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, 3508TC Utrecht (Netherlands)

2012-03-13

There is significant uncertainty among technology providers, governments, and consumers about which technology will be the vehicle technology of the future. Governments try to stimulate the diffusion of low emission vehicles with diverse policy measures such as purchase price subsidies. However, the effect of such support measures on the speed and direction of technological change is unclear as different vehicle technologies might be preferred under different policy conditions. Decision makers, such as firm actors involved in green technology management, are thus strongly dependent on government policy when making strategic decisions. For these firm actors, determining their strategy regarding low emission vehicles is a complex task in a changing environment of coevolving consumer preferences, technology characteristics, and green technology policies. This paper presents an agent-based model of the competition between several emerging and market-ready low emission vehicle technologies and the dominant fossil-fuel-based internal combustion engine vehicles. The simulations illustrate the effects of different policy measures on technological change and their implications for the strategic actions of firm actors. More specifically, collaboration and standardization strategies can lead to synergies that contribute to technological change without risking early lock-in.

Fuel cell mining vehicles: design, performance and advantages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Betournay, M.C.; Miller, A.R.; Barnes, D.L.

2003-01-01

The potential for using fuel cell technology in underground mining equipment was discussed with reference to the risks associated with the operation of hydrogen vehicles, hydrogen production and hydrogen delivery systems. This paper presented some of the initiatives for mine locomotives and fuel cell stacks for underground environments. In particular, it presents the test results of the first applied industrial fuel cell vehicle in the world, a mining and tunneling locomotive. This study was part of an international initiative managed by the Fuel Cell Propulsion Institute which consists of several mining companies, mining equipment manufacturers, and fuel cell technology developers. Some of the obvious benefits of fuel cells for underground mining operations include no exhaust gases, lower electrical costs, significantly reduced maintenance, and lower ventilation costs. Another advantage is that the technology can be readily automated and computer-based for tele-remote operations. This study also quantified the cost and operational benefits associated with fuel cell vehicles compared to diesel vehicles. It is expected that higher vehicle productivity could render fuel cell underground vehicles cost-competitive. 6 refs., 1 tab

Contamination and decontamination of vehicles driven in radioactive areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ulvsand, T.; Nygren, U.

1999-03-01

There is reason to ask whether it is beneficial to decontaminate vehicles, in view of the great effort applied. If the level of contamination is low before the decontamination process, then the cost is not motivated, even if the decontamination is shown to be effective in relative terms. The report describes two trials at the National NBC Defence School in Umeaa and one trial at the French test site in Bourges. The aim is to investigate how vehicles are contaminated and at which ground deposition levels troublesome levels of contamination will arise. In the trials, a non-radioactive agent substituting real radioactivity was used. The trials in Sweden so far have used the oversnow vehicle BV 206, during both winter and summer conditions. The vehicles were driven a specific distance along a road on which a known amount of the test substance had been dispersed. Samples were taken on pre-determined areas on one side of the vehicles to measure the amount of test substance. Later, the vehicles continued along a 'clean' road where additional samples were taken, but on the other side of the vehicles. The largest amount of test substance was collected on the tracks and on the back of the vehicle. The tracks and mud-flaps were effectively decontaminated when the vehicles were driven along a clean road, while most of the contamination remained on the backside. The purpose of the trials in France was to compare the results from our non-radioactive and their radioactive method, based on the radioactive La-140. Due to ground conditions, the level of contamination on the vehicles was much less than in the trials in Umeaa, but the effect decontamination could be measured after all

Sustainable Governance for the Opened Electric Vehicle Charging and Upgraded Facilities Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tian Wu

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Since the China State Grid opened the market for infrastructure construction of electric charging stations and allowed Tesla, Potevio, BAIC BJEV and other enterprises to provide their own charging stations and other infrastructure construction, the development of electric vehicles has been greatly affected. How to maintain a sustainable governance in the opened electric vehicle charging and upgraded facilities market is an important policy issues. This paper presents a monopolistic competition model for the differentiated products market and addresses several issues related to Cournot equilibrium to illustrate why the expected free market actually operates in a monopolistic competition market structure. The analytic solution of the model shows that whether the extent of firm entry is insufficient, excessive or optimum is determined by consumers’ time preference, level of production differentiation and features of cost structure, including fixed cost and marginal cost. The sensitivity analysis has been performed among the above factors and tracked some other factors which would determine the effect of the new policy issues. The main policy suggestion is that the government should optimize entry regulations and lay down the criterion of charging interface standards for charging stations to avoid the electric vehicle charging and upgraded facilities marketization process of a one-size-fits-all solution and form a monopolistic competition market.

Mobility Systems For Robotic Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Chun, Wendell

1987-02-01

The majority of existing robotic systems can be decomposed into five distinct subsystems: locomotion, control/man-machine interface (MMI), sensors, power source, and manipulator. When designing robotic vehicles, there are two main requirements: first, to design for the environment and second, for the task. The environment can be correlated with known missions. This can be seen by analyzing existing mobile robots. Ground mobile systems are generally wheeled, tracked, or legged. More recently, underwater vehicles have gained greater attention. For example, Jason Jr. made history by surveying the sunken luxury liner, the Titanic. The next big surge of robotic vehicles will be in space. This will evolve as a result of NASA's commitment to the Space Station. The foreseeable robots will interface with current systems as well as standalone, free-flying systems. A space robotic vehicle is similar to its underwater counterpart with very few differences. Their commonality includes missions and degrees-of-freedom. The issues of stability and communication are inherent in both systems and environment.

A systematic analysis of the Braitenberg vehicle 2b for point-like stimulus sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rañó, Iñaki

2012-01-01

Braitenberg vehicles have been used experimentally for decades in robotics with limited empirical understanding. This paper presents the first mathematical model of the vehicle 2b, displaying so-called aggression behaviour, and analyses the possible trajectories for point-like smooth stimulus sources. This sensory-motor steering control mechanism is used to implement biologically grounded target approach, target-seeking or obstacle-avoidance behaviour. However, the analysis of the resulting model reveals that complex and unexpected trajectories can result even for point-like stimuli. We also prove how the implementation of the controller and the vehicle morphology interact to affect the behaviour of the vehicle. This work provides a better understanding of Braitenberg vehicle 2b, explains experimental results and paves the way for a formally grounded application on robotics as well as for a new way of understanding target seeking in biology. (paper)

Adaptive Surveying and Early Treatment of Crops with a Team of Autonomous Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazmi, Wajahat; Bisgaard, Morten; Garcia-Ruiz, Francisco

2011-01-01

The ASETA project (acronym for Adaptive Surveying and Early treatment of crops with a Team of Autonomous vehicles) is a multi-disciplinary project combining cooperating airborne and ground-based vehicles with advanced sensors and automated analysis to implement a smart treatment of weeds...... in agricultural fields. The purpose is to control and reduce the amount of herbicides, consumed energy and vehicle emissions in the weed detection and treatment process, thus reducing the environmental impact. The project addresses this issue through a closed loop cooperation among a team of unmanned aircraft...... system (UAS) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) with advanced vision sensors for 3D and multispectral imaging. This paper presents the scientific and technological challenges in the project, which include multivehicle estimation and guidance, heterogeneous multi-agent systems, task generation...

Vehicle Reference Generator for Collision-Free Trajectories in Hazardous Maneuvers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cuauhtémoc Acosta Lúa

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a reference generator for ground vehicles, based on potential fields adapted to the case of vehicular dynamics. The reference generator generates signals to be tracked by the vehicle, corresponding to a trajectory avoiding collisions with obstacles. This generator integrates artificial forces of potential fields of the object surrounding the vehicle. The reference generator is used with a controller to ensure the tracking of the accident-free reference. This approach can be used for vehicle autonomous driving or for active control of manned vehicles. Simulation results, presented for the autonomous driving, consider a scenario inspired by the so-called moose (or elk test, with the presence of other collaborative vehicles.

High clearance phenotyping systems for season-long measurement of corn, sorghum and other row crops to complement unmanned aerial vehicle systems

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Seth C.; Knox, Leighton; Hartley, Brandon; Méndez-Dorado, Mario A.; Richardson, Grant; Thomasson, J. Alex; Shi, Yeyin; Rajan, Nithya; Neely, Haly; Bagavathiannan, Muthukumar; Dong, Xuejun; Rooney, William L.

2016-05-01

The next generation of plant breeding progress requires accurately estimating plant growth and development parameters to be made over routine intervals within large field experiments. Hand measurements are laborious and time consuming and the most promising tools under development are sensors carried by ground vehicles or unmanned aerial vehicles, with each specific vehicle having unique limitations. Previously available ground vehicles have primarily been restricted to monitoring shorter crops or early growth in corn and sorghum, since plants taller than a meter could be damaged by a tractor or spray rig passing over them. Here we have designed two and already constructed one of these self-propelled ground vehicles with adjustable heights that can clear mature corn and sorghum without damage (over three meters of clearance), which will work for shorter row crops as well. In addition to regular RGB image capture, sensor suites are incorporated to estimate plant height, vegetation indices, canopy temperature and photosynthetically active solar radiation, all referenced using RTK GPS to individual plots. These ground vehicles will be useful to validate data collected from unmanned aerial vehicles and support hand measurements taken on plots.

Using tradeable permits to achieve sustainability in the world's large cities. Policy design issues and efficiency conditions for controlling vehicle emissions, congestion and urban decentralization with an application to Mexico City

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goddard, H.C.

1997-01-01

Many large cities in the world have serious ground level ozone problems, largely the product of vehicular emissions and thus the argued unsustainability of current urban growth patterns is frequently blamed on unrestricted private vehicle use. This article reviews Mexico City's experience with vehicle use restrictions as an emissions control program and develops the conditions for optimal quantitative restrictions on vehicle use and for complementary abatement technologies. The stochastic nature of air pollution outcomes is modelled explicitly in both the static and dynamic formulations of the control problem, in which for the first time in the literature the use of tradeable vehicle use permits is proposed as a cost-effective complement to technological abatement for mobile emissions control. This control regime gives the authorities a broader and more flexible set of instruments with which to deal more effectively with vehicle emissions, and with seasonal and stochastic variation of air quality outcomes. The market in tradeable vehicle use permits would be very competitive with low transactions costs. This control policy would have very favorable impacts on air quality, vehicle congestion and on urban form and development. Given the general political resistance to environmental taxes, this program could constitute a workable and politically palatable set of policies for controlling greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. 7 figs., 1 appendix, 23 refs

A parametric study of light-duty natural gas vehicle competitiveness in the United States through 2050

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, Meghan B.; Barter, Garrett E.; West, Todd H.; Manley, Dawn K.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • NGVs are economical, but limited by infrastructure and OEM model availability. • NGVs compete more with EVs than conventional vehicles. • By displacing EVs, NGVs offer little or negative GHG reduction benefits. • Public refueling infrastructure is a better investment than home CNG compressors. • Bi-fuel vehicles can be a bridge technology until infrastructure build-out. - Abstract: We modeled and conducted a parametric analysis of the US light-duty vehicle (LDV) stock to examine the impact of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) as they compete with electric vehicles, hybrids, and conventional powertrains. We find that low natural gas prices and sufficient public refueling infrastructure are the key drivers to NGV adoption when matched with availability of compressed natural gas powertrains from automakers. Due to the time and investment required for the build out of infrastructure and the introduction of vehicles by original equipment manufacturers, home natural gas compressor sales and bi-fuel NGVs serve as bridge technologies through 2030. By 2050, however, NGVs could comprise as much as 20% of annual vehicle sales and 10% of the LDV stock fraction. We also find that NGVs may displace electric vehicles, rather than conventional powertrains, as they both compete for consumers that drive enough miles such that fuel cost savings offset higher purchase costs. Due to this dynamic, NGVs in our LDV stock model offer little to no greenhouse gas emissions reduction as they displace lower emission powertrains. This finding is subject to the uncertainty in efficiency technology progression and the set of powertains and fuels considered

Developing Autonomous Vehicles That Learn to Navigate by Mimicking Human Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

2006-09-28

navigate in an unstructured environment to a specific target or location. 15. SUBJECT TERMS autonomous vehicles , fuzzy logic, learning behavior...ANSI-Std Z39-18 Developing Autonomous Vehicles That Learn to Navigate by Mimicking Human Behavior FINAL REPORT 9/28/2006 Dean B. Edwards Department...the future, as greater numbers of autonomous vehicles are employed, it is hoped that lower LONG-TERM GOALS Use LAGR (Learning Applied to Ground Robots

Potential vehicle fleet CO2 reductions and cost implications for various vehicle technology deployment scenarios in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pasaoglu, Guzay; Honselaar, Michel; Thiel, Christian

2012-01-01

The continuous rise in demand for road transportation has a significant effect on Europe's oil dependency and emissions of greenhouse gases. Alternative fuels and vehicle technology can mitigate these effects. This study analyses power-train deployment scenarios for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in EU-27 until 2050. It considers European policy developments on vehicle CO 2 emissions, bio-energy mandates and reductions in the CO 2 footprint of the European energy mix and translates these into comprehensive scenarios for the road transport sector. It quantifies and assesses the potential impact of these scenarios on well-to-wheel (WtW) CO 2 emission reductions primary energy demand evolution, and cost aspects for the prospective vehicle owners. The study reveals that, under the deployed scenarios, the use of bio-fuel blends, technological learning and the deployment of hybrids, battery electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles can decrease WtW CO 2 emissions in EU-27 passenger road transport by 35–57% (compared to 2010 levels) and primary energy demand by 29–51 Mtoe as they would benefit from a future assumed decarbonised electricity and hydrogen mix in Europe. Learning effects can lead to acceptable payback periods for vehicle owners of electric drive vehicles. - Highlights: ► Power-train penetration scenarios for 2010–2050 passenger road transport in Europe. ► A dedicated tool is developed to analyse H 2 production and distribution mix till 2050. ► Alternative vehicles can drastically reduce CO 2 emissions and energy demand. ► Electric vehicles could become cost competitive to conventional vehicles by 2030. ► Policies needed to create adequate momentum and guarantee decarbonised transport.

Using tradeable permits to achieve sustainability in the world`s large cities. Policy design issues and efficiency conditions for controlling vehicle emissions, congestion and urban decentralization with an application to Mexico City

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goddard, H.C. [Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, Mexico City (Mexico)

1997-07-01

Many large cities in the world have serious ground level ozone problems, largely the product of vehicular emissions and thus the argued unsustainability of current urban growth patterns is frequently blamed on unrestricted private vehicle use. This article reviews Mexico City`s experience with vehicle use restrictions as an emissions control program and develops the conditions for optimal quantitative restrictions on vehicle use and for complementary abatement technologies. The stochastic nature of air pollution outcomes is modelled explicitly in both the static and dynamic formulations of the control problem, in which for the first time in the literature the use of tradeable vehicle use permits is proposed as a cost-effective complement to technological abatement for mobile emissions control. This control regime gives the authorities a broader and more flexible set of instruments with which to deal more effectively with vehicle emissions, and with seasonal and stochastic variation of air quality outcomes. The market in tradeable vehicle use permits would be very competitive with low transactions costs. This control policy would have very favorable impacts on air quality, vehicle congestion and on urban form and development. Given the general political resistance to environmental taxes, this program could constitute a workable and politically palatable set of policies for controlling greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. 7 figs., 1 appendix, 23 refs.

Ground Vehicle System Integration (GVSI) and Design Optimization Model.

Science.gov (United States)

1996-07-30

number of stowed kills Same basic load lasts longer range Gun/ammo parameters impact system weight, under - armor volume requirements Round volume...internal volume is reduced, the model assumes that the crew’s ability to operate while under armor will be impaired. If the size of a vehicle crew is...changing swept volume will alter under armor volume requirements for the total system; if system volume is fixed, changing swept volume will

Ground System Survivability Overview

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-27

Avoidance Blast Mitigation Optimization Customer ILIR RDT&E Funding 5.0 % 0.5% GSS has a proven, technically proficient workforce that meets...Evaluation of Defensive-Aid Suites (ARMED) Common Automatic Fire Extinguishing System ( CAFES ) Transparent Armor Development Ground Combat Vehicle...Survey TRADOC (WFO, CNA, etc) Voice of the Customer Sy st em s En gi ne er in g Publish overarching MIL-STD, design guidelines, technical

Autonomous urban reconnaissance ingress system (AURIS): providing a tactically relevant autonomous door-opening kit for unmanned ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Shane, David J.; Rufo, Michael A.; Berkemeier, Matthew D.; Alberts, Joel A.

2012-06-01

The Autonomous Urban Reconnaissance Ingress System (AURIS™) addresses a significant limitation of current military and first responder robotics technology: the inability of reconnaissance robots to open doors. Leveraging user testing as a baseline, the program has derived specifications necessary for military personnel to open doors with fielded UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles), and evaluates the technology's impact on operational mission areas: duration, timing, and user patience in developing a tactically relevant, safe, and effective system. Funding is provided through the US ARMY Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the project represents a leap forward in perception, autonomy, robotic implements, and coordinated payload operation in UGVs. This paper describes high level details of specification generation, status of the last phase of development, an advanced view of the system autonomy capability, and a short look ahead towards the ongoing work on this compelling and important technology.

Lessons learnt from the market for air freight ground handling at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burghouwt, G.; Poort, J.; Ritsema, H.

2014-01-01

On 16 April 2013, the European Parliament adopted a new, amended airport ground handling Regulation, which will replace the old Directive 96/67 EC on ground handling services. The new Regulation will further open up European airports for competition on the ground handling market. Even long before

The aluminum-air battery for electric vehicles - An update

Science.gov (United States)

1980-11-01

The development of aluminum-air batteries as mechanically rechargeable power sources to be used in electric vehicles is discussed. The chemistry of the aluminum-air battery, which has a potential for providing the range, acceleration and rapid refueling capability of contemporary automobiles and is based on the reaction of aluminum metal with atmospheric oxygen in the presence of an aqueous sodium hydroxide/sodium aluminate electrolyte, is examined, and it is pointed out that the electric vehicle would be practically emissionless. The battery development program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which includes evaluations of electrochemical and chemical phenomena, studies of the economics and energy balance of a transportation system based on aluminum, and power cell design and performance analysis, is presented. It is concluded that although difficult problems must be overcome before the technical and economic feasibility of aluminum-air batteries for electric vehicles can be established, projections indicate that the aluminum-air vehicle is potentially competitive with internal combustion vehicles powered by synthetic liquid fuels.

Vehicles with fuel cells: dream or reality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

van den Broeck, H; Hovestreydt, G

1979-01-01

Elenco N.V. is developing a hydrogen/potassium hydroxide/air fuel cell system of 10-50 kw with a specific performance of 72 mw/sq cm and a practical operating life of 5000 hr, which will be available in 1981-82. A comparative cost study was performed for vehicles with 100% fuel cells, 100% batteries, hybrid systems of fuel cells combined with batteries that provide high power for acceleration, hydrogen combustion engines, and conventional diesel engines, for city bus fleets, light commercial vehicles, forklifts, and trucks in Holland and Belgium. Hybrid systems give the best economy and they should become competitive with diesel engines after 1990.

Routing the asteroid surface vehicle with detailed mechanics

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yang; Baoyin, He-Xi

2014-06-01

The motion of a surface vehicle on/above an irregular object is investigated for a potential interest in the insitu explorations to asteroids of the solar system. A global valid numeric method, including detailed gravity and geomorphology, is developed to mimic the behaviors of the test particles governed by the orbital equations and surface coupling effects. A general discussion on the surface mechanical environment of a specified asteroid, 1620 Geographos, is presented to make a global evaluation of the surface vehicle's working conditions. We show the connections between the natural trajectories near the ground and differential features of the asteroid surface, which describes both the good and bad of typical terrains from the viewpoint of vehicles' dynamic performances. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to take a further look at the trajectories of particles initializing near the surface. The simulations reveal consistent conclusions with the analysis, i.e., the open-field flat ground and slightly concave basins/valleys are the best choices for the vehicles' dynamical security. The dependence of decending trajectories on the releasing height is studied as an application; the results show that the pole direction (where the centrifugal force is zero) is the most stable direction in which the shift of a natural trajectory will be well limited after landing. We present this work as an example for pre-analysis that provides guidance to engineering design of the exploration site and routing the surface vehicles.

Developing a Blended Type Course of Introduction to Hybrid Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na Zhu

2016-02-01

Full Text Available An innovative course of introduction to hybrid vehicles is developed for both associate and bachelor degree programs for engineering technology with automotive/mechanical concentration. The hybrid vehicle course content includes several topics, such as the rational of pure electric vehicle and hybrid vehicle, hybrid vehicle propulsion systems, fundamentals of motor/generator systems, fundamentals of battery and energy management system, and introduction to various configurations of hybrid vehicle systems available in market and under development. Hybrid vehicle technology is a new area and developed rapidly in the field of automotive and mechanical engineering. Students need not only the fundamentals and concepts from college, but also the ability to keep up with the latest technology after their graduation. Therefore, a blended course type is employed to help students have a better understanding of the fundamentals of hybrid vehicle and developing their self-studying ability. Topics in the course have three steps of learning. Firstly, on-ground lecture is given in class, where the instructor explains basic knowledge, such as principles, equations, and design rules.  In this way, the students will have enough background knowledge and be able to conduct further self-reading and research work. Secondly, students are required to go to university’s desire to learn (D2L online system and finish the online part of the topic. In the D2L system, students will find a quiz and its supporting materials. Thirdly, students come back to the on-ground lecture and discuss the quiz in groups with instructor. After the discussion, the instructor gives students a conclusion of the topic and moves forward to the next topic. A computer simulation class is also given to help student better understand the operation strategies of the hybrid vehicle systems and have a trial of design of hybrid vehicle.

Contamination and decontamination of vehicles when driven in radioactive areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ulvsand, T.; Nygren, U.

1999-10-01

There is reason to ask whether it is beneficial to decontaminate vehicles, in view of the great effort applied. If the level of contamination is low before the decontamination process, then the cost is not motivated, even if the decontamination is shown to be effective in relative terms. The report describes two trials at the National NBC Defence School in Umeaa and one trial at the French test site in Bourges. The aim is to investigate how vehicles are contaminated and at which ground deposition levels troublesome levels of contamination will arise. In the trials, a non-radioactive agent substituting real radioactivity was used. The trials in Sweden so far have used the oversnow vehicle BV 206, during both winter and summer conditions. The vehicles were driven a specific distance along a road on which a known amount of the test substance had been dispersed. Samples were taken on pre-determined areas on one side of the vehicles to measure the amount of test substance. Later, the vehicles continued along a 'clean' road where additional samples were taken, but on the other side of the vehicles. The largest amount of test substance was collected on the tracks and on the back of the vehicle. The tracks and mud-flaps were effectively decontaminated when the vehicles were driven along a clean road, while most of the contamination remained on the backside. The purpose of the trials in France was to compare the results from our non-radioactive and their radioactive method, based on the radioactive La-140. Due to ground conditions, the level of contamination on the vehicles was much less than in the trials in Umeaa, but the effect decontamination could be measured after all

Hybrid Turbine Electric Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Viterna, Larry A.

1997-01-01

Hybrid electric power trains may revolutionize today's ground passenger vehicles by significantly improving fuel economy and decreasing emissions. The NASA Lewis Research Center is working with industry, universities, and Government to develop and demonstrate a hybrid electric vehicle. Our partners include Bowling Green State University, the Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, Lincoln Electric Motor Division, the State of Ohio's Department of Development, and Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical. The vehicle will be a heavy class urban transit bus offering double the fuel economy of today's buses and emissions that are reduced to 1/10th of the Environmental Protection Agency's standards. At the heart of the vehicle's drive train is a natural-gas-fueled engine. Initially, a small automotive engine will be tested as a baseline. This will be followed by the introduction of an advanced gas turbine developed from an aircraft jet engine. The engine turns a high-speed generator, producing electricity. Power from both the generator and an onboard energy storage system is then provided to a variable-speed electric motor attached to the rear drive axle. An intelligent power-control system determines the most efficient operation of the engine and energy storage system.

Operations Assessment of Launch Vehicle Architectures using Activity Based Cost Models

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Torres, Alex J.; McCleskey, Carey

2000-01-01

The growing emphasis on affordability for space transportation systems requires the assessment of new space vehicles for all life cycle activities, from design and development, through manufacturing and operations. This paper addresses the operational assessment of launch vehicles, focusing on modeling the ground support requirements of a vehicle architecture, and estimating the resulting costs and flight rate. This paper proposes the use of Activity Based Costing (ABC) modeling for this assessment. The model uses expert knowledge to determine the activities, the activity times and the activity costs based on vehicle design characteristics. The approach provides several advantages to current approaches to vehicle architecture assessment including easier validation and allowing vehicle designers to understand the cost and cycle time drivers.

Foot strike patterns and ground contact times during high-calibre middle-distance races.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, Phil; Caplan, Nicholas

2012-01-01

The aims of this study were to examine ground contact characteristics, their relationship with race performance, and the time course of any changes in ground contact time during competitive 800 m and 1500 m races. Twenty-two seeded, single-sex middle-distance races totalling 181 runners were filmed at a competitive athletics meeting. Races were filmed at 100 Hz. Ground contact time was recorded one step for each athlete, on each lap of their race. Forefoot and midfoot strikers had significantly shorter ground contact times than heel strikers. Forefoot and midfoot strikers had significantly faster average race speed than heel strikers. There were strong large correlations between ground contact time and average race speed for the women's events and men's 1500 m (r = -0.521 to -0.623; P < 0.05), whereas the men's 800 m displayed only a moderate relationship (r = -0.361; P = 0.002). For each event, ground contact time for the first lap was significantly shorter than for the last lap, which might reflect runners becoming fatigued.

Interactive effect of herbivory and competition on the invasive plant Mikania micrantha.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Junmin; Xiao, Tao; Zhang, Qiong; Dong, Ming

2013-01-01

A considerable number of host-specific biological control agents fail to control invasive plants in the field, and exploring the mechanism underlying this phenomenon is important and helpful for the management of invasive plants. Herbivory and competition are two of the most common biotic stressors encountered by invasive plants in their recipient communities. We predicted that the antagonistic interactive effect between herbivory and competition would weaken the effect of herbivory on invasive plants and result in the failure of herbivory to control invasive plants. To examine this prediction, thus, we conducted an experiment in which both invasive Mikania micrantha and native Coix lacryma-job i were grown together and subjected to herbivory-mimicking defoliation. Both defoliation and competition had significantly negative effects on the growth of the invader. However, the negative effect of 75% respective defoliation on the above- and below-ground biomass of Mikania micrantha was alleviated by presence of Coix lacryma-jobi. The negative effect of competition on the above- and below-ground biomass was equally compensated at 25%, 50% and 100% defoliation and overcompensated at 75% defoliation. The interactive effect was antagonistic and dependent on the defoliation intensity, with the maximum effect at 75% defoliation. The antagonistic interaction between defoliation and competition appears to be able to release the invader from competition, thus facilitating the invasiveness of Mikania, a situation that might make herbivory fail to inhibit the growth of invasive Mikania in the invaded community.

2011 Ground Testing Highlights Article

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, James C.; Buchholz, Steven J.

2011-01-01

Two tests supporting development of the launch abort system for the Orion MultiPurpose Crew Vehicle were run in the NASA Ames Unitary Plan wind tunnel last year. The first test used a fully metric model to examine the stability and controllability of the Launch Abort Vehicle during potential abort scenarios for Mach numbers ranging from 0.3 to 2.5. The aerodynamic effects of the Abort Motor and Attitude Control Motor plumes were simulated using high-pressure air flowing through independent paths. The aerodynamic effects of the proximity to the launch vehicle during the early moments of an abort were simulated with a remotely actuated Service Module that allowed the position relative to the Crew Module to be varied appropriately. The second test simulated the acoustic environment around the Launch Abort Vehicle caused by the plumes from the 400,000-pound thrust, solid-fueled Abort Motor. To obtain the proper acoustic characteristics of the hot rocket plumes for the flight vehicle, heated Helium was used. A custom Helium supply system was developed for the test consisting of 2 jumbo high-pressure Helium trailers, a twelve-tube accumulator, and a 13MW gas-fired heater borrowed from the Propulsion Simulation Laboratory at NASA Glenn Research Center. The test provided fluctuating surface pressure measurements at over 200 points on the vehicle surface that have now been used to define the ground-testing requirements for the Orion Launch Abort Vehicle.

Study of high-definition and stereoscopic head-aimed vision for improved teleoperation of an unmanned ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Tyczka, Dale R.; Wright, Robert; Janiszewski, Brian; Chatten, Martha Jane; Bowen, Thomas A.; Skibba, Brian

2012-06-01

Nearly all explosive ordnance disposal robots in use today employ monoscopic standard-definition video cameras to relay live imagery from the robot to the operator. With this approach, operators must rely on shadows and other monoscopic depth cues in order to judge distances and object depths. Alternatively, they can contact an object with the robot's manipulator to determine its position, but that approach carries with it the risk of detonation from unintentionally disturbing the target or nearby objects. We recently completed a study in which high-definition (HD) and stereoscopic video cameras were used in addition to conventional standard-definition (SD) cameras in order to determine if higher resolutions and/or stereoscopic depth cues improve operators' overall performance of various unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) tasks. We also studied the effect that the different vision modes had on operator comfort. A total of six different head-aimed vision modes were used including normal-separation HD stereo, SD stereo, "micro" (reduced separation) SD stereo, HD mono, and SD mono (two types). In general, the study results support the expectation that higher resolution and stereoscopic vision aid UGV teleoperation, but the degree of improvement was found to depend on the specific task being performed; certain tasks derived notably more benefit from improved depth perception than others. This effort was sponsored by the Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise under Robotics Technology Consortium Agreement #69-200902 T01. Technical management was provided by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Robotics Research and Development Group at Tyndall AFB, Florida.

Assessment of future natural gas vehicle concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Groten, B.; Arrigotti, S.

1992-10-01

The development of Natural Gas Vehicles is progressing rapidly under the stimulus of recent vehicle emission regulations. The development is following what can be viewed as a three step progression. In the first step, contemporary gasoline or diesel fueled automobiles are retrofitted with equipment enabling the vehicle to operate on either natural gas or standard liquid fuels. The second step is the development of vehicles which utilize traditional internal combustion engines that have been modified to operate exclusively on natural gas. These dedicated natural gas vehicles operate more efficiently and have lower emissions than the dual fueled vehicles. The third step is the redesigning, from the ground up, of a vehicle aimed at exploiting the advantages of natural gas as an automotive fuel while minimizing its disadvantages. The current report is aimed at identifying the R&D needs in various fuel storage and engine combinations which have potential for providing increased efficiency, reduced emissions, and reductions in vehicle weight and size. Fuel suppliers, automobile and engine manufacturers, many segments of the natural gas and other industries, and regulatory authorities will influence or be affected by the development of such a third generation vehicle, and it is recommended that GRI act to bring these groups together in the near future to begin, developing the focus on a 'designed-for-natural-gas' vehicle.

Vehicle state estimation using GPS/IMU integration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, Y.; Mangnus, J.; Kostić, D.; Nijmeijer, H.; Jansen, S.T.H.

2011-01-01

New driver support systems require knowledge of the vehicle position with great accuracy and reliability. Satellite navigation (GNSS) is generally insufficiently accurate for positioning and as an alternative to using a ground station, combinations with high quality motion sensors are used in

Analysis of Non-Tactical Vehicle Utilization at Fort Carson Colorado

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

regenerative braking energy recovery. The mass of the vehicles monitored in this study was not known. However, some useful information may be...Unclassified: Distribution A. Approved for Public Release 2012 NDIA GROUND VEHICLE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM MODELING... regenerative energy recovery potential for specific duty cycles was also quantified through a cumulative assessment of the number and severity of deceleration

Recycling end-of-life vehicles of the future. Final CRADA report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jody, B. J.; Pomykala, J. A.; Spangenberger, J. S.; Daniels, E.; Energy Systems

2010-01-14

Argonne National Laboratory (the Contractor) entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the following Participants: Vehicle Recycling Partnership, LLC (VRP, which consists of General Motors [GM], Ford, and Chrysler), and the American Chemistry Council - Plastics Division (ACC-PD). The purpose of this CRADA is to provide for the effective recycling of automotive materials. The long-term goals are to (1) enable the optimum recycling of automotive materials, thereby obviating the need for legislative mandates or directives; (2) enable the recovery of automotive materials in a cost-competitive manner while meeting the performance requirements of the applications and markets for the materials; and (3) remove recycling barriers/reasons, real or perceived, to the use of advanced lightweighting materials or systems in future vehicles. The issues, technical requirements, and cost and institutional considerations in achieving that goal are complex and will require a concerted, focused, and systematic analysis, together with a technology development program. The scope and tasks of this program are derived from 'A Roadmap for Recycling End-of-Life Vehicles of the Future,' prepared in May 2001 for the DOE Office of Energy, Efficiency, and Renewable Energy (EERE)-Vehicle Technologies Program. The objective of this research program is to enable the maximum recycling of automotive materials and obsolete vehicles through the development and commercialization of technologies for the separation and recovery of materials from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). The long-term goals are to (1) enable the optimum recycling of automotive materials, thereby obviating the need for legislative mandates or directives; (2) enable the recovery of automotive materials in a cost-competitive manner while meeting the performance requirements of the applications and markets for the materials; and (3) remove recycling barriers/reasons, real or perceived, to the use

CONCEPTUAL APPROACH OF COMPETITIVENESS AND INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN COMPETITION AND COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana GUTIUM

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This article is devoted to analysis of interdependence and correlation between competition and competitiveness, and competition’s consequences. The author analysed some authors’ visions on competitiveness, and common features between theories of competition and competitiveness. Using the synthetic indicator elaborated by author has been evaluated the competitiveness of domestic goods on the internal and external market. At the end of this article, the author has developed proposals to increase competitiveness.

Prospects for Chinese electric vehicle technologies in 2016–2020: Ambition and rationality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du, Jiuyu; Ouyang, Minggao; Chen, Jingfu

2017-01-01

As the world's largest market for vehicles, China is facing challenges related to energy security and urban air pollution. The development of electric vehicles has been determined to be the national strategy for solving these problems. By the end of 2015, China had become the world's largest electric vehicles market, but its core technologies are still less competitive in the global marketplace. A scientific national strategy for 2016 to 2020 is expected to play a critical role in China becoming the global leader in the electric vehicle industry. The research process for this strategy includes a review of the technologies for electric vehicles, market analyses, benchmarking of the top levels in the field, and expert interviews. By these approaches, the strengths and weaknesses of China's electric vehicle technologies and industry are assessed. Competitive and feasible quantitative goals for key components and powertrains are proposed by this paper, and a core issue has been determined to be the need to improve the safety of high-energy density traction batteries. Improving the power density of electric control units is expected to the core for electric vehicles' electronics and control systems. Key problems for the fuel cell stacks used in cars and buses have been identified by this paper to be, respectively, power density and durability. Long-range plug-in hybrid electric powertrains are the optimal candidate for Chinese plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Lightweight material, intelligent driving technologies and special electric chassis are set to be the focus for improving the energy efficiency of battery electric vehicles. Comprehensive safety and recyclable electric vehicle technologies are set to become key issues in the future, and the Chinese government should research and develop these in advance. - Highlights: • The key technologies of new energy vehicles are comprehensively reviewed. • The global technical status of key components is reviewed. �

Strategy Dynamics through a Demand-Based Lens: The Evolution of Market Boundaries, Resource Rents and Competitive Positions

OpenAIRE

Adner, Ron; Zemsky, Peter

2003-01-01

We develop a novel approach to the dynamics of business strategy that is grounded in an explicit treatment of consumer choice when technologies improve over time. We address the evolution of market boundaries, resource rents and competitive positions by adapting models of competition with differentiated products. Our model is consistent with the central strategy assertion that competitive interactions are governed by superior value creation and competitive advantage. More importantly, it show...

Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles as an Opportunity to Consolidate and Calibrate Ground Based and Satellite Instruments

Science.gov (United States)

Papadopoulos, K.

2014-12-01

XCOR Aerospace, a commercial space company, is planning to provide frequent, low cost access to near-Earth space on the Lynx suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle (sRLV). Measurements in the external vacuum environment can be made and can launch from most runways on a limited lead time. Lynx can operate as a platform to perform suborbital in situ measurements and remote sensing to supplement models and simulations with new data points. These measurements can serve as a quantitative link to existing instruments and be used as a basis to calibrate detectors on spacecraft. Easier access to suborbital data can improve the longevity and cohesiveness of spacecraft and ground-based resources. A study of how these measurements can be made on Lynx sRLV will be presented. At the boundary between terrestrial and space weather, measurements from instruments on Lynx can help develop algorithms to optimize the consolidation of ground and satellite based data as well as assimilate global models with new data points. For example, current tides and the equatorial electrojet, essential to understanding the Thermosphere-Ionosphere system, can be measured in situ frequently and on short notice. Furthermore, a negative-ion spectrometer and a Faraday cup, can take measurements of the D-region ion composition. A differential GPS receiver can infer the spatial gradient of ionospheric electron density. Instruments and optics on spacecraft degrade over time, leading to calibration drift. Lynx can be a cost effective platform for deploying a reference instrument to calibrate satellites with a frequent and fast turnaround and a successful return of the instrument. A calibrated reference instrument on Lynx can make collocated observations as another instrument and corrections are made for the latter, thus ensuring data consistency and mission longevity. Aboard a sRLV, atmospheric conditions that distort remotely sensed data (ground and spacecraft based) can be measured in situ. Moreover, an

Vegetation Versus Man-Made Object Detection from Imagery for Unmanned Vehicles in Off-Road Environments

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

saliency, natural scene statistics 1. INTRODUCTION Research into the area of autonomous navigation for unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) has accelerated in...recent years. This is partly due to the success of programs such as the DARPA Grand Challenge1 and the dream of driverless cars ,2 but is also due to the...NOTES 14. ABSTRACT There have been several major advances in autonomous navigation for unmanned ground vehicles in controlled urban environments in

Sustainable ground transportation – review of technologies, challenges and opportunities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agarwal, Ramesh K. [Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 (United States)

2013-07-01

Currently there are nearly 750 million ground vehicles in service worldwide. They are responsible for 50% of petroleum (oil) consumption and 60% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. The number of vehicles is forecasted to double by 2050. Therefore the environmental issues such as noise, emissions and fuel burn have become important for energy and environmental sustainability. This paper provides an overview of specific energy and environmental issues related to ground transportation. The technologies related to reduction in energy requirements such as reducing the vehicle mass by using the high strength low weight materials and reducing the viscous drag by active flow control and smoothing the operational profile, and reducing the contact friction by special tire materials are discussed along with the portable energy sources for reducing the GHG emissions such as low carbon fuels (biofuels), Lithium-ion batteries with high energy density and stability, and fuel cells. The technological challenges and opportunities for innovations are discussed.

Reliability analysis of high-speed tracked vehicles in the polish army

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kończak Jarosław

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The Polish Armed Forces use tracked vehicles that serve as a core element of the ground combat forces. These vehicles are capable of fighting in all kinds of terrain conditions, in any season of the year. Combat missions are often fought in areas where even no dirt roads are available. The present paper assesses the reliability of tracked vehicles in the context of their irregular operation, as well as service- and maintenance-related vulnerability.

A MARKED POINT PROCESS MODEL FOR VEHICLE DETECTION IN AERIAL LIDAR POINT CLOUDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Börcs

2012-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present an automated method for vehicle detection in LiDAR point clouds of crowded urban areas collected from an aerial platform. We assume that the input cloud is unordered, but it contains additional intensity and return number information which are jointly exploited by the proposed solution. Firstly, the 3-D point set is segmented into ground, vehicle, building roof, vegetation and clutter classes. Then the points with the corresponding class labels and intensity values are projected to the ground plane, where the optimal vehicle configuration is described by a Marked Point Process (MPP model of 2-D rectangles. Finally, the Multiple Birth and Death algorithm is utilized to find the configuration with the highest confidence.

Forming of Sustainable City Competitiveness in the PRC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shvydanenko Oleg

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article describes theoretical principles of international competitiveness of cities. The main methodological grounds of modern models of countries sustainable competitive development are studied. Taking into account the key trends in globalization, the main determinants of forming high competitive status of cities are comprehensively described. Benchmarking of sustainable competitiveness of PRC cities and provinces has been performed, and up-to-date priorities of balanced development of the People's Republic of China PRC have been analyzed. Chinese competitive development strategies has been investigated, and the benchmarking of sustainable competitiveness of Chinese cities has been accomplished. The nature and scale of urbanization processes in China are revealed. The main priorities in the structure of contemporary urbanization strategy of the PRC are defined, being focused on such areas as demographic planning, land management, financial security, residential construction in cities, ecology and environmental protection. The essence of smart cities in the context of their role in formation of local competitive development systems is determined. On the basis of qualitative indicators, the balanced competitiveness of cities of the PRC and the development of smart cities in Chinese provinces has been analyzed. The principles of government influence on the growth of sustainable competitiveness of Chinese megacities is investigated. The supporting evidence is provided for that the main objectives of Chinese megacities development for the next 5 years are to maintain sustainable rates of economic development, to increase the living standards of a specific city population, and to modernize the industrial sector. The strategic priorities for developing individual plans of competitive development for certain cities of the PRC and forming the sustainable competitiveness thereof, are specified.

Performance of electric and hybrid vehicles at the 1995 American Tour de Sol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quong, S.; LeBlanc, N.; Buitrago, C.; Duoba, M.; Larsen, R.

1995-12-31

Energy consumption and performance data were collected on more than 40 electric and hybrid vehicles during the 1995 American Tour de Sol. At this competition, one electric vehicle drove 229 miles on one charge using nickel metalhydride batteries. The results obtained from the data show that electric vehicle efficiencies reached 9.07 mi./kWh or 70 equivalent mpg of gasoline when compared to the total energy cycle efficiency of electricity and gasoline. A gasoline-fueled 1995 Geo Metro that drove the same route attained 36.4 mpg.

Aircraft operability methods applied to space launch vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Douglas

1997-01-01

The commercial space launch market requirement for low vehicle operations costs necessitates the application of methods and technologies developed and proven for complex aircraft systems. The ``building in'' of reliability and maintainability, which is applied extensively in the aircraft industry, has yet to be applied to the maximum extent possible on launch vehicles. Use of vehicle system and structural health monitoring, automated ground systems and diagnostic design methods derived from aircraft applications support the goal of achieving low cost launch vehicle operations. Transforming these operability techniques to space applications where diagnostic effectiveness has significantly different metrics is critical to the success of future launch systems. These concepts will be discussed with reference to broad launch vehicle applicability. Lessons learned and techniques used in the adaptation of these methods will be outlined drawing from recent aircraft programs and implementation on phase 1 of the X-33/RLV technology development program.

Ares I-X Ground Diagnostic Prototype

Science.gov (United States)

Schwabacher, Mark A.; Martin, Rodney Alexander; Waterman, Robert D.; Oostdyk, Rebecca Lynn; Ossenfort, John P.; Matthews, Bryan

2010-01-01

The automation of pre-launch diagnostics for launch vehicles offers three potential benefits: improving safety, reducing cost, and reducing launch delays. The Ares I-X Ground Diagnostic Prototype demonstrated anomaly detection, fault detection, fault isolation, and diagnostics for the Ares I-X first-stage Thrust Vector Control and for the associated ground hydraulics while the vehicle was in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and while it was on the launch pad. The prototype combines three existing tools. The first tool, TEAMS (Testability Engineering and Maintenance System), is a model-based tool from Qualtech Systems Inc. for fault isolation and diagnostics. The second tool, SHINE (Spacecraft Health Inference Engine), is a rule-based expert system that was developed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. We developed SHINE rules for fault detection and mode identification, and used the outputs of SHINE as inputs to TEAMS. The third tool, IMS (Inductive Monitoring System), is an anomaly detection tool that was developed at NASA Ames Research Center. The three tools were integrated and deployed to KSC, where they were interfaced with live data. This paper describes how the prototype performed during the period of time before the launch, including accuracy and computer resource usage. The paper concludes with some of the lessons that we learned from the experience of developing and deploying the prototype.

Space sequestration below ground in old-growth spruce-beech forests-signs for facilitation?

Science.gov (United States)

Bolte, Andreas; Kampf, Friederike; Hilbrig, Lutz

2013-01-01

Scientists are currently debating the effects of mixing tree species for the complementary resource acquisition in forest ecosystems. In four unmanaged old-growth spruce-beech forests in strict nature reserves in southern Sweden and northern Germany we assessed forest structure and fine rooting profiles and traits (≤2 mm) by fine root sampling and the analysis of fine root morphology and biomass. These studies were conducted in selected tree groups with four different interspecific competition perspectives: (1) spruce as a central tree, (2) spruce as competitor, (3) beech as a central tree, and (4) beech as competitor. Mean values of life fine root attributes like biomass (FRB), length (FRL), and root area index (RAI) were significantly lower for spruce than for beech in mixed stands. Vertical profiles of fine root attributes adjusted to one unit of basal area (BA) exhibited partial root system stratification when central beech is growing with spruce competitors. In this constellation, beech was able to raise its specific root length (SRL) and therefore soil exploration efficiency in the subsoil, while increasing root biomass partitioning into deeper soil layers. According to relative values of fine root attributes (rFRA), asymmetric below-ground competition was observed favoring beech over spruce, in particular when central beech trees are admixed with spruce competitors. We conclude that beech fine rooting is facilitated in the presence of spruce by lowering competitive pressure compared to intraspecific competition whereas the competitive pressure for spruce is increased by beech admixture. Our findings underline the need of spatially differentiated approaches to assess interspecific competition below ground. Single-tree approaches and simulations of below-ground competition are required to focus rather on microsites populated by tree specimens as the basic spatial study area.

Total dynamic response of a PSS vehicle negotiating asymmetric road excitations

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Jian Jun; Khajepour, Amir; Esmailzadeh, Ebrahim

2012-12-01

A planar suspension system (PSS) is a novel automobile suspension system in which an individual spring-damper strut is implemented in both the vertical and longitudinal directions, respectively. The wheels in a vehicle with such a suspension system can move back and forth relative to the chassis. When a PSS vehicle experiences asymmetric road excitations, the relative longitudinal motion of wheels with respect to the chassis in two sides of the same axle are not identical, and thus the two wheels at one axle will not be aligned in the same axis. The total dynamic responses, including those of the bounce, pitch and the roll of the PSS vehicle, to the asymmetric road excitation may exhibit different characteristics from those of a conventional vehicle. This paper presents an investigation into the comprehensive dynamic behaviour of a vehicle with the PSS, in such a road condition, on both the straight and curved roads. The study was carried out using an 18 DOF full-car model incorporating a radial-spring tyre-ground contact model and a 2D tyre-ground dynamic friction model. Results demonstrate that the total dynamic behaviour of a PSS vehicle is generally comparable with that of the conventional vehicle, while PSS exhibits significant improvement in absorbing the impact forces along the longitudinal direction when compared to the conventional suspension system. The PSS vehicle is found to be more stable than the conventional vehicle in terms of the directional performance against the disturbance of the road potholes on a straight line manoeuvre, while exhibiting a very similar handling performance on a curved line.

Using virtual environment for autonomous vehicle algorithm validation

Science.gov (United States)

Levinskis, Aleksandrs

2018-04-01

This paper describes possible use of modern game engine for validating and proving the concept of algorithm design. As the result simple visual odometry algorithm will be provided to show the concept and go over all workflow stages. Some of stages will involve using of Kalman filter in such a way that it will estimate optical flow velocity as well as position of moving camera located at vehicle body. In particular Unreal Engine 4 game engine will be used for generating optical flow patterns and ground truth path. For optical flow determination Horn and Schunck method will be applied. As the result, it will be shown that such method can estimate position of the camera attached to vehicle with certain displacement error respect to ground truth depending on optical flow pattern. For displacement rate RMS error is calculating between estimated and actual position.

Technology Improvement for the High Reliability LM-2F Launch Vehicle

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

QIN Tong; RONG Yi; ZHENG Liwei; ZHANG Zhi

2017-01-01

The Long March 2F (LM-2F) launch vehicle,the only launch vehicle designed for manned space flight in China,successfully launched the Tiangong 2 space laboratory and the Shenzhou ll manned spaceship into orbits in 2016 respectively.In this study,it introduces the technological improvements for enhancing the reliability of the LM-2F launch vehicle in the aspects of general technology,control system,manufacture and ground support system.The LM2F launch vehicle will continue to provide more contributions to the Chinese Space Station Project with its high reliability and 100％ success rate.

Competition between direct interaction and Kondo effect: Renormalization-group approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allub, R.

1988-03-01

Via the Wilson renormalization-group approach, the effect of the competition between direct interaction (J L ) and Kondo coupling is studied, in the magnetic susceptibility of a model with two different magnetic impurities. For the ferromagnetic interaction (J L > 0) between the localized impurities, we find a magnetic ground state and a divergent susceptibility at low temperatures. For (J L < 0), two different Kondo temperatures and a non-magnetic ground state are distinguished. (author). 12 refs, 1 fig

An interactive physics-based unmanned ground vehicle simulator leveraging open source gaming technology: progress in the development and application of the virtual autonomous navigation environment (VANE) desktop

Science.gov (United States)

Rohde, Mitchell M.; Crawford, Justin; Toschlog, Matthew; Iagnemma, Karl D.; Kewlani, Guarav; Cummins, Christopher L.; Jones, Randolph A.; Horner, David A.

2009-05-01

It is widely recognized that simulation is pivotal to vehicle development, whether manned or unmanned. There are few dedicated choices, however, for those wishing to perform realistic, end-to-end simulations of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The Virtual Autonomous Navigation Environment (VANE), under development by US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), provides such capabilities but utilizes a High Performance Computing (HPC) Computational Testbed (CTB) and is not intended for on-line, real-time performance. A product of the VANE HPC research is a real-time desktop simulation application under development by the authors that provides a portal into the HPC environment as well as interaction with wider-scope semi-automated force simulations (e.g. OneSAF). This VANE desktop application, dubbed the Autonomous Navigation Virtual Environment Laboratory (ANVEL), enables analysis and testing of autonomous vehicle dynamics and terrain/obstacle interaction in real-time with the capability to interact within the HPC constructive geo-environmental CTB for high fidelity sensor evaluations. ANVEL leverages rigorous physics-based vehicle and vehicle-terrain interaction models in conjunction with high-quality, multimedia visualization techniques to form an intuitive, accurate engineering tool. The system provides an adaptable and customizable simulation platform that allows developers a controlled, repeatable testbed for advanced simulations. ANVEL leverages several key technologies not common to traditional engineering simulators, including techniques from the commercial video-game industry. These enable ANVEL to run on inexpensive commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. In this paper, the authors describe key aspects of ANVEL and its development, as well as several initial applications of the system.

High-speed ground transportation development outside United States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eastham, T.R. [Queen`s Univ., Kingston, Ontario (United Kingdom)

1995-09-01

This paper surveys the state of high-speed (in excess of 200 km/h) ground-transportation developments outside the United States. Both high-speed rail and Maglev systems are covered. Many vehicle systems capable of providing intercity service in the speed range 200--500 km/h are or will soon be available. The current state of various technologies, their implementation, and the near-term plans of countries that are most active in high-speed ground transportation development are reported.

Illumination compensation in ground based hyperspectral imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Wendel, Alexander; Underwood, James

2017-07-01

Hyperspectral imaging has emerged as an important tool for analysing vegetation data in agricultural applications. Recently, low altitude and ground based hyperspectral imaging solutions have come to the fore, providing very high resolution data for mapping and studying large areas of crops in detail. However, these platforms introduce a unique set of challenges that need to be overcome to ensure consistent, accurate and timely acquisition of data. One particular problem is dealing with changes in environmental illumination while operating with natural light under cloud cover, which can have considerable effects on spectral shape. In the past this has been commonly achieved by imaging known reference targets at the time of data acquisition, direct measurement of irradiance, or atmospheric modelling. While capturing a reference panel continuously or very frequently allows accurate compensation for illumination changes, this is often not practical with ground based platforms, and impossible in aerial applications. This paper examines the use of an autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to gather high resolution hyperspectral imaging data of crops under natural illumination. A process of illumination compensation is performed to extract the inherent reflectance properties of the crops, despite variable illumination. This work adapts a previously developed subspace model approach to reflectance and illumination recovery. Though tested on a ground vehicle in this paper, it is applicable to low altitude unmanned aerial hyperspectral imagery also. The method uses occasional observations of reference panel training data from within the same or other datasets, which enables a practical field protocol that minimises in-field manual labour. This paper tests the new approach, comparing it against traditional methods. Several illumination compensation protocols for high volume ground based data collection are presented based on the results. The findings in this paper are

A polynomial chaos approach to the analysis of vehicle dynamics under uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Kewlani, Gaurav; Crawford, Justin; Iagnemma, Karl

2012-05-01

The ability of ground vehicles to quickly and accurately analyse their dynamic response to a given input is critical to their safety and efficient autonomous operation. In field conditions, significant uncertainty is associated with terrain and/or vehicle parameter estimates, and this uncertainty must be considered in the analysis of vehicle motion dynamics. Here, polynomial chaos approaches that explicitly consider parametric uncertainty during modelling of vehicle dynamics are presented. They are shown to be computationally more efficient than the standard Monte Carlo scheme, and experimental results compared with the simulation results performed on ANVEL (a vehicle simulator) indicate that the method can be utilised for efficient and accurate prediction of vehicle motion in realistic scenarios.

An innovation and policy agenda for commercially competitive plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemoine, D M; Kammen, D M; Farrell, A E

2008-01-01

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can use both grid-supplied electricity and liquid fuels. We show that under recent conditions, millions of PHEVs could have charged economically in California during both peak and off-peak hours even with modest gasoline prices and real-time electricity pricing. Special electricity rate tariffs already in place for electric vehicles could successfully render on-peak charging uneconomical and off-peak charging very attractive. However, unless battery prices fall by at least a factor of two, or gasoline prices double, the present value of fuel savings is smaller than the marginal vehicle costs, likely slowing PHEV market penetration in California. We also find that assumptions about how PHEVs are charged strongly influence the number of PHEVs that can be charged before the electric power system must be expanded. If most PHEVs are charged after the workday, and thus after the time of peak electricity demand, our forecasts suggest that several million PHEVs could be deployed in California without requiring new generation capacity, and we also find that the state's PHEV fleet is unlikely to reach into the millions within the current electricity sector planning cycle. To ensure desirable outcomes, appropriate technologies and incentives for PHEV charging will be needed if PHEV adoption becomes mainstream

An innovation and policy agenda for commercially competitive plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Lemoine, D. M.; Kammen, D. M.; Farrell, A. E.

2008-01-01

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can use both grid-supplied electricity and liquid fuels. We show that under recent conditions, millions of PHEVs could have charged economically in California during both peak and off-peak hours even with modest gasoline prices and real-time electricity pricing. Special electricity rate tariffs already in place for electric vehicles could successfully render on-peak charging uneconomical and off-peak charging very attractive. However, unless battery prices fall by at least a factor of two, or gasoline prices double, the present value of fuel savings is smaller than the marginal vehicle costs, likely slowing PHEV market penetration in California. We also find that assumptions about how PHEVs are charged strongly influence the number of PHEVs that can be charged before the electric power system must be expanded. If most PHEVs are charged after the workday, and thus after the time of peak electricity demand, our forecasts suggest that several million PHEVs could be deployed in California without requiring new generation capacity, and we also find that the state's PHEV fleet is unlikely to reach into the millions within the current electricity sector planning cycle. To ensure desirable outcomes, appropriate technologies and incentives for PHEV charging will be needed if PHEV adoption becomes mainstream.

Intelligent Terrain Analysis and Tactical Support System (ITATSS) for Unmanned Ground Vehicles

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Jones, Randolph M; Arkin, Ron; Sidki, Nahid

2005-01-01

...). The system enable unmanned combat and support vehicles to achieve significant new levels of autonomy, mobility, rapid response, coordination and effectiveness, while simultaneously enriching human...

Trajectories and Maneuvers of Surrounding Vehicles with Panoramic Camera Arrays

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dueholm, Jacob Velling; Kristoffersen, Miklas Strøm; Satzoda, Ravi K.

2016-01-01

Vision-based research for intelligent vehicles have traditionally focused on specific regions around a vehicle, such as a front looking camera for, e.g., lane estimation. Traffic scenes are complex and vital information could be lost in unobserved regions. This paper proposes a framework that uses...... four visual sensors for a full surround view of a vehicle in order to achieve an understanding of surrounding vehicle behaviors. The framework will assist the analysis of naturalistic driving studies by automating the task of data reduction of the observed trajectories. To this end, trajectories...... are estimated using a vehicle detector together with a multiperspective optimized tracker in each view. The trajectories are transformed to a common ground plane, where they are associated between perspectives and analyzed to reveal tendencies around the ego-vehicle. The system is tested on sequences from 2.5 h...

Comparison between vertical acceleration data from acquired signals and multibody model for an off-road vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristian Padilha Fontoura

2018-02-01

Full Text Available SAE Mini Baja competitions require efforts in developing a reliable vehicle project that enables their teams to manage time and resources wisely. Vehicle simulations are one the best ways to deal with these conditions and prevent failure during a test. This work outlines the methodology that was carried out for validating the multibody dynamics model of a Mini Baja vehicle through vertical acceleration data acquisition. The data was acquired with the vehicle in different sets of obstacles, based on those seen in previously held competitions. Simulation was done through ADAMS/Car, with the vehicle’s multibody model being simulated in different three-dimensional roads, counterpart to those where data acquisition took place. Simulation data, when compared to acquired acceleration signals for most of the obstacles, exhibited equivalence. Additional data computation revealed that the spectra in the frequency domain presented most severe loads concentrated between 0 and 20 Hz, incoming mostly from road unevenness. Gathering such data, by the presented approach can assist future analyses and guide the Baja Team in defining an improved project by predicting its dynamic behavior.

Intercomparison of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Ground-Based Narrow Band Spectrometers Applied to Crop Trait Monitoring in Organic Potato Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marston Héracles Domingues Franceschini

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Vegetation properties can be estimated using optical sensors, acquiring data on board of different platforms. For instance, ground-based and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV-borne spectrometers can measure reflectance in narrow spectral bands, while different modelling approaches, like regressions fitted to vegetation indices, can relate spectra with crop traits. Although monitoring frameworks using multiple sensors can be more flexible, they may result in higher inaccuracy due to differences related to the sensors characteristics, which can affect information sampling. Also organic production systems can benefit from continuous monitoring focusing on crop management and stress detection, but few studies have evaluated applications with this objective. In this study, ground-based and UAV spectrometers were compared in the context of organic potato cultivation. Relatively accurate estimates were obtained for leaf chlorophyll (RMSE = 6.07 µg·cm−2, leaf area index (RMSE = 0.67 m2·m−2, canopy chlorophyll (RMSE = 0.24 g·m−2 and ground cover (RMSE = 5.5% using five UAV-based data acquisitions, from 43 to 99 days after planting. These retrievals are slightly better than those derived from ground-based measurements (RMSE = 7.25 µg·cm−2, 0.85 m2·m−2, 0.28 g·m−2 and 6.8%, respectively, for the same period. Excluding observations corresponding to the first acquisition increased retrieval accuracy and made outputs more comparable between sensors, due to relatively low vegetation cover on this date. Intercomparison of vegetation indices indicated that indices based on the contrast between spectral bands in the visible and near-infrared, like OSAVI, MCARI2 and CIg provided, at certain extent, robust outputs that could be transferred between sensors. Information sampling at plot level by both sensing solutions resulted in comparable discriminative potential concerning advanced stages of late blight incidence. These results indicate that optical

The Electric Fleet Size and Mix Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Recharging Stations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hiermann, Gerhard; Puchinger, Jakob; Røpke, Stefan

2016-01-01

Due to new regulations and further technological progress in the field of electric vehicles, the research community faces the new challenge of incorporating the electric energy based restrictions into vehicle routing problems. One of these restrictions is the limited battery capacity which makes...... detours to recharging stations necessary, thus requiring efficient tour planning mechanisms in order to sustain the competitiveness of electric vehicles compared to conventional vehicles. We introduce the Electric Fleet Size and Mix Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Recharging Stations (E......-FSMFTW) to model decisions to be made with regards to fleet composition and the actual vehicle routes including the choice of recharging times and locations. The available vehicle types differ in their transport capacity, battery size and acquisition cost. Furthermore, we consider time windows at customer...

Study of Model Predictive Control for Path-Following Autonomous Ground Vehicle Control under Crosswind Effect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fitri Yakub

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We present a comparative study of model predictive control approaches of two-wheel steering, four-wheel steering, and a combination of two-wheel steering with direct yaw moment control manoeuvres for path-following control in autonomous car vehicle dynamics systems. Single-track mode, based on a linearized vehicle and tire model, is used. Based on a given trajectory, we drove the vehicle at low and high forward speeds and on low and high road friction surfaces for a double-lane change scenario in order to follow the desired trajectory as close as possible while rejecting the effects of wind gusts. We compared the controller based on both simple and complex bicycle models without and with the roll vehicle dynamics for different types of model predictive control manoeuvres. The simulation result showed that the model predictive control gave a better performance in terms of robustness for both forward speeds and road surface variation in autonomous path-following control. It also demonstrated that model predictive control is useful to maintain vehicle stability along the desired path and has an ability to eliminate the crosswind effect.

A signature correlation study of ground target VHF/UHF ISAR imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Gatesman, Andrew J.; Beaudoin, Christopher J.; Giles, Robert H.; Kersey, William T.; Waldman, Jerry; Carter, Steve; Nixon, William E.

2003-09-01

VV and HH-polarized radar signatures of several ground targets were acquired in the VHF/UHF band (171-342 MHz) by using 1/35th scale models and an indoor radar range operating from 6 to 12 GHz. Data were processed into medianized radar cross sections as well as focused, ISAR imagery. Measurement validation was confirmed by comparing the radar cross section of a test object with a method of moments radar cross section prediction code. The signatures of several vehicles from three vehicle classes (tanks, trunks, and TELs) were measured and a signature cross-correlation study was performed. The VHF/UHF band is currently being exploited for its foliage penetration ability, however, the coarse image resolution which results from the relatively long radar wavelengths suggests a more challenging target recognition problem. One of the study's goals was to determine the amount of unique signature content in VHF/UHF ISAR imagery of military ground vehicles. Open-field signatures are compared with each other as well as with simplified shapes of similar size. Signatures were also acquired on one vehicle in a variety of configurations to determine the impact of monitor target variations on the signature content at these frequencies.

Intelligence Level Performance Standards Research for Autonomous Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Bostelman, Roger B; Hong, Tsai H; Messina, Elena

2015-01-01

United States and European safety standards have evolved to protect workers near Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV's). However, performance standards for AGV's and mobile robots have only recently begun development. Lessons can be learned from research and standards efforts for mobile robots applied to emergency response and military applications. Research challenges, tests and evaluations, and programs to develop higher intelligence levels for vehicles can also used to guide industrial AGV developments towards more adaptable and intelligent systems. These other efforts also provide useful standards development criteria for AGV performance test methods. Current standards areas being considered for AGVs are for docking, navigation, obstacle avoidance, and the ground truth systems that measure performance. This paper provides a look to the future with standards developments in both the performance of vehicles and the dynamic perception systems that measure intelligent vehicle performance.

Space sequestration below ground in old-growth spruce-beech forests – signs for facilitation?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas eBolte

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Scientists are currently debating the effects of mixing tree species for the complementary resource acquisition in forest ecosystems. In four unmanaged old-growth spruce-beech forests in strict nature reserves in southern Sweden and northern Germany we assessed forest structure and fine rooting profiles and traits (≤ 2 mm by fine root sampling and the analysis of fine root morphology and biomass. These studies were conducted in selected tree groups with four different interspecific competition perspectives: (1 spruce as a central tree, (2 spruce as competitor, (3 beech as a central tree, and (4 beech as competitor. Mean values of life fine root attributes like biomass (FRB, length (FRL, and root area index (RAI were significantly lower for spruce than for beech in mixed stands. Vertical profiles of fine root attributes adjusted to one unit of basal area (BA exhibited partial root system stratification when central beech is growing with spruce competitors. In this constellation, beech was able to raise its specific root length (SRL and therefore soil exploration efficiency in the subsoil, while increasing root biomass partitioning into deeper soil layers. According to relative values of fine root attributes (rFRA, asymmetric below-ground competition was observed favoring beech over spruce, in particular when central beech trees are admixed with spruce competitors. We conclude that beech fine rooting is facilitated in the presence of spruce by lowering competitive pressure compared to intraspecific competition whereas the competitive pressure for spruce is increased by beech admixture. Our findings underline the need of spatially differentiated approaches to assess interspecific competition below ground. Single-tree approaches and simulations of below-ground competition are required to focus rather on microsites populated by tree specimens as the basic spatial study area.

Development of a dedicated ethanol ultra-low-emissions vehicle (ULEV): Phase 3 report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dodge, L; Callahan, T; Leone, D; Naegeli, D; Shouse, K; Smith, L; Whitney, K [Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio, TX (United States)

1998-04-01

The objective of the 3.5 year project discussed in this report was to develop a commercially competitive vehicle powered by ethanol (or an ethanol blend) that can meet California`s Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) standards and equivalent Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) energy efficiency for a light duty passenger car application. This particular report summarizes the third phase of the project, which lasted 12 months. Emissions tests were conducted with advanced after-treatment devices on one of the two, almost identical, test vehicles, a 1993 Ford Taurus flexible fuel vehicle. The report also covers tests on the engine removed from the second Taurus vehicle. This engine was modified for an increased compression ratio, fitted with air assist injectors, and included an advanced engine control system with model-based control.

Mechanical Properties Experimental Study of Engineering Vehicle Refurbished Tire

Science.gov (United States)

Qiang, Wang; Xiaojie, Qi; Zhao, Yang; Yunlong, Wang; Guotian, Wang; Degang, Lv

2018-05-01

The vehicle refurbished tire test system was constructed, got load-deformation, load-stiffness, and load-compression ratio property laws of engineering vehicle refurbished tire under the working condition of static state and ground contact, and built radial direction loading deformation mathematics model of 26.5R25 engineering vehicle refurbished tire. The test results show that radial-direction and side-direction deformation value is a little less than that of the new tire. The radial-direction stiffness and compression ratio of engineering vehicle refurbished tire were greatly influenced by radial-direction load and air inflation pressure. When load was certain, radial-direction stiffness would increase with air inflation pressure increasing. When air inflation pressure was certain, compression ratio of engineering vehicle refurbished tire would enlarge with radial-direction load increasing, which was a little less than that of the new and the same type tire. Aging degree of old car-case would exert a great influence on deformation property of engineering vehicle refurbished tire, thus engineering vehicle refurbished tires are suitable to the working condition of low tire pressure and less load.

Automated Vehicle Policy and Regulation: A State Perspective Workshop: Summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Young, Stanley E. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Levine, Aaron [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-06-01

A workshop held on May 18, 2016, at the University of Maryland focused on key principles that should govern state policy decisions intended to ensure the safe operation of autonomous vehicles (AVs). The patchwork approach taken by early state adopters had primarily addressed only testing of these vehicles. As uncertainties in technology and business models play out, and in the absence of more suitable policies and regulations, states are relying on laws created for conventional vehicles to govern AV operations. The workshop addressed these challenges with three panel discussions that examined the underpinnings of policy development, factors affecting policy decisions, and the ultimate impact of AVs in a number of areas, including economic competitiveness; quality of mobility, particularly for disabled community; and energy use and emissions.

Situational awareness for unmanned ground vehicles in semi-structured environments

Science.gov (United States)

Goodsell, Thomas G.; Snorrason, Magnus; Stevens, Mark R.

2002-07-01

Situational Awareness (SA) is a critical component of effective autonomous vehicles, reducing operator workload and allowing an operator to command multiple vehicles or simultaneously perform other tasks. Our Scene Estimation & Situational Awareness Mapping Engine (SESAME) provides SA for mobile robots in semi-structured scenes, such as parking lots and city streets. SESAME autonomously builds volumetric models for scene analysis. For example, a SES-AME equipped robot can build a low-resolution 3-D model of a row of cars, then approach a specific car and build a high-resolution model from a few stereo snapshots. The model can be used onboard to determine the type of car and locate its license plate, or the model can be segmented out and sent back to an operator who can view it from different viewpoints. As new views of the scene are obtained, the model is updated and changes are tracked (such as cars arriving or departing). Since the robot's position must be accurately known, SESAME also has automated techniques for deter-mining the position and orientation of the camera (and hence, robot) with respect to existing maps. This paper presents an overview of the SESAME architecture and algorithms, including our model generation algorithm.

Technological perspectives of clean vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juanico, Luis

2005-01-01

The main characteristics of the different technologies of available commercially cars were studied (now or in the halfway through time limit) of smaller contaminants gases generation, with the objective to carry out a comparative evaluation of their competitiveness and feasibilities of real insertion.They were studied thus the self-electric 'pure' and hybrid, from motors of conventional combustion and of cells of fuels with reformers; as well as them fed by hydrogen, utilized in motors of combustion and in direct conversion fuels cells. It is appreciated that the cars hibridos conventional present large advantages that are permitting their effective insertion in the market. Of the remainders, only the conventional motor of hydrogen does not present technological obstacles and has real potentiality in the medium time limit.The electric cars have strong limitations owed al poor performance of the batteries set against the liquid fuels, that have shown do not they permit him to be inserted in the real market in spite of the enormous efforts carried out.The fuel cells continue being very costly. Being that the technologies selected for electric vehicles (of polimer membrane) use essentially hydrogen as fuel, which (besides other disadvantages) has a prohibitive cost set against the hydrocarbons, their possibility of massive insertion is little probable, still low environmental incentives.There are several reasons to think that the EVs with fuel cells of hydrogen (PEM) can run the same luck that the EVs of batteries.The use of internal converters of gasoline or the cells of metanol direct appear with an interesting horizon, although they will need still strong investments in basic investigations associates to be competitive.The hydrogen is a vector energy, not a resource, and being its main producing market and consumer the industry of the petroleum, very with difficulty this return competitive before an increase in the oil price.Their use in vehicles way the adaptation

Wind Energy and Transport Synergy: Electric Vehicle or Hydrogen Vehicle?; Sinergia Energia Eolica Transporte: vehiculo electrico o vehiculo de hidrogeno?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cruz, I.

2009-07-01

This article briefly analyzes the potential uses of hydrogen as a form of energy from wind power. It also briefly describes the different experiences gained in wind energy-based hydrogen production by water hydrolysis, and finally it concludes with a brief analysis of the competition between hydrogen and the new ion-lithium batteries used in motor vehicles as potential solutions to support wind energy management. (Author)

Dynamic tire pressure sensor for measuring ground vibration.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qi; McDaniel, James Gregory; Wang, Ming L

2012-11-07

This work presents a convenient and non-contact acoustic sensing approach for measuring ground vibration. This approach, which uses an instantaneous dynamic tire pressure sensor (DTPS), possesses the capability to replace the accelerometer or directional microphone currently being used for inspecting pavement conditions. By measuring dynamic pressure changes inside the tire, ground vibration can be amplified and isolated from environmental noise. In this work, verifications of the DTPS concept of sensing inside the tire have been carried out. In addition, comparisons between a DTPS, ground-mounted accelerometer, and directional microphone are made. A data analysis algorithm has been developed and optimized to reconstruct ground acceleration from DTPS data. Numerical and experimental studies of this DTPS reveal a strong potential for measuring ground vibration caused by a moving vehicle. A calibration of transfer function between dynamic tire pressure change and ground acceleration may be needed for different tire system or for more accurate application.

Shielding factors for vehicles to gamma radiation from activity deposited on structures and ground surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lauridsen, B.; Hedemann Jensen, P.

1982-04-01

This report describes a measuring procedure for the determination of shielding factors for vehicles passing through areas that have been contaminated by activity released to the atmosphere from a reactor accident. A simulated radiation field from fallout has been approximated by a point source that has been placed in a matrix around and above the vehicle. Modifying factors are discussed such as mutual shielding by nearby buildings and passengers. From measurements on different vehicles with and without passengers shielding factors are recommended for ordinary cars and busses in both urban and open areas, and areas with single family houses. (author)

Cue competition affects temporal dynamics of edge-assignment in human visual cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Joseph L; Palmer, Stephen E

2011-03-01

Edge-assignment determines the perception of relative depth across an edge and the shape of the closer side. Many cues determine edge-assignment, but relatively little is known about the neural mechanisms involved in combining these cues. Here, we manipulated extremal edge and attention cues to bias edge-assignment such that these two cues either cooperated or competed. To index their neural representations, we flickered figure and ground regions at different frequencies and measured the corresponding steady-state visual-evoked potentials (SSVEPs). Figural regions had stronger SSVEP responses than ground regions, independent of whether they were attended or unattended. In addition, competition and cooperation between the two edge-assignment cues significantly affected the temporal dynamics of edge-assignment processes. The figural SSVEP response peaked earlier when the cues causing it cooperated than when they competed, but sustained edge-assignment effects were equivalent for cooperating and competing cues, consistent with a winner-take-all outcome. These results provide physiological evidence that figure-ground organization involves competitive processes that can affect the latency of figural assignment.

A review of dynamic characteristics of magnetically levitated vehicle systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cai, Y.; Chen, S.S.

1995-11-01

The dynamic response of magnetically levitated (maglev) ground transportation systems has important consequences for safety and ride quality, guideway design, and system costs. Ride quality is determined by vehicle response and by environmental factors such as humidity and noise. The dynamic response of the vehicles is the key element in determining ride quality, while vehicle stability is an important safety-related element. To design a guideway that provides acceptable ride quality in the stable region, vehicle dynamics must be understood. Furthermore, the trade-off between guideway smoothness and levitation and control systems must be considered if maglev systems are to be economically feasible. The link between the guideway and the other maglev components is vehicle dynamics. For a commercial maglev system, vehicle dynamics must be analyzed and tested in detail. This report, which reviews various aspects of the dynamic characteristics, experiments and analysis, and design guidelines for maglev systems, discusses vehicle stability, motion dependent magnetic force components, guideway characteristics, vehicle/ guideway interaction, ride quality, suspension control laws, aerodynamic loads and other excitations, and research needs.

Intelligent Vehicle Health Management

Science.gov (United States)

Paris, Deidre E.; Trevino, Luis; Watson, Michael D.

2005-01-01

As a part of the overall goal of developing Integrated Vehicle Health Management systems for aerospace vehicles, the NASA Faculty Fellowship Program (NFFP) at Marshall Space Flight Center has performed a pilot study on IVHM principals which integrates researched IVHM technologies in support of Integrated Intelligent Vehicle Management (IIVM). IVHM is the process of assessing, preserving, and restoring system functionality across flight and ground systems (NASA NGLT 2004). The framework presented in this paper integrates advanced computational techniques with sensor and communication technologies for spacecraft that can generate responses through detection, diagnosis, reasoning, and adapt to system faults in support of INM. These real-time responses allow the IIVM to modify the affected vehicle subsystem(s) prior to a catastrophic event. Furthermore, the objective of this pilot program is to develop and integrate technologies which can provide a continuous, intelligent, and adaptive health state of a vehicle and use this information to improve safety and reduce costs of operations. Recent investments in avionics, health management, and controls have been directed towards IIVM. As this concept has matured, it has become clear the INM requires the same sensors and processing capabilities as the real-time avionics functions to support diagnosis of subsystem problems. New sensors have been proposed, in addition, to augment the avionics sensors to support better system monitoring and diagnostics. As the designs have been considered, a synergy has been realized where the real-time avionics can utilize sensors proposed for diagnostics and prognostics to make better real-time decisions in response to detected failures. IIVM provides for a single system allowing modularity of functions and hardware across the vehicle. The framework that supports IIVM consists of 11 major on-board functions necessary to fully manage a space vehicle maintaining crew safety and mission

Phase competition by design in R0.5Ba0.5MnO3

Science.gov (United States)

Nowadnick, Elizabeth; He, Jiangang; Fennie, Craig

Phase competition between distinct ground states can arise from interactions on similar energy scales between the spin, charge, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom. This competition can result in large responses to external perturbations. For example, the colossal magnetoresistance effect in the rare-earth manganites R1-xAxMnO3 arises out of competing ferromagnetic metallic and charge/orbital-ordered antiferromagnetic insulating states. Phase competition between polar and magnetic ground states is a promising strategy to realize polarization (magnetization) control with a magnetic (electric) field, which is major goal in multiferroics research. In this regard, the half-doped A-site ordered manganite Sm0.5Ba0.5MnO3 is of particular interest, because the charge/orbital-ordered antiferromagnetic insulating state in this material is polar. We use a combination of group theoretic methods and first-principles calculations to elucidate the origin of this polar state, and show that epitaxial strain can tune the material to a regime where there is a strong competition between the polar insulating state and the ferromagnetic metallic state. We then explore how to achieve electric and magnetic field control of the order parameters in this system.

Operator Informational Needs for Multiple Autonomous Small Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Trujillo, Anna C.; Fan, Henry; Cross, Charles D.; Hempley, Lucas E.; Cichella, Venanzio; Puig-Navarro, Javier; Mehdi, Syed Bilal

2015-01-01

With the anticipated explosion of small unmanned aerial vehicles, it is highly likely that operators will be controlling fleets of autonomous vehicles. To fulfill the promise of autonomy, vehicle operators will not be concerned with manual control of the vehicle; instead, they will deal with the overall mission. Furthermore, the one operator to many vehicles is becoming a constant meme with various industries including package delivery, search and rescue, and utility companies. In order for an operator to concurrently control several vehicles, his station must look and behave very differently than the current ground control station instantiations. Furthermore, the vehicle will have to be much more autonomous, especially during non-normal operations, in order to accommodate the knowledge deficit or the information overload of the operator in charge of several vehicles. The expected usage increase of small drones requires presenting the operational information generated by a fleet of heterogeneous autonomous agents to an operator. NASA Langley Research Center's Autonomy Incubator has brought together researchers in various disciplines including controls, trajectory planning, systems engineering, and human factors to develop an integrated system to study autonomy issues. The initial human factors effort is focusing on mission displays that would give an operator the overall status of all autonomous agents involved in the current mission. This paper will discuss the specifics of the mission displays for operators controlling several vehicles.

The Study of Intelligent Vehicle Navigation Path Based on Behavior Coordination of Particle Swarm.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Gaining; Fu, Weiping; Wang, Wen

2016-01-01

In the behavior dynamics model, behavior competition leads to the shock problem of the intelligent vehicle navigation path, because of the simultaneous occurrence of the time-variant target behavior and obstacle avoidance behavior. Considering the safety and real-time of intelligent vehicle, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed to solve these problems for the optimization of weight coefficients of the heading angle and the path velocity. Firstly, according to the behavior dynamics model, the fitness function is defined concerning the intelligent vehicle driving characteristics, the distance between intelligent vehicle and obstacle, and distance of intelligent vehicle and target. Secondly, behavior coordination parameters that minimize the fitness function are obtained by particle swarm optimization algorithms. Finally, the simulation results show that the optimization method and its fitness function can improve the perturbations of the vehicle planning path and real-time and reliability.

Assessment of renewable energy technologies for charging electric vehicles in Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verma, Aman; Raj, Ratan; Kumar, Mayank; Ghandehariun, Samane; Kumar, Amit

2015-01-01

Electric vehicle charging by renewable energy can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents a data-intensive techno-economic model to estimate the cost of charging an electric vehicle with a battery capacity of 16 kW h for an average travel distance of 65 km from small-scale renewable electricity in various jurisdictions in Canada. Six scenarios were developed that encompass scale of operation, charging time, and type of renewable energy system. The costs of charging an electric vehicle from an off-grid wind energy system at a charging time of 8 h is 56.8–58.5 cents/km in Montreal, Quebec, and 58.5–60.0 cents/km in Ottawa, Ontario. However, on integration with a small-scale hydro, the charging costs are 9.4–11.2 cents/km in Montreal, 9.5–11.1 cents/km in Ottawa and 10.2–12.2 cents/km in Vancouver, British Columbia. The results show that electric vehicle charging from small-scale hydro energy integration is cost competitive compared charging from conventional grid electricity in all the chosen jurisdictions. Furthermore, when the electric vehicle charging time decreases from 8 to 4 h, the cost of charging increases by 83% and 11% from wind and hydro energy systems, respectively. - Highlights: • Techno-economic analysis conducted for EV charging from wind and hydro. • EV charging from hydro energy is cost competitive than from wind energy. • GHG mitigation estimated from operation of EV charged from renewable energy. • Sensitivity of key parameters on cost of charging considered

Peer review and competition in the Art Exhibition Game.

Science.gov (United States)

Balietti, Stefano; Goldstone, Robert L; Helbing, Dirk

2016-07-26

To investigate the effect of competitive incentives under peer review, we designed a novel experimental setup called the Art Exhibition Game. We present experimental evidence of how competition introduces both positive and negative effects when creative artifacts are evaluated and selected by peer review. Competition proved to be a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it fosters innovation and product diversity, but on the other hand, it also leads to more unfair reviews and to a lower level of agreement between reviewers. Moreover, an external validation of the quality of peer reviews during the laboratory experiment, based on 23,627 online evaluations on Amazon Mechanical Turk, shows that competition does not significantly increase the level of creativity. Furthermore, the higher rejection rate under competitive conditions does not improve the average quality of published contributions, because more high-quality work is also rejected. Overall, our results could explain why many ground-breaking studies in science end up in lower-tier journals. Differences and similarities between the Art Exhibition Game and scholarly peer review are discussed and the implications for the design of new incentive systems for scientists are explained.

Virtual and live social facilitation while exergaming: competitiveness moderates exercise intensity.

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Amanda L; Anderson-Hanley, Cay; Arciero, Paul J

2012-04-01

Grounded in social facilitation theory, this study compared the impact on exercise intensity of a virtual versus a live competitor, when riding a virtual reality-enhanced stationary bike ("cybercycle"). It was hypothesized that competitiveness would moderate effects. Twenty-three female college students were exposed to three conditions on a cybercycle: solo training, virtual competitor, and live competitor. After training without a competitor (solo condition for familiarization with equipment), participants competed against a virtual avatar or live rider (random order of presentation). A repeated-measures analysis revealed a significant condition (virtual/live) by competitiveness (high/low) interaction for exercise intensity (watts). More competitive participants exhibited significantly greater exercise intensity when competing against a live versus virtual competitor. The implication is that live competitors can have an added social facilitation effect and influence exercise intensity, although competitiveness moderates this effect.

Near-ground cooling efficacies of trees and high-albedo surfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levinson, Ronnen M. [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

1997-05-01

Daytime summer urban heat islands arise when the prevalence of dark-colored surfaces and lack of vegetation make a city warmer than neighboring countryside. Two frequently-proposed summer heat island mitigation measures are to plant trees and to increase the albedo (solar reflectivity) of ground surfaces. This dissertation examines the effects of these measures on the surface temperature of an object near the ground, and on solar heating of air near the ground. Near-ground objects include people, vehicles, and buildings. The variation of the surface temperature of a near-ground object with ground albedo indicates that a rise in ground albedo will cool a near-ground object only if the object`s albedo exceeds a critical value. This critical value of object albedo depends on wind speed, object geometry, and the height of the atmospheric thermal boundary layer. It ranges from 0.15 to 0.37 for a person. If an object has typical albedo of 0.3, increasing the ground albedo by.

Tracks for Eastern/Western European Future Launch Vehicles Cooperation

Science.gov (United States)

Eymar, Patrick; Bertschi, Markus

2002-01-01

exclusively upon Western European elements indigenously produced. Yet some private initiatives took place successfully in the second half of the nineties (Eurockot and Starsem) bringing together companies from Western and Eastern Europe. Evolution of these JV's are already envisioned. But these ventures relied mostly on already existing vehicles. broadening the bases in order to enlarge the reachable world market appears attractive, even if structural difficulties are complicating the process. had recently started to analyze, with KSRC counterparts how mixing Russian and Western European based elements would provide potential competitive edges. and RKA in the frame of the new ESA's Future Launch Preparatory Programme (FLPP). main technical which have been considered as the most promising (reusable LOx/Hydrocarbon engine, experimental reentry vehicles or demonstrators and reusable launch vehicle first stage or booster. international approach. 1 patrick.eymar@lanceurs.aeromatra.com 2

Natural Gas as a Future Fuel for Heavy-Duty Vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wai-Lin Litzke; James Wegrzyn

2001-01-01

In addition to their significant environmental impacts, medium-duty and heavy-duty (HD) vehicles are high volume fuel users. Development of such vehicles, which include transit buses, refuse trucks, and HD Class 6-8 trucks, that are fueled with natural gas is strategic to market introduction of natural gas vehicles (NGV). Over the past five years the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies (OHVT) has funded technological developments in NGV systems to support the growth of this sector in the highly competitive transportation market. The goals are to minimize emissions associated with NGV use, to improve on the economies of scale, and to continue supporting the testing and safety assessments of all new systems. This paper provides an overview of the status of major projects under a program supported by DOE/OHVT and managed by Brookhaven National Laboratory. The discussion focuses on the program's technical strategy in meeting specific goals proposed by the N GV industry and the government. Relevant projects include the development of low-cost fuel storage, fueling infrastructure, and HD vehicle applications

Space vehicle electromechanical system and helical antenna winding fixture

Science.gov (United States)

Judd, Stephen; Dallmann, Nicholas; Guenther, David; Enemark, Donald; Seitz, Daniel; Martinez, John; Storms, Steven

2017-12-26

A space vehicle electromechanical system may employ an architecture that enables convenient and practical testing, reset, and retesting of solar panel and antenna deployment on the ground. A helical antenna winding fixture may facilitate winding and binding of the helical antenna.

Robotic Ground-Penetrating-Radar (GPR) Surveys to Support the 2014 Greenland Inland Traverse

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-01

return via the same route to Thule in late May for over- winter equipment storage. The first 100 km of the route onto the main ice cap is ridden with...vehicle has a nominal ground pressure of 20 kPa through 0.51 m diameter all-terrain vehicle (ATV) tires . Yeti there- fore can drive safely over most

Real-time identification of vehicle motion-modes using neural networks

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lifu; Zhang, Nong; Du, Haiping

2015-01-01

A four-wheel ground vehicle has three body-dominated motion-modes, that is, bounce, roll, and pitch motion-modes. Real-time identification of these motion-modes can make vehicle suspensions, in particular, active suspensions, target on the dominant motion-mode and apply appropriate control strategies to improve its performance with less power consumption. Recently, a motion-mode energy method (MEM) was developed to identify the vehicle body motion-modes. However, this method requires the measurement of full vehicle states and road inputs, which are not always available in practice. This paper proposes an alternative approach to identify vehicle primary motion-modes with acceptable accuracy by employing neural networks (NNs). The effectiveness of the trained NNs is verified on a 10-DOF full-car model under various types of excitation inputs. The results confirm that the proposed method is effective in determining vehicle primary motion-modes with comparable accuracy to the MEM method. Experimental data is further used to validate the proposed method.

Environmental implication of electric vehicles in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Huo, Hong; Zhang, Qiang; Wang, Michael Q; Streets, David G; He, Kebin

2010-07-01

Today, electric vehicles (EVs) are being proposed in China as one of the potential options to address the dramatically increasing energy demand from on-road transport. However, the mass use of EVs could involve multiple environmental issues, because EVs use electricity that is generated primarily from coal in China. We examined the fuel-cycle CO(2), SO(2), and NO(x) emissions of EVs in China in both current (2008) and future (2030) periods and compared them with those of conventional gasoline vehicles and gasoline hybrids. EVs do not promise much benefit in reducing CO(2) emissions currently, but greater CO(2) reduction could be expected in future if coal combustion technologies improve and the share of nonfossil electricity increases significantly. EVs could increase SO(2) emissions by 3-10 times and also double NO(x) emissions compared to gasoline vehicles if charged using the current electricity grid. In the future, EVs would be able to reach the NO(x) emission level of gasoline vehicles with advanced emission control devices equipped in thermal power plants but still increase SO(2). EVs do represent an effective solution to issues in China such as oil shortage, but critical policy support is urgently needed to address the environmental issues caused by the use of EVs to make EVs competitive with other vehicle alternatives.

Overcoming the Range Limitation of Medium-Duty Battery Electric Vehicles through the use of Hydrogen Fuel-Cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wood, E.; Wang, L.; Gonder, J.; Ulsh, M.

2013-10-01

Battery electric vehicles possess great potential for decreasing lifecycle costs in medium-duty applications, a market segment currently dominated by internal combustion technology. Characterized by frequent repetition of similar routes and daily return to a central depot, medium-duty vocations are well positioned to leverage the low operating costs of battery electric vehicles. Unfortunately, the range limitation of commercially available battery electric vehicles acts as a barrier to widespread adoption. This paper describes the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and industry partners to analyze the use of small hydrogen fuel-cell stacks to extend the range of battery electric vehicles as a means of improving utility, and presumably, increasing market adoption. This analysis employs real-world vocational data and near-term economic assumptions to (1) identify optimal component configurations for minimizing lifecycle costs, (2) benchmark economic performance relative to both battery electric and conventional powertrains, and (3) understand how the optimal design and its competitiveness change with respect to duty cycle and economic climate. It is found that small fuel-cell power units provide extended range at significantly lower capital and lifecycle costs than additional battery capacity alone. And while fuel-cell range-extended vehicles are not deemed economically competitive with conventional vehicles given present-day economic conditions, this paper identifies potential future scenarios where cost equivalency is achieved.

Navigation of the autonomous vehicle reverse movement

Science.gov (United States)

Rachkov, M.; Petukhov, S.

2018-02-01

The paper presents a mathematical formulation of the vehicle reverse motion along a multi-link polygonal trajectory consisting of rectilinear segments interconnected by nodal points. Relevance of the problem is caused by the need to solve a number of tasks: to save the vehicle in the event of а communication break by returning along the trajectory already passed, to avoid a turn on the ground in constrained obstacles or dangerous conditions, or a partial return stroke for the subsequent bypass of the obstacle and continuation of the forward movement. The method of navigation with direct movement assumes that the reverse path is elaborated by using landmarks. To measure landmarks on board, a block of cameras is placed on a vehicle controlled by the operator through the radio channel. Errors in estimating deviation from the nominal trajectory of motion are determined using the multidimensional correlation analysis apparatus based on the dynamics of a lateral deviation error and a vehicle speed error. The result of the experiment showed a relatively high accuracy in determining the state vector that provides the vehicle reverse motion relative to the reference trajectory with a practically acceptable error while returning to the start point.

SAFER vehicle inspection: a multimodal robotic sensing platform

Science.gov (United States)

Page, David L.; Fougerolle, Yohan; Koschan, Andreas F.; Gribok, Andrei; Abidi, Mongi A.; Gorsich, David J.; Gerhart, Grant R.

2004-09-01

The current threats to U.S. security both military and civilian have led to an increased interest in the development of technologies to safeguard national facilities such as military bases, federal buildings, nuclear power plants, and national laboratories. As a result, the Imaging, Robotics, and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) Laboratory at The University of Tennessee (UT) has established a research consortium, known as SAFER (Security Automation and Future Electromotive Robotics), to develop, test, and deploy sensing and imaging systems for unmanned ground vehicles (UGV). The targeted missions for these UGV systems include -- but are not limited to --under vehicle threat assessment, stand-off check-point inspections, scout surveillance, intruder detection, obstacle-breach situations, and render-safe scenarios. This paper presents a general overview of the SAFER project. Beyond this general overview, we further focus on a specific problem where we collect 3D range scans of under vehicle carriages. These scans require appropriate segmentation and representation algorithms to facilitate the vehicle inspection process. We discuss the theory for these algorithms and present results from applying them to actual vehicle scans.

Life Science on the International Space Station Using the Next Generation of Cargo Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, J. A.; Phillion, J. P.; Hart, A. T.; Comella, J.; Edeen, M.; Ruttley, T. M.

2011-01-01

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the transition of the International Space Station (ISS) from assembly to full laboratory capabilities, the opportunity to perform life science research in space has increased dramatically, while the operational considerations associated with transportation of the experiments has changed dramatically. US researchers have allocations on the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). In addition, the International Space Station (ISS) Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) contract will provide consumables and payloads to and from the ISS via the unmanned SpaceX (offers launch and return capabilities) and Orbital (offers only launch capabilities) resupply vehicles. Early requirements drove the capabilities of the vehicle providers; however, many other engineering considerations affect the actual design and operations plans. To better enable the use of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory, ground and on-orbit facility development can augment the vehicle capabilities to better support needs for cell biology, animal research, and conditioned sample return. NASA Life scientists with experience launching research on the space shuttle can find the trades between the capabilities of the many different vehicles to be confusing. In this presentation we will summarize vehicle and associated ground processing capabilities as well as key concepts of operations for different types of life sciences research being launched in the cargo vehicles. We will provide the latest status of vehicle capabilities and support hardware and facilities development being made to enable the broadest implementation of life sciences research on the ISS.

Strategic Ecological Network Competition in Emerging Markets: Theory and Case Analysis of A GPS Vehicle Navigation Firm

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

XIAO Lei; LI Shi-ming; ZHANG Jia-tong

2006-01-01

Using the case study methodology, firm's competition behavior in strategic network and strategic ecosystems are analyzed. With the ecology view, there is consistency between strategic network and strategic ecosystem. Enterprise should pursue for suitable ecological niche to hold a strategic competitive power.

Impacts of Launch Vehicle Fairing Size on Human Exploration Architectures

Science.gov (United States)

Jefferies, Sharon; Collins, Tim; Dwyer Cianciolo, Alicia; Polsgrove, Tara

2017-01-01

Human missions to Mars, particularly to the Martian surface, are grand endeavors that place extensive demands on ground infrastructure, launch capabilities, and mission systems. The interplay of capabilities and limitations among these areas can have significant impacts on the costs and ability to conduct Mars missions and campaigns. From a mission and campaign perspective, decisions that affect element designs, including those based on launch vehicle and ground considerations, can create effects that ripple through all phases of the mission and have significant impact on the overall campaign. These effects result in impacts to element designs and performance, launch and surface manifesting, and mission operations. In current Evolvable Mars Campaign concepts, the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) is the primary launch vehicle for delivering crew and payloads to cis-lunar space. SLS is currently developing an 8.4m diameter cargo fairing, with a planned upgrade to a 10m diameter fairing in the future. Fairing diameter is a driving factor that impacts many aspects of system design, vehicle performance, and operational concepts. It creates a ripple effect that influences all aspects of a Mars mission, including: element designs, grounds operations, launch vehicle design, payload packaging on the lander, launch vehicle adapter design to meet structural launch requirements, control and thermal protection during entry and descent at Mars, landing stability, and surface operations. Analyses have been performed in each of these areas to assess and, where possible, quantify the impacts of fairing diameter selection on all aspects of a Mars mission. Several potential impacts of launch fairing diameter selection are identified in each of these areas, along with changes to system designs that result. Solutions for addressing these impacts generally result in increased systems mass and propellant needs, which can further exacerbate packaging and flight challenges. This paper

Life-cycle private costs of hybrid electric vehicles in the current Chinese market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Chengtao; Wu, Tian; Ou, Xunmin; Zhang, Qian; Zhang, Xu; Zhang, Xiliang

2013-01-01

Understanding the life-cycle private cost (LCPC) of the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is important for market feasibility analysis. An HEV LCPC model was established to evaluate HEV market prospects in China compared with traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). The Kluger HV, a full-hybrid HEV sports utility vehicle (SUV), aimed at the Chinese market, was simulated as the 2010 model's technology details were well publicized. The LCPC of the Kluger HV was roughly the same (about 1.06 times) as that of its comparable ICEV (Highlander SUV). This aligns with other compact and midsize HEV cars (e.g., Toyota Prius, Honda Civic and Toyota Camry HEV) in China. With oil prices predicted to rise in the long-term, the advantage of HEVs energy saving will partly compensate the high manufacturing costs associated with their additional motor/battery components. Besides supporting technology development, enabling policy should be implemented to introduce HEV technology into taxi fleets and business cars. This technology's cost-competitiveness, compared with traditional ICEVs, is advantageous for these higher mileage vehicles. - Highlights: ► A model is set up to evaluate the life-cycle private cost of HEVs. ► Life-cycle private costs of HEVs are higher than conventional cars in China. ► HEVs become competitive when the oil price rises

A fiber Bragg grating acceleration sensor for ground surveillance

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Shaodong; Zhang, Faxiang; Lv, Jingsheng; Ni, Jiasheng; Wang, Chang

2017-10-01

Ground surveillance system is a kind of intelligent monitoring equipment for detecting and tracking the ground target. This paper presents a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) acceleration sensor for ground surveillance, which has the characteristics of no power supply, anti-electromagnetic interference, easy large-scale networking, and small size. Which make it able to achieve the advantage of the ground surveillance system while avoiding the shortcoming of the electric sensing. The sensor has a double cantilever beam structure with a sensitivity of 1000 pm/g. Field experiment has been carried out on a flood beach to examine the sensor performance. The result shows that the detection distance on the walking of personnel reaches 70m, and the detection distance on the ordinary motor vehicle reaches 200m. The performance of the FBG sensor can satisfy the actual needs of the ground surveillance system.

Seasonal associations and atmospheric transport distances of Fusarium collected with unmanned aerial vehicles and ground-based sampling devices

Science.gov (United States)

Schmale, David; Ross, Shane; Lin, Binbin

2014-05-01

Spores of fungi in the genus Fusarium may be transported through the atmosphere over long distances. Members of this genus are important pathogens and mycotoxin producers. New information is needed to characterize seasonal trends in atmospheric loads of Fusarium and to pinpoint the source(s) of inoculum at both local (farm) and regional (state or country) scales. Spores of Fusarium were collected from the atmosphere in an agricultural ecosystem in Blacksburg, VA, USA using a Burkard volumetric sampler (BVS) 1 m above ground level and autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) 100 m above ground level. More than 2,200 colony forming units (CFUs) of Fusarium were collected during 104 BVS sampling periods and 180 UAV sampling periods over four calendar years (2009-2012). Spore concentrations ranged from 0 to 13 and 0 to 23 spores m-3 for the BVS and the UAVs, respectively. Spore concentrations were generally higher in the fall, spring, and summer, and lower in the winter. Spore concentrations from the BVS were generally higher than those from the UAVs for both seasonal and hourly collections. Some of the species of Fusarium identified from our collections have not been previously reported in the state of Virginia. A Gaussian plume transport model was used to estimate distances to the potential inoculum source(s) by season. This work extends previous studies showing an association between atmospheric transport barriers (Lagrangian coherent structures or LCSs) and the movement of Fusarium in the lower atmosphere. An increased understanding of the aerobiology of Fusarium may contribute to new and improved control strategies for diseases causes by fusaria in the future.

A Narrative Approach to Detect the Vehicles using color, texture and edge based techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gaurav Ravi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Vehicle recognition is the chief stride in observing the speeding vehicles in a thruway. The feature arrangements caught by a stationary camera demonstrate to us that there’s a requirement for a vehicle location calculation which handles sudden light change furthermore the situations where the closer view converges away from plain sight. This paper gives us a study of different foundation subtraction systems that are utilized for recognizing the vehicles effectively. Vehicles proceeding onward street are of significance on the grounds that issues like movement blockage, monetary waste, sticking on the underpasses and over-extensions (if the vehicle going through is not of the passable size are connected with them. Index Terms—Vehicle Detection, video sequences, foreground, background, MATLAB, RGB conversion.

Passive Earth Entry Vehicle Landing Test

Science.gov (United States)

Kellas, Sotiris

2017-01-01

Two full-scale passive Earth Entry Vehicles (EEV) with realistic structure, surrogate sample container, and surrogate Thermal Protection System (TPS) were built at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and tested at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The main test objective was to demonstrate structural integrity and investigate possible impact response deviations of the realistic vehicle as compared to rigid penetrometer responses. With the exception of the surrogate TPS and minor structural differences in the back shell construction, the two test vehicles were identical in geometry and both utilized the Integrated Composite Stiffener Structure (ICoSS) structural concept in the forward shell. The ICoSS concept is a lightweight and highly adaptable composite concept developed at NASA LaRC specifically for entry vehicle TPS carrier structures. The instrumented test vehicles were released from a helicopter approximately 400 m above ground. The drop height was selected such that at least 98% of the vehicles terminal velocity would be achieved. While drop tests of spherical penetrometers and a low fidelity aerodynamic EEV model were conducted at UTTR in 1998 and 2000, this was the first time a passive EEV with flight-like structure, surrogate TPS, and sample container was tested at UTTR for the purpose of complete structural system validation. Test results showed that at a landing vertical speed of approximately 30 m/s, the test vehicle maintained structural integrity and enough rigidity to penetrate the sandy clay surface thus attenuating the landing load, as measured at the vehicle CG, to less than 600 g. This measured deceleration was found to be in family with rigid penetrometer test data from the 1998 and 2000 test campaigns. Design implications of vehicle structure/soil interaction with respect to sample container and sample survivability are briefly discussed.

Seamless Mode Switching for Shared Control of Semiautonomous Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Whether it be a crew station, the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS), an unmanned ground rover (UGV) or air vehicle (UAV), or teams thereof, the controllers...

UAV-guided navigation for ground robot tele-operation in a military reconnaissance environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jessie Y C

2010-08-01

A military reconnaissance environment was simulated to examine the performance of ground robotics operators who were instructed to utilise streaming video from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to navigate his/her ground robot to the locations of the targets. The effects of participants' spatial ability on their performance and workload were also investigated. Results showed that participants' overall performance (speed and accuracy) was better when she/he had access to images from larger UAVs with fixed orientations, compared with other UAV conditions (baseline- no UAV, micro air vehicle and UAV with orbiting views). Participants experienced the highest workload when the UAV was orbiting. Those individuals with higher spatial ability performed significantly better and reported less workload than those with lower spatial ability. The results of the current study will further understanding of ground robot operators' target search performance based on streaming video from UAVs. The results will also facilitate the implementation of ground/air robots in military environments and will be useful to the future military system design and training community.

Environmental Assessment of the US Department of Energy Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singh, M.K.; Bernard, M.J. III; Walsh, R.F

1980-11-01

This environmental assessment (EA) focuses on the long-term (1985-2000) impacts of the US Department of Energy (DOE) electric and hybrid vehicle (EHV) program. This program has been designed to accelerate the development of EHVs and to demonstrate their commercial feasibility as required by the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 1976 (P.L. 94-413), as amended (P.L. 95-238). The overall goal of the program is the commercialization of: (1) electric vehicles (EVs) acceptable to broad segments of the personal and commercial vehicle markets, (2) hybrid vehicles (HVs) with range capabilities comparable to those of conventional vehicles (CVs), and (3) advanced EHVs completely competitive with CVs with respect to both cost and performance. Five major EHV projects have been established by DOE: market demonstration, vehicle evaluation and improvement, electric vehicle commercialization, hybrid vehicle commercialization, and advanced vehicle development. Conclusions are made as to the effects of EV and HV commercialization on the: consumption and importation of raw materials; petroleum and total energy consumption; ecosystems impact from the time of obtaining raw material through vehicle use and materials recycling; environmental impacts on air and water quality, land use, and noise; health and safety aspects; and socio-economic factors. (LCL)

Launch vehicle tracking enhancement through Global Positioning System Metric Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, T. C.; Li, Hanchu; Gray, T.; Doran, A.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) initiated operational flights of both the Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicle families in 2002. The Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles were developed jointly with the US Air Force (USAF) as part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. Both Launch Vehicle (LV) families have provided 100% mission success since their respective inaugural launches and demonstrated launch capability from both Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) on the Western Test Range and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) on the Eastern Test Range. However, the current EELV fleet communications, tracking, & control architecture & technology, which date back to the origins of the space launch business, require support by a large and high cost ground footprint. The USAF has embarked on an initiative known as Future Flight Safety System (FFSS) that will significantly reduce Test Range Operations and Maintenance (O& M) cost by closing facilities and decommissioning ground assets. In support of the FFSS, a Global Positioning System Metric Tracking (GPS MT) System based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation has been developed for EELV which will allow both Ranges to divest some of their radar assets. The Air Force, ULA and Space Vector have flown the first 2 Atlas Certification vehicles demonstrating the successful operation of the GPS MT System. The first Atlas V certification flight was completed in February 2012 from CCAFS, the second Atlas V certification flight from VAFB was completed in September 2012 and the third certification flight on a Delta IV was completed October 2012 from CCAFS. The GPS MT System will provide precise LV position, velocity and timing information that can replace ground radar tracking resource functionality. The GPS MT system will provide an independent position/velocity S-Band telemetry downlink to support the current man-in-the-loop ground-based commanded destruct of an anomalous flight- The system

Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Program

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Delma C., Jr.; Talay, Theodore A.; Austin, R. Eugene

1997-01-01

Industry/NASA reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology program efforts are underway to design, test, and develop technologies and concepts for viable commercial launch systems that also satisfy national needs at acceptable recurring costs. Significant progress has been made in understanding the technical challenges of fully reusable launch systems and the accompanying management and operational approaches for achieving a low cost program. This paper reviews the current status of the RLV technology program including the DC-XA, X-33 and X-34 flight systems and associated technology programs. It addresses the specific technologies being tested that address the technical and operability challenges of reusable launch systems including reusable cryogenic propellant tanks, composite structures, thermal protection systems, improved propulsion and subsystem operability enhancements. The recently concluded DC-XA test program demonstrated some of these technologies in ground and flight test. Contracts were awarded recently for both the X-33 and X-34 flight demonstrator systems. The Orbital Sciences Corporation X-34 flight test vehicle will demonstrate an air-launched reusable vehicle capable of flight to speeds of Mach 8. The Lockheed-Martin X-33 flight test vehicle will expand the test envelope for critical technologies to flight speeds of Mach 15. A propulsion program to test the X-33 linear aerospike rocket engine using a NASA SR-71 high speed aircraft as a test bed is also discussed. The paper also describes the management and operational approaches that address the challenge of new cost effective, reusable launch vehicle systems.

Intelligent systems for KSC ground processing

Science.gov (United States)

Heard, Astrid E.

1992-01-01

The ground processing and launch of Shuttle vehicles and their payloads is the primary task of Kennedy Space Center. It is a process which is largely manual and contains little inherent automation. Business is conducted today much as it was during previous NASA programs such as Apollo. In light of new programs and decreasing budgets, NASA must find more cost effective ways in which to do business while retaining the quality and safety of activities. Advanced technologies including artificial intelligence could cut manpower and processing time. This paper is an overview of the research and development in Al technology at KSC with descriptions of the systems which have been implemented, as well as a few under development which are promising additions to ground processing software. Projects discussed cover many facets of ground processing activities, including computer sustaining engineering, subsystem monitor and diagnosis tools and launch team assistants. The deployed Al applications have proven an effectiveness which has helped to demonstrate the benefits of utilizing intelligent software in the ground processing task.

Demolishing the competition: the longitudinal link between competitive video games, competitive gambling, and aggression.

Science.gov (United States)

Adachi, Paul J C; Willoughby, Teena

2013-07-01

The majority of research on the link between video games and aggression has focused on the violent content in games. In contrast, recent experimental research suggests that it is video game competition, not violence, that has the greatest effect on aggression in the short-term. However, no researchers have examined the long-term relationship between video game competition and aggression. In addition, if competition in video games is a significant reason for the link between video game play and aggression, then other competitive activities, such as competitive gambling, also may predict aggression over time. In the current study, we directly assessed the socialization (competitive video game play and competitive gambling predicts aggression over time) versus selection hypotheses (aggression predicts competitive video game play and competitive gambling over time). Adolescents (N = 1,492, 50.8 % female) were surveyed annually from Grade 9 to Grade 12 about their video game play, gambling, and aggressive behaviors. Greater competitive video game play and competitive gambling predicted higher levels of aggression over time, after controlling for previous levels of aggression, supporting the socialization hypothesis. The selection hypothesis also was supported, as aggression predicted greater competitive video game play and competitive gambling over time, after controlling for previous competitive video game play and competitive gambling. Our findings, taken together with the fact that millions of adolescents play competitive video games every day and that competitive gambling may increase as adolescents transition into adulthood, highlight the need for a greater understanding of the relationship between competition and aggression.

Launch vehicle operations cost reduction through artificial intelligence techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Tom C., Jr.

1988-01-01

NASA's Kennedy Space Center has attempted to develop AI methods in order to reduce the cost of launch vehicle ground operations as well as to improve the reliability and safety of such operations. Attention is presently given to cost savings estimates for systems involving launch vehicle firing-room software and hardware real-time diagnostics, as well as the nature of configuration control and the real-time autonomous diagnostics of launch-processing systems by these means. Intelligent launch decisions and intelligent weather forecasting are additional applications of AI being considered.

VHF/UHF imagery and RCS measurements of ground targets in forested terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Gatesman, Andrew J.; Beaudoin, Christopher J.; Giles, Robert H.; Waldman, Jerry; Nixon, William E.

2002-08-01

The monostatic VV and HH-polarized radar signatures of several targets and trees have been measured at foliage penetration frequencies (VHF/UHF) by using 1/35th scale models and an indoor radar range operating at X-band. An array of high-fidelity scale model ground vehicles and test objects as well as scaled ground terrain and trees have been fabricated for the study. Radar measurement accuracy has been confirmed by comparing the signature of a test object with a method of moments radar cross section prediction code. In addition to acquiring signatures of targets located on a smooth, dielectric ground plane, data have also been acquired with targets located in simulated wooded terrain that included scaled tree trunks and tree branches. In order to assure the correct backscattering behavior, all dielectric properties of live tree wood and moist soil were scaled properly to match the complex dielectric constant of the full-scale materials. The impact of the surrounding tree clutter on the VHF/UHF radar signatures of ground vehicles was accessed. Data were processed into high-resolution, polar-formatted ISAR imagery and signature comparisons are made between targets in open-field and forested scenarios.

Goal-oriented path planning for ground and aerial vehicles

OpenAIRE

Signifredi, Andrea

2017-01-01

Nowadays autonomous robots are used in everyday life more than ever. The idea that motivate the develop of new autonomous application is to lessen the fatigue of repetitive works and to make safer the work that are difficult if done by humans alone. Another goal of autonomous robots is to improve precision and repetitiveness in the actuation of actions. Car makers are now showing to consider autonomous driving a ground braking functionality and one of the most important additions to their ass...

Vertical Takeoff and Landing Vehicle with Increased Cruise Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Fredericks, William J. (Inventor); Moore, Mark D. (Inventor); Busan, Ronald C. (Inventor); Rothhaar, Paul M. (Inventor); North, David D. (Inventor); Langford, William M. (Inventor); Laws, Christopher T. (Inventor); Hodges, William T. (Inventor); Johns, Zachary R. (Inventor); Webb, Sandy R. (Inventor)

2018-01-01

Systems, methods, and devices are provided that combine an advance vehicle configuration, such as an advanced aircraft configuration, with the infusion of electric propulsion, thereby enabling a four times increase in range and endurance while maintaining a full vertical takeoff and landing ("VTOL") and hover capability for the vehicle. Embodiments may provide vehicles with both VTOL and cruise efficient capabilities without the use of ground infrastructure. An embodiment vehicle may comprise a wing configured to tilt through a range of motion, a first series of electric motors coupled to the wing and each configured to drive an associated wing propeller, a tail configured to tilt through the range of motion, a second series of electric motors coupled to the tail and each configured to drive an associated tail propeller, and an electric propulsion system connected to the first series of electric motors and the second series of electric motors.

Enabling unmanned capabilities in the tactical wheeled vehicle fleet of the future

Science.gov (United States)

Zych, Noah

2012-06-01

From transporting troops and weapons systems to supplying beans, bullets, and Band-Aids to front-line warfighters, tactical wheeled vehicles serve as the materiel backbone anywhere there are boots on the ground. Drawing from the U.S. Army's Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Strategy and the Marine Corps Vision & Strategy 2025 reports, one may conclude that the services have modest expectations for the introduction of large unmanned ground systems into operational roles in the next 15 years. However, the Department of Defense has already invested considerably in the research and development of full-size UGVs-and commanders deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan have advocated the urgent fielding of early incarnations of this technology, believing it could make a difference on their battlefields today. For military UGVs to evolve from mere tactical advantages into strategic assets with developed doctrine, they must become as trustworthy as a well-trained warfighter in performing their assigned task. Starting with the Marine Corps' ongoing Cargo Unmanned Ground Vehicle program as a baseline, and informed by feedback from previously deployed subject matter experts, this paper examines the gaps which presently exist in UGVs from a mission-capable perspective. It then considers viable near-term technical solutions to meet today's functional requirements, as well as long-term development strategies to enable truly robust performance. With future conflicts expected to be characterized by increasingly complex operational environments and a broad spectrum of rapidly adapting threats, one of the largest challenges for unmanned ground systems will be the ability to exhibit agility in unpredictable circumstances.

Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Camera Asset Planning: Imagery Previsualization

Science.gov (United States)

Beaulieu, K.

2014-01-01

Using JSC-developed and other industry-standard off-the-shelf 3D modeling, animation, and rendering software packages, the Image Science Analysis Group (ISAG) supports Orion Project imagery planning efforts through dynamic 3D simulation and realistic previsualization of ground-, vehicle-, and air-based camera output.

Loading Deformation Characteristic Simulation Study of Engineering Vehicle Refurbished Tire

Science.gov (United States)

Qiang, Wang; Xiaojie, Qi; Zhao, Yang; Yunlong, Wang; Guotian, Wang; Degang, Lv

2018-05-01

The paper constructed engineering vehicle refurbished tire computer geometry model, mechanics model, contact model, finite element analysis model, did simulation study on load-deformation property of engineering vehicle refurbished tire by comparing with that of the new and the same type tire, got load-deformation of engineering vehicle refurbished tire under the working condition of static state and ground contact. The analysis result shows that change rules of radial-direction deformation and side-direction deformation of engineering vehicle refurbished tire are close to that of the new tire, radial-direction and side-direction deformation value is a little less than that of the new tire. When air inflation pressure was certain, radial-direction deformation linear rule of engineer vehicle refurbished tire would increase with load adding, however, side-direction deformation showed linear change rule, when air inflation pressure was low; and it would show increase of non-linear change rule, when air inflation pressure was very high.

Definition of technology development missions for early space stations orbit transfer vehicle serving. Phase 2, task 1: Space station support of operational OTV servicing

Science.gov (United States)

1983-01-01

Representative space based orbital transfer vehicles (OTV), ground based vehicle turnaround assessment, functional operational requirements and facilities, mission turnaround operations, a comparison of ground based versus space based tasks, activation of servicing facilities prior to IOC, fleet operations requirements, maintenance facilities, OTV servicing facilities, space station support requirements, and packaging for delivery are discussed.

Active debris removal GNC challenges over design and required ground validation

Science.gov (United States)

Colmenarejo, Pablo; Avilés, Marcos; di Sotto, Emanuele

2015-06-01

Because of the exponential growth of space debris, the access to space in the medium-term future is considered as being seriously compromised, particularly within LEO polar Sun-synchronous orbits and within geostationary orbits. The active debris removal (ADR) application poses new and challenging requirements on: first, the new required Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) technologies and, second, how to validate these new technologies before being applied in real missions. There is no doubt about the strong safety and collision risk aspects affecting the real operational ADR missions. But it shall be considered that even ADR demonstration missions will be affected by significant risk of collision during the demonstration, and that the ADR GNC systems/technologies to be used shall be well mature before using/demonstrating them in space. Specific and dedicated on-ground validation approaches, techniques and facilities are mandatory. The different ADR techniques can be roughly catalogued in three main groups (rigid capture, non-rigid capture and contactless). All of them have a strong impact on the GNC system of the active vehicle during the capture/proximity phase and, particularly, during the active vehicle/debris combo control phase after capture and during the de-orbiting phase. The main operational phases on an ADR scenario are: (1) ground controlled phase (ADR vehicle and debris are far), (2) fine orbit synchronization phase (ADR vehicle to reach debris ±V-bar), (3) short range phase (along track distance reduction till 10-100 s of metres), (4) terminal approach/capture phase and (5) de-orbiting. While phases 1-3 are somehow conventional and already addressed in detail during past/on-going studies related to rendezvous and/or formation flying, phases 4-5 are very specific and not mature in terms of GNC needed technologies and HW equipment. GMV is currently performing different internal activities and ESA studies/developments related to ADR mission, GNC and

Effects of different ground surface on rye habit and yield

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doroszewski, A.

1995-01-01

Rye was sown in pots imbeded into the ground, in non-competitive conditions. Plot differed only with kinds of ground surfaces (grass, bare soil) which affected the spectral composition of reflected sunlight. Plants growing on the ground covered with grass received more radiation in the range of far red than plants growing on bare soil. The plants from both plots reacted differently to the environmental conditions by creating different habits. Main shoots of rye growing in the neighbourhood of grass had been much taller than the rye growing on the bare soil; its internodes were longer and its heads heavier and heads had more grain

Extrinsic Parameter Calibration for Line Scanning Cameras on Ground Vehicles with Navigation Systems Using a Calibration Pattern

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Wendel

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Line scanning cameras, which capture only a single line of pixels, have been increasingly used in ground based mobile or robotic platforms. In applications where it is advantageous to directly georeference the camera data to world coordinates, an accurate estimate of the camera’s 6D pose is required. This paper focuses on the common case where a mobile platform is equipped with a rigidly mounted line scanning camera, whose pose is unknown, and a navigation system providing vehicle body pose estimates. We propose a novel method that estimates the camera’s pose relative to the navigation system. The approach involves imaging and manually labelling a calibration pattern with distinctly identifiable points, triangulating these points from camera and navigation system data and reprojecting them in order to compute a likelihood, which is maximised to estimate the 6D camera pose. Additionally, a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC algorithm is used to estimate the uncertainty of the offset. Tested on two different platforms, the method was able to estimate the pose to within 0.06 m/1.05 ∘ and 0.18 m/2.39 ∘ . We also propose several approaches to displaying and interpreting the 6D results in a human readable way.

A Conformal, Fully-Conservative Approach for Predicting Blast Effects on Ground Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2014-02-09

Government or the DoA, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. REFERENCES [1] Thompson, D., Luke, E., Newman III, J., Janus...of a Loading Model for Simulating Blast Mine Effects on Armoured Vehicles,” 7th International LS-DYNA Users Conference, Detroit, MI, 2002. [6

ac propulsion system for an electric vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Geppert, S.

1980-01-01

It is pointed out that dc drives will be the logical choice for current production electric vehicles (EV). However, by the mid-80's, there is a good chance that the price and reliability of suitable high-power semiconductors will allow for a competitive ac system. The driving force behind the ac approach is the induction motor, which has specific advantages relative to a dc shunt or series traction motor. These advantages would be an important factor in the case of a vehicle for which low maintenance characteristics are of primary importance. A description of an EV ac propulsion system is provided, taking into account the logic controller, the inverter, the motor, and a two-speed transmission-differential-axle assembly. The main barrier to the employment of the considered propulsion system in EV is not any technical problem, but inverter transistor cost.

The Ariane Transfer Vehicle (ATV) system studies

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, U.; Thirkettle, A.

1991-08-01

Two distinct concepts of the Ariane transfer vehicle (ATV) are compared which incorporate existing ATV technology and offer logistics delivery at competitive costs. One concept is based on the Ariane-5 upper stage and the Vehicle Equipment Bay, and the other does not include Ariane-5 functions so that existing upper-stage limitations can be eliminated. Both concepts are required to accomplish the same transport, rendezvous, and berthing maneuvers and allow for controlled destructive reentry. An ATV reference mission is outlined, and key ATV design drivers are listed which include safety requirements, debris protection, and propulsion criteria. The Ariane-5 upgrade is the most cost-effective design although the second design is more operationally efficient. The ATV can potentially be used to relieve the schedule of the shuttle flights required for building the Space Station Freedom.

Hybrid Aerial/Rover Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Bachelder, Aaron

2003-01-01

A proposed instrumented robotic vehicle called an "aerover" would fly, roll along the ground, and/or float on bodies of liquid, as needed. The aerover would combine features of an aerobot (a robotic lighter-than-air balloon) and a wheeled robot of the "rover" class. An aerover would also look very much like a variant of the "beach-ball" rovers. Although the aerover was conceived for use in scientific exploration of Titan (the largest moon of the planet Saturn), the aerover concept could readily be adapted to similar uses on Earth.

Technique applied in electrical power distribution for Satellite Launch Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

João Maurício Rosário

2010-09-01

Full Text Available The Satellite Launch Vehicle electrical network, which is currently being developed in Brazil, is sub-divided for analysis in the following parts: Service Electrical Network, Controlling Electrical Network, Safety Electrical Network and Telemetry Electrical Network. During the pre-launching and launching phases, these electrical networks are associated electrically and mechanically to the structure of the vehicle. In order to succeed in the integration of these electrical networks it is necessary to employ techniques of electrical power distribution, which are proper to Launch Vehicle systems. This work presents the most important techniques to be considered in the characterization of the electrical power supply applied to Launch Vehicle systems. Such techniques are primarily designed to allow the electrical networks, when submitted to the single-phase fault to ground, to be able of keeping the power supply to the loads.

TOP 01-1-011B Vehicle Test Facilities at Aberdeen Test Center and Yuma Test Center

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-12

Test Center 400 Colleran Road Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5059 U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground Yuma Test Center 301 C. Street Yuma, AZ...22 2.6 Munson Test Area (MTA) ..................................................... 24 2.7 Land Vehicle Maintenance Facility...127 3.6 Maintenance Facilities ........................................................... 143

Path Planning Algorithms for Autonomous Border Patrol Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, George Tin Lam

This thesis presents an online path planning algorithm developed for unmanned vehicles in charge of autonomous border patrol. In this Pursuit-Evasion game, the unmanned vehicle is required to capture multiple trespassers on its own before any of them reach a target safe house where they are safe from capture. The problem formulation is based on Isaacs' Target Guarding problem, but extended to the case of multiple evaders. The proposed path planning method is based on Rapidly-exploring random trees (RRT) and is capable of producing trajectories within several seconds to capture 2 or 3 evaders. Simulations are carried out to demonstrate that the resulting trajectories approach the optimal solution produced by a nonlinear programming-based numerical optimal control solver. Experiments are also conducted on unmanned ground vehicles to show the feasibility of implementing the proposed online path planning algorithm on physical applications.

The adaptive function of masturbation in a promiscuous African ground squirrel.

Science.gov (United States)

Waterman, Jane M

2010-09-28

Studies of animal mating systems increasingly emphasize female multiple mating and cryptic sexual selection, particularly sperm competition. Males under intense sperm competition may manipulate sperm quantity and quality through masturbation, which could waste sperm and decrease fertility. I examined the factors influencing masturbation by male Cape ground squirrels (Xerus inauris) in light of a number of functional hypotheses. Observational data on a marked population of squirrels were collected in east-central Namibia using scan and all-occurrences sampling. Masturbation was far more frequent on days of female oestrus and mostly occurred after copulation. Masturbation rates were higher in dominant males, which copulate more, than in subordinates and increased with number of mates a female accepts. These results suggest that masturbation in this species was not a response to sperm competition nor a sexual outlet by subordinates that did not copulate. Instead masturbation could function as a form of genital grooming. Female Cape ground squirrels mate with up to 10 males in a 3-hr oestrus, and by masturbating after copulation males could reduce the chance of infection. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) can profoundly affect fertility, and their consequences for mating strategies need to be examined more fully.

Evidence for competition and cooperation among climbing plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Biernaskie, Jay M

2011-07-07

A plant's best strategy for acquiring resources may often depend on the identity of neighbours. Here, I ask whether plants adjust their strategy to local relatedness: individuals may cooperate (reduce competitiveness) with kin but compete relatively intensely with non-kin. In a greenhouse experiment with Ipomoea hederacea, neighbouring siblings from the same inbred line were relatively uniform in height; groups of mixed lines, however, were increasingly variable as their mean height increased. The reproductive yield of mixed and sibling groups was similar overall, but when adjusted to a common mean height and height inequality, the yield of mixed groups was significantly less. Where this difference in yield was most pronounced (among groups that varied most in height), mixed groups tended to allocate more mass to roots than comparable sibling groups, and overall, mixed groups produced significantly fewer seeds per unit mass of roots. These results suggest that, from the group perspective, non-kin may have wasted resources in below-ground competition at the expense of reproduction; kin groups, on the other hand, displayed the relative efficiency that is expected of reduced competitiveness.

Vehicle accelerated corrosion test procedures for automotive in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anuar Liza

2017-01-01

Full Text Available An accelerated corrosion test, known as proving ground accelerated test, is commonly performed by automotive manufacturers to evaluate the corrosion performance of a vehicle. The test combines corrosion and durability inputs to detect potential failures that may occur during in-service conditions. Currently, the test is conducted at an external test center overseas. Such test is aimed to simulate the effects of one year accelerated corrosion in severe corrosive environment of the north-east and south east of America. However, the test results obtained do not correlate with the actual corrosion conditions observed in the Malaysian market, which is likely attributed to the different test environment of the tropical climate of vehicles in service. Therefore, a vehicle accelerated corrosion test procedure that suits the Malaysian market is proposed and benchmarked with other global car manufacturers that have their own dedicated corrosion test procedure. In the present work, a test track is used as the corrosion test ground and consists of various types of roads for structural durability exposures. Corrosion related facilities like salt trough, mud trough and gravel road are constructed as addition to the existing facilities. The establishment of accelerated corrosion test facilities has contributed to the development of initial accelerated corrosion test procedure for the national car manufacturer. The corrosion exposure is monitored by fitting test coupons at the underbody of test vehicle using mass loss technique so that the desired corrosion rate capable of simulating the real time corrosion effects for its target market.

Factors Contributing to Cognitive Absorption and Grounded Learning Effectiveness in a Competitive Business Marketing Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, David Scott; Underwood, James, III; Thakur, Ramendra

2017-01-01

This study aimed to establish a pedagogical positioning of a business marketing simulation as a grounded learning teaching tool and empirically assess the dimensions of cognitive absorption related to grounded learning effectiveness in an iterative business simulation environment. The method/design and sample consisted of a field study survey…

Tank-automotive robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Lane, Gerald R.

1999-07-01

To provide an overview of Tank-Automotive Robotics. The briefing will contain program overviews & inter-relationships and technology challenges of TARDEC managed unmanned and robotic ground vehicle programs. Specific emphasis will focus on technology developments/approaches to achieve semi- autonomous operation and inherent chassis mobility features. Programs to be discussed include: DemoIII Experimental Unmanned Vehicle (XUV), Tactical Mobile Robotics (TMR), Intelligent Mobility, Commanders Driver Testbed, Collision Avoidance, International Ground Robotics Competition (ICGRC). Specifically, the paper will discuss unique exterior/outdoor challenges facing the IGRC competing teams and the synergy created between the IGRC and ongoing DoD semi-autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle and DoT Intelligent Transportation System programs. Sensor and chassis approaches to meet the IGRC challenges and obstacles will be shown and discussed. Shortfalls in performance to meet the IGRC challenges will be identified.

Commercial vehicle fleet management and information systems. Technical memorandum 3 : ITS fleet management technology resource guide

Science.gov (United States)

1997-05-01

In todays increasingly competitive economic environment, effective management of commercial vehicle fleets is important for all types of carriers and for the trucking industry as a whole. To meet fleet management needs, carriers increasingly are t...

The 20TH Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition: Building a Generation of Robotists

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-26

advisors as an excellent multidisciplinary design experience for student teams, and a number of engineering schools give credit in senior design courses...Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay IIT Bombay 1044.00 7 U.S. Naval Academy Robo -Goat 1041.67 8 Lawrence Technological University vuLTUre 2 1033.67

Ground operations and logistics in the context of the International Asteroid Mission

Science.gov (United States)

The role of Ground Operations and Logistics, in the context of the International Asteroid Mission (IAM), is to define the mission of Ground Operations; to identify the components of a manned space infrastructure; to discuss the functions and responsibilities of these components; to provide cost estimates for delivery of the spacecraft to LEO from Earth; to identify significant ground operations and logistics issues. The purpose of this dissertation is to bring a degree of reality to the project. 'One cannot dissociate development and set up of a manned infrastructure from its operational phase since it is this last one which is the most costly due to transportation costs which plague space station use' (Eymar, 1990). While this reference is to space stations, the construction and assembly of the proposed crew vehicle and cargo vehicles will face similar cost difficulties, and logistics complexities. The uniqueness of long duration space flight is complicated further by the lack of experience with human habitated, and non-refurbishable life support systems. These problems are addressed.

Prioritization and selection of electrical vehicle systems to improve its performances: An AHP approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Larrode, E.; Muerza, V.; Arroyo, J.B.

2016-07-01

In the study of the improvement of urban transport in terms of energy efficiency and environmental improvement, one of the best options is the use of electric vehicles for both passengers and freight distribution. Depending on the type of transport operation to be performed, it is necessary to select the most appropriate vehicle that meets the necessary requirements, so that the result is an improvement in energy efficiency and low environmental impact. It is therefore necessary to design architectures for electric vehicles, specially adapted to the different scenarios in which are to be used, and where they can optimize the transport operation in both reducing energy consumption and reducing emissions, maintaining a cost competitive with current vehicle operation. The electrical vehicles (EV) are composed of different systems. A typical EV structure involves five subsystems: (i) drive system, (ii) power system, (iii) control system, (iv) vehicle structure and (v) auxiliary systems. This paper focuses on the development of a multicriteria decision procedure based on the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), to prioritize among the five vehicle systems, in which the design efforts should be guided to improve the vehicle. (Author)

Visual Appearance-Based Unmanned Vehicle Sequential Localization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Liu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Localizationis of vital importance for an unmanned vehicle to drive on the road. Most of the existing algorithms are based on laser range finders, inertial equipment, artificial landmarks, distributing sensors or global positioning system(GPS information. Currently, the problem of localization with vision information is most concerned. However, vision-based localization techniquesare still unavailable for practical applications. In this paper, we present a vision-based sequential probability localization method. This method uses the surface information of the roadside to locate the vehicle, especially in the situation where GPS information is unavailable. It is composed of two step, first, in a recording stage, we construct a ground truthmap with the appearance of the roadside environment. Then in an on-line stage, we use a sequential matching approach to localize the vehicle. In the experiment, we use two independent cameras to observe the environment, one is left-orientated and the other is right. SIFT features and Daisy features are used to represent for the visual appearance of the environment. The experiment results show that the proposed method could locate the vehicle in a complicated, large environment with high reliability.

Ares-I-X Vehicle Preliminary Range Safety Malfunction Turn Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Beaty, James R.; Starr, Brett R.; Gowan, John W., Jr.

2008-01-01

Ares-I-X is the designation given to the flight test version of the Ares-I rocket (also known as the Crew Launch Vehicle - CLV) being developed by NASA. As part of the preliminary flight plan approval process for the test vehicle, a range safety malfunction turn analysis was performed to support the launch area risk assessment and vehicle destruct criteria development processes. Several vehicle failure scenarios were identified which could cause the vehicle trajectory to deviate from its normal flight path, and the effects of these failures were evaluated with an Ares-I-X 6 degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) digital simulation, using the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories Version 2 (POST2) simulation framework. The Ares-I-X simulation analysis provides output files containing vehicle state information, which are used by other risk assessment and vehicle debris trajectory simulation tools to determine the risk to personnel and facilities in the vicinity of the launch area at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and to develop the vehicle destruct criteria used by the flight test range safety officer. The simulation analysis approach used for this study is described, including descriptions of the failure modes which were considered and the underlying assumptions and ground rules of the study, and preliminary results are presented, determined by analysis of the trajectory deviation of the failure cases, compared with the expected vehicle trajectory.

Vertical dynamics of the Maglev vehicle Transrapid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haegele, Nora; Dignath, Florian

2009-01-01

The Maglev vehicle Transrapid is levitated by magnetic forces which pull the vehicles levitation frames toward the guideway from below. The magnets possess poles with alternating fluxes which are part of the synchronous long stator linear motor. Although the Transrapid glides along its guideway without mechanical contact, this alternation as well as the loading and unloading of the guideway girders excite vibrations of the ground. In order to calculate the time behavior of the vibrational emissions, a simulation of the transfer of a Transrapid vehicle over several guideway girders is proposed. The equations of motion for the vehicle and the girders are calculated separately by the MBS software NEWEUL and assembled and numerically integrated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The control law for the magnet forces is simplified by the characteristics of linear spring-damper elements. The controlled magnet forces travel along the guideway continuously and include the dynamic component due to the alternating fluxes and the geometry of the poles and stator. Results of a complete vehicle moving along a guideway consisting of several girders can be obtained within a few minutes of computation time. Therefore, the mechanism of excitations can be analyzed by numerical time integration in the full state space. The results are validated by measurements of the forces in the joints of the guideway girders. The vibrational emission along the Transrapid guideway differs from the vibrations of contact-afflicted vehicles as no impacts and fewer stochastic effects occur

Vertical dynamics of the Maglev vehicle Transrapid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haegele, Nora [University of Stuttgart, Institute of Engineering and Computational Mechanics (Germany)], E-mail: Nora.Haegele@gmx.de; Dignath, Florian [ThyssenKrupp Transrapid, Basic Technologies (Germany)], E-mail: Florian.Dignath@ThyssenKrupp.com

2009-04-15

The Maglev vehicle Transrapid is levitated by magnetic forces which pull the vehicles levitation frames toward the guideway from below. The magnets possess poles with alternating fluxes which are part of the synchronous long stator linear motor. Although the Transrapid glides along its guideway without mechanical contact, this alternation as well as the loading and unloading of the guideway girders excite vibrations of the ground. In order to calculate the time behavior of the vibrational emissions, a simulation of the transfer of a Transrapid vehicle over several guideway girders is proposed. The equations of motion for the vehicle and the girders are calculated separately by the MBS software NEWEUL and assembled and numerically integrated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The control law for the magnet forces is simplified by the characteristics of linear spring-damper elements. The controlled magnet forces travel along the guideway continuously and include the dynamic component due to the alternating fluxes and the geometry of the poles and stator. Results of a complete vehicle moving along a guideway consisting of several girders can be obtained within a few minutes of computation time. Therefore, the mechanism of excitations can be analyzed by numerical time integration in the full state space. The results are validated by measurements of the forces in the joints of the guideway girders. The vibrational emission along the Transrapid guideway differs from the vibrations of contact-afflicted vehicles as no impacts and fewer stochastic effects occur.

Production and exploitation of thermoelectric air conditioning systems for vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dudnik, Vladimir [Conditioner Ltd, Gagarin (Russian Federation); Skipidarov, Sergey [SCTB NORD, Moskau (Russian Federation); Rapp, Axel [Quick-Ohm Kupper und Co. GmbH, Wuppertal-Cronenberg (Germany)

2011-07-01

In the paper more than 10-year experience of thermoelectric devices batch manufacturing is described for the field of their obvious advantages. This field of application includes thermoelectric air conditioning systems which have shown their competitive advantage when used in vehicles of elevated vibration where compressor equipment application is difficult because of leakage of refrigerant. Energy characteristics of air conditioners for tractors, excavators, tanks, locomotive driver's cabins and cranes are described. Thermoelectric (TE) air conditioners mechanical test data as well as operation experience in vehicles are presented. It is shown that consumption of tellurium, which is a strategic component for thermoelectric materials manufacturing, may be lowered to 40 grams per 1 kW of cooling. (orig.)

Natural gas vehicles: Technical assessment and overview of world situation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klimstra, J.

1992-01-01

In evaluating commercialization prospects for natural gas fuelled vehicles, this paper compares the performance and emission quality of these innovative vehicles with those using conventional fuels - gasoline and diesel fuels. Assessments are made of the state-of-the-art of current technology relative to fuel storage, air/fuel mixture preparation, in cylinder combustion processes and pollution control. The analysis evidences that while natural gas is an excellent fuel for spark ignition engines, in transport applications its use is hampered by large storage volume requirements and weight. Moreover, the air/fuel mixture preparation, combustion process and exhaust-gas cleaning require a greater research and development effort to make this alternative fuel economically and environmentally competitive with conventional fuels

Disentangling above- and below-ground competition between lianas and trees in a tropical forest

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schnitzer, S.A.; Kuzee, M.E.; Bongers, F.J.J.M.

2005-01-01

1 Light is thought to be the most limiting resource in tropical forests, and thus aboveground competition is commonly accepted as the mechanism that structures these communities. In many tropical forests, trees compete not only with other trees, but also with lianas, which compete aggressively for

Design and analysis of a magneto-rheological damper for an all terrain vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnan Unni, R.; Tamilarasan, N.

2018-02-01

A shock absorber design intended to replace the existing conventional shock absorber with a controllable system using a Magneto-rheological damper is introduced for an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) that was designed for Baja SAE competitions. Suspensions are a vital part of an All Terrain Vehicles as it endures various surfaces and requires utmost attention while designing. COMSOL multi-physics software is used for applications that have coupled physics problems and is a unique tool that is used for the designing and analysis phase of the Magneto-rheological damper for the considered application and the model is optimized based on Taguchi using DOE software. The magneto-rheological damper is designed to maximize the damping force with the measured geometric constraints for the All Terrain Vehicle.

Labour market participants’ competitiveness assessment based on latent variables theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. V. Sabetova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article suggests innovative model for assessment of labour market subjects’ competitiveness, or successfulness. The authors state that general complex indicator for individual competitiveness within the labour market cannot be identified. Instead, precise enough assessment of such competitiveness can be based on some variables, though different for in-house and external labour market. The model of latent variables’ assessment based on Rasch’s method was selected as the base for the suggested method. The assessment model gives unbiased generalized values of subjects’ competitiveness on the linear non-dimensional scale based on the partial estimates of the selected criteria. The free choice of these criteria allows the model’s appliance for various labour market segments. The article demonstrates the mathematical grounding for the model; methodic of the assessment criteria selection; the way of assessment performance using MS Excel. It also analyses the features of the obtained estimates and shows their comparison with the estimates obtained by traditional methods. The model suggested by the authors can introduce any quantitative parameter of competitiveness as a variable after analysis of the factors affecting it. The quantitative estimates of these factors become the model’s criteria, but the assessment precision does not alter.

Vertical Take-Off and Landing Vehicle with Increased Cruise Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Fredericks, William J. (Inventor); Moore, Mark D. (Inventor); Busan, Ronald C. (Inventor); Rothhaar, Paul M. (Inventor); North, David D. (Inventor); Langford, William M. (Inventor); Laws, Christopher T. (Inventor); Hodges, William T. (Inventor); Johns, Zachary R. (Inventor); Webb, Sandy R. (Inventor)

2016-01-01

Systems, methods, and devices are provided that combine an advance vehicle configuration, such as an advanced aircraft configuration, with the infusion of electric propulsion, thereby enabling a four times increase in range and endurance while maintaining a full vertical takeoff and landing ("VTOL") and hover capability for the vehicle. Embodiments may provide vehicles with both VTOL and cruise efficient capabilities without the use of ground infrastructure. An embodiment vehicle may comprise a wing configured to tilt through a range of motion, a first series of electric motors coupled to the wing and each configured to drive an associated wing propeller, a tail configured to tilt through the range of motion, a second series of electric motors coupled to the tail and each configured to drive an associated tail propeller, and an electric propulsion system connected to the first series of electric motors and the second series of electric motors.

Disentangling Competition Among Platform Driven Strategic Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric T. K.

2018-01-01

for the mobile payment market in the United Kingdom as our empirical setting. By conceptualizing digital platforms as layered modular architectures and embracing the theoretical lens of strategic groups, this study supplements prior research by deriving a taxonomy of platform profiles that is grounded...... delivery architecture. The preceding attributes of value creation architecture and value delivery architecture aided us in identifying six profiles associated with mobile payment platforms, which in turn led us to advance three competitive strategies that could be pursued by digital platforms in network...

The relative importance of above- versus belowground competition for tree growth and survival during early succession of a tropical moist forest

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Breugel, van M.; Breugel, van P.; Jansen, P.A.; Martinez-Ramos, M.; Bongers, F.

2012-01-01

Competition between neighboring plants plays a major role in the population dynamics of tree species in the early phases of humid tropical forest succession. We evaluated the relative importance of above- versus below-ground competition during the first years of old-field succession on soil with low

Competitive Challenges and Cluster Responses. Orchids, Cars and Electronics in East and Southeast Asia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

P. Onoparatvibool (Piyanit)

2010-01-01

textabstractThe cluster approach continues to gain ground as a key strategy for industrial development in today’s globalised era. Nevertheless, not every country and cluster achieves the desired competitiveness goal of cluster development. While many cluster studies have examined factors

Development of Ground Test System For RKX-200EB

Science.gov (United States)

Yudhi Irwanto, Herma

2018-04-01

After being postponed for seven years, the development of RKX-200EB now restarts by initiating a ground test, preceding the real flight test. The series of the development starts from simulation test using the real vehicle and its components, focusing on a flight sequence test using hardware in the loop simulation. The result of the simulation shows that the autonomous control system in development is able to control the X tail fin vehicle, since take off using booster, separating booster-sustainer, making flight maneuver using sustainer with average cruise speed of 1000 km/h, and doing bank to maneuver up to ±40 deg heading to the target. The simulation result also shows that the presence of sustainer in vehicle control can expand the distance range by 162% (12.6 km) from its ballistic range using only a booster.

Poster Abstract: Automatic Calibration of Device Attitude in Inertial Measurement Unit Based Traffic Probe Vehicles

KAUST Repository

Mousa, Mustafa

2016-04-28

Probe vehicles consist in mobile traffic sensor networks that evolve with the flow of vehicles, transmitting velocity and position measurements along their path, generated using GPSs. To address the urban positioning issues of GPSs, we propose to replace them with inertial measurement units onboard vehicles, to estimate vehicle location and attitude using inertial data only. While promising, this technology requires one to carefully calibrate the orientation of the device inside the vehicle to be able to process the acceleration and rate gyro data. In this article, we propose a scheme that can perform this calibration automatically by leveraging the kinematic constraints of ground vehicles, and that can be implemented on low-end computational platforms. Preliminary testing shows that the proposed scheme enables one to accurately estimate the actual accelerations and rotation rates in the vehicle coordinates. © 2016 IEEE.

EDITORIAL: Physics competitions Physics competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Jordens, H.; Mathelitsch, L.

2009-11-01

1. Physics competitions: aims and realizations One aim of physics competitions is to increase the interest of young students, primarily at upper secondary level, to physics and natural sciences in general. A competition has motivational aspects known usually from sports events or games—comparing one's own ability with others, of course with the desire to be better and to win. If competitions reach nationwide and even international levels, additional stimulation is created. Competitions provide greatest attraction to possible winners, to the group of gifted people in a particular field. This implies that science contests are excellent tools for the promotion of talented students. Traditional teaching has been shown to have problems in supporting this group of students. Very often teachers are overstretched with the demands of teaching both low- and high-level students. Extracurricular activities are therefore a good chance to relieve the teacher, and to give talented students the opportunity for appropriate training and challenge. The competitions, however, have a broader impact and address more young people than one might guess from the statements above. Training courses and selection at school level give a larger group of students extra and, to some extent, complimentary education in physics. The degree of complexity of the tasks corresponds very often to the standards of the next level of education in the school system. Interestingly, many physics competitions have their origin in countries beyond the former Iron Curtain. They started as regional and national tournaments, were joined by neighbouring countries and have grown, in some cases, to events with participants from more than 80 countries. Although the features mentioned above are common to the different competitions, there are distinct differences between them [1]. The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is the oldest international physics competition for students at upper secondary level [2]. It dates

Development of a new version of the Vehicle Protection Factor Code (VPF3)

Science.gov (United States)

Jamieson, Terrance J.

1990-10-01

The Vehicle Protection Factor (VPF) Code is an engineering tool for estimating radiation protection afforded by armoured vehicles and other structures exposed to neutron and gamma ray radiation from fission, thermonuclear, and fusion sources. A number of suggestions for modifications have been offered by users of early versions of the code. These include: implementing some of the more advanced features of the air transport rating code, ATR5, used to perform the air over ground radiation transport analyses; allowing the ability to study specific vehicle orientations within the free field; implementing an adjoint transport scheme to reduce the number of transport runs required; investigating the possibility of accelerating the transport scheme; and upgrading the computer automated design (CAD) package used by VPF. The generation of radiation free field fluences for infinite air geometries as required for aircraft analysis can be accomplished by using ATR with the air over ground correction factors disabled. Analysis of the effects of fallout bearing debris clouds on aircraft will require additional modelling of VPF.

Technical evaluation and assessment of CNG/LPG bi-fuel and flex-fuel vehicle viability

Science.gov (United States)

Sinor, J. E.

1994-05-01

This report compares vehicles using compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and combinations of the two in bi-fuel or flex-fuel configurations. Evidence shows that environmental and energy advantages can be gained by replacing two-fuel CNG/gasoline vehicles with two-fuel or flex-fuel systems to be economically competitive, it is necessary to develop a universal CNG/LPG pressure-regulator-injector and engine control module to switch from one tank to the other. For flex-fuel CNG/LPG designs, appropriate composition sensors, refueling pumps, fuel tanks, and vaporizers are necessary.

COMPETITIVENESS AND COMPETITIVE ORIENTATIONS: EVALUATION OF STUDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Z. Efimova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Education of a competitive student is a strategically significant problem of the system of higher education in modern social and economic conditions. Personal competitiveness and competitive orientations – priority quality of future expert for successful future professional experience.The aim of the present research is to study factors of competitive orientations formation and criteria for evaluation of competitiveness of student’s youth in the Russian society.Methodology and research methods. Results of theoretical researches of Russian and foreign researchers are generalized; secondary analysis of data based on results of sociological researches and analysis of official statistical data are carried out. The results of the sociological survey undertaken in 2017 on the basis of statistical methods were processed and studied by the instrumentality of IBM SPSS Statistics 23 program; 1196 students of institutions of higher and secondary vocational education of the Tyumen region took part.Results and scientific novelty. It is stated that senior students feel themselves more competitive. It is revealed that a quarter of students who took part in the survey, generally men, count themselves competitive. A continuous distance of goal-setting is recorded among these respondents; in every third case they have plans of professional growth for five and more years that allows them to build attractive competitive strategy.The level of the competitiveness is directly connected with such indicators as “social stratum”, “overall life satisfaction”, “self-esteem of health”, “tendency to lead a healthy lifestyle” and “the level of trust in the surrounding people”. Mostly the students oriented on competition look into the future with confidence and optimism.Respondents focused on the competitiveness were more tend to demonstrate their abilities and cause admiration, have a creative approach towards work, be ready for surprises

Intelligent behaviors through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Richard D.; Sturgeon, Purser; Brown, Mike

2012-06-01

The last decade has seen a significant increase in intelligent safety devices on private automobiles. These devices have both increased and augmented the situational awareness of the driver and in some cases provided automated vehicle responses. To date almost all intelligent safety devices have relied on data directly perceived by the vehicle. This constraint has a direct impact on the types of solutions available to the vehicle. In an effort to improve the safety options available to a vehicle, numerous research laboratories and government agencies are investing time and resources into connecting vehicles to each other and to infrastructure-based devices. This work details several efforts in both the commercial vehicle and the private auto industries to increase vehicle safety and driver situational awareness through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. It will specifically discuss intelligent behaviors being designed to automatically disable non-compliant vehicles, warn tractor trailer vehicles of unsafe lane maneuvers such as lane changes, passing, and merging, and alert drivers to non-line-of-sight emergencies.

A Concept of Operations for an Integrated Vehicle Health Assurance System

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Gary W.; Ross, Richard W.; Berger, David E.; Lekki, John D.; Mah, Robert W.; Perey, Danie F.; Schuet, Stefan R.; Simon, Donald L.; Smith, Stephen W.

2013-01-01

This document describes a Concept of Operations (ConOps) for an Integrated Vehicle Health Assurance System (IVHAS). This ConOps is associated with the Maintain Vehicle Safety (MVS) between Major Inspections Technical Challenge in the Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies (VSST) Project within NASA s Aviation Safety Program. In particular, this document seeks to describe an integrated system concept for vehicle health assurance that integrates ground-based inspection and repair information with in-flight measurement data for airframe, propulsion, and avionics subsystems. The MVS Technical Challenge intends to maintain vehicle safety between major inspections by developing and demonstrating new integrated health management and failure prevention technologies to assure the integrity of vehicle systems between major inspection intervals and maintain vehicle state awareness during flight. The approach provided by this ConOps is intended to help optimize technology selection and development, as well as allow the initial integration and demonstration of these subsystem technologies over the 5 year span of the VSST program, and serve as a guideline for developing IVHAS technologies under the Aviation Safety Program within the next 5 to 15 years. A long-term vision of IVHAS is provided to describe a basic roadmap for more intelligent and autonomous vehicle systems.

Creation of the Driver Fixed Heel Point (FHP) CAD Accommodation Model for Military Ground Vehicle Design

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-04

Standard: Human Engineering, 2012. The unifying factor amongst these is the requirement to accommodate the central 90% of the Soldier population. MIL...STD-1472G provides little quantitative guidance for vehicle layout , so it is open to interpretation and is difficult for designers to apply...seats, in which the crew are required to interact with vehicle controls and displays using hands and forward vision (Zerehsaz, Ebert, and Reed, 2014

The effect of track load correlation on ground-borne vibration from railways

Science.gov (United States)

Ntotsios, Evangelos; Thompson, David; Hussein, Mohammed

2017-08-01

In predictions of ground-borne vibration from railways, it is generally assumed that the unevenness profile of the wheel and rail is fully correlated between the two rails and the two wheels of an axle. This leads to identical contact forces at the two rails and can allow further simplifications of the vehicle model, the track model and the track/ground interface conditions. In the present paper, the level of correlation of the track loading at the wheel/rail interface due to rail unevenness and its influence on predictions of ground vibration is investigated. The extent to which the unevenness of the two rails is correlated has been estimated from measurements of track geometry obtained with track recording vehicles for four different tracks. It was found that for wavelengths longer than about 3 m the unevenness of the two rails can be considered to be strongly correlated and in phase. To investigate the effect of this on ground vibration, an existing model expressed in the wavenumber-frequency domain is extended to include separate inputs on the two rails. The track is modelled as an infinite invariant linear structure resting on an elastic stratified half-space. This is excited by the gravitational loading of a passing train and the irregularity of the contact surfaces between the wheels and the rails. The railway model is developed in this work to be versatile so that it can account or discard the effect of load correlations on the two rails beside the effects of variation of the tractions across the width of the track-ground interface and the vehicle sprung mass, as well as the roll motion of the sleepers and the axle. A comparative analysis is carried out on the influence of these factors on the response predictions using numerical simulations. It is shown that, when determining the vibration in the free field, it is important to include in the model the traction variation across the track-ground interface and the non-symmetrical loading at the two rails that

Environomic design of vehicle energy systems for optimal mobility service

OpenAIRE

Dimitrova, Zlatina Kirilova; Maréchal, François

2014-01-01

The main design criteria for the modern sustainable development of vehicle powertrains are the high energy efficiency of the conversion system, the competitive cost and the lowest possible environmental impacts. An innovative decision making methodology, using multi-objective optimization technics is currently under development. The idea is to obtain a population of possible design solutions corresponding to the most efficient energy system definition. These solutions meet technical, economic...

Numerical study of flow control strategies for a simplified square back ground vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eulalie, Yoann; Gilotte, Philippe [Plastic Omnium, Avenue du bois des vergnes, F-01150 Sainte-Julie (France); Mortazavi, Iraj, E-mail: iraj.mortazavi@cnam.fr [Team M2N, CNAM Paris, 292 Rue St. Martin, 75003 Paris (France)

2017-06-15

Current automotive trends lead to vertical shapes in the region of the rear tailgates, which induce high aerodynamical losses at the rear wall of vehicles. It is therefore important to work on turbulent wake in order to find drag reduction solutions for the current vehicle design. This paper focuses on flow control strategies, which are designed to interact with shear layers backward from the detachment region, in order to increase pressure values in the wake of a square back bluff body. This study involves large eddy simulation results validated by experimental data. After the first section, which represents experimental validation of LES computations with and without active flow control on an Ahmed bluff body, we will present a wide range of numerical results describing several active and passive flow control solutions leading to drag reductions of up to 10%. The last part of this paper will focus on some fluid mechanisms, which could explain these aerodynamical performances. (paper)

Numerical study of flow control strategies for a simplified square back ground vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eulalie, Yoann; Gilotte, Philippe; Mortazavi, Iraj

2017-01-01

Current automotive trends lead to vertical shapes in the region of the rear tailgates, which induce high aerodynamical losses at the rear wall of vehicles. It is therefore important to work on turbulent wake in order to find drag reduction solutions for the current vehicle design. This paper focuses on flow control strategies, which are designed to interact with shear layers backward from the detachment region, in order to increase pressure values in the wake of a square back bluff body. This study involves large eddy simulation results validated by experimental data. After the first section, which represents experimental validation of LES computations with and without active flow control on an Ahmed bluff body, we will present a wide range of numerical results describing several active and passive flow control solutions leading to drag reductions of up to 10%. The last part of this paper will focus on some fluid mechanisms, which could explain these aerodynamical performances. (paper)

The adaptive function of masturbation in a promiscuous African ground squirrel.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jane M Waterman

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Studies of animal mating systems increasingly emphasize female multiple mating and cryptic sexual selection, particularly sperm competition. Males under intense sperm competition may manipulate sperm quantity and quality through masturbation, which could waste sperm and decrease fertility. I examined the factors influencing masturbation by male Cape ground squirrels (Xerus inauris in light of a number of functional hypotheses. METHODOLOGY: Observational data on a marked population of squirrels were collected in east-central Namibia using scan and all-occurrences sampling. FINDINGS: Masturbation was far more frequent on days of female oestrus and mostly occurred after copulation. Masturbation rates were higher in dominant males, which copulate more, than in subordinates and increased with number of mates a female accepts. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that masturbation in this species was not a response to sperm competition nor a sexual outlet by subordinates that did not copulate. Instead masturbation could function as a form of genital grooming. Female Cape ground squirrels mate with up to 10 males in a 3-hr oestrus, and by masturbating after copulation males could reduce the chance of infection. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs can profoundly affect fertility, and their consequences for mating strategies need to be examined more fully.

Competitive position of energy carriers in trade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suding, P.H.; Forsbach, H.H.

Industrial consumers and public institutions, which are classed with the group of minor consumers, differ in their behaviour in energy consumption greatly from the structure of the whole group. Also the willingness to convert from fuel oil to natural gas in these trade groups is relatively high. Within the framework of 5 model enterprises, the profitability of energy carriers and economizing technology in trade is analysed. The model enterprises are a bakery, a meat purveyor, a restaurant, a laundry and a hospital. The basic data are compared with the data from 1985. The comparison shows that the competitive positions of energy carriers in business and public in the process heat sector here not changed dramatically. The competitiveness of natural gas has improved since 1985 through the changes in price. However, in the sectors in which it belongs to the group of economical alternatives (e.g. in the bakeries), electricity has not lost much ground. (BR)

Autonomy-Enabled Fuel Savings for Military Vehicles: Report on 2016 Aberdeen Test Center Testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ragatz, Adam [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Prohaska, Robert [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Gonder, Jeff [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-05-26

Fuel savings have never been the primary focus for autonomy-enabled military vehicles. However, studies have estimated that autonomy in passenger and commercial vehicles could improve fuel economy by as much as 22%-33% over various drive cycles. If even a fraction of this saving could be realized in military vehicles, significant cost savings could be realized each year through reduced fuel transport missions, reduced fuel purchases, less maintenance, fewer required personnel, and increased vehicle range. Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory installed advanced data logging equipment and instrumentation on two autonomy-enabled convoy vehicles configured with Lockheed Martin's Autonomous Mobility Applique System to determine system performance and improve on the overall vehicle control strategies of the vehicles. Initial test results from testing conducted at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds are included in this report. Lessons learned from in-use testing and performance results have been provided to the project partners for continued system refinement.

Easy-to-Use UAV Ground Station Software for Low-Altitude Civil Operations, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to design and develop easy-to-use Ground Control Station (GCS) software for low-altitude civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations. The GCS software...

The Apache Longbow-Hellfire Missile Test at Yuma Proving Ground: Ecological Risk Assessment for Tracked Vehicle Movement across Desert Pavement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, Mark J; Efroymson, Rebecca Ann; Hargrove, William Walter

2008-01-01

A multiple stressor risk assessment was conducted at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, as a demonstration of the Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework. The focus was a testing program at Cibola Range, which involved an Apache Longbow helicopter firing Hellfire missiles at moving targets, M60-A1 tanks. This paper describes the ecological risk assessment for the tracked vehicle movement component of the testing program. The principal stressor associated with tracked vehicle movement was soil disturbance, and a resulting, secondary stressor was hydrological change. Water loss to washes and wash vegetation was expected to result from increased infiltration and/or evaporation associated with disturbances to desert pavement. The simulated exposure of wash vegetation to water loss was quantified using estimates of exposed land area from a digital ortho quarter quad aerial photo and field observations, a 30 30 m digital elevation model, the flow accumulation feature of ESRI ArcInfo, and a two-step process in which runoff was estimated from direct precipitation to a land area and from water that flowed from upgradient to a land area. In all simulated scenarios, absolute water loss decreased with distance from the disturbance, downgradient in the washes; however, percentage water loss was greatest in land areas immediately downgradient of a disturbance. Potential effects on growth and survival of wash trees were quantified by using an empirical relationship derived from a local unpublished study of water infiltration rates. The risk characterization concluded that neither risk to wash vegetation growth or survival nor risk to mule deer abundance and reproduction was expected. The risk characterization was negative for both the incremental risk of the test program and the combination of the test and pretest disturbances

Storage evaporator for vehicles with start-stop technology; Speicherverdampfer fuer Fahrzeuge mit Start-Stopp-Funktion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wawzyniak, Markus; Link, Joachim [Behr GmbH und Co. KG, Stuttgart (Germany)

2013-04-15

Today, the use of engine start-stop technology - a system designed to cut fuel consumption when the vehicle stops or, in future applications, when vehicles are in coasting or ''sailing'' mode - is gaining ground in more and more vehicle classes. Shutting off the internal combustion engine, though, detrimentally affects cabin air conditioning because the belt-driven A/C compressor is likewise deactivated, thus bringing the vapor compression process to a standstill. As a result, during extended stop periods and in warm weather vent temperatures and air humidity rapidly increase.

Psychophysiological responses of junior orienteers under competitive pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Robazza, Claudio; Izzicupo, Pascal; D'Amico, Maria Angela; Ghinassi, Barbara; Crippa, Maria Chiara; Di Cecco, Vincenzo; Ruiz, Montse C; Bortoli, Laura; Di Baldassarre, Angela

2018-01-01

The purpose of the study was to examine psychobiosocial states, cognitive functions, endocrine responses (i.e., salivary cortisol and chromogranin A), and performance under competitive pressure in orienteering athletes. The study was grounded in the individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) and biopsychosocial models. Fourteen junior orienteering athletes (7 girls and 7 boys), ranging in age from 15 to 20 years (M = 16.93, SD = 1.77) took part in a two-day competitive event. To enhance competitive pressure, emphasis was placed on the importance of the competition and race outcome. Psychophysiological and performance data were collected at several points before, during, and after the races. Results showed that an increase in cortisol levels was associated with competitive pressure and reflected in higher perceived exertion (day 1, r = .32; day 2, r = .46), higher intensity of dysfunctional states (day 1, r = .59; day 2, r = .55), lower intensity of functional states (day 1, r = -.36; day 2, r = -.33), and decay in memory (day 1, r = -.27; day 2, r = -.35), visual attention (day 1, r = -.56; day 2, r = -.35), and attention/mental flexibility (day 1, r = .16; day 2, r = .26) tasks. The second day we observed better performance times, lower intensity of dysfunctional states, lower cortisol levels, improved visual attention and attention/mental flexibility (p competition days, chromogranin A levels were higher (p < .050) on the most difficult loops of the race in terms of both physical and psychological demands. Findings suggest emotional, cognitive, psychophysiological, and performance variables to be related and to jointly change across different levels of cognitive and physical load. Overall results are discussed in light of the IZOF and biopsychosocial models. The procedure adopted in the study also supports the feasibility of including additional cognitive load for possible practical applications.

Psychophysiological responses of junior orienteers under competitive pressure.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio Robazza

Full Text Available The purpose of the study was to examine psychobiosocial states, cognitive functions, endocrine responses (i.e., salivary cortisol and chromogranin A, and performance under competitive pressure in orienteering athletes. The study was grounded in the individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF and biopsychosocial models. Fourteen junior orienteering athletes (7 girls and 7 boys, ranging in age from 15 to 20 years (M = 16.93, SD = 1.77 took part in a two-day competitive event. To enhance competitive pressure, emphasis was placed on the importance of the competition and race outcome. Psychophysiological and performance data were collected at several points before, during, and after the races. Results showed that an increase in cortisol levels was associated with competitive pressure and reflected in higher perceived exertion (day 1, r = .32; day 2, r = .46, higher intensity of dysfunctional states (day 1, r = .59; day 2, r = .55, lower intensity of functional states (day 1, r = -.36; day 2, r = -.33, and decay in memory (day 1, r = -.27; day 2, r = -.35, visual attention (day 1, r = -.56; day 2, r = -.35, and attention/mental flexibility (day 1, r = .16; day 2, r = .26 tasks. The second day we observed better performance times, lower intensity of dysfunctional states, lower cortisol levels, improved visual attention and attention/mental flexibility (p < .050. Across the two competition days, chromogranin A levels were higher (p < .050 on the most difficult loops of the race in terms of both physical and psychological demands. Findings suggest emotional, cognitive, psychophysiological, and performance variables to be related and to jointly change across different levels of cognitive and physical load. Overall results are discussed in light of the IZOF and biopsychosocial models. The procedure adopted in the study also supports the feasibility of including additional cognitive load for possible practical applications.

Determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness in transnational companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matevž Rašković

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Effective supplier-buyer relationship management should not be seen only in terms of cost and financial measures, as outlined by Transaction cost economics, but also in terms of other (“softer” relational benefits, like e.g. more comprehensive information sharing, higher levels of trust, better cooperation and increased relationship flexibility. This second view is grounded in both Relationship marketing and Resource-advantage theory. Surprisingly, only a few research papers on supplier-buyer relationships address both of these perspectives equally, as well as in terms of long-term competitiveness (vis-avis a traditional short-term performance. The purpose of this paper is to analyze business relationship determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, where we study the impact of (1 relationship-based information exchange, (2 network spillover effects, (3 transaction-specific investments, (4 trust, (5 cooperation (joint actions and (6 flexibility on perceived (7 supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness. In this regard the main research question of our study is: Which relational and transactional dimensions determine supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, as well as how strongly? To provide the answer this research question we employ an exploratory-type Partial Least Squares (PLS regression in conjunction with a novel perspective of network spillover effects, as a set of independent variables in our model. The data set consists of a sample of 130 international suppliers (approx. 30 % response rate connected to a transnational company (TNC headquartered in Slovenia, which operates in the steel construction solutions’ industry. Our results clearly identify a relational and a transactional set of determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, with the former having a significantly higher impact on competitiveness than the latter. With regards to specific dimensions associated with this relational component

Refuse dumps from leaf-cutting ant nests reduce the intensity of above-ground competition among neighboring plants in a Patagonian steppe

Science.gov (United States)

Farji-Brener, Alejandro G.; Lescano, María Natalia

2017-11-01

In arid environments, the high availability of sunlight due to the scarcity of trees suggests that plant competition take place mainly belowground for water and nutrients. However, the occurrence of soil disturbances that increase nutrient availability and thereby promote plant growth may enhance shoot competition between neighboring plants. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to evaluate the influence of the enriched soil patches generated by the leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex lobicornis, on the performance of the alien forb Carduus thoermeri (Asteraceae) under different intraspecific competition scenarios. Our results showed that substrate type and competition scenario affected mainly aboveground plant growth. As expected, plants growing without neighbors and in nutrient-rich ant refuse dumps showed more aboveground biomass than plants growing with neighbors and in nutrient-poor steppe soils. However, aboveground competition was more intense in nutrient-poor substrates: plants under shoot and full competition growing in the nutrient-rich ant refuse dumps showed higher biomass than those growing on steppe soils. Belowground biomass was similar among focal plants growing under different substrate type. Our results support the traditional view that increments in resource availability reduce competition intensity. Moreover, the fact that seedlings in this sunny habitat mainly compete aboveground illustrates how limiting factors may be scale-dependent and change in importance as plants grow.

Vehicle Detection for RCTA/ANS (Autonomous Navigation System)

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan, Shane; Bajracharya, Max; Matthies, Larry H.; Howard, Andrew B.

2012-01-01

Using a stereo camera pair, imagery is acquired and processed through the JPLV stereo processing pipeline. From this stereo data, large 3D blobs are found. These blobs are then described and classified by their shape to determine which are vehicles and which are not. Prior vehicle detection algorithms are either targeted to specific domains, such as following lead cars, or are intensity- based methods that involve learning typical vehicle appearances from a large corpus of training data. In order to detect vehicles, the JPL Vehicle Detection (JVD) algorithm goes through the following steps: 1. Take as input a left disparity image and left rectified image from JPLV stereo. 2. Project the disparity data onto a two-dimensional Cartesian map. 3. Perform some post-processing of the map built in the previous step in order to clean it up. 4. Take the processed map and find peaks. For each peak, grow it out into a map blob. These map blobs represent large, roughly vehicle-sized objects in the scene. 5. Take these map blobs and reject those that do not meet certain criteria. Build descriptors for the ones that remain. Pass these descriptors onto a classifier, which determines if the blob is a vehicle or not. The probability of detection is the probability that if a vehicle is present in the image, is visible, and un-occluded, then it will be detected by the JVD algorithm. In order to estimate this probability, eight sequences were ground-truthed from the RCTA (Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliances) program, totaling over 4,000 frames with 15 unique vehicles. Since these vehicles were observed at varying ranges, one is able to find the probability of detection as a function of range. At the time of this reporting, the JVD algorithm was tuned to perform best at cars seen from the front, rear, or either side, and perform poorly on vehicles seen from oblique angles.

Economic efficency and competitive position of nuclear energy today

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmitt, D.

1988-01-01

In spite of the relaxation making itself felt at the moment on the world energy markets, the competitive position of nuclear power from either existing or shortly to be connected power plants remains safe. Any attempt at doing without this extraordinarily convenient vehicle of power generation would mean to severely force up costs and expenses. The competitive position of existing nuclear power plants is assumed to remain untouched through the coming decade. In spite of the presently very low world market prices imported coal is especially affected by, even abstract economic analyses show nuclear energy to come out superior to all other alternatives providing for the electric power supply of the Federal Republic of Germany. Once the over-capacity is reduced and under control, a longer-term superior competitive position of nuclear power, however, presupposes a rise in prices full level with those of the neighbor countries. At any rate and for the time being, the divergence of electric power from imported coal prices which was even obvious in the mean load range has diminished. The superior position of nuclear power in the base load range can be maintained through avoiding further rises in operating costs by gradual rationalization and standardization. (orig./HP) [de

Ecology and behavior of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Lövei, G L; Sunderland, K D

1996-01-01

The ground beetles from the speciose beetle family Carabidae and, since their emergence in the Tertiary, have populated all habitats except deserts. Our knowledge about carabids is biased toward species living in north-temperate regions. Most carabids are predatory, consume a wide range of food types, and experience food shortages in the field. Feeding on both plant and animal material and scavenging are probably more significant than currently acknowledged. The most important mortality sources are abiotic factors and predators; pathogens and parasites can be important for some developmental stages. Although competition among larvae and adults does occur, the importance of competition as a community organization is not proven. Carabids are abundant in agricultural fields all over the world and may be important natural enemies of agricultural pests.

Competitive balance in national European soccer competitions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haan, M.A.; Koning, R.H.; van Witteloostuijn, A.; Albert, Jim; Koning, Ruud H.

2007-01-01

According to popular belief, competitive balance in national soccer competitions in Europe has decreased due to the Bosman ruling and the introduction of the Champions League. We test this hypothesis using data from 7 national competitions, for a host of indicators. We find some evidence for

Integrated System Test Approaches for the NASA Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Cockrell, Charles

2008-01-01

NASA is maturing test and evaluation plans leading to flight readiness of the Ares I crew launch vehicle. Key development, qualification, and verification tests are planned . Upper stage engine sea-level and altitude testing. First stage development and qualification motors. Upper stage structural and thermal development and qualification test articles. Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA). Upper stage green run testing. Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing (IVGVT). Aerodynamic characterization testing. Test and evaluation supports initial validation flights (Ares I-Y and Orion 1) and design certification.

Autonomous aerial vehicles : guidance, control, signal and image processing platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Jarrah, M.; Adiansyah, S.; Marji, Z. M.; Chowdhury, M. S.

2011-01-01

used as fusion algorithm for position and poses estimation. Then path planning, trajectory generation and trajectory guidance alternative strategies is presented. One of the important UAV mission is target surveillance using an onboard vision system. AUS-UAV Mazari is using a gimbaled camera for target monitoring and target tracking using basic digital image processing and techniques. Successful moving target geo-location algorithms were developed and results will be presented. Future plan is to develop a cooperation strategy between several vehicles in the air and on the ground. Use of vision system to aid the vehicle in localization using ground features is also under consideration.

Classification of robotic battery service systems for unmanned aerial vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ngo Tien

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Existing examples of prototypes of ground-based robotic platforms used as a landing site for unmanned aerial vehicles are considered. In some cases, they are equipped with a maintenance mechanism for the power supply module. The main requirements for robotic multi-copter battery maintenance systems depending on operating conditions, required processing speed, operator experience and other parameters are analyzed. The key issues remain questions of the autonomous landing of the unmanned aerial vehicles on the platform and approach to servicing battery. The existing prototypes of service robotic platforms are differed in the complexity of internal mechanisms, speed of service, algorithms of joint work of the platform and unmanned aerial vehicles during the landing and maintenance of the battery. The classification of robotic systems for servicing the power supply of multi-copter batteries criteria is presented using the following: the type of basing, the method of navigation during landing, the shape of the landing pad, the method of restoring the power supply module. The proposed algorithmic model of the operation of battery power maintenance system of the multi-copter on ground-based robotic platform during solving the target agrarian problem is described. Wireless methods of battery recovery are most promising, so further development and prototyping of a wireless charging station for multi-copter batteries will be developed.

Review of the business possibilities in the electric vehicle cluster. Final report; Hypaetaeaen kyytiin - keskittaemaellae tuloksia. Selvitys saehkoeajoneuvoklusterin liiketoimintamahdollisuuksista. Loppuraportti 6.8.2010

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Antikainen, M.; Hertzen, M. von; Salonen, T.; Sjoeholm, H. (Oy Swot Consulting Finland Ltd, Helsinki (Finland)); Jaervinen, J. (Nikola Communications Ltd, Helsinki (Finland))

2010-08-15

years. The international industry is divided in this report into the following groups: traditional automotive industry, new actors of significant scale, small actors, mobile machinery and component manufacturers. Significant international actors are presented from each group. Big actors lead the development whereas the possibilities of small actors are particularly in changes of mobility behaviour created by the technology transition. Networks in the industry have been and are going to be created mostly in the context of ongoing national and international projects. Business based value networks have been formed in for example automotive industry, where major car manufacturers have formed alliances with electronics companies. The report presents an American company Better Place as an example of an operator, who integrates the different elements of the cluster together, and as an actor, who has built the value network around itself. Three potential business models are discussed in this report: Status Quo, Reformers and New Vertical Integration. An example of Finnish possibilities in these business models and in mobile machinery is also presented. The competitiveness and possibilities of Finnish industries are summarized. Finland is not interesting as a volume market. Finland has however advantages for electric vehicle cluster, i.e. a highly developed infrastructure fit for charging electric vehicles and consumers who are familiar in using it, challenging climatic conditions for testing electric vehicles in different conditions, strong traditions in electrical engineering, telecommunications and programming together with know-how in designing and manufacturing vehicles. Finland and especially the densely populated Helsinki metropolitan area is therefore a good testing ground for testing electric vehicle ecosystem. The first wave of the business possibilities related to electric vehicles has gone. Now it's time to act fast and utilise the knowledge that is available

Inexpensive semi-autonomous ground vehicles for defusing IEDs

Science.gov (United States)

Davenport, Chris; Lodmell, James; Womble, Phillip C.; Barzilov, Alexander; Paschal, Jon; Hernandez, Robert; Moss, Kyle T.; Hopper, Lindsay

2008-04-01

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are an important concern to coalition forces during the conflicts in the Middle East. These devices are responsible for many casualties to American armed forces in the Middle East. These explosives are particularly dangerous because they are improvised with materials readily available to the designer, and there is no systematic way of explosive ordinance disposal. IEDs can be made from things such as standard military ammunition and can be detonated with common electronic devices such as cell phones and garage door openers. There is a great need for a low cost solution to neutralize these IEDs. At the Applied Physics Institute we are building a single function disrupter robot whose sole purpose is to neutralize these IEDs. We are modifying a toy remote control car to control it either wirelessly using WI-FI (IEEE 802.11) or wired by tethering the vehicle with an Ethernet cable (IEEE 802.3). The robot will be equipped with a high velocity fuze disrupter to neutralize the IED as well as a video camera for inspection and aiming purposes. This robot utilizes commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components which keeps the cost relatively low. Currently, similar robot systems have been deployed in Iraq and elsewhere but their method of operation is such that it is impractical to use in non-combat situations. We will discuss our design and possible deployment scenarios.

Electric vehicle energy management system

Science.gov (United States)

Alaoui, Chakib

This thesis investigates and analyzes novel strategies for the optimum energy management of electric vehicles (EVs). These are aimed to maximize the useful life of the EV batteries and make the EV more practical in order to increase its acceptability to market. The first strategy concerns the right choice of the batteries for the EV according to the user's driving habits, which may vary. Tests conducted at the University of Massachusetts Lowell battery lab show that the batteries perform differently from one manufacturer to the other. The second strategy was to investigate the fast chargeability of different batteries, which leads to reduce the time needed to recharge the EV battery pack. Tests were conducted again to prove that only few battery types could be fast charged. Test data were used to design a fast battery charger that could be installed in an EV charging station. The third strategy was the design, fabrication and application of an Electric Vehicle Diagnostic and Rejuvenation System (EVDRS). This system is based on Mosfet Controlled Thyristors (MCTs). It is capable of quickly identifying any failing battery(s) within the EV pack and rejuvenating the whole battery pack without dismantling them and unloading them. A novel algorithm to rejuvenate Electric Vehicle Sealed Lead Acid Batteries is described. This rejuvenation extends the useful life of the batteries and makes the EV more competitive. The fourth strategy was to design a thermal management system for EV, which is crucial to the safe operation, and the achievement of normal/optimal performance of, electric vehicle (EV) batteries. A novel approach for EV thermal management, based on Pettier-Effect heat pumps, was designed, fabricated and tested in EV. It shows the application of this type of technology for thermal management of EVs.

Wind energy in a competitive electricity supply environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strbac, G; Jenkins, N [Manchester Centre for Electrical Energy, Manchester (United Kingdom)

1996-12-31

In the UK, there has been an increasing interest in the commercial aspects of the impact of wind energy on transmission and distribution networks. In a competitive electricity supply environment, mechanisms for pricing network services are considered to be the main vehicle for evaluating that impact. This article reviews the major pricing strategies based on embedded costs, short and long run marginal costing theory as well as time-of-use pricing, and comments on the influence of each particular strategy on the calculated value of wind energy. Also, prospective tools for evaluating savings in capital and operating network costs due to wind generation, are identified. (author)

Wind energy in a competitive electricity supply environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strbac, G.; Jenkins, N. [Manchester Centre for Electrical Energy, Manchester (United Kingdom)

1995-12-31

In the UK, there has been an increasing interest in the commercial aspects of the impact of wind energy on transmission and distribution networks. In a competitive electricity supply environment, mechanisms for pricing network services are considered to be the main vehicle for evaluating that impact. This article reviews the major pricing strategies based on embedded costs, short and long run marginal costing theory as well as time-of-use pricing, and comments on the influence of each particular strategy on the calculated value of wind energy. Also, prospective tools for evaluating savings in capital and operating network costs due to wind generation, are identified. (author)

Inflatable Re-Entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) Design Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Stephen J.; Dillman, Robert A.; Starr, Brett R.; Stephan, Ryan A.; Lindell, Michael C.; Player, Charles J.; Cheatwood, F. McNeil

2005-01-01

Inflatable aeroshells offer several advantages over traditional rigid aeroshells for atmospheric entry. Inflatables offer increased payload volume fraction of the launch vehicle shroud and the possibility to deliver more payload mass to the surface for equivalent trajectory constraints. An inflatable s diameter is not constrained by the launch vehicle shroud. The resultant larger drag area can provide deceleration equivalent to a rigid system at higher atmospheric altitudes, thus offering access to higher landing sites. When stowed for launch and cruise, inflatable aeroshells allow access to the payload after the vehicle is integrated for launch and offer direct access to vehicle structure for structural attachment with the launch vehicle. They also offer an opportunity to eliminate system duplication between the cruise stage and entry vehicle. There are however several potential technical challenges for inflatable aeroshells. First and foremost is the fact that they are flexible structures. That flexibility could lead to unpredictable drag performance or an aerostructural dynamic instability. In addition, durability of large inflatable structures may limit their application. They are susceptible to puncture, a potentially catastrophic insult, from many possible sources. Finally, aerothermal heating during planetary entry poses a significant challenge to a thin membrane. NASA Langley Research Center and NASA's Wallops Flight Facility are jointly developing inflatable aeroshell technology for use on future NASA missions. The technology will be demonstrated in the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE). This paper will detail the development of the initial IRVE inflatable system to be launched on a Terrier/Orion sounding rocket in the fourth quarter of CY2005. The experiment will demonstrate achievable packaging efficiency of the inflatable aeroshell for launch, inflation, leak performance of the inflatable system throughout the flight regime, structural

The development of hybrid vehicles for the Indian market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wadhera, R.; Srinivas, A. [Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., Mumbai (India); Ellinger, R.; Sattler, M. [AVL List GmbH, Graz (Austria)

2012-11-01

The passenger vehicle market in India continues to witness a steady growth rate and expected to do so in the future. While the growth rate is primarily driven by the conventional Internal Combustion based engines, Indian automotive industry is exploring various technological options to comply imminent regulations, remain competitive, reduce emissions and ownership cost. Based on the road trials conducted in various parts of India and subsequent analysis of the traffic characteristics, Hybrid Electric Vehicle promises to be appropriate technology for the near future so as to improve fuel efficiency, performance and reduced emissions. Mahindra and Mahindra has established a clear roadmap for development of HEV. Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV's) are seen as a major technology route in order to fulfill future automotive demands with regard to fuel efficiency, emissions, performance and drivability. Mahindra and Mahindra has therefore set-up a clear strategy and roadmap for the development and implementation of HEV's in their product portfolio. The development of hybrid electrical vehicle is also confronted by numerous technical challenges such as Thermal Management, Safety Concept, durability requirements and Noise vibration and Harshness. Also the cost-effectiveness needs to be ensured so as to have a bright market penetration and a viable business. This lecture covers the passenger vehicle sales statistics in India, prevailing traffic characteristics in various types of roads, environmental boundaries and challenges encountered for Indian Market. (orig.)

Perceptual multistability in figure-ground segregation using motion stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Gori, Simone; Giora, Enrico; Pedersini, Riccardo

2008-11-01

In a series of experiments using ambiguous stimuli, we investigate the effects of displaying ordered, discrete series of images on the dynamics of figure-ground segregation. For low frame presentation speeds, the series were perceived as a sequence of discontinuous, static images, while for high speeds they were perceived as continuous. We conclude that using stimuli varying continuously along one parameter results in stronger hysteresis and reduces spontaneous switching compared to matched static stimuli with discontinuous parameter changes. The additional evidence that the size of the hysteresis effects depended on trial duration is consistent with the stochastic nature of the dynamics governing figure-ground segregation. The results showed that for continuously changing stimuli, alternative figure-ground organizations are resolved via low-level, dynamical competition. A second series of experiments confirmed these results with an ambiguous stimulus based on Petter's effect.

Reflections on Competition, Competition Regulation and the Current Crises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buch-Hansen, Hubert; Wigger, Angela

2013-01-01

competition came to enjoy such an exalted status in Europe and then challenges conventional wisdom by bringing into focus the downsides of competition. It argues that excessive competition and neoliberal competition regulation have contributed to intensify the economic, political, social and environmental...

Building Blocks for Transport-Class Hybrid and Turboelectric Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Jankovsky, Amy; Bowman, Cheryl; Jansen, Ralph

2016-01-01

NASA has been investing in research efforts to define potential vehicles that use hybrid and turboelectric propulsion to enable savings in fuel burn and carbon usage. This paper overviews the fundamental building blocks that have been derived from those studies and details what key performance parameters have been defined, what key ground and flight tests need to occur, and highlights progress toward each.

The Second Life Ageing of the NMC/C Electric Vehicle Retired Li-Ion Batteries in the Stationary Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Swierczynski, Maciej Jozef; Stroe, Daniel Loan; Martinez-Laserna, Egoitz

2016-01-01

Despite the cost of li-ion batteries is gradually falling, the price for li-ion batteries is still too high in order to significantly impact the mass market adoption of e-mobility and household battery applications. It is expected that it might take another several years before lithium-ion...... batteries obtain grid parity and Electric Vehicles (EVs) will become competitive in cost with conventional vehicles (Figure 1). In consequence, a different approach for battery cost reduction can be investigated....

Multi-Task Vehicle Detection with Region-of-Interest Voting.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Wenqing; Liu, Yao; Shen, Chen; Cai, Deng; Hua, Xian-Sheng

2017-10-12

Vehicle detection is a challenging problem in autonomous driving systems, due to its large structural and appearance variations. In this paper, we propose a novel vehicle detection scheme based on multi-task deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) and region-of-interest (RoI) voting. In the design of CNN architecture, we enrich the supervised information with subcategory, region overlap, bounding-box regression and category of each training RoI as a multi-task learning framework. This design allows the CNN model to share visual knowledge among different vehicle attributes simultaneously, thus detection robustness can be effectively improved. In addition, most existing methods consider each RoI independently, ignoring the clues from its neighboring RoIs. In our approach, we utilize the CNN model to predict the offset direction of each RoI boundary towards the corresponding ground truth. Then each RoI can vote those suitable adjacent bounding boxes which are consistent with this additional information. The voting results are combined with the score of each RoI itself to find a more accurate location from a large number of candidates. Experimental results on the real-world computer vision benchmarks KITTI and the PASCAL2007 vehicle dataset show that our approach achieves superior performance in vehicle detection compared with other existing published works.

Numerical Simulation of the Ground Response to the Tire Load Using Finite Element Method

Science.gov (United States)

Valaskova, Veronika; Vlcek, Jozef

2017-10-01

Response of the pavement to the excitation caused by the moving vehicle is one of the actual problems of the civil engineering practice. The load from the vehicle is transferred to the pavement structure through contact area of the tires. Experimental studies show nonuniform distribution of the pressure in the area. This non-uniformity is caused by the flexible nature and the shape of the tire and is influenced by the tire inflation. Several tire load patterns, including uniform distribution and point load, were involved in the numerical modelling using finite element method. Applied tire loads were based on the tire contact forces of the lorry Tatra 815. There were selected two procedures for the calculations. The first one was based on the simplification of the vehicle to the half-part model. The characteristics of the vehicle model were verified by the experiment and by the numerical model in the software ADINA, when vehicle behaviour during the ride was investigated. Second step involved application of the calculated contact forces for the front axle as the load on the multi-layered half space representing the pavement structure. This procedure was realized in the software Plaxis and considered various stress patterns for the load. The response of the ground to the vehicle load was then analyzed. Axisymmetric model was established for this procedure. The paper presents the results of the investigation of the contact pressure distribution and corresponding reaction of the pavement to various load distribution patterns. The results show differences in some calculated quantities for different load patterns, which need to be verified by the experimental way when also ground response should be observed.

MEASURING SUNFLOWER NITROGEN STATUS FROM AN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE-BASED SYSTEM AND AN ON THE GROUND DEVICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Agüera

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Precision agriculture recognizes the inherent spatial variability associated with soil characteristics, land morphology and crop growth, and uses this information to prescribe the most appropriate management strategy on a site-specific basis. To reach this task, the most important information related with crop growth is nutrient status, weed infestation, disease and pet affectation and water management. The application of fertilizer nitrogen to field crops is of critical importance because it determines plant's gro wth, vigour, colour and yield. Furthermore, nitrogen has been observed as a nutrient with high spatial variability in a single field, related to its high mobility. Some previous works have shown that is possible to measure crop nitrogen status with optical instruments. Since most leaf nitrogen is contained in chlorophyll molecules, there is a strong relationship between leaf nitrogen and leaf chlorophyll content, which is the basis for predicting crop nitrogen status by measuring leaf reflectance. So, sensors that can easily monitor crop nitrogen amount throughout the growing season at a high resolution to allow producers to reach their production goals, will give useful information to prescribe a crop management on a site-specific basis. Sunflower is a crop which is taking importance again because it can be used both for food and biofuel purposes, and it is widely cultivated in the South of Spain and other European countries.The aim of this work was to compare an index related with sunflower nitrogen status, deduced from multispectral images taken from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, with optical data collected with a ground-based platform.An ADC Lite Tetracam digital cam was mounted on a md4-200 Microdrones to take pictures of a sunflower field during the crop season. ADC Lite Tetracam is a single sensor digital camera designed for capture of visible light wavelength longer than 520 nm and near-infrared wavelength up to 920 nm. The

Vehicle Health Management Communications Requirements for AeroMACS

Science.gov (United States)

Kerczewski, Robert J.; Clements, Donna J.; Apaza, Rafael D.

2012-01-01

As the development of standards for the aeronautical mobile airport communications system (AeroMACS) progresses, the process of identifying and quantifying appropriate uses for the system is progressing. In addition to defining important elements of AeroMACS standards, indentifying the systems uses impacts AeroMACS bandwidth requirements. Although an initial 59 MHz spectrum allocation for AeroMACS was established in 2007, the allocation may be inadequate; studies have indicated that 100 MHz or more of spectrum may be required to support airport surface communications. Hence additional spectrum allocations have been proposed. Vehicle health management (VHM) systems, which can produce large volumes of vehicle health data, were not considered in the original bandwidth requirements analyses, and are therefore of interest in supporting proposals for additional AeroMACS spectrum. VHM systems are an emerging development in air vehicle safety, and preliminary estimates of the amount of data that will be produced and transmitted off an aircraft, both in flight and on the ground, have been prepared based on estimates of data produced by on-board vehicle health sensors and initial concepts of data processing approaches. This allowed an initial estimate of VHM data transmission requirements for the airport surface. More recently, vehicle-level systems designed to process and analyze VHM data and draw conclusions on the current state of vehicle health have been undergoing testing and evaluation. These systems make use of vehicle system data that is mostly different from VHM data considered previously for airport surface transmission, and produce processed system outputs that will be also need to be archived, thus generating additional data load for AeroMACS. This paper provides an analysis of airport surface data transmission requirements resulting from the vehicle level reasoning systems, within the context of overall VHM data requirements.

Zero Rare-Earth Magnet Integrated Starter-Generator Development for Military Vehicle Applications

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-14

platform. – Support of on-board hybrid electric features such as regenerative braking , torque assist and stop-start operation. 14 August 2013 4...13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES GROUND VEHICLE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM (GVSETS), SET FOR AUG. 21-22, 2013 14. ABSTRACT Briefing Charts

Aerothermodynamics of blunt body entry vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Hollis, Brian R.; Borrelli, Salvatore

2012-01-01

In this chapter, the aerothermodynamic phenomena of blunt body entry vehicles are discussed. Four topics will be considered that present challenges to current computational modeling techniques for blunt body environments: turbulent flow, non-equilibrium flow, rarefied flow, and radiation transport. Examples of comparisons between computational tools to ground and flight-test data will be presented in order to illustrate the challenges existing in the numerical modeling of each of these phenomena and to provide test cases for evaluation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code predictions.

Transient Acoustic Environment Prediction Tool for Launch Vehicles in Motion during Early Lift-Off, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Launch vehicles experience extreme acoustic loads dominated by rocket exhaust plume interactions with ground structures during lift-off, which can produce damaging...

Environmental structure and competitive scoring advantages in team competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Merritt, Sears; Clauset, Aaron

2013-10-01

In most professional sports, playing field structure is kept neutral so that scoring imbalances may be attributed to differences in team skill. It thus remains unknown what impact environmental heterogeneities can have on scoring dynamics or competitive advantages. Applying a novel generative model of scoring dynamics to roughly 10 million team competitions drawn from an online game, we quantify the relationship between the structure within a competition and its scoring dynamics, while controlling the impact of chance. Despite wide structural variations, we observe a common three-phase pattern in the tempo of events. Tempo and balance are highly predictable from a competition's structural features alone and teams exploit environmental heterogeneities for sustained competitive advantage. Surprisingly, the most balanced competitions are associated with specific environmental heterogeneities, not from equally skilled teams. These results shed new light on the design principles of balanced competition, and illustrate the potential of online game data for investigating social dynamics and competition.

Luxury consumption of soil nutrients: a possible competitive strategy in above-ground and below-ground biomass allocation and root morphology for slow-growing arctic vegetation?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijk, van M.T.; Williams, M.; Gough, L.; Hobbie, S.E.; Shaver, G.R.

2003-01-01

1 A field-experiment was used to determine how plant species might retain dominance in an arctic ecosystem receiving added nutrients. We both measured and modelled the above-ground and below-ground biomass allocation and root morphology of non-acidic tussock tundra near Toolik Lake, Alaska, after 4

Some factors affecting the use of lighter than air systems. [economic and performance estimates for dirigibles and semi-buoyant hybrid vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Havill, C. D.

1974-01-01

The uses of lighter-than-air vehicles are examined in the present day transportation environment. Conventional dirigibles were found to indicate an undesirable economic risk due to their low speeds and to uncertainties concerning their operational use. Semi-buoyant hybrid vehicles are suggested as an alternative which does not have many of the inferior characteristics of conventional dirigibles. Economic and performance estimates for hybrid vehicles indicate that they are competitive with other transportation systems in many applications, and unique in their ability to perform some highly desirable emergency missions.

Cost and CO2 aspects of future vehicle options in Europe under new energy policy scenarios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thiel, Christian; Perujo, Adolfo; Mercier, Arnaud

2010-01-01

New electrified vehicle concepts are about to enter the market in Europe. The expected gains in environmental performance for these new vehicle types are associated with higher technology costs. In parallel, the fuel efficiency of internal combustion engine vehicles and hybrids is continuously improved, which in turn advances their environmental performance but also leads to additional technology costs versus today's vehicles. The present study compares the well-to-wheel CO 2 emissions, costs and CO 2 abatement costs of generic European cars, including a gasoline vehicle, diesel vehicle, gasoline hybrid, diesel hybrid, plug in hybrid and battery electric vehicle. The predictive comparison is done for the snapshots 2010, 2020 and 2030 under a new energy policy scenario for Europe. The results of the study show clearly that the electrification of vehicles offer significant possibilities to reduce specific CO 2 emissions in road transport, when supported by adequate policies to decarbonise the electricity generation. Additional technology costs for electrified vehicle types are an issue in the beginning, but can go down to enable payback periods of less than 5 years and very competitive CO 2 abatement costs, provided that market barriers can be overcome through targeted policy support that mainly addresses their initial cost penalty. (author)

Results of the Washington Passive Solar Design/Build Competition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nylen, N.

1981-01-01

In an effort to encourage the design, construction, and marketing of moderately priced passive solar homes in Washington state, the Western Solar Utilization Network (Western SUN) recently sponsored the Washington Passive Solar Design/Build Competition. The competition drew an overwhelming response from designers and builders throughout Washington. Thermal performance of the designs was evaluated by a technical review committee, and final selections were made by the Competition Jury in accordance with the following criteria: perceived market acceptance, thermal performance, cost effectiveness, simplicity of design and operation, and completeness of the passive concept. Design contract awards totaling $50,000 were made available to winners in four categories, including single and multi-family, new and remodeled residences. In order to receive the award in its entirety, winning design/build teams are required to construct their design by April, 1983. As a result of the competition, a great deal was learned about the attitudes and knowledge of professionals and the general public regarding the use of solar energy in Washington state. Among the points that will be highlighted in this paper are the following: (1) a design/build competition is an effective vehicle for promoting solar energy among professionals in the housing community as well as the general public; (2) passive solar techniques can contribute significantly to the heating and cooling needs of residential housing throughout the state of Washington; (3) there is a great deal of interest and talent among the designers and builders of solar residences in Washington; and (4) follow-up activities, including the promotion of winning designs, the systematic collection of performance data, and identification of the major obstacles confronting designers and builders of solar homes, are critical to the success of the program in achieving both its short-term and long-term goals.

ELECTROMAGNETIC BIOSPHERE POLLUTION BY MOTOR TRANSPORT (VEHICLES, ELECTRIC VEHICLES, HYBRID VEHICLES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Selivanov

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The physics of the electromagnetic field is considered. The analysis of electromagnetic radiation on the human-being, the origin of which is the vehicle the electric vehicle, the hybrid vehicle is being considered. The monitoring of electromagnetic radiation of vehicles is carried out.

Globally inconsistent figure/ground relations induced by a negative part.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sung-Ho; Feldman, Jacob

2009-09-10

Figure/ground interpretation is a dynamic and complex process involving the cooperation and competition of a number of perceptual factors. Most research has assumed that figure/ground assignment is globally consistent along the entire contour of a single figure, meaning that the one side of each boundary is interpreted as figure along the entire length of the boundary, and the other side interpreted as ground. We investigated a situation that challenges this assumption, because local cues to figure/ground conflict with global cues: a "negative part," a contour region that appears locally convex but that the global form requires be concave. To measure figure/ground assignment, we use a new task based on local contour motion attribution that allows us to measure border ownership locally at points along the contour. The results from two experiments showed that the more salient a negative part is, the more border ownership tended to locally reverse within it, creating an inconsistency in figure/ground assignments along the contour. This suggests that border ownership assignment is not an all-or-none process, but rather a locally autonomous process that is not strictly constrained by global cues.

Reusable launch vehicle development research

Science.gov (United States)

1995-01-01

NASA has generated a program approach for a SSTO reusable launch vehicle technology (RLV) development which includes a follow-on to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's (BMDO) successful DC-X program, the DC-XA (Advanced). Also, a separate sub-scale flight demonstrator, designated the X-33, will be built and flight tested along with numerous ground based technologies programs. For this to be a successful effort, a balance between technical, schedule, and budgetary risks must be attained. The adoption of BMDO's 'fast track' management practices will be a key element in the eventual success of NASA's effort.

Development of dog-like retrieving capability in a ground robot

Science.gov (United States)

MacKenzie, Douglas C.; Ashok, Rahul; Rehg, James M.; Witus, Gary

2013-01-01

This paper presents the Mobile Intelligence Team's approach to addressing the CANINE outdoor ground robot competition. The competition required developing a robot that provided retrieving capabilities similar to a dog, while operating fully autonomously in unstructured environments. The vision team consisted of Mobile Intelligence, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Wayne State University. Important computer vision aspects of the project were the ability to quickly learn the distinguishing characteristics of novel objects, searching images for the object as the robot drove a search pattern, identifying people near the robot for safe operations, correctly identify the object among distractors, and localizing the object for retrieval. The classifier used to identify the objects will be discussed, including an analysis of its performance, and an overview of the entire system architecture presented. A discussion of the robot's performance in the competition will demonstrate the system's successes in real-world testing.

Contribution of allelopathy and competition to weed suppression by winter wheat, triticale and winter rye

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reiss, Antje; Fomsgaard, Inge S.; Mathiassen, Solvejg Kopp

Above-ground competition and allelopathy are two of the most dominant mechanisms of plants to subdue their competitors in their closest surroundings. In an agricultural perspective, the suppression of weeds by the crop is of particular interest, as weeds represent the largest yield loss potential...... of competitive traits, such as early vigour, crop height and leaf area index and presence of phytotoxic compounds of the group of benzoxazinoids to weed suppression. Four cultivars of each of the winter cereals wheat, triticale and rye were grown in field experiments at two locations. Soil samples were taken...

Detail design of empennage of an unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Sarker, Md. Samad; Panday, Shoyon; Rasel, Md; Salam, Md. Abdus; Faisal, Kh. Md.; Farabi, Tanzimul Hasan

2017-12-01

In order to maintain the operational continuity of air defense systems, unmanned autonomous or remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plays a great role as a target for the anti-aircraft weapons. The aerial vehicle must comply with the requirements of high speed, remotely controlled tracking and navigational aids, operational sustainability and sufficient loiter time. It can also be used for aerial reconnaissance, ground surveillance and other intelligence operations. This paper aims to develop a complete tail design of an unmanned aerial vehicle using Systems Engineering approach. The design fulfils the requirements of longitudinal and directional trim, stability and control provided by the horizontal and vertical tail. Tail control surfaces are designed to provide sufficient control of the aircraft in critical conditions. Design parameters obtained from wing design are utilized in the tail design process as required. Through chronological calculations and successive iterations, optimum values of 26 tail design parameters are determined.

Review and determine the factors influencing knowledge sharing using grounded theory and techniques using Dematel-ISM Fuzzy

OpenAIRE

Peyman Akhavan; Sanaz Imani

2016-01-01

In today's competitive world, knowledge and use of knowledge is a competitive advantage that it makes the administration more efficient and effective management of a true knowledge. Therefore, this study attempted to collect and identify the factors influencing knowledge sharing. In the present study in terms of purpose and using grounded theory methodology classified in nine categories including cultural, leadership, social, personal, business, motivational, organizational, technological,...

Retail competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

Retail competition as the cornerstone of a competitive electricity marketplace was the subject of the seventh in the series of policy discussion papers developed at the Market Design Conference. Concern was expressed that because of the complexities involved in market design and technical implementation, the retail competition may lag behind other elements of the implementation of the new market design. A variety of key issues were debated, including the role of physical versus financial contracts, the form of retail competition and financial settlement systems in the short term, the requirement to separate 'competitive' (metering, billing, maintenance, consumer education) from non-competitive' (the transmission wires) services and the role of municipal electric utilities. It was agreed that the IMO should play an important role in defining and enforcing the separation of services, and that as a general rule, the development of policy in this area should be guided by the principle of maximizing the potential for competition

Competitive intelligence as an enabler for firm competitiveness: An overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Maune

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to provide an overview, from literature, about how competitive intelligence can be an enabler towards a firm’s competitiveness. This overview is done under the background of intense global competition that firms are currently experiencing. This paper used a qualitative content analysis as a data collection methodology on all identified journal articles on competitive intelligence and firm competitiveness. To identify relevant literature, academic databases and search engines were used. Moreover, a review of references in related studies led to more relevant sources, the references of which were further reviewed and analysed. To ensure reliability and trustworthiness, peer-reviewed journal articles and triangulation were used. The paper found that competitive intelligence is an important enabler of firm competitiveness. The findings from this paper will assist business managers to understand and improve their outlook of competitive intelligence as an enabler of firm competitiveness and will be of great academic value.

PERFECTION RUSSIAN TAX FEDERALISM AS THE FACTOR OF INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS OF INDUSTRIALLY ADVANCED REGIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D.A. Tatarkin

2008-06-01

Full Text Available In the article problems of increase of competitiveness of industrially advanced regions are considered on the basis of optimization of system of differentiation of tax powers and tax incomes, stimulating authorities of different levels to develop own tax potential, to form economic sources for self-development and to carry out a responsible financial policy in interests of the population. The basic background of research became the ground of an opportunity to transfer the principles of a competition on mutual relations of authorities of a various level, thus determining economic advantages of decentralization control system of territory development.

Modal Analysis of In-Wheel Motor-Driven Electric Vehicle Based on Bond Graph Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Di Tan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A half-car vibration model of an electric vehicle driven by rear in-wheel motors was developed using bond graph theory and the modular modeling method. Based on the bond graph model, modal analysis was carried out to study the vibration characteristics of the electric vehicle. To verify the effectiveness of the established model, the results were compared to ones computed on the ground of modal analysis and Newton equations. The comparison shows that the vibration model of the electric vehicle based on bond graph theory not only is able to better compute the natural frequency but also can easily determine the deformation mode, momentum mode, and other isomorphism modes and describe the dynamic characteristics of an electric vehicle driven by in-wheel motors more comprehensively than other modal analysis methods.

Experimental investigation of a quad-rotor biplane micro air vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Bogdanowicz, Christopher Michael

Micro air vehicles are expected to perform demanding missions requiring efficient operation in both hover and forward flight. This thesis discusses the development of a hybrid air vehicle which seamlessly combines both flight capabilities: hover and high-speed forward flight. It is the quad-rotor biplane, which weighs 240 grams and consists of four propellers with wings arranged in a biplane configuration. The performance of the vehicle system was investigated in conditions representative of flight through a series of wind tunnel experiments. These studies provided an understanding of propeller-wing interaction effects and system trim analysis. This showed that the maximum speed of 11 m/s and a cruise speed of 4 m/s were achievable and that the cruise power is approximately one-third of the hover power. Free flight testing of the vehicle successfully highlighted its ability to achieve equilibrium transition flight. Key design parameters were experimentally investigated to understand their effect on overall performance. It was found that a trade-off between efficiency and compactness affects the final choice of the design. Design improvements have allowed for decreases in vehicle weight and ground footprint, while increasing structural soundness. Numerous vehicle designs, models, and flight tests have proven system scalability as well as versatility, including an upscaled model to be utilized in an extensive commercial package delivery system. Overall, the quad-rotor biplane is proven to be an efficient and effective multi-role vehicle.

Sensor Architecture and Task Classification for Agricultural Vehicles and Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Rovira-Más

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The long time wish of endowing agricultural vehicles with an increasing degree of autonomy is becoming a reality thanks to two crucial facts: the broad diffusion of global positioning satellite systems and the inexorable progress of computers and electronics. Agricultural vehicles are currently the only self-propelled ground machines commonly integrating commercial automatic navigation systems. Farm equipment manufacturers and satellite-based navigation system providers, in a joint effort, have pushed this technology to unprecedented heights; yet there are many unresolved issues and an unlimited potential still to uncover. The complexity inherent to intelligent vehicles is rooted in the selection and coordination of the optimum sensors, the computer reasoning techniques to process the acquired data, and the resulting control strategies for automatic actuators. The advantageous design of the network of onboard sensors is necessary for the future deployment of advanced agricultural vehicles. This article analyzes a variety of typical environments and situations encountered in agricultural fields, and proposes a sensor architecture especially adapted to cope with them. The strategy proposed groups sensors into four specific subsystems: global localization, feedback control and vehicle pose, non-visual monitoring, and local perception. The designed architecture responds to vital vehicle tasks classified within three layers devoted to safety, operative information, and automatic actuation. The success of this architecture, implemented and tested in various agricultural vehicles over the last decade, rests on its capacity to integrate redundancy and incorporate new technologies in a practical way.

The Mechanisms to Consolidate Staff Efforts in the Targeting of Increasing the Competitive Potential of Enterprise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Legominova Svitlana V.

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The topicality of focusing efforts to improve the competitive potential of enterprise through intellectualization of its staff, using continuous training in accordance with technological regimes and modern trends, has been rationalized. The author has analyzed the structural features of intellectual capital, determining the need for their efficient interaction to gain competitive value. A combination of behavioristic and cognitive approaches has been proposed, using a holistic model of human resources management in order to ensure efficient management and consideration of specific characteristics of cognitive behavior. It has been proven that the competitive potential of enterprise is directly dependent on the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge, should be of permanent nature, ensuring a stable increase in the competitive potential of enterprise and creating the ground for the formation of leadership positions, thus determining the basic mainstreams of development.

Overview of ground coupled heat pump research and technology transfer activities

Science.gov (United States)

Baxter, V. D.; Mei, V. C.

Highlights of DOE-sponsored ground coupled heat pump (GCHP) research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are presented. ORNL, in cooperation with Niagara Mohawk Power Company, Climate Master, Inc., and Brookhaven National Laboratory developed and demonstrated an advanced GCHP design concept with shorter ground coils that can reduce installed costs for northern climates. In these areas it can also enhance the competitiveness of GCHP systems versus air-source heat pumps by lowering their payback from 6 to 7 years to 3 to 5 years. Ground coil heat exchanger models (based primarily on first principles) have been developed and used by others to generate less conservative ground coil sizing methods. An aggressive technology transfer initiative was undertaken to publicize results of this research and make it available to the industry. Included in this effort were an international workshop, trade press releases and articles, and participation in a live teleconference on GCHP technology.

Competitive strategies of late followers in auto industry: Case study Hyundai-Kia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rakita Branko

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes competitive strategy of late followers in auto industry in the case of Hyundai Kia Auto Group (HKAG. The global economic crisis has had a strong impact on the leaders in auto industry. HKAG took advantage of the crisis and increased sales and global market share at the expense of the leaders in the industry. We found that during the crisis the company achieved excellent results thanks to innovative marketing and sales strategies combined with top quality, product design and productivity. Growing competition and changes in business environment in the post-crisis period jeopardized the future growth of the company. The company reacted to the changes in business environment by shifting the focus to the luxury segment and green vehicles, by launching independent luxury brand Genesis and by scaling up investment in R&D.

Full-Scale Passive Earth Entry Vehicle Landing Tests: Methods and Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Littell, Justin D.; Kellas, Sotiris

2018-01-01

During the summer of 2016, a series of drop tests were conducted on two passive earth entry vehicle (EEV) test articles at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The tests were conducted to evaluate the structural integrity of a realistic EEV vehicle under anticipated landing loads. The test vehicles were lifted to an altitude of approximately 400m via a helicopter and released via release hook into a predesignated 61 m landing zone. Onboard accelerometers were capable of measuring vehicle free flight and impact loads. High-speed cameras on the ground tracked the free-falling vehicles and data was used to calculate critical impact parameters during the final seconds of flight. Additional sets of high definition and ultra-high definition cameras were able to supplement the high-speed data by capturing the release and free flight of the test articles. Three tests were successfully completed and showed that the passive vehicle design was able to withstand the impact loads from nominal and off-nominal impacts at landing velocities of approximately 29 m/s. Two out of three test resulted in off-nominal impacts due to a combination of high winds at altitude and the method used to suspend the vehicle from the helicopter. Both the video and acceleration data captured is examined and discussed. Finally, recommendations for improved release and instrumentation methods are presented.

Design of a Control System for an Autonomous Vehicle Based on Adaptive-PID

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pan Zhao

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The autonomous vehicle is a mobile robot integrating multi-sensor navigation and positioning, intelligent decision making and control technology. This paper presents the control system architecture of the autonomous vehicle, called “Intelligent Pioneer”, and the path tracking and stability of motion to effectively navigate in unknown environments is discussed. In this approach, a two degree-of-freedom dynamic model is developed to formulate the path-tracking problem in state space format. For controlling the instantaneous path error, traditional controllers have difficulty in guaranteeing performance and stability over a wide range of parameter changes and disturbances. Therefore, a newly developed adaptive-PID controller will be used. By using this approach the flexibility of the vehicle control system will be increased and achieving great advantages. Throughout, we provide examples and results from Intelligent Pioneer and the autonomous vehicle using this approach competed in the 2010 and 2011 Future Challenge of China. Intelligent Pioneer finished all of the competition programmes and won first position in 2010 and third position in 2011.

Potential Science and Technology Game Changers for the Ground Warfare of 2050: Selected Projections Made in 2017

Science.gov (United States)

2018-02-01

ARL-TR-8283 ● FEB 2018 US Army Research Laboratory Potential Science and Technology Game Changers for the Ground Warfare of 2050...Science and Technology Game Changers for the Ground Warfare of 2050: Selected Projections Made in 2017 by Alexander Kott Office of the Director...Brian Sadler Vehicle Technology Directorate, ARL Ananthram Swami Computational and Information Sciences Directorate, ARL Approved for

The Impact of Leadership, Creativity, and Innovation on Competitive Advantage: Proposing a Comprehensive Framework for a Better Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hendry Hartono

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring the relationship of creativity, leadership, and innovation on competitive advantage; and explores the connection between creativity, leadership, and innovation. Research used literature review method as a systematic search of published works to find out what is already known about the intended research. Every company that wants to survive in the global market must have vehicles, like creativity and innovation. Beside, managing effectively to create sustainable competitive advantage needs leadership because leaders are central to the process of creating culture, systems, and structure that foster creativity and innovation.

X-33/RLV System Health Management/Vehicle Health Management

Science.gov (United States)

Mouyos, William; Wangu, Srimal

1998-01-01

To reduce operations costs, Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVS) must include highly reliable robust subsystems which are designed for simple repair access with a simplified servicing infrastructure, and which incorporate expedited decision-making about faults and anomalies. A key component for the Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) RLV system used to meet these objectives is System Health Management (SHM). SHM incorporates Vehicle Health Management (VHM), ground processing associated with the vehicle fleet (GVHM), and Ground Infrastructure Health Management (GIHM). The primary objective of SHM is to provide an automated and paperless health decision, maintenance, and logistics system. Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company, is leading the design, development, and integration of the SHM system for RLV and for X-33 (a sub-scale, sub-orbit Advanced Technology Demonstrator). Many critical technologies are necessary to make SHM (and more specifically VHM) practical, reliable, and cost effective. This paper will present the X-33 SHM design which forms the baseline for the RLV SHM, and it will discuss applications of advanced technologies to future RLVs. In addition, this paper will describe a Virtual Design Environment (VDE) which is being developed for RLV. This VDE will allow for system design engineering, as well as program management teams, to accurately and efficiently evaluate system designs, analyze the behavior of current systems, and predict the feasibility of making smooth and cost-efficient transitions from older technologies to newer ones. The RLV SHM design methodology will reduce program costs, decrease total program life-cycle time, and ultimately increase mission success.

Ground Robotic Hand Applications for the Space Program study (GRASP)

Science.gov (United States)

Grissom, William A.; Rafla, Nader I. (Editor)

1992-01-01

This document reports on a NASA-STDP effort to address research interests of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) through a study entitled, Ground Robotic-Hand Applications for the Space Program (GRASP). The primary objective of the GRASP study was to identify beneficial applications of specialized end-effectors and robotic hand devices for automating any ground operations which are performed at the Kennedy Space Center. Thus, operations for expendable vehicles, the Space Shuttle and its components, and all payloads were included in the study. Typical benefits of automating operations, or augmenting human operators performing physical tasks, include: reduced costs; enhanced safety and reliability; and reduced processing turnaround time.

Competition of two supply chains with different risk structures: applying market research option

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Hafezolkotob

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Demand uncertainty obliges all participants through a supply chain to make decisions under uncertainty. These decisions extend across price, investment, production, and inventory quantities. We take account of competition between two supply chains under demand uncertainty. These chains internally are involved in vertical pricing competition; however, they externally participate in horizontal pricing and service level competitions by offering a single-type product to the market. Since firms may have various attitudes against demand uncertainty and its related risks, different risk structures for competitive supply chains are considered. We assume that risk-averse firms are able to decrease demand uncertainty by information gathered from market research. For risk-averse participants in a chain, market research investment is an appropriate ground for vertical coordination, which diminishes risk through a supply chain. Optimal strategies based on game theory are obtained for different risk structures; furthermore, for each structure the effects of risk sensitivity as well as market research efficiency on these optimal strategies are investigated. Finally, we propose two scenarios for information sharing between risk-averse participants.

Sensor-driven area coverage for an autonomous fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Paull, Liam; Thibault, Carl; Nagaty, Amr; Seto, Mae; Li, Howard

2014-09-01

Area coverage with an onboard sensor is an important task for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with many applications. Autonomous fixed-wing UAVs are more appropriate for larger scale area surveying since they can cover ground more quickly. However, their non-holonomic dynamics and susceptibility to disturbances make sensor coverage a challenging task. Most previous approaches to area coverage planning are offline and assume that the UAV can follow the planned trajectory exactly. In this paper, this restriction is removed as the aircraft maintains a coverage map based on its actual pose trajectory and makes control decisions based on that map. The aircraft is able to plan paths in situ based on sensor data and an accurate model of the on-board camera used for coverage. An information theoretic approach is used that selects desired headings that maximize the expected information gain over the coverage map. In addition, the branch entropy concept previously developed for autonomous underwater vehicles is extended to UAVs and ensures that the vehicle is able to achieve its global coverage mission. The coverage map over the workspace uses the projective camera model and compares the expected area of the target on the ground and the actual area covered on the ground by each pixel in the image. The camera is mounted on a two-axis gimbal and can either be stabilized or optimized for maximal coverage. Hardware-in-the-loop simulation results and real hardware implementation on a fixed-wing UAV show the effectiveness of the approach. By including the already developed automatic takeoff and landing capabilities, we now have a fully automated and robust platform for performing aerial imagery surveys.

The improving of methodological principles of enterprise competitiveness management under the crisis

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Marina Dyadyuk

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is methodological bases improving and forming of practical tools for enterprise competitiveness management under the crisis. The specific features of the competitive environment of enterprises in Ukraine under the global and national crisis are researched in the article. From this it is concluded that any enterprise must have a greater degree of flexibility than in periods of stability or economic growth for obtaining and maintaining of competitive advantages in the current period of global instability. Flexibility and adaptability of the economic system is the main prerequisite for obtaining and developing of enterprise competitive advantages and stem component of competitiveness. We identified and characterized the methodological components of adaptive management process on the base of systematic approach and with taking into account views of scientists. The obtained scientific results are the basis for conceptual model of integrated system of enterprise adaptive management in terms of dynamic and uncertainty environment. We propose to implement this kind of control on three levels: strategic (preventive management, functionality (tactical management and operational (symptomatic management on the base of analyzing economically grounded views and existing positions. It all together will ensure effective adaptation at the macroeconomic, meso and micro levels of management. The main purpose of the proposed integrated management system is ensuring the stability and integrity of enterprises activity in terms of variability and uncertainty of the environment. The implementation of such management system provides the enterprise with certain competitive advantages. It will allow to Ukrainian enterprises maintaining the competitive position in unfavorable external conditions, but also maintaining and improving the competitiveness.

Electric Vehicle Based Battery Storages for Large Scale Wind Power Integration in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pillai, Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna

In the recent years, the electric vehicles (EVs) have drawn great attention world wide as a feasible solution for clean transportation. The electric vehicle technology is not new as it was introduced in the mid 19th century. The low battery capacity, driving range and superior gasoline cars had...... resulted in the demise of electric cars in the 1930s. However, with the advancement of new high density battery technologies and power electronic converters, it is now viable to produce electric cars of higher efficiency and driving range. The performance and durability of the battery technology...... is improving on a rapid scale and the battery cost is also reducing which could enable the electric cars to be competitive in the market. The electric vehicles could also benefit the electricity sector in supporting more renewable energy which is also one of the most important driving forces in its promotion...

Editorial for special issue on Perception and Navigation for Autonomous Vehicles

OpenAIRE

Laugier , Christian; Philippe , Martinet; Urbano , Nunes

2014-01-01

International audience; This Special Issue of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine has been prepared in the scope of the activities of the Technical Committee on "Autonomous Ground Vehicle and Intelligent Transportation System" (AGV-ITS) (http://www.ieee-ras.org/autonomous-groundvehicles- and-intelligent-transportation-systems) of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE RAS).

76 FR 14284 - Domestic Shipping Services Product Launch of Parcel Select Regional Ground

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-16

... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 111 Domestic Shipping Services Product Launch of Parcel Select Regional... Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[supreg]), to introduce a new competitive shipping option, Parcel Select Regional Ground \\TM\\ service. DATES: Effective Date: April 17, 2011...

Competitive Intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergeron, Pierrette; Hiller, Christine A.

2002-01-01

Reviews the evolution of competitive intelligence since 1994, including terminology and definitions and analytical techniques. Addresses the issue of ethics; explores how information technology supports the competitive intelligence process; and discusses education and training opportunities for competitive intelligence, including core competencies…

Future orbital transfer vehicle technology study. Volume 2: Technical report

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, E. E.

1982-01-01

Missions for future orbit transfer vehicles (1995-2010) are identified and the technology, operations and vehicle concepts that satisfy the transportation requirements are defined. Comparison of reusable space and ground based LO2/LH2 OTV's was made. Both vehicles used advanced space engines and aero assist capability. The SB OTV provided advantages in life cycle cost, performance and potential for improvement. Comparison of an all LO2/LH2 OTV fleet with a fleet of LO2/LH2 OTVs and electric OTV's was also made. The normal growth technology electric OTV used silicon cells with heavy shielding and argon ion thrusters. This provided a 23% advantage in total transportation cost. The impact of accelerated technology was considered in terms of improvements in performance and cost effectiveness. The accelerated technology electric vehicle used GaAs cells and annealing but did not result in the mixed fleet being any cheaper than an all LO2/LH2 OTV fleet. It is concluded that reusable LO2/LH2 OTV's can serve all general purpose cargo roles between LEO and GEO for the forseeable future. The most significant technology for the second generation vehicle would be space debris protection, on-orbit propellant storage and transfer and on-orbit maintenance capability.

Detection of Changes in Ground-Level Ozone Concentrations via Entropy

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Yuehua Wu

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Ground-level ozone concentration is a key indicator of air quality. Theremay exist sudden changes in ozone concentration data over a long time horizon, which may be caused by the implementation of government regulations and policies, such as establishing exhaust emission limits for on-road vehicles. To monitor and assess the efficacy of these policies, we propose a methodology for detecting changes in ground-level ozone concentrations, which consists of three major steps: data transformation, simultaneous autoregressive modelling and change-point detection on the estimated entropy. To show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, the methodology is applied to detect changes in ground-level ozone concentration data collected in the Toronto region of Canada between June and September for the years from 1988 to 2009. The proposed methodology is also applicable to other climate data.

Accelerated Lane-Changing Trajectory Planning of Automated Vehicles with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Collaboration

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Haijian Bai

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Considering the complexity of lane changing using automated vehicles and the frequency of turning lanes in city settings, this paper aims to generate an accelerated lane-changing trajectory using vehicle-to-vehicle collaboration (V2VC. Based on the characteristics of accelerated lane changing, we used a polynomial method and cooperative strategies for trajectory planning to establish a lane-changing model under different degrees of collaboration with the following vehicle in the target lane by considering vehicle kinematics and comfort requirements. Furthermore, considering the shortcomings of the traditional elliptical vehicle and round vehicle models, we established a rectangular vehicle model with collision boundary conditions by analysing the relationships between the possible collision points and the outline of the vehicle. Then, we established a simulation model for the accelerated lane-changing process in different environments under different degrees of collaboration. The results show that, by using V2VC, we can achieve safe accelerated lane-changing trajectories and simultaneously satisfy the requirements of vehicle kinematics and comfort control.

Healthy Competition and Unsound Comparison: Reforming Educational Competition in Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Søren

2015-01-01

It is frequently claimed that the "competition state" responds to external competition by making competition increasingly central to its internal processes as well. This article discusses education reform in Singapore as departing from the opposite position. In Singapore "excessive" competition in education is now targeted by…

Inertial navigation sensor integrated motion analysis for autonomous vehicle navigation

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Barry; Bhanu, Bir

1992-01-01

Recent work on INS integrated motion analysis is described. Results were obtained with a maximally passive system of obstacle detection (OD) for ground-based vehicles and rotorcraft. The OD approach involves motion analysis of imagery acquired by a passive sensor in the course of vehicle travel to generate range measurements to world points within the sensor FOV. INS data and scene analysis results are used to enhance interest point selection, the matching of the interest points, and the subsequent motion-based computations, tracking, and OD. The most important lesson learned from the research described here is that the incorporation of inertial data into the motion analysis program greatly improves the analysis and makes the process more robust.