Research prototype of remote controlled engineering vehicle system for CBRN threat. Phase 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uemura, Keisuke; Naruse, Masahiro; Shigematsu, Kosuke; Morishita, Masahiro

2015-01-01

This research was triggered by the nuclear accident that successively happened after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The project focuses on the Remote Controlled Engineering Vehicle System that can be used for multi purposes such as debris/obstacle clearing operation, various reconnaissance operation, under CBRN threat. In this report, we describe research prototype of remote controlled engineering vehicle system for CBRN threat (phase 2). (author)

Innovative technology summary report: Houdini trademark I and II remotely operated vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-07-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for cleaning up and closing 273 large, aging, underground tanks the department has used for storing approximately 1 million gal of high- and low-level radioactive and mixed waste. The waste's radioactivity precludes humans from working in the tanks. A remote-controlled retrieval method must be used. The Houdini robot addresses the need for vehicle-based, rugged, remote manipulation systems that can perform waste retrieval, characterization, and inspection tasks. Houdini-I was delivered to ORNL in September 1996, deployed in a cold test facility in November, and first deployed in the gunite tanks in June 1997. Since then, it has seen continuous (still on-going) service at ORNL, providing a critical role in the cleanup of two gunite tanks, W-3 and W-4, in the GAAT NTF. Houdini-I has proven rugged, capable of waste retrieval, and able to withstand high reaction force operations such as wall core sampling. It's even able to operate while hanging, which was the case when Houdini was used to cut and remove cables and steel pipes hanging below manways in Tank W-3. Based upon the lessons learned at ORNL, Houdini's design has been completely overhauled. A second generation system, Houdini-II, is now being built

Remotely Accessed Vehicle Traffic Management System

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Alawi, Raida

2010-06-01

The ever increasing number of vehicles in most metropolitan cities around the world and the limitation in altering the transportation infrastructure, led to serious traffic congestion and an increase in the travelling time. In this work we exploit the emergence of novel technologies such as the internet, to design an intelligent Traffic Management System (TMS) that can remotely monitor and control a network of traffic light controllers located at different sites. The system is based on utilizing Embedded Web Servers (EWS) technology to design a web-based TMS. The EWS located at each intersection uses IP technology for communicating remotely with a Central Traffic Management Unit (CTMU) located at the traffic department authority. Friendly GUI software installed at the CTMU will be able to monitor the sequence of operation of the traffic lights and the presence of traffic at each intersection as well as remotely controlling the operation of the signals. The system has been validated by constructing a prototype that resembles the real application.

Performance test of remote controlled engineering vehicle system for CBRN threat. Countermeasure performance for CBRN-environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naruse, Masahiro; Uemura, Keisuke; Morishita, Masahiro

2015-01-01

A research of 'remote controlled engineering vehicle system for CBRN threat' was triggered by the nuclear accident that successively happened after the Great East Japan Earthquake. This project focuses on the remote controlled engineering system that can be used for multi purposes such as debris/obstacle clearing operation or various reconnaissance operation, under CBRN threat. For the remote-controlled engineering vehicle, we conducted a series of validation tests for countermeasure performance for CBRN-environment. As a result, it is proved that the vehicle possess required performances for CBRN threat. (author)

Moments of Inertia: Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone (DROID)

Science.gov (United States)

Haro, Helida C.

2010-01-01

The objective of this research effort is to determine the most appropriate, cost efficient, and effective method to utilize for finding moments of inertia for the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone (DROID). A moment is a measure of the body's tendency to turn about its center of gravity (CG) and inertia is the resistance of a body to changes in its momentum. Therefore, the moment of inertia (MOI) is a body's resistance to change in rotation about its CG. The inertial characteristics of an UAV have direct consequences on aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, and control. Therefore, it is imperative to determine the precise inertial characteristics of the DROID.

Moments of Inertia - Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone (DROID)

Science.gov (United States)

Haro, Helida C.

2010-01-01

The objective of this research effort is to determine the most appropriate, cost efficient, and effective method to utilize for finding moments of inertia for the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone (DROID). A moment is a measure of the body's tendency to turn about its center of gravity (CG) and inertia is the resistance of a body to changes in its momentum. Therefore, the moment of inertia (MOI) is a body's resistance to change in rotation about its CG. The inertial characteristics of an UAV have direct consequences on aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, and control. Therefore, it is imperative to determine the precise inertial characteristics of the DROID.

Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) transects collected in 2014 (Polyline Shapefile) southwest and northeast of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (NODC Accession 0128255)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This polyline shapefile denotes the location of underwater photos and/or video that were collected by NOAA scientists using a Mohawk ROV (remotely operated vehicle)....

The Analysis of the Design of the System of Pitch Adjusting for Remote Operated Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Wu

2014-06-01

Full Text Available ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle is applied widely currently which is an important tool for detecting in the water, salving on the ocean floor and resources surveying in the ocean. However it is common for ROV that is affected by surging and altering barycenter in the practice, and it is easy for pitching usually, and then ROV is low efficiency. Aiming at the problem, we designed a system of pitch adjusting for ROV including the design of mechanism and motion analysis, and use the AFSM control strategy. The simulation result shows that it has the good tracking feature and robustness.

DeepPIV: Particle image velocimetry measurements using deep-sea, remotely operated vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Katija, Kakani; Sherman, Alana; Graves, Dale; Klimov, Denis; Kecy, Chad; Robison, Bruce

2015-11-01

The midwater region of the ocean (below the euphotic zone and above the benthos) is one of the largest ecosystems on our planet, yet remains one of the least explored. Little-known marine organisms that inhabit midwater have developed life strategies that contribute to their evolutionary success, and may inspire engineering solutions for societally relevant challenges. Although significant advances in underwater vehicle technologies have improved access to midwater, small-scale, in situ fluid mechanics measurement methods that seek to quantify the interactions that midwater organisms have with their physical environment are lacking. Here we present DeepPIV, an instrumentation package affixed to remotely operated vehicles that quantifies fluid motions from the surface of the ocean down to 4000 m depths. Utilizing ambient suspended particulate, fluid-structure interactions are evaluated on a range of marine organisms in midwater. Initial science targets include larvaceans, biological equivalents of flapping flexible foils, that create mucus houses to filter food. Little is known about the structure of these mucus houses and the function they play in selectively filtering particles, and these dynamics can serve as particle-mucus models for human health. Using DeepPIV, we reveal the complex structures and flows generated within larvacean mucus houses, and elucidate how these structures function. Funding is gratefully acknowledged from the Packard Foundation.

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AUTO DEPTH CONTROL OF REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE USING THRUSTER SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F.A. Ali

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Remotely Operated Vehicles are underwater robots designed specifically for surveillance, monitoring and collecting data for underwater activities. In the underwater vehicle industries, the thruster is an important part in controlling the direction, depth and speed of the ROV. However, there are some ROVs that cannot be maintained at the specified depth for a long time because of disturbance. This paper proposes an auto depth control using a thruster system. A prototype of a thruster with an auto depth control is developed and attached to the previously fabricated UTeM ROV. This paper presents the operation of auto depth control as well as thrusters for submerging and emerging purposes and maintaining the specified depth. The thruster system utilizes a microcontroller as its brain, a piezoresistive strain gauge pressure sensor and a DC brushless motor to run the propeller. Performance analysis of the auto depth control system is conducted to identify the sensitivity of the pressure sensor, and the accuracy and stability of the system. The results show that the thruster system performs well in maintaining a specified depth as well as stabilizing itself when a disturbanceoccurs even with a simple proportional controller used to control the thruster, where the thruster is an important component of the ROV.

The Application of a Free Swimming Remotely Operated Vehicle in Aquaculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Klepaker

1987-01-01

Full Text Available In 1985, SINTEF and SIMRAD Subsea A/S started to develop an autonomous free swimming vehicle. The project was to develop a prototype of a small vehicle, in order to obtain knowledge and experience in designing, controlling and operating such vehicles. This was ready for testing at the end of 1985. The vehicle is controlled by an acoustic data telemetry system. The vehicle has a built-in television camera and containers for other sensors. It is suitable for inspection purposes. This paper describes the vehicle and some of the principles used.

Remote operated vehicle with CO2 blasting (ROVCO2): Volume 1. Final report, September 1993--July 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-06-01

This report documents the second phase of the Remote Operated Vehicle with CO 2 Blasting (ROVCO 2 ) Program. The ROVCO 2 Program's goal is to develop and demonstrate a tool to improve the productivity of concrete floor decontamination. The second phase integrated non-developmental subsystems on to the ROVCO 2 system and performed quantitative decontamination effectiveness, productivity, and reliability testings. The report documents these development activities and the analysis of cost and performance. The results show that the ROVCO 2 system is an efficient decontamination tool

Synthesis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote control augmentation system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomczyk, Andrzej

2014-01-01

Medium size Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usually flies as an autonomous aircraft including automatic take-off and landing phases. However in the case of the on-board control system failure, the remote steering is using as an emergency procedure. In this reason, remote manual control of unmanned aerial vehicle is used more often during take-of and landing phases. Depends on UAV take-off mass and speed (total energy) the potential crash can be very danger for airplane and environment. So, handling qualities of UAV is important from pilot-operator point of view. In many cases the dynamic properties of remote controlling UAV are not suitable for obtaining the desired properties of the handling qualities. In this case the control augmentation system (CAS) should be applied. Because the potential failure of the on-board control system, the better solution is that the CAS algorithms are placed on the ground station computers. The method of UAV handling qualities shaping in the case of basic control system failure is presented in this paper. The main idea of this method is that UAV reaction on the operator steering signals should be similar - almost the same - as reaction of the 'ideal' remote control aircraft. The model following method was used for controller parameters calculations. The numerical example concerns the medium size MP-02A UAV applied as an aerial observer system

Synthesis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote control augmentation system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tomczyk, Andrzej, E-mail: A.Tomczyk@prz.edu.pl [Department of Avionics and Control Systems, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszów University of Technology, Al. Powstañców Warszawy 12, 35-959 Rzeszów (Poland)

2014-12-10

Medium size Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usually flies as an autonomous aircraft including automatic take-off and landing phases. However in the case of the on-board control system failure, the remote steering is using as an emergency procedure. In this reason, remote manual control of unmanned aerial vehicle is used more often during take-of and landing phases. Depends on UAV take-off mass and speed (total energy) the potential crash can be very danger for airplane and environment. So, handling qualities of UAV is important from pilot-operator point of view. In many cases the dynamic properties of remote controlling UAV are not suitable for obtaining the desired properties of the handling qualities. In this case the control augmentation system (CAS) should be applied. Because the potential failure of the on-board control system, the better solution is that the CAS algorithms are placed on the ground station computers. The method of UAV handling qualities shaping in the case of basic control system failure is presented in this paper. The main idea of this method is that UAV reaction on the operator steering signals should be similar - almost the same - as reaction of the 'ideal' remote control aircraft. The model following method was used for controller parameters calculations. The numerical example concerns the medium size MP-02A UAV applied as an aerial observer system.

Remote surface testing and inspection vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyde, E.A.; Goldsmith, H.A.; Proudlove, M.J.

1981-01-01

A remotely controlled vehicle capable of roving over the outer surface of a nuclear reactor primary vessel carrying inspection instrumentation. The vehicle comprises an elongate bridge having a pair of suction support pads. Each pad carries gas thrusters for acting in opposition to the suction effort thereby to reduce adherence of the pads and enable displacement of the vehicle over the surface. The vehicle is supported by a services conducting umbilical. (author)

Modelling, Design and Robust Control of a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Govinda García-Valdovinos

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs play an important role in a number of shallow and deep-water missions for marine science, oil and gas extraction, exploration and salvage. In these applications, the motions of the ROV are guided either by a human pilot on a surface support vessel through an umbilical cord providing power and telemetry, or by an automatic pilot. In the case of automatic control, ROV state feedback is provided by acoustic and inertial sensors and this state information, along with a controller strategy, is used to perform several tasks such as station-keeping and auto-immersion/heading, among others. In this paper, the modelling, design and control of the Kaxan ROV is presented: i The complete six degrees of freedom, non linear hydrodynamic model with its parameters, ii the Kaxan hardware/software architecture, iii numerical simulations in Matlab/Simulink platform of a model-free second order sliding mode control along with ocean currents as disturbances and thruster dynamics, iv a virtual environment to visualize the motion of the Kaxan ROV and v experimental results of a one degree of freedom underwater system.

General concept of a remote multipurpose vehicle for nuclear applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Devresse, M.; Costa, L.; DeBuck, F.

1984-01-01

A remotely operated autonomous system is presently developed for inspection and intervention inside the reactor building of nuclear power plants. The vehicle is also suitable for other nuclear and non-nuclear energy related task areas where inspection and intervention operations are taking place in hazardous environment. The goal of this remote robot is to significantly reduce personnel exposure to radiation or other risks. The system consists of five major items: an autonomous motorized carrier, two slave manipulators mounted on an interface structure, optical and environmental sensors, the digital electronic control and communication module, the man-machine interface. Main design and performance characteristics of the system are described as well as a description of the evaluation and test program

Guidelines for Vehicle Robbery Prevention using Remote Blocking Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Narong Sangwaranatee

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the radio signal remote sensing device was used to control the vehicle door switching control, which was the field trials experiment. The switching "On" and "Off" of the switching signals were used to control the vehicle door and investigated. In application, the blocking signal from the commit the remote vehicle crime in the venerable place can be protected. The results obtained have shown that the signal blocking by using another remote control over 5 meters, 10 meters and 15 meters could be achieved. The proposed models and tested results have shown that the Vehicle Brand A Model No. 1 could be blocked by 83.33 percent, while Brand A Model No.2 by 83.33 percent, Brand B Model No.1 by 40 percent, Brand B Model No.2 by 60 percent, Brand C Model No. 1 by 83.33 percent, Brand C Model No. 2 by 83.33 percent, meanwhile, the remote control for general vehicle are used radio waves with frequency 315 and 433 MHz, where the criminal will use the interference signals to form the blocking (jamming signals, the vehicle can be robbed.

A Multi-purpose Rescue Vehicle and a human–robot interface architecture for remote assistance in ITER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soares, João; Vale, Alberto; Ventura, Rodrigo

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Design of an omnidirectional vehicle equipped with cameras and laser range finders. • Two robotic manipulators that slide over the vehicle's body to perform independent tasks. • Architecture to connect the control system, communication, power, navigation and HMI. • An immersive interface HMI with augmented reality features with head mounted display. - Abstract: The remote handling (RH) plays an important role in nuclear test facilities, such as in ITER, for in-vessel and ex-vessel maintenance operations. Unexpected situations may occur when RH devices fail. Since no human being is allowed during the RH operations, a Multi-purpose Rescue Vehicle (MPRV) must be required for providing support in site. This paper proposes a design of a MPRV, i.e., a mobile platform equipped with different sensors and two manipulators with different sets of end-effectors. A human–machine interface is also proposed to remotely operate the MPRV and to carry out rescue and recovery operations.

A Multi-purpose Rescue Vehicle and a human–robot interface architecture for remote assistance in ITER

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soares, João [Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Vale, Alberto, E-mail: avale@ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt [Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto SuperiorTécnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Ventura, Rodrigo, E-mail: rodrigo.ventura@isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt [Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas em Engenharia eCiência, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • Design of an omnidirectional vehicle equipped with cameras and laser range finders. • Two robotic manipulators that slide over the vehicle's body to perform independent tasks. • Architecture to connect the control system, communication, power, navigation and HMI. • An immersive interface HMI with augmented reality features with head mounted display. - Abstract: The remote handling (RH) plays an important role in nuclear test facilities, such as in ITER, for in-vessel and ex-vessel maintenance operations. Unexpected situations may occur when RH devices fail. Since no human being is allowed during the RH operations, a Multi-purpose Rescue Vehicle (MPRV) must be required for providing support in site. This paper proposes a design of a MPRV, i.e., a mobile platform equipped with different sensors and two manipulators with different sets of end-effectors. A human–machine interface is also proposed to remotely operate the MPRV and to carry out rescue and recovery operations.

Observation of increases in emission from modern vehicles over time in Hong Kong using remote sensing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lau, Jason; Hung, W.T.; Cheung, C.S.

2012-01-01

In this study on-road gaseous emissions of vehicles are investigated using remote sensing measurements collected over three different periods. The results show that a high percentage of gaseous pollutants were emitted from a small percentage of vehicles. Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) vehicles generally have higher gaseous emissions compared to other vehicles, particularly among higher-emitting vehicles. Vehicles with high vehicle specific power (VSP) tend to have lower CO and HC emissions while petrol and LPG vehicles tend to have higher NO emissions when engine load is high. It can be observed that gaseous emission factors of petrol and LPG vehicles increase greatly within 2 years of being introduced to the vehicle fleet, suggesting that engine and catalyst performance deteriorate rapidly. It can be observed that LPG vehicles have higher levels of gaseous emissions than petrol vehicles, suggesting that proper maintenance of LPG vehicles is essential in reducing gaseous emissions from vehicles. - Highlights: ► Emissions collected in 3 different periods to examine changes in emission over time. ► LPG vehicles generally emit more gaseous pollutants compared to other vehicles. ► Large increase in emissions from modern petrol/LPG vehicles after 2 years' operation. ► CO and NO emissions of modern diesel vehicles are similar to those of older vehicles. - Remote sensing measurements show large increases in gaseous emissions from vehicles in Hong Kong after 2 years of operation, indicating that engine and catalyst performance deteriorate rapidly.

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) Provide a "Big Data Progression"

Science.gov (United States)

Oostra, D.; Sanghera, S. S.; Mangosing, D. C., Jr.; Lewis, P. M., Jr.; Chambers, L. H.

2015-12-01

This year, science and technology teams at the NASA Langley Science Directorate were challenged with creating an API-based web application using RockBlock Mobile sensors mounted on a zero pressure high-altitude balloon. The system tracks and collects meteorological data parameters and visualizes this data in near real time, using a MEAN development stack to create an HTML5 based tool that can send commands to the vehicle, parse incoming data, and perform other functions to store and serve data to other devices. NASA developers and science educators working on this project saw an opportunity to use this emerging technology to address a gap identified in science education between middle and high school curricula. As students learn about data analysis in elementary and middle school, they are taught to collect data from in situ sources. In high school, students are then asked to work with remotely sensed data, without always having the experience or understanding of how that data is collected. We believe that using ROVs to create a "big data progression" for students will not only enhance their ability to understand how remote satellite data is collected, but will also provide the outlet for younger students to expand their interest in science and data prior to entering high school. In this presentation, we will share and discuss our experiences with ROVs, APIs and data viz applications, with a focus on the next steps for developing this emerging capability.

A novel approach to haptic tele-operation of aerial robot vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stramigioli, Stefano; Mahony, Robert; Corke, Peter

2010-01-01

We present a novel, simple and effective approach for tele-operation of aerial robotic vehicles with haptic feedback. Such feedback provides the remote pilot with an intuitive feel of the robot's state and perceived local environment that will ensure simple and safe operation in cluttered 3D

Remediation of a uranium-contaminated quarry utilizing submersible, remotely operated vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleming, K.N.

1992-01-01

The Kerr Hollow Quarry (KHQ) Disposal Site on the Oak Ridge (Tennessee) Reservation was previously used to treat and dispose of pyrophoric and water-reactive wastes contaminated with small quantities of radioactive materials (almost exclusively uranium and uranium daughters) from processes at the Department of Energy-owned, Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This paper describes remediation techniques utilizing a small, remotely operated submarine with an attached camera to visually locate waste containers, determine whether containers have been breached, transport small containers, and direct a larger remotely operated grappling machine to move larger waste for shredding operations. Most of the solid waste is reduced under water by a metal shredder. Non-shreddable items (e. g. , gas cylinders and larger structures) are mechanically breached under water to allow the contents to fully react. The waste is then removed from the water, monitored, the material is segregated, and transported to a temporary waste storage area until disposal

An Optical Fibre Depth (Pressure) Sensor for Remote Operated Vehicles in Underwater Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Duraibabu, Dinesh Babu; Poeggel, Sven; Omerdic, Edin; Capocci, Romano; Lewis, Elfed; Newe, Thomas; Leen, Gabriel; Toal, Daniel; Dooly, Gerard

2017-01-01

A miniature sensor for accurate measurement of pressure (depth) with temperature compensation in the ocean environment is described. The sensor is based on an optical fibre Extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) combined with a Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG). The EFPI provides pressure measurements while the Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) provides temperature measurements. The sensor is mechanically robust, corrosion-resistant and suitable for use in underwater applications. The combined pressure and temperature sensor system was mounted on-board a mini remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) in order to monitor the pressure changes at various depths. The reflected optical spectrum from the sensor was monitored online and a pressure or temperature change caused a corresponding observable shift in the received optical spectrum. The sensor exhibited excellent stability when measured over a 2 h period underwater and its performance is compared with a commercially available reference sensor also mounted on the ROV. The measurements illustrates that the EFPI/FBG sensor is more accurate for depth measurements (depth of ~0.020 m). PMID:28218727

Mapping radiation transfer through sea ice using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Nicolaus

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Transmission of sunlight into and through sea ice is of critical importance for sea-ice associated organisms and photosynthesis because light is their primary energy source. The amount of visible light transferred through sea ice contributes to the energy budget of the sea ice and the uppermost ocean. However, our current knowledge on the amount and distribution of light under sea ice is still restricted to a few local observations, and our understanding of light-driven processes and interdisciplinary interactions is still sparse. The main reasons are that the under-ice environment is difficult to access and that measurements require large logistical and instrumental efforts. Hence, it has not been possible to map light conditions under sea ice over larger areas and to quantify spatial variability on different scales. Here we present a detailed methodological description for operating spectral radiometers on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV under sea ice. Recent advances in ROV and radiation-sensor technology have allowed us to map under-ice spectral radiance and irradiance on floe scales within a few hours of station time. The ROV was operated directly from the sea ice, allowing for direct relations of optical properties to other sea-ice and surface features. The ROV was flown close to the sea ice in order to capture small-scale variability. Results from the presented data set and similar future studies will allow for better quantification of light conditions under sea ice. The presented experiences will support further developments in order to gather large data sets of under-ice radiation for different ice conditions and during different seasons.

Remotely Operated Vehicles under sea ice - Experiences and results from five years of polar operations

Science.gov (United States)

Katlein, Christian; Arndt, Stefanie; Lange, Benjamin; Belter, Hans Jakob; Schiller, Martin; Nicolaus, Marcel

2016-04-01

The availability of advanced robotic technologies to the Earth Science community has largely increased in the last decade. Remotely operated vehicles (ROV) enable spatially extensive scientific investigations underneath the sea ice of the polar oceans, covering a larger range and longer diving times than divers with significantly lower risks. Here we present our experiences and scientific results acquired from ROV operations during the last five years in the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice region. Working under the sea ice means to have all obstacles and investigated objects above the vehicle, and thus changes several paradigms of ROV operations as compared to blue water applications. Observations of downwelling spectral irradiance and radiance allow a characterization of the optical properties of sea ice and the spatial variability of the energy partitioning across the atmosphere-ice-ocean boundary. Our results show that the decreasing thickness and age of the sea ice have led to a significant increase in light transmission during summer over the last three decades. Spatially extensive measurements from ROV surveys generally provide more information on the light field variability than single spot measurements. The large number of sampled ice conditions during five cruises with the German research icebreaker RV Polarstern allows for the investigations of the seasonal evolution of light transmittance. Both, measurements of hyperspectral light transmittance through sea ice, as well as classification of upward-looking camera images were used to investigate the spatial distribution of ice-algal biomass. Buoyant ice-algal aggregates were found to be positioned in the stretches of level ice, rather than pressure ridges due to a physical interaction of aggregate-buoyancy and under-ice currents. Synchronous measurements of sea ice thickness by upward looking sonar provides crucial additional information to put light-transmittance and biological observations into context

Maintenance of remote reconnaissance vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schein, D.C.

1985-01-01

A description is provided of the maintenance program developed for remote reconnaissance vehicles, such as RRV-1, in use at the Three Mile Island Unit 2. The described approach, which is simple, effective, and flexible, helped to make the effort successful. It will be applied to future projects

Measuring Water Quality in Hong Kong using an Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, J. W.

2017-12-01

Clean water is a vital necessity in our day to day lives, with all living organisms depending on it for survival and countless others relying on it as their habitat. The waters surrounding Hong Kong are home to a wide diversity of marine animals and organisms but are polluted for a variety of reasons. This pollution includes marine debris, industrial and construction waste, a high concentration of organic material, and other pollutants. This research project will focus on collecting water and soil samples from various locations around the Hong Kong ocean waters for analytical chemical sampling. A Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) will be designed, built and used for collecting the water and soil samples. ROVs are used around the world in oceans and other deep water applications. ThisROV will be tethered with a control system and equipped with a camera, mechanical arms for collections water and soil samples and sensors for testing basic water parameters. Using a ROV will allow for long term sampling in the same location to occur as required. The collected samples will be tested in the lab to determine overall water and soil quality, allowing conclusions to be drawn about the conditions of the tested area.

An advanced unmanned vehicle for remote applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pletta, J.B.; Sackos, J.

1998-03-01

An autonomous mobile robotic capability is critical to developing remote work applications for hazardous environments. A few potential applications include humanitarian demining and ordnance neutralization, extraterrestrial science exploration, and hazardous waste cleanup. The ability of the remote platform to sense and maneuver within its environment is a basic technology requirement which is currently lacking. This enabling technology will open the door for force multiplication and cost effective solutions to remote operations. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop a mobile robotic platform that can identify and avoid local obstacles as it traverses from its current location to a specified destination. This goal directed autonomous navigation scheme uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) to identify the robot`s current coordinates in space and neural network processing of LADAR range images for local obstacle detection and avoidance. The initial year funding provided by this LDRD project has developed a small exterior mobile robotic development platform and a fieldable version of Sandia`s Scannerless Range Imager (SRI) system. The robotic testbed platform is based on the Surveillance And Reconnaissance ground Equipment (SARGE) robotic vehicle design recently developed for the US DoD. Contingent upon follow-on funding, future enhancements will develop neural network processing of the range map data to traverse unstructured exterior terrain while avoiding obstacles. The SRI will provide real-time range images to a neural network for autonomous guidance. Neural network processing of the range map data will allow real-time operation on a Pentium based embedded processor board.

An advanced unmanned vehicle for remote applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pletta, J.B.; Sackos, J.

1998-03-01

An autonomous mobile robotic capability is critical to developing remote work applications for hazardous environments. A few potential applications include humanitarian demining and ordnance neutralization, extraterrestrial science exploration, and hazardous waste cleanup. The ability of the remote platform to sense and maneuver within its environment is a basic technology requirement which is currently lacking. This enabling technology will open the door for force multiplication and cost effective solutions to remote operations. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop a mobile robotic platform that can identify and avoid local obstacles as it traverses from its current location to a specified destination. This goal directed autonomous navigation scheme uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) to identify the robot's current coordinates in space and neural network processing of LADAR range images for local obstacle detection and avoidance. The initial year funding provided by this LDRD project has developed a small exterior mobile robotic development platform and a fieldable version of Sandia's Scannerless Range Imager (SRI) system. The robotic testbed platform is based on the Surveillance And Reconnaissance ground Equipment (SARGE) robotic vehicle design recently developed for the US DoD. Contingent upon follow-on funding, future enhancements will develop neural network processing of the range map data to traverse unstructured exterior terrain while avoiding obstacles. The SRI will provide real-time range images to a neural network for autonomous guidance. Neural network processing of the range map data will allow real-time operation on a Pentium based embedded processor board

Output Feedback Fractional-Order Nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode Control of Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yaoyao Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available For the 4-DOF (degrees of freedom trajectory tracking control problem of underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances, a novel output feedback fractional-order nonsingular terminal sliding mode control (FO-NTSMC technique is introduced in light of the equivalent output injection sliding mode observer (SMO and TSMC principle and fractional calculus technology. The equivalent output injection SMO is applied to reconstruct the full states in finite time. Meanwhile, the FO-NTSMC algorithm, based on a new proposed fractional-order switching manifold, is designed to stabilize the tracking error to equilibrium points in finite time. The corresponding stability analysis of the closed-loop system is presented using the fractional-order version of the Lyapunov stability theory. Comparative numerical simulation results are presented and analyzed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, it is noteworthy that the proposed output feedback FO-NTSMC technique can be used to control a broad range of nonlinear second-order dynamical systems in finite time.

Development of "Remotely Operated Vehicles for Education and Research" (ROVERs)

Science.gov (United States)

Gaines, J. E.; Bland, G.; Bydlowski, D.

2017-12-01

The University of South Florida is a team member for the AREN project which develops educational technologies for data acquisition. "Remotely Operated Vehicles for Education and Research" (ROVERs) are floatable data acquisition systems used for Earth science measurements. The USF partnership was productive in the first year, resulting in new autonomous ROVER platforms being developed and used during a 5 week STEM summer camp by middle school youth. ROVERs were outfitted with GPS and temperature sensors and programmed to move forward, backwards, and to turn autonomously using the National Instruments myRIO embedded system. GLOBE protocols were used to collect data. The outreach program's structure lended itself to accomplishing an essential development effort for the AREN project towards the use of the ROVER platform in informal educational settings. A primary objective of the partnership is curriculum development to integrate GLOBE protocols and NASA technology and hardware/ROVER development wher new ROVER platforms are explored. The USF partnership resulted in two design prototypes for ROVERs, both of which can be created from recyclable materials for flotation and either 3D printed or laser cut components. In addition, both use the National Instruments myRIO for autonomous control. We will present two prototypes designed for use during the USF outreach program, the structure of the program, and details on the fabrication of prototype Z during the program by middle school students. Considering the 5-year objective of the AREN project is to "develop approaches, learning plans, and specific tools that can be affordably implemented nationwide (globally)", the USF partnership is key as it contributes to each part of the objective in a unique and impactful way.

Advanced technology mobile robotics vehicle fleet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGovern, D.E.

1987-03-01

A fleet of vehicles is being developed and maintained by Sandia National Laboratories for studies in remote control and autonomous operation. The vehicles range from modified commercial vehicles to specially constructed mobile platforms and are utilized as testbeds for developing concepts in the areas of remote control (teleoperation) and computer control (autonomy). Actuators control the vehicle speed, brakes, and steering via manual input from a remote driving station or through some level of digital computer control. On-board processing may include simple vehicle control functions or may allow for unmanned, autonomous operation. Communication links are provided for digital communication between control computers, television transmission for vehicle vision, and voice for local control. SNL can develop, test, and evaluate sensors, processing requirements, various methods of actuator implementation, operator controlled feedback requirements, and vehicle operations. A description of the major features and uses for each of the vehicles in the fleet is provided

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.

Building and Deploying Remotely Operated Vehicles in the First-Year Experience

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien-Gayes, A.; Fuss, K.; Gayes, P.

2007-12-01

Coastal Carolina University has committed to improving student retention and success in Mathematics and Science through a pilot program to engage first-year students in an applied and investigative project as part of the University's First-Year Experience (FYE). During the fall 2007 semester, five pilot sections of FYE classes, consisting of students from the College of Natural and Applied Sciences are building and deploying Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). These ROV-based classes are designed to: accelerate exploration of the broad fields of science and mathematics; enlist interest in technology by engaging students in a multi-stepped, interdisciplinary problem solving experience; explore science and mathematical concepts; institute experiential learning; and build a culture of active learners to benefit student success across traditional departmental boundaries. Teams of three students (forty teams total) will build, based on the MIT Sea Perch design, and test ROVs in addition to collecting data with their ROVs. Various accessories attached to the vehicles for data collection will include temperature and light sensors, plankton nets and underwater cameras. The first-year students will then analyze the data, and the results will be documented as part of their capstone projects. Additionally, two launch days will take place on two campus ponds. Local middle and high school teachers and their students will be invited to observe this event. The teams of students with the most capable and successful ROVs will participate in a workshop held in November 2007 for regional elementary, middle and high school teachers. These students will give a presentation on the building of the ROVs and also provide a hands-on demonstration for the workshop participants. These activities will ensure an incorporation of service learning into the first semester of the freshmen experience. The desired outcomes of the ROV-based FYE classes are: increased retention at the postsecondary

Remote sensing of on-road vehicle emissions: Mechanism, applications and a case study from Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yuhan; Organ, Bruce; Zhou, John L.; Surawski, Nic C.; Hong, Guang; Chan, Edward F. C.; Yam, Yat Shing

2018-06-01

Vehicle emissions are a major contributor to air pollution in cities and have serious health impacts to their inhabitants. On-road remote sensing is an effective and economic tool to monitor and control vehicle emissions. In this review, the mechanism, accuracy, advantages and limitations of remote sensing were introduced. Then the applications and major findings of remote sensing were critically reviewed. It was revealed that the emission distribution of on-road vehicles was highly skewed so that the dirtiest 10% vehicles accounted for over half of the total fleet emissions. Such findings highlighted the importance and effectiveness of using remote sensing for in situ identification of high-emitting vehicles for further inspection and maintenance programs. However, the accuracy and number of vehicles affected by screening programs were greatly dependent on the screening criteria. Remote sensing studies showed that the emissions of gasoline and diesel vehicles were significantly reduced in recent years, with the exception of NOx emissions of diesel vehicles in spite of greatly tightened automotive emission regulations. Thirdly, the experience and issues of using remote sensing for identifying high-emitting vehicles in Hong Kong (where remote sensing is a legislative instrument for enforcement purposes) were reported. That was followed by the first time ever identification and discussion of the issue of frequent false detection of diesel high-emitters using remote sensing. Finally, the challenges and future research directions of on-road remote sensing were elaborated.

Multi-terminal remote monitoring and warning system using Micro Air Vehicle for dangerous environment

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yanan; Wang, Xiaoxun; He, Chengcheng; Lai, Chenlong; Liu, Yuanchao

2015-11-01

For overcoming the problems such as remote operation and dangerous tasks, multi-terminal remote monitoring and warning system based on STC89C52 Micro Control Unit and wireless communication technique was proposed. The system with MCU as its core adopted multiple sets of sensor device to monitor environment parameters of different locations, such as temperature, humidity, smoke other harmful gas concentration. Data information collected was transmitted remotely by wireless transceiver module, and then multi-channel data parameter was processed and displayed through serial communication protocol between the module and PC. The results of system could be checked in the form of web pages within a local network which plays a wireless monitoring and warning role. In a remote operation, four-rotor micro air vehicle which fixed airborne data acquisition device was utilized as a middleware between collecting terminal and PC to increase monitoring scope. Whole test system has characteristics of simple construction, convenience, real time ability and high reliability, which could meet the requirements of actual use.

Getting into the GROOVE: How Building Effective Education Partnerships and Promoting Authentic Student Research through the Girls' Remotely Operated Ocean Vehicle Exploration (GROOVE) Workshop.

Science.gov (United States)

Pelz, M.; Heesemann, M.; Hoeberechts, M.

2017-12-01

This presentation outlines the pilot year of Girls' Remotely Operated Ocean Vehicle Exploration or GROOVE, a hands-on learning program created collaboratively with education partners Ocean Networks Canada and St. Margaret's School (Victoria, BC, Canada). The program features student-led activities, authentic student experiences, clearly outlined learning outcomes, teacher and student self-assessment tools, and curriculum-aligned content. Presented through the lens of STEM, students build a modified Seaperch ROV and explore and research thematic scientific concepts such as buoyancy, electronic circuitry, and deep-sea exploration. Further, students learn engineering skills such as isotropic scaling, soldering, and assembly as they build their ROV. Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), an initiative of the University of Victoria, develops, operates, and maintains cabled ocean observatory systems. These include technologies developed on the world-leading NEPTUNE and VENUS observatories and the ever-expanding network of community observatories in the Arctic and coastal British Columbia. These observatories, large and small, enable communities, users, scientists, teachers, and students to monitor real-time and historical data from the local marine environment from anywhere on the globe. GROOVE, Girls' Remotely Operated Ocean Vehicle Exploration, is ONC's newest educational program and is related to their foundational program K-12 Ocean Sense educational program. This presentation will share our experiences developing, refining, and assessing our efforts to implement GROOVE using a train-the-trainer model aimed at formal and informal K-12 educators. We will highlight lessons learned from multiple perspectives (students, participants, developers, and mentors) with the intent of informing future education and outreach initiatives.

A New Remotely Operated Sensor Platform for Interdisciplinary Observations under Sea Ice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Katlein

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Observation of the climate and ecosystem of ice covered polar seas is a timely task for the scientific community. The goal is to assess the drastic and imminent changes of the polar sea ice cover induced by climate change. Retreating and thinning sea ice affects the planets energy budget, atmospheric, and oceanic circulation patterns as well as the ecosystem associated with this unique habitat. To increase the observational capabilities of sea ice scientists, we equipped a remotely operated vehicle (ROV as sensor platform for interdisciplinary research at the ice water interface. Here, we present the technical details and operation scheme of the new vehicle and provide data examples from a first campaign in the Arctic in autumn 2016 to demonstrate the vehicle's capabilities. The vehicle is designed for efficient operations in the harsh polar conditions. Redundant modular design allows operation by three scientists simultaneously operating a wide variety of sensors. Sensors from physical, chemical, and biological oceanography are combined with optical and acoustic sea ice sensors to provide a comprehensive picture of the underside of sea ice. The sensor suite provides comprehensive capabilities and can be further extended as additional ports for power and communication are available. The vehicle provides full six degrees of freedom in navigation, enabling intervention, and manipulation skills despite its simple one function manipulator arm.

MODELLING OF DECISION MAKING OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE'S OPERATOR IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Volodymyr Kharchenko

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: lack of recommendation action algorithm of UAV operator in emergency situations; decomposition of the process of decision making (DM by UAV’s Operator in emergency situations; development of the structure of distributed decision support system (DDSS for remotely piloted aircraft; development of a database of local decision support system (DSS operators Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS; working-out of models DM by UAV’s Operator. Methods: Algoritm of actions of UAV operator by Wald criterion, Laplace criterion, Hurwitz criterion. Results: The program "UAV_AS" that gives to UAV operator recommendations on how to act in case of emergency. Discussion: The article deals with the problem of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV flights for decision of different tasks in emergency situation. Based on statistical data it was analyzing the types of emergencies for unmanned aircraft. Defined sequence of actions UAV operator and in case of emergencies.

46 CFR 71.50-27 - Alternative Hull Examination (AHE) program options: Divers or underwater remotely operated...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Alternative Hull Examination (AHE) program options...-27 Alternative Hull Examination (AHE) program options: Divers or underwater remotely operated vehicle... operations; (2) Provide permanent hull markings, a temporary grid system of wires or cables spaced not more...

Spatiotemporal Local-Remote Senor Fusion (ST-LRSF) for Cooperative Vehicle Positioning.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Han-You; Nguyen, Hoa-Hung; Bhawiyuga, Adhitya

2018-04-04

Vehicle positioning plays an important role in the design of protocols, algorithms, and applications in the intelligent transport systems. In this paper, we present a new framework of spatiotemporal local-remote sensor fusion (ST-LRSF) that cooperatively improves the accuracy of absolute vehicle positioning based on two state estimates of a vehicle in the vicinity: a local sensing estimate, measured by the on-board exteroceptive sensors, and a remote sensing estimate, received from neighbor vehicles via vehicle-to-everything communications. Given both estimates of vehicle state, the ST-LRSF scheme identifies the set of vehicles in the vicinity, determines the reference vehicle state, proposes a spatiotemporal dissimilarity metric between two reference vehicle states, and presents a greedy algorithm to compute a minimal weighted matching (MWM) between them. Given the outcome of MWM, the theoretical position uncertainty of the proposed refinement algorithm is proven to be inversely proportional to the square root of matching size. To further reduce the positioning uncertainty, we also develop an extended Kalman filter model with the refined position of ST-LRSF as one of the measurement inputs. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed ST-LRSF framework can achieve high positioning accuracy for many different scenarios of cooperative vehicle positioning.

Robotic vehicle with multiple tracked mobility platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Salton, Jonathan R [Albuquerque, NM; Buttz, James H [Albuquerque, NM; Garretson, Justin [Albuquerque, NM; Hayward, David R [Wetmore, CO; Hobart, Clinton G [Albuquerque, NM; Deuel, Jr., Jamieson K.

2012-07-24

A robotic vehicle having two or more tracked mobility platforms that are mechanically linked together with a two-dimensional coupling, thereby forming a composite vehicle of increased mobility. The robotic vehicle is operative in hazardous environments and can be capable of semi-submersible operation. The robotic vehicle is capable of remote controlled operation via radio frequency and/or fiber optic communication link to a remote operator control unit. The tracks have a plurality of track-edge scallop cut-outs that allow the tracks to easily grab onto and roll across railroad tracks, especially when crossing the railroad tracks at an oblique angle.

Survivability design for a hybrid underwater vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Biao; Wu, Chao; Li, Xiang; Zhao, Qingkai; Ge, Tong [State Key Lab of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China)

2015-03-10

A novel hybrid underwater robotic vehicle (HROV) capable of working to the full ocean depth has been developed. The battery powered vehicle operates in two modes: operate as an untethered autonomous vehicle in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) mode and operate under remote control connected to the surface vessel by a lightweight, fiber optic tether in remotely operated vehicle (ROV) mode. Considering the hazardous underwater environment at the limiting depth and the hybrid operating modes, survivability has been placed on an equal level with the other design attributes of the HROV since the beginning of the project. This paper reports the survivability design elements for the HROV including basic vehicle design of integrated navigation and integrated communication, emergency recovery strategy, distributed architecture, redundant bus, dual battery package, emergency jettison system and self-repairing control system.

Survivability design for a hybrid underwater vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Biao; Wu, Chao; Li, Xiang; Zhao, Qingkai; Ge, Tong

2015-01-01

A novel hybrid underwater robotic vehicle (HROV) capable of working to the full ocean depth has been developed. The battery powered vehicle operates in two modes: operate as an untethered autonomous vehicle in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) mode and operate under remote control connected to the surface vessel by a lightweight, fiber optic tether in remotely operated vehicle (ROV) mode. Considering the hazardous underwater environment at the limiting depth and the hybrid operating modes, survivability has been placed on an equal level with the other design attributes of the HROV since the beginning of the project. This paper reports the survivability design elements for the HROV including basic vehicle design of integrated navigation and integrated communication, emergency recovery strategy, distributed architecture, redundant bus, dual battery package, emergency jettison system and self-repairing control system

Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGovern, D.E.

1987-07-01

A fleet of vehicles is being developed and maintained by Sandia National Labs for studies in remote control and autonomous operation. These vehicles range from modified commercial vehicles to specially constructed mobile platforms and are utilized as test beds for developing concepts in the application of robotics to interior and exterior physical security. Actuators control the vehicle speed, brakes, and steering through manual input from a remote driving station or through some level of digital computer control. On-board processing may include simple vehicle control functions or may allow for unmanned, autonomous operation. communication links are provided for digital communication between control computers, television transmission for vehicle vision, and voice for local control. With these vehicles, SNL can develop, test, and evaluate sensors, processing requirements, various methods of actuator implementation, operator controlled feedback requirements, and vehicle operations. A description of the major features and uses for each of the vehicles in the fleet is provided

Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mc Govern, D.E.

1987-01-01

A fleet of vehicles is being developed and maintained by Sandia National Labs for studies in remote control and autonomous operation. These vehicles range from modified commercial vehicles to specially constructed mobile platforms and are utilized as test beds for developing concepts in the application of robotics to interior and exterior physical security. Actuators control the vehicle speed, brakes, and steering through manual input from a remote driving station or through some level of digital computer control. On-board processing may include simple vehicle control functions or may allow for unmanned, autonomous operation. Communication links are provided for digital communication between control computers, television transmission for vehicle vision, and voice for local control. With these vehicles, SNL can develop, test, and evaluate sensors, processing requirements, various methods of actuator implementation, operator controlled feedback requirements, and vehicle operations. A description of the major features and uses for each of the vehicles in the fleet is provided

Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGovern, D.E.

1987-06-01

A fleet of vehicles is being developed and maintained by Sandia National Labs for studies in remote control and autonomous operation. These vehicles range from modified commercial vehicles to specially constructed mobile platforms and are utilized as test beds for developing concepts in the application of robotics to interior and exterior physical security. Actuators control the vehicle speed, brakes, and steering through manual input from a remote driving station or through some level of digital computer control. On-board processing may include simple vehicle control functions or may allow for unmanned, autonomous operation. Communication links are provided for digital communication between control computers, television transmission for vehicle vision, and voice for local control. With these vehicles, SNL can develop, test, and evaluate sensors, processing requirements, various methods of actuator implementation, operator controlled feedback requirements, and vehicle operations. A description of the major features and uses for each of the vehicles in the fleet is provided. 4 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

Tracked vehicles in hazardous environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, S.; Walton, P.J.

1993-01-01

A programme of remote inspections has been conducted on the Magnox steel reactor pressure vessel at Trawsfynydd Power Station using climbing vehicles. Tracked remotely operated vehicles supported the inspection programme by assisting with the delivery and recovery of the climbing vehicles and facilitating the use of various accessory packages. This paper presents details of the support project, the tracked vehicles and of the uses made of them during the inspection programme. (author)

Remote controlled mover for disposal canister transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suikki, M.

2013-10-01

This working report is an update for an earlier automatic guided vehicle design (Pietikaeinen 2003). The short horizontal transfers of disposal canisters manufactured in the encapsulation process are conducted with remote controlled movers both in the encapsulation plant and in the underground areas at the canister loading station of the disposal facility. The canister mover is a remote controlled transfer vehicle mobile on wheels. The handling of canisters is conducted with the assistance of transport platforms (pallets). The very small automatic guided vehicle of the earlier design was replaced with a commercial type mover. The most important reasons for this being the increased loadbearing requirement and the simpler, proven technology of the vehicle. The larger size of the vehicle induced changes to the plant layouts and in the principles for dealing with fault conditions. The selected mover is a vehicle, which is normally operated from alongside. In this application, the vehicle steering technology must be remote controlled. In addition, the area utilization must be as efficient as possible. This is why the vehicle was downsized in its outer dimensions and supplemented with certain auxiliary equipment and structures. This enables both remote controlled operation and improves the vehicle in terms of its failure tolerance. Operation of the vehicle was subjected to a risk analysis (PFMEA) and to a separate additional calculation conserning possible canister toppling risks. The total cost estimate, without value added tax for manufacturing the system amounts to 730 000 euros. (orig.)

Remote controlled mover for disposal canister transfer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suikki, M. [Optimik Oy, Turku (Finland)

2013-10-15

This working report is an update for an earlier automatic guided vehicle design (Pietikaeinen 2003). The short horizontal transfers of disposal canisters manufactured in the encapsulation process are conducted with remote controlled movers both in the encapsulation plant and in the underground areas at the canister loading station of the disposal facility. The canister mover is a remote controlled transfer vehicle mobile on wheels. The handling of canisters is conducted with the assistance of transport platforms (pallets). The very small automatic guided vehicle of the earlier design was replaced with a commercial type mover. The most important reasons for this being the increased loadbearing requirement and the simpler, proven technology of the vehicle. The larger size of the vehicle induced changes to the plant layouts and in the principles for dealing with fault conditions. The selected mover is a vehicle, which is normally operated from alongside. In this application, the vehicle steering technology must be remote controlled. In addition, the area utilization must be as efficient as possible. This is why the vehicle was downsized in its outer dimensions and supplemented with certain auxiliary equipment and structures. This enables both remote controlled operation and improves the vehicle in terms of its failure tolerance. Operation of the vehicle was subjected to a risk analysis (PFMEA) and to a separate additional calculation conserning possible canister toppling risks. The total cost estimate, without value added tax for manufacturing the system amounts to 730 000 euros. (orig.)

The Support of Underwater Works with the Use of Remotely Operated Vehicles On the Example of Works Conducted On the Wreck of the Fishing Boat WŁA-127

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dawidziuk Marek

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article demonstrates use of underwater remotely operated vehicles during an underwater visual inspection of a sunken vessel. The presented tasks were carried out in the course of underwater works performed from a Polish navy rescue vessel on the fishing boat WŁA-127. The discussed examples include a visual inspection of the sunken vessel and the support offered to Polish Navy rescue divers as they carried out underwater works.

Methodology for testing a system for remote monitoring and control on auxiliary machines in electric vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrov Vasil

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A laboratory system for remote monitoring and control of an asynchronous motor controlled by a soft starter and contemporary measuring and control devices has been developed and built. This laboratory system is used for research and in teaching. A study of the principles of operation, setting up and examination of intelligent energy meters, soft starters and PLC has been made as knowledge of the relevant software products is necessary. This is of great importance because systems for remote monitoring and control of energy consumption, efficiency and proper operation of the controlled objects are very often used in different spheres of industry, in building automation, transport, electricity distribution network, etc. Their implementation in electric vehicles for remote monitoring and control on auxiliary machines is also possible and very useful. In this paper, a methodology of tests is developed and some experiments are presented. Thus, an experimental verification of the developed methodology is made.

Design and setting up of a system for remote monitoring and control on auxiliary machines in electric vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrov Vasil

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Systems for remote monitoring and control of the proper operation, energy consumption, and efficiency of the controlled objects are very often used in different spheres of industry, in the electricity distribution network, etc. Various types of intelligent energy meters, PLCs and other control devices are involved in such systems. Proper operation of the auxiliary machines in electric vehicles is of great importance and implementation of a system for their remote monitoring and control is useful and ensures reliability and increased efficiency. A system has been designed and built using contemporary devices. An asynchronous motor is controlled by a soft starter and opportunities for remote monitoring (by an intelligent energy meter and control (by a PLC and Touch panel have been provided. Soft starters are widely used in industry for control on asynchronous drives when speed regulation is not a mandatory requirement. They are cheaper than inverters and frequency converters and allow for temporal reduction of the torque and current surge during start-up, as well as smooth deceleration. Therefore they can also be used in electric vehicles to control auxiliary machines (pumps, fans, air coolers, compressors, etc.. The present paper presents a methodology for their design and setting up.

Versatile cable handling mechanisms for remote operator control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Collie, A.A.; White, T.S.; Christopher, M.D.; Hewer, N.D. [Portech Ltd., Portsmouth (United Kingdom)

1996-12-31

This paper describes a system of cable management for keeping the umbilical cables of remote operating vehicles and manipulators tidy and contained without direct intervention by operators. Two distinct types of winding mechanism have been designed. One mechanism is a fixed reel type where the cable is wound onto the reel by a rotating bail arm. The other mechanism consists of a pair of curved belts held against each other between which cable is passed. The complete system includes tension measuring and slack loop take-up devices. The whole system is controlled by a servo system in conjunction with a PC based visual graphic environment which allows a variety of mechanisms to be built up into a system able to handle up to four umbilical cables simultaneously. The control system provides additional tension sensors and cable odometers connected to the control system so that the operator has immediate perception of all the cable parameters, and by defining rules, can set up a variety of alarm situations. (Author).

Versatile cable handling mechanisms for remote operator control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Collie, A.A.; White, T.S.; Christopher, M.D.; Hewer, N.D.

1996-01-01

This paper describes a system of cable management for keeping the umbilical cables of remote operating vehicles and manipulators tidy and contained without direct intervention by operators. Two distinct types of winding mechanism have been designed. One mechanism is a fixed reel type where the cable is wound onto the reel by a rotating bail arm. The other mechanism consists of a pair of curved belts held against each other between which cable is passed. The complete system includes tension measuring and slack loop take-up devices. The whole system is controlled by a servo system in conjunction with a PC based visual graphic environment which allows a variety of mechanisms to be built up into a system able to handle up to four umbilical cables simultaneously. The control system provides additional tension sensors and cable odometers connected to the control system so that the operator has immediate perception of all the cable parameters, and by defining rules, can set up a variety of alarm situations. (Author)

Versatile cable handling mechanisms for remote operator control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Collie, A.A.; White, T.S.; Christopher, M.D.; Hewer, N.D.

1996-01-01

This paper describes a system of cable management for keeping the umbilical cables of remote operating vehicles and manipulators tidy and contained without direct intervention by operators. Two distinct types of winding mechanism have been designed. One mechanism is a fixed reel type where the cable is wound onto the reel by a rotating bail arm. The other mechanism consists of a pair of curved belts held against each other, between which cable is passed. The complete system includes tension measuring and slack loop take-up devices. The whole system is controlled by a servo system in conjunction with a PC based visual graphic environment which allows a variety of mechanisms to be built up into a system able to handle up to four umbilical cables simultaneously. The control system provides additional tension sensors and cable odometers connected to the control system so that the operator has immediate perception of all the cable parameters, and by defining rules, can set up a variety of alarm situations. (UK)

Mesh Network Design for Smart Charging Infrastructure and Electric Vehicle Remote Monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shepelev, Aleksey; Chung, Ching-Yen; Chu, Chi-Cheng; Gadh, Rajit

2013-10-14

Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PEV) charging today happens with little knowledge of the state of the vehicle being charged. In order to implement smart charging algorithms and other capabilities of the future smart grid, provisions for remote PEV monitoring will have to be developed and tested. The UCLA Smart-grid Energy Research Center (SMERC) is working on a smart charging research platform that includes data acquired in real time from PEVs being charged in order to investigate smart charging algorithms and demand response (DR) strategies for PEVs in large parking garage settings. The system outlined in this work allows PEVs to be remotely monitored throughout the charging process by a smart-charging controller communicating through a mesh network of charging stations and in-vehicle monitoring devices. The approach may be used for Vehicle to Grid (V2G) communication as well as PEV monitoring.

10 CFR 490.306 - Vehicle operation requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Vehicle operation requirements. 490.306 Section 490.306... Provider Vehicle Acquisition Mandate § 490.306 Vehicle operation requirements. The alternative fueled vehicles acquired pursuant to section 490.302 of this part shall be operated solely on alternative fuels...

Virtual analysis of the remote operation of the ACP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Ji Sup; Kim, Sung Hyun; Song, Tai Gil; Lim, Kwang Mook

2005-01-01

The remote operation of the Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process (ACP) is analyzed by using the 3D graphic simulation tools. The ACP equipment operates in intense radiation fields as well as in a high temperature. Thus, the equipment should be designed in consideration of the remote handling and maintenance. As well as suitable remote handling and maintenance method needs to be provided. To provide such remote operation technology, we developed the graphic simulator which provides the capability of verifying the remote operability of the ACP without fabrication of the process equipment. In other words, by applying virtual reality to the remote maintenance operation, a remote operation task can be simulated in a computer, not in a real environment. In this way the graphic simulator and substantially reduce the design cost of the remote operation process and the equipment. Also it can provide new operation concept that is more reliable, easier to implement, and easier to understand

Investigation on sense of control parameters for joystick interface in remote operated container crane application

Science.gov (United States)

Abdullah, U. N. N.; Handroos, H.

2017-09-01

Introduction: This paper presents the study of sense of control parameters to improve the lack of direct motion feeling through remote operated container crane station (ROCCS) joystick interface. The investigations of the parameters in this study are important to develop the engineering parameters related to the sense of control goal in the next design process. Methodology: Structured interviews and observations were conducted to obtain the user experience data from thirteen remote container crane operators from two international terminals. Then, interview analysis, task analysis, activity analysis and time line analysis were conducted to compare and contrast the results from interviews and observations. Results: Four experience parameters were identified to support the sense of control goal in the later design improvement of the ROCC joystick interface. The significance of difficulties to control, unsynchronized movements, facilitate in control and decision making in unexpected situation as parameters to the sense of control goal were validated by' feedbacks from operators as well as analysis. Contribution: This study provides feedback directly from end users towards developing a sustainable control interface for ROCCS in specific and remote operated off-road vehicles in general.

Analysis of remote operating systems for space-based servicing operations, volume 1

Science.gov (United States)

1985-01-01

A two phase study was conducted to analyze and develop the requirements for remote operating systems as applied to space based operations for the servicing, maintenance, and repair of satellites. Phase one consisted of the development of servicing requirements to establish design criteria for remote operating systems. Phase two defined preferred system concepts and development plans which met the requirements established in phase one. The specific tasks in phase two were to: (1) identify desirable operational and conceptual approaches for selected mission scenarios; (2) examine the potential impact of remote operating systems incorporated into the design of the space station; (3) address remote operating systems design issues, such as mobility, which are effected by the space station configuration; and (4) define the programmatic approaches for technology development, testing, simulation, and flight demonstration.

Remote sensing and actuation using unmanned vehicles

CERN Document Server

Chao, Haiyang

2012-01-01

Unmanned systems and robotics technologies have become very popular recently owing to their ability to replace human beings in dangerous, tedious, or repetitious jobs. This book fill the gap in the field between research and real-world applications, providing scientists and engineers with essential information on how to design and employ networked unmanned vehicles for remote sensing and distributed control purposes. Target scenarios include environmental or agricultural applications such as river/reservoir surveillance, wind profiling measurement, and monitoring/control of chemical leaks.

A remotely operated robot for decontamination tasks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dudar, A.M.; Vandewalle, R.C.

1994-01-01

Engineers in the Robotics Development Group at the Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) have developed a robot which will be used to decontaminate a pipe gallery of a tank farm used for nuclear waste storage. Personnel access is required into this pipe gallery to inspect existing pipes and perform repairs to secondary containment walls around the tank farm. Presently, the pipe gallery is littered with debris of various sizes and its surface is contaminated with activity levels up to 2.5E6 DPM (disintegrations per minute) alpha and exposure levels as high as 20 Rad/hr. Cleaning up this pipe gallery win be the mission of an all-hydraulic robotic vehicle developed in-house at WSRC caged the ''Remote Decon'' robot. The Remote Decon is a tracked vehicle which utilizes skid steering and features a six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator arm, a five-DOF front end loader type bucket with a rotating brush for scrubbing and decontaminating surfaces, and a three-DOF pan/tilt mechanism with cameras and lights. The Remote Decon system is connected to a control console via a 200 foot tethered cable. The control console was designed with ergonomics and simplicity as the main design factors and features three joysticks, video monitors, LED panels, and audible alarms

Design of special purpose equipment - remote control dozer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aprameyan, K.

1990-01-01

Operation environment in handling hot slag, radio active material, clearing/dismantling buildings and loose rocky zones pose hazards with the operation of heavy duty vehicles. Under such hazardous environment conditions, elimination of operator becomes the prime criteria. Remote control of heavy vehicles is resorted to operate the equipment in various working conditions. Radio control systems coupled with penumatic/hydraulic actuators and proportional control logics aim total control of the equipment from a distance using hand pendants. Bharat Earth Moovers Limited has successfully developed remote control system for dozers of 200hp and 300hp. (author). 3 figs

Remote operations and interactions for systems of arbitrary-dimensional Hilbert space: State-operator approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reznik, Benni; Groisman, Berry; Aharonov, Yakir

2002-01-01

We present a systematic simple method for constructing deterministic remote operations on single and multiple systems of arbitrary discrete dimensionality. These operations include remote rotations, remote interactions, and measurements. The resources needed for an operation on a two-level system are one ebit and a bidirectional communication of two cbits, and for an n-level system, a pair of entangled n-level particles and two classical 'nits'. In the latter case, there are n-1 possible distinct operations per n-level entangled pair. Similar results apply for generating interaction between a pair of remote systems, while for remote measurements only one-directional classical communication is needed. We further consider remote operations on N spatially distributed systems, and show that the number of possible distinct operations increases here exponentially, with the available number of entangled pairs that are initially distributed between the systems. Our results follow from the properties of a hybrid state-operator object (stator), which describes quantum correlations between states and operations

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 remote characterization of vegetation using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle photography

Science.gov (United States)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can fly in place of piloted aircraft to gather remote sensing information on vegetation characteristics. The type of sensors flown depends on the instrument payload capacity available, so that, depending on the specific UAV, it is possible to obtain video, aerial phot...

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.

Inspection-Class Remotely Operated Vehicles—A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romano Capocci

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a review of inspection-class Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs. The review divides the classification of inspection-class ROVs; categorising the vehicles in order of size and capability. A state of the art technology review is undertaken, discussing various common subsystems of the ROV. Standard and novel ROV shapes and designs are reviewed, with emphasis on buoyancy, frame materials and hydrodynamics. Several power considerations and designs are discussed, accounting for battery fed and mains fed systems. ROV telemetry is split into a discussion on the various transmission hardware systems and the communication protocols that are most widely used in industry and research today. A range of thruster technologies is then introduced with consideration taken of the various thruster architectures available. Finally, the navigation and positioning sensors employed for ROV navigation and control are reviewed. The author has also created a number of comparison tables throughout the review; tables include comparison of wired data transmission technology, comparison of common ROV communication protocols and comparisons of various inertial navigation systems. By the end of the review the reader will have clearer understanding on the fundamentals of inspection-class ROV technologies and can use this as an introduction to further paper investigation.

Facility operations transparency and remote monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beddingfield, David

2006-01-01

Remote monitoring technologies offer many opportunities, not only to strengthen IAEA safeguards, but also to improve national, industrial and local oversight of various nuclear operations. Remote monitoring benefits in greater timeliness, reduced inspector presence and improved state-of-health awareness are well-known attributes. However, there is also the capability to organize data into a comprehensive knowledge of the 'normal operating envelope' of a facility. In considering future applications of remote monitoring there is also a need to develop a better understanding of the potential cost-savings versus higher up-front costs and potential long-term maintenance or upgrade costs. (author)

Production optimization of remotely operated gas wells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juell, Aleksander

2012-07-01

From the introduction: The Remote Operations in Oklahoma Intended for Education (ROOKIE) project is a remote field laboratory constructed as a part of this research project. ROOKIE was initiated to provide data in research on production optimization of low productivity gas wells. In addition to this, ROOKIE is used as a teaching tool. Much of the remote operations technology used in the ROOKIE project has been used by the industry for several decades. The first use of remote data acquisition in Oklahoma was in 1989, as described by Luppens [7]. Even though this, for the most part, is old technology, the ROOKIE project is the first remote operations project set up with research and teaching as the main focus. This chapter will discuss the process of establishing the remote field laboratory and the data storage facilities. Results from the project will also be discussed. All testing, instrumentation installation, and modifications to the wells discussed in this chapter was performed by the author. The communication system between the well and NTNU, and the storage database was installed and configured by the author.(Author)

A Perspective on Remote Handling Operations and Human Machine Interface for Remote Handling in Fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haist, B.; Hamilton, D.; Sanders, St.

2006-01-01

A large-scale fusion device presents many challenges to the remote handling operations team. This paper is based on unique operational experience at JET and gives a perspective on remote handling task development, logistics and resource management, as well as command, control and human-machine interface systems. Remote operations require an accurate perception of a dynamic environment, ideally providing the operators with the same unrestricted knowledge of the task scene as would be available if they were actually at the remote work location. Traditional camera based systems suffer from a limited number of viewpoints and also degrade quickly when exposed to high radiation. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality software offer great assistance. The remote handling system required to maintain a tokamak requires a large number of different and complex pieces of equipment coordinating to perform a large array of tasks. The demands on the operator's skill in performing the tasks can escalate to a point where the efficiency and safety of operations are compromised. An operations guidance system designed to facilitate the planning, development, validation and execution of remote handling procedures is essential. Automatic planning of motion trajectories of remote handling equipment and the remote transfer of heavy loads will be routine and need to be reliable. This paper discusses the solutions developed at JET in these areas and also the trends in management and presentation of operational data as well as command, control and HMI technology development offering the potential to greatly assist remote handling in future fusion machines. (author)

32 CFR 935.139 - Motor vehicle operator qualifications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Motor vehicle operator qualifications. 935.139... AND INSULAR REGULATIONS WAKE ISLAND CODE Motor Vehicle Code § 935.139 Motor vehicle operator qualifications. (a) No person may operate a privately owned motor vehicle on Wake Island unless he has an island...

Remote operated valves - the Bolivian approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cuellar, O.; Arce, G.; Blanco, E.; Collazos, A.; Chavarria, E. [Transredes S.A., Transporte de Hidrocarburos, La Paz (Bolivia)

2005-07-01

For pipeline operators, the Remote Operated Valves (ROV) are tools to isolate pipe segments and contain any potential spill and they are also useful tools to provide data on operating conditions. Projects and articles about the locations and site layouts were developed to install Remote Operated Valves and the criteria for their use; each location has its own environmental, social and logistical particulars. This article describes the approach used to install ROV in Bolivia and the final design installed discussions and lessons learned about the: criteria to define the location, layout equipment installed and shelter and particulars of the location. (author)

STRIPE: Remote Driving Using Limited Image Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kay, Jennifer S.

1997-01-01

Driving a vehicle, either directly or remotely, is an inherently visual task. When heavy fog limits visibility, we reduce our car's speed to a slow crawl, even along very familiar roads. In teleoperation systems, an operator's view is limited to images provided by one or more cameras mounted on the remote vehicle. Traditional methods of vehicle teleoperation require that a real time stream of images is transmitted from the vehicle camera to the operator control station, and the operator steers the vehicle accordingly. For this type of teleoperation, the transmission link between the vehicle and operator workstation must be very high bandwidth (because of the high volume of images required) and very low latency (because delayed images can cause operators to steer incorrectly). In many situations, such a high-bandwidth, low-latency communication link is unavailable or even technically impossible to provide. Supervised TeleRobotics using Incremental Polyhedral Earth geometry, or STRIPE, is a teleoperation system for a robot vehicle that allows a human operator to accurately control the remote vehicle across very low bandwidth communication links, and communication links with large delays. In STRIPE, a single image from a camera mounted on the vehicle is transmitted to the operator workstation. The operator uses a mouse to pick a series of 'waypoints' in the image that define a path that the vehicle should follow. These 2D waypoints are then transmitted back to the vehicle, where they are used to compute the appropriate steering commands while the next image is being transmitted. STRIPE requires no advance knowledge of the terrain to be traversed, and can be used by novice operators with only minimal training. STRIPE is a unique combination of computer and human control. The computer must determine the 3D world path designated by the 2D waypoints and then accurately control the vehicle over rugged terrain. The human issues involve accurate path selection, and the

REMOTE OPERATIONS IN A GLOBAL ACCELERATOR NETWORK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

PEGGS, S.; SATOGATA, T.; AGARWAL, D.; RICE, D.

2003-01-01

The INTRODUCTION to this paper summarizes the history of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN) concept and the recent workshops that discussed the relationship between GAN and Remote Operations. The REMOTE OPERATIONS SCENARIOS section brings out the organizational philosophy embodied in GAN-like and to non-GAN-like scenarios. The set of major TOPICS RAISED AT THE WORKSHOPS are only partially resolved. COLLABORATION TOOLS are described and discussed, followed by examples of REMOTE ACCELERATOR CONTROL PROJECTS around the world

Remote operations in a global accelerator network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peggs, Steve; Satogata, Todd; Agarwal, Deborah; Rice, David

2003-01-01

The INTRODUCTION to this paper summarizes the history of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN) concept and the recent workshops that discussed the relationship between GAN and Remote Operations. The REMOTE OPERATIONS SCENARIOS section brings out the organizational philosophy embodied in GAN-like and to non-GAN-like scenarios. The set of major TOPICS RAISED AT THE WORKSHOPS are only partially resolved. COLLABORATION TOOLS are described and discussed, followed by examples of REMOTE ACCELERATOR CONTROL PROJECTS around the world

REMOTE OPERATIONS IN A GLOBAL ACCELERATOR NETWORK.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

PEGGS,S.; SATOGATA,T.; AGARWAL,D.; RICE,D.

2003-05-12

The INTRODUCTION to this paper summarizes the history of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN) concept and the recent workshops that discussed the relationship between GAN and Remote Operations. The REMOTE OPERATIONS SCENARIOS section brings out the organizational philosophy embodied in GAN-like and to non-GAN-like scenarios. The set of major TOPICS RAISED AT THE WORKSHOPS are only partially resolved. COLLABORATION TOOLS are described and discussed, followed by examples of REMOTE ACCELERATOR CONTROL PROJECTS around the world.

Remote Video Monitor of Vehicles in Cooperative Information Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Guofeng; Wang, Xiaoguo; Wang, Li; Li, Yang; Li, Qiyan

Detection of vehicles plays an important role in the area of the modern intelligent traffic management. And the pattern recognition is a hot issue in the area of computer vision. An auto- recognition system in cooperative information platform is studied. In the cooperative platform, 3G wireless network, including GPS, GPRS (CDMA), Internet (Intranet), remote video monitor and M-DMB networks are integrated. The remote video information can be taken from the terminals and sent to the cooperative platform, then detected by the auto-recognition system. The images are pretreated and segmented, including feature extraction, template matching and pattern recognition. The system identifies different models and gets vehicular traffic statistics. Finally, the implementation of the system is introduced.

Remote operation system for container

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakahara, Hirotaka; Hayata, Takashi; Kajiyama, Shigeru; Takahashi, Fuminobu

1998-01-01

The present invention provides a remote operation system for conducting operation with operation reaction for the inside of a container filled with water (liquid), such as of inner walls and inner structural materials of a BWR type reactor. Namely, a swimming robot comprises a swimming device swimming in the liquid and an attaching/detaching device for holding/releasing the handling robot. A control device remotely operate the swimming robot and the handling robot by way of a cable. A cable processing device takes up or dispenses the cable. In addition, when the swimming robot grasps the handling robot by the attaching/detaching device, the swimming robot transmits an operation instruction sent from the control device by way of the cable to the handling robot. After the attaching/detaching device of the swimming robot releases the handling robot, the handling robot operates based on the transmitted operation instruction. It is preferable that the handling robot has an adsorptive moving device for moving itself while being adsorbed on the wall surface of the container. (I.S.)

A teleoperated system for remote site characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandness, G.A.; Richardson, B.S.; Pence, J.

1993-08-01

The detection and characterization of buried objects and materials is an important first step in the restoration of burial sites containing chemical and radioactive waste materials at Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) facilities. To address the need to minimize the exposure of on-site personnel to the hazards associated with such sites, the DOE Office of Technology Development and the US Army Environmental Center have jointly supported the development of the Remote Characterization System (RCS). One of the main components of the RCS is a small remotely driven survey vehicle that can transport various combinations of geophysical and radiological sensors. Currently implemented sensors include ground-penetrating radar, magnetometers, an electromagnetic induction sensor, and a sodium iodide radiation detector. The survey vehicle was constructed predominantly of non-metallic materials to minimize its effect on the operation of its geophysical sensors. The system operator controls the vehicle from a remote, truck-mounted, base station. Video images are transmitted to the base station by an radio link to give the operator necessary visual information. Vehicle control commands, tracking information, and sensor data are transmitted between the survey vehicle and the base station by means of a radio ethernet link. Precise vehicle tracking coordinates are provided by a differential Global Positioning System (GPS). The sensors are environmentally protected, internally cooled, and interchangeable based on mission requirements. To date, the RCS has been successfully tested at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

US remote monitoring operational experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dupree, S.A.; Sonnier, C.S.

1997-01-01

Under international partnerships and bilateral agreements with the U.S. Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories, other national laboratories, and international partner organizations have emplaced remote monitoring systems in nuclear facilities and laboratories in various parts of the world for the purpose of conducting field trials of remote monitoring. The purpose of the present report is to review the results from these field trials and draw general conclusions regarding the trials. Many thousands of hours of sensor and system operation have been logged, and data have been retrieved from many locations. In virtually all cases the system components have functioned as intended and data have been successfully collected and transmitted for review. Comparisons between front-end-triggered video and time-lapse video have shown that the triggered record has captured all relevant monitored operations at the various nuclear facilities included in the field trials. We believe the utility and functional reliability of remote monitoring for international safeguards has been shown. However, it should be kept in mind that openness and transparency, including some form of short-notice inspections, are likely to be prerequisites to the safeguards implementation of remote monitoring in any State

RCV-150 remotely operated vehicle and its operation in the hostile undersea environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Billet, A.B.

1984-01-01

The past decade has shown a dramatic increase in the use of unmanned tethered vehicles in worldwide marine fields. These are used for inspection, debris removal and object retrieval. The RCV-150/sup chemical bond/ system is an example of these advanced technology vehicles. With the requirements of high maneuverability and unusual inspection a responsive, high performance, compact hydraulic system was developed. The hydraulic system is powered by an electric motor-driven pump which provides hydraulic power to the four thruster motors and to the five-function manipulator work arm

Retrieval operators of remote sensing applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, T.; Shah, A.

2014-01-01

A set of operators of remote sensing applications have been proposed to fulfill most of the Functional Requirements (FR). These operators capture the functions of the applications, which can be considered as the services provided by the applications. In general, a good application meets maximum FR from user. In this paper, we have defined a remote sensing application by a set, having all images created at dissimilar time instances, and each image is categorized into set of different layers. (author)

Apparatus and method for modifying the operation of a robotic vehicle in a real environment, to emulate the operation of the robotic vehicle operating in a mixed reality environment

Science.gov (United States)

Garretson, Justin R [Albuquerque, NM; Parker, Eric P [Albuquerque, NM; Gladwell, T Scott [Albuquerque, NM; Rigdon, J Brian [Edgewood, NM; Oppel, III, Fred J.

2012-05-29

Apparatus and methods for modifying the operation of a robotic vehicle in a real environment to emulate the operation of the robotic vehicle in a mixed reality environment include a vehicle sensing system having a communications module attached to the robotic vehicle for communicating operating parameters related to the robotic vehicle in a real environment to a simulation controller for simulating the operation of the robotic vehicle in a mixed (live, virtual and constructive) environment wherein the affects of virtual and constructive entities on the operation of the robotic vehicle (and vice versa) are simulated. These effects are communicated to the vehicle sensing system which generates a modified control command for the robotic vehicle including the effects of virtual and constructive entities, causing the robot in the real environment to behave as if virtual and constructive entities existed in the real environment.

Experiments in teleoperator and autonomous control of space robotic vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Harold L.

1991-01-01

A program of research embracing teleoperator and automatic navigational control of freely flying satellite robots is presented. Current research goals include: (1) developing visual operator interfaces for improved vehicle teleoperation; (2) determining the effects of different visual interface system designs on operator performance; and (3) achieving autonomous vision-based vehicle navigation and control. This research program combines virtual-environment teleoperation studies and neutral-buoyancy experiments using a space-robot simulator vehicle currently under development. Visual-interface design options under investigation include monoscopic versus stereoscopic displays and cameras, helmet-mounted versus panel-mounted display monitors, head-tracking versus fixed or manually steerable remote cameras, and the provision of vehicle-fixed visual cues, or markers, in the remote scene for improved sensing of vehicle position, orientation, and motion.

Hybrid Underwater Vehicle: ARV Design and Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhigang DENG

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The development of SMU-I, a new autonomous & remotely-operated vehicle (ARV is described. Since it has both the characteristics of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV and remote operated underwater vehicle (ROV, it is able to achieve precision fix station operation and manual timely intervention. In the paper the initial design of basic components, such as vehicle, propulsion, batteries etc. and the control design of motion are introduced and analyzed. ROV’s conventional cable is replaced by a fiber optic cable, which makes it available for high-bandwidth real-time video, data telemetry and high-quality teleoperation. Furthermore, with the aid of the manual real-time remote operation and ranging sonar, it also resolves the AUV’s conflicting issue, which can absolutely adapt the actual complex sea environment and satisfy the unknown mission need. The whole battery system is designed as two-battery banks, whose voltages and temperatures are monitored through CAN (controller area network bus to avoid battery fire and explosion. A fuzzy-PID controller is designed for its motion control, including depth control and direction control. The controller synthesizes the advantage of fuzzy control and PID control, utilizes the fuzzy rules to on-line tune the parameters of PID controller, and achieves a better control effect. Experiment results demonstrate to show the effectiveness of the test-bed.

General Guidelines for Remote Operation and Maintenance of Pyroprocess Equipment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, S. H.; Park, B. S.; Park, H. S.; Lee, H. J.; Choi, C. W.; Lee, J. K

2007-12-15

As the pyroprocess handle the high radioactive materials, a high radioactive material handling facility required high safety, radioactive shielding, strict quality control, and the remote handling equipment of high technology. This report describes the guidelines of for pyroprocess based the design guides for radioactive material handling facility and equipment from American Nuclear Society(ANS), design guidelines for remotely maintained equipment from Oak Ridge National Laboratory(ORNL), and the experience of design for ACP equipment installed at the ACPF(Advanced Conditioning Process Facility). The General guidelines in this report are as follows. The General guidelines for remote operation and maintenance of pyroprocess equipment: Pyroprocess, Remote handling equipment for pyroprocess, General guide for remote operation and maintenance, general guidelines for the design of remotely operated and maintained equipment, Estimation and analysis for remote maintenance.

The operational challenge of remote maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forsythe, L.

2015-01-01

Full text of publication follows. With the declining supply of fossil fuels that are used in power stations today, and the ongoing concern over climate change, nuclear fusion is one of the most promising options for generating large amounts of carbon-free energy in the future. Fuel supplies for fusion will be available for millions of years, with 1 kg of fusion fuel providing the same amount of energy as 10 thousand tonnes of fossil fuel. Unlike conventional fission reactors, the radioactive waste produced from fusion is short-lived, and will be safe to dispose of conventionally within 100 years. Although fusion has the huge advantage of being a carbon free energy source, there are complexities when it comes to maintaining the machine. Due to the nature of the fusion reaction, the components within the area of the reactor vacuum vessel become radioactive, which requires maintenance and modifications to be conducted remotely to protect human operators. Remote maintenance is the use of manipulators to carry out tasks in challenging or hostile environments, which would otherwise cause harm to humans. Remote handling slave manipulators do the work of a human by mimicking the movements from a master robotic manipulator that is controlled by a human operator. This means that remote handling can be used in many other areas other too, such as space; fission power plants; sub-sea; and nuclear material handling or in adverse environments such as: low or high temperature; chemically contaminated; combustible and low oxygen environments. Remote maintenance requires specialist engineers to take into consideration many aspects normally taken for granted when carrying out a task manually. Constraints such as the space around us; viewing and lighting; the human body's dexterity and flexibility; the weight and centre of gravity of tools and components, and how we securely grip and handle them; and access to fixings and fastenings. All these are factors that require careful

Industrial applications for remote operation in a processing plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermier, J.; Le Guennec, R.

1984-01-01

In the first part of this article, J. Hermier covers the use of remote handling equipment in the UP2-400 plant at La Hague near Cherbourg, in which for the most part master/slave mechanism remote handling units are used with a number of these employed in daily processing operations. As regards this subject, it is useful to remember that, at the time of the designing of this plant (UP2-400), this was the only equipment available on the market with remote-controlled remote handling equipment. In the second part, before speaking about the development of remote operation equipment in the plants now under construction and attempting to project what might be the remote operation role in future plants, R. Le Guennec reviews the problems faced by engineering in designing industrial-sized processing plants and, consequently, the motivations of engineering when faced with a choice between several possible solutions [fr

Remote sensing in operational range management programs in Western Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, M. D.

1977-01-01

A pilot program carried out in Western Canada to test remote sensing under semi-operational conditions and display its applicability to operational range management programs was described. Four agencies were involved in the program, two in Alberta and two in Manitoba. Each had different objectives and needs for remote sensing within its range management programs, and each was generally unfamiliar with remote sensing techniques and their applications. Personnel with experience and expertise in the remote sensing and range management fields worked with the agency personnel through every phase of the pilot program. Results indicate that these agencies have found remote sensing to be a cost effective tool and will begin to utilize remote sensing in their operational work during ensuing seasons.

History of Robotic and Remotely Operated Telescopes

Science.gov (United States)

Genet, Russell M.

2011-03-01

While automated instrument sequencers were employed on solar eclipse expeditions in the late 1800s, it wasn't until the 1960s that Art Code and associates at Wisconsin used a PDP minicomputer to automate an 8-inch photometric telescope. Although this pioneering project experienced frequent equipment failures and was shut down after a couple of years, it paved the way for the first space telescopes. Reliable microcomputers initiated the modern era of robotic telescopes. Louis Boyd and I applied single board microcomputers with 64K of RAM and floppy disk drives to telescope automation at the Fairborn Observatory, achieving reliable, fully robotic operation in 1983 that has continued uninterrupted for 28 years. In 1985 the Smithsonian Institution provided us with a suburb operating location on Mt. Hopkins in southern Arizona, while the National Science Foundation funded additional telescopes. Remote access to our multiple robotic telescopes at the Fairborn Observatory began in the late 1980s. The Fairborn Observatory, with its 14 fully robotic telescopes and staff of two (one full and one part time) illustrates the potential for low operating and maintenance costs. As the information capacity of the Internet has expanded, observational modes beyond simple differential photometry opened up, bringing us to the current era of real-time remote access to remote observatories and global observatory networks. Although initially confined to smaller telescopes, robotic operation and remote access are spreading to larger telescopes as telescopes from afar becomes the normal mode of operation.

Expert operator preferences in remote manipulator control systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sundstrom, E.; Draper, J.V.; Fausz, A.; Woods, H.

1995-06-01

This report describes a survey of expert remote manipulator operators designed to identify features of control systems related to operator efficiency and comfort. It provides information for designing the control center for the Single-Shell Tank Waste Retrieval Manipulator System (TWRMS) Test Bed, described in a separate report. Research questions concerned preferred modes of control, optimum work sessions, sources of operator fatigue, importance of control system design features, and desired changes in control rooms. Participants comprised four expert remote manipulator operators at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who individually have from 9 to 20 years of experience using teleoperators. The operators had all used rate and position control, and all preferred bilateral (force-reflecting) position control. They reported spending an average of 2.75 h in control of a teleoperator system during a typical shift. All were accustomed to working in a crew of two and alternating control and support roles in 2-h rotations in an 8-h shift. Operators reported that fatigue in using remote manipulator systems came mainly from watching TV monitors and making repetitive motions. Three of four experienced symptoms, including headaches and sore eyes, wrists, and back. Of 17 features of control rooms rated on importance, highest ratings went to comfort and support provided by the operator chair, location of controls, location of video monitors, video image clarity, types of controls, and control modes. When asked what they wanted to change, operators said work stations designed for comfort; simpler, lighter hand-controls; separate controls for each camera; better placement of remote camera; color monitors; and control room layouts that support crew interaction. Results of this small survey reinforced the importance of ergonomic factors in remote manipulation

Developing and operating a remotely operated work system in hostile and emergency environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thorne, P.M.

1987-01-01

The author presents an overview of the factors that a project manager considering the use of remote work systems must keep in mind during the planning and execution of operations in hostile environments. Interfacing of the remote work system to the task and understanding mission parameters is emphasized. The author's thesis is based on many years of technical operations and project management roles using remote work systems in the subsea oil industry, military and, most recently, space and nuclear applications

Defense Waste Processing Facility -- Radioactive operations -- Part 3 -- Remote operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, W.M.; Kerley, W.D.; Hughes, P.D.

1997-01-01

The Savannah River Site's Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) near Aiken, South Carolina is the nation's first and world's largest vitrification facility. Following a ten year construction period and nearly three years of non-radioactive testing, the DWPF began radioactive operations in March 1996. Radioactive glass is poured from the joule heated melter into the stainless steel canisters. The canisters are then temporarily sealed, decontaminated, resistance welded for final closure, and transported to an interim storage facility. All of these operations are conducted remotely with equipment specially designed for these processes. This paper reviews canister processing during the first nine months of radioactive operations at DWPF. The fundamental design consideration for DWPF remote canister processing and handling equipment are discussed as well as interim canister storage

Remotely operated top loading filter housing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ross, M.J.; Carter, J.A.

1989-01-01

A high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter system was developed for the Fuel Processing Facility at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant. The system utilizes commercially available HEPA filters and allows in-cell filters to be maintained using operator-controlled remote handling equipment. The remote handling tasks include transport of filters before and after replacement, removal and replacement of the filter from the housing, and filter containment

Evaluation of the revised electrolytic reduction reactor from a remote operability aspect

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Hyo Jik; Yoon, K. H.; Kim, K. H. (and others)

2008-01-15

This report presents an evaluation of the remote operability of the revised electrolytic reduction (ER) reactor installed in the ACP at KAERI. All operations have to be implemented in a fully remote manner since the ACPF is a hotcell for handling highly radioactive materials such as spent nuclear fuels. In particular, the ER process is a key process of the Advanced spent fuel Conditioning Process (ACP) and it needs a lot of other auxiliary equipment to perform it. Also, since the ER equipment is too big and complicated, and contrarily the ACPF is not big enough, and one common rail is allotted for a bridge transported servo manipulator, an in-cell crane and a gate crane, a remote handling of the ER reactor is accompanied by a difficulty for a remote operation. For an easy understanding, short overview of the ER process, the remote handling equipment, the structural configuration of the ACPF and the detail drawings of the ER equipment are presented. Through 4 month-remote operational tests, detailed operational procedures are presented along with pictures. The remote handling equipment and tools required in each operation are addressed in detail. Also, the procedure to implement each remote operation, and a task difficulty are evaluated from a remote operability aspect. All the remote tasks are distinguished according to whether a remote operation can be performed or not. Finally, partial improvement or an idea to solve the suggested problems is presented. This report will assist in modifying or scaling up the ER reactor.

Remote operation and maintenance support services for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, Hiroki; Higuma, Koji; Shimizu, Shunichi; Sakuma, Masatake; Sonoda, Yukio; Kanemoto, Shigeru

2004-01-01

Toshiba Corporation constructed e-Toshiba Operating Plant Service (e-TOPS TM ) system and began remote operation and maintenance support service for nuclear power plants. The service put into practice remote operation and maintenance by harmony of information technologies such as internet and mobile, and nuclear power measurement/diagnostic technologies and security techniques. Outline of e-TOPS TM , remote-control service, -inspection system, -diagnostic service and technologies support service are explained. Construction, objects and application effects of e-TOPS TM , remote diagnostic system using image treatment techniques, construction of device record card control system are illustrated. (S.Y.)

Remote site survey and characterization for the National ER ampersand WM Program using the SRIP [Solider Robot Interface Project] vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richardson, B.S.; Killough, S.M.; Emery, M.D.; Herndon, J.N.; Hamel, W.R.; Burks, B.L.

1990-01-01

A significant number of Department of Energy (DOE) production and research sites will require remediation of buried waste sites during the coming years. An important first step in cleanup, restoration, and decontamination activities is burial site characterization. An early field demonstration of buried waste site survey and characterization will be conducted using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, a manipulator system, and a vision system. This demonstration will be conducted in July 1990. 4 refs., 4 figs

An automotive vehicle dynamics prototyping platform based on a remote control model car

OpenAIRE

SOLMAZ, Selim; COŞKUN, Türker

2013-01-01

The use of a modified remote control (RC) model car as a vehicle dynamics testing and development platform is detailed. Vehicle dynamics testing is an important aspect of automotive engineering and it plays a key role during the design and tuning of active safety control systems. Considering the fact that such tests are conductedi at great expense, scaled model cars can potentially be used to help with the process to reduce the costs. With this view, we instrument and develop a stand...

Remote operation and maintenance demonstration facility at ORNL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harvey, H.W.; Floyd, S.D.; Kuban, D.P.; Singletary, B.H.; Stradley, J.G.

1978-01-01

The Remote Operation and Maintenance Facility is a versatile facility arranged to mock up various hot cell configurations. Modular units of simulated shielding and viewing windows were built to provide flexibility in arrangement. The facility is fully equipped with hoists, manipulators, television, and other basic equipment and services necessary to provide capability for both remote operation and maintenance of several selected functional process equipment groups

Simulation for Remote Operation for REX10 Nuclear Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sim Won; Kim, Dong Su; Na, Man Gyun; Lee, Yoon Joon; Lee, Yeon Gun; Park, Goon Cherl

2010-01-01

The newly designed REX10 (Regional Energy Reactor, 10MWth) is an environmentally-friendly and stable small nuclear reactor for a small-scale reactor based Multi-purpose regional energy system. The REX10 has been developed to maintain system safety in order to be placed in densely populated region, island, etc. In addition, it is significantly hard to recruit many operation and maintenance personnel for small power reactors differently from usual commercial reactors because of its remote location and of economic reasons. In order to overcome these constraints, to decrease the operation cost by reducing operation and maintenance personnel, and to increase plant reliability through autonomous plant control, it is needed to design the control system of the small power reactors and to establish its unmanned remote operation system. In this study, the REX10 reactor core thermal power controller is designed by using a REX10 code analyzer. The remote control facility through man-machine interface (MMI) design and interface between programming languages was established and it was used to verify remote operation of REX10

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.

Requirements for tokamak remote operation: Application to JT-60SA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Innocente, Paolo; Barbato, Paolo; Farthing, Jonathan; Giruzzi, Gerardo; Ide, Shunsuke; Imbeaux, Frédéric; Joffrin, Emmanuel; Kamada, Yutaka; Kühner, Georg; Naito, Osamu; Urano, Hajime; Yoshida, Maiko

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We analyzed the data management system (DMS) appropriate for international collaboration. • We define the principal requirements for all components of the DMS. • We evaluated application of DMS requirements to the JT-60SA experiment. • We evaluated the role network bandwidth and time delay between EU and Japan. - Abstract: Remote operation and data analysis are becoming key requirements of any fusion devices. In this framework a well-conceived data management system integrated with a suite of analysis and support tools are essential components for an efficient remote exploitation of any fusion device. The following components must be considered: data archiving data model architecture; remote data and computers access; pulse schedule, data analysis software and support tools; remote control room specifications and security issues. The definition of a device-generic data model plays also important role in improving the ability to share solution and reducing learning time. As for the remote control room, the implementation of an Operation Request Gateway has been identified as an answer to security issues meanwhile remotely proving all the required features to effectively operate a device. Previous requirements have been analyzed for the new JT-60SA tokamak device. Remote exploitation is paramount in the JT-60SA case which is expected to be jointly operated between Japan and Europe. Due to the geographical distance of the two parties an optimal remote operation and remote data-analysis is considered as a key requirement in the development of JT-60SA. It this case the effects of network speed and delay have been also evaluated and tests have confirmed that the performance can vary significantly depending on the technology used.

Requirements for tokamak remote operation: Application to JT-60SA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Innocente, Paolo, E-mail: paolo.innocente@igi.cnr.it [Consorzio RFX, Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35127 Padova (Italy); Barbato, Paolo [Consorzio RFX, Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35127 Padova (Italy); Farthing, Jonathan [CCFE, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB (United Kingdom); Giruzzi, Gerardo [CEA, IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Ide, Shunsuke [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Naka, Ibaraki-ken 311-0193 (Japan); Imbeaux, Frédéric; Joffrin, Emmanuel [CEA, IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Kamada, Yutaka [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Naka, Ibaraki-ken 311-0193 (Japan); Kühner, Georg [Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics, EURATOM Association, Wendelsteinstr. 1, 17491 Greifswald (Germany); Naito, Osamu; Urano, Hajime; Yoshida, Maiko [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Naka, Ibaraki-ken 311-0193 (Japan)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • We analyzed the data management system (DMS) appropriate for international collaboration. • We define the principal requirements for all components of the DMS. • We evaluated application of DMS requirements to the JT-60SA experiment. • We evaluated the role network bandwidth and time delay between EU and Japan. - Abstract: Remote operation and data analysis are becoming key requirements of any fusion devices. In this framework a well-conceived data management system integrated with a suite of analysis and support tools are essential components for an efficient remote exploitation of any fusion device. The following components must be considered: data archiving data model architecture; remote data and computers access; pulse schedule, data analysis software and support tools; remote control room specifications and security issues. The definition of a device-generic data model plays also important role in improving the ability to share solution and reducing learning time. As for the remote control room, the implementation of an Operation Request Gateway has been identified as an answer to security issues meanwhile remotely proving all the required features to effectively operate a device. Previous requirements have been analyzed for the new JT-60SA tokamak device. Remote exploitation is paramount in the JT-60SA case which is expected to be jointly operated between Japan and Europe. Due to the geographical distance of the two parties an optimal remote operation and remote data-analysis is considered as a key requirement in the development of JT-60SA. It this case the effects of network speed and delay have been also evaluated and tests have confirmed that the performance can vary significantly depending on the technology used.

Modified Brokk Demolition Machine with Remote Operator Console. Innovative Technology Summary Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

The Low-Cost D and D System modifies a commercially available BROKK demolition system for remote viewing and long tether remote operation that provides a portable facility camera pod and interfaces with the Compact Remote Operator Console (TMS Tech ID 2180) to extend the applicability of the BROKK system to projects that require removal of the operator from the work area due to exposure to radiological, chemical, or industrial hazards. The modified BROKK has been integrated with the Compact Remote Operator Console to provide a true remotely operated low-cost D and D system applicable to a wide range of small D and D demolition tasks across the DOE complex

Remote Operation and Maintenance Demonstration Facility at ORNL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harvey, H.W.; Floyd, S.D; Kuban, D.P.; Singletary, B.H.; Stradley, J.G.

1978-01-01

The Remote Operation and Maintenance Facility is a versatile facility arranged to mock-up various hot-cell configurations. Modular units of simulated shielding and viewing windows were built to provide flexibility in arrangement. The facility is fully equipped with hoists, manipulators, television, and the other basic equipment and services necessary to provide capability for both remote operation and maintenance of several selected functional process equipment groups. 6 figures

System and method of vehicle operating condition management

Science.gov (United States)

Sujan, Vivek A.; Vajapeyazula, Phani; Follen, Kenneth; Wu, An; Moffett, Barty L.

2015-10-20

A vehicle operating condition profile can be determined over a given route while also considering imposed constraints such as deviation from time targets, deviation from maximum governed speed limits, etc. Given current vehicle speed, engine state and transmission state, the present disclosure optimally manages the engine map and transmission to provide a recommended vehicle operating condition that optimizes fuel consumption in transitioning from one vehicle state to a target state. Exemplary embodiments provide for offline and online optimizations relative to fuel consumption. The benefit is increased freight efficiency in transporting cargo from source to destination by minimizing fuel consumption and maintaining drivability.

Remote Underwater Characterization System - Innovative Technology Summary Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willis, W.D.

1999-01-01

Characterization and inspection of water-cooled and moderated nuclear reactors and fuel storage pools requires equipment capable of operating underwater. Similarly, the deactivation and decommissioning of older nuclear facilities often requires the facility owner to accurately characterize underwater structures and equipment which may have been sitting idle for years. The Remote Underwater Characterization System (RUCS) is a small, remotely operated submersible vehicle intended to serve multiple purposes in underwater nuclear operations. It is based on the commercially-available Scallop vehicle 1 , but has been modified by the Department of Energys Robotics Technology Development Program to add auto-depth control, and vehicle orientation and depth monitoring at the operator control panel. The RUCS is designed to provide visual and gamma radiation characterization, even in confined or limited access areas. It was demonstrated in August 1998 at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) as part of the INEEL Large Scale Demonstration and Deployment Project. During the demonstration it was compared in a ''head-to-head fashion with the baseline characterization technology. This paper summarizes the results of the demonstration and lessons learned; comparing and contrasting both technologies in the areas of cost, visual characterization, radiological characterization, and overall operations

Remote software upload techniques in future vehicles and their performance analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hossain, Irina

Updating software in vehicle Electronic Control Units (ECUs) will become a mandatory requirement for a variety of reasons, for examples, to update/fix functionality of an existing system, add new functionality, remove software bugs and to cope up with ITS infrastructure. Software modules of advanced vehicles can be updated using Remote Software Upload (RSU) technique. The RSU employs infrastructure-based wireless communication technique where the software supplier sends the software to the targeted vehicle via a roadside Base Station (BS). However, security is critically important in RSU to avoid any disasters due to malfunctions of the vehicle or to protect the proprietary algorithms from hackers, competitors or people with malicious intent. In this thesis, a mechanism of secure software upload in advanced vehicles is presented which employs mutual authentication of the software provider and the vehicle using a pre-shared authentication key before sending the software. The software packets are sent encrypted with a secret key along with the Message Digest (MD). In order to increase the security level, it is proposed the vehicle to receive more than one copy of the software along with the MD in each copy. The vehicle will install the new software only when it receives more than one identical copies of the software. In order to validate the proposition, analytical expressions of average number of packet transmissions for successful software update is determined. Different cases are investigated depending on the vehicle's buffer size and verification methods. The analytical and simulation results show that it is sufficient to send two copies of the software to the vehicle to thwart any security attack while uploading the software. The above mentioned unicast method for RSU is suitable when software needs to be uploaded to a single vehicle. Since multicasting is the most efficient method of group communication, updating software in an ECU of a large number of vehicles

Augmenting camera images for operators of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veltman, J.A.; Oving, A.B.

2003-01-01

The manual control of the camera of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be difficult due to several factors such as 1) time delays between steering input and changes of the monitor content, 2) low update rates of the camera images and 3) lack of situation awareness due to the remote position of the

Remote assembly and maintenance of fusion reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becquet, M.C.; Farfaletti-Casali, F.

1991-01-01

This paper intend to present the state of the art in the field of remote assembly and maintenance, including system analysis design and operation for controlled fusion device such as JET, and the next NET and ITER reactors. The operational constraints of fusion reactors with respect to temperature, radiations dose rates and cumulated doses are considered with the resulting design requirements. Concepts like articulated boom, in-vessel vehicle and blanket handling device are presented. The close relations between computer simulations and experimental validation of those concepts are emphasized to ensure reliability of the operational behavior. Mockups and prototypes in reduced and full scale, as operating machines are described to illustrate the progress in remote operations for fusion reactors. The developments achieved at the Institute for System Engineering and Informatics of the Joint Research Center, in the field of remote blanket maintenance, reliability assessment of RH systems and remote cut and welding of lips joints are considered. (author)

Vehicle Remote Health Monitoring and Prognostic Maintenance System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uferah Shafi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In many industries inclusive of automotive vehicle industry, predictive maintenance has become more important. It is hard to diagnose failure in advance in the vehicle industry because of the limited availability of sensors and some of the designing exertions. However with the great development in automotive industry, it looks feasible today to analyze sensor’s data along with machine learning techniques for failure prediction. In this article, an approach is presented for fault prediction of four main subsystems of vehicle, fuel system, ignition system, exhaust system, and cooling system. Sensor is collected when vehicle is on the move, both in faulty condition (when any failure in specific system has occurred and in normal condition. The data is transmitted to the server which analyzes the data. Interesting patterns are learned using four classifiers, Decision Tree, Support Vector Machine, K Nearest Neighbor, and Random Forest. These patterns are later used to detect future failures in other vehicles which show the similar behavior. The approach is produced with the end goal of expanding vehicle up-time and was demonstrated on 70 vehicles of Toyota Corolla type. Accuracy comparison of all classifiers is performed on the basis of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC curves.

Remote Operation of the Fermilab/NICADD Photoinjector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barov, Nikolai

2002-01-01

The recognition that a new major HEP facility must receive international support and that its execution would benefit from worldwide interaction from design through operation has given rise to the term Global Accelerator Network (GAN). A welcome consequence has been a more permissive attitude toward remote operation of existing facilities.For roughly thirty years, the computer has been the principal operator interface to the beam,and, through the development of the Internet, the operator can be literally anywhere. In this note, the authors describe their approach to enabling a sufficient degree of operation of the photoinjector from afar in order to carry out investigations in beam physics. The goal was to do so on a time scale of a few months and at minimal cost. At this writing, remote shifts are routinely scheduled involving DESY and LBL, limited in frequency only by the requests of the collaborators and by the need for time to interpret the data

Telemanipulation - a special activity in remotely controlled operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rose, K.W.; Andre, Y.

1992-01-01

Work to be done in areas hostile to humans needs special and careful preparation. If short-term entry is possible, groups of men can be trained to do the necessary work. If not, special devices have to be designed, built, and tested on mockups before the real work can be executed. Based on experience gained from maintenance in car production and test programs for a reprocessing facility, it was decided to train a special group of men to do remotely controlled work in hostile areas without endangering them and to use their personal experience as the basis for future work. This is the old-fashioned way of all professions. Some needs to be able to do that remotely controlled work with normally existing operational means and combinations of them like cranes, mechanical and electromechanical master slave manipulators (MMSMs and EMSMs), saws, files, hammer, tig-welding equipment, etc., in air as well as underwater. This paper discusses use of a remote operator manipulator (ROM), remote operator welder (ROW), a test of underwater work, and the repair of two activated jets pumps of a boiling water reactor BWR with a fueling machine, reactor crane, EMSM, and conventional tools

Development of nuclear power plant automated remote patrol system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakayama, R.; Kubo, K.; Sato, K.; Taguchi, J.

1984-01-01

An Automated Remote Patrol System was developed for a remote inspection, observation and monitoring of nuclear power plant's components. This automated remote patrol system consists of; a vehicle moving along a monorail; three rails mounted in a monorail for data transmission and for power supply; an image fiber connected to a TV camera; an arm type mechanism (manipulator) for moving image fiber; a computer for control and data processing and operator's console. Special features of this Automated Remote Patrol System are as follows: The inspection vehicle runs along horizontal and vertical (up/down) monorails. The arm type mechanism (manipulator) on the vehicle is used to move image fiber. Slide type electric collectors are used for data transmission and power supply. Time-division multiplexing is adapted for data transmission. Voice communication is used for controlling mechanisms. Pattern recognition is used for data processing. The experience that has been obtained from a series of various tests is summarized. (author)

Human-factors-based implementation of the remote characterization system high-level control station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noakes, M.W.; Richardson, B.S.; Rowe, J.C.; Draper, J.V.; Sandness, G.R.

1993-01-01

The detection and characterization of buried objects and materials is an important first step in the restoration of the numerous US Department of Energy (DOE) and US Department of Defense waste disposal sites. DOE, through its Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Robotics and Technology Development Program, has developed the Remote Characterization System (RCS) to address the needs of remote subsurfacecharacterization. The RCS consists of a low-metal-content (low-metallic-signature) remotely piloted vehicle, a high-level control station (HLCS) where operators can remotely control the vehicle and analyze real-time data from sensors, and an array of sensors that can be chosen to meet the survey task at hand. Communication between the vehicle and the base station is handled by a radio link. Site mapping is made possible through the use of geopositioning satellite data. The primary mode of vehicle operation is teleoperation, but provision has been made for semiautonomous or supervisory control that allows for automated sitesurvey on simple sites. Data analysis and display is supported for both real-time observation and postprocessing of data. The particular emphasis of this paper documents the human-factors-based design influences on the HLCS and describes the design in detail

PV Charging System for Remote Area Operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ilsemann, Frederick [Coherent Systems International, Doylestown, PA (United States); Thompson, Roger [Coherent Systems International, Doylestown, PA (United States)

2008-07-31

The objective of this project is to provide the public with a study of new as well existing technology to recharge batteries used in the field. A new product(s) will also be built based upon the information ascertained. American Electric Vehicles, Inc. (AEV) developed systems and methods suitable for charging state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries in remote locations under both ideal and cloudy weather conditions. Conceptual designs are described for existing and next generation technology, particularly as regards solar cells, peak power trackers and batteries. Prototype system tests are reported.

Analysis of Vehicle-Based Security Operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carter, Jason M [ORNL; Paul, Nate R [ORNL

2015-01-01

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications promises to increase roadway safety by providing each vehicle with 360 degree situational awareness of other vehicles in proximity, and by complementing onboard sensors such as radar or camera in detecting imminent crash scenarios. In the United States, approximately three hundred million automobiles could participate in a fully deployed V2V system if Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC) device use becomes mandatory. The system s reliance on continuous communication, however, provides a potential means for unscrupulous persons to transmit false data in an attempt to cause crashes, create traffic congestion, or simply render the system useless. V2V communications must be highly scalable while retaining robust security and privacy preserving features to meet the intra-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication requirements for a growing vehicle population. Oakridge National Research Laboratory is investigating a Vehicle-Based Security System (VBSS) to provide security and privacy for a fully deployed V2V and V2I system. In the VBSS an On-board Unit (OBU) generates short-term certificates and signs Basic Safety Messages (BSM) to preserve privacy and enhance security. This work outlines a potential VBSS structure and its operational concepts; it examines how a vehicle-based system might feasibly provide security and privacy, highlights remaining challenges, and explores potential mitigations to address those challenges. Certificate management alternatives that attempt to meet V2V security and privacy requirements have been examined previously by the research community including privacy-preserving group certificates, shared certificates, and functional encryption. Due to real-world operational constraints, adopting one of these approaches for VBSS V2V communication is difficult. Timely misbehavior detection and revocation are still open problems for any V2V system. We explore the alternative approaches that may be

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.

A remotely operated excavator [HAZ-TRAK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

HAZ-TRAK is a remotely operated excavator and material handling system for nuclear waste site characterization, waste site remediation, and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. HAZ-TRAK combines the power and mobility of a commercial excavator, with the dexterity and controllability of a force feedback manipulator system: when operating HAZ-TRAK as an excavator, the operator can feel buried objects. A master/slave control method enables the operator to intuitively control all the excavator arm functions with one hand. The main features of the excavator are described in this article. (author)

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems light-vehicle field operational test key findings report.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

"This document presents key findings from the light-vehicle field operational test conducted as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems program. These findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michigan Transportat...

Integration of remotely operated manipulator systems for the nuclear industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blight, J.; Cornec, G.

2003-01-01

There is no getting away from remotely operated manipulator systems in significant part in dismantling operations, because of the actual radioactive emitting level of installations. However, some main contractors, who have been involved in dismantling projects in the past few years are reluctant to use remotely operated systems because: - equipment characteristics are not suitable for the environment and the work to be performed; - There are some design problems; - Main components do not withstand operation any longer, after some time; - There are deficiencies in the management of quality, for critical equipment problems that degrade the productivity and increase direct and indirect labour cost. As a summary therefore, equipment available on this dismantling market are reputedly unreliable and not 'industrial' (sturdy) enough. However, numerous operations in maintenance in primary loops of nuclear reactors, or in the Offshore sector, are carried out remotely, to the satisfaction of the operators and the investors. In the dismantling sector, a thorough analysis of the difficulties encountered indicates that their origin is mostly due to a lack of methodology - that needs to be addressed -, rather than a technical problem. In that context, CYBERNETIX proposes to be involved in phases upstream and downstream of the equipment supply's. Upstream: Participate in developing/validating the scenarios to be used to optimise the constraints of remote operations/equipment. Downstream: Participate actively in supporting the client on-site, ensuring that equipment are available and maintained by competent and motivated people, and thus, getting experience in order to improve the State-of-the-Art of robotic in that field. Then, the contracting authority and CYBERNETIX jointly define the limits and the content of the involvement of each party, and also define the most appropriate type of 'partnership' between the main contactor and the participating companies, and in order to

Remote Inspection, Measurement and Handling for LHC

CERN Document Server

Kershaw, K; Coin, A; Delsaux, F; Feniet, T; Grenard, J L; Valbuena, R

2007-01-01

Personnel access to the LHC tunnel will be restricted to varying extents during the life of the machine due to radiation, cryogenic and pressure hazards. The ability to carry out visual inspection, measurement and handling activities remotely during periods when the LHC tunnel is potentially hazardous offers advantages in terms of safety, accelerator down time, and costs. The first applications identified were remote measurement of radiation levels at the start of shut-down, remote geometrical survey measurements in the collimation regions, and remote visual inspection during pressure testing and initial machine cool-down. In addition, for remote handling operations, it will be necessary to be able to transmit several real-time video images from the tunnel to the control room. The paper describes the design, development and use of a remotely controlled vehicle to demonstrate the feasibility of meeting the above requirements in the LHC tunnel. Design choices are explained along with operating experience to-dat...

Risk Perception and Communication in Commercial Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Hardy, Terry L.

2005-12-01

A number of inventors and entrepreneurs are currently attempting to develop and commercially operate reusable launch vehicles to carry voluntary participants into space. The operation of these launch vehicles, however, produces safety risks to the crew, to the space flight participants, and to the uninvolved public. Risk communication therefore becomes increasingly important to assure that those involved in the flight understand the risk and that those who are not directly involved understand the personal impact of RLV operations on their lives. Those involved in the launch vehicle flight may perceive risk differently from those non-participants, and these differences in perception must be understood to effectively communicate this risk. This paper summarizes existing research in risk perception and communication and applies that research to commercial reusable launch vehicle operations. Risk communication is discussed in the context of requirements of United States law for informed consent from any space flight participants on reusable suborbital launch vehicles.

NASA Mission Operations Directorate Preparations for the COTS Visiting Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Shull, Sarah A.; Peek, Kenneth E.

2011-01-01

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle looming, a series of new spacecraft is under development to assist in providing for the growing logistical needs of the International Space Station (ISS). Two of these vehicles are being built under a NASA initiative known as the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. These visiting vehicles ; Space X s Dragon and Orbital Science Corporation s Cygnus , are to be domestically produced in the United States and designed to add to the capabilities of the Russian Progress and Soyuz workhorses, the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and the Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV). Most of what is known about the COTS program has focused on the work of Orbital and SpaceX in designing, building, and testing their respective launch and cargo vehicles. However, there is also a team within the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) at NASA s Johnson Space Center working with their operational counterparts in these companies to provide operational safety oversight and mission assurance via the development of operational scenarios and products needed for these missions. Ensuring that the operational aspect is addressed for the initial demonstration flights of these vehicles is the topic of this paper. Integrating Dragon and Cygnus into the ISS operational environment has posed a unique challenge to NASA and their partner companies. This is due in part to the short time span of the COTS program, as measured from initial contract award until first launch, as well as other factors that will be explored in the text. Operational scenarios and products developed for each COTS vehicle will be discussed based on the following categories: timelines, on-orbit checkout, ground documentation, crew procedures, software updates and training materials. Also addressed is an outline of the commonalities associated with the operations for each vehicle. It is the intent of the authors to provide their audience with a better

A Study on Remote On-Line Diagnostic System for Vehicles by Integrating the Technology of OBD, GPS, and 3G

OpenAIRE

Jyong Lin; Shih-Chang Chen; Yu-Tsen Shih; Shi-Huang Chen

2009-01-01

This paper presents a remote on-line diagnostic system for vehicles via the use of On-Board Diagnostic (OBD), GPS, and 3G techniques. The main parts of the proposed system are on-board computer, vehicle monitor server, and vehicle status browser. First, the on-board computer can obtain the location of deriver and vehicle status from GPS receiver and OBD interface, respectively. Then on-board computer will connect with the vehicle monitor server through 3G network to trans...

Integrating small satellite communication in an autonomous vehicle network: A case for oceanography

Science.gov (United States)

Guerra, André G. C.; Ferreira, António Sérgio; Costa, Maria; Nodar-López, Diego; Aguado Agelet, Fernando

2018-04-01

Small satellites and autonomous vehicles have greatly evolved in the last few decades. Hundreds of small satellites have been launched with increasing functionalities, in the last few years. Likewise, numerous autonomous vehicles have been built, with decreasing costs and form-factor payloads. Here we focus on combining these two multifaceted assets in an incremental way, with an ultimate goal of alleviating the logistical expenses in remote oceanographic operations. The first goal is to create a highly reliable and constantly available communication link for a network of autonomous vehicles, taking advantage of the small satellite lower cost, with respect to conventional spacecraft, and its higher flexibility. We have developed a test platform as a proving ground for this network, by integrating a satellite software defined radio on an unmanned air vehicle, creating a system of systems, and several tests have been run successfully, over land. As soon as the satellite is fully operational, we will start to move towards a cooperative network of autonomous vehicles and small satellites, with application in maritime operations, both in-situ and remote sensing.

Autonomous underwater vehicle for research and rescue operations

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Holtzhausen S

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Autonomous under water vehicles are ideal platforms for search and rescue operations. They can also be used for inspection of underwater terrains. These vehicles need to be autonomous and robust to cope with unpredictable current and high pressures...

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems light-vehicle field operational test, methodology and results report.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-01

"This document presents the methodology and results from the light-vehicle field operational test conducted as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems program. These findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michi...

Remote operation: a selective review of research into visual depth perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Reinhardt-Rutland, A H

1996-07-01

Some perceptual motor operations are performed remotely; examples include the handling of life-threatening materials and surgical procedures. A camera conveys the site of operation to a TV monitor, so depth perception relies mainly on pictorial information, perhaps with enhancement of the occlusion cue by motion. However, motion information such as motion parallax is not likely to be important. The effectiveness of pictorial information is diminished by monocular and binocular information conveying flatness of the screen and by difficulties in scaling: Only a degree of relative depth can be conveyed. Furthermore, pictorial information can mislead. Depth perception is probably adequate in remote operation, if target objects are well separated, with well-defined edges and familiar shapes. Stereoscopic viewing systems are being developed to introduce binocular information to remote operation. However, stereoscopic viewing is problematic because binocular disparity conflicts with convergence and monocular information. An alternative strategy to improve precision in remote operation may be to rely on individuals who lack binocular function: There is redundancy in depth information, and such individuals seem to compensate for the lack of binocular function.

Emergency vehicle traffic signal preemption system

Science.gov (United States)

Bachelder, Aaron D. (Inventor); Foster, Conrad F. (Inventor)

2011-01-01

An emergency vehicle traffic light preemption system for preemption of traffic lights at an intersection to allow safe passage of emergency vehicles. The system includes a real-time status monitor of an intersection which is relayed to a control module for transmission to emergency vehicles as well as to a central dispatch office. The system also provides for audio warnings at an intersection to protect pedestrians who may not be in a position to see visual warnings or for various reasons cannot hear the approach of emergency vehicles. A transponder mounted on an emergency vehicle provides autonomous control so the vehicle operator can attend to getting to an emergency and not be concerned with the operation of the system. Activation of a priority-code (i.e. Code-3) situation provides communications with each intersection being approached by an emergency vehicle and indicates whether the intersection is preempted or if there is any conflict with other approaching emergency vehicles. On-board diagnostics handle various information including heading, speed, and acceleration sent to a control module which is transmitted to an intersection and which also simultaneously receives information regarding the status of an intersection. Real-time communications and operations software allow central and remote monitoring, logging, and command of intersections and vehicles.

Infrastructure-Based Sensors Augmenting Efficient Autonomous Vehicle Operations: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jun, Myungsoo [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Markel, Anthony J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-11-15

Autonomous vehicle technology development relies on an on-board network of fused sensor inputs for safe and efficient operation. The fused sensors offer multiple perspectives of similar information aiding in system decision robustness. The high cost of full systems on individual vehicles is seen as a potential barrier to broad adoption and achieving system energy efficiency gains. Since traffic in autonomous vehicle technology development relies on an on-board network of fused sensor inputs for safe and efficient operation. The fused sensors offer multiple perspectives of similar information aiding in system decision robustness. The high cost of full systems on individual vehicles is seen as a potential barrier to broad adoption and achieving system energy efficiency gains.

Setting up and managing a remote maintenance operation for fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haist, Bernhard

2008-01-01

Trying to set up and manage a remote maintenance operation for a thermonuclear fusion reactor is a complex undertaking. There are many problems and challenges which need addressing. This paper tries to guide the reader through this process by composing a list of generic problems and by analysing possible solutions. The first challenge before setting up a remote maintenance operation for a fusion reactor is the systematic analysis of all the remote handling requirements. Based upon this the remote handling concept, including facility layout and equipment, can be defined. The following aspects have to be considered and incorporated into the remote handling concept: - Remote handling task development. - Remote handling task logistics and resource management. - Command, control and human-machine interface system. - Viewing and camera systems. - Virtual reality and Augmented Reality software. - Automatic path planning and collision avoidance. - Remote transfer of heavy loads. - Maintainability of RH equipment. - Reliability, redundant systems and safety. - Rationalisation and modularity in both hardware and software. - Recovery from failure modes. - Condition monitoring and fault detection/prediction. - Ability to deal with unforeseen problems. Oxford Technologies Ltd. has a proven track record in setting up and running the Remote Handling group at the JET Joint Undertaking in Culham, UK. Based on the unique experience gained at JET, Oxford Technologies Ltd. also developed the current design and remote handling concept of the ITER Hot Cell during a study in 2004. Examples of both the JET remote handling experience and the ITER Hot Cell design and layout are given throughout this paper

Setting up and managing a remote maintenance operation for fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haist, B.

2007-01-01

Trying to set up and manage a remote maintenance operation for a thermonuclear fusion reactor is a complex undertaking. There are many problems and challenges which need addressing. This paper tries to guide the reader through this process by composing a list of generic problems and by analysing possible solutions. The first challenge before setting up a remote maintenance operation for a fusion reactor is the systematic analysis of all the remote handling requirements. Based upon this the remote handling concept, including facility layout and equipment, can be defined. The following aspects have to be considered and incorporated into the remote handling concept: - Remote handling task development - Remote handling task logistics and resource management - Command, control and human-machine interface system - Viewing and camera systems - Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality software - Automatic path planning and collision avoidance - Remote transfer of heavy loads - Maintainability of RH Equipment - Reliability, redundant systems and safety - Rationalisation and modularity in both hardware and software - Recovery from failure modes - Condition monitoring and fault detection/prediction - Ability to deal with unforeseen problems Oxford Technologies Ltd has a proven track record in setting up and running the Remote Handling group at the JET Joint Undertaking in Culham, UK. Based on the unique experience gained at JET, Oxford Technologies Ltd also developed the current design and remote handling concept of the ITER Hot Cell during a study in 2004. Examples of both the JET Remote Handling experience and the ITER Hot Cell design and layout are given throughout this paper. (orig.)

Setting up and managing a remote maintenance operation for fusion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haist, Bernhard [Oxford Technologies Ltd., 7 Nuffield Way, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 1RJ (United Kingdom)], E-mail: Bernhard.Haist@oxfordtechnologies.co.uk

2008-12-15

Trying to set up and manage a remote maintenance operation for a thermonuclear fusion reactor is a complex undertaking. There are many problems and challenges which need addressing. This paper tries to guide the reader through this process by composing a list of generic problems and by analysing possible solutions. The first challenge before setting up a remote maintenance operation for a fusion reactor is the systematic analysis of all the remote handling requirements. Based upon this the remote handling concept, including facility layout and equipment, can be defined. The following aspects have to be considered and incorporated into the remote handling concept: - Remote handling task development. - Remote handling task logistics and resource management. - Command, control and human-machine interface system. - Viewing and camera systems. - Virtual reality and Augmented Reality software. - Automatic path planning and collision avoidance. - Remote transfer of heavy loads. - Maintainability of RH equipment. - Reliability, redundant systems and safety. - Rationalisation and modularity in both hardware and software. - Recovery from failure modes. - Condition monitoring and fault detection/prediction. - Ability to deal with unforeseen problems. Oxford Technologies Ltd. has a proven track record in setting up and running the Remote Handling group at the JET Joint Undertaking in Culham, UK. Based on the unique experience gained at JET, Oxford Technologies Ltd. also developed the current design and remote handling concept of the ITER Hot Cell during a study in 2004. Examples of both the JET remote handling experience and the ITER Hot Cell design and layout are given throughout this paper.

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

Remote-controlled vision-guided mobile robot system

Science.gov (United States)

Ande, Raymond; Samu, Tayib; Hall, Ernest L.

1997-09-01

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have many potential applications in manufacturing, medicine, space and defense. The purpose of this paper is to describe exploratory research on the design of the remote controlled emergency stop and vision systems for an autonomous mobile robot. The remote control provides human supervision and emergency stop capabilities for the autonomous vehicle. The vision guidance provides automatic operation. A mobile robot test-bed has been constructed using a golf cart base. The mobile robot (Bearcat) was built for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (AUVS) 1997 competition. The mobile robot has full speed control with guidance provided by a vision system and an obstacle avoidance system using ultrasonic sensors systems. Vision guidance is accomplished using two CCD cameras with zoom lenses. The vision data is processed by a high speed tracking device, communicating with the computer the X, Y coordinates of blobs along the lane markers. The system also has three emergency stop switches and a remote controlled emergency stop switch that can disable the traction motor and set the brake. Testing of these systems has been done in the lab as well as on an outside test track with positive results that show that at five mph the vehicle can follow a line and at the same time avoid obstacles.

41 CFR 109-38.301-1.53 - Responsibilities of motor vehicle operators.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... motor vehicle operators. 109-38.301-1.53 Section 109-38.301-1.53 Public Contracts and Property... MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS AVIATION, TRANSPORTATION, AND MOTOR VEHICLES 38-MOTOR EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT 38.3-Official Use of Government Motor Vehicles § 109-38.301-1.53 Responsibilities of motor vehicle operators...

The remote characterization of vegetation using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle photography

Science.gov (United States)

Rango, A.; Laliberte, A.; Winters, C.; Maxwell, C.; Steele, C.

2008-12-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can fly in place of piloted aircraft to gather remote sensing information on vegetation characteristics. The type of sensors flown depends on the instrument payload capacity available, so that, depending on the specific UAV, it is possible to obtain video, aerial photographic, multispectral and hyperspectral radiometric, LIDAR, and radar data. The characteristics of several small UAVs less than 55lbs (25kg)) along with some payload instruments will be reviewed. Common types of remote sensing coverage available from a small, limited-payload UAV are video and hyperspatial, digital photography. From evaluation of these simple types of remote sensing data, we conclude that UAVs can play an important role in measuring and monitoring vegetation health and structure of the vegetation/soil complex in rangelands. If we fly our MLB Bat-3 at an altitude of 700ft (213m), we can obtain a digital photographic resolution of 6cm. The digital images acquired cover an area of approximately 29,350sq m. Video imaging is usually only useful for monitoring the flight path of the UAV in real time. In our experiments with the 6cm resolution data, we have been able to measure vegetation patch size, crown width, gap sizes between vegetation, percent vegetation and bare soil cover, and type of vegetation. The UAV system is also being tested to acquire height of the vegetation canopy using shadow measurements and a digital elevation model obtained with stereo images. Evaluation of combining the UAV digital photography with LIDAR data of the Jornada Experimental Range in south central New Mexico is ongoing. The use of UAVs is increasing and is becoming a very promising tool for vegetation assessment and change, but there are several operational components to flying UAVs that users need to consider. These include cost, a whole set of, as yet, undefined regulations regarding flying in the National Air Space(NAS), procedures to gain approval for flying in the NAS

Remotely-operated equipment for inspection, measurement and handling

CERN Document Server

Bertone, C; CERN. Geneva. TS Department

2008-01-01

As part of the application of ALARA radiation dose reduction principles at CERN, inspection, measurement and handling interventions in controlled areas are being studied in detail. A number of activities which could be carried out as remote operations have already been identified and equipment is being developed. Example applications include visual inspection to check for ice formation on LHC components or water leaks, measurement of radiation levels before allowing personnel access, measurement of collimator or magnet alignment, visual inspection or measurements before fire service access in the event of fire, gas leak or oxygen deficiency. For these applications, a modular monorail train, TIM, has been developed with inspection and measurement wagons. In addition TIM provides traction, power and data communication for lifting and handling units such as the remote collimator exchange module and vision for other remotely operated units such as the TAN detector exchange mini-cranes. This paper describes the eq...

Dynamics of subway networks based on vehicles operation timetable

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Xue-mei; Jia, Li-min; Wang, Yan-hui

2017-05-01

In this paper, a subway network is represented as a dynamic, directed and weighted graph, in which vertices represent subway stations and weights of edges represent the number of vehicles passing through the edges by considering vehicles operation timetable. Meanwhile the definitions of static and dynamic metrics which can represent vertices' and edges' local and global attributes are proposed. Based on the model and metrics, standard deviation is further introduced to study the dynamic properties (heterogeneity and vulnerability) of subway networks. Through a detailed analysis of the Beijing subway network, we conclude that with the existing network structure, the heterogeneity and vulnerability of the Beijing subway network varies over time when the vehicle operation timetable is taken into consideration, and the distribution of edge weights affects the performance of the network. In other words, although the vehicles operation timetable is restrained by the physical structure of the network, it determines the performances and properties of the Beijing subway network.

Cartalk 2000: development of a co-operative ADAS based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morsink, P.L.J.; Hallouzi, R.; Dagli, I.; Cseh, C.; Schäfers, L.; Nelisse, M.W.; Bruin, D. de

2003-01-01

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) benefit from using vehicle-to-vehicle communication. In the 5th framework EC project CarTALK2000 co-operative ADAS are designed, tested and evaluated with respect to increasing traffic safety, efficiency and driving comfort. Communication based longitudinal

High-quality remote interactive imaging in the operating theatre

Science.gov (United States)

Grimstead, Ian J.; Avis, Nick J.; Evans, Peter L.; Bocca, Alan

2009-02-01

We present a high-quality display system that enables the remote access within an operating theatre of high-end medical imaging and surgical planning software. Currently, surgeons often use printouts from such software for reference during surgery; our system enables surgeons to access and review patient data in a sterile environment, viewing real-time renderings of MRI & CT data as required. Once calibrated, our system displays shades of grey in Operating Room lighting conditions (removing any gamma correction artefacts). Our system does not require any expensive display hardware, is unobtrusive to the remote workstation and works with any application without requiring additional software licenses. To extend the native 256 levels of grey supported by a standard LCD monitor, we have used the concept of "PseudoGrey" where slightly off-white shades of grey are used to extend the intensity range from 256 to 1,785 shades of grey. Remote access is facilitated by a customized version of UltraVNC, which corrects remote shades of grey for display in the Operating Room. The system is successfully deployed at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, UK, and is in daily use during Maxillofacial surgery. More formal user trials and quantitative assessments are being planned for the future.

Remote tool development for nuclear dismantling operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craig, G.; Ferlay, J.C.; Ieracitano, F.

2003-01-01

Remote tool systems to undertake nuclear dismantling operations require careful design and development not only to perform their given duty but to perform it safely within the constraints imposed by harsh environmental conditions. Framatome ANP NUCLEAR SERVICES has for a long time developed and qualified equipment to undertake specific maintenance operations of nuclear reactors. The tool development methodology from this activity has since been adapted to resolve some very challenging reactor dismantling operations which are demonstrated in this paper. Each nuclear decommissioning project is a unique case, technical characterisation data is generally incomplete. The development of the dismantling methodology and associated equipment is by and large an iterative process combining design and simulation with feasibility and validation testing. The first stage of the development process involves feasibility testing of industrial tools and examining adaptations necessary to control and deploy the tool remotely with respect to the chosen methodology and environmental constraints. This results in a prototype tool and deployment system to validate the basic process. The second stage involves detailed design which integrates any remaining technical and environmental constraints. At the end of this stage, tools and deployment systems, operators and operating procedures are qualified on full scale mock ups. (authors)

Urban Transport Services in Sub-Saharan Africa : Improving Vehicle Operations

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2003-01-01

The report presents findings, and the way forward in respect of the Knowledge and Research (KAR) Project on vehicle operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, basically undertaken in Uganda and Ghana. In the first phase, the study identified problems faced by transport operators in both countries, and analyzed their impact on vehicle operating costs, as well as examining transport regulations, and ...

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems (IVBSS) : light vehicle platform field operational test data analysis plan.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-22

This document presents the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institutes plan to : perform analysis of data collected from the light vehicle platform field operational test of the : Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) progr...

Single-channel ground airborne radio system (SINCGARS) based remote control for the M1 Abrahms

Science.gov (United States)

Urda, Joseph R.

1995-04-01

Remote control of the Ml Abrahms Main Battle Tank through a minefield breach operation will remove the vehicle crew from the inherent hazard. A successful remote control system will provide automotive control yet not impair normal operation. This requires a minimum of physical parts, and an unobtrusive installation. Most importantly, a system failure must not impair the regular operation as a manned system. The system itself need not be complex. A minefield breach only requires simple control of automotive function and a mine plow interface. Control hardware for the Ml-Al can be reduced to two linear actuators, an electrical interface for the engine control unit, an interface for the mine plow, and the associated cables. Communication between vehicle control and operator control takes place over the vehicles organic radio (typically SINCGARS). This helps reduce the number of special purpose components for the remote control device. The device is currently awaiting an automotive safety test to prepare for its safety release. Because of the specific nature of the MDL-STD 1553-B data bus the device will not control an M1-A2 Main Battle Tank. The architecture will allow control of the M1-A2 through the 1553-B data bus however the physical hardware has not been constructed. The control scheme will not change. The communication interface will provide greater flexibility when interfacing to the vehicle tactical radio. Operational utility will be determined by U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command personnel. The obvious benefit is that if a remote tank is lost during a minefield breach the crew is saved.

Remote operations and viewing using the monitor system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grisham, D.L.; Lambert, J.E.; Baldwin, T.S.; Ekberg, E.L.; Hernandez, T.R.; Raybun, J.L.

1984-01-01

Over the past two years, major rebuilding operations were conducted at the Clinton P. Anderson Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF). These operations involved replacement of complex experimental apparatus in high-radiation areas using servomanipulators and video viewing. All remote tasks were completed on or ahead of allotted schedules. This success is attributed to continuing improvement of manipulators, viewing systems, and operating techniques

The moving vehicle checks, and having checked, moves on: an overview of the use of mobile inspection vehicles within the CEGB

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Friend, D.B.; Ellis, M.; James, D.W.

1988-01-01

In many circumstances, remotely controlled vehicles, tele-operators as distinct from robots, can offer definite advantages in cost, inspection time and in the amount of preparatory work necessary to undertake such inspections. To illustrate this, various vehicles which have been developed and used with the Central Electricity Generating Board, are described and the design philosophy and detailed operation of one sophisticated pipe inspection vehicle is discussed. This serves as an example of what can be achieved with current technology and what is required to produce a 'site-compatible' package. Finally some developments which are currently in hand are described and future requirements considered. (author)

Remote operations in a Fusion Engineering Research Facility (FERF)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doggett, J.N.

1975-01-01

The proposed Fusion Engineering Research Facility (FERF) has been designed for the test and evaluation of materials that will be exposed to the hostile radiation environment created by fusion reactors. Because the FERF itself must create a very hostile radiation environment, extensive remote handling procedures will be required as part of its routine operations as well as for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. This report analyzes the remote-handling implications of a vertical- rather than horizontal-orientation of the FERF magnet, describes the specific remote-handling facilities of the proposed FERF installation and compares the FERF remote-handling system with several other existing and proposed facilities. (U.S.)

SIMULATORS FOR TRAINING OF ROV OPERATOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. I. Shakhtarin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the article issues of the organization of imitating modeling complexes for training operators of Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle are considered. It is reported about practical development of sea exercise simulation in Bauman MSTU.

Emergency end of life operations for CNES remote sensing satellites—Management and operational process

Science.gov (United States)

Bertrand, Régis; Alby, Fernand; Costes, Thierry; Dejoie, Joël; Delmas, Dominique-Roland; Delobette, Damien; Gibek, Isabelle; Gleyzes, Alain; Masson, Françoise; Meyer, Jean-Renaud; Moreau, Agathe; Perret, Lionel; Riclet, François; Ruiz, Hélène; Schiavon, Françoise; Spizzi, Pierre; Viallefont, Pierre; Villaret, Colette

2012-10-01

The French Space Agency (CNES) is currently operating thirteen satellites among which five remote sensing satellites. This fleet is composed of two civilian (SPOT) and three military (HELIOS) satellites and it has been recently completed by the first PLEIADES satellite which is devoted to both civil and military purposes. The CNES operation board decided to appoint a Working Group (WG) in order to anticipate and tackle issues related to the emergency End Of Life (EOL) operations due to unexpected on-board events affecting the satellite. This is of particular interest in the context of the French Law on Space Operations (LSO), entered in force on Dec. 2010, which states that any satellite operator must demonstrate its capability to control the space vehicle whatever the mission phase from the launch up to the EOL. Indeed, after several years in orbit the satellites may be affected by on-board anomalies which could damage the implementation of EOL operations, i.e. orbital manoeuvres or platform disposal. Even if automatic recovery actions ensure autonomous reconfigurations on redundant equipment, i.e. setting for instance the satellite into a safe mode, it is crucial to anticipate the consequences of failures of every equipment and functions necessary for the EOL operations. For this purpose, the WG has focused on each potential anomaly by analysing: its emergency level, as well as the EOL operations potentially inhibited by the failure and the needs of on-board software workarounds… The main contribution of the WG consisted in identifying a particular satellite configuration called "minimal Withdrawal From Service (WFS) configuration". This configuration corresponds to an operational status which involves a redundancy necessary for the EOL operations. Therefore as soon as a satellite reaches this state, a dedicated steering committee is activated and decides of the future of the satellite with respect to three options: a/. the satellite is considered safe and can

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.

A web-based remote radiation treatment planning system using the remote desktop function of a computer operating system: a preliminary report.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Keishiro; Hirasawa, Yukinori; Yaegashi, Yuji; Miyamoto, Hideki; Shirato, Hiroki

2009-01-01

We developed a web-based, remote radiation treatment planning system which allowed staff at an affiliated hospital to obtain support from a fully staffed central institution. Network security was based on a firewall and a virtual private network (VPN). Client computers were installed at a cancer centre, at a university hospital and at a staff home. We remotely operated the treatment planning computer using the Remote Desktop function built in to the Windows operating system. Except for the initial setup of the VPN router, no special knowledge was needed to operate the remote radiation treatment planning system. There was a time lag that seemed to depend on the volume of data traffic on the Internet, but it did not affect smooth operation. The initial cost and running cost of the system were reasonable.

Development of control system in abdominal operating ROV

OpenAIRE

ZHANG Weikang; WANG Guanxue; XU Guohua; LIU Chang; SHEN Xiong

2017-01-01

In order to satisfy all the requirements of Unmanned Underwater Vehicle(UUV)recovery tasks, a new type of abdominal operating Remote Operated Vehicle(ROV) was developed. The abdominal operating ROV is different from the general ROV which works by a manipulator, as it completes the docking and recovery tasks of UUVs with its abdominal operating mechanism. In this paper, the system composition and principles of the abdominal operating ROV are presented. We then propose a framework for a control...

47 CFR 78.51 - Remote control operation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Remote control operation. 78.51 Section 78.51 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST RADIO SERVICES CABLE TELEVISION RELAY... shall also be equipped with suitable devices for observing the overall characteristics of the...

A remote characterization system for subsurface mapping of buried waste sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandness, G.A.; Bennett, D.W.

1992-10-01

Mapping of buried objects and regions of chemical and radiological contamination is required at US Department of Energy (DOE) buried waste sites. The DOE Office of Technology Development Robotics Integrated Program has initiated a project to develop and demonstrate a remotely controlled subsurface sensing system, called the Remote Characterization System (RCS). This project, a collaborative effort by five of the National Laboratories, involves the development of a unique low-signature survey vehicle, a base station, radio telemetry data links, satellite-based vehicle tracking, stereo vision, and sensors for non-invasive inspection of the surface and subsurface. To minimize interference with on-board sensors, the survey vehicle has been constructed predominatantly of non-metallic materials. The vehicle is self-propelled and will be guided by an operator located at a remote base station. The RCS sensors will be environmentally sealed and internally cooled to preclude contamination during use. Ground-penetrating radar, magnetometers, and conductivity devices are planned for geophysical surveys. Chemical and radiological sensors will be provided to locate hot spots and to provide isotopic concentration data

Progress report on the development of remotely operated tools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, A.T.

1984-08-01

This report contains a number of individual trials reports based upon work conducted in aid of a programme of feasibility studies into the size reduction of radioactive contaminated solid waste. The work was directed towards the identification of acceptable remotely operated tools and the means of deploying them for dismantling operations in a radioactive environment. Reliability, ease of maintenance, change of tool bits and common power sources have been major considerations in the trials assessments. Alternative end effector drive systems have also been considered when defining suitable manipulative capabilities and attention has also been directed towards a remotely controlled tool changing capability. (author)

Data Acquisition (DAQ) system dedicated for remote sensing applications on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

Science.gov (United States)

Keleshis, C.; Ioannou, S.; Vrekoussis, M.; Levin, Z.; Lange, M. A.

2014-08-01

Continuous advances in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and the increased complexity of their applications raise the demand for improved data acquisition systems (DAQ). These improvements may comprise low power consumption, low volume and weight, robustness, modularity and capability to interface with various sensors and peripherals while maintaining the high sampling rates and processing speeds. Such a system has been designed and developed and is currently integrated on the Autonomous Flying Platforms for Atmospheric and Earth Surface Observations (APAESO/NEA-YΠOΔOMH/NEKΠ/0308/09) however, it can be easily adapted to any UAV or any other mobile vehicle. The system consists of a single-board computer with a dual-core processor, rugged surface-mount memory and storage device, analog and digital input-output ports and many other peripherals that enhance its connectivity with various sensors, imagers and on-board devices. The system is powered by a high efficiency power supply board. Additional boards such as frame-grabbers, differential global positioning system (DGPS) satellite receivers, general packet radio service (3G-4G-GPRS) modems for communication redundancy have been interfaced to the core system and are used whenever there is a mission need. The onboard DAQ system can be preprogrammed for automatic data acquisition or it can be remotely operated during the flight from the ground control station (GCS) using a graphical user interface (GUI) which has been developed and will also be presented in this paper. The unique design of the GUI and the DAQ system enables the synchronized acquisition of a variety of scientific and UAV flight data in a single core location. The new DAQ system and the GUI have been successfully utilized in several scientific UAV missions. In conclusion, the novel DAQ system provides the UAV and the remote-sensing community with a new tool capable of reliably acquiring, processing, storing and transmitting data from any sensor integrated

Emission measurement of diesel vehicles in Hong Kong through on-road remote sensing: Performance review and identification of high-emitters.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yuhan; Organ, Bruce; Zhou, John L; Surawski, Nic C; Hong, Guang; Chan, Edward F C; Yam, Yat Shing

2018-06-01

A two-year remote sensing measurement program was carried out in Hong Kong to obtain a large dataset of on-road diesel vehicle emissions. Analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of vehicle manufacture year (1949-2015) and engine size (0.4-20 L) on the emission rates and high-emitters. The results showed that CO emission rates of larger engine size vehicles were higher than those of small vehicles during the study period, while HC and NO were higher before manufacture year 2006 and then became similar levels between manufacture years 2006 and 2015. CO, HC and NO of all vehicles showed an unexpectedly increasing trend during 1998-2004, in particular ≥6001 cc vehicles. However, they all decreased steadily in the last decade (2005-2015), except for NO of ≥6001 cc vehicles during 2013-2015. The distributions of CO and HC emission rates were highly skewed as the dirtiest 10% vehicles emitted much higher emissions than all the other vehicles. Moreover, this skewness became more significant for larger engine size or newer vehicles. The results indicated that remote sensing technology would be very effective to screen the CO and HC high-emitters and thus control the on-road vehicle emissions, but less effective for controlling NO emissions. No clear correlation was observed between the manufacture year and percentage of high-emitters for ≤3000 cc vehicles. However, the percentage of high-emitters decreased with newer manufacture year for larger vehicles. In addition, high-emitters of different pollutants were relatively independent, in particular NO emissions, indicating that high-emitter screening criteria should be defined on a CO-or-HC-or-NO basis, rather than a CO-and-HC-and-NO basis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Remote-operated System to Map Radiation Dose in the Fukushima Daiichi Primary Containment Vessel

Science.gov (United States)

Nancekievill, M.; Jones, A. R.; Joyce, M. J.; Lennox, B.; Watson, S.; Katakura, J.; Okumura, K.; Kamada, S.; Katoh, M.; Nishimura, K.

2018-01-01

This paper describes the development of a submersible system based on a remote-operated vehicle coupled with radiation detectors to map the interior of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. It has the aim oflocating fuel debris. The AVEXIS submersible vehicle used in this study has been designed as a low-cost, potentially disposable, inspection platform that is the smallest of its class and is capable of being deployed through a 150 mm diameter access pipe. To map the gamma-ray environment, a cerium bromide scintillator detector with a small form factor has been incorporated into the AVEXIS to identify radioactive isotopes via gamma-ray spectroscopy. This provides the combined system with the potential to map gamma-ray spectra and particle locations throughout submerged, contaminated facilities, such as Units 1, 2 and 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The hypothesis of this research is to determine the sensitivity of the combined system in a submerged environment that replicates the combination of gamma radiation and water submersion but at lower dose rates.

Remote handling in nuclear fusion research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Removille, J.

1989-01-01

When the Joint European Torus (JET) commences operation in 1992, the neutron flux will increase by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude activating the components of the machine to such an extent as to prohibit the access of personnel into the machine hall to carry out maintenance tasks. This paper lists operations which will have to be carried out remotely either because they are essential to the routine running of the machine or in emergencies. Remotely operated equipment which has been developed to perform these tasks is described. It is based on a system of conveyors which carry manipulators and tools to their point of operation. The principal conveyors are: a telescopic articulated mast carried on a bridge over the machine enabling tasks around and above the torus to be performed; conveyors running on rails which can reach otherwise inaccessible regions beneath the machine; an articulated arm which can position a manipulator within the torus; and a radio controlled support vehicle running on caterpillar tracks carrying a camera and tools for connecting cables to other conveyors. The main features of the control room from which the conveyors, manipulators, tools and cameras are remotely operated is also described. (UK)

Field Operations Program Neighborhood Electric Vehicles - Fleet Survey

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francfort, James Edward; Carroll, M.

2001-07-01

This report summarizes a study of 15 automotive fleets that operate neighborhood electric vehicles(NEVs) in the United States. The information was obtained to help Field Operations Program personnel understand how NEVs are being used, how many miles they are being driven, and if they are being used to replace other types of fleet vehicles or as additions to fleets. (The Field Operations Program is a U.S. Department of Energy Program within the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Transportation Technologies). The NEVs contribution to petroleum avoidance and cleaner air can be estimated based on the miles driven and by assuming gasoline use and air emissions values for the vehicles being replaced. Gasoline and emissions data for a Honda Civic are used as the Civic has the best fuel use for a gasoline-powered vehicle and very clean emissions. Based on these conservation assumptions, the 348 NEVs are being driven a total of about 1.2 million miles per year. This equates to an average of 3,409 miles per NEV annually or 9 miles per day. It is estimated that 29,195 gallons of petroleum use is avoided annually by the 348 NEVs. This equates to 87 gallons of petroleum use avoided per NEV, per year. Using the 348 NEVs avoids the generation of at least 775 pounds of smog- forming emissions annually.

Field Operations Program - Neighborhood Electric Vehicle Fleet Use

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francfort, J. E.; Carroll, M. R.

2001-07-02

This report summarizes a study of 15 automotive fleets that operate neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) in the United States. The information was obtained to help Field Operations Program personnel understand how NEVs are being used, how many miles they are being driven, and if they are being used to replace other types of fleet vehicles or as additions to fleets. (The Field Operations Program is a U.S. Department of Energy Program within the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Transportation Technologies). The NEVs contribution to petroleum avoidance and cleaner air can be estimated based on the miles driven and by assuming gasoline use and air emissions values for the vehicles being replaced. Gasoline and emissions data for a Honda Civic are used as the Civic has the best fuel use for a gasoline-powered vehicle and very clean emissions. Based on these conservation assumptions, the 348 NEVs are being driven a total of about 1.2 million miles per year. This equates to an average of 3,409 miles per NEV annually or 9 miles per day. It is estimated that 29,195 gallons of petroleum use is avoided annually by the 348 NEVs. This equates to 87 gallons of petroleum use avoided per NEV, per year. Using the 348 NEVs avoids the generation of at least 775 pounds of smog-forming emissions annually.

METHOD OF CHOOSING THE TECHNOLOGY OF VEHICLE OPERATION ON DELIVERY ROUTES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ye. Nagornyi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available A method for determining the technology of vehicles operation on delivery (team routes, which allows to determine the optimal sequence of cargo delivery to customers by vehicles of certain capacity in order to meet the requirements of cargo owners regarding the conditions of service is offered. Recommendations for creation of an automated system of forming the technology of vehicles operation on delivery routes are developed.

Remote methods for decontamination and decommissioning operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeVore, J.R.

1986-01-01

Three methods for the decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear facilities are described along with operational experience associated with each method. Each method described in some way reduces radiation exposure to the operating personnel involved. Electrochemical decontamination of process tanks is described using an in-situ method. Descriptions of two processes, electropolishing and cerium redox decontamination, are listed. A method of essentially smokeless cutting of process piping using a plasma-arc cutting torch is described. In one technique, piping is cut remotely from a distance using a specially modified torch holder. In another technique, cutting is done with master-slave manipulators inside a hot cell. Finally, a method for remote cutting and scarification of contaminated concrete is described. This system, which utilizes high-pressure water jets, is coupled to a cutting head or rotating scarification head. The system is suited for cutting contaminated concrete for removal or removing a thin layer in a controlled manner for decontamination. 4 refs., 6 figs

Remote methods for decontamination and decommissioning operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeVore, J.R.

1986-01-01

Three methods for the decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear facilities are described along with operational experience associated with each method. Each method described in some way reduces radiation exposure to the operating personnel involved. Electrochemical decontamination of process tanks is described using an in-situ method. Descriptions of two processes, electropolishing and cerium redox decontamination, are listed. A method of essentially smokeless cutting of process piping using a plasma-arc cutting torch is described. In one technique, piping is cut remotely from a distance using a specially modified torch holder. In another technique, cutting is done with master-slave manipulators inside a hot cell. Finally, a method for remote cutting and scarification of contaminated concrete is described. This system, which utilizes high-pressure water jets, is coupled to a cutting head or rotating scarification head. The system is suited for cutting contaminated concrete for removal or removing a thin layer in a controlled manner for decontamination

Operational programs in forest management and priority in the utilization of remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Douglass, R. W.

1978-01-01

A speech is given on operational remote sensing programs in forest management and the importance of remote sensing in forestry is emphasized. Forest service priorities in using remote sensing are outlined.

NASA Fluid Lensing & MiDAR: Next-Generation Remote Sensing Technologies for Aquatic Remote Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Chirayath, Ved

2018-01-01

We present two recent instrument technology developments at NASA, Fluid Lensing and MiDAR, and their application to remote sensing of Earth's aquatic systems. Fluid Lensing is the first remote sensing technology capable of imaging through ocean waves in 3D at sub-cm resolutions. MiDAR is a next-generation active hyperspectral remote sensing and optical communications instrument capable of active fluid lensing. Fluid Lensing has been used to provide 3D multispectral imagery of shallow marine systems from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), including coral reefs in American Samoa and stromatolite reefs in Hamelin Pool, Western Australia. MiDAR is being deployed on aircraft and underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to enable a new method for remote sensing of living and nonliving structures in extreme environments. MiDAR images targets with high-intensity narrowband structured optical radiation to measure an objectâ€"TM"s non-linear spectral reflectance, image through fluid interfaces such as ocean waves with active fluid lensing, and simultaneously transmit high-bandwidth data. As an active instrument, MiDAR is capable of remotely sensing reflectance at the centimeter (cm) spatial scale with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) multiple orders of magnitude higher than passive airborne and spaceborne remote sensing systems with significantly reduced integration time. This allows for rapid video-frame-rate hyperspectral sensing into the far ultraviolet and VNIR wavelengths. Previously, MiDAR was developed into a TRL 2 laboratory instrument capable of imaging in thirty-two narrowband channels across the VNIR spectrum (400-950nm). Recently, MiDAR UV was raised to TRL4 and expanded to include five ultraviolet bands from 280-400nm, permitting UV remote sensing capabilities in UV A, B, and C bands and enabling mineral identification and stimulated fluorescence measurements of organic proteins and compounds, such as green fluorescent proteins in terrestrial and

Remote state preparation using positive operator-valued measures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Siendong, E-mail: sdhuang@mail.ndhu.edu.tw [Department of Applied Mathematics, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien 974, Taiwan (China)

2013-02-04

We consider the process of remote state preparation using a pure state |ψ〉 with the maximal Schmidt number n. For any given state σ, pure or mixed, a construction of a positive operator-valued measure {M_j}{sub j=0}{sup n} is provided. The classical outcome j=0 indicates the failure of a remote preparation of σ. All other classical outcomes j>0 correspond to unitary transformations of the receiver system such that σ can be prepared. The total probability of successful remote preparation depends on the state σ. Our protocol is a variation of conclusive teleportation and the classical bits required for this protocol are given by log{sub 2}(n+1), which is nearly half that of conclusive teleportation.

Vehicle-to-Grid for islanded power system operation in Bornholm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pillai, Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte

2010-01-01

Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) systems are an emerging concept of utilizing the battery storage of electric vehicles (EVs) for providing power system regulation services. This technology could be used to balance the variable electricity generated from various renewable energy sources. This article considers...... a model of an aggregated electric vehicle based battery storage to support an isolated power system operating with a large wind power penetration in the Danish island of Bornholm. From the simulation results, the EV battery storages represented by the V2G systems are able to integrate more fluctuating...... wind power. The islanded Bornholm power system operates satisfactory for the case of replacing most of the conventional generator reserves with V2G systems, which may represent a future operation scenario....

Completely contained and remotely operated digital density meter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goergen, C.R.

1979-10-01

A completely contained and remotely operated density determination system having unique features was designed, fabricated, and installed at the Savannah River Plant. The system, based on a Mettler calculating digital density meter, provides more precise and accurate results than the falling drop technique for measuring densities. The system is fast, simple, easy to operate, and has demonstrated both reliability and durability

Development of a ROV titanium manipulator for light work class ROV vehicles

OpenAIRE

Garay, Gaizka X.; Sosa, Dario

2016-01-01

This paper shows the development of a high technical equipment to be used as tooling of submersible ROV (Remote Operated Vehicles) for offshore operations, particularly the design and fabrication by Additive Manufacturing (AM) of a Titanium Manipulator for ROVs. From the initial concept and design until a new formed company “TITANROB”, this document shortly describes the fabrication of hydraulic titanium manipulators for mid size ROV vehicles, the TitanRob series M501, G500 ...

Collaborative Exploration with a Micro Aerial Vehicle: A Novel Interaction Method for Controlling a MAV with a Hand-Held Device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Pitman

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In order to collaboratively explore an environment with a Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV, an operator needs a mobile interface, which can support the operator’s divided attention. To this end, we developed the Micro Aerial Vehicle Exploration of an Unknown Environment (MAV-VUE interface, which allows operators with minimal training the ability to remotely explore their environment with a MAV. MAV-VUE employs a concept we term Perceived First-Order (PFO control, which allows an operator to effectively “fly” a MAV with no risk to the vehicle. PFO control utilizes a position feedback control loop to fly the MAV while presenting rate feedback to the operator. A usability study was conducted to evaluate MAV-VUE. This interface was connected remotely to an actual MAV to explore a GPS-simulated urban environment.

Status Report of the Inter-Laboratory Task Force on Remote Operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phinney, Nan

2001-01-01

The next generation of particle accelerators will be major projects which may require a new mode of international and inter-laboratory collaboration. They are likely to be too costly to be funded by a single nation and too large to be built by a single laboratory. The tremendous technical challenge of a new facility requires a critical mass of highly qualified and experienced physicists and engineers. These experts are presently distributed among the major accelerator centers around the world and it is believed important to maintain and develop this broad base of expertise. The successful accelerator technology development of recent decades depended on extensive exchange of people with complementary technical skills. Therefore, it is desirable and probably necessary that several accelerator laboratories will participate in any future project. A consequence of a multi-laboratory project is that the accelerator will be located a considerable distance from most of the contributing institutions which design, build and operate it. These considerations led the International Committee for Future Accelerators to initiate a study on the general and technical implications of such a collaboration. Two task forces were formed in February 2000 to conduct this study and they were asked to prepare a report on a time scale of one year. The task force on Remote Operation included members from most of the major accelerator laboratories around the world with expertise on accelerator operation, controls software, communication technologies, hardware design and maintenance. The task force members gathered information from the experts at their own institutions and from available experience in other fields, particularly astronomy. The task force on Remote Operations began by developing a model for an international multi-laboratory collaboration to construct and operate an accelerator facility. This model is described in section 3. While it is clear that there are numerous alternative

Transfer system development for a remote inspection robot in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mizuno, M.; Ohnuma, M.; Hamada, K.; Mizutani, T.; Shimada, A.; Segawa, M.; Kubo, K.

1984-01-01

A remote operated robot system has been developed for inspection inside the primary containment vessel (PCV) of nuclear power plants. This system consists of an inspection vehicle, a monorail driving system, a signal transmission system, a power supply system and an operator console.. The system has two main features. First is that the operator can transfer the vehicle at any time from outside the PCV to inside or vice versa through a personnel airlock. The second feature is that the vehicle can be transported from one inspection route to another route at junction points. A prototype inspection robot system was fabricated on a trial basis. Running and inspection performances were confirmed utilizing actual size test apparatus

Analysis of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) hyperspectral remote sensing monitoring key technology in coastal wetland

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Yi; Zhang, Jie; Zhang, Jingyu

2016-01-01

The coastal wetland, a transitional zone between terrestrial ecosystems and marine ecosystems, is the type of great value to ecosystem services. For the recent 3 decades, area of the coastal wetland is decreasing and the ecological function is gradually degraded with the rapid development of economy, which restricts the sustainable development of economy and society in the coastal areas of China in turn. It is a major demand of the national reality to carry out the monitoring of coastal wetlands, to master the distribution and dynamic change. UAV, namely unmanned aerial vehicle, is a new platform for remote sensing. Compared with the traditional satellite and manned aerial remote sensing, it has the advantage of flexible implementation, no cloud cover, strong initiative and low cost. Image-spectrum merging is one character of high spectral remote sensing. At the same time of imaging, the spectral curve of each pixel is obtained, which is suitable for quantitative remote sensing, fine classification and target detection. Aimed at the frontier and hotspot of remote sensing monitoring technology, and faced the demand of the coastal wetland monitoring, this paper used UAV and the new remote sensor of high spectral imaging instrument to carry out the analysis of the key technologies of monitoring coastal wetlands by UAV on the basis of the current situation in overseas and domestic and the analysis of developing trend. According to the characteristic of airborne hyperspectral data on UAV, that is "three high and one many", the key technology research that should develop are promoted as follows: 1) the atmosphere correction of the UAV hyperspectral in coastal wetlands under the circumstance of complex underlying surface and variable geometry, 2) the best observation scale and scale transformation method of the UAV platform while monitoring the coastal wetland features, 3) the classification and detection method of typical features with high precision from multi scale

A CNES remote operations center for the MSL ChemCam instrument

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiens, Roger C [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Lafaille, Vivian [CNES; Lorgny, Eric [CNES; Baroukh, Julien [CNES; Gaboriaud, Alain [CNES; Saccoccio, Muriel [CNES; Perez, Rene [CNES; Gasnault, Olivier [CNRS/CESR; Maurice, Sylvestre [CNRS/CESR; Blaney, Diana [JPL

2010-01-01

For the first time, a CNES remote operations center in Toulouse will be involved in the tactical operations of a Martian rover in order to operate the ChemCam science instrument in the framework of the NASA MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) mission in 2012. CNES/CESR and LANL have developed and delivered to JPL the ChemCam (Chemistry Camera) instrument located on the top of mast and in the body of the rover. This instrument incorporates a Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) and a Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) for determining elemental compositions of rock targets or soil samples at remote distances from the rover (2-7 m). An agreement has been achieved for operating ChemCam, alternatively, from Toulouse (FR) and Los Alamos (NM, USA), through the JPL ground data system in Pasadena (CA, USA) for a complete Martian year (2 years on Earth). After a brief overview of the MSL mission, this paper presents the instrument, the mission operational system and JPL organization requirements for the scientific investigators (PI and Co-Is). This paper emphasizes innovations applied on the ground segment components and on the operational approach to satisfy the requirements and constraints due to these shared and distributed operations over the world.

Advantages and limitations of remotely operated sea floor drill rigs

Science.gov (United States)

Freudenthal, T.; Smith, D. J.; Wefer, G.

2009-04-01

A variety of research targets in marine sciences including the investigation of gas hydrates, slope stability, alteration of oceanic crust, ore formation and palaeoclimate can be addressed by shallow drilling. However, drill ships are mostly used for deep drillings, both because the effort of building up a drill string from a drill ship to the deep sea floor is tremendous and control on drill bit pressure from a movable platform and a vibrating drill string is poor especially in the upper hundred meters. During the last decade a variety of remotely operated drill rigs have been developed, that are deployed on the sea bed and operated from standard research vessels. These developments include the BMS (Bentic Multicoring System, developed by Williamson and Associates, operated by the Japanese Mining Agency), the PROD (Portable Remotely Operated Drill, developed and operated by Benthic Geotech), the Rockdrill 2 (developed and operated by the British geological Survey) and the MeBo (German abbreviation for sea floor drill rig, developed and operated by Marum, University of Bremen). These drill rigs reach drilling depths between 15 and 100 m. For shallow drillings remotely operated drill rigs are a cost effective alternative to the services of drill ships and have the major advantage that the drilling operations are performed from a stable platform independent of any ship movements due to waves, wind or currents. Sea floor drill rigs can be deployed both in shallow waters and the deep sea. A careful site survey is required before deploying the sea floor drill rig. Slope gradient, small scale topography and soil strength are important factors when planning the deployment. The choice of drill bits and core catcher depend on the expected geology. The required drill tools are stored on one or two magazines on the drill rig. The MeBo is the only remotely operated drill rig world wide that can use wire line coring technique. This method is much faster than conventional

Missouri commercial vehicle operations : state business plan

Science.gov (United States)

1998-05-15

This business plan is intended to assist this state in improving its commercial vehicle operation regulation, guide the deployment and installation of intelligent transportation systems and to implement these systems in an efficient and cost effectiv...

Remotely Operated Train for Inspection and Measurement in CERN's LHC Tunnel

CERN Document Server

Kershaw, K; Bestmann, P; Feniet, T; Forkel-Wirth, D; Grenard, J L; Rousset, N

2010-01-01

Personnel access to the LHC tunnel will be restricted to varying extents during the life of the machine due to radiation and cryogenic hazards. For this reason a remotely operated modular inspection train, (TIM) running on the LHC tunnel’s overhead monorail has been developed. In order to be compatible with the LHC personnel access system, a small section train that can pass through small openings at the top of sector doors has now been produced. The basic train can be used for remote visual inspection; additional modules give the capability of carrying out remote measurement of radiation levels, environmental conditions around the tunnel, and even remote measurement of the precise position of machine elements such as collimators. The paper outlines the design, development and operation of the equipment including preparation of the infrastructure. Key features of the trains are described along with future developments and intervention scenarios.

REMOTE OPERATION OF THE WEST COAST AND ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alec H. Medbery

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The remote control of real time derivation of earthquake location and magnitude and the issuance of tsunami and earthquake bulletins was done using off-the-shelf remote control software and hardware. Such remote operation of the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center can decrease the time needed to respond to an earthquake by eliminating travel from the duty standers’ home to the tsunami warning center.

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.

Remote Sensing of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in a Shallow Non-Turbid River Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyle F. Flynn

2014-12-01

Full Text Available A passive method for remote sensing of the nuisance green algae Cladophora glomerata in rivers is presented using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. Included are methods for UAV operation, lens distortion correction, image georeferencing, and spectral analysis to support algal cover mapping. Eighteen aerial photography missions were conducted over the summer of 2013 using an off-the-shelf UAV and three-band, wide-angle, red, green, and blue (RGB digital camera sensor. Images were post-processed, mosaicked, and georeferenced so automated classification and mapping could be completed. An adaptive cosine estimator (ACE and spectral angle mapper (SAM algorithm were used to complete the algal identification. Digital analysis of optical imagery correctly identified filamentous algae and background coverage 90% and 92% of the time, and tau coefficients were 0.82 and 0.84 for ACE and SAM, respectively. Thereafter, algal cover was characterized for a one-kilometer channel segment during each of the 18 UAV flights. Percent cover ranged from <5% to >50%, and increased immediately after vernal freshet, peaked in midsummer, and declined in the fall. Results indicate that optical remote sensing with UAV holds promise for completing spatially precise, and multi-temporal measurements of algae or submerged aquatic vegetation in shallow rivers with low turbidity and good optical transmission.

Optimal scheduling for vehicle-to-grid operation with stochastic connection of plug-in electric vehicles to smart grid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jian, Linni; Zheng, Yanchong; Xiao, Xinping; Chan, C.C.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A novel event-triggered scheduling scheme for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operation is proposed. • New scheme can handle the uncertainty arising from stochastic connection of electric vehicles. • New scheme aims at minimizing the overall load variance of power grid by V2G operation. • Method to evaluate the performance of proposed scheme is elaborated and demonstrated. - Abstract: Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operation of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) is attracting increasing attention since it can assist to improve the efficiency and reliability of power grid, as well as reduce the operating cost and greenhouse gas emission of electric vehicles. Within the scheme of V2G operation, PEVs are expected to serve as a novel distributed energy storage system (ESS) to help achieve the balance between supply and demand of power grid. One of the key difficulties concerning its practical implementation lies in that the availability of PEVs as ESS for grid remains highly uncertain due to their mobility as transportation tools. To address this issue, a novel event-triggered scheduling scheme for V2G operation based on the scenario of stochastic PEV connection to smart grid is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the mathematical model is formulated. Secondly, the preparation of input data for systematic evaluation is introduced and the case study is conducted. Finally, statistic analysis results demonstrate that our proposed V2G scheduling scheme can dramatically smooth out the fluctuation in power load profiles

AUTOMATED SYSTEM OF THE OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE FEASIBILITY OF EARTH REMOTE SENSING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. A. Arkhipova

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article scopes the hardware and software of the information system for pre-contractual real-time analysis of requests feasibility for supplying of Earth remote sensing data, which is an integral part of the Belarusian Space System for Earth Remote Sensing. The main purpose of the development of this information system is the creation of computer-aided system for real-time analysis of customers’ requests feasibility by using the resources of two space vehicles. This system is a decision support system in the pre-contractual phase on the everyday business practice. This automation activity is solved using multicriteria optimization approaches. The created information system allows to speed-up calculations and increase its quality as well as to augment the precision of assessment of space images acquisition by including the resources of two satellites during the requested period of time. This system has passed the evaluation test for both satellites and may be further used as the base for real-time analysis of requests feasibility taking into account the resources of several space vehicles.

A high capability teleoperated vehicle for hazardous applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dudar, A.M.; Witherspoon, R.L.

1995-01-01

The Robotics Development Group at the Savannah River Site is developing a high performance teleoperated vehicle for use in radioactive and hazardous environments. The three-wheeled vehicle incorporates a highly dexterous 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF), hydraulically-powered manipulator made by Schilling Development, Inc. The teleoperator is called Little MoRT (MObile Radio-controlled Teleoperator) and is a modified version of a commercially available, battery-powered, warehouse vehicle. Little MoRT is controlled remotely by a universal robot controller either through a radio frequency link or a tethered cable. Six video cameras and a microphone provide the operator with audio-visual feedback of the vehicle and its surrounding environment. The vehicle also incorporates a hydraulic power unit consisting of a propane-driven engine for powering the Schilling manipulator. Little MoRT is capable of operating in outdoor as well as indoor environments and is well suited for decontamination and decommissioning activities such as dismantling, sorting, and surveying of radioactive waste

Experience of remote under water handling operations at Tarapur Atomic Power Station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agarwal, S.K.

1990-01-01

Each Refuelling outage of Tarapur Atomic Power Station Reactors involves a great deal of remote underwater handling operations using special remote handling tools, working deep down in the reactor vessel under about sixty feet of water and in the narrow confines of highly radioactive core. The remote underwater handling operations include incore and out of core sipping operations, fuel reloading or shuffling, uncoupling of control rod drives, replacement and shuffling of control blades, replacement of local power range monitors, spent fuel shipment in casks, retrieval of fallen or displaced fuel top guide spacers, orifices and their installation, underwater CCTV inspection of reactor internals, core verification, channelling and dechannelling of fuel bundles, inspection of fuel bundles and channels, unbolting and removal of old racks, installation of high density racks, removal and reinstallation of fuel support plugs and guide tubes, underwater cutting of irradiated hardware material and their disposal, fuel reconstitution, removal and reinstallation of system dryer separator etc.. The paper describes in brief the salient experience of remote underwater handling operations at TAPS especially the unusual problems faced and solved, by using special tools, employing specific techniques and by repeated efforts, patience, ingenuity and skills. (author). 10 figs

Remote Underwater Characterization System - Innovative Technology Summary Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willis, Walter David

1999-01-01

Characterization and inspection of water-cooled and moderated nuclear reactors and fuel storage pools requires equipment capable of operating underwater. Similarly, the deactivation and decommissioning of older nuclear facilities often requires the facility owner to accurately characterize underwater structures and equipment which may have been sitting idle for years. The underwater characterization equipment is often required to operate at depths exceeding 20 ft (6.1 m) and in relatively confined or congested spaces. The typical baseline approach has been the use of radiation detectors and underwater cameras mounted on long poles, or stationary cameras with pan and tilt features mounted on the sides of the underwater facility. There is a perceived need for an inexpensive, more mobile method of performing close-up inspection and radiation measurements in confined spaces underwater. The Remote Underwater Characterization System (RUCS) is a small, remotely operated submersible vehicle intended to serve multiple purposes in underwater nuclear operations. It is based on the commercially-available ''Scallop'' vehicle, but has been modified by Department of Energy's Robotics Technology Development Program to add auto-depth control, and vehicle orientation and depth monitoring at the operator control panel. The RUCS is designed to provide visual and gamma radiation characterization, even in confined or limited access areas. It was demonstrated in August 1998 at Idaho National Engineering and environmental Laboratory (INEEL) as part of the INEEL Large Scale Demonstration and Deployment Project. During the demonstration it was compared in a ''head-to-head'' fashion with the baseline characterization technology. This paper summarizes the results of the demonstration and lessons learned; comparing and contrasting both technologies in the areas of cost, visual characterization, radiological characterization, and overall operations

A new remote control room for tokamak operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schissel, D.P., E-mail: schissel@fusion.gat.com [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, CA (United States); Abla, G.; Flanagan, S.; Kim, E.N. [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, CA (United States)

2012-12-15

This paper presents a summary of a new remote tokamak control room constructed near the offices of DIII-D's scientific staff. This integrated system combines hardware, software, data, and control of the room (R-232) into a unified package that has been designed and constructed in a generic fashion so that it can be used with any tokamak operating worldwide. The room is approximately 300 ft{sup 2} and can accommodate up to 12 seated participants. Mounted on the wall facing each scientist are five 52 Double-Prime LCD televisions and mounted to the wall on their right are six 24 Double-Prime LCD monitors. Each seat has associated with it a 24 Double-Prime monitor, network connection, and power and the scientist is either provided with a computer or they can use their own. The room has been used for operation of DIII-D, EAST, and KSTAR. Due to the long distances, data from EAST and KSTAR was brought back to local DIII-D computers in one large parallel network transfer and subsequently served to scientists in the remote control room to other US collaborators. This parallel data transfer allowed the data to be available to US participants between pulses making remote experimental participation highly effective.

Light Armored Vehicles in Operations Other Than War

Science.gov (United States)

2002-05-01

8Kenneth W. Estes, Marines Under Armor (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000), 212. 6 attach and detach elements in task organizing for a...operations. Kenneth W. Estes writes in his book Marines Under Armor : “The light armored vehicles of the LAR battalions, by contrast [to tanks], continue...Martin’s Press, 1991. Estes, Kenneth W., Marines under Armor : The Marine Corps and the Armored Fighting Vehicle. 1916-2000. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval

Remote control of restricted sets of operations: Teleportation of angles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huelga, S.F.; Vaccaro, J.A.; Plenio, M.B.

2002-01-01

We study the remote implementation of a unitary transformation on the state of a qubit. We show the existence of nontrivial protocols (i.e., using less resources than bidirectional state teleportation) that allow the perfect remote implementation of certain continuous sets of quantum operations. We prove that, up to a local change of basis, only two subsets exist that can be implemented remotely with a nontrivial protocol: Arbitrary rotations around a fixed direction n-vector and a π rotation about an arbitrary direction lying in a plane orthogonal to n-vector. The former operations effectively constitute the teleportation of arbitrary angles. The overall classical information and distributed entanglement cost required for the remote implementation depends on whether it is known, a priori, in which of the two teleportable subsets the transformation belongs. If it is known, the optimal protocol consumes one e-bit of entanglement and one c-bit in each direction. If it is not known in which subset the transformation belongs, two e-bits of entanglement need to be consumed and the classical channel becomes asymmetric with two c-bits being conveyed from Alice to Bob but only one from Bob to Alice

Near-roadway monitoring of vehicle emissions as a function of mode of operation for light-duty vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Dongqi; Zhai, Wenjuan; Xiang, Sheng; Hu, Zhice; Wei, Tongchuan; Noll, Kenneth E

2017-11-01

Determination of the effect of vehicle emissions on air quality near roadways is important because vehicles are a major source of air pollution. A near-roadway monitoring program was undertaken in Chicago between August 4 and October 30, 2014, to measure ultrafine particles, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, traffic volume and speed, and wind direction and speed. The objective of this study was to develop a method to relate short-term changes in traffic mode of operation to air quality near roadways using data averaged over 5-min intervals to provide a better understanding of the processes controlling air pollution concentrations near roadways. Three different types of data analysis are provided to demonstrate the type of results that can be obtained from a near-roadway sampling program based on 5-min measurements: (1) development of vehicle emission factors (EFs) for ultrafine particles as a function of vehicle mode of operation, (2) comparison of measured and modeled CO 2 concentrations, and (3) application of dispersion models to determine concentrations near roadways. EFs for ultrafine particles are developed that are a function of traffic volume and mode of operation (free flow and congestion) for light-duty vehicles (LDVs) under real-world conditions. Two air quality models-CALINE4 (California Line Source Dispersion Model, version 4) and AERMOD (American Meteorological Society/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model)-are used to predict the ultrafine particulate concentrations near roadways for comparison with measured concentrations. When using CALINE4 to predict air quality levels in the mixing cell, changes in surface roughness and stability class have no effect on the predicted concentrations. However, when using AERMOD to predict air quality in the mixing cell, changes in surface roughness have a significant impact on the predicted concentrations. The paper provides emission factors (EFs) that are a function of traffic volume and mode of

Characterization of in-use light-duty gasoline vehicle emissions by remote sensing in Beijing: impact of recent control measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yu; Fu, Lixin; Cheng, Linglin

2007-09-01

China's national government and Beijing city authorities have adopted additional control measures to reduce the negative impact of vehicle emissions on Beijing's air quality. An evaluation of the effectiveness of these measures may provide guidance for future vehicle emission control strategy development. In-use emissions from light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) were investigated at five sites in Beijing with remote sensing instrumentation. Distance-based mass emission factors were derived with fuel consumption modeled on real world data. The results show that the recently implemented aggressive control strategies are significantly reducing the emissions of on-road vehicles. Older vehicles are contributing substantially to the total fleet emissions. An earlier program to retrofit pre-Euro cars with three-way catalysts produced little emission reduction. The impact of model year and driving conditions on the average mass emission factors indicates that the durability of vehicles emission controls may be inadequate in Beijing.

An Optimal Operating Strategy for Battery Life Cycle Costs in Electric Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yinghua Han

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Impact on petroleum based vehicles on the environment, cost, and availability of fuel has led to an increased interest in electric vehicle as a means of transportation. Battery is a major component in an electric vehicle. Economic viability of these vehicles depends on the availability of cost-effective batteries. This paper presents a generalized formulation for determining the optimal operating strategy and cost optimization for battery. Assume that the deterioration of the battery is stochastic. Under the assumptions, the proposed operating strategy for battery is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem considering reliability and failure number. And an explicit expression of the average cost rate is derived for battery lifetime. Results show that the proposed operating strategy enhances the availability and reliability at a low cost.

Remote operation for pipelines; Operacao remota para gasodutos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teixeira, Paulo Lyra Borgerth [TBG - Transportadora Brasileira Gasoduto Bolivia Brasil S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2003-07-01

This paper describes pipeline GASBOL which are remotely monitored, operated and controlled from a central control station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is a result of TBG's experience in design, construction and operation of compressor stations and city gates that are built for unattended operation. Only a small maintenance crew is necessary for routine tasks. In this connection, a complete set of resources has been implemented in order to ensure the required reliability level. This includes monitoring instruments, redundant systems and protections, together with automatic control system for each of the relevant components. Equipment status signals, process variables as well as alarm and trip signals are exchanged via a SCADA system with the Control and Supervision Center, CSC, in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, the CSC is capable of performing all relevant control actions such as start / stop compressor units and station auxiliaries, also remotely setting the station pressure and flow control points. The paper describes also the architecture and configuration of the supervisory and control functions which are performed by means of a SCADA system, along with the pipeline telecommunications system. (author)

Remote operation of a fully shielded electron probe microanalyser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowe, J.; Sparry, R.P.

1977-11-01

A 'Microscan 5' Cambridge Instrument Company electron probe micro-analyser has been equipped with full shielding to enable high radioactive materials to be examined. The transfer of controls for remote operation are described. (author)

Raising of Operating a Motor Vehicle Effects on Environment in Winter

Science.gov (United States)

Ertman, S. A.; Ertman, J. A.; Zakharov, D. A.

2016-08-01

Severe low-temperature conditions, in which considerable part of Russian Motor Park is operated, affect vehicles negatively. Cold weather causes higher fuel consumption and C02 emissions always. It is because of temperature profile changing of automobile motors, other systems and materials. For enhancement of car operation efficiency in severe winter environment the dependency of engine warm-up and cooling time on ambient air temperature and wind speed described by multifactorial mathematical models is established. -On the basis of experimental research it was proved that the coolant temperature constitutes the engine representative temperature and may be used as representative temperature of engine at large. The model of generation of integrated index for vehicle adaptability to winter operating conditions by temperature profile of engines was developed. the method for evaluation of vehicle adaptability to winter operating conditions by temperature profile of engines allows to decrease higher fuel consumption in cold climate.

Development and operational experiences of an automated remote inspection system for interior of primary containment vessel of a BWR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ozaki, N.; Chikara, S.; Fumio, T.; Katsuhiro, M.; Katsutoshi, S.; Ken-Ichiro, S.; Masaaki, F.; Masayoshi, S.

1983-01-01

A prototype was developed for an automated remote inspection system featuring continuous monitoring of the working status of major components inside the primary containment vessel of a boiling water reactor. This inspection system consists of four units, or vehicles, which are towed by a trolley chain along a monorail; a complex coaxial cable for data transmission and for power supply; and an operator's console. A TV camera, microphone, thermometer, hygrometer, and ionization chamber are mounted on the various units. After several months' testing under high-ambient temperature, the system was installed in the Tokai-2 power station of Japan Atomic Power Company for in situ tests

Underwater inspection and maintenance programs within nuclear and non-nuclear related operating systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vallance, C.; Goulet, B.; Black, S.

2008-01-01

The increasing age of the nuclear and non-nuclear power generating facilities requires extended inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) activities to prolong the operation of these facilities past their original design life. Commercial divers are often utilized to perform critical work at nuclear power plants, fuel reprocessing plants, waste storage facilities, and research institutions. These various tasks include inspection, welding, mechanical modifications and repairs, coating applications, and work associated with plant decommissioning. Programs may take place in areas such as the reactor vessel, equipment pool, spent fuel pool, and suppression chamber using manned intervention and remotely operated vehicles. Some of these tasks can also be conducted using remotely operated vehicles (ROV's). Although specialist robots are not uncommon to the nuclear industry, the use of free-swimming vehicle's and remote systems for the inspection of underwater assets has increased due to improvements of the supporting technologies and information requirements needed to extend the life of these facilities. This paper will provide an overview of the procedures and equipment necessary to perform unique work tasks using manned and unmanned techniques. (author)

Application of robotics in remote fuel fabrication operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nyman, D.H.; Nagamoto, T.T.

1984-01-01

The Secure Automated Fabrication (SAF) line, an automated and remotely controlled manufacturing process, is scheduled for startup in 1987 and will produce mixed uranium/plutonium oxide fuel pins for the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). The application of robotics in the fuel fabrication and supporting operations is described

Advances in Small Remotely Piloted Aircraft Communications and Remote Sensing in Maritime Environments including the Arctic

Science.gov (United States)

McGillivary, P. A.; Borges de Sousa, J.; Wackowski, S.; Walker, G.

2011-12-01

Small remotely piloted aircraft have recently been used for maritime remote sensing, including launch and retrieval operations from land, ships and sea ice. Such aircraft can also function to collect and communicate data from other ocean observing system platforms including moorings, tagged animals, drifters, autonomous surface vessels (ASVs), and autonomous underwater vessels (AUVs). The use of small remotely piloted aircraft (or UASs, unmanned aerial systems) with a combination of these capabilities will be required to monitor the vast areas of the open ocean, as well as in harsh high-latitude ecosystems. Indeed, these aircraft are a key component of planned high latitude maritime domain awareness environmental data collection capabilities, including use of visible, IR and hyperspectral sensors, as well as lidar, meteorological sensors, and interferometric synthetic aperture radars (ISARs). We here first describe at-sea demonstrations of improved reliability and bandwidth of communications from ocean sensors on autonomous underwater vehicles to autonomous surface vessels, and then via remotely piloted aircraft to shore, ships and manned aircraft using Delay and Disruption Tolerant (DTN) communication protocols. DTN enables data exchange in communications-challenged environments, such as remote regions of the ocean including high latitudes where low satellite angles and auroral disturbances can be problematic. DTN provides a network architecture and application interface structured around optionally-reliable asynchronous message forwarding, with limited expectations of end-to-end connectivity and node resources. This communications method enables aircraft and surface vessels to function as data mules to move data between physically disparate nodes. We provide examples of the uses of this communication protocol for environmental data collection and data distribution with a variety of different remotely piloted aircraft in a coastal ocean environment. Next, we

Dedication of Fermilab's LHC Remote Operations Center

CERN Multimedia

Claudia Marcelloni

2007-01-01

Fermilab's Remote Operations Center will be dedicated simultaneously at Fermilab in the U.S. and from CMS (Point 5) in Cessy, France. Speakers will include: from the U.S. DOE Undersecretary for Science Raymond Orbach and Fermilab Director Pier Oddone (U.S.); and from CERN Director General Robert Aymar, CMS Spokesperson Jim Virdee, LHC Project Leader Lyn Evans and US CMS Project Manager Joel Butler.

A new ground-penetrating radar system for remote site characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, K.C.; Sandness, G.A.

1994-08-01

The cleanup of waste burial sites and military bombing ranges involves the risk of exposing field personnel to toxic chemicals, radioactive materials, or unexploded munitions. Time-consuming and costly measures are required to provide protection from those hazards. Therefore, there is a growing interest in developing remotely controlled sensors and sensor platforms that can be employed in site characterization surveys. A specialized ground-penetrating radar has been developed to operate on a remotely controlled vehicle for the non-intrusive subsurface characterization of buried waste sites. Improved radar circuits provide enhanced performance, and an embedded microprocessor dynamically optimizes operation. The radar unit is packaged to survive chemical contamination and decontamination

Single Operator Control of Multiple Uninhabited Air Vehicles: Situational Awareness Requirement

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sebalj, Derek

2008-01-01

... > 1. The ultimate goal, and the object of much research, is the technology to lower, or even invert the control ratio from many people to one vehicle to one operator of several vehicles, e.g., 1...

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

Multi-year remote-sensing measurements of gasoline light-duty vehicle emissions on a freeway ramp

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sjoedin, A.; Andreasson, K.

2000-01-01

On-road optical remote-sensing measurements of gasoline light-duty vehicle (LDV) emissions - CO, HC, NO - were conducted on a freeway ramp in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1991, 1995 and 1998. Based on almost 30,000 emission measurements, the results show that both catalyst cars and non-catalyst cars emissions deteriorate over time, but also that the emission performance of new TWC-cars has improved significantly in recent years. Furthermore, it was found that fleet age rather than model year determines the rate of emission deterioration for TWC-cars for both CO and NO. The study demonstrates that remote sensing may constitute a powerful tool to evaluate real-world LDV emissions; however, daily field calibration procedures need to be developed in order to assure that the evolution in fleet average emissions can be accurately measured. (author)

Operating experience with remote handling equipment in a typical hot facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ravishankar, A.; Balasubramanian, G.R.

1990-01-01

Large number of articulated arm manipulators and special purpose remote tools have been used either alone or in combination in a recent campaign of treatment of irradiated J rods of CIRUS for separation of 233 U. These equipments were used for operations such as remote maintenance of centrifuge, centrifugal extractor, direct sampling, assistance for sample conveying operations etc. Paper discusses problems encountered in using articulated arm manipulators of type MAll,AMl and how they were overcome. Problems encountered in use of model-8 manipulator for chopper maintenence in a mockup facility are also highlighted. (author). 4 figs., 1 tab

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Remote Sensing for Field-Based Crop Phenotyping: Current Status and Perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guijun Yang

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Phenotyping plays an important role in crop science research; the accurate and rapid acquisition of phenotypic information of plants or cells in different environments is helpful for exploring the inheritance and expression patterns of the genome to determine the association of genomic and phenotypic information to increase the crop yield. Traditional methods for acquiring crop traits, such as plant height, leaf color, leaf area index (LAI, chlorophyll content, biomass and yield, rely on manual sampling, which is time-consuming and laborious. Unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing platforms (UAV-RSPs equipped with different sensors have recently become an important approach for fast and non-destructive high throughput phenotyping and have the advantage of flexible and convenient operation, on-demand access to data and high spatial resolution. UAV-RSPs are a powerful tool for studying phenomics and genomics. As the methods and applications for field phenotyping using UAVs to users who willing to derive phenotypic parameters from large fields and tests with the minimum effort on field work and getting highly reliable results are necessary, the current status and perspectives on the topic of UAV-RSPs for field-based phenotyping were reviewed based on the literature survey of crop phenotyping using UAV-RSPs in the Web of Science™ Core Collection database and cases study by NERCITA. The reference for the selection of UAV platforms and remote sensing sensors, the commonly adopted methods and typical applications for analyzing phenotypic traits by UAV-RSPs, and the challenge for crop phenotyping by UAV-RSPs were considered. The review can provide theoretical and technical support to promote the applications of UAV-RSPs for crop phenotyping.

Comparison of all-remote and personnel access maintenance operations for INTOR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spampinato, P.T.; Finn, P.A.; Gohar, M.Y.; Stasko, R.R.

1985-01-01

The INTOR reference design was developed to permit limited maintenance operations external to the reactor in a ''hands-on'' mode; all internal operations would be remotely accomplished. The design embodies those requirements for shielding, tritium containment and cleanup, and confinement of contaminated particulate matter to permit personnel access. The cost reflects these requirements, at least first order. The impact of personnel access on the reactor design and its costs are cause to reexamine the maintenance approach on which much of the present configuration is based. The purpose of this study is to compare the benefits and costs associated with personnel access maintenance procedures to those associated with all-remote maintenance procedures and to identify modifications to the baseline design that could enhance maintenance operations

Conceptual design of a test facility for the remote handling operations of the ITER Test Blanker Modules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marqueta, A.; Garcia, I.; Gomez, A.; Garcia, L.; Sedano, E.; Fernandez, I.

2012-01-01

Conceptual Design of a test facility for the remote handling operations of the ITER Test Blanket Modules. Conditions inside a fusion reactor are incompatible with conventional manual maintenance tasks. the same applies for ancillary equipment. As a consequence, it will become necessary to turn to remote visualization and remote handling techniques, which will have in consideration the extreme conditions, both physical and operating, of ITER. Main goal of the project has been the realization of the conceptual design for the test facility for the Test Blanket Modules of ITER and their associated systems, related to the Remote Handling operations regarding the Port Cell area. Besides the definition of the operations and the specification of the main components and ancillary systems of the TBM graphical simulation have been used for the design, verification and validation of the remote handling operations. (Author)

Remote Sensing of Radiation Dose Rate by Customizing an Autonomous Robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayashi, T; Nakahara, M; Morisato, K; Takashina, T; Kanematsu, H

2012-01-01

Distribution of radiation dose was measured by customizing an autonomous cleaning robot 'Roomba' and a scintillation counter. The robot was used as a vehicle carrying the scintillation survey meter, and was additionally equipped with an H8 micro computer to remote-control the vehicle and to send measured data. The data obtained were arranged with position data, and then the distribution map of the radiation dose rate was produced. Manual, programmed and autonomous driving tests were conducted, and all performances were verified. That is, for each operational mode, the measurements both with moving and with discrete moving were tried in and outside of a room. Consequently, it has been confirmed that remote sensing of radiation dose rate is possible by customizing a robot on market.

Low-cost teleoperator-controlled vehicle for damage assessment and radiation dose measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tyree, W.H.

1991-01-01

A low-cost, disposable, radio-controlled, remote-reading, ionizing radiation and surveillance teleoperator re-entry vehicle has been built. The vehicle carries equipment, measures radiation levels, and evaluates building conditions. The basic vehicle, radio control with amplifiers, telemetry, elevator, and video camera with monitor cost less than $2500. Velcro-mounted alpha, beta-gamma, and neutron sensing equipment is used in the present system. Many types of health physics radiation measuring equipment may be substituted on the vehicle. The system includes a black-and-white video camera to observe the environment surrounding the vehicle. The camera is mounted on a vertical elevator extendible to 11 feet above the floor. The present vehicle uses a video camera with an umbilical cord between the vehicle and the operators. Preferred operation would eliminate the umbilical. Video monitoring equipment is part of the operator control system. Power for the vehicle equipment is carried on board and supplied by sealed lead-acid batteries. Radios are powered by 9-V alkaline batteries. The radio control receiver, servo drivers, high-power amplifier and 49-MHz FM transceivers were irradiated at moderate rates with neutron and gamma doses to 3000 Rem and 300 Rem, respectively, to ensure system operation

An integrated systems approach to remote retrieval of buried transuranic waste using a telerobotic transport vehicle, innovative end effector, and remote excavator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, A.M.; Rice, P.; Hyde, R.; Peterson, R.

1995-02-01

Between 1952 and 1970, over two million cubic feet of transuranic mixed waste was buried in shallow pits and trenches in the Subsurface Disposal Area at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Radioactive Waste Management Complex. Commingled with this two million cubic feet of waste is up to 10 million cubic feet of fill soil. The pits and trenches were constructed similarly to municipal landfills with both stacked and random dump waste forms such as barrels and boxes. The main contaminants are micron-sized particles of plutonium and americium oxides, chlorides, and hydroxides. Retrieval, treatment, and disposal is one of the options being considered for the waste. This report describes the results of a field demonstration conducted to evaluate technologies for excavating, and transporting buried transuranic wastes at the INEL, and other hazardous or radioactive waste sites throughout the US Department of Energy complex. The full-scale demonstration, conduced at RAHCO Internationals facilities in Spokane, Washington, in the summer of 1994, evaluated equipment performance and techniques for digging, dumping, and transporting buried waste. Three technologies were evaluated in the demonstration: an Innovative End Effector for dust free dumping, a Telerobotic Transport Vehicle to convey retrieved waste from the digface, and a Remote Operated Excavator to deploy the Innovative End Effector and perform waste retrieval operations. Data were gathered and analyzed to evaluate retrieval performance parameters such as retrieval rates, transportation rates, human factors, and the equipment's capability to control contamination spread

Vehicle operation characteristic under different ramp entrance conditions in underground road: Analysis, simulation and modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Qiming; Liu, Shuo; Liu, Yang

2018-05-01

An experimental design was used to study the vehicle operation characteristics of different ramp entrance conditions in underground road. With driving simulator, the experimental scenarios include left or right ramp with first, second and third service level, respectively, to collect vehicle speed, acceleration, lateral displacement and location information at the ramp entrance section. By using paired t-test and ANOVA, the influence factors of vehicle operating characteristics are studied. The result shows that effects of ramp layout and mainline traffic environment on vehicle operation characteristics are significant. The regression model of vehicle traveling distance on acceleration lane is established. Suggestions are made for ramp entrance design of underground road.

Integration of Remote Sensing Data In Operational Flood Forecast In Southwest Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Bach, H.; Appel, F.; Schulz, W.; Merkel, U.; Ludwig, R.; Mauser, W.

Methods to accurately assess and forecast flood discharge are mandatory to minimise the impact of hydrological hazards. However, existing rainfall-runoff models rarely accurately consider the spatial characteristics of the watershed, which is essential for a suitable and physics-based description of processes relevant for runoff formation. Spatial information with low temporal variability like elevation, slopes and land use can be mapped or extracted from remote sensing data. However, land surface param- eters of high temporal variability, like soil moisture and snow properties are hardly available and used in operational forecasts. Remote sensing methods can improve flood forecast by providing information on the actual water retention capacities in the watershed and facilitate the regionalisation of hydrological models. To prove and demonstrate this, the project 'InFerno' (Integration of remote sensing data in opera- tional water balance and flood forecast modelling) has been set up, funded by DLR (50EE0053). Within InFerno remote sensing data (optical and microwave) are thor- oughly processed to deliver spatially distributed parameters of snow properties and soil moisture. Especially during the onset of a flood this information is essential to estimate the initial conditions of the model. At the flood forecast centres of 'Baden- Württemberg' and 'Rheinland-Pfalz' (Southwest Germany) the remote sensing based maps on soil moisture and snow properties will be integrated in the continuously op- erated water balance and flood forecast model LARSIM. The concept is to transfer the developed methodology from the Neckar to the Mosel basin. The major challenges lie on the one hand in the implementation of algorithms developed for a multisensoral synergy and the creation of robust, operationally applicable remote sensing products. On the other hand, the operational flood forecast must be adapted to make full use of the new data sources. In the operational phase of the

STABILITY OF WHEELED VEHICLES AS COMPLEX OPERATIONAL PROPERTIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Artemov

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Different views on the definition of «stability of wheeled vehicles» are considered and the author’s own definition is offered. A version of the structure of stability properties as a complex op-erational property is offered.

Analysis of remote operating systems for space-based servicing operations. Volume 2: Study results

Science.gov (United States)

1985-01-01

The developments in automation and robotics have increased the importance of applications for space based servicing using remotely operated systems. A study on three basic remote operating systems (teleoperation, telepresence and robotics) was performed in two phases. In phase one, requirements development, which consisted of one three-month task, a group of ten missions were selected. These included the servicing of user equipment on the station and the servicing of the station itself. In phase two, concepts development, which consisted of three tasks, overall system concepts were developed for the selected missions. These concepts, which include worksite servicing equipment, a carrier system, and payload handling equipment, were evaluated relative to the configurations of the overall worksite. It is found that the robotic/teleoperator concepts are appropriate for relatively simple structured tasks, while the telepresence/teleoperator concepts are applicable for missions that are complex, unstructured tasks.

M109 Family of Vehicles, Paladin Integrated Management (PIM): Operational Assessment of the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT and E)

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Director, Operational Test and Evaluation M109 Family of Vehicles, Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) Operational Assessment of the... operational suitability, test adequacy, and survivability of the M109 Family of Vehicles (FoV), known as Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) Self...prevent the M109A7 SPH-equipped unit from completing its mission. The Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) Initial Operational Test and Evaluation

Conceptual design report for a remotely operated cask handling system. Revision 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yount, J.A.; Berger, J.D.

1984-09-01

Recent advances in remote handling utilizing commercial robotics are conceptually applied to lowering operator cumulative radiation exposure and increasing throughput during cask handling operations in nuclear shipping and receiving facilities. Revision 1 incorporates functional criteria for facility equipment, equipment technical outline specifications, and interface control drawings to assist Architect Engineers in the application of remote handling to waste shipping and receiving facilities. The document has also been updated to show some of the equipment used in proof-of-principle testing during fiscal year 1984. 10 references, 50 figures, 1 table

The TMI-2 remote technology program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bengel, P.R.

1986-01-01

Since the accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2), an aggressive approach has been pursued in developing the tools needed for the recovery of the plant. The plant's owner has embarked on a systematic program to develop remote equipment. The program developed conceptual and then physical equipment. The remote reconnaissance vehicles (RRVs) and the remote working vehicle (RWV) span the requirements of the recovery program from the ability to perform radiological and video surveys to heavy-duty decontamination and demolition work. 4 figs

The use of virtual reality for preparation and implementation of JET remote handling operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanders, S.; Rolfe, A.C.

2003-01-01

The use of real time 3-D computer graphic models for preparation and support of remote handling operations on JET has been in use since the mid 1980s. A complete review has been undertaken of the functional requirements and benefits of VR for remote handling and a subsequent market survey of the present state-of-the-art of VR systems has resulted in the implementation of a new system for JET. The VR system is used in two discrete modes: in on-line mode the remote handling equipment Electro-mechanical hardware is connected to the VR system and provides input for the VR system to update a real time 3-D display of the equipment inside the torus. This mode supplements the video camera system and assists with camera control and warnings of impending or potential collisions. In Off-line mode the operator manipulates the VR system model with no connections to the remote handling equipment. This mode is used during preparation of RH operational strategies, checking of operational feasibility and operations procedures. Various VR systems were evaluated against a detailed technical specification that covered visualisation function and performance, user interface design and base model input/creation capabilities. The cheapest of those systems that satisfied the technical requirements was selected

Evaluation of Design Models of Process Equipment for Use in PRIDE: Remote Operability and Maintainability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ki Ho; Kim, Sung Hyun; Yu, Seung Nam; Lee, Jong Kwang; Park, Byung Suk; Han, Jong Hui; Cho, Il Je; Lee, Han Soo

2012-01-01

Process equipment for pyroprocessing are being developed at KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). Those equipment should be operated and maintained in a fully remote manner in the argon gas filled cell of PRIDE (PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration facility) at KAERI because direct human access to the in-cell is not possible during an operation due to the high toxicity of the argon gas. To make such process equipment remotely operable and maintainable, their design developments have been tested and evaluated in a simulator before they are constructed. A simulator as a means of evaluating the remote operability and maintainability of the design models of process equipment for pyroprocessing is described, and results of the design models tested and evaluated in a simulator are presented

The Design of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Water Quality Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yulong; Liu, Rong; Liu, Shujin

2018-01-01

This paper describes the development of a civilian-used autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for water quality monitoring at reservoirs and watercourses that can obtain realtime visual and locational information. The mechanical design was completed with CAD software Solidworks. Four thrusters—two horizontal and two vertical—on board enable the vehicle to surge, heave, yaw, and pitch. A specialized water sample collection compartment is designed to perform water collection at target locations. The vehicle has a central controller—STM32—and a sub-coordinate controller—Arduino MEGA 2560—that coordinates multiple sensors including an inertial sensor, ultrasonic sensors, etc. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and the inertial sensor enable the vehicle’s localization. Remote operators monitor and control the vehicle via a host computer system. Operators choose either semi-autonomous mode in which they set target locations or manual mode. The experimental results show that the vehicle is able to perform well in either mode.

Remotely Piloted Vehicles for Experimental Flight Control Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Motter, Mark A.; High, James W.

2009-01-01

A successful flight test and training campaign of the NASA Flying Controls Testbed was conducted at Naval Outlying Field, Webster Field, MD during 2008. Both the prop and jet-powered versions of the subscale, remotely piloted testbeds were used to test representative experimental flight controllers. These testbeds were developed by the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project s emphasis on new flight test techniques. The Subsonic Fixed Wing Project is under the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). The purpose of these testbeds is to quickly and inexpensively evaluate advanced concepts and experimental flight controls, with applications to adaptive control, system identification, novel control effectors, correlation of subscale flight tests with wind tunnel results, and autonomous operations. Flight tests and operator training were conducted during four separate series of tests during April, May, June and August 2008. Experimental controllers were engaged and disengaged during fully autonomous flight in the designated test area. Flaps and landing gear were deployed by commands from the ground control station as unanticipated disturbances. The flight tests were performed NASA personnel with support from the Maritime Unmanned Development and Operations (MUDO) team of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division

Adaptive strategies of remote systems operators exposed to perturbed camera-viewing conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Mark A.; Manahan, Meera K.; Bierschwale, John M.; Sampaio, Carlos E.; Legendre, A. J.

1991-01-01

This report describes a preliminary investigation of the use of perturbed visual feedback during the performance of simulated space-based remote manipulation tasks. The primary objective of this NASA evaluation was to determine to what extent operators exhibit adaptive strategies which allow them to perform these specific types of remote manipulation tasks more efficiently while exposed to perturbed visual feedback. A secondary objective of this evaluation was to establish a set of preliminary guidelines for enhancing remote manipulation performance and reducing the adverse effects. These objectives were accomplished by studying the remote manipulator performance of test subjects exposed to various perturbed camera-viewing conditions while performing a simulated space-based remote manipulation task. Statistical analysis of performance and subjective data revealed that remote manipulation performance was adversely affected by the use of perturbed visual feedback and performance tended to improve with successive trials in most perturbed viewing conditions.

New design centrifugal contactor remotely controlled for solvent extraction operations for feed clarification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Candelieri, T.; Gerardi, A.; Petrigliano, G.; Siepe, V.

1987-01-01

The project concept of the nuclear facilities has gone through an important evolution in the past years in relation to the need of: garantiing the remote maintenance reducing workers exposure when operating in high-risk areas; making easier final decommissioning operations of the plants. In this way the ITREC pilot plant (built in 1970s') for its modular characteristic based on Rack Removal System (R.R.S.) was the first example of this new concept of project. A further development, in the field of remote maintenance and decommissioning operations, we can obtain associating to the R.R.S. concept that of projecting the single components (only for the critical ones) remotely demountable in their higher radioactive parts to consent the maintenance-substitution and/or decommissioning operations without interfering with remaining parts of the plant which it is connected. All of this helps in the realization of the aim making better plant operations reducing drastically work time and therefore non-functioning period of the plants. These principles have been applicated in the realization of two important components in reprocessing plant: the centrifugal contactor for solvent extraction and feed clarification centrifuge

Driving Simulator Study of Effect of Inside Shoulder on Vehicle Operation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Han Ding

2015-02-01

Full Text Available According to the Chinese Design Specification for Highway Alignment (JTG D20-2006, eight-lane expressways should be paved with an inside shoulder of 2.5 m; however, this regulation is rarely obeyed in engineering practice. On the basis of driving simulator experiment, this research examined the impacts of inside shoulder on vehicle operation with and without the speed limitation. A virtual scenario, consisting of five expressways with different inside shoulder widths, was created and displayed in driving simulator, and vehicle operational data—speed and lane position—were recorded. Authors used analysis of variance (ANOVA and contrast analysis to examine whether inside shoulder width had statistically significant effects on travel speed and lane position. Analytical results indicated that there is a kind of quadratic relationship between inside shoulder width and driver's speed choice, while driver's speed choice is not significantly affected by inside shoulder width. What is more, inside shoulder width has statistically significant effects on vehicle's lane positions, and vehicle's lane position is negatively correlated to inside shoulder width. Specifically, the vehicle can be maintained at the center of lane when the inside shoulder width is 2.5 m.

Implementation of remote equipment at TMI-2 [Three Mile Island Unit 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giefer, D.; Jeffries, A.B.

1988-01-01

Each of the remote vehicles in use, or planned for use, at Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) during the period from 1984 to the present had certain distinct common features. These were proven to be desirable for remote application in the TMI-2 environment. Proper implementation requires consideration of the following: control systems, rigging systems, power supplies, operator/support interface, maintenance concerns, viewing systems, contamination control, and communications. Design and component fabrication of these features allowed deployment of each of the remote devices. This paper discusses these systems and their impact for the use of remote mobile equipment at TMI-2. In most cases, the means of implementation dictated the design features of the devices

Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program: Site Operation Program. Quarterly progress report, July--September 1995

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francfort, J.; Bassett, R.R.; Briasco, S. [and others

1995-12-01

The Site Operator Program has evolved substantially since its inception in response to the Electric Vehicle Research and Demonstration Act of 1976. In its original form, a commercialization effort was intended but this was not feasible for lack of vehicle suppliers and infrastructure. Nonetheless, with DOE sponsorship and technical participation, a few results (primarily operating experience and data) were forthcoming. The current Program comprises eleven sites and over 200 vehicles, of which about 50 are latest generation vehicles. DOE partially funds the Program participant expenditures and the INEL receives operating and maintenance data for the DOE-owned, and participant-owned or monitored vehicles, as well as Program reports. As noted elsewhere in this report, participants represent several widely differing categories: electric utilities, academic institutions, and federal agencies. While both the utilities and the academic institutions tend to establish beneficial relationships with the industrial community.

Highly active vitrification plant remote handling operational experience and improvements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milgate, I.

1996-01-01

All the main process plant and equipment at the Sellafield Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP) is enclosed in heavily shielded concrete walled cells. There is a large quantity of relatively complex plant and equipment which must be remotely operated, maintained or replaced in-cell in a severe environment. The WVP has five in-cell polar cranes which are of modular construction to aid replacement of failed components. Each can be withdrawn into a shielded cell extension for decontamination and hands-on maintenance. The cells have a total of 80 through wall tube positions to receive Master Slave Manipulators (MSMs). The MSMs are used where possible for ''pick and place'' purposes but are often called upon to position substantial pieces of mechanical equipment and thus are subject to heavy loading and high failure rates. An inward flow of air is maintained in the active cells. The discharged air passes through a filter cell where remote damper operation filter changing and maintenance is carried out by means of a PAR3000 manipulator. A Nuclear Engineered Advanced Teleoperated Robot (Neater) swabs the vitrified product container to ensure cleanliness before storage. There is a significant arising of solid radioactive waste from replaced in-cell items which undergoes sorting and size reduction in a breakdown cell equipped with a large reciprocating saw and a hydraulic shear. Improvements to the remote handling facilities made in the light of operational experience are described. (UK)

A concept of unmanned aerial vehicles in amphibious operations

OpenAIRE

Collins, Kipp A.

1993-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. The purpose of this thesis was to perform a conceptual study of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in amphibious operations. It focused on the command relations, tasking and critical problems in UAV amphibious operations. This thesis investigated the question of whether using UAVs at sea is a feasible complement to current amphibious operational doctrine and, if so, then what expense is incurred to assets on which it is embarked an...

Evaluation of sounds for hybrid and electric vehicles operating at low speed

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-22

Electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), operated at low speeds may reduce auditory cues used by pedestrians to assess the state of nearby traffic creating a safety issue. This field study compares the auditory detectability of num...

Remote Sensing-based Models of Soil Vulnerability to Compaction and Erosion from Off-highway Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Villarreal, M. L.; Webb, R. H.; Norman, L.; Psillas, J.; Rosenberg, A.; Carmichael, S.; Petrakis, R.; Sparks, P.

2014-12-01

Intensive off-road vehicle use for immigration, smuggling, and security of the United States-Mexico border has prompted concerns about long-term human impacts on sensitive desert ecosystems. To help managers identify areas susceptible to soil erosion from vehicle disturbances, we developed a series of erosion potential models based on factors from the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), with particular focus on the management factor (P-factor) and vegetation cover (C-factor). To better express the vulnerability of soils to human disturbances, a soil compaction index (applied as the P-factor) was calculated as the difference in saturated hydrologic conductivity (Ks) between disturbed and undisturbed soils, which was then scaled up to remote sensing-based maps of vehicle tracks and digital soils maps. The C-factor was improved using a satellite-based vegetation index, which was better correlated with estimated ground cover (r2 = 0.77) than data derived from regional land cover maps (r2 = 0.06). RUSLE factors were normalized to give equal weight to all contributing factors, which provided more management-specific information on vulnerable areas where vehicle compaction of sensitive soils intersects with steep slopes and low vegetation cover. Resulting spatial data on vulnerability and erosion potential provide land managers with information to identify critically disturbed areas and potential restoration sites where off-road driving should be restricted to reduce further degradation.

An Operation Control Strategy for the Connected Maglev Trains Based on Vehicle-Borne Battery Condition Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenjing Zhang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Vehicle-borne battery condition is an important factor affecting the efficiency of the maglev train operation and other connected ones. To effectively eliminate the influence of the battery condition and improve the operation efficiency of the connected maglev trains, an operation control strategy is proposed to guarantee train operation safety. First, based on Internet of Things, a sensor network is designed to monitor vehicle-borne battery condition in each vehicle of the train. Second, the train Operation Control System collects battery data of all vehicles in a maglev train by Train Communication Network. Third, all connected maglev trains share the battery data via a 38 GHz directional Radio Communication System and adjust operation control strategy accordingly. Simulation results indicate that the proposed strategy can guarantee the operation safety of the connected maglev trains.

Remote Operation and Maintenance Demonstration Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgess, T.W.

1986-01-01

The Remote Operation and Maintenance Demonstration (ROMD) Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been developed by the Consolidated Fuel Reprocessing Program to demonstrate remote handling concepts on advanced nuclear fuel reprocessing equipment and for other programs of national interest. The ROMD facility is a large-volume high-bay area that encloses a complete, technologically advanced remote maintenance system and full-scale development reprocessing equipment. The maintenance system consists of a full complement of teleoperated manipulators, manipulator transport systems, and overhead hoists that provide the capability of performing a large variety of remote handling tasks. This system has been used to demonstrate remote manipulation techniques for the US Department of Energy (DOE), the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuels Development Corporation of Japan, the US Navy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Extensive tests of manipulative systems and remote maintainability of process equipment have been performed. This paper describes the ROMD facility and key remote maintenance equipment and presents a summary of major experimental activities. 7 refs., 6 figs

Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program, Site Operator Program. Quarterly progress report, January--March 1996

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francfort, J.E. [Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Co., Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Bassett, R.R. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Briasco, S. [Los Angeles City Dept. of Water and Power, CA (United States)] [and others

1996-08-01

Goals of the site operator program include field evaluation of electric vehicles (EVs) in real-world applications and environments, advancement of electric vehicle technologies, development of infrastructure elements necessary to support significant EV use, and increasing the awareness and acceptance of EVs by the public. The site operator program currently consists of 11 participants under contract and two other organizations with data-sharing agreements with the program. The participants (electric utilities, academic institutions, Federal agencies) are geographically dispersed within US and their vehicles see a broad spectrum of service conditions. Current EV inventories of the site operators exceeds 250 vehicles. Several national organizations have joined DOE to further the introduction and awareness of EVs, including: (1) EVAmerica (a utility program) and DOE conduct performance and evaluation tests to support market development for EVs; (2) DOE, DOT, the Electric Transportation Coalition, and the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas are conducting a series of workshops to encourage urban groups in Clean Cities (a DOE program) to initiate the policies and infrastructure development necessary to support large-scale demonstrations, and ultimately the mass market use, of EVs. Current focus of the program is collection and dissemination of EV operations and performance data to aid in the evaluation of real- world EV use. This report contains several sections with vehicle evaluation as a focus: EV testing results, energy economics of EVs, and site operators activities.

Benefit of an operating vehicle preventing peritonitis in peritoneal dialysis patients: a retrospective, case-controlled study.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Pan; Lu, Jia; Liu, Ying-Hong; Deng, Hong-Mei; Zhang, Lei; Zhang, Hong-Qing

2018-06-01

Peritonitis, which is one of the leading complications of peritoneal dialysis (PD) worldwide, severely affected morbidity and mortality of the PD patients. Although many efforts have been made to prevent PD-related peritonitis, it seems impossible to prevent it completely. Many causes have been reported to lead to peritonitis, and contamination during bag exchange is one of the important risk factors for peritonitis. Here, we introduce an operating vehicle, which we invented to provide a sterile and safe space for bag exchange. A single-center, retrospective, case-control study was undertaken to determine whether this operating vehicle has a protective role in preventing peritonitis. In total, 462 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients were included in this study from October 2014 to March 2017. According to their personal will, these patients chose to use operating vehicle or traditional method during their bag exchange. The demographic, clinical and laboratory data of these patients in the two groups were collected, analyzed and compared. Of 462 patients with home dialysis, operating vehicle group consisted of 61 patients, and control group consisted of 401 patients. In the control group, over 677 patient-years, peritonitis occurred in 69 of 401 patients (17.2%), while in the operating vehicle group, over 60 patient-years, only 4 of 61 patients (6.6%) had episodes of peritonitis. The number of patients suffered from peritonitis was significantly decreased in the operating vehicle group (P = 0.034). Besides, there were a total of 99 episodes of peritonitis, and the rate was 1 episode every 7.2 patient-years in control group and 1 episode every 12 patient-years in the operating vehicle group. There was significant difference between the two groups (0.013). Positive dialysate cultures were obtained in majority of the peritonitis episodes (60.6%). Operating vehicle might help to reduce PD-related peritonitis by preventing contamination during bag

Remotely operated excavator needs assessment/site visit summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Straub, J.; Haller, S.; Worsley, R. [Westinghouse Environmental Management Co. of Ohio, Cincinnati, OH (United States); King, M. [THETA Technology Inc. (United States)

1992-12-02

The Uranium in Soils Integrated Demonstration requested an assessment of soil excavation needs relative to soil remediation. The following list identifies the DOE sites assessed: Mound Laboratory, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Nevada Test Site, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Rocky Flats Plant, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Hanford Site, and Fernald Site. The reviewed sites fall into one or more of the following three categories: production, EPA National Priorities List, or CERCLA (superfund) designation. Only three of the sites appear to have the need for a remotely operated excavator rope. Hanford and Idaho Falls have areas of high-level radioactive contamination either buried or in/under buildings. The Fernald site has a need for remote operated equipment of different types. It is their feeling that remote equipment can be used to remove the health dangers to humans by removing them from the area. Most interviewees stated that characterization technologies needs are more immediate concern over excavation. In addition, the sites do not have similar geographic conditions which would aid in the development of a generic precision excavator. The sites visited were not ready to utilize or provide the required design information necessary to draft a performance specification. This creates a strong case against the development of one type of ROPE for use at these sites. Assuming soil characterization technology/methodology is improved sufficiently to allow accurate and real time field characterization then development of a precision excavator might be pursued based on FEMP needs, since the FEMP`s sole scope of work is remediation. The excavator could then be used/tested and then later modified for other sites as warranted.

Reduce operational cost and extend the life of pipeline infrastructure by automating remote cathodic protection systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosado, Elroy [Freewave Technologies, Inc., Boulder, CO (United States). Latin America

2009-07-01

Energy and Pipeline Companies wrestle to control operating costs largely affected by new government regulations, ageing buried metal assets, rising steel prices, expanding pipeline operations, new interference points, HCA encroachment, restrictive land use policies, heightened network security, and an ageing soon-to-retire work force. With operating costs on the rise, seemingly out of control, many CP and Operations Professionals look to past best practices in cost containment through automation. Many companies achieve solid business results through deployment of telemetry and SCADA automation of remote assets and now hope to expand this success to further optimize operations by automating remote cathodic protection systems. This presentation will provide examples of how new remote cathodic protection systems are helping energy and pipeline companies address the growing issue of the aging pipeline infrastructure and reduce their costs while optimizing their operations. (author)

History of remote operations and robotics in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herndon, J.N.

1992-01-01

The field of remote technology is continuing to evolve to support man's efforts to perform tasks in hostile environments. Remote technology has roots which reach into the early history of man. Fireplace pokers, blacksmith's tongs, and periscopes are examples of the beginnings of remote technology. The technology which we recognize today has evolved over the last 45-plus years to support human operations in hostile environments such as nuclear fission and fusion, space, underwater, hazardous chemical, and hazardous manufacturing. The four major categories of approach to remote technology have been (1) protective clothing and equipment for direct human entry, (2) extended reach tools using distance for safety, (3) telemanipulators with barriers for safety, and (4) teleoperators incorporating mobility with distance and/or barriers for safety. The government and commercial nuclear industry has driven the development of the majority of the actual teleoperator hardware available today. This hardware has been developed due to the unsatisfactory performance of the protective-clothing approach in many hostile applications. Systems which have been developed include crane/impact wrench systems, unilateral power manipulators, mechanical master/slaves, and servomanipulators. Work for space applications has been primarily research oriented with few successful space applications, although the shuttle's remote manipulator system has been successful. In the last decade, underwater applications have moved forward significantly, with the offshore oil industry and military applications providing the primary impetus. This document consists of viewgraphs and subtitled figures

DEVELOPMENT OF A GEOGRAPHIC VISUALIZATION AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS (GVCS) FOR MONITORING REMOTE VEHICLES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

COLEMAN, P.; DUNCAN, M.; DURFEE, R.C.; GOELTZ, R; HARRISON, G.; HODGSON, M.E.; KOOK, M.; MCCLAIN, S.

1998-03-30

The purpose of this project is to integrate a variety of geographic information systems capabilities and telecommunication technologies for potential use in geographic network and visualization applications. The specific technical goals of the project were to design, develop, and simulate the components of an audio/visual geographic communications system to aid future real-time monitoring, mapping and managing of transport vehicles. The system components of this feasibility study are collectively referred to as a Geographic Visualization and Communications System (GVCS). State-of-the-art techniques will be used and developed to allow both the vehicle operator and network manager to monitor the location and surrounding environment of a transport vehicle during shipment.

Conceptual design report for a remotely operated cask handling system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yount, J.A.; Berger, J.D.

Recent advances in remote handling utilizing commercial robotics are conceptually applied to the problem of lowering operator cumulative dose and increasing throughput during cask handling operations in proposed nuclear waste container shipping and receiving facilities. The functional criteria for each subsystem are defined, and candidate systems are described. The report also contains a generic description of a waste receiving facility, to show possible deployment configurations for the equipment

Human machine interface to manually drive rhombic like vehicles such as transport casks in ITER

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lopes, Pedro; Vale, Alberto [Instituto de Plasmas e Fusao Nuclear, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Ventura, Rodrigo [Institute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal)

2015-07-01

The Cask and Plug Remote Handling System (CPRHS) and the respective Cask Transfer System (CTS) are designed to transport activated components between the reactor and the hot cell buildings of ITER during maintenance operations. In nominal operation, the CPRHS/CTS shall operate autonomously under human supervision. However, in some unexpected situations, the automatic mode must be overridden and the vehicle must be remotely guided by a human operator due to the harsh conditions of the environment. The CPRHS/CTS is a rhombic-like vehicle with two independent steerable and drivable wheels along its longitudinal axis, giving it omni-directional capabilities. During manual guidance, the human operator has to deal with four degrees of freedom, namely the orientations and speeds of two wheels. This work proposes a Human Machine Interface (HMI) to manage the degrees of freedom and to remotely guide the CPRHS/CTS in ITER taking the most advantages of rhombic like capabilities. Previous work was done to drive each wheel independently, i.e., control the orientation and speed of each wheel independently. The results have shown that the proposed solution is inefficient. The attention of the human operator becomes focused in a single wheel. In addition, the proposed solution cannot assure that the commands accomplish the physical constrains of the vehicle, resulting in slippage or even in clashes. This work proposes a solution that consists in the control of the vehicle looking at the position of its center of mass and its heading in the world frame. The solution is implemented using a rotational disk to control the vehicle heading and a common analogue joystick to control the vector speed of the center of the mass of the vehicle. The number of degrees of freedom reduces to three, i.e., two angles (vehicle heading and the orientation of the vector speed) and a scalar (the magnitude of the speed vector). This is possible using a kinematic model based on the vehicle Instantaneous

Human machine interface to manually drive rhombic like vehicles such as transport casks in ITER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopes, Pedro; Vale, Alberto; Ventura, Rodrigo

2015-01-01

The Cask and Plug Remote Handling System (CPRHS) and the respective Cask Transfer System (CTS) are designed to transport activated components between the reactor and the hot cell buildings of ITER during maintenance operations. In nominal operation, the CPRHS/CTS shall operate autonomously under human supervision. However, in some unexpected situations, the automatic mode must be overridden and the vehicle must be remotely guided by a human operator due to the harsh conditions of the environment. The CPRHS/CTS is a rhombic-like vehicle with two independent steerable and drivable wheels along its longitudinal axis, giving it omni-directional capabilities. During manual guidance, the human operator has to deal with four degrees of freedom, namely the orientations and speeds of two wheels. This work proposes a Human Machine Interface (HMI) to manage the degrees of freedom and to remotely guide the CPRHS/CTS in ITER taking the most advantages of rhombic like capabilities. Previous work was done to drive each wheel independently, i.e., control the orientation and speed of each wheel independently. The results have shown that the proposed solution is inefficient. The attention of the human operator becomes focused in a single wheel. In addition, the proposed solution cannot assure that the commands accomplish the physical constrains of the vehicle, resulting in slippage or even in clashes. This work proposes a solution that consists in the control of the vehicle looking at the position of its center of mass and its heading in the world frame. The solution is implemented using a rotational disk to control the vehicle heading and a common analogue joystick to control the vector speed of the center of the mass of the vehicle. The number of degrees of freedom reduces to three, i.e., two angles (vehicle heading and the orientation of the vector speed) and a scalar (the magnitude of the speed vector). This is possible using a kinematic model based on the vehicle Instantaneous

How to Commission, Operate and Maintain a Large Future Accelerator Complex From Far Remote Sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phinney, Nan

2001-01-01

A study on future large accelerators [1] has considered a facility, which is designed, built and operated by a worldwide collaboration of equal partner institutions, and which is remote from most of these institutions. The full range of operation was considered including commissioning, machine development, maintenance, trouble shooting and repair. Experience from existing accelerators confirms that most of these activities are already performed remotely. The large high-energy physics experiments and astronomy projects, already involve international collaborations of distant institutions. Based on this experience, the prospects for a machine operated remotely from far sites are encouraging. Experts from each laboratory would remain at their home institution but continue to participate in the operation of the machine after construction. Experts are required to be on site only during initial commissioning and for particularly difficult problems. Repairs require an on-site non-expert maintenance crew. Most of the interventions can be made without an expert and many of the rest resolved with remote assistance. There appears to be no technical obstacle to controlling an accelerator from a distance. The major challenge is to solve the complex management and communication problems

How to Commission, Operate and Maintain a Large Future Accelerator Complex From Far Remote Sites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Phinney, Nan

2001-12-07

A study on future large accelerators [1] has considered a facility, which is designed, built and operated by a worldwide collaboration of equal partner institutions, and which is remote from most of these institutions. The full range of operation was considered including commissioning, machine development, maintenance, troubleshooting and repair. Experience from existing accelerators confirms that most of these activities are already performed 'remotely'. The large high-energy physics experiments and astronomy projects, already involve international collaborations of distant institutions. Based on this experience, the prospects for a machine operated remotely from far sites are encouraging. Experts from each laboratory would remain at their home institution but continue to participate in the operation of the machine after construction. Experts are required to be on site only during initial commissioning and for particularly difficult problems. Repairs require an on-site non-expert maintenance crew. Most of the interventions can be made without an expert and many of the rest resolved with remote assistance. There appears to be no technical obstacle to controlling an accelerator from a distance. The major challenge is to solve the complex management and communication problems.

Evaluating the Interference of Bicycle Traffic on Vehicle Operation on Urban Streets with Bike Lanes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ziyuan Pu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Many urban streets are designed with on-street bike lanes to provide right-of-way for bicycle traffic. However, when bicycle flow is large, extensive passing maneuvers could occupy vehicle lanes and thus cause interferences to vehicle traffic. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate how bicycle traffic affects vehicle operation on urban streets with bike lanes. Data were collected on six street segments in Nanjing, China. The cumulative curves were constructed to extract traffic flow information including individual bicycle and vehicle speeds and aggregated traffic parameters such as flow and density. The results showed that as bicycle density on bike lanes continuously increases faster bicycles may run into vehicle lanes causing considerable reductions in vehicle speeds. A generalized linear model was estimated to predict the vehicle delay. Results showed that vehicle delay increases as bicycle flow and vehicle flow increase. Number of vehicle lanes and width of bike lane also have significant impact on vehicle delay. Findings of the study are helpful to regions around the world in bike infrastructure design in order to improve operations of both bicycles and vehicles.

Vehicle for transporting instruments for testing against a wall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyde, E.A.; Goldsmith, H.A.; Proudlove, M.J.

1981-01-01

This invention relates to a non-destructive testing apparatus and, in particular, to a vehicle that can be moved at will, for transporting instruments for testing against a surface remote from the operator. Under this invention a vehicle is intended, for instance, for testing the vessel of an installation containing a liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor of the pond type. Such an installation includes a nuclear reactor comprising an assembly containing a nuclear fuel immersed in a pond of liquid metal coolant, located in a vessel which is itself placed in a concrete containment vessel [fr

Wireless Control of Miniaturized Mobile Vehicle for Indoor Surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saquib, Syed M Taha; Hameed, Sarmad; Jafri, Raza; Usman Ali, Syed M; Amin, Imran

2013-01-01

This work is based upon electronic automation and Smart Control techniques, which constitute the basis of Control Area Network (CAN) and Personal Area Network (PAN). Bluetooth technology has been interfaced with a programmable controller to provide multi-dimensional vehicle control. A network is proposed which contains a remote, mobile host controller and an android operating system based mobile set (Client). The client communicates with a host controller through a Bluetooth device. The system incorporates duplex communication after successful confirmation between the host and the client; the android based mobile unit controls the vehicle through the Bluetooth module

Operating a wide-area remote observing system for the W. M. Keck Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Wirth, Gregory D.; Kibrick, Robert I.; Goodrich, Robert W.; Lyke, James E.

2008-07-01

For over a decade, the W. M. Keck Observatory's two 10-meter telescopes have been operated remotely from its Waimea headquarters. Over the last 6 years, WMKO remote observing has expanded to allow teams at dedicated sites in California to observe either in collaboration with colleagues in Waimea or entirely from the U.S. mainland. Once an experimental effort, the Observatory's mainland observing capability is now fully operational, supported on all science instruments (except the interferometer) and regularly used by astronomers at eight mainland sites. Establishing a convenient and secure observing capability from those sites required careful planning to ensure that they are properly equipped and configured. It also entailed a significant investment in hardware and software, including both custom scripts to simplify launching the instrument interface at remote sites and automated routers employing ISDN backup lines to ensure continuation of observing during Internet outages. Observers often wait until shortly before their runs to request use of the mainland facilities. Scheduling these requests and ensuring proper system operation prior to observing requires close coordination between personnel at WMKO and the mainland sites. An established protocol for approving requests and carrying out pre-run checkout has proven useful in ensuring success. The Observatory anticipates enhancing and expanding its remote observing system. Future plans include deploying dedicated summit computers for running VNC server software, implementing a web-based tracking system for mainland-based observing requests, expanding the system to additional mainland sites, and converting to full-time VNC operation for all instruments.

Synthetic viewing: comprehensive work representation, making remote work clearer to the operator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leinemann, K.; Katz, F.; Knueppel, H.; Olbrich, W.; Maisonnier, D.

1995-01-01

Maintenance work in fusion plants such as the ITER plant will be carried out fully remotely, without any direct view on to the work scene. The basic sources of information about the state of the work are video monitors. In a first development step, this viewing channel was enhanced by three-dimensional computer graphics controlled by signals of motion sensors (such as joint angle sensors) of the real maintenance devices. However, experience has shown that more information is required about the status of all pieces of equipment involved and about the status of the entire handling task, if the work is to be done properly. Viewing for remote handling applications needs to include the display of such status information in a suitable form. Of special importance in this sense is the representation of the work procedures on the computer display, enabling the operator to grasp at a glance the actual state of the work and the details about the subtask to be executed next. The tool providing this ''synthetic'' viewing but also task-suited to planning, training and controlling support for the operator is the remote handling workstation. The prototype of a remote handling workstation was successfully used in the first complete Karlsruhe experiment for in-torus handling. (orig.)

Particle number and particulate mass emissions of heavy duty vehicles in real operating conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rymaniak Lukasz

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article investigates the issue of PM emissions from HDV vehicles. The theoretical part discusses the problem of emission of this toxic compound in terms of particle structure taking into account the mass and dimensions of PM. Next, the methodology of the research and the results of the measurements performed under the conditions of actual operation were presented. The test drive routes were chosen in accordance with the operational purpose of the selected test vehicles. Two heavy vehicles were used for the study: a tractor with trailer and an eighteen meter long city bus. The test vehicles complied with the Euro V standard, with the second vehicle additionally complying with the EEV standard and being equipped with a DPF. The analysis of the research results was performed in the aspect of determining the operating time densities of vehicles and their drive systems as well as defining their emission characteristics and ecological indicators. PM and PN emissions were measured in the tests and particle size distribution was determined. It was shown that the exhaust gas after treatment system used in the city bus had a positive influence on the ecological indicators and had contributed to the reduction of PN emissions for heavier particles.

Design and operation of remote maintenance systems in JET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raimondi, T.

1987-01-01

The JET tokamak is a joint European project aimed at proving the viability of nuclear fusion as a source of energy. A remote handling system is being developed for this large experimental facility. Force feedback servomanipulators and TV cameras are positioned at work locations by large transporters. Positioning and tele-operation are computer-assisted. Special tools are being devised to facilitate difficult tasks

Design and operation of a remotely operated plutonium waste size reduction and material handling process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, J.A. III; Charlesworth, D.L.

1986-01-01

Noncombustible 238 Pu and 239 Pu waste is generated as a result of normal operation and decommissioning activity at the Savannah River Plant, and is being retrievably stored there. As part of the long-term plant to process the stored waste and current waste for permanent disposal, a remote size reduction and material handling process is being cold-tested at Savannah River Laboratory. The process consists of a large, low-speed shredder and material handling system, a remote worktable, a bagless transfer system, and a robotically controlled manipulator. Initial testing of the shredder and material handling system and a cycle test of the bagless transfer system has been completed. Fabrication and acceptance testing of the Telerobat, a robotically controlled manipulator has been completed. Testing is scheduled to begin in 3/86. Design features maximizing the ability to remotely maintain the equipment were incorporated. Complete cold-testing of the equipment is scheduled to be completed in 1987

Remotely controlled inspection and handling systems for decommissioning tasks in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schreck, G.; Bach, W.; Haferkamp, H.

1993-01-01

The Institut fur Werkstoffkunde at the University of Hanover has recently developed three remotely controlled systems for different underwater inspection and dismantling tasks. ODIN I is a tool guiding device, particularly being designed for the dismantling of the steam dryer housing of the KRB A power plant at Gundremmingen, Germany. After being approved by the licencing organization TUEV Bayern, hot operation started in November 1992. The seven axes remotely controlled handling system ZEUS, consisting of a three translatory axes guiding machine and a tool handling device with four rotatory axes, has been developed for the demonstration of underwater plasma arc cutting of spherical metallic components with great wall thicknesses. A specially designed twin sensor system and a modular torch, exchanged by means of a remote controlled tool changing device, will be used for different complex cutting tasks. FAUST, an autonomous, freediving underwater vehicle, was designed for complex inspection, maintenance and dismantling tasks. It is equipped with two video cameras, an ultrasonic and a radiologic sensor and a small plasma torch. A gripper and a subsidiary vehicle for inspection may be attached. (author)

Teleoperación de un vehículo remoto en un medio de acceso inalámbrico mediante el uso de una interfaz háptica Remote vehicle teleoperation through a haptic interface

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arys Carrasquilla Batista

2012-11-01

Full Text Available La teleoperación permite que el ser humano pueda llevar a cabo ciertas tareas en lugares muy lejanos, de difícil acceso o de condiciones hostiles para la presencia de un operador. Con este proyecto se logró teleoperar un vehículo remoto por medio del protocolo de comunicación Bluetooth, para lo cual se adaptó una interfaz háptica (Novint Falcon. Desde la interfaz, el operador puede enviar la consigna de movimiento y, además, obtener sensaciones conforme a la información de los sensores incluidos al sistema. Como vehículo remoto se utilizó un Lego Mindstorms con capacidad de comunicación Bluetooth, al cual se incorporó un sensor de contacto y otro de ultrasonido con el fin de percibir en la interfaz háptica la retroalimentación de fuerzas. A una computadora estándar se le dio capacidad de comunicación Bluetooth por medio de un adaptador USB, desde la cual se ejecuta un programa creado en C++ para controlar las acciones de la interfaz háptica, enviar los comandos de movimiento al vehículo y recibir la información de los sensores, la cual reproduce sensaciones al operador.Teleoperation allows human beings to carry out certain tasks in places far away, inaccessible or with hostile conditions for the presence of an operator. In this project a remote vehicle is teleoperated using a bluetooth wireless connection, to accomplish this an haptic interface (Novint Falcon was used. The operator can give movement instructions to the vehicle and obtain sensations, according to the information received from the sensors connected to the system. The remote vehicle was a Lego Mindstorms with bluetooth communication capabilities, a touch sensor and ultrasonic sensor were included in order to perceive reflection of forces through the haptic interface. A USB adapter for bluetooth communication was added to a standard computer; a program in C++ is executed over this computer to control the haptic interface, send movement commands to the vehicle and

Kinesthetic coupling between operator and remote manipulator

Science.gov (United States)

Bejczy, A. K.; Salisbury, J. K., Jr.

1980-01-01

A universal force-reflecting hand controller has been developed which allows the establishment of a kinesthetic coupling between the operator and a remote manipulator. The six-degree-of-freedom controller was designed to generate forces and torques on its three positional and three rotational axes in order to permit the operator to accurately feel the forces encountered by the manipulator and be as transparent to operate as possible. The universal controller has been used in an application involving a six-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm equipped with a six-dimensional force-torque sensor at its base. In this application, the hand controller acts as a position control input device to the arm, while forces and torques sensed at the base of the mechanical hand back drive the hand controller. The positional control relation and the back driving of the controller according to inputs experienced by the force-torque sensor are established through complex mathematical transformations performed by a minicomputer. The hand controller is intended as a development tool for investigating force-reflecting master-slave manipulator control technology.

14 CFR 431.43 - Reusable launch vehicle mission operational requirements and restrictions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... vehicle poses risk to public health and safety and the safety of property in excess of acceptable flight... energy; and (4) Vehicle safety operations personnel shall adhere to the following work and rest standards: (i) A maximum 12-hour work shift with at least 8 hours of rest after 12 hours of work, preceding...

Implementation of a Digital Mock-up for Remote Hot cell Operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Hee Seong; Park, Byung Suk; Kim, Sung Hyun; Kim, Ki Ho; Kim, Ho Dong

2010-01-01

A remote manipulation environment that a human operator has to observe is the inner side of a hotcell through a lead grass window which has many obstacles due to many existing 'blind-spots' where are several cameras installed. The lack of visual information when operating in a cluttered environment makes manoeuvering a manipulator very difficult and when this situation is exacerbated by strict time limits for a task completion, then a manipulator and environmental collisions and resultant damage can occur. To cope with these problems, there has been efforts to develop a virtual simulator to validate control programs visually and to establish maintainability-engineering tools that automate generation assembly/disassembly procedures by using Computer Aided Design(CAD) visualization systems with human figure models to virtual reality systems where engineers can interact with the system using virtual input devices. This article introduces a system that can simulate a deployment analysis on a digital mock-up effectively and proposes a scheme to enable an operator to improve a remote manipulation by using a haptic device

DESIGN OF A REAL TIME REMOTE VEHICLE LOCATION SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmet Emir DİRİK

2004-02-01

Full Text Available In this study, a low-cost, real-time vehicle location system is developed. The vehicle location system includes three main modules, i.e. positioning, wireless communication and digital map modules. The positioning module used in location systems computes position of the mobile vehicle. These vehicle location data are transmitted through a wireless communication system to host. The host has a capability to monitor a fleet of vehicles by analyzing data collected from wireless communication system. In this project, mobile vehicle location positions can be computed in a range of 10m position error and by using these position data, its possible to monitor the fleet of mobile vehicles on a digital map in the observation and control center. In this study, vehicle analog mobile radios are used to establish wireless communication system. Thus, there is no need to use satellite or GSM systems for communication and a low-cost and high-performance vehicle location system is realized.

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.

Continuous Water Vapor Profiles from Operational Ground-Based Active and Passive Remote Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, D. D.; Feltz, W. F.; Ferrare, R. A.

2000-01-01

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program's Southern Great Plains Cloud and Radiation Testbed site central facility near Lamont, Oklahoma, offers unique operational water vapor profiling capabilities, including active and passive remote sensors as well as traditional in situ radiosonde measurements. Remote sensing technologies include an automated Raman lidar and an automated Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI), which are able to retrieve water vapor profiles operationally through the lower troposphere throughout the diurnal cycle. Comparisons of these two water vapor remote sensing methods to each other and to radiosondes over an 8-month period are presented and discussed, highlighting the accuracy and limitations of each method. Additionally, the AERI is able to retrieve profiles of temperature while the Raman lidar is able to retrieve aerosol extinction profiles operationally. These data, coupled with hourly wind profiles from a 915-MHz wind profiler, provide complete specification of the state of the atmosphere in noncloudy skies. Several case studies illustrate the utility of these high temporal resolution measurements in the characterization of mesoscale features within a 3-day time period in which passage of a dryline, warm air advection, and cold front occurred.

Remotely operated facility for in situ solidification of fissile uranium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGinnis, C.P.; Collins, E.D.; Patton, B.D.

1986-01-01

A heavily shielded, remotely operated facility, located within the Radiochemical processing Plant at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been designed and is being operated to convert approx.1000 kg of fissile uranium (containing approx.75% 235 U, approx.10% 233 U, and approx.140 ppM 232 U) from a nitrate solution (130 g of uranium per L) to a solid oxide form. This project, the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Program (CEUSP), is being carried out in order to prepare a stable uranium form for longterm storage. This paper describes the solidification process selected, the equipment and facilities required, the experimental work performed to ensure successful operation, some problems that were solved, and the initial operations

Hydrogen and Hydrogen/Natural Gas Station and Vehicle Operations - 2006 Summary Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francfort; Donald Karner; Roberta Brayer

2006-09-01

This report is a summary of the operations and testing of internal combustion engine vehicles that were fueled with 100% hydrogen and various blends of hydrogen and compressed natural gas (HCNG). It summarizes the operations of the Arizona Public Service Alternative Fuel Pilot Plant, which produces, compresses, and dispenses hydrogen fuel. Other testing activities, such as the destructive testing of a CNG storage cylinder that was used for HCNG storage, are also discussed. This report highlights some of the latest technology developments in the use of 100% hydrogen fuels in internal combustion engine vehicles. Reports are referenced and WWW locations noted as a guide for the reader that desires more detailed information. These activities are conducted by Arizona Public Service, Electric Transportation Applications, the Idaho National Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity.

Remote-automation of nuclear power plant equipment inspection and maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sasaki, Masayoshi; Kawamura, Hironobu; Nakano, Yoshiyuki; Izumi, Shigeru.

1984-01-01

The remotely operated automation of the checkup and maintenance of nuclear power generation facilities has largely contributed to the rise of capacity ratio of plants due to the shortening of regular inspection period and to the reduction of radiation exposure dose during working, the labor saving in working and so on. In this paper, the new technologies adopted in an automatic fuel exchanger, a remotely operated automatic CRD exchanger, a new type channel handling machine, pressure-withstanding main steam line plugs and so on for No.2 plant in the Fukushima No.2 Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., are reported. Besides, the state of development of new remotely operated automatic machines for nuclear power use, such as CRD disassembling and cleaning device, volume reduction equipment for spent fuel channel boxes and control rods, multi-functional robots for use under high radiation and so on is described. Also the trend of development of latest robot technology which will be put in practical use in near future is outlined, such as a running manipulator for checkup and inspection, a variable form crawler vehicle and a five-leg movable manipulator. (Kako, I.)

ROV: improving remotely operated vehicle (ROV) intervention capabilities for blowout preventer override systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lazar, Stephen [Christopher S. Mancini, Tomball, TX (United States)

2012-07-01

Events during 2010 have focused attention on increased ROV/BOP Intervention capabilities and standardization of BOP/ROV interfaces in the oil and gas offshore industry. Currently no enforced set standards for ROV intervention panels or manifold types for use on BOP Override systems are specified. The industry offers multiple configurations at present. This abstract will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the various configurations in existence, trending toward suggested industry standards taking shape as requirements in the near term. Standards for the offshore industry or a set specification must be made to increase safety and functionality of BOP control systems. To date, ROV override capabilities have been added to existing engineered BOP systems. BOP designed closing times were not a critical consideration, only that the access was there to allow for ROV override. Increased ROV flow and pressure capabilities: no current minimum flow requirements for Emergency BOP Override pumps are established. Based on stack valving and configuration, a minimum, 7 gpm may be required to shift valving fully to allow BOP operator function. IADC/API minimum requirements may be proposed at 10 gpm at 3000psi. Based on shear pressures exceeding 3000psi, pressures of 5000psi should be considered. Current intervention skids/pump capabilities will be required if ROVs must achieve API 16D BOP minimum closing times. Remote or isolated accumulation for increased intervention capabilities offers possibilities when ANY ROV of opportunity can trigger a function (such as small inspection type ROVs). Increased volumes will be required. This is critical in functioning stack rams with an ROV of opportunity to achieve API 16D closing times. We now understand that higher flows and pressures are required along with standardization of stab types. Current recommendations: API 17H Hi-Flow manifolds should be added to essential ROV overrides. ROV skids will have a minimum requirement of 10gpm

Remote operated systems for the management of nuclear processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popa, I.

1997-01-01

The paper shortly presents the remote techniques and systems used regularly for the management of nuclear processes according to the variability and complexity of human operations and to the degree of automation. The paper contains a synthesis of the evolution of remote operating systems and advances the model of an adaptive and self-adaptive expert-robot equipment which is a very complex equipment used for integrated management of nuclear processes. Due to the complexity and variability of the technological operations and environment conditions, none of the techniques and systems presented in the paper do satisfy completely the management of the nuclear technologies as a whole. They must be utilized selectively according to the nature of the actual characteristics of the nuclear process. The expert and expert-robot systems offer a series of advantages among which one can mention: the continuity of the high quality expert's reports, easy extension, the explanation of the decision in detail, the elimination of the routine, the diagnosis of some equipment and process state, forecast of the future behaviour of equipment, processes, market, environment, etc., the multiplying of sources of information, pertinent comparison, the increasing of the performance of the user in general. The expert and expert-robot systems maintain some important drawbacks as: the possibility of taking wrong decision, the difficulty of using information from other expert systems similar to this one at present and not in the least, the high prices. (author)

Analysis of the process related to the operations management of the rail traction vehicles in JSC 'Serbian Railways'

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vukadinović Vojislav

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In the study, issues related to the operations management in railway were elaborated, with special emphasis on the operations management of rail vehicles and main parameters in its activities and in the railway functioning. The analysis of the current status, operation and functioning of the Serbian Railways was also provided, with a special focus on the study of the technical condition regarding exploitation, reliability, and availability of traction vehicles operation which is always actual and particularly important for ensuring the regular and safe functioning of train traffic in all railways in the world as well as in the railway of Serbia. The issue related to the exploitation reliability and availability regarding traction vehicles operation is also being analyzed which is reflected in development of the concept and creation of the methodology for assessment of the technical condition and indicators for determining the level of exploitation reliability, availability of the traction vehicle operation as well as functioning of train traffic and the models related to the operations management of rail traction vehicles.

NET in-vessel vehicle system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, H.

1991-02-01

The CFFTP/Spar In-vessel Vehicle System concept for in-vessel remote maintenance of the NET/ITER machine is described. It comprises a curved deployable boom, a vehicle which can travel on the boom and an end effector or work unit mounted on the vehicle. The stowed boom, vehicle, and work unit are inserted via the equatorial access port of the torus. Following insertion the boom is deployed and locked in place. The vehicle may then travel along the boom to transport the work unit to any desired location. A novel feature of the concept is the deployable boom. When fully deployed, it closely resembles a conventional curved truss structure in configuration and characteristics. However, the joints of the truss structure are hinged so that it can fold into a compact package, of less than 20% of deployed volume for storage, transportation and insertion into the torus. A full-scale 2-metre long section of this boom was produced for demonstration purposes. As part of the concept definition the work unit for divertor handling was studied to demonstrate that large payloads could be manipulated within the confines of the torus using the in-vessel vehicle system. Principal advantages of the IVVS are its high load capacity and rigidity, low weight and stowed volume, simplicity of control and operation, and its relatively high speed of transportation

Magnetically suspended experimental vehicle-strength of structure and dynamic analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nagahiro, T; Terada, K; Kasai, Y; Motonaga, M

1973-06-01

To cope with rapid increase in demand for railroad transportation, studies in magnetically suspended high speed trains are being pushed forward at the Japanese National Railways. Recently a special experimental vehiclc was completed which will be used by JNR in experiments concerning magnetic propulsion and suspension of magnetically suspended high speed trains. This test vehicle is provided with reaction plates of linear induction motor under the floor at about the center of the vehicle, with superconducting magnets for suspension on both sides. The vehicle body is made mainly of high tensile strengthened aluminium (duralumin) for weight reduction, but its strength was checked by the vibration analysis and load tests carried out in the suspended condition. Remote-operated from the control tower, this unmanned test vehicle will provide a key to the completion of a super-high speed magnetically suspended train.

Design and operation of equipment used to develop remote coating capability for HTGR fuel particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suchomel, R.R.; Stinton, D.P.; Preston, M.K.; Heck, J.L.; Bolfing, B.J.; Lackey, W.J.

1978-12-01

Refabrication of HTGR fuels is a manufacturing process that consists of preparation of fuel kernels, application of multiple layers of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide, preparation of fuel rods, and assembly of fuel rods into fuel elements. All the equipment for refabrication of 233 U-containing fuel must be designed for completely remote operation and maintenance in hot-cell facilities. Equipment to remotely coated HTGR fuel particles has been designed and operated. Although not all of the equipment development needed for a fully remote coating system has been completed, significant progress has been made. The most important component of the coating furnace is the gas distributor, which must be simple, reliable, and easily maintainable. Techniques for loading and unloading the coater and handling microspheres have been developed. An engineering-scale system, currently in operation, is being used to verify the workability of these concepts. Coating crucible handling components are used to remove the crucible from the furnace, remove coated particles, and exchange the crucible, if necessary. After the batch of particles has been unloaded, it is transferred, weighed, and sampled. The components used in these processes have been tested to ensure that no particle breakage or holdup occurs. Tests of the particle handling system have been very encouraging because no major problems have been encountered. Instrumentation that controls the equipment performed very smoothly and reliably and can be operated remotely

Interinstrument comparison of remote-sensing devices and a new method for calculating on-road nitrogen oxides emissions and validation of vehicle-specific power.

Science.gov (United States)

Rushton, Christopher E; Tate, James E; Shepherd, Simon P; Carslaw, David C

2018-02-01

Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by vehicles in real driving environments are only partially understood. This has been brought to the attention of the world with recent revelations of the cheating of the type of approval tests exposed in the dieselgate scandal. Remote-sensing devices offer investigators an opportunity to directly measure in situ real driving emissions of tens of thousands of vehicles. Remote-sensing NO 2 measurements are not as widely available as would be desirable. The aim of this study is to improve the ability of investigators to estimate the NO 2 emissions and to improve the confidence of the total NOx results calculated from standard remote-sensing device (RSD) measurements. The accuracy of the RSD speed and acceleration module was also validated using state-of-the-art onboard global positioning system (GPS) tracking. Two RSDs used in roadside vehicle emissions surveys were tested side by side under off-carriageway conditions away from transient pollution sources to ascertain the consistency of their measurements. The speed correlation was consistent across the range of measurements at 95% confidence and the acceleration correlation was consistent at 95% confidence intervals for all but the most extreme acceleration cases. VSP was consistent at 95% confidence across all measurements except for those at VSP ≥ 15 kW t -1 , which show a small underestimate. The controlled distribution gas nitric oxide measurements follow a normal distribution with 2σ equal to 18.9% of the mean, compared to 15% observed during factory calibration indicative of additional error introduced into the system. Systematic errors of +84 ppm were observed but within the tolerance of the control gas. Interinstrument correlation was performed, with the relationship between the FEAT and the RSD4600 being linear with a gradient of 0.93 and an R 2 of 0.85, indicating good correlation. A new method to calculate NOx emissions using fractional NO 2 combined with NO

Software and hardware developments for remote participation in TJ-II operation. Proof of concept using the NPA diagnostic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez, A.; Vega, J.; Montoro, A.; Sanchez, E.; Encabo, J.; Portas, A.; Balbin, R.; Fontdecaba, J.M.; Jimenez, J.A.; Dies, J.

2002-01-01

The operation protocols for the TJ-II require that all diagnostics be controlled remotely during machine operation. For this reason, most diagnostics have control systems that permit remote actions to be performed on their various subsystems. An Internet browser, which connects to a server where the human machine interfaces (HMIs) for all diagnostics are situated, is used for this. Real time control has been resolved using programmable automates for each diagnostic. Dedicated application software is in operation to provide a user interface for programming digitisers, for signal visualisation and for data processing during TJ-II discharges. This software is an event-based application that can be remotely launched from any X terminal. Other resources provided to users are graphical and computational tools for data analysis, data compression, off-line access to databases, reception of data and its integration in the databases at any moment. Two neutral particle analysers (NPAs) are operating on TJ-II to measure the energy spectra of charge exchange (CX) neutral particles. Protocols require remote control over several actions and subsystems of this diagnostic. With all these tools a proof of the concept of remote participation has being performed during the present experimental campaign. The NPA diagnostic has been operated from UPC-ETSEIB in Barcelona, 600 km of distance from the machine

Experimental evaluation of a co-operative driving setup based on inter-vehicle communication.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hallouzi, R.; Verdult, V.; Hellendoorn, H.; Ploeg, J.

2004-01-01

This paper presents the design and evaluation of a co-operative longitudinal controller for a cluster of vehicles with inter-vehicle communication (IVC). By applying IVC a smooth traffic flow can be realized. The proposed controller can actively control the throttle, the brake and the gears of the

Manipulator system for remote maintenance of fusion experimental reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shibanuma, Kiyoshi; Munakata, Tadashi; Murakami, Shin; Kondoh, Mitsunori.

1991-01-01

We have completed the conceptual design for a rail-mounted vehicle type remote maintenance system for the fusion experimental reactor (FER), which will be the first D-T burning reactor in Japan. We have fabricated a 1/5-scale model and confirmed the feasibility of the design. In this system, a rail is deployed into the vessel and supported at four horizontal ports. A vehicle then moves along the rail and handles in-vessel components with manipulators. The advantages of this concept are the high stiffness and high reliability of the rail, and the high mobility of the vehicle for efficient maintenance operations. In the FER, this concept is considered to be the first option for in-vessel maintenance. This paper describes the conceptual design of the system and the feasibility study using the 1/5-scale model. (author)

Airspace Simulation Through Indoor Operation of Subscale Flight Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — An indoor environment for simulating airspace operations will be designed. Highly maneuverable subscale vehicles can be used to simulate the dynamics of full-scale...

Design and development of remotely operated coolant channel cutting machine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suthar, R.L.; Sinha, A.K.; Srikrishnamurty, G.

1994-01-01

One of the coolant tubes of Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) reactor needs to be removed. To remove a coolant tube, four cutting operations, (liner tube cutting, end-fitting cutting, machining of seal weld of bellow ring and finally coolant tube cutting) are required to be carried out. A remotely operated cutting machine to carry out all these operations has been designed and developed by Central Workshops. This machine is able to cut at the exact location because of numerically controlled axial and radial travel of tool. Only by changing the tool head and tool holder, same machine can be used for various types of cutting/machining operations. This report details the design, manufacture, assembly and testing work done on the machine. (author). 4 figs

Optimization of Fuel Cell System Operating Conditions for Fuel Cell Vehicles

OpenAIRE

Zhao, Hengbing; Burke, Andy

2008-01-01

Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology for use in fuel cell vehicles and other applications has been intensively developed in recent decades. Besides the fuel cell stack, air and fuel control and thermal and water management are major challenges in the development of the fuel cell for vehicle applications. The air supply system can have a major impact on overall system efficiency. In this paper a fuel cell system model for optimizing system operating conditions was developed wh...

Computer control for remote wind turbine operation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manwell, J.F.; Rogers, A.L.; Abdulwahid, U.; Driscoll, J. [Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States)

1997-12-31

Light weight wind turbines located in harsh, remote sites require particularly capable controllers. Based on extensive operation of the original ESI-807 moved to such a location, a much more sophisticated controller than the original one has been developed. This paper describes the design, development and testing of that new controller. The complete control and monitoring system consists of sensor and control inputs, the control computer, control outputs, and additional equipment. The control code was written in Microsoft Visual Basic on a PC type computer. The control code monitors potential faults and allows the turbine to operate in one of eight states: off, start, run, freewheel, low wind shut down, normal wind shutdown, emergency shutdown, and blade parking. The controller also incorporates two {open_quotes}virtual wind turbines,{close_quotes} including a dynamic model of the machine, for code testing. The controller can handle numerous situations for which the original controller was unequipped.

Current and emerging operational uses of remote sensing in Swedish forestry

Science.gov (United States)

Hakan Olsson; Mikael Egberth; Jonas Engberg; Johan E.S. Fransson; Tina Granqvist Pahlen; < i> et al< /i>

2007-01-01

Satellite remote sensing is being used operationally by Swedish authorities in applications involving, for example, change detection of clear felled areas, use of k-Nearest Neighbour estimates of forest parameters, and post-stratification (in combination with National Forest Inventory plots). For forest management planning of estates, aerial...

Software Development for Remote Control and Firing Room Displays

Science.gov (United States)

Zambrano Pena, Jessica

2014-01-01

The Launch Control System (LCS) developed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) will be used to launch future spacecraft. Two of the many components of this system are the Application Control Language (ACL) and remote displays. ACL is a high level domain specific language that is used to write remote control applications for LCS. Remote displays are graphical user interfaces (GUIs) developed to display vehicle and Ground Support Equipment (GSE) data, they also provide the ability to send commands to control GSE and the vehicle. The remote displays and the control applications have many facets and this internship experience dealt with several of them.

Integrated operation of electric vehicles and renewable generation in a smart distribution system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zakariazadeh, Alireza; Jadid, Shahram; Siano, Pierluigi

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The contribution of electric vehicles to provide the reserve capacity is analyzed. • Decentralized energy and reserve scheduling in a distribution system is presented. • The integrated operation of renewable generation and electric vehicles is proposed. - Abstract: Distribution system complexity is increasing mainly due to technological innovation, renewable Distributed Generation (DG) and responsive loads. This complexity makes difficult the monitoring, control and operation of distribution networks for Distribution System Operators (DSOs). In order to cope with this complexity, a novel method for the integrated operational planning of a distribution system is presented in this paper. The method introduces the figure of the aggregator, conceived as an intermediate agent between end-users and DSOs. In the proposed method, energy and reserve scheduling is carried out by both aggregators and DSO. Moreover, Electric Vehicles (EVs) are considered as responsive loads that can participate in ancillary service programs by providing reserve to the system. The efficiency of the proposed method is evaluated on an 84-bus distribution test system. Simulation results show that the integrated scheduling of EVs and renewable generators can mitigate the negative effects related to the uncertainty of renewable generation

Operations and support cost modeling of conceptual space vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ebeling, Charles

1994-01-01

The University of Dayton is pleased to submit this annual report to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center which documents the development of an operations and support (O&S) cost model as part of a larger life cycle cost (LCC) structure. It is intended for use during the conceptual design of new launch vehicles and spacecraft. This research is being conducted under NASA Research Grant NAG-1-1327. This research effort changes the focus from that of the first two years in which a reliability and maintainability model was developed to the initial development of an operations and support life cycle cost model. Cost categories were initially patterned after NASA's three axis work breakdown structure consisting of a configuration axis (vehicle), a function axis, and a cost axis. A revised cost element structure (CES), which is currently under study by NASA, was used to established the basic cost elements used in the model. While the focus of the effort was on operations and maintenance costs and other recurring costs, the computerized model allowed for other cost categories such as RDT&E and production costs to be addressed. Secondary tasks performed concurrent with the development of the costing model included support and upgrades to the reliability and maintainability (R&M) model. The primary result of the current research has been a methodology and a computer implementation of the methodology to provide for timely operations and support cost analysis during the conceptual design activities.

Acoustic water bottom investigation with a remotely operated watercraft survey system

Science.gov (United States)

Yamasaki, Shintaro; Tabusa, Tomonori; Iwasaki, Shunsuke; Hiramatsu, Masahiro

2017-12-01

This paper describes a remotely operated investigation system developed by combining a modern leisure-use fish finder and an unmanned watercraft to survey water bottom topography and other data related to bottom materials. Current leisure-use fish finders have strong depth sounding capabilities and can provide precise sonar images and bathymetric information. Because these sonar instruments are lightweight and small, they can be used on unmanned small watercraft. With the developed system, an operator can direct the heading of an unmanned watercraft and monitor a PC display showing real-time positioning information through the use of onboard equipment and long-distance communication devices. Here, we explain how the system was developed and demonstrate the use of the system in an area of submerged woods in a lake. The system is low cost, easy to use, and mobile. It should be useful in surveying areas that have heretofore been hard to investigate, including remote, small, and shallow lakes, for example, volcanic and glacial lakes.

Optimizing the data acquisition rate for a remotely controllable structural monitoring system with parallel operation and self-adaptive sampling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheng, Wenjuan; Guo, Aihuang; Liu, Yang; Azmi, Asrul Izam; Peng, Gang-Ding

2011-01-01

We present a novel technique that optimizes the real-time remote monitoring and control of dispersed civil infrastructures. The monitoring system is based on fiber Bragg gating (FBG) sensors, and transfers data via Ethernet. This technique combines parallel operation and self-adaptive sampling to increase the data acquisition rate in remote controllable structural monitoring systems. The compact parallel operation mode is highly efficient at achieving the highest possible data acquisition rate for the FBG sensor based local data acquisition system. Self-adaptive sampling is introduced to continuously coordinate local acquisition and remote control for data acquisition rate optimization. Key issues which impact the operation of the whole system, such as the real-time data acquisition rate, data processing capability, and buffer usage, are investigated. The results show that, by introducing parallel operation and self-adaptive sampling, the data acquisition rate can be increased by several times without affecting the system operating performance on both local data acquisition and remote process control

ITER L 7 duct remote handling equipment design report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Millard, J.

1996-09-01

The operation, design and interfaces of the 'Duct Vehicle' and it's associated remote handling equipment are briefly described in this document. This equipment is being designed by Spar Aerospace Ltd. for the Divertor Test Platform as part of ITER Research and Development Project L-7. Canadian Fusion Fuels Technology Project funds this work as part of the Canadian Contribution to ITER. This document describes the equipment design status at the September 1996 design review. 23 figs

Remote operation of the GOLEM tokamak for Fusion Education

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grover, O.; Kocman, J. [Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-115 19 (Czech Republic); Odstrcil, M. [University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ (United Kingdom); Odstrcil, T. [Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Matusu, M. [Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-115 19 (Czech Republic); Stöckel, J. [Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-115 19 (Czech Republic); Institute of Plasma Physics AS CR, Prague CZ-182 21 (Czech Republic); Svoboda, V., E-mail: svoboda@fjfi.cvut.cz [Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-115 19 (Czech Republic); Vondrasek, G. [Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-115 19 (Czech Republic); Zara, J. [Faculty of Electrical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-166 27 (Czech Republic)

2016-11-15

Highlights: • The remote operation of the tokamak GOLEM for educational purposes. - Abstract: Practically oriented education in the field of thermonuclear fusion is highly requested. However, the high complexity of appropriate experiments makes it difficult to develop and maintain laboratories where students can take part in hands-on experiments in this field of study. One possible solution is to establish centres with specific high temperature plasma experiments where students can visit such a laboratory and perform their experiments in-situ. With the advancements of IT technologies it naturally follows to make a step forward and connect these with necessary plasma physics technologies and thus allow to access even sophisticated experiments remotely. Tokamak GOLEM is a small, modest device with its infrastructure linked to web technologies allowing students to set-up necessary discharge parameters, submit them into a queue and within minutes obtain the results in the form of a discharge homepage.

Remote operation of the GOLEM tokamak for Fusion Education

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grover, O.; Kocman, J.; Odstrcil, M.; Odstrcil, T.; Matusu, M.; Stöckel, J.; Svoboda, V.; Vondrasek, G.; Zara, J.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • The remote operation of the tokamak GOLEM for educational purposes. - Abstract: Practically oriented education in the field of thermonuclear fusion is highly requested. However, the high complexity of appropriate experiments makes it difficult to develop and maintain laboratories where students can take part in hands-on experiments in this field of study. One possible solution is to establish centres with specific high temperature plasma experiments where students can visit such a laboratory and perform their experiments in-situ. With the advancements of IT technologies it naturally follows to make a step forward and connect these with necessary plasma physics technologies and thus allow to access even sophisticated experiments remotely. Tokamak GOLEM is a small, modest device with its infrastructure linked to web technologies allowing students to set-up necessary discharge parameters, submit them into a queue and within minutes obtain the results in the form of a discharge homepage.

What Influences Youth to Operate All-Terrain Vehicles Safely?

Science.gov (United States)

Grummon, A. H.; Heaney, C. A.; Dellinger, W. A.; Wilkins, J. R., III

2014-01-01

The operation of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) by youth has contributed to the incidence of serious and fatal injuries among children. This study explored factors related to the frequency with which youth wore a helmet and refrained from engaging in three risky driving behaviors (driving at risky speeds, on paved roads and on unfamiliar terrain)…

Electric Vehicles in Logistics and Transportation: A Survey on Emerging Environmental, Strategic, and Operational Challenges

OpenAIRE

Juan, Angel Alejandro; Mendez, Carlos Alberto; Faulin, Javier; de Armas, Jesica; Grasman, Scott

2017-01-01

Current logistics and transportation (L&T) systems include heterogeneous fleets consisting of common internal combustion engine vehicles as well as other types of vehicles using ?green? technologies, e.g., plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles (EVs). However, the incorporation of EVs in L&T activities also raise some additional challenges from the strategic, planning, and operational perspectives. For instance, smart cities are required to provide recharge stations for electr...

A new method to compare vehicle emissions measured by remote sensing and laboratory testing: high-emitters and potential implications for emission inventories.

Science.gov (United States)

Smit, Robin; Bluett, Jeff

2011-06-01

A new method is presented which is designed to investigate whether laboratory test data used in the development of vehicle emission models adequately reflects emission distributions, and in particular the influence of high-emitting vehicles. The method includes the computation of a 'high-emitter' or 'emission distribution' correction factor for use in emission inventories. In order to make a valid comparison we control for a number of factors such as vehicle technology, measurement technique and driving conditions and use a variable called 'Pollution Index' (g/kg). Our investigation into one vehicle class has shown that laboratory and remote sensing data are substantially different for CO, HC and NO(x) emissions, both in terms of their distributions as well as in their mean and 99-percentile values. Given that the remote sensing data has larger mean values for these pollutants, the analysis suggests that high-emitting vehicles may not be adequately captured in the laboratory test data. The paper presents two different methods for the computation of weighted correction factors for use in emission inventories based on laboratory test data: one using mean values for six 'power bins' and one using multivariate regression functions. The computed correction factors are substantial leading to an increase for laboratory-based emission factors with a factor of 1.7-1.9 for CO, 1.3-1.6 for HC and 1.4-1.7 for NO(x) (actual value depending on the method). However, it also clear that there are points that require further examination before these correction factors should be applied. One important step will be to include a comparison with other types of validation studies such as tunnel studies and near-road air quality assessments to examine if these correction factors are confirmed. If so, we would recommend using the correction factors in emission inventories for motor vehicles. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Guidelines for Distribution System Operators on Reactive Power Provision by Electric Vehicles in Low Voltage Grids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zecchino, Antonio; Marinelli, Mattia; Træholt, Chresten

2017-01-01

The increasing success of electric vehicles is bringing new technical challenges to power system operators. This work intends to provide guidelines for distribution system operators in terms of reactive power requirements when evaluating and authorizing electric vehicles supply equipment with fast...... the amount of reactive power that an individual electric vehicle is expected to provide when connected to a low voltage feeder, in order to benefit of the desired voltage rise effect in comparison to the case of unitary power factor....

A historical perspective of remote operations and robotics in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herndon, J.N.

1992-01-01

The field of remote technology is continuing to evolve to support man's efforts to perform tasks in hostile environments. The technology which we recognize today as remote technology has evolved over the last 45 years to support human operations in hostile environments such as nuclear fission and fusion, space, underwater, hazardous chemical, and hazardous manufacturing. The four major categories of approach to remote technology have been (1) protective clothing and equipment for direct human entry, (2) extended reach tools using distance for safety, (3) telemanipulators with barriers for safety, and (4) teleoperators incorporating mobility with distance and/or barriers for safety. The government and commercial nuclear industry has driven the development of the majority of the actual teleoperator hardware available today. This hardware has been developed largely due to the unsatisfactory performance of the protective-clothing approach in many hostile applications. Manipulation systems which have been developed include crane/impact wrench systems, unilateral power manipulators, mechanical master/slaves, and servomanipulators. Viewing systems have included periscopes, shield windows, and television systems. Experience over the past 45 years indicates that maintenance system flexibility is essential to typical repair tasks because they are usually not repetitive, structured, or planned. Fully remote design (manipulation, task provisions, remote tooling, and facility synergy) is essential to work task efficiency. Work for space applications has been primarily research oriented with relatively few successful space applications, although the shuttle's remote manipulator system has been quite successful. In the last decade, underwater applications have moved forward significantly, with the offshore oil industry and military applications providing the primary impetus

Simulating the impacts of on-street vehicle parking on traffic operations on urban streets using cellular automation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jingxu; Li, Zhibin; Jiang, Hang; Zhu, Senlai; Wang, Wei

2017-02-01

In recent years, many bicycle lanes on urban streets are replaced with vehicle parking places. Spaces for bicycle riding are reduced, resulting in changes in bicycle and vehicle operational features. The objective of this study is to estimate the impacts of on-street parking on heterogeneous traffic operation on urban streets. A cellular automaton (CA) model is developed and calibrated to simulate bicycle lane-changing on streets with on-street parking. Two types of street segments with different bicycle lane width are considered. From the simulation, two types of conflicts between bicycles and vehicles are identified which are frictional conflicts and blocking conflicts. Factors affecting the frequency of conflicts are also identified. Based on the results, vehicle delay is estimated for various traffic situations considering the range of occupancy levels for on-street parking. Later, a numerical network example is analyzed to estimate the network impact of on-street parking on traffic assignment and operation. Findings of the study are helpful to policies and design regarding on-street vehicle parking to improve the efficiency of traffic operations.

The Integration of Remote-Sensing Detection Techniques into the Operational Decision-Making of Marine Oil Spills

Science.gov (United States)

Garron, J.; Trainor, S.

2017-12-01

Remotely-sensed data collected from satellites, airplanes and unmanned aerial systems can be used in marine oil spills to identify the overall footprint, estimate fate and transport, and to identify resources at risk. Mandates for the use of best available technology exists for addressing marine oil spills under the jurisdiction of the USCG (33 CFR 155.1050), though clear pathways to familiarization of these technologies during a marine oil spill, or more importantly, between marine oil spills, does not. Similarly, remote-sensing scientists continue to experiment with highly tuned oil detection, fate and transport techniques that can benefit decision-making during a marine oil spill response, but the process of translating these prototypical tools to operational information remains undefined, leading most researchers to describe the "potential" of these new tools in an operational setting rather than their actual use, and decision-makers relying on traditional field observational methods. Arctic marine oil spills are no different in their mandates and the remote-sensing research undertaken, but are unique via the dark, cold, remote, infrastructure-free environment in which they can occur. These conditions increase the reliance of decision-makers in an Arctic oil spill on remotely-sensed data and tools for their manipulation. In the absence of another large-scale oil spill in the US, and limited literature on the subject, this study was undertaken to understand how remotely-sensed data and tools are being used in the Incident Command System of a marine oil spill now, with an emphasis on Arctic implementation. Interviews, oil spill scenario/drill observations and marine oil spill after action reports were collected and analyzed to determine the current state of remote-sensing data use for decision-making during a marine oil spill, and to define a set of recommendations for the process of integrating new remote-sensing tools and information in future oil spill

Battery control system for hybrid vehicle and method for controlling a hybrid vehicle battery

Science.gov (United States)

Bockelmann, Thomas R [Battle Creek, MI; Beaty, Kevin D [Kalamazoo, MI; Zou, Zhanijang [Battle Creek, MI; Kang, Xiaosong [Battle Creek, MI

2009-07-21

A battery control system for controlling a state of charge of a hybrid vehicle battery includes a detecting arrangement for determining a vehicle operating state or an intended vehicle operating state and a controller for setting a target state of charge level of the battery based on the vehicle operating state or the intended vehicle operating state. The controller is operable to set a target state of charge level at a first level during a mobile vehicle operating state and at a second level during a stationary vehicle operating state or in anticipation of the vehicle operating in the stationary vehicle operating state. The invention further includes a method for controlling a state of charge of a hybrid vehicle battery.

Environmental monitoring using autonomous vehicles: a survey of recent searching techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayat, Behzad; Crasta, Naveena; Crespi, Alessandro; Pascoal, António M; Ijspeert, Auke

2017-06-01

Autonomous vehicles are becoming an essential tool in a wide range of environmental applications that include ambient data acquisition, remote sensing, and mapping of the spatial extent of pollutant spills. Among these applications, pollution source localization has drawn increasing interest due to its scientific and commercial interest and the emergence of a new breed of robotic vehicles capable of operating in harsh environments without human supervision. The aim is to find the location of a region that is the source of a given substance of interest (e.g. a chemical pollutant at sea or a gas leakage in air) using a group of cooperative autonomous vehicles. Motivated by fast paced advances in this challenging area, this paper surveys recent advances in searching techniques that are at the core of environmental monitoring strategies using autonomous vehicles. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Analysis of Skill Requirements for Operators of Amphibious Air Cushion Vehicles (ACVs).

Science.gov (United States)

McKnight, A. James; And Others

This report describes the skills required in the operation of an amphibious air cushion vehicle (ACV) in Army tactical and logistic missions. The research involved analyzing ACV characteristics, operating requirements, environmental effects, and results of a simulation experiment. The analysis indicates that ACV operation is complicated by an…

Deft Control Software (DCS) for Remote Robotic Operations with Underlying Structure, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — BluHaptics proposes Deft Control Software (DCS), which utilizes machine learning to enable intuitive and efficient control of robotic arms in remote operations with...

A remotely controlled CCTV system for nuclear reactor retube operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stovman, J.A.

1984-01-01

This paper describes the CCTV Vault Observation Subsystem (VOS) under development for Ontario Hydro for the Pickering 'A' Nuclear Power Plant Large Scale Retubing program. This subsystem will be used by a supervisor and several operators to observe fuel channel replacement operations following plant shutdown and removal of the fuel bundles. VOS basically comprises 23 monochrome television camera driven circuits, a matrix switcher, 15 monitors, 9 tape recorders and 4 microphone driven sound circuits. Remote control of the camera's zoom lenses and mounts is via a digitally multiplexed control system. Design considerations include viewing requirements, reliability, radiation, redundance, and economic factors

A Remote Characterization System and a fault-tolerant tracking system for subsurface mapping of buried waste sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandness, G.A.; Bennett, D.W.; Martinson, L.; Bingham, D.N.; Anderson, A.A.

1992-08-01

This paper describes two closely related projects that will provide new technology for characterizing hazardous waste burial sites. The first project, a collaborative effort by five of the national laboratories, involves the development and demonstration of a remotely controlled site characterization system. The Remote Characterization System (RCS) includes a unique low-signature survey vehicle, a base station, radio telemetry data links, satellite-based vehicle tracking, stereo vision, and sensors for noninvasive inspection of the surface and subsurface. The second project, conducted by the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), involves the development of a position sensing system that can track a survey vehicle or instrument in the field. This system can coordinate updates at a rate of 200/s with an accuracy better than 0.1% of the distance separating the target and the sensor. It can employ acoustic or electromagnetic signals in a wide range of frequencies and can be operated as a passive or active device

Online remote radiological monitoring during operation of Advance Vitrification System (AVS), Tarapur

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deokar, U.V.; Kulkarni, V.V.; Mathew, P.; Khot, A.R.; Singh, K.K.; Kamlesh; Deshpande, M.D.; Kulkarni, Y.

2010-01-01

Advanced Vitrification System (AVS) is commissioned for vitrification of high level waste (HLW) by using Joule heated ceramic melter first time in India. The HLW is generated in fuel reprocessing plant. For radiological surveillance of plant, Health Physics Unit (HPU) had installed 37 Area Gamma Monitors (AGM), 7 Continuous Air Monitors (CAM) and all types of personal contamination monitors. Exposure control is a major concern in operating plant. Therefore in addition to installed monitors, we have developed online remote radiation monitoring system to minimize exposures to the surveyor and operator. This also helped in volume reduction of secondary waste. The reliability and accuracy of the online monitoring system is confirmed by calibrating the system by comparing TLD and DRD readings and by theoretical analysis. In addition some modifications were carried in HP instruments to make them user friendly. This paper summarizes different kinds of remote radiological monitoring systems installed for online monitoring of Melter off Gas (MOG) filter, Hood filter, three exhaust filter banks, annulus air sampling and over pack monitoring in AVS. Our online remote monitoring system has helped the plant management to plan in advance for replacement of these filters, which resulted in considerable saving of collective dose. (author)

Remote collection of microorganisms at two depths in a freshwater lake using an unmanned surface vehicle (USV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Craig Powers

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Microorganisms are ubiquitous in freshwater aquatic environments, but little is known about their abundance, diversity, and transport. We designed and deployed a remote-operated water-sampling system onboard an unmanned surface vehicle (USV, a remote-controlled boat to collect and characterize microbes in a freshwater lake in Virginia, USA. The USV collected water samples simultaneously at 5 and 50 cm below the surface of the water at three separate locations over three days in October, 2016. These samples were plated on a non-selective medium (TSA and on a medium selective for the genus Pseudomonas (KBC to estimate concentrations of culturable bacteria in the lake. Mean concentrations ranged from 134 to 407 CFU/mL for microbes cultured on TSA, and from 2 to 8 CFU/mL for microbes cultured on KBC. There was a significant difference in the concentration of microbes cultured on KBC across three sampling locations in the lake (P = 0.027, suggesting an uneven distribution of Pseudomonas across the locations sampled. There was also a significant difference in concentrations of microbes cultured on TSA across the three sampling days (P = 0.038, demonstrating daily fluctuations in concentrations of culturable bacteria. There was no significant difference in concentrations of microbes cultured on TSA (P = 0.707 and KBC (P = 0.641 across the two depths sampled, suggesting microorganisms were well-mixed between 5 and 50 cm below the surface of the water. About 1 percent (7/720 of the colonies recovered across all four sampling missions were ice nucleation active (ice+ at temperatures warmer than −10 °C. Our work extends traditional manned observations of aquatic environments to unmanned systems, and highlights the potential for USVs to understand the distribution and diversity of microbes within and above freshwater aquatic environments.

Combined and controlled remote implementations of partially unknown quantum operations of multiqubits using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Anmin

2007-01-01

We propose and prove protocols of combined and controlled remote implementations of partially unknown quantum operations belonging to the restricted sets [A. M. Wang, Phys. Rev. A 74, 032317 (2006)] using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states. We present the protocols in detail in the cases of one qubit, with two senders and with one controller, respectively. Then we study the variations of protocols with many senders, or with many controllers, or with both many senders and controllers using a multipartite GHZ state. Furthermore, we extend these protocols to the cases of multiqubits. Because our protocols have to request that the senders work together and transfer the information in turn or receive the repertoire of extra supercontrollers, or/and the controller(s) open the quantum channel and distribute the passwords in different ways, they definitely have the strong security in remote quantum information processing and communications. Moreover, the combined protocol with many senders is helpful to arrive at the power of remote implementations of quantum operations to the utmost extent in theory, since the different senders may have different operational resources and different operational rights in practice, and the controlled protocol with many controllers is able to enhance security and increase applications of remote implementations of quantum operations in engineering, since it has some common features in a controlled process

An operating system for future aerospace vehicle computer systems

Science.gov (United States)

Foudriat, E. C.; Berman, W. J.; Will, R. W.; Bynum, W. L.

1984-01-01

The requirements for future aerospace vehicle computer operating systems are examined in this paper. The computer architecture is assumed to be distributed with a local area network connecting the nodes. Each node is assumed to provide a specific functionality. The network provides for communication so that the overall tasks of the vehicle are accomplished. The O/S structure is based upon the concept of objects. The mechanisms for integrating node unique objects with node common objects in order to implement both the autonomy and the cooperation between nodes is developed. The requirements for time critical performance and reliability and recovery are discussed. Time critical performance impacts all parts of the distributed operating system; e.g., its structure, the functional design of its objects, the language structure, etc. Throughout the paper the tradeoffs - concurrency, language structure, object recovery, binding, file structure, communication protocol, programmer freedom, etc. - are considered to arrive at a feasible, maximum performance design. Reliability of the network system is considered. A parallel multipath bus structure is proposed for the control of delivery time for time critical messages. The architecture also supports immediate recovery for the time critical message system after a communication failure.

ModSAF-based development of operational requirements for light armored vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Rapanotti, John; Palmarini, Marc

2003-09-01

Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) are being developed to meet the modern requirements of rapid deployment and operations other than war. To achieve these requirements, passive armour is minimized and survivability depends more on sensors, computers, countermeasures and communications to detect and avoid threats. The performance, reliability, and ultimately the cost of these systems, will be determined by the technology trends and the rates at which they mature. Defining vehicle requirements will depend upon an accurate assessment of these trends over a longer term than was previously needed. Modelling and simulation are being developed to study these long-term trends and how they contribute to establishing vehicle requirements. ModSAF is being developed for research and development, in addition to the original requirement of Simulation and Modelling for Acquisition, Rehearsal, Requirements and Training (SMARRT), and is becoming useful as a means for transferring technology to other users, researchers and contractors. This procedure eliminates the need to construct ad hoc models and databases. The integration of various technologies into a Defensive Aids Suite (DAS) can be designed and analyzed by combining field trials and laboratory data with modelling and simulation. ModSAF (Modular Semi-Automated Forces,) is used to construct the virtual battlefield and, through scripted input files, a "fixed battle" approach is used to define and implement contributions from three different sources. These contributions include: models of technology and natural phenomena from scientists and engineers, tactics and doctrine from the military and detailed analyses from operations research. This approach ensures the modelling of processes known to be important regardless of the level of information available about the system. Survivability of DAS-equipped vehicles based on future and foreign technology can be investigated by ModSAF and assessed relative to a test vehicle. A vehicle can

Modeling the Operation of a Platoon of Amphibious Vehicles for Support of Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gaver, Donald

2001-01-01

...) of the Marine Corps' prospective Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV). The model's emphasis is on suitability issues such as Operational Availability in an on-land (after ocean transit) mission region...

Combustion Efficiency, Flameout Operability Limits and General Design Optimization for Integrated Ramjet-Scramjet Hypersonic Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Mbagwu, Chukwuka Chijindu

High speed, air-breathing hypersonic vehicles encounter a varied range of engine and operating conditions traveling along cruise/ascent missions at high altitudes and dynamic pressures. Variations of ambient pressure, temperature, Mach number, and dynamic pressure can affect the combustion conditions in conflicting ways. Computations were performed to understand propulsion tradeoffs that occur when a hypersonic vehicle travels along an ascent trajectory. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition methods were applied for the reduction of flamelet chemistry data in an improved combustor model. Two operability limits are set by requirements that combustion efficiency exceed selected minima and flameout be avoided. A method for flameout prediction based on empirical Damkohler number measurements is presented. Operability limits are plotted that define allowable flight corridors on an altitude versus flight Mach number performance map; fixed-acceleration ascent trajectories were considered for this study. Several design rules are also presented for a hypersonic waverider with a dual-mode scramjet engine. Focus is placed on ''vehicle integration" design, differing from previous ''propulsion-oriented" design optimization. The well-designed waverider falls between that of an aircraft (high lift-to-drag ratio) and a rocket (high thrust-to-drag ratio). 84 variations of an X-43-like vehicle were run using the MASIV scramjet reduced order model to examine performance tradeoffs. Informed by the vehicle design study, variable-acceleration trajectory optimization was performed for three constant dynamic pressures ascents. Computed flameout operability limits were implemented as additional constraints to the optimization problem. The Michigan-AFRL Scramjet In-Vehicle (MASIV) waverider model includes finite-rate chemistry, applied scaling laws for 3-D turbulent mixing, ram-scram transition and an empirical value of the flameout Damkohler number. A reduced-order modeling approach is justified

Comprehensive UAV agricultural remote-sensing research at Texas A M University

Science.gov (United States)

Thomasson, J. Alex; Shi, Yeyin; Olsenholler, Jeffrey; Valasek, John; Murray, Seth C.; Bishop, Michael P.

2016-05-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have advantages over manned vehicles for agricultural remote sensing. Flying UAVs is less expensive, is more flexible in scheduling, enables lower altitudes, uses lower speeds, and provides better spatial resolution for imaging. The main disadvantage is that, at lower altitudes and speeds, only small areas can be imaged. However, on large farms with contiguous fields, high-quality images can be collected regularly by using UAVs with appropriate sensing technologies that enable high-quality image mosaics to be created with sufficient metadata and ground-control points. In the United States, rules governing the use of aircraft are promulgated and enforced by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and rules governing UAVs are currently in flux. Operators must apply for appropriate permissions to fly UAVs. In the summer of 2015 Texas A&M University's agricultural research agency, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, embarked on a comprehensive program of remote sensing with UAVs at its 568-ha Brazos Bottom Research Farm. This farm is made up of numerous fields where various crops are grown in plots or complete fields. The crops include cotton, corn, sorghum, and wheat. After gaining FAA permission to fly at the farm, the research team used multiple fixed-wing and rotary-wing UAVs along with various sensors to collect images over all parts of the farm at least once per week. This article reports on details of flight operations and sensing and analysis protocols, and it includes some lessons learned in the process of developing a UAV remote-sensing effort of this sort.

Automated space vehicle control for rendezvous proximity operations

Science.gov (United States)

Lea, Robert N.

1988-01-01

Rendezvous during the unmanned space exploration missions, such as a Mars Rover/Sample Return will require a completely automatic system from liftoff to docking. A conceptual design of an automated rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking system is being implemented and validated at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The emphasis is on the progress of the development and testing of a prototype system for control of the rendezvous vehicle during proximity operations that is currently being developed at JSC. Fuzzy sets are used to model the human capability of common sense reasoning in decision making tasks and such models are integrated with the expert systems and engineering control system technology to create a system that performs comparably to a manned system.

Experimental Semiautonomous Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Wilcox, Brian H.; Mishkin, Andrew H.; Litwin, Todd E.; Matthies, Larry H.; Cooper, Brian K.; Nguyen, Tam T.; Gat, Erann; Gennery, Donald B.; Firby, Robert J.; Miller, David P.;

Remote operation of the vertical plasma stabilization @ the GOLEM tokamak for the plasma physics education

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Svoboda, V., E-mail: svoboda@fjfi.cvut.cz [Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-115 19 (Czech Republic); Kocman, J.; Grover, O. [Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-115 19 (Czech Republic); Krbec, J.; Stöckel, J. [Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering CTU Prague, CZ-115 19 (Czech Republic); Institute of Plasma Physics AS CR, CZ-182 21 Prague (Czech Republic)

2015-10-15

Graphical abstract: * Understandable remote operation of a vertical plasma position control system in the tokamak GOLEM for educational purposes.* Two combinable modes of real-time plasma position control: position based feedback and a pre-defined waveform.* More than 20% plasma life prolongation with plasma position control in feedback mode. - Highlights: • Understandable remote operation of a vertical plasma position control system in the tokamak GOLEM for educational purposes. • Two combinable modes of real-time plasma position control: position based feedback and a pre-defined waveform. • More than 20% plasma life prolongation with plasma position control in feedback mode. - Abstract: The GOLEM tokamak at the Czech Technical University has been established as an educational tokamak device for domestic and foreign students. Remote participation in the scope of several laboratory practices, plasma physics schools and workshops has been successfully performed from abroad. A new enhancement allowing understandable remote control of vertical plasma position in two modes (i) predefined and (ii) feedback control is presented. It allows to drive the current in the stabilization coils in any time-dependent scenario, which can include as a parameter the actual plasma position measured by magnetic diagnostics. Arbitrary movement of the plasma column in a vertical direction, stabilization of the plasma column in the center of the tokamak vessel as well as prolongation/shortening of plasma life according to the remotely defined request are demonstrated.

Hydrogen Fuel System Design Trades for High-Altitude Long-Endurance Remotely- Operated Aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Millis, Marc G.; Tornabene, Robert T.; Jurns, John M.; Guynn, Mark D.; Tomsik, Thomas M.; VanOverbeke, Thomas J.

2009-01-01

Preliminary design trades are presented for liquid hydrogen fuel systems for remotely-operated, high-altitude aircraft that accommodate three different propulsion options: internal combustion engines, and electric motors powered by either polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells or solid oxide fuel cells. Mission goal is sustained cruise at 60,000 ft altitude, with duration-aloft a key parameter. The subject aircraft specifies an engine power of 143 to 148 hp, gross liftoff weight of 9270 to 9450 lb, payload of 440 lb, and a hydrogen fuel capacity of 2650 to 2755 lb stored in two spherical tanks (8.5 ft inside diameter), each with a dry mass goal of 316 lb. Hydrogen schematics for all three propulsion options are provided. Each employs vacuum-jacketed tanks with multilayer insulation, augmented with a helium pressurant system, and using electric motor driven hydrogen pumps. The most significant schematic differences involve the heat exchangers and hydrogen reclamation equipment. Heat balances indicate that mission durations of 10 to 16 days appear achievable. The dry mass for the hydrogen system is estimated to be 1900 lb, including 645 lb for each tank. This tank mass is roughly twice that of the advanced tanks assumed in the initial conceptual vehicle. Control strategies are not addressed, nor are procedures for filling and draining the tanks.

A Perspective on Equipment Design for Fusion Remote Handling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mills, S.; Haist, B.; Hamilton, D.

2006-01-01

For 8 years, JET remote operations have become more capable and confident. Many tasks have been successfully completed, even those never intended to be remote maintenance activities. The general approach to the provision of remote handling equipment at JET has been the preferred use of commercially-off-the-shelf equipment. In the areas of electrical, electronic, software and control this approach has been generally achievable. However, in the area of mechanical equipment it has been more difficult. In particular the RH tooling has been almost entirely bespoke as its requirements are highly sensitive to the design of the JET component being handled and there are many design variations. Hence, JET has required the design and manufacture of over 700 types of bespoke RH equipment. This paper will discuss the experience of introducing and developing remote handling mechanical equipment for JET. The paper will cover the relationship between the remote handling equipment and the JET component design and the potential for improving the design function. A major lesson from the introduction of remote handling to JET has been demonstration of the very close interdependency of the design of JET components with design of remote handling tooling. The JET remote handling manual was originally introduced as the vehicle to ensure remote handling compatibility by the introduction of standards. Experience has shown that in general the remote handling manual approach has been insufficient. Future fusion machines will be much more complex than JET and will demand even greater remote handling compatibility. This paper will discuss possible methods for improving this process. Equipment operating in a high radiation environment must be dependable It may spend part of its time in areas that would be extremely difficult to recover from in the case of failure. The equipment may also have a high duty cycle to minimise shutdown times and probably cannot be manually inspected on a frequent

Test Operations Procedure (TOP) 02-2-603A Vehicle Fuel Consumption

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-10

API) Hydrometer . The API Hydrometer is used for accurate determination of the density, relative density (specific gravity), or API gravity of... Hydrometer Method. 5. TOP 02-2-505, Inspection and Preliminary Operation of Vehicles, 4 February 1987. 6. TOP 02-1-003, Hybrid Electric

The Design and Operation of Suborbital Low Cost and Low Risk Vehicle to the Edge of Space (SOLVES)

Science.gov (United States)

Ridzuan Zakaria, Norul; Nasrun, Nasri; Rashidy Zulkifi, Mohd; Izmir Yamin, Mohd; Othman, Jamaludin; Rafidi Zakaria, Norul

2013-09-01

Inclusive in the planning of Spaceport Malaysia are 2 local suborbital vehicles development. One of the vehicles is called SOLVES or Suborbital Low Cost and Low Risk Vehicle to the Edge of Space. The emphasis on the design and operation of SOLVES is green and robotic technology, where both green technology and robotic technology are used to protect the environment and enhance safety. As SOLVES climbs, its center of gravity stabilizes and remains at the bottom as its propellant being used until it depletes, due to the position of the vehicle's passenger cabin and its engines at its lower end. It will reach 80km from sea level generally known as "the edge of space" due to its momentum although its propellant will be depleted at a lower altitude. As the suborbital vehicle descends tail first, its wings automatically extend and rotate at horizontal axes perpendicular to the fuselage. These naturally and passively rotating wings ensure controlled low velocity and stable descend of the vehicle. The passenger cabin also rotates automatically at a steady low speed at the centerline of its fuselage as it descends, caused naturally by the lift force, enabling its passengers a surrounding 360 degrees view. SOLVES is steered automatically to its landing point by an electrical propulsion system with a vectoring nozzle. The electrical propulsion minimizes space and weight and is free of pollution and noise. Its electrical power comes from a battery aided by power generated by the naturally rotating wings. When the vehicle lands, it is in the safest mode as its propellant is depleted and its center of gravity remains at the bottom of its cabin. The cabin, being located at the bottom of the fuselage, enables very convenient, rapid and safe entry and exit of its passengers. SOLVES will be a robotic suborbital vehicle with green technology. The vehicle will carry 4 passengers and each passenger will be trained to land the vehicle manually if the fully automated landing system fails

Controlling Unmanned Vehicles : the Human Factors Solution

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Erp, J.B.F. van

2000-01-01

Recent developments and experiences have proven the usefulness and potential of Unmanned Vehicles (UVs). Emerging technologies enable new missions, broadening the applicability of UVs from simple remote spies towards unmanned combat vehicles carrying lethal weapons. However, despite the emerging

Wind-tunnel investigation of an armed mini remotely piloted vehicle. [conducted in Langley V/STOL tunnel

Science.gov (United States)

Phelps, A. E., III

1979-01-01

A wind tunnel investigation of a full scale remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) armed with rocket launchers was conducted. The model had unacceptable longitudinal stability characteristics at negative angles of attack in the original design configuration. The addition of a pair of fins mounted in a V arrangement on the propeller shroud resulted in a configuration with acceptable longitudinal stability characteristics. The addition of wing mounted external stores to the modified configuration resulted in a slight reduction in the longitudinal stability. The lateral directional characteristics of the model were generally good, but the model had low directional stability at low angles of attack. Aerodynamic control power was very strong around all three axes.

Progress report on the development of remotely operated tools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shenton, J.R.

1985-02-01

Various tools will be required during the size reduction of contaminated plant and equipment, necessitating the removal and replacement of tool modules on the remotely operated pantograph arm, and it is envisaged that there will be a carrier holding a range of tool modules which may be selected for use. This report covers the trials work carried out to date using the single module tool change station, which was manufactured in order to assess the problems likely to occur when disconnecting the existing interchangeable modules from the end effector. (author)

Reliable and Fault-Tolerant Software-Defined Network Operations Scheme for Remote 3D Printing

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Dongkyun; Gil, Joon-Min

2015-03-01

The recent wide expansion of applicable three-dimensional (3D) printing and software-defined networking (SDN) technologies has led to a great deal of attention being focused on efficient remote control of manufacturing processes. SDN is a renowned paradigm for network softwarization, which has helped facilitate remote manufacturing in association with high network performance, since SDN is designed to control network paths and traffic flows, guaranteeing improved quality of services by obtaining network requests from end-applications on demand through the separated SDN controller or control plane. However, current SDN approaches are generally focused on the controls and automation of the networks, which indicates that there is a lack of management plane development designed for a reliable and fault-tolerant SDN environment. Therefore, in addition to the inherent advantage of SDN, this paper proposes a new software-defined network operations center (SD-NOC) architecture to strengthen the reliability and fault-tolerance of SDN in terms of network operations and management in particular. The cooperation and orchestration between SDN and SD-NOC are also introduced for the SDN failover processes based on four principal SDN breakdown scenarios derived from the failures of the controller, SDN nodes, and connected links. The abovementioned SDN troubles significantly reduce the network reachability to remote devices (e.g., 3D printers, super high-definition cameras, etc.) and the reliability of relevant control processes. Our performance consideration and analysis results show that the proposed scheme can shrink operations and management overheads of SDN, which leads to the enhancement of responsiveness and reliability of SDN for remote 3D printing and control processes.

Civil mini-RPA's for the 1980's: Avionics design considerations. [remotely piloted vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Karmarkar, J. S.

1975-01-01

A number of remote sensing or surveillance tasks (e.g., fire fighting, crop monitoring) in the civilian sector of our society may be performed in a cost effective manner by use of small remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). This study was conducted to determine equipment (and the associated technology) that is available, and that could be applied to the mini-RPA and to examine the potential applications of the mini-RPA with special emphasis on the wild fire surveillance mission. The operational considerations of using the mini-RPA as affected by government regulatory agencies were investigated. These led to equipment requirements (e.g., infra-red sensors) over and above those for the performance of the mission. A computer technology survey and forecast was performed. Key subsystems were identified, and a distributed microcomputer configuration, that was functionally modular, was recommended. Areas for further NASA research and development activity were also identified.

Vehicle tracking based technique for radiation monitoring during nuclear or radiological emergency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saindane, Shashank S.; Otari, Anil D.; Suri, M.M.K.; Patil, S.S.; Pradeepkumar, K.S.; Sharma, D.N.

2010-01-01

Radiation Safety Systems Division, BARC has developed an advanced online radiation measurement cum vehicle tracking system for use. For the preparedness for response to any nuclear/radiological emergency scenario which may occur anywhere, the system designed is a Global System for Mobile (GSM) based Radiation Monitoring System (GRaMS) along with a Global Positioning System (GPS). It uses an energy compensated GM detector for radiation monitoring and is attached with commercially available Global Positioning System (GPS) for online acquisition of positional coordinates with time, and GSM modem for online data transfer to a remote control centre. The equipment can be operated continuously while the vehicle is moving

Towards operational environmental applications using terrestrial remote sensing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldkamp JG; Velde RJ van de; LBG

1996-01-01

Dit rapport beschrijft de resultaten van het Beleidscommissie Remote Sensing (BCRS) project 'Verankering van toepassingen van terrestrische remote sensing bij RIVM'. Het had ten eerste tot doel te voldoen aan de voorwaarden, zoals gesteld in de inventarisatie van remote sensing als

Track-to-track association for object matching in an inter-vehicle communication system

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Ting; Roth, Tobias; Chen, Qi; Breu, Jakob; Bogdanovic, Miro; Weiss, Christian A.

2015-09-01

Autonomous driving poses unique challenges for vehicle environment perception due to the complex driving environment the autonomous vehicle finds itself in and differentiates from remote vehicles. Due to inherent uncertainty of the traffic environments and incomplete knowledge due to sensor limitation, an autonomous driving system using only local onboard sensor information is generally not sufficiently enough for conducting a reliable intelligent driving with guaranteed safety. In order to overcome limitations of the local (host) vehicle sensing system and to increase the likelihood of correct detections and classifications, collaborative information from cooperative remote vehicles could substantially facilitate effectiveness of vehicle decision making process. Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) system provides a powerful inter-vehicle wireless communication channel to enhance host vehicle environment perceiving capability with the aid of transmitted information from remote vehicles. However, there is a major challenge before one can fuse the DSRC-transmitted remote information and host vehicle Radar-observed information (in the present case): the remote DRSC data must be correctly associated with the corresponding onboard Radar data; namely, an object matching problem. Direct raw data association (i.e., measurement-to-measurement association - M2MA) is straightforward but error-prone, due to inherent uncertain nature of the observation data. The uncertainties could lead to serious difficulty in matching decision, especially, using non-stationary data. In this study, we present an object matching algorithm based on track-to-track association (T2TA) and evaluate the proposed approach with prototype vehicles in real traffic scenarios. To fully exploit potential of the DSRC system, only GPS position data from remote vehicle are used in fusion center (at host vehicle), i.e., we try to get what we need from the least amount of information; additional feature

Remotely operated closure device for a pipeline with a fixed pipeline flange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Westendorf, H.

1987-01-01

The remotely operated closure is set by suspension centring on the circumference of a blank flange on the fixed pipeline flange to be closed. By operating a central actuating mechanism at the closure, the clamping levers are adjusted so that the blank flange is clamped to the pipeline flange and the two flanges are pressed together. The spring-loaded clamping levers are particularly suitable for actuating the closure with the pliers of a manipulator of a large cell. (DG) [de

Operational Use of Remote Sensing within USDA

Science.gov (United States)

Bethel, Glenn R.

2007-01-01

A viewgraph presentation of remote sensing imagery within the USDA is shown. USDA Aerial Photography, Digital Sensors, Hurricane imagery, Remote Sensing Sources, Satellites used by Foreign Agricultural Service, Landsat Acquisitions, and Aerial Acquisitions are also shown.

Subacute ghrelin administration inhibits apoptosis and improves ultrastructural abnormalities in remote myocardium post-myocardial infarction.

Science.gov (United States)

Eid, Refaat A; Zaki, Mohamed Samir Ahmed; Al-Shraim, Mubarak; Eleawa, Samy M; El-Kott, Attalla Farag; Al-Hashem, Fahaid H; Eldeen, Muhammad Alaa; Ibrahim, Hoja; Aldera, Hussain; Alkhateeb, Mahmoud A

2018-05-01

This study investigated the effect of ghrelin on cardiomyocytes function, apoptosis and ultra-structural alterations of remote myocardium of the left ventricle (LV) of rats, 21 days post myocardial infarction (MI). Rats were divided into 4 groups as a control, a sham-operated rats, a sham-operated+ghrelin, an MI + vehicle and an MI + ghrelin-treated rats. MI was induced by LAD ligation and then rats were recievd a concomitant doe of either normal saline as a vehicle or treated with ghrelin (100 μg/kg S.C., 2x/day) for 21 consecutive days. Ghrelin enhanced myocardial contractility in control rats and reversed the decreases in myocardial contractility and the increases in the serum levels of CK-MB and LDH in MI-induced rats. Additionally, it inhibited the increases in levels of Bax and cleaved caspase 3 and increased those for Bcl-2 in the remote myocardium of rat's LV, post-MI. At ultra-structural level, while ghrelin has no adverse effects on LV myocardium obtained from control or sham-treated rats, ghrelin post-administration to MI-induced rats reduced vascular formation, restored normal microfilaments appearance and organization, preserved mitochondria structure, and prevented mitochondrial swelling, collagen deposition and number of ghost bodies in the remote areas of their LV. Concomitantly, in remote myocardium of MI-induced rats, ghrelin enhanced endoplasmic reticulum intracellular organelles count, decreased number of atrophied nuclei and phagocytes, diminished the irregularity in the nuclear membranes and inhibited chromatin condensation. In conclusion, in addition to the physiological, biochemical and molecular evidence provided, this is the first study that confirms the anti-apoptotic effect of ghrelin in the remote myocardium of the LV during late MI at the level of ultra-structural changes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Synthetic viewing: Comprehensive work representation making remote work more transparent to the operator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leinemann, K.; Katz, F.; Knueppel, H.

1994-01-01

To support the operator remote handling a number of well-developed techniques is available like transmission of forces, movements, and dexterous skills in general using masterslave manipulators equipped with special tools. In addition several types of transporters are available to position manipulators and tools. But there is a serious bottle-neck in viewing: the number of cameras is restricted and the cameras may in most cases not be positioned as to provide sufficient information. In order to improve this situation an integration of closed-loop TV and artificial viewing by sensor controlled computer graphics has been introduced successfully by KfK at JET. This integrated viewing subsystem combines not only those two techniques by providing the two views but also enhances the conventional camera control by a computer graphics model-based control. Practical experience has shown that the concept of viewing needs to be extended. Just seeing where things are is insufficient for the operators to perform their remote handling task properly. More information is required about the status of all equipment pieces involved and about the status of the entire handling task. Viewing for remote handling applications needs to include the display of such status information in a suitable form

78 FR 16051 - Vehicle/Track Interaction Safety Standards; High-Speed and High Cant Deficiency Operations

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-13

..., without the need for obtaining a waiver. In order to take advantage of high cant deficiency operations and... attention. In addition, to improve the process for analyzing data while vehicles are negotiating spiral... the last few decades, computer models of rail vehicles interacting with track have become practical...

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.

Filament-induced remote surface ablation for long range laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rohwetter, Ph.; Stelmaszczyk, K.; Woeste, L.; Ackermann, R.; Mejean, G.; Salmon, E.; Kasparian, J.; Yu, J.; Wolf, J.-P.

2005-01-01

We demonstrate laser induced ablation and plasma line emission from a metallic target at distances up to 180 m from the laser, using filaments (self-guided propagation structures ∼ 100 μm in diameter and ∼ 5 x 10 13 W/cm 2 in intensity) appearing as femtosecond and terawatt laser pulses propagating in air. The remarkable property of filaments to propagate over a long distance independently of the diffraction limit opens the frontier to long range operation of the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technique. We call this special configuration of remote laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy 'remote filament-induced breakdown spectroscopy'. Our results show main features of filament-induced ablation on the surface of a metallic sample and associated plasma emission. Our experimental data allow us to estimate requirements for the detection system needed for kilometer-range remote filament-induced breakdown spectroscopy experiment

Vehicle for surface decontamination by electropolishing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maury, A.

1984-01-01

The invention concerns a remote controlled, electric powered vehicle for continuous decontamination of several supports forming an angle for instance the bottom and the walls of nuclear swimming pools. The vehicle is provided with all the means required for electropolishing (electrolyte, pumps, effluent recovery etc...) and two electropolishing units, one under the vehicle for horizontal surface treatment the other adjustable in height on a bracket for vertical surface treatment [fr

The JASON Remotely Operated Vehicle System

Science.gov (United States)

1993-02-01

University of Rhode Island , Mote Marine Laboratory, the Harbor Branch Foundation, the Great Lake Studies Group at the University of Wisconsin, and the... Clipperton Fracture Zone to 120 N., Geo-Marine Letters. v. 8, p. 131-138. I 38. Haymon, R., Fornari, D., Edwards, M., Carbotte, S., Wright, D. and Macdonald...Science Library FRANCE University of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay Campus3 Narragansett, RI 02882 I I0272-101 REPORT DOCUMENTATIO RM N HI-33 2. 3

Operation and handling of a mobile robot with tricycle structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Segovia de los Rios, J.A.

2003-01-01

In this article the main cares that are for the appropriate operation of a designed mobile robot and built for the transport of radioactive materials are reported. In a same way, it is shown that the maneuverability of the vehicle is adapted for its tele operation in the atmospheres for where the irradiated charge should be made circulate, using for it the controls that have been designated of a remote control of general use. (Author)

Development and application of underwater robot vehicle for close inspection of spent fuels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yun, J. S.; Park, B. S.; Song, T. G.; Kim, S. H.; Cho, M. W.; Ahn, S. H.; Lee, J. Y.; Oh, S. C.; Oh, W. J.; Shin, K. W.; Woo, D. H.; Kim, H. G.; Park, J. S

1999-12-01

The research and development efforts of the underwater robotic vehicle for inspection of spent fuels are focused on the development of an robotic vehicle which inspects spent fuels in the storage pool through remotely controlled actuation. For this purpose, a self balanced vehicle actuated by propellers is designed and fabricated, which consists of a radiation resistance camera, two illuminators, a pressure transducer and a manipulator. the algorithm for autonomous navigation is developed and its performance is tested at the swimming pool. The results of the underwater vehicle shows that the vehicle can easily navigate into the arbitrary directions while maintaining its balanced position. The camera provides a clear view of working environment by using the macro and zoom functions. The camera tilt device provides a wide field of view which is enough for monitoring the operation of manipulator. Also, the manipulator can pick up the dropped objects up to 4 kgf of weight. (author)

Long Term Hydrogen Vehicle Fleet Operational Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-21

world settings. The implementation and qualification of these technologies addresses national objectives and improves the state of the art to advance...Gasoline Electric Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV). Figure 1 shows one of the H2ICE vehicles. The H2ICE vehicles have a full hybrid system capable of...Hickam NAC National Automotive Center PACOM Pacific Command SLI Starting, Lighting, and Ignition SUV Sport Utility Vehicle TARDEC Tank Automotive Research Development, and Engineering Center

Employing Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Co-Operative Path Planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Durdana Habib

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract In this paper, we work to develop a path planning solution for a group of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs using a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP approach. Co-operation among team members not only helps reduce mission time, it makes the execution more robust in dynamic environments. However, the problem becomes more challenging as it requires optimal resource allocation and is NP-hard. Since UAVs may be lost or may suffer significant damage during the course of the mission, plans may need to be modified in real-time as the mission proceeds. Therefore, multiple UAVs have a better chance of completing a mission in the face of failures. Such military operations can be treated as a variant of the Multiple Depot Vehicle Routing Problem (MDVRP. The proposed solution must be such that m UAVs start from multiple source locations to visit n targets and return to a set of destination locations such that (1 each target is visited exactly by one of the chosen UAVs (2 the total distance travelled by the group is minimized and (3 the number of targets that each UAV visits may not be less than K or greater than L.

Risk analysis for autonomous underwater vehicle operations in extreme environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Brito, Mario Paulo; Griffiths, Gwyn; Challenor, Peter

2010-12-01

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are used increasingly to explore hazardous marine environments. Risk assessment for such complex systems is based on subjective judgment and expert knowledge as much as on hard statistics. Here, we describe the use of a risk management process tailored to AUV operations, the implementation of which requires the elicitation of expert judgment. We conducted a formal judgment elicitation process where eight world experts in AUV design and operation were asked to assign a probability of AUV loss given the emergence of each fault or incident from the vehicle's life history of 63 faults and incidents. After discussing methods of aggregation and analysis, we show how the aggregated risk estimates obtained from the expert judgments were used to create a risk model. To estimate AUV survival with mission distance, we adopted a statistical survival function based on the nonparametric Kaplan-Meier estimator. We present theoretical formulations for the estimator, its variance, and confidence limits. We also present a numerical example where the approach is applied to estimate the probability that the Autosub3 AUV would survive a set of missions under Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica in January-March 2009. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

Satellite and Aerial Remote Sensing in Support of Disaster Response Operations Conducted by the Texas Division of Emergency Management

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, G. L.; Tapley, B. D.; Bettadpur, S. V.; Howard, T.; Porter, B.; Smith, S.; Teng, L.; Tapley, C.

2014-12-01

The effective use of remote sensing products as guidance to emergency managers and first responders during field operations requires close coordination and communication with state-level decision makers, incident commanders and the leaders of individual strike teams. Information must be tailored to meet the needs of different emergency support functions and must contain current (ideally near real-time) data delivered in standard formats in time to influence decisions made under rapidly changing conditions. Since 2003, a representative of the University of Texas Center for Space Research (CSR) has served as a member of the Governor's Emergency Management Council and has directed the flow of information from remote sensing observations and high performance computing modeling and simulations to the Texas Division of Emergency Management in the State Operations Center. The CSR team has supported response and recovery missions resulting from hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, wildfires, oil spills and other natural and man-made disasters in Texas and surrounding states. Through web mapping services, state emergency managers and field teams have received threat model forecasts, real-time vehicle tracking displays and imagery to support search-and-clear operations before hurricane landfall, search-and-rescue missions following floods, tactical wildfire suppression, pollution monitoring and hazardous materials detection. Data servers provide near real-time satellite imagery collected by CSR's direct broadcast receiving system and post data products delivered during activations of the United Nations International Charter on Space and Major Disasters. In the aftermath of large-scale events, CSR is charged with tasking state aviation resources, including the Air National Guard and Texas Civil Air Patrol, to acquire geolocated aerial photography of the affected region for wide area damage assessment. A data archive for each disaster is available online for years following

Electric Vehicles in Logistics and Transportation: A Survey on Emerging Environmental, Strategic, and Operational Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angel Alejandro Juan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Current logistics and transportation (L&T systems include heterogeneous fleets consisting of common internal combustion engine vehicles as well as other types of vehicles using “green” technologies, e.g., plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles (EVs. However, the incorporation of EVs in L&T activities also raise some additional challenges from the strategic, planning, and operational perspectives. For instance, smart cities are required to provide recharge stations for electric-based vehicles, meaning that investment decisions need to be made about the number, location, and capacity of these stations. Similarly, the limited driving-range capabilities of EVs, which are restricted by the amount of electricity stored in their batteries, impose non-trivial additional constraints when designing efficient distribution routes. Accordingly, this paper identifies and reviews several open research challenges related to the introduction of EVs in L&T activities, including: (a environmental-related issues; and (b strategic, planning and operational issues associated with “standard” EVs and with hydrogen-based EVs. The paper also analyzes how the introduction of EVs in L&T systems generates new variants of the well-known Vehicle Routing Problem, one of the most studied optimization problems in the L&T field, and proposes the use of metaheuristics and simheuristics as the most efficient way to deal with these complex optimization problems.

Development of Degree-of-Priority Based Control Strategy for Emergency Vehicle Preemption Operation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiawen Wang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a degree-of-priority based control strategy for emergency vehicle preemption operation to decrease the impacts of emergency vehicles on normal traffic. The proposed model features its effectiveness to the following three aspects: (1 a multilayer fuzzy model was established to determine the degree-of-priority based on emergency vehicle preemption demand intensity and preemption influence intensity; (2 for emergency vehicles with proper classification, a travel time estimation model for emergency traffic was formulated, an optimal emergency route determines model based on the level of priority of emergency events, and the emergency vehicle travel time was developed to minimize evacuation time as well as minimize the adverse impacts of preemption on normal traffic; and (3 a conditional traffic signals priority control method at each intersection of the evacuation route was built, so that traffic queue at each intersection can be cleared before the arrival of emergency vehicles. A simulation model based on field data was developed, and the performance of the proposed strategy was compared with the conventional local detection based method under the microscopic simulation model. The results validated the efficiency of the proposed strategy in terms of minimizing the delay of emergency vehicles and reducing adverse impacts on normal traffic.

Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program, Site Operator Program. Quarterly progress report, October--December 1995 (first quarter of fiscal year 1996)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francfort, J.E. [Lockheed Idaho Technologies Co., Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Bassett, R.R. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Briasco, S. [Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power, CA (United States)] [and others

1996-03-01

This is the Site Operator Program quarterly report for USDOE electric and hybrid vehicle research. Its mission now includes the three major activity categories of advancement of electric vehicle (EV) technologies, development of infrastructure elements needed to support significant EV use and increasing public awareness and acceptance of EVs. The 11 Site Operator Program participants, their geographic locations, and the principal thrusts of their efforts are identified. The EV inventories of the site operators totals about 250 vehicles. The individual fleets are summarized.

New York State intelligent transportation system commercial vehicle operations (CVO) : business plan

Science.gov (United States)

1998-07-01

The purpose of this Business Plan is to describe the major Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) initiatives and projects in the area of Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) that have recently been or are planned to be undertaken in New York State b...

An improved control system for a remotely operated vessel

Science.gov (United States)

Bachnak, Rafic; Mendez, Marc; Esparza, Jack; Fahed, Oliver

2006-05-01

Collecting environmental data in coastal bays presents several challenges to the scientist. One of the most pressing issues is how to efficiently and reliably gather data in shallow water areas-environments that often preclude the use of traditional boats. Obstacles that are encountered in such environments include difficulty in covering large territories and the presence of inaccessible areas due to a variety of reasons, such as soft bottoms or contamination. There is also a high probability of disturbing the test area while placing the sensors. This paper outlines the development of a remotely operated boat and its real-time control system.

Estimating Texas motor vehicle operating costs.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-10-01

A specific Vcost model was developed for Texas conditions based on a sophisticated fuel model for light : duty vehicles, several excellent sources of secondary vehicle cost data, and the ability to measure heavy truck fuel : consumption through both ...

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles unique cost estimating requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Malone, P.; Apgar, H.; Stukes, S.; Sterk, S.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also referred to as drones, are aerial platforms that fly without a human pilot onboard. UAVs are controlled autonomously by a computer in the vehicle or under the remote control of a pilot stationed at a fixed ground location. There are a wide variety of drone shapes, sizes, configurations, complexities, and characteristics. Use of these devices by the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, civil and commercial organizations continues to grow. UAVs are commonly used for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR). They are also use for combat operations, and civil applications, such as firefighting, non-military security work, surveillance of infrastructure (e.g. pipelines, power lines and country borders). UAVs are often preferred for missions that require sustained persistence (over 4 hours in duration), or are “ too dangerous, dull or dirty” for manned aircraft. Moreover, they can offer significant acquisition and operations cost savings over traditional manned aircraft. Because of these unique characteristics and missions, UAV estimates require some unique estimating methods. This paper describes a framework for estimating UAV systems total ownership cost including hardware components, software design, and operations. The challenge of collecting data, testing the sensitivities of cost drivers, and creating cost estimating relationships (CERs) for each key work breakdown structure (WBS) element is discussed. The autonomous operation of UAVs is especially challenging from a software perspective.

Evaluation of EDAR vehicle emissions remote sensing technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ropkins, Karl; DeFries, Timothy H; Pope, Francis; Green, David C; Kemper, Jim; Kishan, Sandeep; Fuller, Gary W; Li, Hu; Sidebottom, Jim; Crilley, Leigh R; Kramer, Louisa; Bloss, William J; Stewart Hager, J

2017-12-31

Despite much work in recent years, vehicle emissions remain a significant contributor in many areas where air quality standards are under threat. Policy-makers are actively exploring options for next generation vehicle emission control and local fleet management policies, and new monitoring technologies to aid these activities. Therefore, we report here on findings from two separate but complementary blind evaluation studies of one new-to-market real-world monitoring option, HEAT LLC's Emission Detection And Reporting system or EDAR, an above-road open path instrument that uses Differential Absorption LIDAR to provide a highly sensitive and selective measure of passing vehicle emissions. The first study, by Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Eastern Research Group, was a simulated exhaust gas test exercise used to investigate the instrumental accuracy of the EDAR. Here, CO, NO, CH 4 and C 3 H 8 measurements were found to exhibit high linearity, low bias, and low drift over a wide range of concentrations and vehicle speeds. Instrument accuracy was high (R 2 0.996 for CO, 0.998 for NO; 0.983 for CH 4 ; and 0.976 for C 3 H 8 ) and detection limits were 50 to 100ppm for CO, 10 to 30ppm for NO, 15 to 35ppmC for CH 4 , and, depending on vehicle speed, 100 to 400ppmC 3 for C 3 H 8 . The second study, by the Universities of Birmingham and Leeds and King's College London, used the comparison of EDAR, on-board Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) and car chaser (SNIFFER) system measurements collected under real-world conditions to investigate in situ EDAR performance. Given the analytical challenges associated with aligning these very different measurements, the observed agreements (e.g. EDAR versus PEMS R 2 0.92 for CO/CO 2 ; 0.97 for NO/CO 2 ; ca. 0.82 for NO 2 /CO 2 ; and, 0.94 for PM/CO 2 ) were all highly encouraging and indicate that EDAR also provides a representative measure of vehicle emissions under real-world conditions. Copyright �

Buried waste remote survey of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory subsurface disposal area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richardson, B.S.; Noakes, M.W.; Griebenow, B.E.; Josten, N.E.

1991-01-01

Burial site characterization is an important first step in the restoration of subsurface disposal sites. Testing and demonstration of technology for remote buried waste site characterization were performed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) by a team from five US Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories. The US Army's Soldier Robot Interface Project (SRIP) vehicle, on loan to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), was used as a remotely operated sensor platform. The SRIP was equipped with an array of sensors including terrain conductivity meter, magnetometer, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), organic vapor detector, gamma-based radar detector, and spectrum analyzer. The testing and demonstration were successfully completed and provided direction for future work in buried waste site characterization

A telescopic cinema sound camera for observing high altitude aerospace vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Slater, Dan

2014-09-01

Rockets and other high altitude aerospace vehicles produce interesting visual and aural phenomena that can be remotely observed from long distances. This paper describes a compact, passive and covert remote sensing system that can produce high resolution sound movies at >100 km viewing distances. The telescopic high resolution camera is capable of resolving and quantifying space launch vehicle dynamics including plume formation, staging events and payload fairing jettison. Flight vehicles produce sounds and vibrations that modulate the local electromagnetic environment. These audio frequency modulations can be remotely sensed by passive optical and radio wave detectors. Acousto-optic sensing methods were primarily used but an experimental radioacoustic sensor using passive micro-Doppler radar techniques was also tested. The synchronized combination of high resolution flight vehicle imagery with the associated vehicle sounds produces a cinema like experience that that is useful in both an aerospace engineering and a Hollywood film production context. Examples of visual, aural and radar observations of the first SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket launch are shown and discussed.

Operation Request Gatekeeper: A software system for remote access control of diagnostic instruments in fusion experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abla, G.; Schissel, D. P.; Fredian, T. W.; Stillerman, J. A.; Greenwald, M. J.; Stepanov, D. N.; Ciarlette, D. J.

2010-01-01

Tokamak diagnostic settings are repeatedly modified to meet the changing needs of each experiment. Enabling the remote diagnostic control has significant challenges due to security and efficiency requirements. The Operation Request Gatekeeper (ORG) is a software system that addresses the challenges of remotely but securely submitting modification requests. The ORG provides a framework for screening all the requests before they enter the secure machine zone and are executed by performing user authentication and authorization, grammar validation, and validity checks. A prototype ORG was developed for the ITER CODAC that satisfies their initial requirements for remote request submission and has been tested with remote control of the KSTAR Plasma Control System. This paper describes the software design principles and implementation of ORG as well as worldwide test results.

The application of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing technology in the FAST project construction

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Boqin

2015-08-01

The purpose of using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing application in Five-hundred-meter aperture spherical telescope (FAST) project is to dynamically record the construction process with high resolution image, monitor the environmental impact, and provide services for local environmental protection and the reserve immigrants. This paper introduces the use of UAV remote sensing system and the course design and implementation for the FAST site. Through the analysis of the time series data, we found that: (1) since the year 2012, the project has been widely carried out; (2) till 2013, the internal project begun to take shape;(3) engineering excavation scope was kept stable in 2014, and the initial scale of the FAST engineering construction has emerged as in the meantime, the vegetation recovery went well on the bare soil area; (4) in 2015, none environmental problems caused by engineering construction and other engineering geological disaster were found in the work area through the image interpretation of UAV images. This paper also suggested that the UAV technology need some improvements to fulfill the requirements of surveying and mapping specification., including a new data acquisition and processing measures assigned with the background of highly diverse elevation, usage of telephoto camera, hierarchical photography with different flying height, and adjustment with terrain using the joint empty three settlement method.

THE REMOTE AND MOBILE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER AND ITS POSSIBLE APPLICATION TO THE OPERATIONAL AREA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tímea VAS

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The concept of remote and mobile Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC TWR and its development has started in Europe, Australia and also in the USA, in order to improve the efficiency of Air Traffic Management (ATM systems in terms of air transportation safety. These new technologies are applicable in many countries in peace time, but on mobility reasons these are promoted to achieve commitments in the operational area. This article describes the devices and range of equipment of mobile and remote tower, and their specifications, which can even serve a medium sized airport, furthermore examines, whether how can those provide the air traffic services at an operational airfield.

Connected vehicle pilot deployment program phase 1, concept of operations (ConOps) - New York City.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-08

This document describes the Concept of Operations (ConOps) for the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC) Connected Vehicle Pilot Deployment (CVPD) Project. This ConOps describes the current state of operations, establishes the reasons for ...

MAIUS-1- Vehicle, Subsystems Design and Mission Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Stamminger, A.; Ettl, J.; Grosse, J.; Horschgen-Eggers, M.; Jung, W.; Kallenbach, A.; Raith, G.; Saedtler, W.; Seidel, S. T.; Turner, J.; Wittkamp, M.

2015-09-01

In November 2015, the DLR Mobile Rocket Base will launch the MAIUS-1 rocket vehicle at Esrange, Northern Sweden. The MAIUS-A experiment is a pathfinder atom optics experiment. The scientific objective of the mission is the first creation of a BoseEinstein Condensate in space and performing atom interferometry on a sounding rocket [3]. MAIUS-1 comprises a two-stage unguided solid propellant VSB-30 rocket motor system. The vehicle consists of a Brazilian 53 1 motor as 1 st stage, a 530 motor as 2nd stage, a conical motor adapter, a despin module, a payload adapter, the MAIUS-A experiment consisting of five experiment modules, an attitude control system module, a newly developed conical service system, and a two-staged recovery system including a nosecone. In contrast to usual payloads on VSB-30 rockets, the payload has a diameter of 500 mm due to constraints of the scientific experiment. Because of this change in design, a blunted nosecone is necessary to guarantee the required static stability during the ascent phase of the flight. This paper will give an overview on the subsystems which have been built at DLR MORABA, especially the newly developed service system. Further, it will contain a description of the MAIUS-1 vehicle, the mission and the unique requirements on operations and attitude control, which is additionally required to achieve a required attitude with respect to the nadir vector. Additionally to a usual microgravity environment, the MAIUS-l payload requires attitude control to achieve a required attitude with respect to the nadir vector.

Electric Vehicles for Improved Operation of Power Systems with High Wind Power Penetration

OpenAIRE

Larsen, Esben; Chandrashekhara, Divya K; Østergaard, Jacob

2008-01-01

In a power system with a high share of wind energy the wind fluctuation causes a variation in the power generation, which must be compensated from other sources. The situation in Denmark with a penetration of more than 20% wind in yearly average is presented. The introduction of electric drive vehicles (EDV) as flexible loads can improve the system operation. Bidirectional power exchange through batteries (vehicle to grid) can be seen as a storage system in the grid. An analysis of possible e...

Pellet presses for remote fuel fabrication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Densley, P.J.

1978-01-01

Two types of mechanical presses are being tested from the remote operation and remote maintenance aspects. Results will be used to recommend the type of press and design considerations required for operation in a remotely operated and maintained process line

Operating gains achieved by a new generation of remotely controlled manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Djedidi, A.; Selliez-Vandernotte, C.; Malcolm, F.

2014-01-01

A high performance remotely controlled mechanical master slave arm with direct transmission via cable and transmission rods has been converted to a new generation manipulator with electrical master slave arm and motion module with integrated software. The redesigned powered manipulator with software control improves efficiency and ergonomics while increasing operating field space. The mechanical master arm has been replaced by an electrical robotic master arm using haptic technology. The movements initiated by the operator are transmitted in real time to the slave arm via the servo-motors inside the motion module. The mechanical link between master and slave is eliminated and some mechanical constraints have been replaced by software applications. The operator benefits from an improved working position and vibration filtering plus full range high performance force feedback with reduced effort requirement. (authors)

Development of monitoring-control methods for heavy remote handling operations in an irradiated environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Argouac' h, J R [Alsthom-Atlantique, ACB Nantes (France)

1984-11-01

Heavy remote handling equipment units have benefited from the progress made in robotics, but with certain specific constraints linked to the environment in which they are required to operate. Notably, these constraints impose the exclusive use of electrical techniques.

Operating a wide-area high-availability collaborative remote observing system for classically-scheduled observations at the W. M. Keck Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Kibrick, Robert I.; Wirth, Gregory D.; Allen, Steven L.; Deich, William T. S.; Goodrich, Robert W.; Lanclos, Kyle; Lyke, James E.

2011-03-01

For over a decade, the W. M. Keck Observatory's two 10-meter telescopes have been operated remotely from its Waimea headquarters. Over the last 9 years, WMKO remote observing has expanded to allow observing teams at dedicated sites located across California to observe via the Internet either in collaboration with colleagues in Waimea or entirely from California; this capability was extended to Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 and to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in early 2011. All Keck facility science instruments are currently supported. Observers distributed between as many as four sites can collaborate in the interactive operation of each instrument by means of shared VNC desktops and multipoint video and/or telephone conferencing. Automated routers at primary remote observing sites ensure continued connectivity during Internet outages. Each Keck remote observing facility is similarly equipped and configured so observers have the same operating environment. This architecture provides observers the flexibility to conduct observations from the location best suited to their needs and to adapt to last-minute changes. It also enhances the ability of off-site technical staff to provide remote support.

GIS Methodology for Planning Planetary-Rover Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Mark; Norris, Jeffrey; Fox, Jason; Rabe, Kenneth; Shu, I-Hsiang

2007-01-01

A document describes a methodology for utilizing image data downlinked from cameras aboard a robotic ground vehicle (rover) on a remote planet for analyzing and planning operations of the vehicle and of any associated spacecraft. Traditionally, the cataloging and presentation of large numbers of downlinked planetary-exploration images have been done by use of two organizational methods: temporal organization and correlation between activity plans and images. In contrast, the present methodology involves spatial indexing of image data by use of the computational discipline of geographic information systems (GIS), which has been maturing in terrestrial applications for decades, but, until now, has not been widely used in support of exploration of remote planets. The use of GIS to catalog data products for analysis is intended to increase efficiency and effectiveness in planning rover operations, just as GIS has proven to be a source of powerful computational tools in such terrestrial endeavors as law enforcement, military strategic planning, surveying, political science, and epidemiology. The use of GIS also satisfies the need for a map-based user interface that is intuitive to rover-activity planners, many of whom are deeply familiar with maps and know how to use them effectively in field geology.

Monitoring intensity and patterns of off-highway vehicle (OHV) use in remote areas of the western USA

Science.gov (United States)

Ouren, Douglas S.; Coffin, Alisa W.

2013-01-01

The continued growth of off-highway vehicle (OHV) activities – demonstrated by the dramatic increase in OHV sales, number of users, and areas experiencing OHV use – has elevated concerns about their ecological effects, the impacts on wildlife, and the sustainability of OHV use on secondary and tertiary road networks. Conflicts between visitors and wildlife are raising concerns about system resiliency and sustainable management. In order to quantify the spatial and temporal impacts of OHV use it is imperative to know about the timing and patterns of vehicle use. This study tested and used multiple vehicle-counter types to study vehicular OHV use patterns and volume throughout a mountainous road network in western Colorado. OHV counts were analyzed by time of day, day of week, season, and year. While daily use peaked within a two to three hour range for all sites, the overall volume of use varied among sites on an annual basis. The data also showed that there are at least two distinct patterns of OHV use: one dominated by a majority of use on weekends, and the other with continuous use throughout the week. This project provided important, but rarely captured, metrics about patterns of OHV use in a remote, mountainous region of Colorado. The techniques described here can provide land managers with a quantitative evaluation of OHV use across the landscape, an essential foundation for travel management planning. They also provide researchers with robust tools to further investigate the impacts of OHV use.

Fuel Property, Emission Test, and Operability Results from a Fleet of Class 6 Vehicles Operating on Gas-to-Liquid Fuel and Catalyzed Diesel Particle Filters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alleman, T. L.; Eudy, L.; Miyasato, M.; Oshinuga, A.; Allison, S.; Corcoran, T.; Chatterjee, S.; Jacobs, T.; Cherrillo, R. A.; Clark, R.; Virrels, I.; Nine, R.; Wayne, S.; Lansing, R.

2005-11-01

A fleet of six 2001 International Class 6 trucks operating in southern California was selected for an operability and emissions study using gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel and catalyzed diesel particle filters (CDPF). Three vehicles were fueled with CARB specification diesel fuel and no emission control devices (current technology), and three vehicles were fueled with GTL fuel and retrofit with Johnson Matthey's CCRT diesel particulate filter. No engine modifications were made.

State of Montana ITS/CVO business plan : intelligent transportation system commercial vehicle operations

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

This plans purpose is to encourage coordinated, efficient and safe commercial vehicle operations throughout Montana, and to promote inter-agency and regional cooperation as ITS/CVO projects are developed and deployed. The Plan discusses Montana...

[An operational remote sensing algorithm of land surface evapotranspiration based on NOAA PAL dataset].

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Ying-Yu; He, Yan-Bo; Wang, Jian-Lin; Tian, Guo-Liang

2009-10-01

Based on the time series 10-day composite NOAA Pathfinder AVHRR Land (PAL) dataset (8 km x 8 km), and by using land surface energy balance equation and "VI-Ts" (vegetation index-land surface temperature) method, a new algorithm of land surface evapotranspiration (ET) was constructed. This new algorithm did not need the support from meteorological observation data, and all of its parameters and variables were directly inversed or derived from remote sensing data. A widely accepted ET model of remote sensing, i. e., SEBS model, was chosen to validate the new algorithm. The validation test showed that both the ET and its seasonal variation trend estimated by SEBS model and our new algorithm accorded well, suggesting that the ET estimated from the new algorithm was reliable, being able to reflect the actual land surface ET. The new ET algorithm of remote sensing was practical and operational, which offered a new approach to study the spatiotemporal variation of ET in continental scale and global scale based on the long-term time series satellite remote sensing images.

Operational remote sensing of aerosols over land to account for directional effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramon, Didier; Santer, Richard

2001-01-01

The assumption that the ground is a Lambertian reflector is commonly adopted in operational atmospheric corrections of spaceborne sensors. Through a simple modeling of directional effects in radiative transfer following the second simulation of the satellite signal in the solar spectrum (6S) approach, we propose an operational method to account for the departure from Lambertian behavior of a reflector covered by a scattering medium. This method relies on the computation of coupling terms between the reflecting and the scattering media and is able to deal with a two-layer atmosphere. We focus on the difficult problem of aerosol remote sensing over land. One popular sensing method relies on observations over dense dark vegetation, for which the surface reflectance is low and quite well defined in the blue and in the red. Therefore a study was made for three cases: (1) dark vegetation covered by atmospheric aerosols, (2) atmospheric aerosols covered by molecules, and finally (3) dark vegetation covered by atmospheric aerosols covered by molecules. Comparisons of top-of-the-atmosphere reflectances computed with our modeling and reference computations made with the successive-order-of-scattering code show the robustness of the modeling in the blue and in the red for aerosol optical thicknesses as great as 0.6 and solar zenith angles as large as 60 deg. . The model begins to fail only in the blue for large solar zenith angles. The benefits expected for aerosol remote sensing over land are evaluated with an aerosol retrieval scheme developed for the Medium-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer. The main result is a better constraint on the aerosol model with inclusion of directional effects and a weaker effect on the optical thickness of the retrieval aerosol. The directional scheme is then applied to the aerosol remote-sensing problem in actual Indian Remote Sensing Satellite P3/Modular Optoelectronic Scanner images over land and shows significant improvement compared with a

Launch and recovery of ROV: Investigation of operational limit from DNV Recommended Practices and time domain simulations in SIMO

OpenAIRE

Valen, Magnus

2010-01-01

Offshore contractors seek to operate their remotely operated vehicles for the widest range of sea conditions where particularly launch and recovery through splash zone are critical phases in the offshore operation. The analytical methods for calculation of operational limit proposed by guidelines from DNV Recommended Practices may lead to an over-estimation of the hydrodynamic forces and consequently to an unduly restrictive operational limit. Accurate predictions of the hydrodynamic forces a...

Advanced Vehicle Testing and Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garetson, Thomas [The Clarity Group, Incorporated, Chicago, IL (United States)

2013-03-31

The objective of the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy's (DOEs) Advanced Vehicle Testing and Evaluation (AVTE) project was to provide test and evaluation services for advanced technology vehicles, to establish a performance baseline, to determine vehicle reliability, and to evaluate vehicle operating costs in fleet operations.Vehicles tested include light and medium-duty vehicles in conventional, hybrid, and all-electric configurations using conventional and alternative fuels, including hydrogen in internal combustion engines. Vehicles were tested on closed tracks and chassis dynamometers, as well as operated on public roads, in fleet operations, and over prescribed routes. All testing was controlled by procedures developed specifically to support such testing.

Control, data acquisition and remote participation for steady-state operation in LHD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudo, S.; Nagayama, Y.; Emoto, M.; Nakanishi, H.; Chikaraishi, H.; Imazu, S.; Iwata, C.; Kogi, Y.; Kojima, M.; Komada, S.; Kubo, S.; Kumazawa, R.; Mase, A.; Miyazawa, J.; Mutoh, T.; Nakamura, Y.; Nonomura, M.; Ohsuna, M.; Saito, K.; Sakamoto, R.; Seki, T.; Shoji, M.; Tsuda, K.; Yoshida, M.

2006-01-01

Control, data acquisition, plasma monitoring and remote participation for steady state operation in the large helical device (LHD) are reviewed. By controlling the impedance matching of ICH, the plasma position and the electron density, high temperature plasma is confined for 1905s. The plasma parameters are monitored in real time. Data are continuously sampled by the YOKOGAWA WE7000 system and by the NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CompactPCI system. Those data are managed by the object-oriented database system based on ObjectStore in distributed servers with mass storage. By using the multi protocol label switching-virtual private network (MPLS-VPN) technology, the local area network of LHD is expanded to the Japanese fusion community. This provides the remote participants with the same environment of the LHD control room

Control, data acquisition and remote participation for steady-state operation in LHD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sudo, S. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan)]. E-mail: sudo@nifs.ac.jp; Nagayama, Y. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Emoto, M. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Nakanishi, H. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Chikaraishi, H. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Imazu, S. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Iwata, C. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Kogi, Y. [KASTEC, Kyushu University, Kasuga 816-8580 (Japan); Kojima, M. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Komada, S. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Kubo, S. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Kumazawa, R. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Mase, A. [KASTEC, Kyushu University, Kasuga 816-8580 (Japan); Miyazawa, J. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Mutoh, T. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Nakamura, Y. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Nonomura, M. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Ohsuna, M. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Saito, K. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Sakamoto, R.; Seki, T.; Shoji, M.; Tsuda, K.; Yoshida, M. [National Institute of Natural Sciences, 322-6 Oroshi, Toki 509-5292 (Japan)

2006-07-15

Control, data acquisition, plasma monitoring and remote participation for steady state operation in the large helical device (LHD) are reviewed. By controlling the impedance matching of ICH, the plasma position and the electron density, high temperature plasma is confined for 1905s. The plasma parameters are monitored in real time. Data are continuously sampled by the YOKOGAWA WE7000 system and by the NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CompactPCI system. Those data are managed by the object-oriented database system based on ObjectStore in distributed servers with mass storage. By using the multi protocol label switching-virtual private network (MPLS-VPN) technology, the local area network of LHD is expanded to the Japanese fusion community. This provides the remote participants with the same environment of the LHD control room.

Utilising scripting language for unmanned and automated guided vehicles operating within row crops

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, R. N.; Nørremark, M.; Sørensen, C.G.

2008-01-01

A flexible high-level control language is an important element in the ongoing task of introducing automated guided vehicles (AGV) to new application domains. A new application domain is row crops, where small AGV's will perform weed control around individual crop plants. This paper defines...... is described here as the ‘supervisory field coverage monitor’ (SFCM), which acts to coordinate the behaviours. The applicability of this modified SMR-CL has been successfully demonstrated using a vehicle test in a specially designed artificial row crop field. The analysis of the operational performance...

Low-cost multispectral imaging for remote sensing of lettuce health

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, David D. W.; Tripathi, Siddhant; Li, Larry K. B.

2017-01-01

In agricultural remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms offer many advantages over conventional satellite and full-scale airborne platforms. One of the most important advantages is their ability to capture high spatial resolution images (1-10 cm) on-demand and at different viewing angles. However, UAV platforms typically rely on the use of multiple cameras, which can be costly and difficult to operate. We present the development of a simple low-cost imaging system for remote sensing of crop health and demonstrate it on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) grown in Hong Kong. To identify the optimal vegetation index, we recorded images of both healthy and unhealthy lettuce, and used them as input in an expectation maximization cluster analysis with a Gaussian mixture model. Results from unsupervised and supervised clustering show that, among four widely used vegetation indices, the blue wide-dynamic range vegetation index is the most accurate. This study shows that it is readily possible to design and build a remote sensing system capable of determining the health status of lettuce at a reasonably low cost (lettuce growers.

A Remote Characterization System for subsurface mapping of buried waste sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandness, G.A.; Bennett, D.W.; Martinson, L.

1992-06-01

This paper describes a development project that will provide new technology for characterizing hazardous waste burial sites. The project is a collaborative effort by five of the national laboratories, involving the development and demonstration of a remotely controlled site characterization system. The Remote Characterization System (RCS) includes a unique low-signature survey vehicle, a base station, radio telemetry data links, satellite-based vehicle tracking, stereo vision, and sensors for non-invasive inspection of the surface and subsurface

Remote technology review: mobile robots continue to march (and crawl, roll, walk, slither, climb and swim) into action

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meieran, H.

1991-01-01

Mobile robots are performing an increasing range of tasks in nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities as well as in a wide spectrum of other hazardous industries and environments. The total number of such systems, many of which can be used in the nuclear industry, that have been, are being or will be built, now exceeds 350 separate units manufactured by more than 168 suppliers in 19 countries. In addition to being used in nuclear power plants themselves, they are being, or can be, employed in a variety of other nuclear applications, including hot cells, fuel reprocessing facilities, research establishments, waste sites, uranium mines, and decommissioning projects. The survey results reported here provide current statistics regarding terrestrial based mobile robots and remote teleoperator controlled vehicles (referred to collectively as mobile robots), underwater crawling and swimming robots (the latter known as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)) and pipecrawlers. (author)

Test plan for the remote conveyance and innovative end effector demonstration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rice, P.; Smith, A.M. [EG& G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Idaho National Engineering Lab.; Peterson, R.

1994-08-01

This test plan describes the demonstration of innovative equipment and processes specifically designed to be superior to currently employed technology for buried waste retrieval. The dumping of dry soil into a funnel/dumpster arrangement has been found to be the primary mechanism for dust generation during the retrieval of buried transuranic waste. The primary goal of the innovative end effector is to reduce dust generation and the potential spread of airborne contaminants during the dumping operation. In addition, regardless of the excavation technique, exhumed waste will have to be conveyed away from the retrieval area to a packaging area or directly to a treatment facility. The remote conveyance system is aimed at developing a remotely controlled vehicle to convey retrieved waste that will operate on variable terrain and remove workers from the hazardous zone. To demonstrate the remote conveyance system and the innovative end effector, the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration (BWID) Program has subcontracted with RAHCO International to provide equipment and services to perform a demonstration of the technologies. The demonstration will be performed in two phases. In Phase I, the subcontractor will perform a full scale demonstration to assess the ability of the innovative end effector to control dust generation and the potential spread of contamination during dumping operations. Phase II includes performing a retrieval/conveyance demonstration. This demonstration will excavate, dump, and convey simulated waste to demonstrate the functionality of the system (e.g., maneuverability, retrieval rates, and system integration). Phase II of the demonstration will include all elements of the remote conveyance and end effector system. This test plan will describe the demonstration objectives, data quality objectives, equipment operation, and methods for collecting data during the demonstration.

Test plan for the remote conveyance and innovative end effector demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rice, P.; Smith, A.M.; Peterson, R.

1994-08-01

This test plan describes the demonstration of innovative equipment and processes specifically designed to be superior to currently employed technology for buried waste retrieval. The dumping of dry soil into a funnel/dumpster arrangement has been found to be the primary mechanism for dust generation during the retrieval of buried transuranic waste. The primary goal of the innovative end effector is to reduce dust generation and the potential spread of airborne contaminants during the dumping operation. In addition, regardless of the excavation technique, exhumed waste will have to be conveyed away from the retrieval area to a packaging area or directly to a treatment facility. The remote conveyance system is aimed at developing a remotely controlled vehicle to convey retrieved waste that will operate on variable terrain and remove workers from the hazardous zone. To demonstrate the remote conveyance system and the innovative end effector, the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration (BWID) Program has subcontracted with RAHCO International to provide equipment and services to perform a demonstration of the technologies. The demonstration will be performed in two phases. In Phase I, the subcontractor will perform a full scale demonstration to assess the ability of the innovative end effector to control dust generation and the potential spread of contamination during dumping operations. Phase II includes performing a retrieval/conveyance demonstration. This demonstration will excavate, dump, and convey simulated waste to demonstrate the functionality of the system (e.g., maneuverability, retrieval rates, and system integration). Phase II of the demonstration will include all elements of the remote conveyance and end effector system. This test plan will describe the demonstration objectives, data quality objectives, equipment operation, and methods for collecting data during the demonstration

Development of remote operated floor contamination monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sreekumar, K.; Gangamohan, M.; Kannan, R.K.; Rajan, S.

2005-01-01

Contamination check of floors and walkways in and around Reactor building areas forms an integral part of Radiation Protection Program in Power Stations. Though random swipe check method is adopted for the detection of loose contamination, this method has the disadvantage of leaving the fixed contamination and hotspots undetected. Hence, scanning the area with a sensitive detector, held close to the surface provides positive means for the detection of contamination. Checking large areas and walkways by holding the detector close to the surface involves physical work. Also, areas which are unapproachable due to congestion of equipment, may go uncovered by contamination monitoring in order to eliminate the physical strain involved in such contamination monitoring and to cover unapproachable areas, a small size prototype device that can be operated remotely was fabricated. This device detects contamination instantaneously and accurately. This paper describes design and fabrication of the device used for floor contamination monitoring. (author)

Remote replacement of materials open-test assembly specimens at the FFTF/IEM cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gibbons, P.W.; Ramsey, E.B.

1990-01-01

The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) interim examination and maintenance (IEM) cell is used for the remote disassembly of irradiated fuel and materials experiments. The materials open-test assembly (MOTA) is brought to the IEM cell for materials test specimen removal. The specimens are shipped to the materials laboratory for sorting and installation in new specimen holders and then returned within 10 days to the IEM cell where they are installed in a new MOTA vehicle for further irradiation. Reconstituting a MOTA is a challenging remote operation involving dozens of steps and two separate facilities. Handling and disassembling sodium-wetted components pose interesting handling, cleaning, and disposal challenges. The success of this system is evidenced by its timely completion in the critical path of FFTF outage schedules

Remote Sensing-based Methodologies for Snow Model Adjustments in Operational Streamflow Prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Bender, S.; Miller, W. P.; Bernard, B.; Stokes, M.; Oaida, C. M.; Painter, T. H.

2015-12-01

Water management agencies rely on hydrologic forecasts issued by operational agencies such as NOAA's Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC). The CBRFC has partnered with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) under funding from NASA to incorporate research-oriented, remotely-sensed snow data into CBRFC operations and to improve the accuracy of CBRFC forecasts. The partnership has yielded valuable analysis of snow surface albedo as represented in JPL's MODIS Dust Radiative Forcing in Snow (MODDRFS) data, across the CBRFC's area of responsibility. When dust layers within a snowpack emerge, reducing the snow surface albedo, the snowmelt rate may accelerate. The CBRFC operational snow model (SNOW17) is a temperature-index model that lacks explicit representation of snowpack surface albedo. CBRFC forecasters monitor MODDRFS data for emerging dust layers and may manually adjust SNOW17 melt rates. A technique was needed for efficient and objective incorporation of the MODDRFS data into SNOW17. Initial development focused in Colorado, where dust-on-snow events frequently occur. CBRFC forecasters used retrospective JPL-CBRFC analysis and developed a quantitative relationship between MODDRFS data and mean areal temperature (MAT) data. The relationship was used to generate adjusted, MODDRFS-informed input for SNOW17. Impacts of the MODDRFS-SNOW17 MAT adjustment method on snowmelt-driven streamflow prediction varied spatially and with characteristics of the dust deposition events. The largest improvements occurred in southwestern Colorado, in years with intense dust deposition events. Application of the method in other regions of Colorado and in "low dust" years resulted in minimal impact. The MODDRFS-SNOW17 MAT technique will be implemented in CBRFC operations in late 2015, prior to spring 2016 runoff. Collaborative investigation of remote sensing-based adjustment methods for the CBRFC operational hydrologic forecasting environment will continue over the next several years.

Demonstration of a remotely operated TRU waste size-reduction and material handling process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, J.A. III; Schuler, T.F.; Ward, C.R.

1986-01-01

Noncombustible Pu-238 and Pu-239 waste is generated as a result of normal operation and decommissioning activity at the Savannah River Plant and is being retrievably stored at the site. As part of the long-term plan to process the stored waste and current waste for permanent disposal, a remote size-reduction and material handling process is being tested at Savannah River Laboratory to provide design support for the plant TRU Waste Facility scheduled to be completed in 1993. The process consists of a large, low-speed shredder and material handling system, a remote worktable, a bagless transfer system, and a robotically controlled manipulator, or Telerobot. Initial testing of the shredder and material handling system and a cycle test of the bagless transfer system were completed. Initial Telerobot run-in and system evaluation was completed. User software was evaluated and modified to support complete menu-driven operation. Telerobot prototype size-reduction tooling was designed and successfully tested. Complete nonradioactive testing of the equipment is scheduled to be completed in 1987

Electric Vehicle Requirements for Operation in Smart Grids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marra, Francesco; Sacchetti, Dario; Træholt, Chresten

2011-01-01

Several European projects on smart grids are considering Electric Vehicles (EVs) as active element in future power systems. Both battery-powered vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles are expected to interact with the grid, sharing their energy storage capacity. Different coordination concepts...... for EVs are being investigated, in which vehicles can be intelligently charged or discharged feeding power back to the grid in vehicle-to-grid mode (V2G). To respond to such needs, EVs are required to share their battery internal data as well as respond to external control signals. In this paper...

Role of automation in the ACRV operations

Science.gov (United States)

Sepahban, S. F.

1992-01-01

The Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV) will provide the Space Station Freedom with contingency means of return to earth (1) of one disabled crew member during medical emergencies, (2) of all crew members in case of accidents or failures of SSF systems, and (3) in case of interruption of the Space Shuttle flights. A wide range of vehicle configurations and system approaches are currently under study. The Program requirements focus on minimizing life cycle costs by ensuring simple operations, built-in reliability and maintainability. The ACRV philosophy of embedded operations is based on maximum use of existing facilities, resources and processes, while minimizing the interfaces and impacts to the Space Shuttle and Freedom programs. A preliminary integrated operations concept based on this philosophy and covering the ground, flight, mission support, and landing and recovery operations has been produced. To implement the ACRV operations concept, the underlying approach has been to rely on vehicle autonomy and automation, to the extent possible. Candidate functions and processes which may benefit from current or near-term automation and robotics technologies are identified. These include, but are not limited to, built-in automated ground tests and checkouts; use of the Freedom and the Orbiter remote manipulator systems, for ACRV berthing; automated passive monitoring and performance trend analysis, and periodic active checkouts during dormant periods. The major ACRV operations concept issues as they relate to the use of automation are discussed.

Remote power supply by wind/diesel/battery systems - operational experience and economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kniehl, R.; Cramer, G.; Toenges, K.H.

1995-01-01

To continuously supply remote villages and settlements not connected to the public grid with electric power is an ambitious technical task considering ecological and economical points of view. The German company SMA has developed a modular supply system as a solution for this task in the range of 30 kW to 5 MW. Meanwhile more than 20 applications of these 'Intelligent Power Systems (IPS)' have proved their technical reliability and economical competitiveness worldwide under different, and also extreme environmental conditions. Actually it is the first commercially available advanced Wind/Diesel/Battery System for remote area electrification. The modular autonomous electric supply systems realized by SMA basically consist of two or more diesel power sets, battery storage with converter, a rotating phaseshifter, and an optional number of wind turbines. All modules are coupled on the 3-phase AC system grid and run in various parallel configurations depending on the wind speed and the consumer power demand. The control system operates fully automatical and offers a very user-friendly graphical interface. This advanced system control also contains a remote control and operating data output via modem and telephone line. SMA and CES have considerable experience with Wind/Diesel/Battery Systems for more than eight years. In many cases wind energy converters in the power range of 30 to 40 kW were used, but it is also possible to use larger wind turbines (e.g. 250 kW). In the following the system technology is described in detail, experience of different system sizes in several countries of application is presented, and economical analyses for power supply by IPS are given in comparison to a conventional fully diesel power supply. (author)

Remote power supply by wind/diesel/battery systems - operational experience and economy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kniehl, R [CES - Consulting and Engineering Services, Heidelberg (Germany); Cramer, G; Toenges, K H [SMA Regelsysteme GmbH, Niestetal (Germany)

1996-12-31

To continuously supply remote villages and settlements not connected to the public grid with electric power is an ambitious technical task considering ecological and economical points of view. The German company SMA has developed a modular supply system as a solution for this task in the range of 30 kW to 5 MW. Meanwhile more than 20 applications of these `Intelligent Power Systems (IPS)` have proved their technical reliability and economical competitiveness worldwide under different, and also extreme environmental conditions. Actually it is the first commercially available advanced Wind/Diesel/Battery System for remote area electrification. The modular autonomous electric supply systems realized by SMA basically consist of two or more diesel power sets, battery storage with converter, a rotating phaseshifter, and an optional number of wind turbines. All modules are coupled on the 3-phase AC system grid and run in various parallel configurations depending on the wind speed and the consumer power demand. The control system operates fully automatical and offers a very user-friendly graphical interface. This advanced system control also contains a remote control and operating data output via modem and telephone line. SMA and CES have considerable experience with Wind/Diesel/Battery Systems for more than eight years. In many cases wind energy converters in the power range of 30 to 40 kW were used, but it is also possible to use larger wind turbines (e.g. 250 kW). In the following the system technology is described in detail, experience of different system sizes in several countries of application is presented, and economical analyses for power supply by IPS are given in comparison to a conventional fully diesel power supply. (author)