WorldWideScience

Sample records for sensing system locates

  1. Wireless Damage Location Sensing System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodard, Stanley E. (Inventor); Taylor, Bryant Douglas (Inventor)

    2012-01-01

    A wireless damage location sensing system uses a geometric-patterned wireless sensor that resonates in the presence of a time-varying magnetic field to generate a harmonic response that will experience a change when the sensor experiences a change in its geometric pattern. The sensing system also includes a magnetic field response recorder for wirelessly transmitting the time-varying magnetic field and for wirelessly detecting the harmonic response. The sensing system compares the actual harmonic response to a plurality of predetermined harmonic responses. Each predetermined harmonic response is associated with a severing of the sensor at a corresponding known location thereof so that a match between the actual harmonic response and one of the predetermined harmonic responses defines the known location of the severing that is associated therewith.

  2. Privacy Protection in Participatory Sensing Applications Requiring Fine-Grained Locations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dong, Kai; Gu, Tao; Tao, Xianping

    2010-01-01

    The emerging participatory sensing applications have brought a privacy risk where users expose their location information. Most of the existing solutions preserve location privacy by generalizing a precise user location to a coarse-grained location, and hence they cannot be applied in those appli...... provider is an trustworthy entity, making our solution more feasible to practical applications. We present and analyze our security model, and evaluate the performance and scalability of our system....

  3. A force-sensing surgical tool with a proximally located force/torque sensor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwalb, W; Shirinzadeh, B; Smith, J

    2017-03-01

    Robotic surgery has seen a rapid increase in popularity in the last few decades because advantages such as increased accuracy and dexterity can be realized. These systems still lack force-feedback, where such a capability is believed to be beneficial to the surgeon and can improve safety. In this paper a force-feedback enabled surgical robotic system is described in which the developed force-sensing surgical tool is discussed in detail. The developed surgical tool makes use of a proximally located force/torque sensor, which, in contrast to a distally located sensor, requires no miniaturization or sterilizability. Experimental results are presented, and indicate high force sensing accuracies with errors <0.09 N. It is shown that developing a force-sensing surgical tool utilizing a proximally located force/torque sensor is feasible, where a tool outer diameter of 12 mm can be achieved. For future work it is desired to decrease the current tool outer diameter to 10 mm. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. Location Privacy for Mobile Crowd Sensing through Population Mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Minho; Cornelius, Cory; Kapadia, Apu; Triandopoulos, Nikos; Kotz, David

    2015-06-29

    Opportunistic sensing allows applications to "task" mobile devices to measure context in a target region. For example, one could leverage sensor-equipped vehicles to measure traffic or pollution levels on a particular street or users' mobile phones to locate (Bluetooth-enabled) objects in their vicinity. In most proposed applications, context reports include the time and location of the event, putting the privacy of users at increased risk: even if identifying information has been removed from a report, the accompanying time and location can reveal sufficient information to de-anonymize the user whose device sent the report. We propose and evaluate a novel spatiotemporal blurring mechanism based on tessellation and clustering to protect users' privacy against the system while reporting context. Our technique employs a notion of probabilistic k-anonymity; it allows users to perform local blurring of reports efficiently without an online anonymization server before the data are sent to the system. The proposed scheme can control the degree of certainty in location privacy and the quality of reports through a system parameter. We outline the architecture and security properties of our approach and evaluate our tessellation and clustering algorithm against real mobility traces.

  5. Location Privacy for Mobile Crowd Sensing through Population Mapping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Minho Shin

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Opportunistic sensing allows applications to “task” mobile devices to measure context in a target region. For example, one could leverage sensor-equipped vehicles to measure traffic or pollution levels on a particular street or users’ mobile phones to locate (Bluetooth-enabled objects in their vicinity. In most proposed applications, context reports include the time and location of the event, putting the privacy of users at increased risk: even if identifying information has been removed from a report, the accompanying time and location can reveal sufficient information to de-anonymize the user whose device sent the report. We propose and evaluate a novel spatiotemporal blurring mechanism based on tessellation and clustering to protect users’ privacy against the system while reporting context. Our technique employs a notion of probabilistic k-anonymity; it allows users to perform local blurring of reports efficiently without an online anonymization server before the data are sent to the system. The proposed scheme can control the degree of certainty in location privacy and the quality of reports through a system parameter. We outline the architecture and security properties of our approach and evaluate our tessellation and clustering algorithm against real mobility traces.

  6. Achieve Location Privacy-Preserving Range Query in Vehicular Sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Qinglei; Lu, Rongxing; Ma, Maode; Bao, Haiyong

    2017-08-08

    Modern vehicles are equipped with a plethora of on-board sensors and large on-board storage, which enables them to gather and store various local-relevant data. However, the wide application of vehicular sensing has its own challenges, among which location-privacy preservation and data query accuracy are two critical problems. In this paper, we propose a novel range query scheme, which helps the data requester to accurately retrieve the sensed data from the distributive on-board storage in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) with location privacy preservation. The proposed scheme exploits structured scalars to denote the locations of data requesters and vehicles, and achieves the privacy-preserving location matching with the homomorphic Paillier cryptosystem technique. Detailed security analysis shows that the proposed range query scheme can successfully preserve the location privacy of the involved data requesters and vehicles, and protect the confidentiality of the sensed data. In addition, performance evaluations are conducted to show the efficiency of the proposed scheme, in terms of computation delay and communication overhead. Specifically, the computation delay and communication overhead are not dependent on the length of the scalar, and they are only proportional to the number of vehicles.

  7. Touch Locating and Stretch Sensing Studies of Conductive Hydrogels with Applications to Soft Robots.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Yanmin; He, Bin; Yan, Zhe; Shang, Yinghui; Wang, Qigang; Wang, Zhipeng

    2018-02-13

    Soft robots possess great potential in environmental adaptations, while their environmental sensing abilities are critical. Conductive hydrogels have been suggested to possess sensing abilities. However, their application in soft robots is lacking. In this work, we fabricated a soft and stretchable gel material, introduced its sensing mechanisms, and developed a measurement setup. Both experimental and simulation studies indicate strong nonlinearity of touch locating on a square touch panel with Cartesian coordinates. To simplify the touch locating, we proposed a touch locating system based on round touch panels with polar coordinates. Mathematical calculations and finite element method (FEM) simulations showed that in this system the locating of a touch point was only determined by its polar radius. This was verified by experimental studies. As a resistor, a gel strip's resistance increases with stretching. To demonstrate their applications on soft robots, a 3D printed three-fingered soft gripper was employed with gel strips attached. During finger bending for rod grasping, the resistances of the gel strips increased, indicating stretching of the soft material. Furthermore, the strain and stress of a gel strip increased with a decrease of the rod diameter. These studies advance the application of conductive hydrogels on soft robots.

  8. Capacitive system detects and locates fluid leaks

    Science.gov (United States)

    1966-01-01

    Electronic monitoring system automatically detects and locates minute leaks in seams of large fluid storage tanks and pipelines covered with thermal insulation. The system uses a capacitive tape-sensing element that is adhesively bonded over seams where fluid leaks are likely to occur.

  9. Portable remote sensing image processing system; Kahangata remote sensing gazo shori system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujikawa, S; Uchida, K; Tanaka, S; Jingo, H [Dowa Engineering Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan); Hato, M [Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center, Tokyo (Japan)

    1997-10-22

    Recently, geological analysis using remote sensing data has been put into practice due to data with high spectral resolution and high spatial resolution. There has been a remarkable increase in both software and hardware of personal computer. Software is independent of hardware due to Windows. It has become easy to develop softwares. Under such situation, a portable remote sensing image processing system coping with Window 95 has been developed. Using this system, basic image processing can be conducted, and present location can be displayed on the image in real time by linking with GPS. Accordingly, it is not required to bring printed images for the field works of image processing. This system can be used instead of topographic maps for overseas surveys. Microsoft Visual C++ ver. 2.0 is used for the software. 1 fig.

  10. Kalman/Map Filtering-Aided Fast Normalized Cross Correlation-Based Wi-Fi Fingerprinting Location Sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongliang Sun

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available A Kalman/map filtering (KMF-aided fast normalized cross correlation (FNCC-based Wi-Fi fingerprinting location sensing system is proposed in this paper. Compared with conventional neighbor selection algorithms that calculate localization results with received signal strength (RSS mean samples, the proposed FNCC algorithm makes use of all the on-line RSS samples and reference point RSS variations to achieve higher fingerprinting accuracy. The FNCC computes efficiently while maintaining the same accuracy as the basic normalized cross correlation. Additionally, a KMF is also proposed to process fingerprinting localization results. It employs a new map matching algorithm to nonlinearize the linear location prediction process of Kalman filtering (KF that takes advantage of spatial proximities of consecutive localization results. With a calibration model integrated into an indoor map, the map matching algorithm corrects unreasonable prediction locations of the KF according to the building interior structure. Thus, more accurate prediction locations are obtained. Using these locations, the KMF considerably improves fingerprinting algorithm performance. Experimental results demonstrate that the FNCC algorithm with reduced computational complexity outperforms other neighbor selection algorithms and the KMF effectively improves location sensing accuracy by using indoor map information and spatial proximities of consecutive localization results.

  11. Kalman/Map filtering-aided fast normalized cross correlation-based Wi-Fi fingerprinting location sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yongliang; Xu, Yubin; Li, Cheng; Ma, Lin

    2013-11-13

    A Kalman/map filtering (KMF)-aided fast normalized cross correlation (FNCC)-based Wi-Fi fingerprinting location sensing system is proposed in this paper. Compared with conventional neighbor selection algorithms that calculate localization results with received signal strength (RSS) mean samples, the proposed FNCC algorithm makes use of all the on-line RSS samples and reference point RSS variations to achieve higher fingerprinting accuracy. The FNCC computes efficiently while maintaining the same accuracy as the basic normalized cross correlation. Additionally, a KMF is also proposed to process fingerprinting localization results. It employs a new map matching algorithm to nonlinearize the linear location prediction process of Kalman filtering (KF) that takes advantage of spatial proximities of consecutive localization results. With a calibration model integrated into an indoor map, the map matching algorithm corrects unreasonable prediction locations of the KF according to the building interior structure. Thus, more accurate prediction locations are obtained. Using these locations, the KMF considerably improves fingerprinting algorithm performance. Experimental results demonstrate that the FNCC algorithm with reduced computational complexity outperforms other neighbor selection algorithms and the KMF effectively improves location sensing accuracy by using indoor map information and spatial proximities of consecutive localization results.

  12. Distributed solar photovoltaic array location and extent dataset for remote sensing object identification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradbury, Kyle; Saboo, Raghav; L. Johnson, Timothy; Malof, Jordan M.; Devarajan, Arjun; Zhang, Wuming; M. Collins, Leslie; G. Newell, Richard

    2016-12-01

    Earth-observing remote sensing data, including aerial photography and satellite imagery, offer a snapshot of the world from which we can learn about the state of natural resources and the built environment. The components of energy systems that are visible from above can be automatically assessed with these remote sensing data when processed with machine learning methods. Here, we focus on the information gap in distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, of which there is limited public data on solar PV deployments at small geographic scales. We created a dataset of solar PV arrays to initiate and develop the process of automatically identifying solar PV locations using remote sensing imagery. This dataset contains the geospatial coordinates and border vertices for over 19,000 solar panels across 601 high-resolution images from four cities in California. Dataset applications include training object detection and other machine learning algorithms that use remote sensing imagery, developing specific algorithms for predictive detection of distributed PV systems, estimating installed PV capacity, and analysis of the socioeconomic correlates of PV deployment.

  13. Detection, Identification, Location, and Remote Sensing using SAW RFID Sensor Tags

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, Richard J.

    2009-01-01

    In this presentation, we will consider the problem of simultaneous detection, identification, location estimation, and remote sensing for multiple objects. In particular, we will describe the design and testing of a wireless system capable of simultaneously detecting the presence of multiple objects, identifying each object, and acquiring both a low-resolution estimate of location and a high-resolution estimate of temperature for each object based on wireless interrogation of passive surface acoustic wave (SAW) radiofrequency identification (RFID) sensor tags affixed to each object. The system is being studied for application on the lunar surface as well as for terrestrial remote sensing applications such as pre-launch monitoring and testing of spacecraft on the launch pad and monitoring of test facilities. The system utilizes a digitally beam-formed planar receiving antenna array to extend range and provide direction-of-arrival information coupled with an approximate maximum-likelihood signal processing algorithm to provide near-optimal estimation of both range and temperature. The system is capable of forming a large number of beams within the field of view and resolving the information from several tags within each beam. The combination of both spatial and waveform discrimination provides the capability to track and monitor telemetry from a large number of objects appearing simultaneously within the field of view of the receiving array. In the presentation, we will summarize the system design and illustrate several aspects of the operational characteristics and signal structure. We will examine the theoretical performance characteristics of the system and compare the theoretical results with results obtained from experiments in both controlled laboratory environments and in the field.

  14. Privacy-Preserving Location-Based Service Scheme for Mobile Sensing Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qingqing Xie

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available With the wide use of mobile sensing application, more and more location-embedded data are collected and stored in mobile clouds, such as iCloud, Samsung cloud, etc. Using these data, the cloud service provider (CSP can provide location-based service (LBS for users. However, the mobile cloud is untrustworthy. The privacy concerns force the sensitive locations to be stored on the mobile cloud in an encrypted form. However, this brings a great challenge to utilize these data to provide efficient LBS. To solve this problem, we propose a privacy-preserving LBS scheme for mobile sensing data, based on the RSA (for Rivest, Shamir and Adleman algorithm and ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE scheme. The mobile cloud can perform location distance computing and comparison efficiently for authorized users, without location privacy leakage. In the end, theoretical security analysis and experimental evaluation demonstrate that our scheme is secure against the chosen plaintext attack (CPA and efficient enough for practical applications in terms of user side computation overhead.

  15. Privacy-Preserving Location-Based Service Scheme for Mobile Sensing Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Qingqing; Wang, Liangmin

    2016-11-25

    With the wide use of mobile sensing application, more and more location-embedded data are collected and stored in mobile clouds, such as iCloud, Samsung cloud, etc. Using these data, the cloud service provider (CSP) can provide location-based service (LBS) for users. However, the mobile cloud is untrustworthy. The privacy concerns force the sensitive locations to be stored on the mobile cloud in an encrypted form. However, this brings a great challenge to utilize these data to provide efficient LBS. To solve this problem, we propose a privacy-preserving LBS scheme for mobile sensing data, based on the RSA (for Rivest, Shamir and Adleman) algorithm and ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) scheme. The mobile cloud can perform location distance computing and comparison efficiently for authorized users, without location privacy leakage. In the end, theoretical security analysis and experimental evaluation demonstrate that our scheme is secure against the chosen plaintext attack (CPA) and efficient enough for practical applications in terms of user side computation overhead.

  16. Privacy-Preserving Location-Based Service Scheme for Mobile Sensing Data †

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Qingqing; Wang, Liangmin

    2016-01-01

    With the wide use of mobile sensing application, more and more location-embedded data are collected and stored in mobile clouds, such as iCloud, Samsung cloud, etc. Using these data, the cloud service provider (CSP) can provide location-based service (LBS) for users. However, the mobile cloud is untrustworthy. The privacy concerns force the sensitive locations to be stored on the mobile cloud in an encrypted form. However, this brings a great challenge to utilize these data to provide efficient LBS. To solve this problem, we propose a privacy-preserving LBS scheme for mobile sensing data, based on the RSA (for Rivest, Shamir and Adleman) algorithm and ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) scheme. The mobile cloud can perform location distance computing and comparison efficiently for authorized users, without location privacy leakage. In the end, theoretical security analysis and experimental evaluation demonstrate that our scheme is secure against the chosen plaintext attack (CPA) and efficient enough for practical applications in terms of user side computation overhead. PMID:27897984

  17. Mobile Sensing Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macias, Elsa; Suarez, Alvaro; Lloret, Jaime

    2013-01-01

    Rich-sensor smart phones have made possible the recent birth of the mobile sensing research area as part of ubiquitous sensing which integrates other areas such as wireless sensor networks and web sensing. There are several types of mobile sensing: individual, participatory, opportunistic, crowd, social, etc. The object of sensing can be people-centered or environment-centered. The sensing domain can be home, urban, vehicular… Currently there are barriers that limit the social acceptance of mobile sensing systems. Examples of social barriers are privacy concerns, restrictive laws in some countries and the absence of economic incentives that might encourage people to participate in a sensing campaign. Several technical barriers are phone energy savings and the variety of sensors and software for their management. Some existing surveys partially tackle the topic of mobile sensing systems. Published papers theoretically or partially solve the above barriers. We complete the above surveys with new works, review the barriers of mobile sensing systems and propose some ideas for efficiently implementing sensing, fusion, learning, security, privacy and energy saving for any type of mobile sensing system, and propose several realistic research challenges. The main objective is to reduce the learning curve in mobile sensing systems where the complexity is very high. PMID:24351637

  18. Mobile sensing systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macias, Elsa; Suarez, Alvaro; Lloret, Jaime

    2013-12-16

    Rich-sensor smart phones have made possible the recent birth of the mobile sensing research area as part of ubiquitous sensing which integrates other areas such as wireless sensor networks and web sensing. There are several types of mobile sensing: individual, participatory, opportunistic, crowd, social, etc. The object of sensing can be people-centered or environment-centered. The sensing domain can be home, urban, vehicular… Currently there are barriers that limit the social acceptance of mobile sensing systems. Examples of social barriers are privacy concerns, restrictive laws in some countries and the absence of economic incentives that might encourage people to participate in a sensing campaign. Several technical barriers are phone energy savings and the variety of sensors and software for their management. Some existing surveys partially tackle the topic of mobile sensing systems. Published papers theoretically or partially solve the above barriers. We complete the above surveys with new works, review the barriers of mobile sensing systems and propose some ideas for efficiently implementing sensing, fusion, learning, security, privacy and energy saving for any type of mobile sensing system, and propose several realistic research challenges. The main objective is to reduce the learning curve in mobile sensing systems where the complexity is very high.

  19. Mobile Sensing Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elsa Macias

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Rich-sensor smart phones have made possible the recent birth of the mobile sensing research area as part of ubiquitous sensing which integrates other areas such as wireless sensor networks and web sensing. There are several types of mobile sensing: individual, participatory, opportunistic, crowd, social, etc. The object of sensing can be people-centered or environment-centered. The sensing domain can be home, urban, vehicular… Currently there are barriers that limit the social acceptance of mobile sensing systems. Examples of social barriers are privacy concerns, restrictive laws in some countries and the absence of economic incentives that might encourage people to participate in a sensing campaign. Several technical barriers are phone energy savings and the variety of sensors and software for their management. Some existing surveys partially tackle the topic of mobile sensing systems. Published papers theoretically or partially solve the above barriers. We complete the above surveys with new works, review the barriers of mobile sensing systems and propose some ideas for efficiently implementing sensing, fusion, learning, security, privacy and energy saving for any type of mobile sensing system, and propose several realistic research challenges. The main objective is to reduce the learning curve in mobile sensing systems where the complexity is very high.

  20. Smart intimation and location of faults in distribution system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hari Krishna, K.; Srinivasa Rao, B.

    2018-04-01

    Location of faults in the distribution system is one of the most complicated problems that we are facing today. Identification of fault location and severity of fault within a short time is required to provide continuous power supply but fault identification and information transfer to the operator is the biggest challenge in the distribution network. This paper proposes a fault location method in the distribution system based on Arduino nano and GSM module with flame sensor. The main idea is to locate the fault in the distribution transformer by sensing the arc coming out from the fuse element. The biggest challenge in the distribution network is to identify the location and the severity of faults under different conditions. Well operated transmission and distribution systems will play a key role for uninterrupted power supply. Whenever fault occurs in the distribution system the time taken to locate and eliminate the fault has to be reduced. The proposed design was achieved with flame sensor and GSM module. Under faulty condition, the system will automatically send an alert message to the operator in the distribution system, about the abnormal conditions near the transformer, site code and its exact location for possible power restoration.

  1. Implementation of Multiple Host Nodes in Wireless Sensing Node Network System for Landslide Monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bin Abas, Faizulsalihin; Takayama, Shigeru

    2015-01-01

    This paper proposes multiple host nodes in Wireless Sensing Node Network System (WSNNS) for landslide monitoring. As landslide disasters damage monitoring system easily, one major demand in landslide monitoring is the flexibility and robustness of the system to evaluate the current situation in the monitored area. For various reasons WSNNS can provide an important contribution to reach that aim. In this system, acceleration sensors and GPS are deployed in sensing nodes. Location information by GPS, enable the system to estimate network topology and enable the system to perceive the location in emergency by monitoring the node mode. Acceleration sensors deployment, capacitate this system to detect slow mass movement that can lead to landslide occurrence. Once deployed, sensing nodes self-organize into an autonomous wireless ad hoc network. The measurement parameter data from sensing nodes is transmitted to Host System via host node and ''Cloud'' System. The implementation of multiple host nodes in Local Sensing Node Network System (LSNNS), improve risk- management of the WSNNS for real-time monitoring of landslide disaster

  2. Implementation of Multiple Host Nodes in Wireless Sensing Node Network System for Landslide Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abas, Faizulsalihin bin; Takayama, Shigeru

    2015-02-01

    This paper proposes multiple host nodes in Wireless Sensing Node Network System (WSNNS) for landslide monitoring. As landslide disasters damage monitoring system easily, one major demand in landslide monitoring is the flexibility and robustness of the system to evaluate the current situation in the monitored area. For various reasons WSNNS can provide an important contribution to reach that aim. In this system, acceleration sensors and GPS are deployed in sensing nodes. Location information by GPS, enable the system to estimate network topology and enable the system to perceive the location in emergency by monitoring the node mode. Acceleration sensors deployment, capacitate this system to detect slow mass movement that can lead to landslide occurrence. Once deployed, sensing nodes self-organize into an autonomous wireless ad hoc network. The measurement parameter data from sensing nodes is transmitted to Host System via host node and "Cloud" System. The implementation of multiple host nodes in Local Sensing Node Network System (LSNNS), improve risk- management of the WSNNS for real-time monitoring of landslide disaster.

  3. Method for Determining Appropriate Clustering Criteria of Location-Sensing Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Youngmin Lee

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Large quantities of location-sensing data are generated from location-based social network services. These data are provided as point properties with location coordinates acquired from a global positioning system or Wi-Fi signal. To show the point data on multi-scale map services, the data should be represented by clusters following a grid-based clustering method, in which an appropriate grid size should be determined. Currently, there are no criteria for determining the proper grid size, and the modifiable areal unit problem has been formulated for the purpose of addressing this issue. The method proposed in this paper is applies a hexagonal grid to geotagged Twitter point data, considering the grid size in terms of both quantity and quality to minimize the limitations associated with the modifiable areal unit problem. Quantitatively, we reduced the original Twitter point data by an appropriate amount using Töpfer’s radical law. Qualitatively, we maintained the original distribution characteristics using Moran’s I. Finally, we determined the appropriate sizes of clusters from zoom levels 9–13 by analyzing the distribution of data on the graphs. Based on the visualized clustering results, we confirm that the original distribution pattern is effectively maintained using the proposed method.

  4. Remote shock sensing and notification system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muralidharan, Govindarajan; Britton, Charles L.; Pearce, James; Jagadish, Usha; Sikka, Vinod K.

    2008-11-11

    A low-power shock sensing system includes at least one shock sensor physically coupled to a chemical storage tank to be monitored for impacts, and an RF transmitter which is in a low-power idle state in the absence of a triggering signal. The system includes interference circuitry including or activated by the shock sensor, wherein an output of the interface circuitry is coupled to an input of the RF transmitter. The interface circuitry triggers the RF transmitting with the triggering signal to transmit an alarm message to at least one remote location when the sensor senses a shock greater than a predetermined threshold. In one embodiment the shock sensor is a shock switch which provides an open and a closed state, the open state being a low power idle state.

  5. Allocentric and egocentric manipulations of the sense of self-location in full-body illusions and their relation with the sense of body ownership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maselli, Antonella

    2015-09-01

    Self-location refers to the experience of occupying a given position in the environment. Recent research has addressed the sense of self-location as one of the key components of self-consciousness, together with the experience of owning the physical body (ownership) (Blanke and Metzinger, Trends Cogn Sci 13:7-13 in 2009. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2008.10.003 ). Experimentally controlled full-body illusions proved to be valuable research tools to study these components and their interaction, and to explore their underlying neural underpinning. The focus of this manuscript is to provide a close look into the nuances of different illusory experiences affecting the sense of self-location and to examine their relation to the concurrent experienced sense of body ownership. On the basis of previous reviewed studies, it is proposed that the sense of self-location may be regarded as the blending of two paralllel representations: the abstract allocentric coding of the position occupied in the environment, mainly associated with visual-perspective, and the egocentric mapping of somatosensory sensations into the external space, mainly associated with peripersonal space. Open questions to be addressed by future research are further addressed.

  6. Rapid deployable global sensing hazard alert system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordaro, Joseph V; Tibrea, Steven L; Shull, Davis J; Coleman, Jerry T; Shuler, James M

    2015-04-28

    A rapid deployable global sensing hazard alert system and associated methods of operation are provided. An exemplary system includes a central command, a wireless backhaul network, and a remote monitoring unit. The remote monitoring unit can include a positioning system configured to determine a position of the remote monitoring unit based on one or more signals received from one or more satellites located in Low Earth Orbit. The wireless backhaul network can provide bidirectional communication capability independent of cellular telecommunication networks and the Internet. An exemplary method includes instructing at least one of a plurality of remote monitoring units to provide an alert based at least in part on a location of a hazard and a plurality of positions respectively associated with the plurality of remote monitoring units.

  7. An IBeacon-Based Location System for Smart Home Control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Qinghe; Yang, Xinshuang; Deng, Lizhen

    2018-06-11

    Indoor location and intelligent control system can bring convenience to people’s daily life. In this paper, an indoor control system is designed to achieve equipment remote control by using low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) beacon and Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The proposed system consists of five parts: web server, home gateway, smart terminal, smartphone app and BLE beacons. In the web server, fingerprint matching based on RSSI stochastic characteristic and posture recognition model based on geomagnetic sensing are used to establish a more efficient equipment control system, combined with Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) technology to improve the accuracy of location. A personalized menu of remote “one-click” control is finally offered to users in a smartphone app. This smart home control system has been implemented by hardware, and precision and stability tests have been conducted, which proved the practicability and good user experience of this solution.

  8. LIGO sensing system performance

    CERN Document Server

    Landry, M

    2002-01-01

    The optical sensing subsystem of a LIGO interferometer is described. The system includes two complex interferometric sensing schemes to control test masses in length and alignment. The length sensing system is currently employed on all LIGO interferometers to lock coupled cavities on resonance. Auto-alignment is to be accomplished by a wavefront-sensing scheme which automatically corrects for angular fluctuations of the test masses. Improvements in lock stability and duration are noted when the wavefront auto-alignment system is employed. Preliminary results from the commissioning of the 2 km detector in Washington are shown.

  9. Bioinspired Infrared Sensing Materials and Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Qingchen; Luo, Zhen; Ma, Shuai; Tao, Peng; Song, Chengyi; Wu, Jianbo; Shang, Wen; Deng, Tao

    2018-05-11

    Bioinspired engineering offers a promising alternative approach in accelerating the development of many man-made systems. Next-generation infrared (IR) sensing systems can also benefit from such nature-inspired approach. The inherent compact and uncooled operation of biological IR sensing systems provides ample inspiration for the engineering of portable and high-performance artificial IR sensing systems. This review overviews the current understanding of the biological IR sensing systems, most of which are thermal-based IR sensors that rely on either bolometer-like or photomechanic sensing mechanism. The existing efforts inspired by the biological IR sensing systems and possible future bioinspired approaches in the development of new IR sensing systems are also discussed in the review. Besides these biological IR sensing systems, other biological systems that do not have IR sensing capabilities but can help advance the development of engineered IR sensing systems are also discussed, and the related engineering efforts are overviewed as well. Further efforts in understanding the biological IR sensing systems, the learning from the integration of multifunction in biological systems, and the reduction of barriers to maximize the multidiscipline collaborations are needed to move this research field forward. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. Distributed Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Vibration Sensing System Based on 3 × 3 Fiber Coupler

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Wei; Zhang, Jian

    2018-06-01

    A novel distributed weak fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) vibration sensing system has been designed to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional methods for optical fiber sensing networking, which are: low signal intensity in the usually adopted time-division multiplexing (TDM) technology, insufficient quantity of multiplexed FBGs in the wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technology, and that the mixed WDM/TDM technology measures only the physical parameters of the FBG locations but cannot perform distributed measurement over the whole optical fiber. This novel system determines vibration events in the optical fiber line according to the intensity variation of the interference signals between the adjacent weak FBG reflected signals and locates the vibration points accurately using the TDM technology. It has been proven by tests that this system performs vibration signal detection and demodulation in a way more convenient than the conventional methods for the optical fiber sensing system. It also measures over the whole optical fiber, therefore, distributed measurement is fulfilled, and the system locating accuracy is up to 20 m, capable of detecting any signals of whose drive signals lower limit voltage is 0.2 V while the frequency range is 3 Hz‒1 000 Hz. The system has the great practical significance and application value for perimeter surveillance systems.

  11. Design of a 3-D Magnetic Mapping System to Locate Reinforcing Steel in Concrete Pavements

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-12-01

    This report outlines the design, fabrication, and testing of a 3-D magnetic mapping system used to locate reinforcing steel in concrete pavements developed at Kansas State University (KSU) in 2006. The magnetic sensing functionality is based on the p...

  12. Modal sensing and control of paraboloidal shell structronic system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yue, Honghao; Lu, Yifan; Deng, Zongquan; Tzou, Hornsen

    2018-02-01

    Paraboloidal shells of revolution are commonly used as important components in the field of advanced aerospace structures and aviation mechanical systems. This study is to investigate the modal sensing behavior and the modal vibration control effect of distributed PVDF patches laminated on the paraboloidal shell. A paraboloidal shell sensing and control testing platform is set up first. Frequencies of lower order modes of the shell are obtained with the PVDF sensor and compared with the previous testing results to prove its accuracy. Then sensor patches are laminated on different positions (or different sides) of the shell and tested to reveal the relation between the sensing behaviors and their locations. Finally, a mathematical model of the structronic system is built by parameter identifications and the transfer function is derived. Independent and coupled modal controllers are designed based on the pole placement method and modal vibration control experiments are performed. The amplitude suppression ratio of each mode controlled by the pole placement controller is calculated and compared with the results obtained by using a PPF controller. Advantages of both methods are concluded and suggestions are given on how to choose control algorithm for different purpose.

  13. Research on fully distributed optical fiber sensing security system localization algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xu; Hou, Jiacheng; Liu, Kun; Liu, Tiegen

    2013-12-01

    A new fully distributed optical fiber sensing and location technology based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometers is studied. In this security system, a new climbing point locating algorithm based on short-time average zero-crossing rate is presented. By calculating the zero-crossing rates of the multiple grouped data separately, it not only utilizes the advantages of the frequency analysis method to determine the most effective data group more accurately, but also meets the requirement of the real-time monitoring system. Supplemented with short-term energy calculation group signal, the most effective data group can be quickly picked out. Finally, the accurate location of the climbing point can be effectively achieved through the cross-correlation localization algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can realize the accurate location of the climbing point and meanwhile the outside interference noise of the non-climbing behavior can be effectively filtered out.

  14. Indoor Location Sensing with Invariant Wi-Fi Received Signal Strength Fingerprinting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohd Nizam Husen

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available A method of location fingerprinting based on the Wi-Fi received signal strength (RSS in an indoor environment is presented. The method aims to overcome the RSS instability due to varying channel disturbances in time by introducing the concept of invariant RSS statistics. The invariant RSS statistics represent here the RSS distributions collected at individual calibration locations under minimal random spatiotemporal disturbances in time. The invariant RSS statistics thus collected serve as the reference pattern classes for fingerprinting. Fingerprinting is carried out at an unknown location by identifying the reference pattern class that maximally supports the spontaneous RSS sensed from individual Wi-Fi sources. A design guideline is also presented as a rule of thumb for estimating the number of Wi-Fi signal sources required to be available for any given number of calibration locations under a certain level of random spatiotemporal disturbances. Experimental results show that the proposed method not only provides 17% higher success rate than conventional ones but also removes the need for recalibration. Furthermore, the resolution is shown finer by 40% with the execution time more than an order of magnitude faster than the conventional methods. These results are also backed up by theoretical analysis.

  15. Study on cooperative active sensing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsukune, Hideo; Kita, Nobuyuki; Hirai, Shigeoki; Kuniyoshi, Yasuo; Hara, Isao; Matsui, Toshihiro

    1999-01-01

    In order to realize autonomous type nuclear plant, three-dimensional geometrical modelling method, and a basic technology on information collection and processing system preparation in some nuclear basic technology developments such as 'study on system evaluation of nuclear facility furnished with artificial intelligence for nuclear power' and 'study on adaptability evaluation of information collection and processing system into autonomous type plant' had already been developed. In this study, a study on sensing system required for constructing robot groups capable of conducting autonomously traveling inspection and maintenance in large scale, complicated and diverse plant has been processed by aiming at establishment of dispersed cooperative intelligent system technology. In 1997 fiscal year, integration of cooperative visual sensing technique was attempted. And, at the same time, upgrading of individual element technology and transportation method essential to the integrated system were investigated. As a result, an operative active sensing prototype system due to transportation robot groups furnished with real time processing capacity on diverse informations by integration of cooperative active sensing technique and real time active sensing technique developed independently plural transportation robot. (G.K.)

  16. Compressive Sensing in Communication Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fyhn, Karsten

    2013-01-01

    . The need for cheaper, smarter and more energy efficient wireless devices is greater now than ever. This thesis addresses this problem and concerns the application of the recently developed sampling theory of compressive sensing in communication systems. Compressive sensing is the merging of signal...... acquisition and compression. It allows for sampling a signal with a rate below the bound dictated by the celebrated Shannon-Nyquist sampling theorem. In some communication systems this necessary minimum sample rate, dictated by the Shannon-Nyquist sampling theorem, is so high it is at the limit of what...... with using compressive sensing in communication systems. The main contribution of this thesis is two-fold: 1) a new compressive sensing hardware structure for spread spectrum signals, which is simpler than the current state-of-the-art, and 2) a range of algorithms for parameter estimation for the class...

  17. Advanced 3D Sensing and Visualization System for Unattended Monitoring

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carlson, J.J.; Little, C.Q.; Nelson, C.L.

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of this project was to create a reliable, 3D sensing and visualization system for unattended monitoring. The system provides benefits for several of Sandia's initiatives including nonproliferation, treaty verification, national security and critical infrastructure surety. The robust qualities of the system make it suitable for both interior and exterior monitoring applications. The 3D sensing system combines two existing sensor technologies in a new way to continuously maintain accurate 3D models of both static and dynamic components of monitored areas (e.g., portions of buildings, roads, and secured perimeters in addition to real-time estimates of the shape, location, and motion of humans and moving objects). A key strength of this system is the ability to monitor simultaneous activities on a continuous basis, such as several humans working independently within a controlled workspace, while also detecting unauthorized entry into the workspace. Data from the sensing system is used to identi~ activities or conditions that can signi~ potential surety (safety, security, and reliability) threats. The system could alert a security operator of potential threats or could be used to cue other detection, inspection or warning systems. An interactive, Web-based, 3D visualization capability was also developed using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). The intex%ace allows remote, interactive inspection of a monitored area (via the Internet or Satellite Links) using a 3D computer model of the area that is rendered from actual sensor data.

  18. Hydroball string sensing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hurwitz, M.J.; Ekeroth, D.E.; Squarer, D.

    1991-01-01

    This patent describes a hydroball string sensing system for a nuclear reactor having a core containing a fluid at a fluid pressure. It comprises a tube connectable to the nuclear reactor so that the fluid can flow within the tube at a fluid pressure that is substantially the same as the fluid pressure of the nuclear reactor core; a hydroball string including - a string member having objects positioned therealong with a specified spacing, the object including a plurality of hydroballs, and bullet members positioned at opposing ends of the string member; first sensor means, positioned outside a first segment of the tube, for sensing one of the objects being positioned within the first segment, and for providing a sensing signal responsive to the sensing of the first sensing means

  19. Fire Source Localization Based on Distributed Temperature Sensing by a Dual-Line Optical Fiber System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miao Sun

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available We propose a method for localizing a fire source using an optical fiber distributed temperature sensor system. A section of two parallel optical fibers employed as the sensing element is installed near the ceiling of a closed room in which the fire source is located. By measuring the temperature of hot air flows, the problem of three-dimensional fire source localization is transformed to two dimensions. The method of the source location is verified with experiments using burning alcohol as fire source, and it is demonstrated that the method represents a robust and reliable technique for localizing a fire source also for long sensing ranges.

  20. Fire Source Localization Based on Distributed Temperature Sensing by a Dual-Line Optical Fiber System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Miao; Tang, Yuquan; Yang, Shuang; Li, Jun; Sigrist, Markus W; Dong, Fengzhong

    2016-06-06

    We propose a method for localizing a fire source using an optical fiber distributed temperature sensor system. A section of two parallel optical fibers employed as the sensing element is installed near the ceiling of a closed room in which the fire source is located. By measuring the temperature of hot air flows, the problem of three-dimensional fire source localization is transformed to two dimensions. The method of the source location is verified with experiments using burning alcohol as fire source, and it is demonstrated that the method represents a robust and reliable technique for localizing a fire source also for long sensing ranges.

  1. Studying Sensing-Based Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun

    2013-01-01

    Recent sensing-based systems involve a multitude of users, devices, and places. These types of systems challenge existing approaches for conducting valid system evaluations. Here, the author discusses such evaluation challenges and revisits existing system evaluation methodologies....

  2. Study on cooperative active sensing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsukune, Hideo; Kita, Nobuyuki; Kuniyoshi, Yasuo; Hara, Isao; Matsui, Toshihiro; Matsushita, Toshio; Nagata, Kazuyuki; Nagakubo, Akihiko

    1998-01-01

    This study aims to develop a dispersed cooperative intellectualized system technique and a sensing system required for construction of a robot group inspectable in patrol and maintainable in selfish in a plant with large scale and complex variety. In particular, in order to establish a system with flexibility response to environment and soundness durable to abnormal accident, a cooperative active sensing technique and real-time active vision sensing technique were started. On the base of last two years results, in 1996 fiscal year, important and expansion of each element technique was conducted to start a study on movement of focussing point which was an important function of the active vision sensing. (G.K.)

  3. Design of a 3-D Magnetic Mapping System to Locate Reinforcing Steel in Concrete Pavements : Technical Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-12-01

    This report outlines the design, fabrication, and testing of a 3-D magnetic mapping system used to locate reinforcing steel in concrete pavements developed at Kansas State University (KSU) in 2006. The magnetic sensing functionality is based on the p...

  4. Displacement sensing system and method

    Science.gov (United States)

    VunKannon, Jr., Robert S

    2006-08-08

    A displacement sensing system and method addresses demanding requirements for high precision sensing of displacement of a shaft, for use typically in a linear electro-dynamic machine, having low failure rates over multi-year unattended operation in hostile environments. Applications include outer space travel by spacecraft having high-temperature, sealed environments without opportunity for servicing over many years of operation. The displacement sensing system uses a three coil sensor configuration, including a reference and sense coils, to provide a pair of ratio-metric signals, which are inputted into a synchronous comparison circuit, which is synchronously processed for a resultant displacement determination. The pair of ratio-metric signals are similarly affected by environmental conditions so that the comparison circuit is able to subtract or nullify environmental conditions that would otherwise cause changes in accuracy to occur.

  5. Ethical implications of location and accelerometer measurement in health research studies with mobile sensing devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuller, Daniel; Shareck, Martine; Stanley, Kevin

    2017-10-01

    Quantification of individual behaviours using mobile sensing devices, including physical activity and spatial location, is a rapidly growing field in both academic research and the corporate world. In this case study, we summarize the literature examining the ethical aspects of mobile sensing and argue that a robust discussion about the ethical implications of mobile sensing for research purposes has not occurred sufficiently in the literature. Based on our literature summary and guided by basic ethical principles set out in Canadian, US, and International Ethics documents we propose four areas where further discussion should occur: consent, privacy and confidentiality, mitigating risk, and consideration of vulnerable populations. We argue that ongoing consent is crucial for participants to be aware of the precision and volume of data that is collected with mobile sensing devices. Related to privacy we discuss that participants may not agree that anonymized data is sufficient for privacy and confidentiality when mobile sensing data are collected. There has been some discussion about mitigating risk in the literature. We highlight that the researchers' obligations toward mitigating risks that are not directly related to the study purpose are unclear and require considerable discussion. Finally, using mobile sensing devices to study vulnerable populations requires careful consideration, particularly with respect to balancing research needs with participant burden. Based on our discussion, we identify a broad set of unanswered questions about the ethics of mobile sensing that should be addressed by the research community. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Modeling and performance analysis of movement-based group location management using RFID sensing in public transportation systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Yun Won

    2012-11-22

    Location management, which consists of location registration and paging, is essential to provide mobile communication services to mobile stations (MSs). Since MSs riding on a public transportation system (TS) generates significant location registration signaling loads simultaneously when a TS with riding MSs moves between location areas (LAs), group location management was proposed. Under the group location management, an MS performs group registration when it gets on a TS and performs group deregistration when it gets off a TS. Then, only a TS updates its current location when it changes LA, on behalf of all riding MSs. In this paper, movement-based group location management using radio frequency identification (RFID) is proposed, where the MS's getting on and getting off behaviors are detected using RFID and only location update of a TS is carried out if the number of crossed cells from the last updated cell exceeds a predefined movement threshold, on behalf of all riding MSs. Then, we develop an analytical model for the performance analysis of the movement-based group location management and analyze the effects of various parameters on the performance. The results show that the movement-based group location management has reduced signaling cost compared with movement-based individual location management, and optimal performance can be achieved by choosing appropriate movement threshold values.

  7. A Silicon Carbide Wireless Temperature Sensing System for High Temperature Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jie

    2013-01-01

    In this article, an extreme environment-capable temperature sensing system based on state-of-art silicon carbide (SiC) wireless electronics is presented. In conjunction with a Pt-Pb thermocouple, the SiC wireless sensor suite is operable at 450 °C while under centrifugal load greater than 1,000 g. This SiC wireless temperature sensing system is designed to be non-intrusively embedded inside the gas turbine generators, acquiring the temperature information of critical components such as turbine blades, and wirelessly transmitting the information to the receiver located outside the turbine engine. A prototype system was developed and verified up to 450 °C through high temperature lab testing. The combination of the extreme temperature SiC wireless telemetry technology and integrated harsh environment sensors will allow for condition-based in-situ maintenance of power generators and aircraft turbines in field operation, and can be applied in many other industries requiring extreme environment monitoring and maintenance. PMID:23377189

  8. Smart location system; Sistema de localizacao inteligente Smart Location System

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Silva, Jose Augusto Pereira da; Antunes, Rodrigo de Castro; Azevedo, Fabio Augusto Ferreira de [PipeWay Engenharia, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Afonso, Orlando de Jesus Ribeiro [Instituto de Pesquisas da Marinha, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Matsuura, Minoru; Santa Cruz, Sergio de Freitas [TRANSPETRO - PETROBRAS Transportes, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Santos, Jose Alberto Costa dos; Hashiguchi, Decio Issao [GDK Engenharia (Brazil)

    2003-07-01

    This paper describes the technology used in the Intelligent Location System developed by Pipeway and includes some of the results already obtained optimizing repair time and logistic costs during the location of anomalies detected by intelligent pigs, a joint operation within the scope of the contract for Sub sea Pipeline Recovery in the Guanabara Bay with PETROBRAS/TRANSPETRO and GDK Engenharia. The system uses the ELF (Extra Low Frequency) transmission and reception technology at points near a pipe, with or without concrete coating, whose signals are recorded in the inspection tool memory to accurately establish reference points, thus preventing excessive dig work or dredging when human and operational risks tend to be high. (author)

  9. Precise measurement of internal sense-wire locations in high-energy physics detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dunn, W.L.; O'Foghludha, F.; Yacount, A.M.

    1992-01-01

    Cylindrical straw tubes that contain central sense wires (as anodes) are commonly employed in high-energy and nuclear physics experiments to track charged particles through regions of large detectors. The outer tracking region of the proposed Solenoidal Detector Collaboration (SDC) detector for future experiments at the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), for instance, is expected to contain more than a hundred thousand 4-mm-diam straw tube drift cells arranged in five cylindrically concentric superlayers. The superlayers will be made up of modules having roughly trapezoidal cross sections. The modules will be up to 4 m long and will contain ∼200 straws each, arranged in either six or eight layers. The module shells are expected to be made of thin but nontransparent carbon/epoxy composite material and the straws of mylar or kapton, which has been coated on the inside with a thin (∼0.15-μm) layer of copper. A precise knowledge of the locations of the sense wires in these modules is crucial to the intended particle tracking

  10. Space remote sensing systems an introduction

    CERN Document Server

    Chen, H S

    1985-01-01

    Space Remote Sensing Systems: An Introduction discusses the space remote sensing system, which is a modern high-technology field developed from earth sciences, engineering, and space systems technology for environmental protection, resource monitoring, climate prediction, weather forecasting, ocean measurement, and many other applications. This book consists of 10 chapters. Chapter 1 describes the science of the atmosphere and the earth's surface. Chapter 2 discusses spaceborne radiation collector systems, while Chapter 3 focuses on space detector and CCD systems. The passive space optical rad

  11. Collaboratively Adaptive Vibration Sensing System for High-fidelity Monitoring of Structural Responses Induced by Pedestrians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shijia Pan

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a collaboratively adaptive vibration monitoring system that captures high-fidelity structural vibration signals induced by pedestrians. These signals can be used for various human activities’ monitoring by inferring information about the impact sources, such as pedestrian footsteps, door opening and closing, and dragging objects. Such applications often require high-fidelity (high resolution and low distortion signals. Traditionally, expensive high resolution and high dynamic range sensors are adopted to ensure sufficient resolution. However, for sensing systems that use low-cost sensing devices, the resolution and dynamic range are often limited; hence this type of sensing methods is not well explored ubiquitously. We propose a low-cost sensing system that utilizes (1 a heuristic model of the investigating excitations and (2 shared information through networked devices to adapt hardware configurations and obtain high-fidelity structural vibration signals. To further explain the system, we use indoor pedestrian footstep sensing through ambient structural vibration as an example to demonstrate the system performance. We evaluate the application with three metrics that measure the signal quality from different aspects: the sufficient resolution rate to present signal resolution improvement without clipping, the clipping rate to measure the distortion of the footstep signal, and the signal magnitude to quantify the detailed resolution of the detected footstep signal. In experiments conducted in a school building, our system demonstrated up to 2× increase on the sufficient resolution rate and 2× less error rate when used to locate the pedestrians as they walk along the hallway, compared to a fixed sensing setting.

  12. Intelligent hand-portable proliferation sensing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dieckman, S.L.; Bostrom, G.A.; Waterfield, L.G.; Jendrzejczyk, J.A.; Ahuja, S.; Raptis, A.C.

    1997-01-01

    Argonne National Laboratory, with support from DOE's Office of Nonproliferation and National Security, is currently developing an intelligent hand-portable sensor system. This system is designed specifically to support the intelligence community with the task of in-field sensing of nuclear proliferation and related activities. Based upon pulsed laser photo-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry technology, this novel sensing system is capable of quickly providing a molecular or atomic analysis of specimens. The system is capable of analyzing virtually any gas phase molecule, or molecule that can be induced into the gas phase by (for example) sample heating. This system has the unique advantages of providing unprecedented portability, excellent sensitivity, tremendous fieldability, and a high performance/cost ratio. The system will be capable of operating in a highly automated manner for on-site inspections, and easily modified for other applications such as perimeter monitoring aboard a plane or drone. The paper describes the sensing system

  13. Poster Abstract: Towards a Categorization Framework for Occupancy Sensing Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun; Lazarova-Molnar, Sanja; Jradi, Muhyiddine

    2015-01-01

    on occupancy sensing systems goes beyond basic methods, there is an increasing need for better comparison of proposed occupancy sensing systems. Developers of occupancy sensing systems are also lacking good frameworks for understanding different options when building occupancy sensing systems. This poster...

  14. Radar network communication through sensing of frequency hopping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dowla, Farid; Nekoogar, Faranak

    2013-05-28

    In one embodiment, a radar communication system includes a plurality of radars having a communication range and being capable of operating at a sensing frequency and a reporting frequency, wherein the reporting frequency is different than the sensing frequency, each radar is adapted for operating at the sensing frequency until an event is detected, each radar in the plurality of radars has an identification/location frequency for reporting information different from the sensing frequency, a first radar of the radars which senses the event sends a reporting frequency corresponding to its identification/location frequency when the event is detected, and all other radars in the plurality of radars switch their reporting frequencies to match the reporting frequency of the first radar upon detecting the reporting frequency switch of a radar within the communication range. In another embodiment, a method is presented for communicating information in a radar system.

  15. Recent Progress of Self-Powered Sensing Systems for Wearable Electronics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lou, Zheng; Li, La; Wang, Lili; Shen, Guozhen

    2017-12-01

    Wearable/flexible electronic sensing systems are considered to be one of the key technologies in the next generation of smart personal electronics. To realize personal portable devices with mobile electronics application, i.e., wearable electronic sensors that can work sustainably and continuously without an external power supply are highly desired. The recent progress and advantages of wearable self-powered electronic sensing systems for mobile or personal attachable health monitoring applications are presented. An overview of various types of wearable electronic sensors, including flexible tactile sensors, wearable image sensor array, biological and chemical sensor, temperature sensors, and multifunctional integrated sensing systems is provided. Self-powered sensing systems with integrated energy units are then discussed, separated as energy harvesting self-powered sensing systems, energy storage integrated sensing systems, and all-in-on integrated sensing systems. Finally, the future perspectives of self-powered sensing systems for wearable electronics are discussed. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  16. Distributed acoustic sensing with Michelson interferometer demodulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xiaohui; Wang, Chen; Shang, Ying; Wang, Chang; Zhao, Wenan; Peng, Gangding; Wang, Hongzhong

    2017-09-01

    The distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has been extensively studied and widely used. A distributed acoustic sensing system based on the unbalanced Michelson interferometer with phase generated carrier (PGC) demodulation was designed and tested. The system could directly obtain the phase, amplitude, frequency response, and location information of sound wave at the same time and measurement at all points along the sensing fiber simultaneously. Experiments showed that the system successfully measured the acoustic signals with a phase-pressure sensitivity about-148 dB (re rad/μPa) and frequency response ripple less than 1.5 dB. The further field experiment showed that the system could measure signals at all points along the sensing fiber simultaneously.

  17. Active Sensing System with In Situ Adjustable Sensor Morphology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nurzaman, Surya G.; Culha, Utku; Brodbeck, Luzius; Wang, Liyu; Iida, Fumiya

    2013-01-01

    Background Despite the widespread use of sensors in engineering systems like robots and automation systems, the common paradigm is to have fixed sensor morphology tailored to fulfill a specific application. On the other hand, robotic systems are expected to operate in ever more uncertain environments. In order to cope with the challenge, it is worthy of note that biological systems show the importance of suitable sensor morphology and active sensing capability to handle different kinds of sensing tasks with particular requirements. Methodology This paper presents a robotics active sensing system which is able to adjust its sensor morphology in situ in order to sense different physical quantities with desirable sensing characteristics. The approach taken is to use thermoplastic adhesive material, i.e. Hot Melt Adhesive (HMA). It will be shown that the thermoplastic and thermoadhesive nature of HMA enables the system to repeatedly fabricate, attach and detach mechanical structures with a variety of shape and size to the robot end effector for sensing purposes. Via active sensing capability, the robotic system utilizes the structure to physically probe an unknown target object with suitable motion and transduce the arising physical stimuli into information usable by a camera as its only built-in sensor. Conclusions/Significance The efficacy of the proposed system is verified based on two results. Firstly, it is confirmed that suitable sensor morphology and active sensing capability enables the system to sense different physical quantities, i.e. softness and temperature, with desirable sensing characteristics. Secondly, given tasks of discriminating two visually indistinguishable objects with respect to softness and temperature, it is confirmed that the proposed robotic system is able to autonomously accomplish them. The way the results motivate new research directions which focus on in situ adjustment of sensor morphology will also be discussed. PMID:24416094

  18. Active sensing system with in situ adjustable sensor morphology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nurzaman, Surya G; Culha, Utku; Brodbeck, Luzius; Wang, Liyu; Iida, Fumiya

    2013-01-01

    Despite the widespread use of sensors in engineering systems like robots and automation systems, the common paradigm is to have fixed sensor morphology tailored to fulfill a specific application. On the other hand, robotic systems are expected to operate in ever more uncertain environments. In order to cope with the challenge, it is worthy of note that biological systems show the importance of suitable sensor morphology and active sensing capability to handle different kinds of sensing tasks with particular requirements. This paper presents a robotics active sensing system which is able to adjust its sensor morphology in situ in order to sense different physical quantities with desirable sensing characteristics. The approach taken is to use thermoplastic adhesive material, i.e. Hot Melt Adhesive (HMA). It will be shown that the thermoplastic and thermoadhesive nature of HMA enables the system to repeatedly fabricate, attach and detach mechanical structures with a variety of shape and size to the robot end effector for sensing purposes. Via active sensing capability, the robotic system utilizes the structure to physically probe an unknown target object with suitable motion and transduce the arising physical stimuli into information usable by a camera as its only built-in sensor. The efficacy of the proposed system is verified based on two results. Firstly, it is confirmed that suitable sensor morphology and active sensing capability enables the system to sense different physical quantities, i.e. softness and temperature, with desirable sensing characteristics. Secondly, given tasks of discriminating two visually indistinguishable objects with respect to softness and temperature, it is confirmed that the proposed robotic system is able to autonomously accomplish them. The way the results motivate new research directions which focus on in situ adjustment of sensor morphology will also be discussed.

  19. Distributed fiber optic moisture intrusion sensing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Jonathan D.

    2003-06-24

    Method and system for monitoring and identifying moisture intrusion in soil such as is contained in landfills housing radioactive and/or hazardous waste. The invention utilizes the principle that moist or wet soil has a higher thermal conductance than dry soil. The invention employs optical time delay reflectometry in connection with a distributed temperature sensing system together with heating means in order to identify discrete areas within a volume of soil wherein temperature is lower. According to the invention an optical element and, optionally, a heating element may be included in a cable or other similar structure and arranged in a serpentine fashion within a volume of soil to achieve efficient temperature detection across a large area or three dimensional volume of soil. Remediation, moisture countermeasures, or other responsive action may then be coordinated based on the assumption that cooler regions within a soil volume may signal moisture intrusion where those regions are located.

  20. System and Method for Detecting Cracks and their Location

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodward, Stanley E. (Inventor); Shams, Qamar A. (Inventor)

    2007-01-01

    A system and method are provided for detecting cracks and their location in a structure. A circuit coupled to a structure has capacitive strain sensors coupled sequentially and in parallel to one another. When excited by a variable magnetic field, the circuit has a resonant frequency that is different for unstrained and strained states. In terms of strained states, the resonant frequency is indicative of a region of the circuit that is experiencing strain induced by strain in a region of the structure in proximity to the region of the circuit. An inductor is electrically coupled to one end of each circuit. A magnetic field response recorder wirelessly transmits the variable magnetic field to the inductor and senses the resonant frequency of the circuit so-excited by the variable magnetic field.

  1. A Non-Intrusive GMA Welding Process Quality Monitoring System Using Acoustic Sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cayo, Eber Huanca; Alfaro, Sadek Crisostomo Absi

    2009-01-01

    Most of the inspection methods used for detection and localization of welding disturbances are based on the evaluation of some direct measurements of welding parameters. This direct measurement requires an insertion of sensors during the welding process which could somehow alter the behavior of the metallic transference. An inspection method that evaluates the GMA welding process evolution using a non-intrusive process sensing would allow not only the identification of disturbances during welding runs and thus reduce inspection time, but would also reduce the interference on the process caused by the direct sensing. In this paper a nonintrusive method for weld disturbance detection and localization for weld quality evaluation is demonstrated. The system is based on the acoustic sensing of the welding electrical arc. During repetitive tests in welds without disturbances, the stability acoustic parameters were calculated and used as comparison references for the detection and location of disturbances during the weld runs.

  2. Optimal Mobile Sensing and Actuation Policies in Cyber-physical Systems

    CERN Document Server

    Tricaud, Christophe

    2012-01-01

    A successful cyber-physical system, a complex interweaving of hardware and software in direct interaction with some parts of the physical environment, relies heavily on proper identification of the, often pre-existing, physical elements. Based on information from that process, a bespoke “cyber” part of the system may then be designed for a specific purpose. Optimal Mobile Sensing and Actuation Strategies in Cyber-physical Systems focuses on distributed-parameter systems the dynamics of which can be modelled with partial differential equations. Such systems are very challenging to measure, their states being distributed throughout a spatial domain. Consequently, optimal strategies are needed and systematic approaches to the optimization of sensor locations have to be devised for parameter estimation. The text begins by reviewing the newer field of cyber-physical systems and introducing background notions of distributed parameter systems and optimal observation theory. New research opportunities are then de...

  3. Self-Contained Avionics Sensing and Flight Control System for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shams, Qamar A. (Inventor); Logan, Michael J. (Inventor); Fox, Robert L. (Inventor); Fox, legal representative, Christopher L. (Inventor); Fox, legal representative, Melanie L. (Inventor); Ingham, John C. (Inventor); Laughter, Sean A. (Inventor); Kuhn, III, Theodore R. (Inventor); Adams, James K. (Inventor); Babel, III, Walter C. (Inventor)

    2011-01-01

    A self-contained avionics sensing and flight control system is provided for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system includes sensors for sensing flight control parameters and surveillance parameters, and a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Flight control parameters and location signals are processed to generate flight control signals. A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is configured to provide a look-up table storing sets of values with each set being associated with a servo mechanism mounted on the UAV and with each value in each set indicating a unique duty cycle for the servo mechanism associated therewith. Each value in each set is further indexed to a bit position indicative of a unique percentage of a maximum duty cycle for the servo mechanism associated therewith. The FPGA is further configured to provide a plurality of pulse width modulation (PWM) generators coupled to the look-up table. Each PWM generator is associated with and adapted to be coupled to one of the servo mechanisms.

  4. Development of airborne remote sensing data assimilation system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gudu, B R; Bi, H Y; Wang, H Y; Qin, S X; Ma, J W

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, an airborne remote sensing data assimilation system for China Airborne Remote Sensing System is introduced. This data assimilation system is composed of a land surface model, data assimilation algorithms, observation data and fundamental parameters forcing the land surface model. In this data assimilation system, Variable Infiltration Capacity hydrologic model is selected as the land surface model, which also serves as the main framework of the system. Three-dimensional variation algorithm, four-dimensional variation algorithms, ensemble Kalman filter and Particle filter algorithms are integrated in this system. Observation data includes ground observations and remotely sensed data. The fundamental forcing parameters include soil parameters, vegetation parameters and the meteorological data

  5. Material requirements for bio-inspired sensing systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biggins, Peter; Lloyd, Peter; Salmond, David; Kusterbeck, Anne

    2008-10-01

    The aim of developing bio-inspired sensing systems is to try and emulate the amazing sensitivity and specificity observed in the natural world. These capabilities have evolved, often for specific tasks, which provide the organism with an advantage in its fight to survive and prosper. Capabilities cover a wide range of sensing functions including vision, temperature, hearing, touch, taste and smell. For some functions, the capabilities of natural systems are still greater than that achieved by traditional engineering solutions; a good example being a dog's sense of smell. Furthermore, attempting to emulate aspects of biological optics, processing and guidance may lead to more simple and effective devices. A bio-inspired sensing system is much more than the sensory mechanism. A system will need to collect samples, especially if pathogens or chemicals are of interest. Other functions could include the provision of power, surfaces and receptors, structure, locomotion and control. In fact it is possible to conceive of a complete bio-inspired system concept which is likely to be radically different from more conventional approaches. This concept will be described and individual component technologies considered.

  6. Gait Dynamics Sensing Using IMU Sensor Array System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Slavomir Kardos

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with a progressive approach in gait sensing. It is incorporated by IMU (Inertia Measurement Unit complex sensors whose field of acting is mainly the motion sensing in medicine, automotive and other industry, self-balancing systems, etc. They allow acquiring the position and orientation of an object in 3D space. Using several IMU units the sensing array for gait dynamics was made. Based on human gait analysis the 7-sensor array was designed to build a gait motion dynamics sensing system with the possibility of graphical interpretation of data from the sensing modules in real-time graphical application interface under the LabVIEW platform. The results of analyses can serve as the information for medical diagnostic purposes. The main control part of the system is microcontroller, whose function is to control the data collection and flow, provide the communication and power management.

  7. CCS, locations and asynchronous transition systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mukund, Madhavan; Nielsen, Mogens

    1992-01-01

    We provide a simple non-interleaved operational semantics for CCS in terms of asynchronous transition systems. We identify the concurrency present in the system in a natural way, in terms of events occurring at independent locations in the system. We extend the standard interleaving transition...... system for CCS by introducing labels on the transitions with information about the locations of events. We then show that the resulting transition system is an asynchronous transition system which has the additional property of being elementary, which means that it can also be represented by a 1-safe net....... We also introduce a notion of bisimulation on asynchronous transition systems which preserves independence. We conjecture that the induced equivalence on CCS processes coincides with the notion of location equivalence proposed by Boudol et al....

  8. Joint sensor location/power rating optimization for temporally-correlated source estimation

    KAUST Repository

    Bushnaq, Osama M.

    2017-12-22

    The optimal sensor selection for scalar state parameter estimation in wireless sensor networks is studied in the paper. A subset of N candidate sensing locations is selected to measure a state parameter and send the observation to a fusion center via wireless AWGN channel. In addition to selecting the optimal sensing location, the sensor type to be placed in these locations is selected from a pool of T sensor types such that different sensor types have different power ratings and costs. The sensor transmission power is limited based on the amount of energy harvested at the sensing location and the type of the sensor. The Kalman filter is used to efficiently obtain the MMSE estimator at the fusion center. Sensors are selected such that the MMSE estimator error is minimized subject to a prescribed system budget. This goal is achieved using convex relaxation and greedy algorithm approaches.

  9. Compressed sensing for distributed systems

    CERN Document Server

    Coluccia, Giulio; Magli, Enrico

    2015-01-01

    This book presents a survey of the state-of-the art in the exciting and timely topic of compressed sensing for distributed systems. It has to be noted that, while compressed sensing has been studied for some time now, its distributed applications are relatively new. Remarkably, such applications are ideally suited to exploit all the benefits that compressed sensing can provide. The objective of this book is to provide the reader with a comprehensive survey of this topic, from the basic concepts to different classes of centralized and distributed reconstruction algorithms, as well as a comparison of these techniques. This book collects different contributions on these aspects. It presents the underlying theory in a complete and unified way for the first time, presenting various signal models and their use cases. It contains a theoretical part collecting latest results in rate-distortion analysis of distributed compressed sensing, as well as practical implementations of algorithms obtaining performance close to...

  10. [Nutrient sensing by the gastro-intestinal nervous system and control of energy homeostasis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilles, Mithieux

    2015-01-01

    The gastrointestinal nerves are crucial in the sensing of nutrients and hormones and its translation in terms of control of food intake. Major macronutrients like glucose and proteins are sensed by the extrinsic nerves located around the portal vein walls, which signal to the brain and account for the satiety phenomenon they promote. Glucose is sensed in the portal vein by neurons expressing the glucose receptor SGLT3, which activates the main regions of the brain involved in the control of food intake. Proteins indirectly act on food intake by inducing intestinal gluconeogenesis and its sensing by the portal glucose sensor. The mechanism involves a prior antagonism by peptides of the μ-opioid receptors present in the portal vein nervous system and a reflex arc with the brain inducing intestinal gluconeogenesis. In a comparable manner, short chain fatty acids produced from soluble fibers act via intestinal gluconeogenesis to exert anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects. In the case of propionate, the mechanism involves a prior activation of the free fatty acid receptor FFAR3 present in the portal nerves and a reflex arc initiating intestinal gluconeogenesis. © Société de Biologie, 2016.

  11. Bioinspired magnetic reception and multimodal sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Brian K

    2017-08-01

    Several animals use Earth's magnetic field in concert with other sensor modes to accomplish navigational tasks ranging from local homing to continental scale migration. However, despite extensive research, animal magnetic reception remains poorly understood. Similarly, the Earth's magnetic field offers a signal that engineered systems can leverage to navigate in environments where man-made positioning systems such as GPS are either unavailable or unreliable. This work uses a behavioral strategy inspired by the migratory behavior of sea turtles to locate a magnetic goal and respond to wind when it is present. Sensing is performed using a number of distributed sensors. Based on existing theoretical biology considerations, data processing is performed using combinations of circles and ellipses to exploit the distributed sensing paradigm. Agent-based simulation results indicate that this approach is capable of using two separate magnetic properties to locate a goal from a variety of initial conditions in both noiseless and noisy sensory environments. The system's ability to locate the goal appears robust to noise at the cost of overall path length.

  12. Sensing small changes in a wave chaotic scattering system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taddese, Biniyam Tesfaye; Antonsen, Thomas M.; Ott, Edward; Anlage, Steven M.

    2010-01-01

    Classical analogs of the quantum mechanical concepts of the Loschmidt Echo and quantum fidelity are developed with the goal of detecting small perturbations in a closed wave chaotic region. Sensing techniques that employ a one-recording-channel time-reversal-mirror, which in turn relies on time reversal invariance and spatial reciprocity of the classical wave equation, are introduced. In analogy with quantum fidelity, we employ scattering fidelity techniques which work by comparing response signals of the scattering region, by means of cross correlation and mutual information of signals. The performance of the sensing techniques is compared for various perturbations induced experimentally in an acoustic resonant cavity. The acoustic signals are parametrically processed to mitigate the effect of dissipation and to vary the spatial diversity of the sensing schemes. In addition to static boundary condition perturbations at specified locations, perturbations to the medium of wave propagation are shown to be detectable, opening up various real world sensing applications in which a false negative cannot be tolerated.

  13. Research on distributed optical fiber sensing data processing method based on LabVIEW

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhonghu; Yang, Meifang; Wang, Luling; Wang, Jinming; Yan, Junhong; Zuo, Jing

    2018-01-01

    The pipeline leak detection and leak location problem have gotten extensive attention in the industry. In this paper, the distributed optical fiber sensing system is designed based on the heat supply pipeline. The data processing method of distributed optical fiber sensing based on LabVIEW is studied emphatically. The hardware system includes laser, sensing optical fiber, wavelength division multiplexer, photoelectric detector, data acquisition card and computer etc. The software system is developed using LabVIEW. The software system adopts wavelet denoising method to deal with the temperature information, which improved the SNR. By extracting the characteristic value of the fiber temperature information, the system can realize the functions of temperature measurement, leak location and measurement signal storage and inquiry etc. Compared with traditional negative pressure wave method or acoustic signal method, the distributed optical fiber temperature measuring system can measure several temperatures in one measurement and locate the leak point accurately. It has a broad application prospect.

  14. Novel Tactile Sensor Technology and Smart Tactile Sensing Systems: A Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Liang; Ge, Chang; Wang, Z Jane; Cretu, Edmond; Li, Xiaoou

    2017-11-17

    During the last decades, smart tactile sensing systems based on different sensing techniques have been developed due to their high potential in industry and biomedical engineering. However, smart tactile sensing technologies and systems are still in their infancy, as many technological and system issues remain unresolved and require strong interdisciplinary efforts to address them. This paper provides an overview of smart tactile sensing systems, with a focus on signal processing technologies used to interpret the measured information from tactile sensors and/or sensors for other sensory modalities. The tactile sensing transduction and principles, fabrication and structures are also discussed with their merits and demerits. Finally, the challenges that tactile sensing technology needs to overcome are highlighted.

  15. Novel Tactile Sensor Technology and Smart Tactile Sensing Systems: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liang Zou

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available During the last decades, smart tactile sensing systems based on different sensing techniques have been developed due to their high potential in industry and biomedical engineering. However, smart tactile sensing technologies and systems are still in their infancy, as many technological and system issues remain unresolved and require strong interdisciplinary efforts to address them. This paper provides an overview of smart tactile sensing systems, with a focus on signal processing technologies used to interpret the measured information from tactile sensors and/or sensors for other sensory modalities. The tactile sensing transduction and principles, fabrication and structures are also discussed with their merits and demerits. Finally, the challenges that tactile sensing technology needs to overcome are highlighted.

  16. Bridge SHM system based on fiber optical sensing technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Sheng; Fan, Dian; Fu, Jiang-hua; Huang, Xing; Jiang, De-sheng

    2015-09-01

    The latest progress of our lab in recent 10 years on the area of bridge structural health monitoring (SHM) based on optical fiber sensing technology is introduced. Firstly, in the part of sensing technology, optical fiber force test-ring, optical fiber vibration sensor, optical fiber smart cable, optical fiber prestressing loss monitoring method and optical fiber continuous curve mode inspection system are developed, which not only rich the sensor types, but also provides new monitoring means that are needed for the bridge health monitoring system. Secondly, in the optical fiber sensing network and computer system platform, the monitoring system architecture model is designed to effectively meet the integration scale and effect requirement of engineering application, especially the bridge expert system proposed integration of sensing information and informatization manual inspection to realize the mode of multi index intelligence and practical monitoring, diagnosis and evaluation. Finally, the Jingyue bridge monitoring system as the representative, the research on the technology of engineering applications are given.

  17. Low-profile wireless passive resonators for sensing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gong, Xun; An, Linan

    2017-04-04

    A resonator for sensing a physical or an environmental parameter includes a support having a top surface that provides a ground plane, and a polymer-derived ceramic (PDC) element positioned on the top surface including a PDC layer, and a metal patch on the PDC layer. The metal patch is electrically isolated from all surrounding structure, and the resonator has a resonant frequency that changes as a function of the physical or environmental parameter. A system for wirelessly sensing a physical or environmental parameter includes at least one resonator and a wireless RF reader located remotely from the resonator for transmitting a wide-band RF interrogation signal that excites the resonator. The wireless RF reader detects a sensing signal retransmitted by the resonator and includes a processor for determining the physical or environmental parameter at the location of the resonator from the sensing signal.

  18. Temporal compressive sensing systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Bryan W.

    2017-12-12

    Methods and systems for temporal compressive sensing are disclosed, where within each of one or more sensor array data acquisition periods, one or more sensor array measurement datasets comprising distinct linear combinations of time slice data are acquired, and where mathematical reconstruction allows for calculation of accurate representations of the individual time slice datasets.

  19. Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing in Complex Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piussi, L. M.; Tomelleri, E.; Tonon, G.; Bertoldi, G.; Mejia Aguilar, A.; Monsorno, R.; Zebisch, M.

    2017-12-01

    Soil moisture is a key variable in environmental monitoring and modelling: being located at the soil-atmosphere boundary, it is a driving force for water, energy and carbon fluxes. Nevertheless its importance, soil moisture observations lack of long time-series at high acquisition frequency in spatial meso-scale resolutions: traditional measurements deliver either long time series with high measurement frequency at spatial point scale or large scale and low frequency acquisitions. The Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) technique fills this gap because it supplies information from a footprint of 240m of diameter and 15 to 83 cm of depth at a temporal resolution varying between 15 minutes and 24 hours. In addition, being a passive sensing technique, it is non-invasive. For these reasons, CRNS is gaining more and more attention from the scientific community. Nevertheless, the application of this technique in complex systems is still an open issue: where different Hydrogen pools are present and where their distributions vary appreciably with space and time, the traditional calibration method shows some limits. In order to obtain a better understanding of the data and to compare them with remote sensing products and spatially distributed traditional measurements (i.e. Wireless Sensors Network), the complexity of the surrounding environment has to be taken into account. In the current work we assessed the effects of spatial-temporal variability of soil moisture within the footprint, in a steep, heterogeneous mountain grassland area. Measurement were performed with a Cosmic Ray Neutron Probe (CRNP) and a mobile Wireless Sensors Network. We performed an in-deep sensitivity analysis of the effects of varying distributions of soil moisture on the calibration of the CRNP and our preliminary results show how the footprint shape varies depending on these dynamics. The results are then compared with remote sensing data (Sentinel 1 and 2). The current work is an assessment of

  20. Sensing Landscape History with an Interactive Location Based Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Lammeren, Ron; Goossen, Martin; Roncken, Paul

    2009-01-01

    This paper introduces the STEAD approach for interpreting data acquired by a “human sensor”, who uses an informal interactive location-based service (iLBS) to sense cultural-historic facts and anecdotes of, and in the landscape. This user-generated data is collected outdoors and in situ. The approach consists of four related facets (who, what, where, when). Three of the four facets are discussed and illustrated by user generated data collected during a Dutch survey in 2008. These data represent the personal cultural-historic knowledge and anecdotes of 150 people using a customized iLBS for experiencing the cultural history of a landscape. The “who” facet shows three dominant mentality groups (cosmopolitans, modern materialists and post modern hedonists) that generated user content. The “what” facet focuses on three subject types of pictures and four picture framing classes. Pictures of the place type showed to be dominant and foreground framing class was slightly favourite. The “where” facet is explored via density, distribution, and distance of the pictures made. The illustrations of the facets indirectly show the role of the “human sensor” with respect to the domain of interest. The STEAD approach needs further development of the when-facet and of the relations between the four facets. Finally the results of the approach may support data archives of iLBS applications. PMID:22399994

  1. Multi-source remote sensing data management system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qin Kai; Zhao Yingjun; Lu Donghua; Zhang Donghui; Wu Wenhuan

    2014-01-01

    In this thesis, the author explored multi-source management problems of remote sensing data. The main idea is to use the mosaic dataset model, and the ways of an integreted display of image and its interpretation. Based on ArcGIS and IMINT feature knowledge platform, the author used the C# and other programming tools for development work, so as to design and implement multi-source remote sensing data management system function module which is able to simply, conveniently and efficiently manage multi-source remote sensing data. (authors)

  2. ATRAN Terrain Sensing Guidance-The Grand-Daddy System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, Richard F.; Evans, Donald C.

    1980-12-01

    ATRAN was the pioneer terrain sensing guidance system developed in the 1950 era and deployed in Europe on the Air Force's mobile, ground launched TM-76A MACE cruise missile in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The background, principles and technology are described for this system which was the forerunner of todays modern autonomous standoff terrain sensing guided weapons.

  3. A software architecture for adaptive modular sensing systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyle, Andrew C; Naish, Michael D

    2010-01-01

    By combining a number of simple transducer modules, an arbitrarily complex sensing system may be produced to accommodate a wide range of applications. This work outlines a novel software architecture and knowledge representation scheme that has been developed to support this type of flexible and reconfigurable modular sensing system. Template algorithms are used to embed intelligence within each module. As modules are added or removed, the composite sensor is able to automatically determine its overall geometry and assume an appropriate collective identity. A virtual machine-based middleware layer runs on top of a real-time operating system with a pre-emptive kernel, enabling platform-independent template algorithms to be written once and run on any module, irrespective of its underlying hardware architecture. Applications that may benefit from easily reconfigurable modular sensing systems include flexible inspection, mobile robotics, surveillance, and space exploration.

  4. Unmanned Aerial System Aids Dry-season Stream Temperature Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, M.; Detweiler, C.; Higgins, J.; Ore, J. P.; Dralle, D.; Thompson, S. E.

    2016-12-01

    In freshwater ecosystems, temperature affects biogeochemistry and ecology, and is thus a primary physical determinant of habitat quality. Measuring temperatures in spatially heterogeneous water bodies poses a serious challenge to researchers due to constraints associated with currently available methods: in situ loggers record temporally continuous temperature measurements but are limited to discrete spatial locations, while distributed temperature and remote sensing provide fine-resolution spatial measurements that are restricted to only two-dimensions (i.e. streambed and surface, respectively). Using a commercially available quadcopter equipped with a 6m cable and temperature-pressure sensor system, we measured stream temperatures at two confluences at the South Fork Eel River, where cold water inputs from the tributary to the mainstem create thermal refugia for juvenile salmonids during the dry season. As a mobile sensing platform, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can facilitate quick and repeated sampling with minimal disturbance to the ecosystem, and their datasets can be interpolated to create a three-dimensional thermal map of a water body. The UAS-derived data was compared to data from in situ data loggers to evaluate whether the UAS is better able to capture fine-scale temperature dynamics at each confluence. The UAS has inherent limitations defined by battery life and flight times, as well as operational constraints related to maneuverability under wind and streamflow conditions. However, the platform is able to serve as an additional field tool for researchers to capture complex thermal structures in water bodies.

  5. Remote sensing observing systems of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC): application to thunderstorm surveillance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Argemí, O.; Bech, J.; Pineda, N.; Rigo, T.

    2009-09-01

    Remote sensing observing systems of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC) have been upgraded during the last years with newer technologies and enhancements. Recent changes on the weather radar network have been motivated to improve precipitation estimates by radar as well as meteorological surveillance in the area of Catalonia. This region has approximately 32,000 square kilometres and is located in the NE of Spain, limited by the Pyrenees to the North (with mountains exceeding 3000 m) and by the Mediterranean Sea to the East and South. In the case of the total lightning (intra-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning) detection system, the current upgrades will assure a better lightning detection efficiency and location accuracy. Both upgraded systems help to enhance the tracking and the study of thunderstorm events. Initially, the weather radar network was designed to cover the complex topography of Catalonia and surrounding areas to support the regional administration, which includes civil protection and water authorities. The weather radar network was upgraded in 2008 with the addition of a new C-band Doppler radar system, which is located in the top of La Miranda Mountain (Tivissa) in the southern part of Catalonia enhancing the coverage, particularly to the South and South-West. Technically the new radar is very similar to the last one installed in 2003 (Creu del Vent radar), using a 4 m antenna (i.e., 1 degree beam width), a Vaisala-Sigmet RVP-8 digital receiver and processor and a low power transmitter using a Travelling Wave Tube (TWT) amplifier. This design allows using pulse-compression techniques to enhance radial resolution and sensitivity. Currently, the SMC is upgrading its total lightning detection system, operational since 2003. While a fourth sensor (Amposta) was added last year to enlarge the system coverage, all sensors and central processor will be upgraded this year to the new Vaisala’s total lightning location technology. The new LS8000

  6. A Software Architecture for Adaptive Modular Sensing Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew C. Lyle

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available By combining a number of simple transducer modules, an arbitrarily complex sensing system may be produced to accommodate a wide range of applications. This work outlines a novel software architecture and knowledge representation scheme that has been developed to support this type of flexible and reconfigurable modular sensing system. Template algorithms are used to embed intelligence within each module. As modules are added or removed, the composite sensor is able to automatically determine its overall geometry and assume an appropriate collective identity. A virtual machine-based middleware layer runs on top of a real-time operating system with a pre-emptive kernel, enabling platform-independent template algorithms to be written once and run on any module, irrespective of its underlying hardware architecture. Applications that may benefit from easily reconfigurable modular sensing systems include flexible inspection, mobile robotics, surveillance, and space exploration.

  7. Obtaining location/arrival-time and location/outflow-quantity distributions for steady flow systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1977-01-01

    A steady, two-dimensional flow system is used to demonstrate the application of location/arrival-time and location/outflow-quantity curves in determining the environmental consequences of groundwater contamination. The subsurface geologic and hydrologic evaluations needed to obtain the arrival results involve a sequence of four phases: system identification, new potential determination, flow systems kinematics, and contaminant transport analysis. Once these phases are completed, they are effectively summarized and easily used to evaluate environmental consequences through the arrival distributions

  8. 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.

  9. Liquid Level Sensing System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korman, Valentin (Inventor); Wiley, John T. (Inventor); Duffell, Amanda G. (Inventor)

    2014-01-01

    A liquid level sensing system includes waveguides disposed in a liquid and distributed along a path with a gap between adjacent waveguides. A source introduces electromagnetic energy into the waveguides at a first end of the path. A portion of the electromagnetic energy exits the waveguides at a second end of the path. A detector measures the portion of the electromagnetic energy exiting the second end of the path.

  10. A Wireless Location System in LTE Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Liu, Qi; Hu, Rongyi; Liu, Shan

    2017-01-01

    Personal location technologies are becoming important with the rapid development of Mobile Internet services. In traditional cellular networks, the key problems of user location technologies are high-precision synchronization among different base stations, inflexible processing resources, and low accuracy positioning, especially for indoor environment. In this paper, a new LTE location system in Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is proposed, which makes channel and location measurement...

  11. A Ground Systems Template for Remote Sensing Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClanahan, Timothy P.; Trombka, Jacob I.; Floyd, Samuel R.; Truskowski, Walter; Starr, Richard D.; Clark, Pamela E.; Evans, Larry G.

    2002-10-01

    Spaceborne remote sensing using gamma and X-ray spectrometers requires particular attention to the design and development of reliable systems. These systems must ensure the scientific requirements of the mission within the challenging technical constraints of operating instrumentation in space. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft included X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers (XGRS), whose mission was to map the elemental chemistry of the 433 Eros asteroid. A remote sensing system template, similar to a blackboard systems approach used in artificial intelligence, was identified in which the spacecraft, instrument, and ground system was designed and developed to monitor and adapt to evolving mission requirements in a complicated operational setting. Systems were developed for ground tracking of instrument calibration, instrument health, data quality, orbital geometry, solar flux as well as models of the asteroid's surface characteristics, requiring an intensive human effort. In the future, missions such as the Autonomous Nano-Technology Swarm (ANTS) program will have to rely heavily on automation to collectively encounter and sample asteroids in the outer asteroid belt. Using similar instrumentation, ANTS will require information similar to data collected by the NEAR X-ray/Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (XGRS) ground system for science and operations management. The NEAR XGRS systems will be studied to identify the equivalent subsystems that may be automated for ANTS. The effort will also investigate the possibility of applying blackboard style approaches to automated decision making required for ANTS.

  12. A ground systems template for remote sensing systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McClanahan, Timothy P.; Trombka, Jacob I.; Floyd, Samuel R.; Truskowski, Walter; Starr, Richard D.; Clark, Pamela E.; Evans, Larry G.

    2002-01-01

    Spaceborne remote sensing using gamma and X-ray spectrometers requires particular attention to the design and development of reliable systems. These systems must ensure the scientific requirements of the mission within the challenging technical constraints of operating instrumentation in space. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft included X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers (XGRS), whose mission was to map the elemental chemistry of the 433 Eros asteroid. A remote sensing system template, similar to a blackboard systems approach used in artificial intelligence, was identified in which the spacecraft, instrument, and ground system was designed and developed to monitor and adapt to evolving mission requirements in a complicated operational setting. Systems were developed for ground tracking of instrument calibration, instrument health, data quality, orbital geometry, solar flux as well as models of the asteroid's surface characteristics, requiring an intensive human effort. In the future, missions such as the Autonomous Nano-Technology Swarm (ANTS) program will have to rely heavily on automation to collectively encounter and sample asteroids in the outer asteroid belt. Using similar instrumentation, ANTS will require information similar to data collected by the NEAR X-ray/Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (XGRS) ground system for science and operations management. The NEAR XGRS systems will be studied to identify the equivalent subsystems that may be automated for ANTS. The effort will also investigate the possibility of applying blackboard style approaches to automated decision making required for ANTS

  13. Locating Objects in Wide-Area Systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Steen, M. van; Hauck, F.J.; Homburg, P.; Tanenbaum, A.S.

    Locating mobile objects in a worldwide system requires a scalable location service. An object can be a telephone or a notebook computer, but also a software or data object, such as a file or an electronic document. Our service strictly separates an object's name from the addresses where it can be

  14. Design of a TDOA location engine and development of a location system based on chirp spread spectrum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Rui-Rong; Yu, Xiao-Qing; Zheng, Shu-Wang; Ye, Yang

    2016-01-01

    Location based services (LBS) provided by wireless sensor networks have garnered a great deal of attention from researchers and developers in recent years. Chirp spread spectrum (CSS) signaling formatting with time difference of arrival (TDOA) ranging technology is an effective LBS technique in regards to positioning accuracy, cost, and power consumption. The design and implementation of the location engine and location management based on TDOA location algorithms were the focus of this study; as the core of the system, the location engine was designed as a series of location algorithms and smoothing algorithms. To enhance the location accuracy, a Kalman filter algorithm and moving weighted average technique were respectively applied to smooth the TDOA range measurements and location results, which are calculated by the cooperation of a Kalman TDOA algorithm and a Taylor TDOA algorithm. The location management server, the information center of the system, was designed with Data Server and Mclient. To evaluate the performance of the location algorithms and the stability of the system software, we used a Nanotron nanoLOC Development Kit 3.0 to conduct indoor and outdoor location experiments. The results indicated that the location system runs stably with high accuracy at absolute error below 0.6 m.

  15. Remote Sensing Wind and Wind Shear System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Contents: Remote sensing of wind shear and the theory and development of acoustic doppler; Wind studies; A comparison of methods for the remote detection of winds in the airport environment; Acoustic doppler system development; System calibration; Airport operational tests.

  16. CYBERNETIC BASIS AND SYSTEM PRACTICE OF REMOTE SENSING AND SPATIAL INFORMATION SCIENCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. Tan

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Cybernetics provides a new set of ideas and methods for the study of modern science, and it has been fully applied in many areas. However, few people have introduced cybernetics into the field of remote sensing. The paper is based on the imaging process of remote sensing system, introducing cybernetics into the field of remote sensing, establishing a space-time closed-loop control theory for the actual operation of remote sensing. The paper made the process of spatial information coherently, and improved the comprehensive efficiency of the space information from acquisition, procession, transformation to application. We not only describes the application of cybernetics in remote sensing platform control, sensor control, data processing control, but also in whole system of remote sensing imaging process control. We achieve the information of output back to the input to control the efficient operation of the entire system. This breakthrough combination of cybernetics science and remote sensing science will improve remote sensing science to a higher level.

  17. Cybernetic Basis and System Practice of Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, X.; Jing, X.; Chen, R.; Ming, Z.; He, L.; Sun, Y.; Sun, X.; Yan, L.

    2017-09-01

    Cybernetics provides a new set of ideas and methods for the study of modern science, and it has been fully applied in many areas. However, few people have introduced cybernetics into the field of remote sensing. The paper is based on the imaging process of remote sensing system, introducing cybernetics into the field of remote sensing, establishing a space-time closed-loop control theory for the actual operation of remote sensing. The paper made the process of spatial information coherently, and improved the comprehensive efficiency of the space information from acquisition, procession, transformation to application. We not only describes the application of cybernetics in remote sensing platform control, sensor control, data processing control, but also in whole system of remote sensing imaging process control. We achieve the information of output back to the input to control the efficient operation of the entire system. This breakthrough combination of cybernetics science and remote sensing science will improve remote sensing science to a higher level.

  18. A modern trans-ionospheric propagation sensing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishop, G. J.; Klobuchar, J. A.; Ronn, A. E.; Bedard, M. G.

    1989-09-01

    One of the most important potential problems with modern military systems which utilize spacecraft is the effect of the ionosphere on the radio signals which pass to and from the spacecraft. Such systems include active communications and navigation satellites as well as both ground-based and potential space-based ranging systems. The major effects the ionosphere can have on such systems are the additional time delay the electrons in the earth's ionosphere add to the free space path delay, the short term rate of change of this additional delay, amplitude scintillation or fading effects the signal encounters due to irregularities in the ionosphere, and Faraday rotation of linearly polarized radio waves transmitted through the ionosphere. While some of these effects were studied adequate models of these effects on military systems still do not exist. A modern trans-ionospheric sensing system, called TISS, is being procured which will consist of a number of stations located throughout the world, making real time measurements of the time delay of the ionosphere, and its rate of change, as well as amplitude scintillation, along several different viewing directions from each station. These trans-ionospheric measurements will be used to allow models, which currently provide only monthly propagation parameters. The real-time specifications of these parameters can then be used as decision aids in both the tactical and the strategic military environments. The TISS will include first order artificial intelligence design to aid in gathering the most appropriate sets of available real-time trans-ionospheric propagation data, and will communicate these data sets to the Air Weather Service Forecasting Center where they will be tailored to specific military customers.

  19. Data Center Equipment Location and Monitoring System

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2013-01-01

    Abstract: Data center equipment location systems include hardware and software to provide information on the location, monitoring, and security of servers and other equipment in equipment racks. The systems provide a wired alternative to the wireless RFID tag system by using electronic ID tags...... connected to each piece of equipment, each electronic ID tag connected directly by wires to an equipment rack controller on the equipment rack. The equipment rack controllers link to a central control computer that provides an operator ...

  20. RSComPro: An Open Communication Protocol for Remote Sensing Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vasiljevic, Nikola; Trujillo, Juan-José

    The remote sensing protocol (RSComPro) is a communication protocol, which has been developed for controlling multiple remote sensing systems simultaneously through a UDP/IP and TPC/IP network. This protocol is meant to be open to the remote sensing community. The scope is the implementation of so...

  1. PAVS: A New Privacy-Preserving Data Aggregation Scheme for Vehicle Sensing Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Chang; Lu, Rongxing; Wang, Huaxiong; Zhu, Liehuang; Huang, Cheng

    2017-03-03

    Air pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues in recent years. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, air pollution has led to the deaths of millions of people worldwide. Accordingly, expensive and complex air-monitoring instruments have been exploited to measure air pollution. Comparatively, a vehicle sensing system (VSS), as it can be effectively used for many purposes and can bring huge financial benefits in reducing high maintenance and repair costs, has received considerable attention. However, the privacy issues of VSS including vehicles' location privacy have not been well addressed. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new privacy-preserving data aggregation scheme, called PAVS, for VSS. Specifically, PAVS combines privacy-preserving classification and privacy-preserving statistics on both the mean E(·) and variance Var(·), which makes VSS more promising, as, with minimal privacy leakage, more vehicles are willing to participate in sensing. Detailed analysis shows that the proposed PAVS can achieve the properties of privacy preservation, data accuracy and scalability. In addition, the performance evaluations via extensive simulations also demonstrate its efficiency.

  2. Open Location Management in Automated Warehousing Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Yu, Yugang; Koster, René

    2009-01-01

    textabstractA warehouse needs to have sufficient open locations to be able to store incoming shipments of various sizes. In combination with ongoing load retrievals open locations gradually spread over the storage area. Unfavorable positions of open locations negatively impact the average load retrieval times. This paper presents a new method to manage these open locations such that the average system travel time for processing a block of storage and retrieval jobs in an automated warehousing...

  3. Modelling population distribution using remote sensing imagery and location-based data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, J.; Prishchepov, A. V.

    2017-12-01

    Detailed spatial distribution of population density is essential for city studies such as urban planning, environmental pollution and city emergency, even estimate pressure on the environment and human exposure and risks to health. However, most of the researches used census data as the detailed dynamic population distribution are difficult to acquire, especially in microscale research. This research describes a method using remote sensing imagery and location-based data to model population distribution at the function zone level. Firstly, urban functional zones within a city were mapped by high-resolution remote sensing images and POIs. The workflow of functional zones extraction includes five parts: (1) Urban land use classification. (2) Segmenting images in built-up area. (3) Identification of functional segments by POIs. (4) Identification of functional blocks by functional segmentation and weight coefficients. (5) Assessing accuracy by validation points. The result showed as Fig.1. Secondly, we applied ordinary least square and geographically weighted regression to assess spatial nonstationary relationship between light digital number (DN) and population density of sampling points. The two methods were employed to predict the population distribution over the research area. The R²of GWR model were in the order of 0.7 and typically showed significant variations over the region than traditional OLS model. The result showed as Fig.2.Validation with sampling points of population density demonstrated that the result predicted by the GWR model correlated well with light value. The result showed as Fig.3. Results showed: (1) Population density is not linear correlated with light brightness using global model. (2) VIIRS night-time light data could estimate population density integrating functional zones at city level. (3) GWR is a robust model to map population distribution, the adjusted R2 of corresponding GWR models were higher than the optimal OLS models

  4. Using ArcMap, Google Earth, and Global Positioning Systems to select and locate random households in rural Haiti.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wampler, Peter J; Rediske, Richard R; Molla, Azizur R

    2013-01-18

    A remote sensing technique was developed which combines a Geographic Information System (GIS); Google Earth, and Microsoft Excel to identify home locations for a random sample of households in rural Haiti. The method was used to select homes for ethnographic and water quality research in a region of rural Haiti located within 9 km of a local hospital and source of health education in Deschapelles, Haiti. The technique does not require access to governmental records or ground based surveys to collect household location data and can be performed in a rapid, cost-effective manner. The random selection of households and the location of these households during field surveys were accomplished using GIS, Google Earth, Microsoft Excel, and handheld Garmin GPSmap 76CSx GPS units. Homes were identified and mapped in Google Earth, exported to ArcMap 10.0, and a random list of homes was generated using Microsoft Excel which was then loaded onto handheld GPS units for field location. The development and use of a remote sensing method was essential to the selection and location of random households. A total of 537 homes initially were mapped and a randomized subset of 96 was identified as potential survey locations. Over 96% of the homes mapped using Google Earth imagery were correctly identified as occupied dwellings. Only 3.6% of the occupants of mapped homes visited declined to be interviewed. 16.4% of the homes visited were not occupied at the time of the visit due to work away from the home or market days. A total of 55 households were located using this method during the 10 days of fieldwork in May and June of 2012. The method used to generate and field locate random homes for surveys and water sampling was an effective means of selecting random households in a rural environment lacking geolocation infrastructure. The success rate for locating households using a handheld GPS was excellent and only rarely was local knowledge required to identify and locate households. This

  5. Using ArcMap, Google Earth, and Global Positioning Systems to select and locate random households in rural Haiti

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wampler Peter J

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A remote sensing technique was developed which combines a Geographic Information System (GIS; Google Earth, and Microsoft Excel to identify home locations for a random sample of households in rural Haiti. The method was used to select homes for ethnographic and water quality research in a region of rural Haiti located within 9 km of a local hospital and source of health education in Deschapelles, Haiti. The technique does not require access to governmental records or ground based surveys to collect household location data and can be performed in a rapid, cost-effective manner. Methods The random selection of households and the location of these households during field surveys were accomplished using GIS, Google Earth, Microsoft Excel, and handheld Garmin GPSmap 76CSx GPS units. Homes were identified and mapped in Google Earth, exported to ArcMap 10.0, and a random list of homes was generated using Microsoft Excel which was then loaded onto handheld GPS units for field location. The development and use of a remote sensing method was essential to the selection and location of random households. Results A total of 537 homes initially were mapped and a randomized subset of 96 was identified as potential survey locations. Over 96% of the homes mapped using Google Earth imagery were correctly identified as occupied dwellings. Only 3.6% of the occupants of mapped homes visited declined to be interviewed. 16.4% of the homes visited were not occupied at the time of the visit due to work away from the home or market days. A total of 55 households were located using this method during the 10 days of fieldwork in May and June of 2012. Conclusions The method used to generate and field locate random homes for surveys and water sampling was an effective means of selecting random households in a rural environment lacking geolocation infrastructure. The success rate for locating households using a handheld GPS was excellent and only

  6. Performance of target detection algorithm in compressive sensing miniature ultraspectral imaging compressed sensing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gedalin, Daniel; Oiknine, Yaniv; August, Isaac; Blumberg, Dan G.; Rotman, Stanley R.; Stern, Adrian

    2017-04-01

    Compressive sensing theory was proposed to deal with the high quantity of measurements demanded by traditional hyperspectral systems. Recently, a compressive spectral imaging technique dubbed compressive sensing miniature ultraspectral imaging (CS-MUSI) was presented. This system uses a voltage controlled liquid crystal device to create multiplexed hyperspectral cubes. We evaluate the utility of the data captured using the CS-MUSI system for the task of target detection. Specifically, we compare the performance of the matched filter target detection algorithm in traditional hyperspectral systems and in CS-MUSI multiplexed hyperspectral cubes. We found that the target detection algorithm performs similarly in both cases, despite the fact that the CS-MUSI data is up to an order of magnitude less than that in conventional hyperspectral cubes. Moreover, the target detection is approximately an order of magnitude faster in CS-MUSI data.

  7. Authentication Sensing System Using Resonance Evaluation Spectroscopy (ASSURES)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trolinger, James D.; Dioumaev, Andrei K.; Lal, Amit K.; Dimas, Dave

    2017-08-01

    This paper describes an ongoing instrument development project to distinguish genuine manufactured components from counterfeit components; we call the instrument ASSURES (Authentication Sensing System Using Resonance Evaluation Spectroscopy). The system combines Laser Doppler Vibrometry with acoustical resonance spectroscopy, augmented with finite element analysis. Vibrational properties of components, such as resonant modes, damping, and spectral frequency response to various forcing functions depend strongly upon the mechanical properties of the material, including its size, shape, internal hardness, tensile strength, alloy/composite compositions, flaws, defects, and other internal material properties. Although acoustic resonant spectroscopy has seen limited application, the information rich signals in the vibrational spectra of objects provide a pathway to many new applications. Components with the same shape but made of different materials, different fatigue histories, damage, tampering, or heat treatment, will respond differently to high frequency stimulation. Laser Doppler Vibrometry offers high sensitivity and frequency bandwidth to measure the component's frequency spectrum, and overcomes many issues that limit conventional acoustical resonance spectroscopy, since the sensor laser beam can be aimed anywhere along the part as well as to multiple locations on a part in a non-contact way. ASSURES is especially promising for use in additive manufacturing technology by providing signatures as digital codes that are unique to specific objects and even to specific locations on objects. We believe that such signatures can be employed to address many important issues in the manufacturing industry. These include insuring the part meets the often very rigid specifications of the customer and being able to detect non-visible internal manufacturing defects or non-visible damage that has occurred after manufacturing.

  8. THE AUTOMATIC LIGHTENING LOCATION SYSTEM AND ITS ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ES Obe

    systems. The implications of the lightening location system for the Nigerian electric power system are also highlighted. ... system (the LLP type) is currently operating in may countries .... (iii) Real time lightning maps will aid service restoration.

  9. Soft sensing of system parameters in membrane distillation

    KAUST Repository

    Laleg-Kirati, Taous-Meriem

    2017-01-01

    Various examples of methods and systems are provided for soft sensing of system parameters in membrane distillation (MD). In one example, a system includes a MD module comprising a feed side and a permeate side separated by a membrane boundary layer

  10. High precision relative position sensing system for formation flying spacecraft

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to develop and test an optical sensing system that provides high precision relative position sensing for formation flying spacecraft.  A high precision...

  11. Multiparameter fiber optic sensing system for monitoring enhanced geothermal systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Challener, William A

    2014-12-04

    The goal of this project was to design, fabricate and test an optical fiber cable which supports multiple sensing modalities for measurements in the harsh environment of enhanced geothermal systems. To accomplish this task, optical fiber was tested at both high temperatures and strains for mechanical integrity, and in the presence of hydrogen for resistance to darkening. Both single mode (SM) and multimode (MM) commercially available optical fiber were identified and selected for the cable based on the results of these tests. The cable was designed and fabricated using a tube-within-tube construction containing two MM fibers and one SM fiber, and without supporting gel that is not suitable for high temperature environments. Commercial fiber optic sensing instruments using Raman DTS (distributed temperature sensing), Brillouin DTSS (distributed temperature and strain sensing), and Raleigh COTDR (coherent optical time domain reflectometry) were selected for field testing. A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) pressure sensor was designed, fabricated, packaged, and calibrated for high pressure measurements at high temperatures and spliced to the cable. A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) temperature sensor was also spliced to the cable. A geothermal well was selected and its temperature and pressure were logged. The cable was then deployed in the well in two separate field tests and measurements were made on these different sensing modalities. Raman DTS measurements were found to be accurate to ±5°C, even with some residual hydrogen darkening. Brillouin DTSS measurements were in good agreement with the Raman results. The Rayleigh COTDR instrument was able to detect some acoustic signatures, but was generally disappointing. The FBG sensor was used to determine the effects of hydrogen darkening, but drift over time made it unreliable as a temperature or pressure sensor. The MEMS sensor was found to be highly stable and accurate to better than its 0.1% calibration.

  12. Radio frequency sensing measurements and methods for location classification in wireless networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maas, Dustin C.

    The wireless radio channel is typically thought of as a means to move information from transmitter to receiver, but the radio channel can also be used to detect changes in the environment of the radio link. This dissertation is focused on the measurements we can make at the physical layer of wireless networks, and how we can use those measurements to obtain information about the locations of transceivers and people. The first contribution of this work is the development and testing of an open source, 802.11b sounder and receiver, which is capable of decoding packets and using them to estimate the channel impulse response (CIR) of a radio link at a fraction of the cost of traditional channel sounders. This receiver improves on previous implementations by performing optimized matched filtering on the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) of the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP), allowing it to operate at full bandwidth. The second contribution of this work is an extensive experimental evaluation of a technology called location distinction, i.e., the ability to identify changes in radio transceiver position, via CIR measurements. Previous location distinction work has focused on single-input single-output (SISO) radio links. We extend this work to the context of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radio links, and study system design trade-offs which affect the performance of MIMO location distinction. The third contribution of this work introduces the "exploiting radio windows" (ERW) attack, in which an attacker outside of a building surreptitiously uses the transmissions of an otherwise secure wireless network inside of the building to infer location information about people inside the building. This is possible because of the relative transparency of external walls to radio transmissions. The final contribution of this dissertation is a feasibility study for building a rapidly deployable radio tomographic (RTI) imaging system for special operations forces

  13. Architecture for multi-technology real-time location systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodas, Javier; Barral, Valentín; Escudero, Carlos J

    2013-02-07

    The rising popularity of location-based services has prompted considerable research in the field of indoor location systems. Since there is no single technology to support these systems, it is necessary to consider the fusion of the information coming from heterogeneous sensors. This paper presents a software architecture designed for a hybrid location system where we can merge information from multiple sensor technologies. The architecture was designed to be used by different kinds of actors independently and with mutual transparency: hardware administrators, algorithm developers and user applications. The paper presents the architecture design, work-flow, case study examples and some results to show how different technologies can be exploited to obtain a good estimation of a target position.

  14. Regular Wounding in a Natural System: Bacteria Associated With Reproductive Organs of Bedbugs and Their Quorum Sensing Abilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oliver Otti

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available During wounding, tissues are disrupted so that bacteria can easily enter the host and trigger a host response. Both the host response and bacterial communication can occur through quorum sensing (QS and quorum sensing inhibition (QSI. Here, we characterize the effect of wounding on the host-associated bacterial community of the bed bug. This is a model system where the male is wounding the female during every mating. Whereas several aspects of the microbial involvement during wounding have been previously examined, it is not clear to what extent QS and QSI play a role. We find that the microbiome differs depending on mating and feeding status of female bedbugs and is specific to the location of isolation. Most organs of bedbugs harbor bacteria, which are capable of both QS and QSI signaling. By focusing on the prokaryotic quorum communication system, we provide a baseline for future research in this unique system. We advocate the bedbug system as suitable for studying the effects of bacteria on reproduction and for addressing prokaryote and eukaryote communication during wounding.

  15. Integrated Ultra-Wideband Tracking and Carbon Dioxide Sensing System Design for International Space Station Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Jianjun (David); Hafermalz, David; Dusl, John; Barton, Rick; Wagner, Ray; Ngo, Phong

    2015-01-01

    A three-dimensional (3D) Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Time-of-Arrival (TOA) tracking system has been studied at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) to provide the tracking capability inside the International Space Station (ISS) modules for various applications. One of applications is to locate and report the location where crew experienced possible high level of carbon-dioxide (CO2) and felt upset. Recent findings indicate that frequent, short-term crew exposure to elevated CO2 levels combined with other physiological impacts of microgravity may lead to a number of detrimental effects, including loss of vision. To evaluate the risks associated with transient elevated CO2 levels and design effective countermeasures, doctors must have access to frequent CO2 measurements in the immediate vicinity of individual crew members along with simultaneous measurements of their location in the space environment. To achieve this goal, a small, low-power, wearable system that integrates an accurate CO2 sensor with an ultra-wideband (UWB) radio capable of real-time location estimation and data communication is proposed. This system would be worn by crew members or mounted on a free-flyer and would automatically gather and transmit sampled sensor data tagged with real-time, high-resolution location information. Under the current proposed effort, a breadboard prototype of such a system has been developed. Although the initial effort is targeted to CO2 monitoring, the concept is applicable to other types of sensors. For the initial effort, a micro-controller is leveraged to integrate a low-power CO2 sensor with a commercially available UWB radio system with ranging capability. In order to accurately locate those places in a multipath intensive environment like ISS modules, it requires a robust real-time location system (RTLS) which can provide the required accuracy and update rate. A 3D UWB TOA tracking system with two-way ranging has been proposed and studied. The designed system will be tested

  16. LAnd surface remote sensing Products VAlidation System (LAPVAS) and its preliminary application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Xingwen; Wen, Jianguang; Tang, Yong; Ma, Mingguo; Dou, Baocheng; Wu, Xiaodan; Meng, Lumin

    2014-11-01

    The long term record of remote sensing product shows the land surface parameters with spatial and temporal change to support regional and global scientific research widely. Remote sensing product with different sensors and different algorithms is necessary to be validated to ensure the high quality remote sensing product. Investigation about the remote sensing product validation shows that it is a complex processing both the quality of in-situ data requirement and method of precision assessment. A comprehensive validation should be needed with long time series and multiple land surface types. So a system named as land surface remote sensing product is designed in this paper to assess the uncertainty information of the remote sensing products based on a amount of in situ data and the validation techniques. The designed validation system platform consists of three parts: Validation databases Precision analysis subsystem, Inter-external interface of system. These three parts are built by some essential service modules, such as Data-Read service modules, Data-Insert service modules, Data-Associated service modules, Precision-Analysis service modules, Scale-Change service modules and so on. To run the validation system platform, users could order these service modules and choreograph them by the user interactive and then compete the validation tasks of remote sensing products (such as LAI ,ALBEDO ,VI etc.) . Taking SOA-based architecture as the framework of this system. The benefit of this architecture is the good service modules which could be independent of any development environment by standards such as the Web-Service Description Language(WSDL). The standard language: C++ and java will used as the primary programming language to create service modules. One of the key land surface parameter, albedo, is selected as an example of the system application. It is illustrated that the LAPVAS has a good performance to implement the land surface remote sensing product

  17. Architecture for Multi-Technology Real-Time Location Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodas, Javier; Barral, Valentín; Escudero, Carlos J.

    2013-01-01

    The rising popularity of location-based services has prompted considerable research in the field of indoor location systems. Since there is no single technology to support these systems, it is necessary to consider the fusion of the information coming from heterogeneous sensors. This paper presents a software architecture designed for a hybrid location system where we can merge information from multiple sensor technologies. The architecture was designed to be used by different kinds of actors independently and with mutual transparency: hardware administrators, algorithm developers and user applications. The paper presents the architecture design, work-flow, case study examples and some results to show how different technologies can be exploited to obtain a good estimation of a target position. PMID:23435050

  18. Advanced feed-through systems for in-well optical fibre sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shiach, G; Nolan, A; McAvoy, S; McStay, D; Prel, C; Smith, M

    2007-01-01

    A new optical fibre feed-through for use in subsea in-well optical fibre sensing systems is reported. The new feed-through is compatible for use with standard subsea Christmas Tree penetrators and allows multiple re-mating of the feed-through over the lifetime of the device. The system has been extensively tested under in-well conditions and found to conform to the performance requirements. The new feed-through is planned to be used in one of the first subsea optical fibre in-well sensing systems

  19. The organophosphate malathion disturbs gut microbiome development and the quorum-Sensing system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Bei; Chi, Liang; Tu, Pengcheng; Bian, Xiaoming; Thomas, Jesse; Ru, Hongyu; Lu, Kun

    2018-02-01

    The gut microbiome has tremendous potential to impact health and disease. Various environmental toxicants, including insecticides, have been shown to alter gut microbiome community structures. However, the mechanism that compositionally and functionally regulates gut microbiota remains unclear. Quorum sensing is known to modulate intra- and interspecies gene expression and coordinate population responses. It is unknown whether quorum sensing is disrupted when environmental toxicants cause perturbations in the gut microbiome community structure. To reveal the response of the quorum-sensing system to environmental exposure, we use a combination of Illumina-based 16S rRNA gene amplicon and shotgun metagenome sequencing to examine the impacts of a widely used organophosphate insecticide, malathion, on the gut microbiome trajectory, quorum sensing system and behaviors related to quorum sensing, such as motility and pathogenicity. Our results demonstrated that malathion perturbed the gut microbiome development, quorum sensing and quorum sensing related behaviors. These findings may provide a novel mechanistic understanding of the role of quorum-sensing in the gut microbiome toxicity of malathion. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  20. Plantar Pressure Detection with Fiber Bragg Gratings Sensing System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tsair-Chun Liang

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a novel fiber-optic sensing system based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs to measure foot plantar pressure is proposed. This study first explores the Pedar-X insole foot pressure types of the adult-size chart and then defines six measurement areas to effectively identify four foot types: neutral foot, cavus foot, supinated foot and flat foot. The plantar pressure signals are detected by only six FBGs, which are embedded in silicone rubber. The performance of the fiber optic sensing is examined and compared with a digital pressure plate of i-Step P1000 with 1024 barometric sensors. In the experiment, there are 11 participants with different foot types to participate in the test. The Pearson correlation coefficient, which is determined from the measured results of the homemade fiber-optic plantar pressure system and i-Step P1000 plantar pressure plate, reaches up to 0.671 (p < 0.01. According to the measured results from the plantar pressure data, the proposed fiber optic sensing system can successfully identify the four different foot types. Measurements of this study have demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed system so that it can be an alternative for plantar pressure detection systems.

  1. A Privacy-Preserving Incentive Mechanism for Participatory Sensing Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoguang Niu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The proliferation of mobile devices has facilitated the prevalence of participatory sensing applications in which participants collect and share information in their environments. The design of a participatory sensing application confronts two challenges: “privacy” and “incentive” which are two conflicting objectives and deserve deeper attention. Inspired by physical currency circulation system, this paper introduces the notion of E-cent, an exchangeable unit bearer currency. Participants can use the E-cent to take part in tasks anonymously. By employing E-cent, we propose an E-cent-based privacy-preserving incentive mechanism, called EPPI. As a dynamic balance regulatory mechanism, EPPI can not only protect the privacy of participant, but also adjust the whole system to the ideal situation, under which the rated tasks can be finished at minimal cost. To the best of our knowledge, EPPI is the first attempt to build an incentive mechanism while maintaining the desired privacy in participatory sensing systems. Extensive simulation and analysis results show that EPPI can achieve high anonymity level and remarkable incentive effects.

  2. Damage Detection/Locating System Providing Thermal Protection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodard, Stanley E. (Inventor); Jones, Thomas W. (Inventor); Taylor, Bryant D. (Inventor); Qamar, A. Shams (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    A damage locating system also provides thermal protection. An array of sensors substantially tiles an area of interest. Each sensor is a reflective-surface conductor having operatively coupled inductance and capacitance. A magnetic field response recorder is provided to interrogate each sensor before and after a damage condition. Changes in response are indicative of damage and a corresponding location thereof.

  3. Identification and characterization of a GDSL esterase gene located proximal to the swr quorum-sensing system of Serratia liquefaciens MG1

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Riedel, K.; Talker-Huiber, D.; Givskov, Michael Christian

    2003-01-01

    direction, designated estA, which encodes an esterase that belongs to family II of lipolytic enzymes. EstA was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, and the substrate specificity of the enzyme was determined in crude extracts. With the aid of zymograms visualizing EstA on polyacrylamide gels...... and by the analysis of a transcriptional fusion of the estA promoter to the promoterless lux4B genes, we showed that expression of the esterase is not regulated by the swr quorum-sensing system. An estA mutant was generated and was found to exhibit growth defects on minimal medium containing Tween 20 or Tween 80...

  4. HORIZON SENSING

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Larry G. Stolarczyk

    2003-03-18

    With the aid of a DOE grant (No. DE-FC26-01NT41050), Stolar Research Corporation (Stolar) developed the Horizon Sensor (HS) to distinguish between the different layers of a coal seam. Mounted on mining machine cutter drums, HS units can detect or sense the horizon between the coal seam and the roof and floor rock, providing the opportunity to accurately mine the section of the seam most desired. HS also enables accurate cutting of minimum height if that is the operator's objective. Often when cutting is done out-of-seam, the head-positioning function facilitates a fixed mining height to minimize dilution. With this technology, miners can still be at a remote location, yet cut only the clean coal, resulting in a much more efficient overall process. The objectives of this project were to demonstrate the feasibility of horizon sensing on mining machines and demonstrate that Horizon Sensing can allow coal to be cut cleaner and more efficiently. Stolar's primary goal was to develop the Horizon Sensor (HS) into an enabling technology for full or partial automation or ''agile mining''. This technical innovation (R&D 100 Award Winner) is quickly demonstrating improvements in productivity and miner safety at several prominent coal mines in the United States. In addition, the HS system can enable the cutting of cleaner coal. Stolar has driven the HS program on the philosophy that cutting cleaner coal means burning cleaner coal. The sensor, located inches from the cutting bits, is based upon the physics principles of a Resonant Microstrip Patch Antenna (RMPA). When it is in proximity of the rock-coal interface, the RMPA impedance varies depending on the thickness of uncut coal. The impedance is measured by the computer-controlled electronics and then sent by radio waves to the mining machine. The worker at the machine can read the data via a Graphical User Interface, displaying a color-coded image of the coal being cut, and direct the machine

  5. Tiltmeter Indicates Sense of Slope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lonborg, J. O.

    1985-01-01

    Tiltmeter indicates sense and magnitude of slope used in locations where incline not visible to operator. Use of direct rather than alternating current greatly simplifies design of instrument capable of indicating sense of slope.

  6. Quasi-distributed sol-gel coated fiber optic oxygen sensing probe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zolkapli, Maizatul; Saharudin, Suhairi; Herman, Sukreen Hana; Abdullah, Wan Fazlida Hanim

    2018-03-01

    In the field of aquaculture, optical sensor technology is beginning to provide alternatives to the conventional electrical sensor. Hence, the development and characterization of a multipoint quasi-distributed optical fiber sensor for oxygen measurement is reported. The system is based on 1 mm core diameter plastic optical fiber where sections of cladding have been removed and replaced with three metal complexes sol-gel films to form sensing points. The sensing locations utilize luminophores that have emission peaks at 385 nm, 405 nm and 465 nm which associated with each of the sensing points. Interrogation of the optical sensor system is through a fiber optic spectrometer incorporating narrow bandpass emission optical filter. The sensors showed comparable sensitivity and repeatability, as well as fast response and recovery towards oxygen.

  7. Brain glucose sensing, counterregulation, and energy homeostasis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marty, Nell; Dallaporta, Michel; Thorens, Bernard

    2007-08-01

    Neuronal circuits in the central nervous system play a critical role in orchestrating the control of glucose and energy homeostasis. Glucose, beside being a nutrient, is also a signal detected by several glucose-sensing units that are located at different anatomical sites and converge to the hypothalamus to cooperate with leptin and insulin in controlling the melanocortin pathway.

  8. Remote control of Alfven eigenmode sensing system on the large helical device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ito, T.; Toi, K.; Matsunaga, G.

    2008-01-01

    An active sensing system of Alfven eigenmodes (AEs), which consists of a set of toroidally distributed loop antennas and several bi-polar power supplies, has been developed in the large helical device (LHD). The power supplies are controlled with a function generator receiving a control pattern of antenna current and the driving frequency from a personal computer (PC) in an LHD control room. This sensing method is based on the analysis of the frequency dependence of a transfer function that is derived by the ratio of the Fourier-transformed magnetic probe signal ('plasma response') to antenna current one ('exciter signal'). Typically, the driving frequency of the antenna current is swept linearly in time from 10 kHz to 500 kHz for 2 s in the LHD experiment. The sensing system is fully controlled through Ethernet LAN with easy extendable GUI. Configuration and control scheme of the active sensing system of AEs are presented in this paper. An initial result of the system operation is also described

  9. Data center equipment location and monitoring system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2011-01-01

    A data center equipment location system includes both hardware and software to provide for location, monitoring, security and identification of servers and other equipment in equipment racks. The system provides a wired alternative to the wireless RFID tag system by using electronic ID tags...... connected to each piece of equipment, each electronic ID tag connected directly by wires to a equipment rack controller on the equipment rack. The equipment rack controllers then link over a local area network to a central control computer. The central control computer provides an operator interface......, and runs a software application program that communicates with the equipment rack controllers. The software application program of the central control computer stores IDs of the equipment rack controllers and each of its connected electronic ID tags in a database.; The software application program...

  10. Context Sensing System Analysis for Privacy Preservation Based on Game Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shengling; Li, Luyun; Sun, Weiman; Guo, Junqi; Bie, Rongfang; Lin, Kai

    2017-02-10

    In a context sensing system in which a sensor-equipped mobile phone runs an unreliable context-aware application, the application can infer the user's contexts, based on which it provides personalized services. However, the application may sell the user's contexts to some malicious adversaries to earn extra profits, which will hinder its widespread use. In the real world, the actions of the user, the application and the adversary in the context sensing system affect each other, so that their payoffs are constrained mutually. To figure out under which conditions they behave well (the user releases, the application does not leak and the adversary does not retrieve the context), we take advantage of game theory to analyze the context sensing system. We use the extensive form game and the repeated game, respectively, to analyze two typical scenarios, single interaction and multiple interaction among three players, from which Nash equilibriums and cooperation conditions are obtained. Our results show that the reputation mechanism for the context-sensing system in the former scenario is crucial to privacy preservation, so is the extent to which the participants are concerned about future payoffs in the latter one.

  11. Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review

    OpenAIRE

    Colomina, Ismael; Molina, Pere

    2014-01-01

    We discuss the evolution and state-of-the-art of the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in the field of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PaRS). UAS, Remotely-Piloted Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or simply, drones are a hot topic comprising a diverse array of aspects including technology, privacy rights, safety and regulations, and even war and peace. Modern photogrammetry and remote sensing identified the potential of UAS-sourced imagery more than thirty years ago. In the last...

  12. Social sensing building reliable systems on unreliable data

    CERN Document Server

    Wang, Dong; Kaplan, Lance

    2015-01-01

    Increasingly, human beings are sensors engaging directly with the mobile Internet. Individuals can now share real-time experiences at an unprecedented scale. Social Sensing: Building Reliable Systems on Unreliable Data looks at recent advances in the emerging field of social sensing, emphasizing the key problem faced by application designers: how to extract reliable information from data collected from largely unknown and possibly unreliable sources. The book explains how a myriad of societal applications can be derived from this massive amount of data collected and shared by average individu

  13. Location-aware News Recommendation System with Using Fuzzy Logic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehdi Nejati

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available with release of a huge amount of news on the Internet and the trend of users to Web-based news services.it is necessary to have a recommendation system. To grab attentions to news, news services use a number of criteria that called news values and user location is an important factor for it. In this paper, LONEF is proposed as a tow stage recommendation system. In first stage news are ranked by user’s locations and in second stage news are recommended by location Preferences, recency, Trustworthiness, groups priorities and popularity. To reduce ambiguity these properties is used tow Mamdani fuzzy interference and case-based decision systems. In Mamdani fuzzy interference system, it is tried to increase the system speed by optimizing selection of rules and membership functions and because of ambiguous feedback implementation, a decision making system is used to enable better simulation of user’s activities. Performance of our proposed approach is demonstrated in the experiments on different news groups.

  14. Intelligent Balanced Device and its Sensing System for Beam Pumping Units

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hangxin WEI

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In order to save the energy of the beam pumping unit, the intelligent balanced device was developed. The device can adjust the position of the balanced-block automatically by the single chip microcomputer controller, and the fuzzy PD control algorithm was used to control the servo motor of the device. Since some signals should be inputted into the intelligent balanced device to calculate the balanced index of the pumping unit, the signals sensing system were designed. The sensing system includes the electric current sensor and voltage sensor of the main motor, the displacement sensor and the force sensor of the horse head. The sensing network has three layers: slave station, relay station and master station. The data transmission between them is based on ZigBee and GPRS method which can adapt the environment of the oil field. The results of application show that the intelligent balanced device and its sensing system can have the effect of reducing the power consumption, working reliability and communication efficiently.

  15. Detection and Location of Structural Degradation in Mechanical Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blakeman, E.D.; Damiano, B.; Phillips, L.D.

    1999-01-01

    The investigation of a diagnostic method for detecting and locating the source of structural degradation in a mechanical system is described in this paper. The diagnostic method uses a mathematical model of the mechanical system to determine relationships between system parameters and measurable spectral features. These relationships are incorporated into a neural network, which associates measured spectral features with system parameters. Condition diagnosis is performed by presenting the neural network with measured spectral features and comparing the system parameters estimated by the neural network to previously estimated values. Changes in the estimated system parameters indicate the location and severity of degradation in the mechanical system

  16. Improving Rangeland Monitoring and Assessment: Integrating Remote Sensing, GIS, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robert Paul Breckenridge

    2007-05-01

    Creeping environmental changes are impacting some of the largest remaining intact parcels of sagebrush steppe ecosystems in the western United States, creating major problems for land managers. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL), located in southeastern Idaho, is part of the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, one of the largest ecosystems on the continent. Scientists at the INL and the University of Idaho have integrated existing field and remotely sensed data with geographic information systems technology to analyze how recent fires on the INL have influenced the current distribution of terrestrial vegetation. Three vegetation mapping and classification systems were used to evaluate the changes in vegetation caused by fires between 1994 and 2003. Approximately 24% of the sagebrush steppe community on the INL was altered by fire, mostly over a 5-year period. There were notable differences between methods, especially for juniper woodland and grasslands. The Anderson system (Anderson et al. 1996) was superior for representing the landscape because it includes playa/bare ground/disturbed area and sagebrush steppe on lava as vegetation categories. This study found that assessing existing data sets is useful for quantifying fire impacts and should be helpful in future fire and land use planning. The evaluation identified that data from remote sensing technologies is not currently of sufficient quality to assess the percentage of cover. To fill this need, an approach was designed using both helicopter and fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and image processing software to evaluate six cover types on field plots located on the INL. The helicopter UAV provided the best system compared against field sampling, but is more dangerous and has spatial coverage limitations. It was reasonably accurate for dead shrubs and was very good in assessing percentage of bare ground, litter and grasses; accuracy for litter and shrubs is questionable. The fixed wing system proved to be

  17. A hydrostatic leak test for water pipeline by using distributed optical fiber vibration sensing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Huijuan; Sun, Zhenshi; Qian, Ya; Zhang, Tao; Rao, Yunjiang

    2015-07-01

    A hydrostatic leak test for water pipeline with a distributed optical fiber vibration sensing (DOVS) system based on the phase-sensitive OTDR technology is studied in this paper. By monitoring one end of a common communication optical fiber cable, which is laid in the inner wall of the pipe, we can detect and locate the water leakages easily. Different apertures under different pressures are tested and it shows that the DOVS has good responses when the aperture is equal or larger than 4 mm and the inner pressure reaches 0.2 Mpa for a steel pipe with DN 91cm×EN 2cm.

  18. Mobile phone middleware architecture for energy and context awareness in location-based services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galeana-Zapién, Hiram; Torres-Huitzil, César; Rubio-Loyola, Javier

    2014-12-10

    The disruptive innovation of smartphone technology has enabled the development of mobile sensing applications leveraged on specialized sensors embedded in the device. These novel mobile phone applications rely on advanced sensor information processes, which mainly involve raw data acquisition, feature extraction, data interpretation and transmission. However, the continuous accessing of sensing resources to acquire sensor data in smartphones is still very expensive in terms of energy, particularly due to the periodic use of power-intensive sensors, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. The key underlying idea to design energy-efficient schemes is to control the duty cycle of the GPS receiver. However, adapting the sensing rate based on dynamic context changes through a flexible middleware has received little attention in the literature. In this paper, we propose a novel modular middleware architecture and runtime environment to directly interface with application programming interfaces (APIs) and embedded sensors in order to manage the duty cycle process based on energy and context aspects. The proposed solution has been implemented in the Android software stack. It allows continuous location tracking in a timely manner and in a transparent way to the user. It also enables the deployment of sensing policies to appropriately control the sampling rate based on both energy and perceived context. We validate the proposed solution taking into account a reference location-based service (LBS) architecture. A cloud-based storage service along with online mobility analysis tools have been used to store and access sensed data. Experimental measurements demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of our middleware, in terms of energy and location resolution.

  19. Integrationof Remote Sensing and Geographic information system in Ground Water Quality Assessment and Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shakak, N.

    2015-04-01

    Spatial variations in ground water quality in the Khartoum state, Sudan, have been studied using geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing technique. Gegraphical informtion system a tool which is used for storing, analyzing and displaying spatial data is also used for investigating ground water quality information. Khartoum landsat mosac image aquired in 2013was used, Arc/Gis software applied to extract the boundary of the study area, the image was classified to create land use/land cover map. The land use map,geological and soil map are used for correlation between land use , geological formations, and soil types to understand the source of natural pollution that can lower the ground water quality. For this study, the global positioning system (GPS), used in the field to identify the borehole location in a three dimentional coordinate (Latitude, longitude, and altitude), water samples were collected from 156 borehole wells, and analyzed for physico-chemical parameters like electrical conductivity, Total dissolved solid,Chloride, Nitrate, Sodium, Magnisium, Calcium,and Flouride, using standard techniques in the laboratory and compared with the standards.The ground water quality maps of the entire study area have been prepared using spatial interpolation technique for all the above parameters.then the created maps used to visualize, analyze, and understand the relationship among the measured points. Mapping was coded for potable zones, non-potable zones in the study area, in terms of water quality sutability for drinking water and sutability for irrigation. In general satellite remote sensing in conjunction with geographical information system (GIS) offers great potential for water resource development and management.

  20. Remote control of Alfven eigenmode sensing system on the large helical device

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ito, T. [Nagoya University, Department of Energy Engineering and Science, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi (Japan)], E-mail: ito.takafumi@lhd.nifs.ac.jp; Toi, K. [Nagoya University, Department of Energy Engineering and Science, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi (Japan); National Institute for Fusion Science, 322-6 Oroshicho, Toki, Gifu (Japan); Matsunaga, G. [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 801-1 Mukouyama, Naka, Ibaraki 311-0193 (Japan)

    2008-04-15

    An active sensing system of Alfven eigenmodes (AEs), which consists of a set of toroidally distributed loop antennas and several bi-polar power supplies, has been developed in the large helical device (LHD). The power supplies are controlled with a function generator receiving a control pattern of antenna current and the driving frequency from a personal computer (PC) in an LHD control room. This sensing method is based on the analysis of the frequency dependence of a transfer function that is derived by the ratio of the Fourier-transformed magnetic probe signal ('plasma response') to antenna current one ('exciter signal'). Typically, the driving frequency of the antenna current is swept linearly in time from 10 kHz to 500 kHz for 2 s in the LHD experiment. The sensing system is fully controlled through Ethernet LAN with easy extendable GUI. Configuration and control scheme of the active sensing system of AEs are presented in this paper. An initial result of the system operation is also described.

  1. User Location Identification for Cooperative Human-Centric Sensing (HCS) Scenario

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mihovska, Albena Dimitrova

    – Human-Centric Sensing (HCS) is a newly emerged concept in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the active and assisted living (AAL) scenario. HCS connectivity, also referred to as “smart connectivity” enables applications that are highly personalized and often time...

  2. Practical Approach To Building A Mid-Wave Remote Sensing System

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pyke, Benjamin J. [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this project, Laser Active Transmitter & Receiver (LATR), was to build a mobile ground based remote sensing system that can detect, identify and quantify a specific gaseous species using Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL). This thesis project is concerned with the development and field testing of a mid-wave infrared active remote sensing system, capable of identifying and quantifying emissions in the 3.2 – 3.5 micron range. The goal is to give a brief description of what remote sensing is about and the specific technique used to analyze the collected data. The thesis will discuss the transmitter and the associated subsystems used to create the required wavelength, and the receiver used to collect the returns. And finally, the thesis will discuss the process of collecting the data and some of the results from field and lab collections.

  3. Real-time locating systems (RTLS) in healthcare: a condensed primer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamel Boulos, Maged N; Berry, Geoff

    2012-06-28

    Real-time locating systems (RTLS, also known as real-time location systems) have become an important component of many existing ubiquitous location aware systems. While GPS (global positioning system) has been quite successful as an outdoor real-time locating solution, it fails to repeat this success indoors. A number of RTLS technologies have been used to solve indoor tracking problems. The ability to accurately track the location of assets and individuals indoors has many applications in healthcare. This paper provides a condensed primer of RTLS in healthcare, briefly covering the many options and technologies that are involved, as well as the various possible applications of RTLS in healthcare facilities and their potential benefits, including capital expenditure reduction and workflow and patient throughput improvements. The key to a successful RTLS deployment lies in picking the right RTLS option(s) and solution(s) for the application(s) or problem(s) at hand. Where this application-technology match has not been carefully thought of, any technology will be doomed to failure or to achieving less than optimal results.

  4. Lightweight Biometric Sensing for Walker Classification Using Narrowband RF Links

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tong Liu

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes a lightweight biometric sensing system using ubiquitous narrowband radio frequency (RF links for path-dependent walker classification. The fluctuated received signal strength (RSS sequence generated by human motion is used for feature representation. To capture the most discriminative characteristics of individuals, a three-layer RF sensing network is organized for building multiple sampling links at the most common heights of upper limbs, thighs, and lower legs. The optimal parameters of sensing configuration, such as the height of link location and number of fused links, are investigated to improve sensory data distinctions among subjects, and the experimental results suggest that the synergistic sensing by using multiple links can contribute a better performance. This is the new consideration of using RF links in building a biometric sensing system. In addition, two types of classification methods involving vector quantization (VQ and hidden Markov models (HMMs are developed and compared for closed-set walker recognition and verification. Experimental studies in indoor line-of-sight (LOS and non-line-of-sight (NLOS scenarios are conducted to validate the proposed method.

  5. Lightweight Biometric Sensing for Walker Classification Using Narrowband RF Links.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Tong; Liang, Zhuo-Qian

    2017-12-05

    This article proposes a lightweight biometric sensing system using ubiquitous narrowband radio frequency (RF) links for path-dependent walker classification. The fluctuated received signal strength (RSS) sequence generated by human motion is used for feature representation. To capture the most discriminative characteristics of individuals, a three-layer RF sensing network is organized for building multiple sampling links at the most common heights of upper limbs, thighs, and lower legs. The optimal parameters of sensing configuration, such as the height of link location and number of fused links, are investigated to improve sensory data distinctions among subjects, and the experimental results suggest that the synergistic sensing by using multiple links can contribute a better performance. This is the new consideration of using RF links in building a biometric sensing system. In addition, two types of classification methods involving vector quantization (VQ) and hidden Markov models (HMMs) are developed and compared for closed-set walker recognition and verification. Experimental studies in indoor line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios are conducted to validate the proposed method.

  6. Lightweight Biometric Sensing for Walker Classification Using Narrowband RF Links

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Zhuo-qian

    2017-01-01

    This article proposes a lightweight biometric sensing system using ubiquitous narrowband radio frequency (RF) links for path-dependent walker classification. The fluctuated received signal strength (RSS) sequence generated by human motion is used for feature representation. To capture the most discriminative characteristics of individuals, a three-layer RF sensing network is organized for building multiple sampling links at the most common heights of upper limbs, thighs, and lower legs. The optimal parameters of sensing configuration, such as the height of link location and number of fused links, are investigated to improve sensory data distinctions among subjects, and the experimental results suggest that the synergistic sensing by using multiple links can contribute a better performance. This is the new consideration of using RF links in building a biometric sensing system. In addition, two types of classification methods involving vector quantization (VQ) and hidden Markov models (HMMs) are developed and compared for closed-set walker recognition and verification. Experimental studies in indoor line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios are conducted to validate the proposed method. PMID:29206188

  7. Sapphire-fiber-based distributed high-temperature sensing system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bo; Yu, Zhihao; Hill, Cary; Cheng, Yujie; Homa, Daniel; Pickrell, Gary; Wang, Anbo

    2016-09-15

    We present, for the first time to our knowledge, a sapphire-fiber-based distributed high-temperature sensing system based on a Raman distributed sensing technique. High peak power laser pulses at 532 nm were coupled into the sapphire fiber to generate the Raman signal. The returned Raman Stokes and anti-Stokes signals were measured in the time domain to determine the temperature distribution along the fiber. The sensor was demonstrated from room temperature up to 1200°C in which the average standard deviation is about 3.7°C and a spatial resolution of about 14 cm was achieved.

  8. Analyzing Fourier Transforms for NASA DFRC's Fiber Optic Strain Sensing System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiechtner, Kaitlyn Leann

    2010-01-01

    This document provides a basic overview of the fiber optic technology used for sensing stress, strain, and temperature. Also, the document summarizes the research concerning speed and accuracy of the possible mathematical algorithms that can be used for NASA DFRC's Fiber Optic Strain Sensing (FOSS) system.

  9. The Study of Fault Location for Front-End Electronics System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Fan; Wang Dong; Huang Guangming; Zhou Daicui

    2009-01-01

    Since some devices on the latest developed 250 ALICE/PHOS Front-end electronics (FEE) system cards had been partly or completely damaged during lead-free soldering. To alleviate the influence on the performance of FEE system and to locate fault related FPGA accurately, we should find a method for locating fault of FEE system based on the deep study of FPGA configuration scheme. It emphasized on the problems such as JTAG configuration of multi-devices, PS configuration based on EPC series configuration devices and auto re-configuration of FPGA. The result of the massive FEE system cards testing and repairing show that that location method can accurately and quickly target the fault point related FPGA on FEE system cards. (authors)

  10. Reliability testing of failed fuel location system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vieru, G.

    1996-01-01

    This paper presents the experimental reliability tests performed in order to prove the reliability parameters for Failed Fuel Location System (FFLS), equipment used to detect in which channel of a particular heat transport loop a fuel failure is located, and to find in which channel what particular bundle pair is failed. To do so, D20 samples from each reactor channel are sequentially monitored to detect a comparatively high level of delayed neutron activity. 15 refs, 8 figs, 2 tabs

  11. Distributed acoustic sensing for pipeline monitoring

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hill, David; McEwen-King, Magnus [OptaSense, QinetiQ Ltd., London (United Kingdom)

    2009-07-01

    Optical fibre is deployed widely across the oil and gas industry. As well as being deployed regularly to provide high bandwidth telecommunications and infrastructure for SCADA it is increasingly being used to sense pressure, temperature and strain along buried pipelines, on subsea pipelines and downhole. In this paper we present results from the latest sensing capability using standard optical fibre to detect acoustic signals along the entire length of a pipeline. In Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) an optical fibre is used for both sensing and telemetry. In this paper we present results from the OptaSense{sup TM} system which has been used to detect third party intervention (TPI) along buried pipelines. In a typical deployment the system is connected to an existing standard single-mode fibre, up to 50km in length, and was used to independently listen to the acoustic / seismic activity at every 10 meter interval. We will show that through the use of advanced array processing of the independent, simultaneously sampled channels it is possible to detect and locate activity within the vicinity of the pipeline and through sophisticated acoustic signal processing to obtain the acoustic signature to classify the type of activity. By combining spare fibre capacity in existing buried fibre optic cables; processing and display techniques commonly found in sonar; and state-of-the-art in fibre-optic distributed acoustic sensing, we will describe the new monitoring capabilities that are available to the pipeline operator. Without the expense of retrofitting sensors to the pipeline, this technology can provide a high performance, rapidly deployable and cost effective method of providing gapless and persistent monitoring of a pipeline. We will show how this approach can be used to detect, classify and locate activity such as; third party interference (including activity indicative of illegal hot tapping); real time tracking of pigs; and leak detection. We will also show how an

  12. Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colomina, I.; Molina, P.

    2014-06-01

    We discuss the evolution and state-of-the-art of the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in the field of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PaRS). UAS, Remotely-Piloted Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or simply, drones are a hot topic comprising a diverse array of aspects including technology, privacy rights, safety and regulations, and even war and peace. Modern photogrammetry and remote sensing identified the potential of UAS-sourced imagery more than thirty years ago. In the last five years, these two sister disciplines have developed technology and methods that challenge the current aeronautical regulatory framework and their own traditional acquisition and processing methods. Navety and ingenuity have combined off-the-shelf, low-cost equipment with sophisticated computer vision, robotics and geomatic engineering. The results are cm-level resolution and accuracy products that can be generated even with cameras costing a few-hundred euros. In this review article, following a brief historic background and regulatory status analysis, we review the recent unmanned aircraft, sensing, navigation, orientation and general data processing developments for UAS photogrammetry and remote sensing with emphasis on the nano-micro-mini UAS segment.

  13. 46 CFR 58.60-5 - Industrial systems: Locations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Industrial systems: Locations. 58.60-5 Section 58.60-5 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) MARINE ENGINEERING MAIN AND AUXILIARY MACHINERY AND RELATED SYSTEMS Industrial Systems and Components on Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODU...

  14. Sense, decide, act, communicate (SDAC): next generation of smart sensor systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry, Nina; Davis, Jesse; Ko, Teresa H.; Kyker, Ron; Pate, Ron; Stark, Doug; Stinnett, Regan; Baker, James; Cushner, Adam; Van Dyke, Colin; Kyckelhahn, Brian

    2004-09-01

    The recent war on terrorism and increased urban warfare has been a major catalysis for increased interest in the development of disposable unattended wireless ground sensors. While the application of these sensors to hostile domains has been generally governed by specific tasks, this research explores a unique paradigm capitalizing on the fundamental functionality related to sensor systems. This functionality includes a sensors ability to Sense - multi-modal sensing of environmental events, Decide - smart analysis of sensor data, Act - response to environmental events, and Communication - internal to system and external to humans (SDAC). The main concept behind SDAC sensor systems is to integrate the hardware, software, and networking to generate 'knowledge and not just data'. This research explores the usage of wireless SDAC units to collectively make up a sensor system capable of persistent, adaptive, and autonomous behavior. These systems are base on the evaluation of scenarios and existing systems covering various domains. This paper presents a promising view of sensor network characteristics, which will eventually yield smart (intelligent collectives) network arrays of SDAC sensing units generally applicable to multiple related domains. This paper will also discuss and evaluate the demonstration system developed to test the concepts related to SDAC systems.

  15. Detection, Identification, Location, and Remote Sensing Using SAW RFID Sensor Tags

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, Richard J.; Kennedy, Timothy F.; Williams, Robert M.; Fink, Patrick W.; Ngo, Phong H.

    2009-01-01

    The Electromagnetic Systems Branch (EV4) of the Avionic Systems Division at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX is studying the utility of surface acoustic wave (SAW) radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags for multiple wireless applications including detection, identification, tracking, and remote sensing of objects on the lunar surface, monitoring of environmental test facilities, structural shape and health monitoring, and nondestructive test and evaluation of assets. For all of these applications, it is anticipated that the system utilized to interrogate the SAW RFID tags may need to operate at fairly long range and in the presence of considerable multipath and multiple-access interference. Towards that end, EV4 is developing a prototype SAW RFID wireless interrogation system for use in such environments called the Passive Adaptive RFID Sensor Equipment (PARSED) system. The system utilizes a digitally beam-formed planar receiving antenna array to extend range and provide direction-of-arrival information coupled with an approximate maximum-likelihood signal processing algorithm to provide near-optimal estimation of both range and temperature. The system is capable of forming a large number of beams within the field of view and resolving the information from several tags within each beam. The combination of both spatial and waveform discrimination provides the capability to track and monitor telemetry from a large number of objects appearing simultaneously within the field of view of the receiving array. In this paper, we will consider the application of the PARSEQ system to the problem of simultaneous detection, identification, localization, and temperature estimation for multiple objects. We will summarize the overall design of the PARSEQ system and present a detailed description of the design and performance of the signal detection and estimation algorithms incorporated in the system. The system is currently configured only to measure temperature

  16. Efficient Lossy Compression for Compressive Sensing Acquisition of Images in Compressive Sensing Imaging Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiangwei Li

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Compressive Sensing Imaging (CSI is a new framework for image acquisition, which enables the simultaneous acquisition and compression of a scene. Since the characteristics of Compressive Sensing (CS acquisition are very different from traditional image acquisition, the general image compression solution may not work well. In this paper, we propose an efficient lossy compression solution for CS acquisition of images by considering the distinctive features of the CSI. First, we design an adaptive compressive sensing acquisition method for images according to the sampling rate, which could achieve better CS reconstruction quality for the acquired image. Second, we develop a universal quantization for the obtained CS measurements from CS acquisition without knowing any a priori information about the captured image. Finally, we apply these two methods in the CSI system for efficient lossy compression of CS acquisition. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed solution improves the rate-distortion performance by 0.4~2 dB comparing with current state-of-the-art, while maintaining a low computational complexity.

  17. Remote Sensing and Imaging Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-07

    Program Manager AFOSR/RSE Air Force Research Laboratory Remote Sensing and Imaging Physics 7 March 2012 Report Documentation Page Form...00-00-2012 to 00-00-2012 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Remote Sensing And Imaging Physics 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT...Imaging of Space Objects •Information without Imaging •Predicting the Location of Space Objects • Remote Sensing in Extreme Conditions •Propagation

  18. [Construction of a low-pH-sensing system in Streptococcus mutans].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di, Kang; Yuqing, Li; Xuedong, Zhou

    2017-06-01

    To construct a low-pH-sensing system in Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) and to visually detect the pH in situ. Promoter of ureaseⅠ(PureⅠ) and green fluorescence protein (gfp) DNA fragments were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from the genome of Streptococcus salivarius 57.I and S. mutans containing the gfp fragment. The two amplified DNA fragments were ligated together and further integrated into pDL278 to construct the recombinant plasmid pDL278-pureⅠ-gfp. This recombinant plasmid was then transformed into S. mutans UA159 cells. Subsequently, the intensity of the optical density per unit area of the low-pH-sensing system was measured and compared under different pH conditions and different processing times. PureⅠ and gfp DNA fragments were amplified successfully with the correct molecule sizes (450 and 717 bp, respectively). The recombinant plasmid pDL278-pureⅠ-gfp was constructed and further verified by PCR and sequencing. The intensity of the optical density per unit area of the low-pH-sensing system increased with decreasing pH and increasing processing time. A low-pH-sensing system was constructed successfully in S. mutans. Our research verified that pureⅠ of Streptococcus salivarius can function well in S. mutans as an acid induced promoter, and provided a new method of detecting the pH of plaque biofilms in situ.

  19. Adaptive Sensing Based on Profiles for Sensor Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshiteru Ishida

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a profile-based sensing framework for adaptive sensor systems based on models that relate possibly heterogeneous sensor data and profiles generated by the models to detect events. With these concepts, three phases for building the sensor systems are extracted from two examples: a combustion control sensor system for an automobile engine, and a sensor system for home security. The three phases are: modeling, profiling, and managing trade-offs. Designing and building a sensor system involves mapping the signals to a model to achieve a given mission.

  20. Intelligent Vision System for Door Sensing Mobile Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jharna Majumdar

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Wheeled Mobile Robots find numerous applications in the Indoor man made structured environments. In order to operate effectively, the robots must be capable of sensing its surroundings. Computer Vision is one of the prime research areas directed towards achieving these sensing capabilities. In this paper, we present a Door Sensing Mobile Robot capable of navigating in the indoor environment. A robust and inexpensive approach for recognition and classification of the door, based on monocular vision system helps the mobile robot in decision making. To prove the efficacy of the algorithm we have designed and developed a ‘Differentially’ Driven Mobile Robot. A wall following behavior using Ultra Sonic range sensors is employed by the mobile robot for navigation in the corridors.  Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA have been used for the implementation of PD Controller for wall following and PID Controller to control the speed of the Geared DC Motor.

  1. Rethinking Indoor Localization Solutions Towards the Future of Mobile Location-Based Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guney, C.

    2017-11-01

    Satellite navigation systems with GNSS-enabled devices, such as smartphones, car navigation systems, have changed the way users travel in outdoor environment. GNSS is generally not well suited for indoor location and navigation because of two reasons: First, GNSS does not provide a high level of accuracy although indoor applications need higher accuracies. Secondly, poor coverage of satellite signals for indoor environments decreases its accuracy. So rather than using GNSS satellites within closed environments, existing indoor navigation solutions rely heavily on installed sensor networks. There is a high demand for accurate positioning in wireless networks in GNSS-denied environments. However, current wireless indoor positioning systems cannot satisfy the challenging needs of indoor location-aware applications. Nevertheless, access to a user's location indoors is increasingly important in the development of context-aware applications that increases business efficiency. In this study, how can the current wireless location sensing systems be tailored and integrated for specific applications, like smart cities/grids/buildings/cars and IoT applications, in GNSS-deprived areas.

  2. RETHINKING INDOOR LOCALIZATION SOLUTIONS TOWARDS THE FUTURE OF MOBILE LOCATION-BASED SERVICES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Guney

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Satellite navigation systems with GNSS-enabled devices, such as smartphones, car navigation systems, have changed the way users travel in outdoor environment. GNSS is generally not well suited for indoor location and navigation because of two reasons: First, GNSS does not provide a high level of accuracy although indoor applications need higher accuracies. Secondly, poor coverage of satellite signals for indoor environments decreases its accuracy. So rather than using GNSS satellites within closed environments, existing indoor navigation solutions rely heavily on installed sensor networks. There is a high demand for accurate positioning in wireless networks in GNSS-denied environments. However, current wireless indoor positioning systems cannot satisfy the challenging needs of indoor location-aware applications. Nevertheless, access to a user’s location indoors is increasingly important in the development of context-aware applications that increases business efficiency. In this study, how can the current wireless location sensing systems be tailored and integrated for specific applications, like smart cities/grids/buildings/cars and IoT applications, in GNSS-deprived areas.

  3. Mixing height determination using remote sensing systems. General remarks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beyrich, F. [BTU Cottbus, LS Umweltmeteorologie, Cottbus (Germany)

    1997-10-01

    Remote sensing systems can be considered today as a real alternative to classical soundings with respect to the MH (mixing height) determination. They have the basic advantage to allow continuous monitoring of the ABL (atmospheric boundary layer). Some technical issues which limit their operational use at present should be solved in the near future (frequency allocation, eye safety, costs). Taking into account specific operating conditions and the formulated-above requirements of a sounding system to be used for MH determination it becomes obvious that none of the available systems meets all of them, i.e., the `Mixing height-meter` does not exist. Therefore, reliable MH determination under a wide variety of conditions can be achieved only by integrating different instruments into a complex sounding system. The S-profiles provide a suitable data base for MH estimation from all types of remote sensing instruments. The criteria to deduce MH-values from these profiles should consider the structure type and the evolution stage of the ABL as well as the shape of the profiles. A certain kind of harmonization concerning these criteria should be achieved. MH values derived automatically from remote sensing data appear to be not yet reliable enough for direct operational use, they should be in any case critically examined by a trained analyst. Contemporary mathematical methods (wavelet transforms, fuzzy logics) are supposed to allow considerable progress in this field in the near future. (au) 19 refs.

  4. Mobile Phone Middleware Architecture for Energy and Context Awareness in Location-Based Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galeana-Zapién, Hiram; Torres-Huitzil, César; Rubio-Loyola, Javier

    2014-01-01

    The disruptive innovation of smartphone technology has enabled the development of mobile sensing applications leveraged on specialized sensors embedded in the device. These novel mobile phone applications rely on advanced sensor information processes, which mainly involve raw data acquisition, feature extraction, data interpretation and transmission. However, the continuous accessing of sensing resources to acquire sensor data in smartphones is still very expensive in terms of energy, particularly due to the periodic use of power-intensive sensors, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. The key underlying idea to design energy-efficient schemes is to control the duty cycle of the GPS receiver. However, adapting the sensing rate based on dynamic context changes through a flexible middleware has received little attention in the literature. In this paper, we propose a novel modular middleware architecture and runtime environment to directly interface with application programming interfaces (APIs) and embedded sensors in order to manage the duty cycle process based on energy and context aspects. The proposed solution has been implemented in the Android software stack. It allows continuous location tracking in a timely manner and in a transparent way to the user. It also enables the deployment of sensing policies to appropriately control the sampling rate based on both energy and perceived context. We validate the proposed solution taking into account a reference location-based service (LBS) architecture. A cloud-based storage service along with online mobility analysis tools have been used to store and access sensed data. Experimental measurements demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of our middleware, in terms of energy and location resolution. PMID:25513821

  5. Mobile Phone Middleware Architecture for Energy and Context Awareness in Location-Based Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiram Galeana-Zapién

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The disruptive innovation of smartphone technology has enabled the development of mobile sensing applications leveraged on specialized sensors embedded in the device. These novel mobile phone applications rely on advanced sensor information processes, which mainly involve raw data acquisition, feature extraction, data interpretation and transmission. However, the continuous accessing of sensing resources to acquire sensor data in smartphones is still very expensive in terms of energy, particularly due to the periodic use of power-intensive sensors, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS receiver. The key underlying idea to design energy-efficient schemes is to control the duty cycle of the GPS receiver. However, adapting the sensing rate based on dynamic context changes through a flexible middleware has received little attention in the literature. In this paper, we propose a novel modular middleware architecture and runtime environment to directly interface with application programming interfaces (APIs and embedded sensors in order to manage the duty cycle process based on energy and context aspects. The proposed solution has been implemented in the Android software stack. It allows continuous location tracking in a timely manner and in a transparent way to the user. It also enables the deployment of sensing policies to appropriately control the sampling rate based on both energy and perceived context. We validate the proposed solution taking into account a reference location-based service (LBS architecture. A cloud-based storage service along with online mobility analysis tools have been used to store and access sensed data. Experimental measurements demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of our middleware, in terms of energy and location resolution.

  6. Hard Decision Fusion based Cooperative Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Armi N.M. Saad

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Cooperative spectrum sensing was proposed to combat fading, noise uncertainty, shadowing, and even hidden node problem due to primary users (PUs activity that is not spatially localized. It improves the probability of detection by collaborating to detect PUs signal in cognitive radio (CR system as well. This paper studies cooperative spectrum sensing and signal detection in CR system by implementing hard decision combining in data fusion centre. Through computer simulation, we evaluate the performances of cooperative spectrum sensing and signal detection by employing OR and AND rules as decision combining. Energy detector is used to observe the presence of primary user (PU signal. Those results are compared to non-cooperative signal detection for evaluation. They show that cooperative technique has better performance than non-cooperative. Moreover, signal to noise ratio (SNR with greater than or equal 10 dB and 15 collaborated users in CR system has optimal value for probability of detection.

  7. Optial sensing systems for microfluidic devices: a review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuswandi, Bambang; Nuriman, [Unknown; Huskens, Jurriaan; Verboom, Willem

    2007-01-01

    This review deals with the application of optical sensing systems for microfluidic devices. In the “off-chip approach” macro-scale optical infrastructure is coupled, while the “on-chip approach” comprises the integration of micro-optical functions into microfluidic devices. The current progress of

  8. Using Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing Systems to Estimate Inflow and Reservoir Properties

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Farshbaf Zinati, F.

    2014-01-01

    Recent developments in the deployment of distributed fiber-optic sensing systems in horizontal wells carry the promise to lead to a new, cheap and reliable way of monitoring production and reservoir performance. Practical applicability of distributed pressure sensing for quantitative inflow

  9. Readout Distance Enhancement of the Passive Wireless Multi-Parameter Sensing System Using a Repeater Coil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lifeng Wang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available A repeater coil is used to extend the detection distance of a passive wireless multi-parameter sensing system. The passive wireless sensing system has the ability of simultaneously monitoring three parameters by using backscatter modulation together with channel multiplexing. Two different repeater coils are designed and fabricated for readout distance enhancement of the sensing system: one is a PCB (printed circuit board repeater coil, and the other is a copper wire repeater coil. Under the conditions of fixed voltage and adjustable voltage, the maximum readout distance of the sensing system with and without a repeater coil is measured. Experimental results show that larger power supply voltage can help further increase the readout distance. The maximum readout distance of the sensing system with a PCB repeater coil has been extended 2.3 times, and the one with a copper wire repeater coil has been extended 3 times. Theoretical analysis and experimental results both indicate that the high Q factor repeater coil can extend the readout distance more. With the copper wire repeater coil as well as a higher power supply voltage, the passive wireless multi-parameter sensing system finally achieves a maximum readout distance of 13.5 cm.

  10. Optimal Sensor and Actuator Location for Unstable Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shaker, Hamid Reza; Tahavori, Maryamsadat

    2013-01-01

    on the processes. Dually the problem of placing actuators on the processes is equally important. In this paper, the problem of determining optimal sensor and actuator locations for the linear systems is addressed. The problem of the sensor locations is viewed as the problem of maximizing the output energy...... generated by a given state and for the actuator locations is viewed as the problem of minimizing the input energy required to reach a given state. Such design problems occur in many applications, and therefore have been studied extensively. Unfortunately, the results in this context, which have been...

  11. Accurately bearing measurement in non-cooperative passive location system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Zhiqiang; Ma Hongguang; Yang Lifeng

    2007-01-01

    The system of non-cooperative passive location based on array is proposed. In the system, target is detected by beamforming and Doppler matched filtering; and bearing is measured by a long-base-ling interferometer which is composed of long distance sub-arrays. For the interferometer with long-base-line, the bearing is measured accurately but ambiguously. To realize unambiguous accurately bearing measurement, beam width and multiple constraint adoptive beamforming technique is used to resolve azimuth ambiguous. Theory and simulation result shows this method is effective to realize accurately bearing measurement in no-cooperate passive location system. (authors)

  12. Frequency-Shifted Interferometry — A Versatile Fiber-Optic Sensing Technique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fei Ye

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Fiber-optic sensing is a field that is developing at a fast pace. Novel fiber-optic sensor designs and sensing principles constantly open doors for new opportunities. In this paper, we review a fiber-optic sensing technique developed in our research group called frequency-shifted interferometry (FSI. This technique uses a continuous-wave light source, an optical frequency shifter, and a slow detector. We discuss the operation principles of several FSI implementations and show their applications in fiber length and dispersion measurement, locating weak reflections along a fiber link, fiber-optic sensor multiplexing, and high-sensitivity cavity ring-down measurement. Detailed analysis of FSI system parameters is also presented.

  13. Reliable Location-Based Services from Radio Navigation Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Per Enge

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Loran is a radio-based navigation system originally designed for naval applications. We show that Loran-C’s high-power and high repeatable accuracy are fantastic for security applications. First, we show how to derive a precise location tag—with a sensitivity of about 20 meters—that is difficult to project to an exact location. A device can use our location tag to block or allow certain actions, without knowing its precise location. To ensure that our tag is reproducible we make use of fuzzy extractors, a mechanism originally designed for biometric authentication. We build a fuzzy extractor specifically designed for radio-type errors and give experimental evidence to show its effectiveness. Second, we show that our location tag is difficult to predict from a distance. For example, an observer cannot predict the location tag inside a guarded data center from a few hundreds of meters away. As an application, consider a location-aware disk drive that will only work inside the data center. An attacker who steals the device and is capable of spoofing Loran-C signals, still cannot make the device work since he does not know what location tag to spoof. We provide experimental data supporting our unpredictability claim.

  14. Fourier Domain Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feldkhun, Daniel (Inventor); Wagner, Kelvin H. (Inventor)

    2013-01-01

    Methods and systems are disclosed of sensing an object. A first radiation is spatially modulated to generate a structured second radiation. The object is illuminated with the structured second radiation such that the object produces a third radiation in response. Apart from any spatially dependent delay, a time variation of the third radiation is spatially independent. With a single-element detector, a portion of the third radiation is detected from locations on the object simultaneously. At least one characteristic of a sinusoidal spatial Fourier-transform component of the object is estimated from a time-varying signal from the detected portion of the third radiation.

  15. Global Scale Remote Sensing Monitoring of Endorheic Lake Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scuderi, L. A.

    2010-12-01

    Semi-arid regions of the world contain thousands of endorheic lakes in large shallow basins. Due to their generally remote locations few are continuously monitored. Documentation of recent variability is essential to assessing how endorheic lakes respond to short-term meteorological conditions and longer-term decadal-scale climatic variability and is critical in determining future disturbance of hydrological regimes with respect to predicted warming and drying in the mid-latitudes. Short- and long-term departures from climatic averages, rapid environmental shifts and increased population pressures may result in significant fluctuations in the hydrologic budgets of these lakes and adversely impact endorheic lake/basin ecosystems. Information on flooding variability is also critical in estimating changes in P/E balances and on the production of exposed and easily deflated surfaces that may impact dust loading locally and regionally. In order to provide information on how these lakes respond we need to understand how entire systems respond hydrologically to different climatic inputs. This requires monitoring and analysis of regional to continental-scale systems. To date, this level of monitoring has not been achieved in an operational system. In order to assess the possibility of creating a global-scale lake inundation database we analyzed two contrasting lake systems in western North America (Mexico and New Mexico, USA) and China (Inner Mongolia). We asked two major questions: 1) is it possible to quickly and accurately quantify current lake inundation events in near real time using remote sensing? and, 2) is it possible to differentiate variable meteorological sources and resultant lake inundation responses using this type of database? With respect to these results we outline an automated lake monitoring approach using MODIS data and real-time processing systems that may provide future global monitoring capabilities.

  16. A Three-Dimensional Microdisplacement Sensing System Based on MEMS Bulk-Silicon Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Junjie; Lei, Lihua; Chen, Xin; Cai, Xiaoyu; Li, Yuan; Han, Tao

    2014-01-01

    For the dimensional measurement and characterization of microsized and nanosized components, a three-dimensional microdisplacement sensing system was developed using the piezoresistive effect in silicon. The sensor was fabricated using microelectromechanical system bulk-silicon technology, and it was validated using the finite element method. A precise data acquisition circuit with an accuracy of 20 μV was designed to obtain weak voltage signals. By calibration, the sensing system was shown to have a sensitivity of 17.29 mV/μm and 4.59 mV/μm in the axial and lateral directions, respectively; the nonlinearity in these directions was 0.8% and 1.0% full scale, respectively. A full range of 4.6 μm was achieved in the axial direction. Results of a resolution test indicated that the sensing system had a resolution of 5 nm in the axial direction and 10 nm in the lateral direction. PMID:25360581

  17. A Three-Dimensional Microdisplacement Sensing System Based on MEMS Bulk-Silicon Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junjie Wu

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available For the dimensional measurement and characterization of microsized and nanosized components, a three-dimensional microdisplacement sensing system was developed using the piezoresistive effect in silicon. The sensor was fabricated using microelectromechanical system bulk-silicon technology, and it was validated using the finite element method. A precise data acquisition circuit with an accuracy of 20 μV was designed to obtain weak voltage signals. By calibration, the sensing system was shown to have a sensitivity of 17.29 mV/μm and 4.59 mV/μm in the axial and lateral directions, respectively; the nonlinearity in these directions was 0.8% and 1.0% full scale, respectively. A full range of 4.6 μm was achieved in the axial direction. Results of a resolution test indicated that the sensing system had a resolution of 5 nm in the axial direction and 10 nm in the lateral direction.

  18. Distributed illumination control with local sensing and actuation in networked lighting systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Caicedo Fernandez, D.R.; Pandharipande, A.

    2013-01-01

    We consider the problem of illumination control in a networked lighting system wherein luminaires have local sensing and actuation capabilities. Each luminaire (i) consists of a light emitting diode (LED) based light source dimmable by a local controller, (ii) is actuated based on sensing

  19. Sub-bandage sensing system for remote monitoring of chronic wounds in healthcare

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hariz, Alex; Mehmood, Nasir; Voelcker, Nico

    2015-12-01

    Chronic wounds, such as venous leg ulcers, can be monitored non-invasively by using modern sensing devices and wireless technologies. The development of such wireless diagnostic tools may improve chronic wound management by providing evidence on efficacy of treatments being provided. In this paper we present a low-power portable telemetric system for wound condition sensing and monitoring. The system aims at measuring and transmitting real-time information of wound-site temperature, sub-bandage pressure and moisture level from within the wound dressing. The system comprises commercially available non-invasive temperature, moisture, and pressure sensors, which are interfaced with a telemetry device on a flexible 0.15 mm thick printed circuit material, making up a lightweight biocompatible sensing device. The real-time data obtained is transmitted wirelessly to a portable receiver which displays the measured values. The performance of the whole telemetric sensing system is validated on a mannequin leg using commercial compression bandages and dressings. A number of trials on a healthy human volunteer are performed where treatment conditions were emulated using various compression bandage configurations. A reliable and repeatable performance of the system is achieved under compression bandage and with minimal discomfort to the volunteer. The system is capable of reporting instantaneous changes in bandage pressure, moisture level and local temperature at wound site with average measurement resolutions of 0.5 mmHg, 3.0 %RH, and 0.2 °C respectively. Effective range of data transmission is 4-5 m in an open environment.

  20. An Indoor Location-Based Control System Using Bluetooth Beacons for IoT Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Jun-Ho Huh; Kyungryong Seo

    2017-01-01

    The indoor location-based control system estimates the indoor position of a user to provide the service he/she requires. The major elements involved in the system are the localization server, service-provision client, user application positioning technology. The localization server controls access of terminal devices (e.g., Smart Phones and other wireless devices) to determine their locations within a specified space first and then the service-provision client initiates required services such...

  1. Application of artificial tactile sensing approach in kidney-stone-removal laparoscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afshari, Elnaz; Najarian, Siamak; Simforoosh, Nasser

    2010-01-01

    Artificial tactile sensing is a novel method for obtaining different characteristics of a hard object embedded in a soft tissue. In this regard, artificial palpation is one of the most valuable achievements of artificial tactile sensing that can be used in various fields of medicine and more specifically in surgery. In this study, considering the present problems and limitations in kidney-stone-removal laparoscopy, a new application will be presented for artificial tactile sensing approach. Having imitated surgeon's palpation during open surgery and modeled it conceptually, indications of stone existence that appear on the surface of kidney (due to exerting mechanical load) were determined. A number of different cases were created and solved by the software. Using stress distribution contours and stress graphs, it is illustrated that the created stress patterns on the surface of kidney not only show the existence of stone inside, but also its exact location. In fact, the reliability and accuracy of artificial tactile sensing method in detection of kidney stone during laparoscopy is demonstrated by means of finite element analysis. Also, in this paper, the functional principles of tactile system capable of determining the exact location of stone during laparoscopy will be presented.

  2. Geological remote sensing signatures of terrestrial impact craters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garvin, J.B.; Schnetzler, C.; Grieve, R.A.F.

    1988-01-01

    Geological remote sensing techniques can be used to investigate structural, depositional, and shock metamorphic effects associated with hypervelocity impact structures, some of which may be linked to global Earth system catastrophies. Although detailed laboratory and field investigations are necessary to establish conclusive evidence of an impact origin for suspected crater landforms, the synoptic perspective provided by various remote sensing systems can often serve as a pathfinder to key deposits which can then be targetted for intensive field study. In addition, remote sensing imagery can be used as a tool in the search for impact and other catastrophic explosion landforms on the basis of localized disruption and anomaly patterns. In order to reconstruct original dimensions of large, complex impact features in isolated, inaccessible regions, remote sensing imagery can be used to make preliminary estimates in the absence of field geophysical surveys. The experienced gained from two decades of planetary remote sensing of impact craters on the terrestrial planets, as well as the techniques developed for recognizing stages of degradation and initial crater morphology, can now be applied to the problem of discovering and studying eroded impact landforms on Earth. Preliminary results of remote sensing analyses of a set of terrestrial impact features in various states of degradation, geologic settings, and for a broad range of diameters and hence energies of formation are summarized. The intention is to develop a database of remote sensing signatures for catastrophic impact landforms which can then be used in EOS-era global surveys as the basis for locating the possibly hundreds of missing impact structures

  3. Metabolic effects of portal vein sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mithieux, G

    2014-09-01

    The extrinsic gastrointestinal nerves are crucial in the sensing of nutrients and hormones and its translation in terms of control of food intake. Major macronutrients like glucose and protein are sensed by the extrinsic nerves located in the portal vein walls, which signal to the brain and account for the satiety phenomenon they promote. Glucose is sensed in the portal vein by neurons expressing the glucose receptor SGLT3, which activate the main regions of the brain involved in the control of food intake. Proteins indirectly act on food intake by inducing intestinal gluconeogenesis and its sensing by the portal glucose sensor. The mechanism involves a prior antagonism by peptides of the μ-opioid receptors present in the portal vein nervous system and a reflex arc with the brain inducing intestinal gluconeogenesis. In a comparable manner, short-chain fatty acids produced from soluble fibre act via intestinal gluconeogenesis to exert anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects. In the case of propionate, the mechanism involves a prior activation of the free fatty acid receptor FFAR3 present in the portal nerves and a reflex arc initiating intestinal gluconeogenesis. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Micro-system inertial sensing technology overview.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allen, James Joe

    2009-02-01

    The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of Micro-System technology as it applies to inertial sensing. Transduction methods are reviewed with capacitance and piezoresistive being the most often used in COTS Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) inertial sensors. Optical transduction is the most recent transduction method having significant impact on improving sensor resolution. A few other methods are motioned which are in a R&D status to hopefully allow MEMS inertial sensors to become viable as a navigation grade sensor. The accelerometer, gyroscope and gravity gradiometer are the type of inertial sensors which are reviewed in this report. Their method of operation and a sampling of COTS sensors and grade are reviewed as well.

  5. Remote-sensing imperatives of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Summerhayes, C.; Desa, E.; Swamy, G.N.

    is crucial. The tasks are thus to advance the function of remote-sensing algorithms to encompass those variables which are presently monitored by in situ systems, leaving these systems to act more as sea-truth validators than as in situ data suppliers...

  6. Three-Dimensional Inverse Transport Solver Based on Compressive Sensing Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Yuxiong; Wu, Hongchun; Cao, Liangzhi; Zheng, Youqi

    2013-09-01

    According to the direct exposure measurements from flash radiographic image, a compressive sensing-based method for three-dimensional inverse transport problem is presented. The linear absorption coefficients and interface locations of objects are reconstructed directly at the same time. It is always very expensive to obtain enough measurements. With limited measurements, compressive sensing sparse reconstruction technique orthogonal matching pursuit is applied to obtain the sparse coefficients by solving an optimization problem. A three-dimensional inverse transport solver is developed based on a compressive sensing-based technique. There are three features in this solver: (1) AutoCAD is employed as a geometry preprocessor due to its powerful capacity in graphic. (2) The forward projection matrix rather than Gauss matrix is constructed by the visualization tool generator. (3) Fourier transform and Daubechies wavelet transform are adopted to convert an underdetermined system to a well-posed system in the algorithm. Simulations are performed and numerical results in pseudo-sine absorption problem, two-cube problem and two-cylinder problem when using compressive sensing-based solver agree well with the reference value.

  7. A proposal to design a Location-based Mobile Cardiac Emergency System (LMCES).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keikhosrokiani, Pantea; Mustaffa, Norlia; Zakaria, Nasriah; Sarwar, Muhammad Imran

    2012-01-01

    Healthcare for elderly people has become a vital issue. The Wearable Health Monitoring System (WHMS) is used to manage and monitor chronic disease in elderly people, postoperative rehabilitation patients and persons with special needs. Location-aware healthcare is achievable as positioning systems and telecommunications have been developed and have fulfilled the technology needed for this kind of healthcare system. In this paper, the researchers propose a Location-Based Mobile Cardiac Emergency System (LMCES) to track the patient's current location when Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has been activated as well as to locate the nearest healthcare unit for the ambulance service. The location coordinates of the patients can be retrieved by GPS and sent to the healthcare centre using GPRS. The location of the patient, cell ID information will also be transmitted to the LMCES server in order to retrieve the nearest health care unit. For the LMCES, we use Dijkstra's algorithm for selecting the shortest path between the nearest healthcare unit and the patient location in order to facilitate the ambulance's path under critical conditions.

  8. A Novel RFID Sensing System Using Enhanced Surface Wave Technology for Battery Exchange Stations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yeong-Lin Lai

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a novel radio-frequency identification (RFID sensing system using enhanced surface wave technology for battery exchange stations (BESs of electric motorcycles. Ultrahigh-frequency (UHF RFID technology is utilized to automatically track and manage battery and user information without manual operation. The system includes readers, enhanced surface wave leaky cable antennas (ESWLCAs, coupling cable lines (CCLs, and small radiation patches (SRPs. The RFID sensing system overcomes the electromagnetic interference in the metallic environment of a BES cabinet. The developed RFID sensing system can effectively increase the efficiency of BES operation and promote the development of electric vehicles which solve the problem of air pollution as well as protect the environment of the Earth.

  9. Integration and road tests of a self-sensing CNT concrete pavement system for traffic detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Baoguo; Zhang, Kun; Burnham, Tom; Kwon, Eil; Yu, Xun

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, a self-sensing carbon nanotube (CNT) concrete pavement system for traffic detection is proposed and tested in a roadway. Pre-cast and cast-in-place self-sensing CNT concrete sensors were simultaneously integrated into a controlled pavement test section at the Minnesota Road Research Facility (MnROAD), USA. Road tests of the system were conducted by using an MnROAD five-axle semi-trailer tractor truck and a van, respectively, both in the winter and summer. Test results show that the proposed self-sensing pavement system can accurately detect the passing of different vehicles under different vehicular speeds and test environments. These findings indicate that the developed self-sensing CNT concrete pavement system can achieve real-time vehicle flow detection with a high detection rate and a low false-alarm rate.

  10. Integration and road tests of a self-sensing CNT concrete pavement system for traffic detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Baoguo; Zhang, Kun; Yu, Xun; Burnham, Tom; Kwon, Eil

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, a self-sensing carbon nanotube (CNT) concrete pavement system for traffic detection is proposed and tested in a roadway. Pre-cast and cast-in-place self-sensing CNT concrete sensors were simultaneously integrated into a controlled pavement test section at the Minnesota Road Research Facility (MnROAD), USA. Road tests of the system were conducted by using an MnROAD five-axle semi-trailer tractor truck and a van, respectively, both in the winter and summer. Test results show that the proposed self-sensing pavement system can accurately detect the passing of different vehicles under different vehicular speeds and test environments. These findings indicate that the developed self-sensing CNT concrete pavement system can achieve real-time vehicle flow detection with a high detection rate and a low false-alarm rate. (paper)

  11. Subsurface remote sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schweitzer, Jeffrey S.; Groves, Joel L.

    2002-01-01

    Subsurface remote sensing measurements are widely used for oil and gas exploration, for oil and gas production monitoring, and for basic studies in the earth sciences. Radiation sensors, often including small accelerator sources, are used to obtain bulk properties of the surrounding strata as well as to provide detailed elemental analyses of the rocks and fluids in rock pores. Typically, instrument packages are lowered into a borehole at the end of a long cable, that may be as long as 10 km, and two-way data and instruction telemetry allows a single radiation instrument to operate in different modes and to send the data to a surface computer. Because these boreholes are often in remote locations throughout the world, the data are frequently transmitted by satellite to various locations around the world for almost real-time analysis and incorporation with other data. The complete system approach that permits rapid and reliable data acquisition, remote analysis and transmission to those making decisions is described

  12. On-Board, Real-Time Preprocessing System for Optical Remote-Sensing Imagery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qi, Baogui; Shi, Hao; Zhuang, Yin; Chen, He; Chen, Liang

    2018-04-25

    With the development of remote-sensing technology, optical remote-sensing imagery processing has played an important role in many application fields, such as geological exploration and natural disaster prevention. However, relative radiation correction and geometric correction are key steps in preprocessing because raw image data without preprocessing will cause poor performance during application. Traditionally, remote-sensing data are downlinked to the ground station, preprocessed, and distributed to users. This process generates long delays, which is a major bottleneck in real-time applications for remote-sensing data. Therefore, on-board, real-time image preprocessing is greatly desired. In this paper, a real-time processing architecture for on-board imagery preprocessing is proposed. First, a hierarchical optimization and mapping method is proposed to realize the preprocessing algorithm in a hardware structure, which can effectively reduce the computation burden of on-board processing. Second, a co-processing system using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and a digital signal processor (DSP; altogether, FPGA-DSP) based on optimization is designed to realize real-time preprocessing. The experimental results demonstrate the potential application of our system to an on-board processor, for which resources and power consumption are limited.

  13. On-Board, Real-Time Preprocessing System for Optical Remote-Sensing Imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qi, Baogui; Zhuang, Yin; Chen, He; Chen, Liang

    2018-01-01

    With the development of remote-sensing technology, optical remote-sensing imagery processing has played an important role in many application fields, such as geological exploration and natural disaster prevention. However, relative radiation correction and geometric correction are key steps in preprocessing because raw image data without preprocessing will cause poor performance during application. Traditionally, remote-sensing data are downlinked to the ground station, preprocessed, and distributed to users. This process generates long delays, which is a major bottleneck in real-time applications for remote-sensing data. Therefore, on-board, real-time image preprocessing is greatly desired. In this paper, a real-time processing architecture for on-board imagery preprocessing is proposed. First, a hierarchical optimization and mapping method is proposed to realize the preprocessing algorithm in a hardware structure, which can effectively reduce the computation burden of on-board processing. Second, a co-processing system using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and a digital signal processor (DSP; altogether, FPGA-DSP) based on optimization is designed to realize real-time preprocessing. The experimental results demonstrate the potential application of our system to an on-board processor, for which resources and power consumption are limited. PMID:29693585

  14. Current development of UAV sense and avoid system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhahir, A.; Razali, A.; Mohd Ajir, M. R.

    2016-10-01

    As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are now gaining high interests from civil and commercialised market, the automatic sense and avoid (SAA) system is currently one of the essential features in research spotlight of UAV. Several sensor types employed in current SAA research and technology of sensor fusion that offers a great opportunity in improving detection and tracking system are presented here. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of SAA system development in general, as well as the current challenges facing UAV researchers and designers.

  15. Strain sensing systems tailored for tensile measurement of fragile wires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyilas, Arman

    2005-12-01

    Fundamental stress versus strain measurements were completed on superconducting Nb3Sn wires within the framework of IEC/TC90 and VAMAS/TWA16. A key task was the assessment of sensing systems regarding resolution, accuracy, and precision when measuring Young's modulus. Prior to actual Nb3Sn wire measurements metallic wires, consisting of copper and stainless steel having diameters similar to the Nb3Sn wire, were extensively investigated with respect to their elastic line properties using different types of extensometers. After these calibration tests Nb3Sn wire measurements of different companies resulted in several important facts with respect to total size and weight of the used extensometers. The size could be correlated to the initial stage of stress versus strain behaviour. In fact, the effect of wire curls resulting from the production line had a profound effect on Young's modulus measurements. Within this context, the possibility of determining Young's modulus from unloading compliance lines in the plastic regime of the stress-strain curve was considered. The data obtained using this test methodology were discussed under consideration of the composite nature of Nb3Sn wire. In addition, a non-contacting sensing system based on a double-beam laser extensometer was used to investigate the potential of this new sensing system.

  16. Strain sensing systems tailored for tensile measurement of fragile wires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nyilas, Arman

    2005-01-01

    Fundamental stress versus strain measurements were completed on superconducting Nb 3 Sn wires within the framework of IEC/TC90 and VAMAS/TWA16. A key task was the assessment of sensing systems regarding resolution, accuracy, and precision when measuring Young's modulus. Prior to actual Nb 3 Sn wire measurements metallic wires, consisting of copper and stainless steel having diameters similar to the Nb 3 Sn wire, were extensively investigated with respect to their elastic line properties using different types of extensometers. After these calibration tests Nb 3 Sn wire measurements of different companies resulted in several important facts with respect to total size and weight of the used extensometers. The size could be correlated to the initial stage of stress versus strain behaviour. In fact, the effect of wire curls resulting from the production line had a profound effect on Young's modulus measurements. Within this context, the possibility of determining Young's modulus from unloading compliance lines in the plastic regime of the stress-strain curve was considered. The data obtained using this test methodology were discussed under consideration of the composite nature of Nb 3 Sn wire. In addition, a non-contacting sensing system based on a double-beam laser extensometer was used to investigate the potential of this new sensing system

  17. A mobile sensing system for structural health monitoring: design and validation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, Dapeng; Yi, Xiaohua; Wang, Yang; Lee, Kok-Meng; Guo, Jiajie

    2010-01-01

    This paper describes a new approach using mobile sensor networks for structural health monitoring. Compared with static sensors, mobile sensor networks offer flexible system architectures with adaptive spatial resolutions. The paper first describes the design of a mobile sensing node that is capable of maneuvering on structures built with ferromagnetic materials. The mobile sensing node can also attach/detach an accelerometer onto/from the structural surface. The performance of the prototype mobile sensor network has been validated through laboratory experiments. Two mobile sensing nodes are adopted for navigating on a steel portal frame and providing dense acceleration measurements. Transmissibility function analysis is conducted to identify structural damage using data collected by the mobile sensing nodes. This preliminary work is expected to spawn transformative changes in the use of mobile sensors for future structural health monitoring

  18. A mobile sensing system for structural health monitoring: design and validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Dapeng; Yi, Xiaohua; Wang, Yang; Lee, Kok-Meng; Guo, Jiajie

    2010-05-01

    This paper describes a new approach using mobile sensor networks for structural health monitoring. Compared with static sensors, mobile sensor networks offer flexible system architectures with adaptive spatial resolutions. The paper first describes the design of a mobile sensing node that is capable of maneuvering on structures built with ferromagnetic materials. The mobile sensing node can also attach/detach an accelerometer onto/from the structural surface. The performance of the prototype mobile sensor network has been validated through laboratory experiments. Two mobile sensing nodes are adopted for navigating on a steel portal frame and providing dense acceleration measurements. Transmissibility function analysis is conducted to identify structural damage using data collected by the mobile sensing nodes. This preliminary work is expected to spawn transformative changes in the use of mobile sensors for future structural health monitoring.

  19. Pulse mode actuation-readout system based on MEMS resonator for liquid sensing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tang, Meng; Cagliani, Alberto; Davis, Zachary James

    2014-01-01

    A MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) bulk disk resonator is applied for mass sensing under its dynamic mode. The classical readout circuitry involves sophisticated feedback loop and feedthrough compensation. We propose a simple straightforward non-loop pulse mode actuation and capacitive...... readout scheme. In order to verify its feasibility in liquid bio-chemical sensing environment, an experimental measurement is conducted with humidity sensing application. The measured resonant frequency changes 60kHz of 67.7MHz with a humidity change of 0~80%....

  20. Sensing the News: User Experiences when Reading Locative News

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kjetil Vaage Øie

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on user experiences on reading location-aware news on the mobile platform and aims to explore what experiences this kind of locative journalism generates and how such experiences change the users’ social interaction with news. We produced a specially designed mobile application and tailored news stories specific to this project called LocaNews in order to explore participants’ relation to the content in this journalistic format. The result is generated through a field study and a questionnaire of 32 people to find out how they experience the news presented in this format. The user participants’ responses are analyzed based on their news experiences, contextualizing places and their social interaction with the news within this form of journalism. Results showed that the local, semi-local and non-local user approaches the locative news in a different manner, but that the average user found this kind of news more interesting and more informative than ordinary news. The participants also have a problem identifying this as journalism, rather than an information service.

  1. Development of sensor system for indoor location based service implementation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cha, Joo Heon; Lee, Kyung Ho [Kookmin Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-11-15

    This paper introduces a sensor system based on indoor locations in order to implement the Building Energy Management System. This system consists of a thermopile sensor and an ultrasonic sensor. The sensor module is rotated by 360 .deg. and yawed up and down by two electric motors. Therefore, it can simultaneously detect the number and location of the inhabitants in the room. It uses wireless technology to communicate with the building manager or the smart home server, and it can save electric energy by controlling the lighting system or heating/air conditioning equipment automatically. We also demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed system by applying it to a real environment.

  2. Development of sensor system for indoor location based service implementation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cha, Joo Heon; Lee, Kyung Ho

    2012-01-01

    This paper introduces a sensor system based on indoor locations in order to implement the Building Energy Management System. This system consists of a thermopile sensor and an ultrasonic sensor. The sensor module is rotated by 360 .deg. and yawed up and down by two electric motors. Therefore, it can simultaneously detect the number and location of the inhabitants in the room. It uses wireless technology to communicate with the building manager or the smart home server, and it can save electric energy by controlling the lighting system or heating/air conditioning equipment automatically. We also demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed system by applying it to a real environment

  3. Optical fibre multi-parameter sensing with secure cloud based signal capture and processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newe, Thomas; O'Connell, Eoin; Meere, Damien; Yuan, Hongwei; Leen, Gabriel; O'Keeffe, Sinead; Lewis, Elfed

    2016-05-01

    Recent advancements in cloud computing technologies in the context of optical and optical fibre based systems are reported. The proliferation of real time and multi-channel based sensor systems represents significant growth in data volume. This coupled with a growing need for security presents many challenges and presents a huge opportunity for an evolutionary step in the widespread application of these sensing technologies. A tiered infrastructural system approach is adopted that is designed to facilitate the delivery of Optical Fibre-based "SENsing as a Service- SENaaS". Within this infrastructure, novel optical sensing platforms, deployed within different environments, are interfaced with a Cloud-based backbone infrastructure which facilitates the secure collection, storage and analysis of real-time data. Feedback systems, which harness this data to affect a change within the monitored location/environment/condition, are also discussed. The cloud based system presented here can also be used with chemical and physical sensors that require real-time data analysis, processing and feedback.

  4. Recommender systems for location-based social networks

    CERN Document Server

    Symeonidis, Panagiotis; Manolopoulos, Yannis

    2014-01-01

    Online social networks collect information from users' social contacts and their daily interactions (co-tagging of photos, co-rating of products etc.) to provide them with recommendations of new products or friends. Lately, technological progressions in mobile devices (i.e. smart phones) enabled the incorporation of geo-location data in the traditional web-based online social networks, bringing the new era of Social and Mobile Web. The goal of this book is to bring together important research in a new family of recommender systems aimed at serving Location-based Social Networks (LBSNs). The chapters introduce a wide variety of recent approaches, from the most basic to the state-of-the-art, for providing recommendations in LBSNs. The book is organized into three parts. Part 1 provides introductory material on recommender systems, online social networks and LBSNs. Part 2 presents a wide variety of recommendation algorithms, ranging from basic to cutting edge, as well as a comparison of the characteristics of t...

  5. Variability of the Quorum Sensing System in Natural Isolates of Bacillus sp.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ines Mandic-Mulec

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Bacteria communicate with one another by (emitting and/or reacting to chemical signals. These communications, also known as quorum sensing, enable cells to control gene expression in response to cell density at the intra- and inter-species level. While bacteria use common signaling themes, variations in the design of the extracellular signals, the signal detection apparatus, and the biochemical mechanisms of signal relay have allowed quorum sensing systems to be adapted to diverse uses. The quorum sensing systems that govern natural genetic competence in Bacillus subtilis involve the ComX pheromones and the ComP-ComA, two-component regulator. ComX is synthesized as an inactive precursor and is then cleaved and modified by ComQ before export to the extra-cellular environment. The comQXP' loci of a set of natural Bacillus isolates have been sequenced and a striking polymorphism that correlates with specific patterns of activation of the quorum sensing response was shown. The ComX molecules representing different pherotypes were purified and characterized by mass spectroscopy. The analyses revealed that ComX variants also differ at the level of posttranslational modification of a conserved tryptophane residue, which was found to be an isoprenoid. The striking variability found in competence quorum sensing systems might be important for the survival of these bacteria in nature to escape the inappropriate induction of competence by closely related strains, playing the role of a sexual isolation mechanism.

  6. A highly stable electrochemiluminescence sensing system of cadmium sulfide nanowires/graphene hybrid for supersensitive detection of pentachlorophenol

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Yanan; Chang, Quanying; Yin, Kai; Liu, Chengbin; Wang, Ying

    2017-10-01

    A highly stable and effective electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensing system of cadmium sulfide nanowires/reduced graphene oxide (CdS NWS/rGO) hybrid is presented for supersensitive detection of pentachlorophenol (PCP). CdS nanowire is for the first time exploited in ECL sensing. The rGO served as both ECL signal amplifier and immobilization platform, can perfectly enhance the ECL intensity and stability of the sensing system. With S2O82- as coreactant, the ECL signal can be significantly quenched by the addition of PCP. The established ECL sensing system presents a wider linear range from 1.0 × 10-14 to 1.0 × 10-8 M and a much low detection limit of 2 × 10-15 M under the optimum test conditions (e.g., pH 7.0 and 100 mM S2O82-). Furthermore, the ECL sensing system displays a good selectivity for PCP detection. The practicability of the ECL sensing system in real water sample shows that this system could be promisingly applied in the analytical detection of PCP in real water environments.

  7. Implementation and Analysis of a Wireless Sensor Network-Based Pet Location Monitoring System for Domestic Scenarios.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguirre, Erik; Lopez-Iturri, Peio; Azpilicueta, Leyre; Astrain, José Javier; Villadangos, Jesús; Santesteban, Daniel; Falcone, Francisco

    2016-08-30

    The flexibility of new age wireless networks and the variety of sensors to measure a high number of variables, lead to new scenarios where anything can be monitored by small electronic devices, thereby implementing Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Thanks to ZigBee, RFID or WiFi networks the precise location of humans or animals as well as some biological parameters can be known in real-time. However, since wireless sensors must be attached to biological tissues and they are highly dispersive, propagation of electromagnetic waves must be studied to deploy an efficient and well-working network. The main goal of this work is to study the influence of wireless channel limitations in the operation of a specific pet monitoring system, validated at physical channel as well as at functional level. In this sense, radio wave propagation produced by ZigBee devices operating at the ISM 2.4 GHz band is studied through an in-house developed 3D Ray Launching simulation tool, in order to analyze coverage/capacity relations for the optimal system selection as well as deployment strategy in terms of number of transceivers and location. Furthermore, a simplified dog model is developed for simulation code, considering not only its morphology but also its dielectric properties. Relevant wireless channel information such as power distribution, power delay profile and delay spread graphs are obtained providing an extensive wireless channel analysis. A functional dog monitoring system is presented, operating over the implemented ZigBee network and providing real time information to Android based devices. The proposed system can be scaled in order to consider different types of domestic pets as well as new user based functionalities.

  8. Implementation and Analysis of a Wireless Sensor Network-Based Pet Location Monitoring System for Domestic Scenarios

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erik Aguirre

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The flexibility of new age wireless networks and the variety of sensors to measure a high number of variables, lead to new scenarios where anything can be monitored by small electronic devices, thereby implementing Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN. Thanks to ZigBee, RFID or WiFi networks the precise location of humans or animals as well as some biological parameters can be known in real-time. However, since wireless sensors must be attached to biological tissues and they are highly dispersive, propagation of electromagnetic waves must be studied to deploy an efficient and well-working network. The main goal of this work is to study the influence of wireless channel limitations in the operation of a specific pet monitoring system, validated at physical channel as well as at functional level. In this sense, radio wave propagation produced by ZigBee devices operating at the ISM 2.4 GHz band is studied through an in-house developed 3D Ray Launching simulation tool, in order to analyze coverage/capacity relations for the optimal system selection as well as deployment strategy in terms of number of transceivers and location. Furthermore, a simplified dog model is developed for simulation code, considering not only its morphology but also its dielectric properties. Relevant wireless channel information such as power distribution, power delay profile and delay spread graphs are obtained providing an extensive wireless channel analysis. A functional dog monitoring system is presented, operating over the implemented ZigBee network and providing real time information to Android based devices. The proposed system can be scaled in order to consider different types of domestic pets as well as new user based functionalities.

  9. Reaction Force/Torque Sensing in a Master-Slave Robot System without Mechanical Sensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyoko Shibata

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available In human-robot cooperative control systems, force feedback is often necessary in order to achieve high precision and high stability. Usually, traditional robot assistant systems implement force feedback using force/torque sensors. However, it is difficult to directly mount a mechanical force sensor on some working terminals, such as in applications of minimally invasive robotic surgery, micromanipulation, or in working environments exposed to radiation or high temperature. We propose a novel force sensing mechanism for implementing force feedback in a master-slave robot system with no mechanical sensors. The system consists of two identical electro-motors with the master motor powering the slave motor to interact with the environment. A bimanual coordinated training platform using the new force sensing mechanism was developed and the system was verified in experiments. Results confirm that the proposed mechanism is capable of achieving bilateral force sensing and mirror-image movements of two terminals in two reverse control directions.

  10. Sensing System for Salinity Testing Using Laser-induced Graphene Sensors

    KAUST Repository

    Nag, Anindya

    2017-08-05

    The paper presents the development and implementation of a low-cost salinity sensing system. Commercial polymer films were laser ablated at specific conditions to form graphene-based sensors on flexible Kapton substrates. Sodium chloride was considered as the primary constituent for testing due to its prominent presence in water bodies. The sensor was characterized by testing different concentrations of sodium chloride. A standard curve was developed to perform real-time testing with a sample taken from sea water of unknown concentration. The sensitivity and resolution of these graphene sensors for the experimental solutions were 1.07Ω/ppm and 1ppm respectively. The developed system was validated by testing it with a real sample and cross checking it on the calibration curve. The signal conditioning circuit was further enhanced by embedding a microcontroller to the designed system. The obtained results did provide a platform for implementation of a low-cost salinity sensing system that could be used in marine applications.

  11. Sensing System for Salinity Testing Using Laser-induced Graphene Sensors

    KAUST Repository

    Nag, Anindya; Mukhopadhyay, Subhas Chandra; Kosel, Jü rgen

    2017-01-01

    The paper presents the development and implementation of a low-cost salinity sensing system. Commercial polymer films were laser ablated at specific conditions to form graphene-based sensors on flexible Kapton substrates. Sodium chloride was considered as the primary constituent for testing due to its prominent presence in water bodies. The sensor was characterized by testing different concentrations of sodium chloride. A standard curve was developed to perform real-time testing with a sample taken from sea water of unknown concentration. The sensitivity and resolution of these graphene sensors for the experimental solutions were 1.07Ω/ppm and 1ppm respectively. The developed system was validated by testing it with a real sample and cross checking it on the calibration curve. The signal conditioning circuit was further enhanced by embedding a microcontroller to the designed system. The obtained results did provide a platform for implementation of a low-cost salinity sensing system that could be used in marine applications.

  12. Self-Sensing Thermal Management System Using Multifunctional Nano-Enhanced Structures

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The goal of this project is to develop a thermal management system with self-sensing capabilities using new multifunctional nano-enhanced structures. Currently,...

  13. Concrete Materials with Ultra-High Damage Resistance and Self- Sensing Capacity for Extended Nuclear Fuel Storage Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Mo [Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States); Nakshatrala, Kalyana [Univ. of Houston, TX (United States); William, Kasper [Univ. of Houston, TX (United States); Xi, Yungping [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

    2017-02-08

    The objective of this project is to develop a new class of multifunctional concrete materials (MSCs) for extended spent nuclear fuel (SNF) storage systems, which combine ultra-high damage resistance through strain-hardening behavior with distributed multi-dimensional damage self-sensing capacity. The beauty of multifunctional concrete materials is two-fold: First, it serves as a major material component for the SNF pool, dry cask shielding and foundation pad with greatly improved resistance to cracking, reinforcement corrosion, and other common deterioration mechanisms under service conditions, and prevention from fracture failure under extreme events (e.g. impact, earthquake). This will be achieved by designing multiple levels of protection mechanisms into the material (i.e., ultrahigh ductility that provides thousands of times greater fracture energy than concrete and normal fiber reinforced concrete; intrinsic cracking control, electrochemical properties modification, reduced chemical and radionuclide transport properties, and crack-healing properties). Second, it offers capacity for distributed and direct sensing of cracking, strain, and corrosion wherever the material is located. This will be achieved by establishing the changes in electrical properties due to mechanical and electrochemical stimulus. The project will combine nano-, micro- and composite technologies, computational mechanics, durability characterization, and structural health monitoring methods, to realize new MSCs for very long-term (greater than 120 years) SNF storage systems.

  14. Perspectival Structure and Agentive Self-location

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alsmith, Adrian

    2017-01-01

    -locating, in the sense that an episode of perceptual experience may be sufficient for thoughts about one’s location. In this chapter, I argue that perceptual experience can conceivably be perspectivally structured without locating its subject and that any account of spatial self-consciousness based upon a simple......Perceptual experience is perspectivally structured, in at least two respects. It has characteristic sensory limitations relative to a given location (limitation-structure) and it presents objects as spatially related to a given location (egocentric-structure). Perceptual experience is also self...... inference from the perspectival structure of perceptual experience faces serious difficulties. If this is correct, then we ought to look beyond the perspectival structure of perceptual experience in order to account for its self-locating content. The Agentive Self-Location Thesis, as developed here...

  15. Energy Autonomous Wireless Sensing System Enabled by Energy Generated during Human Walking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuang, Yang; Ruan, Tingwen; Chew, Zheng Jun; Zhu, Meiling

    2016-11-01

    Recently, there has been a huge amount of work devoted to wearable energy harvesting (WEH) in a bid to establish energy autonomous wireless sensing systems for a range of health monitoring applications. However, limited work has been performed to implement and test such systems in real-world settings. This paper reports the development and real-world characterisation of a magnetically plucked wearable knee-joint energy harvester (Mag-WKEH) powered wireless sensing system, which integrates our latest research progresses in WEH, power conditioning and wireless sensing to achieve high energy efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that with walking speeds of 3∼7 km/h, the Mag-WKEH generates average power of 1.9∼4.5 mW with unnoticeable impact on the wearer and is able to power the wireless sensor node (WSN) with three sensors to work at duty cycles of 6.6%∼13%. In each active period of 2 s, the WSN is able to measure and transmit 482 readings to the base station.

  16. Soil-embedded optical fiber sensing cable interrogated by Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry (B-OTDR) and optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) for embedded cavity detection and sinkhole warning system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lanticq, V; Bourgeois, E; Delepine-Lesoille, S; Magnien, P; Dieleman, L; Vinceslas, G; Sang, A

    2009-01-01

    A soil-embedded optical fiber sensing cable is evaluated for an embedded cavity detection and sinkhole warning system in railway tunnels. Tests were performed on a decametric structure equipped with an embedded 110 m long fiber optic cable. Both Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry (B-OTDR) and optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) sensing techniques were used for cable interrogation, yielding results that were in good qualitative agreement with finite-element calculations. Theoretical and experimental comparison enabled physical interpretation of the influence of ground properties, and the analysis of embedded cavity size and position. A 5 mm embedded cavity located 2 m away from the sensing cable was detected. The commercially available sensing cable remained intact after soil collapse. Specificities of each technique are analyzed in view of the application requirements. For tunnel monitoring, the OFDR technique was determined to be more viable than the B-OTDR due to higher spatial resolution, resulting in better detection and size determination of the embedded cavities. Conclusions of this investigation gave outlines for future field use of distributed strain-sensing methods under railways and more precisely enabled designing a warning system suited to the Ebersviller tunnel specificities

  17. PRINCIPLE OF VALIDATION OF MULTILEVEL RGB COLORIMETRIC SYSTEMS OF REMOTE SENSING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lala Rustam Bekirova

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The possibility of development of two-level RGB colorimetric systems of remote sensing is analyzed. The principle of validation in multi-level RGB colorimetric systems taking into account the effect of metamerizm is formulated

  18. Towards a New Classification of Location Privacy Methods in Pervasive Computing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Mads Schaarup; Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun

    2011-01-01

    and Collaborative Sensing, and that insufficient work has been done in Route Tracing. It is concluded that none of the existing methods cover all applications of Route Tracing. It is, therefore, suggested that a new overall method should be proposed to solve the problem of location privacy in Route Tracing......-of-Interest, Social Networking, Collaborative Sensing, and Route Tracing, and the high level location privacy method categories are Anonymization, Classical Security, Spatial Obfuscation, Temporal Obfuscation, and Protocol. It is found that little work exists on location privacy in the areas of Social Networking......Over the last decade many methods for location privacy have been proposed, but the mapping between classes of location based services and location privacy methods is not obvious. This entails confusion for developers, lack of usage of privacy methods, and an unclear road-map ahead for research...

  19. Wearable Eating Habit Sensing System Using Internal Body Sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shuzo, Masaki; Komori, Shintaro; Takashima, Tomoko; Lopez, Guillaume; Tatsuta, Seiji; Yanagimoto, Shintaro; Warisawa, Shin'ichi; Delaunay, Jean-Jacques; Yamada, Ichiro

    Continuous monitoring of eating habits could be useful in preventing lifestyle diseases such as metabolic syndrome. Conventional methods consist of self-reporting and calculating mastication frequency based on the myoelectric potential of the masseter muscle. Both these methods are significant burdens for the user. We developed a non-invasive, wearable sensing system that can record eating habits over a long period of time in daily life. Our sensing system is composed of two bone conduction microphones placed in the ears that send internal body sound data to a portable IC recorder. Applying frequency spectrum analysis on the collected sound data, we could not only count the number of mastications during eating, but also accurately differentiate between eating, drinking, and speaking activities. This information can be used to evaluate the regularity of meals. Moreover, we were able to analyze sound features to classify the types of foods eaten by food texture.

  20. Parking Sensing and Information System: Sensors, Deployment, and Evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Xiao; Zhen; Qian; Rajagopal, Ram; Stiers, Todd; Flores, Christopher; Kavaler, Robert; Williams III, Floyd

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes a smart parking sensing and information system that disseminates the parking availability information for public users in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The hardware framework of the system is built on advanced wireless sensor networks and cloud service over the Internet, and the system is highly scalable. The parking information provided to the users is set in the form of occupancy rates and expected cruising time. Both are obtained from our analytical algorithm ...

  1. A Situated Cultural Festival Learning System Based on Motion Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Yi-Hsing; Lin, Yu-Kai; Fang, Rong-Jyue; Lu, You-Te

    2017-01-01

    A situated Chinese cultural festival learning system based on motion sensing is developed in this study. The primary design principle is to create a highly interactive learning environment, allowing learners to interact with Kinect through natural gestures in the designed learning situation to achieve efficient learning. The system has the…

  2. Remote sensing of vegetation fires and its contribution to a fire management information system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephane P. Flasse; Simon N. Trigg; Pietro N. Ceccato; Anita H. Perryman; Andrew T. Hudak; Mark W. Thompson; Bruce H. Brockett; Moussa Drame; Tim Ntabeni; Philip E. Frost; Tobias Landmann; Johan L. le Roux

    2004-01-01

    In the last decade, research has proven that remote sensing can provide very useful support to fire managers. This chapter provides an overview of the types of information remote sensing can provide to the fire community. First, it considers fire management information needs in the context of a fire management information system. An introduction to remote sensing then...

  3. Terahertz wave reflective sensing and imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Hua

    Sensing and imaging technologies using terahertz (THz) radiation have found diverse applications as they approach maturity. Since the burgeoning of this technique in the 1990's, many THz sensing and imaging investigations have been designed and conducted in transmission geometry, which provides sufficient phase and amplitude contrast for the study of the spectral properties of targets in the THz domain. Driven by rising expectations that THz technology will be a potential candidate in the next generation of security screening, remote sensing, biomedical imaging and non-destructive testing (NDT), most THz sensing and imaging modalities are being extended to reflection geometry, which offers unique and adaptive solutions, and multi-dimensional information in many real scenarios. This thesis takes an application-focused approach to the advancement of THz wave reflective sensing and imaging systems: The absorption signature of the explosive material hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5triazine (RDX) is measured at 30 m---the longest standoff distance so far attained by THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The standoff distance sensing ability of THz-TDS is investigated along with discussions specifying the influences of a variety of factors such as propagation distance, water vapor absorption and collection efficiency. Highly directional THz radiation from four-wave mixing in laser-induced air plasmas is first observed and measured, which provides a potential solution for the atmospheric absorption effect in standoff THz sensing. The simulations of the beam profiles also illuminate the underlying physics behind the interaction of the optical beam with the plasma. THz wave reflective spectroscopic focal-plane imaging is realized the first time. Absorption features of some explosives and related compounds (ERCs) and biochemical materials are identified by using adaptive feature extraction method. Good classification results using multiple pattern recognition methods are

  4. An Indoor Location-Based Control System Using Bluetooth Beacons for IoT Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huh, Jun-Ho; Seo, Kyungryong

    2017-12-19

    The indoor location-based control system estimates the indoor position of a user to provide the service he/she requires. The major elements involved in the system are the localization server, service-provision client, user application positioning technology. The localization server controls access of terminal devices (e.g., Smart Phones and other wireless devices) to determine their locations within a specified space first and then the service-provision client initiates required services such as indoor navigation and monitoring/surveillance. The user application provides necessary data to let the server to localize the devices or allow the user to receive various services from the client. The major technological elements involved in this system are indoor space partition method, Bluetooth 4.0, RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) and trilateration. The system also employs the BLE communication technology when determining the position of the user in an indoor space. The position information obtained is then used to control a specific device(s). These technologies are fundamental in achieving a "Smart Living". An indoor location-based control system that provides services by estimating user's indoor locations has been implemented in this study (First scenario). The algorithm introduced in this study (Second scenario) is effective in extracting valid samples from the RSSI dataset but has it has some drawbacks as well. Although we used a range-average algorithm that measures the shortest distance, there are some limitations because the measurement results depend on the sample size and the sample efficiency depends on sampling speeds and environmental changes. However, the Bluetooth system can be implemented at a relatively low cost so that once the problem of precision is solved, it can be applied to various fields.

  5. An Indoor Location-Based Control System Using Bluetooth Beacons for IoT Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun-Ho Huh

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The indoor location-based control system estimates the indoor position of a user to provide the service he/she requires. The major elements involved in the system are the localization server, service-provision client, user application positioning technology. The localization server controls access of terminal devices (e.g., Smart Phones and other wireless devices to determine their locations within a specified space first and then the service-provision client initiates required services such as indoor navigation and monitoring/surveillance. The user application provides necessary data to let the server to localize the devices or allow the user to receive various services from the client. The major technological elements involved in this system are indoor space partition method, Bluetooth 4.0, RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication and trilateration. The system also employs the BLE communication technology when determining the position of the user in an indoor space. The position information obtained is then used to control a specific device(s. These technologies are fundamental in achieving a “Smart Living”. An indoor location-based control system that provides services by estimating user’s indoor locations has been implemented in this study (First scenario. The algorithm introduced in this study (Second scenario is effective in extracting valid samples from the RSSI dataset but has it has some drawbacks as well. Although we used a range-average algorithm that measures the shortest distance, there are some limitations because the measurement results depend on the sample size and the sample efficiency depends on sampling speeds and environmental changes. However, the Bluetooth system can be implemented at a relatively low cost so that once the problem of precision is solved, it can be applied to various fields.

  6. A high spatial resolution distributed optical fiber grating sensing system based on OFDR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Ke; Xiong, Yuchuan; Wen, Hongqiao; Tong, Xinlin; Zhang, Cui; Deng, Chengwei

    2017-10-01

    A distributed optical fiber grating sensing system with large capacity and high spatial resolution is presented. Since highdensity identical weak grating array was utilized as sensing fiber, the multiplexing number was greatly increased, meanwhile, optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) technology was used to implement high resolution distributed sensing system. In order to eliminate the nonlinear effect of tunable light source, a windowed FFT algorithm based on cubic spline interpolation was applied. The feasibility of the algorithm was experimentally testified, ultimately, the spatial resolution of system can reach mm-level. The influence of the crosstalk signal in the grating array on the OFDR system was analyzed. A method that a long enough delay fiber was added before the first FBG to remove crosstalk signal was proposed. The experiment was verified using an optical fiber with 113 uniform Bragg gratings at an interval of 10cm whose reflectivity are less than 1%. It demonstrates that crosstalk signal and measurement signal can be completely separated in the distance domain after adding a long enough delay fiber. Finally, the temperature experiment of distributed grating sensing system was carried out. The results display that each raster's center wavelength in the fiber link is independent of each other and the center wavelength drift has a good linear relationship with the temperature. The sensitivity of linear fitting is equal to 11.1pm/°C.

  7. Social sensing of floods in the UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arthur, Rudy; Boulton, Chris A; Shotton, Humphrey; Williams, Hywel T P

    2018-01-01

    "Social sensing" is a form of crowd-sourcing that involves systematic analysis of digital communications to detect real-world events. Here we consider the use of social sensing for observing natural hazards. In particular, we present a case study that uses data from a popular social media platform (Twitter) to detect and locate flood events in the UK. In order to improve data quality we apply a number of filters (timezone, simple text filters and a naive Bayes 'relevance' filter) to the data. We then use place names in the user profile and message text to infer the location of the tweets. These two steps remove most of the irrelevant tweets and yield orders of magnitude more located tweets than we have by relying on geo-tagged data. We demonstrate that high resolution social sensing of floods is feasible and we can produce high-quality historical and real-time maps of floods using Twitter.

  8. Location Systems An Introduction to the Technology Behind Location Awareness

    CERN Document Server

    LaMarca, Anthony

    2008-01-01

    Advances in electronic location technology and the coming of age of mobile computing have opened the door for location-aware applications to permeate all aspects of everyday life. Location is at the core of a large number of high-value applications ranging from the life-and-death context of emergency response to serendipitous social meet-ups. For example, the market for GPS products and services alone is expected to grow to US200 billion by 2015. Unfortunately, there is no single location technology that is good for every situation and exhibits high accuracy, low cost, and universal coverage.

  9. The leak detection and location system design of petroleum pipeline

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Lixia

    2011-01-01

    In order to improve the sensibility and location precision of petroleum pipeline leak with traditional negative pressure wave detection, a multi-point distributed detection and location monitoring system composed of detection nodes along pipeline, monitoring sub-stations and pressure monitoring center was designed using C/S structure. The detection node gets the pressure signal in pipeline, and sends it to monitoring center through CPRS network that achieves online monitoring for the whole pipeline in real time. The received data was analyzed and processed with multi-point distributed negative pressure wave detection and correlation analysis method. The system can rapidly detect the leak point in pipeline timely and locate accurately to avoid enormous economic loss and environment pollutions accidents. (author)

  10. An Energy Efficient Cognitive Radio System with Quantized Soft Sensing and Duration Analysis

    KAUST Repository

    Alabbasi, Abdulrahman

    2015-03-09

    In this paper, an energy efficient cognitive radio system is proposed. The proposed design optimizes the secondary user transmission power and the sensing duration combined with soft-sensing information to minimize the energy per goodbit. Due to the non-convex nature of the problem we prove its pseudo-convexity to guarantee the optimal solution. Furthermore, a quantization scheme, that discretize the softsensing information, is proposed and analyzed to reduce the overload of the continuously adapted power. Numerical results show that our proposed system outperforms the benchmark systems. The impact of the quantization levels and other system parameters is evaluated in the numerical results.

  11. Design of a Novel Flexible Capacitive Sensing Mattress for Monitoring Sleeping Respiratory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wen-Ying Chang

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, an algorithm to extract respiration signals using a flexible projected capacitive sensing mattress (FPCSM designed for personal health assessment is proposed. Unlike the interfaces of conventional measurement systems for poly-somnography (PSG and other alternative contemporary systems, the proposed FPCSM uses projected capacitive sensing capability that is not worn or attached to the body. The FPCSM is composed of a multi-electrode sensor array that can not only observe gestures and motion behaviors, but also enables the FPCSM to function as a respiration monitor during sleep using the proposed approach. To improve long-term monitoring when body movement is possible, the FPCSM enables the selection of data from the sensing array, and the FPCSM methodology selects the electrodes with the optimal signals after the application of a channel reduction algorithm that counts the reversals in the capacitive sensing signals as a quality indicator. The simple algorithm is implemented in the time domain. The FPCSM system is used in experimental tests and is simultaneously compared with a commercial PSG system for verification. Multiple synchronous measurements are performed from different locations of body contact, and parallel data sets are collected. The experimental comparison yields a correlation coefficient of 0.88 between FPCSM and PSG, demonstrating the feasibility of the system design.

  12. Integrating remote sensing, geographic information systems and global positioning system techniques with hydrological modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thakur, Jay Krishna; Singh, Sudhir Kumar; Ekanthalu, Vicky Shettigondahalli

    2017-07-01

    Integration of remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) are emerging research areas in the field of groundwater hydrology, resource management, environmental monitoring and during emergency response. Recent advancements in the fields of RS, GIS, GPS and higher level of computation will help in providing and handling a range of data simultaneously in a time- and cost-efficient manner. This review paper deals with hydrological modeling, uses of remote sensing and GIS in hydrological modeling, models of integrations and their need and in last the conclusion. After dealing with these issues conceptually and technically, we can develop better methods and novel approaches to handle large data sets and in a better way to communicate information related with rapidly decreasing societal resources, i.e. groundwater.

  13. Optimal Remote Sensing with Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Risk Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stark, Brandon

    Over the past decade, the rapid rise of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) has blossomed into a new component of the aviation industry. Though regulations within the United States lagged, the promise of the ability of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUASs), or those UAS that weigh less than 55 lbs, has driven significant advances in small scale aviation technology. The dream of a small, low-cost aerial platform that can fly anywhere and keep humans safely away from the `dull, dangerous and dirty' jobs, has encouraged many to examine the possibilities of utilizing SUAS in new and transformative ways, especially as a new tool in remote sensing. However, as with any new tool, there remains significant challenges in realizing the full potential of SUAS-based remote sensing. Within this dissertation, two specific challenges are addressed: validating the use of SUAS as a remote sensing platform and improving the safety and management of SUAS. The use of SUAS in remote sensing is a relatively new challenge and while it has many similarities to other remote sensing platforms, the dynamic nature of its operation makes it unique. In this dissertation, a closer look at the methodology of using SUAS reveals that while many view SUAS as an alternative to satellite imagery, this is an incomplete view and that the current common implementation introduces a new source of error that has significant implications on the reliability of the data collected. It can also be seen that a new approach to remote sensing with an SUAS can be developed by addressing the spatial, spectral and temporal factors that can now be more finely adjusted with the use of SUAS. However, to take the full advantage of the potential of SUAS, they must uphold the promise of improved safety. This is not a trivial challenge, especially for the integration into the National Airspace System (NAS) and for the safety management and oversight of diverse UAS operations. In this dissertation, the challenge of integrating

  14. A New Position Location System Using DTV Transmitter Identification Watermark Signals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chouinard Jean-Yves

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available A new position location technique using the transmitter identification (TxID RF watermark in the digital TV (DTV signals is proposed in this paper. Conventional global positioning system (GPS usually does not work well inside buildings due to the high frequency and weak field strength of the signal. In contrast to the GPS, the DTV signals are received from transmitters at relatively short distance, while the broadcast transmitters operate at levels up to the megawatts effective radiated power (ERP. Also the RF frequency of the DTV signal is much lower than the GPS, which makes it easier for the signal to penetrate buildings and other objects. The proposed position location system based on DTV TxID signal is presented in this paper. Practical receiver implementation issues including nonideal correlation and synchronization are analyzed and discussed. Performance of the proposed technique is evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations and compared with other existing position location systems. Possible ways to improve the accuracy of the new position location system is discussed.

  15. Mechanics of localized slippage in tactile sensing and application to soft sensing systems

    CERN Document Server

    Ho, Anh-Van

    2014-01-01

    Localized slippage occurs during any relative sliding of soft contacts, ranging from human fingertips to robotic fingertips. Although this phenomenon is dominant for a very short time prior to gross slippage, localized slippage is a crucial factor for any to-be-developed soft sensing system to respond to slippage before it occurs. The content of this book addresses all aspects of localized slippage, including modeling and simulating it, as well as applying it to the construction of novel sensors with slip tactile perception.

  16. Using Kalman Filters to Reduce Noise from RFID Location System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xavier, José; Reis, Luís Paulo; Petry, Marcelo

    2014-01-01

    Nowadays, there are many technologies that support location systems involving intrusive and nonintrusive equipment and also varying in terms of precision, range, and cost. However, the developers some time neglect the noise introduced by these systems, which prevents these systems from reaching their full potential. Focused on this problem, in this research work a comparison study between three different filters was performed in order to reduce the noise introduced by a location system based on RFID UWB technology with an associated error of approximately 18 cm. To achieve this goal, a set of experiments was devised and executed using a miniature train moving at constant velocity in a scenario with two distinct shapes—linear and oval. Also, this train was equipped with a varying number of active tags. The obtained results proved that the Kalman Filter achieved better results when compared to the other two filters. Also, this filter increases the performance of the location system by 15% and 12% for the linear and oval paths respectively, when using one tag. For a multiple tags and oval shape similar results were obtained (11–13% of improvement). PMID:24592186

  17. Geographic information systems, remote sensing, and spatial analysis activities in Texas, 2002-07

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, D.K.; Gary, R.H.; Wilson, Z.D.

    2007-01-01

    Geographic information system (GIS) technology has become an important tool for scientific investigation, resource management, and environmental planning. A GIS is a computer-aided system capable of collecting, storing, analyzing, and displaying spatially referenced digital data. GIS technology is particularly useful when analyzing a wide variety of spatial data such as with remote sensing and spatial analysis. Remote sensing involves collecting remotely sensed data, such as satellite imagery, aerial photography, or radar images, and analyzing the data to gather information or investigate trends about the environment or the Earth's surface. Spatial analysis combines remotely sensed, thematic, statistical, quantitative, and geographical data through overlay, modeling, and other analytical techniques to investigate specific research questions. It is the combination of data formats and analysis techniques that has made GIS an essential tool in scientific investigations. This document presents information about the technical capabilities and project activities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Texas Water Science Center (TWSC) GIS Workgroup from 2002 through 2007.

  18. A knitted glove sensing system with compression strain for finger movements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryu, Hochung; Park, Sangki; Park, Jong-Jin; Bae, Jihyun

    2018-05-01

    Development of a fabric structure strain sensor has received considerable attention due to its broad application in healthcare monitoring and human–machine interfaces. In the knitted textile structure, it is critical to understand the surface structural deformation from a different body motion, inducing the electrical signal characteristics. Here, we report the electromechanical properties of the knitted glove sensing system focusing on the compressive strain behavior. Compared with the electrical response of the tensile strain, the compressive strain shows much higher sensitivity, stability, and linearity via different finger motions. Additionally, the sensor exhibits constant electrical properties after repeated cyclic tests and washing processes. The proposed knitted glove sensing system can be readily extended to a scalable and cost-effective production due to the use of a commercialized manufacturing system.

  19. Advanced Fiber Optic-Based Sensing Technology for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Lance; Parker, Allen R.; Piazza, Anthony; Ko, William L.; Chan, Patrick; Bakalyar, John

    2011-01-01

    This presentation provides an overview of fiber optic sensing technology development activities performed at NASA Dryden in support of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Examples of current and previous work are presented in the following categories: algorithm development, system development, instrumentation installation, ground R&D, and flight testing. Examples of current research and development activities are provided.

  20. Making Sense of Alternative Assessment in a Qualitative Evaluation System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rojas Serrano, Javier

    2017-01-01

    In a Colombian private English institution, a qualitative evaluation system has been incorporated. This type of evaluation poses challenges to students who have never been evaluated through a system that eliminates exams or quizzes and, as a consequence, these students have to start making sense of it. This study explores the way students face the…

  1. Location-based resource allocation for OFDMA cognitive radio systems

    KAUST Repository

    Nam, Haewoon

    2010-01-01

    In cognitive radio systems, in order for the secondary users to opportunistically share the spectrum without interfering the primary users, an accurate spectrum measurement and a precise estimation of the interference at the primary users are necessary but are challenging tasks. Since it is impractical in cognitive radio systems to assume that the channel state information of the interference link is available at the cognitive transmitter, the interference at the primary users is hard to be estimated accurately. This paper introduces a resource allocation algorithm for OFDMA-based cognitive radio systems, which utilizes location information of the primary and secondary users instead of the channel state information of the interference link. Simulation results show that it is indeed effective to incorporate location information into resource allocation so that a near-optimal capacity is achieved.

  2. Development of an accurate transmission line fault locator using the global positioning system satellites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Harry

    1994-01-01

    A highly accurate transmission line fault locator based on the traveling-wave principle was developed and successfully operated within B.C. Hydro. A transmission line fault produces a fast-risetime traveling wave at the fault point which propagates along the transmission line. This fault locator system consists of traveling wave detectors located at key substations which detect and time tag the leading edge of the fault-generated traveling wave as if passes through. A master station gathers the time-tagged information from the remote detectors and determines the location of the fault. Precise time is a key element to the success of this system. This fault locator system derives its timing from the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. System tests confirmed the accuracy of locating faults to within the design objective of +/-300 meters.

  3. Laser long-range remote-sensing program experimental results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Highland, Ronald G.; Shilko, Michael L.; Fox, Marsha J.; Gonglewski, John D.; Czyzak, Stanley R.; Dowling, James A.; Kelly, Brian; Pierrottet, Diego F.; Ruffatto, Donald; Loando, Sharon; Matsuura, Chris; Senft, Daniel C.; Finkner, Lyle; Rae, Joe; Gallegos, Joe

    1995-12-01

    A laser long range remote sensing (LRS) program is being conducted by the United States Air Force Phillips Laboratory (AF/PL). As part of this program, AF/PL is testing the feasibility of developing a long path CO(subscript 2) laser-based DIAL system for remote sensing. In support of this program, the AF/PL has recently completed an experimental series using a 21 km slant- range path (3.05 km ASL transceiver height to 0.067 km ASL target height) at its Phillips Laboratory Air Force Maui Optical Station (AMOS) facility located on Maui, Hawaii. The dial system uses a 3-joule, (superscript 13)C isotope laser coupled into a 0.6 m diameter telescope. The atmospheric optical characterization incorporates information from an infrared scintillometer co-aligned to the laser path, atmospheric profiles from weather balloons launched from the target site, and meteorological data from ground stations at AMOS and the target site. In this paper, we report a description of the experiment configuration, a summary of the results, a summary of the atmospheric conditions and their implications to the LRS program. The capability of such a system for long-range, low-angle, slant-path remote sensing is discussed. System performance issues relating to both coherent and incoherent detection methods, atmospheric limitations, as well as, the development of advanced models to predict performance of long range scenarios are presented.

  4. Crowd Sensing-Enabling Security Service Recommendation for Social Fog Computing Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jun; Su, Zhou; Wang, Shen; Li, Jianhua

    2017-07-30

    Fog computing, shifting intelligence and resources from the remote cloud to edge networks, has the potential of providing low-latency for the communication from sensing data sources to users. For the objects from the Internet of Things (IoT) to the cloud, it is a new trend that the objects establish social-like relationships with each other, which efficiently brings the benefits of developed sociality to a complex environment. As fog service become more sophisticated, it will become more convenient for fog users to share their own services, resources, and data via social networks. Meanwhile, the efficient social organization can enable more flexible, secure, and collaborative networking. Aforementioned advantages make the social network a potential architecture for fog computing systems. In this paper, we design an architecture for social fog computing, in which the services of fog are provisioned based on "friend" relationships. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at an organized fog computing system-based social model. Meanwhile, social networking enhances the complexity and security risks of fog computing services, creating difficulties of security service recommendations in social fog computing. To address this, we propose a novel crowd sensing-enabling security service provisioning method to recommend security services accurately in social fog computing systems. Simulation results show the feasibilities and efficiency of the crowd sensing-enabling security service recommendation method for social fog computing systems.

  5. Energy Autonomous Wireless Sensing System Enabled by Energy Generated during Human Walking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuang, Yang; Ruan, Tingwen; Chew, Zheng Jun; Zhu, Meiling

    2016-01-01

    Recently, there has been a huge amount of work devoted to wearable energy harvesting (WEH) in a bid to establish energy autonomous wireless sensing systems for a range of health monitoring applications. However, limited work has been performed to implement and test such systems in real-world settings. This paper reports the development and real-world characterisation of a magnetically plucked wearable knee-joint energy harvester (Mag-WKEH) powered wireless sensing system, which integrates our latest research progresses in WEH, power conditioning and wireless sensing to achieve high energy efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that with walking speeds of 3∼7 km/h, the Mag-WKEH generates average power of 1.9∼4.5 mW with unnoticeable impact on the wearer and is able to power the wireless sensor node (WSN) with three sensors to work at duty cycles of 6.6%∼13%. In each active period of 2 s, the WSN is able to measure and transmit 482 readings to the base station. (paper)

  6. Tracking of nuclear shipments with automatic vehicle location systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Colhoun, C.J.K.

    1989-01-01

    A complete Automatic Vehicle Location System (AVL) consists of three main elements: (1) the location sensor in the vehicle, this device constantly determines the coordinates of the vehicles position; (2) the radio link between vehicle and central base; (3) the data processing and display in the central base. For all three elements there are several solutions. The optimal combination of the different techniques depends on the requirements of the special application

  7. Discrete Wavelet Transform for Fault Locations in Underground Distribution System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apisit, C.; Ngaopitakkul, A.

    2010-10-01

    In this paper, a technique for detecting faults in underground distribution system is presented. Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) based on traveling wave is employed in order to detect the high frequency components and to identify fault locations in the underground distribution system. The first peak time obtained from the faulty bus is employed for calculating the distance of fault from sending end. The validity of the proposed technique is tested with various fault inception angles, fault locations and faulty phases. The result is found that the proposed technique provides satisfactory result and will be very useful in the development of power systems protection scheme.

  8. DNA-Enabled Integrated Molecular Systems for Computation and Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-05-21

    Computational devices can be chemically conjugated to different strands of DNA that are then self-assembled according to strict Watson − Crick binding rules... DNA -Enabled Integrated Molecular Systems for Computation and Sensing Craig LaBoda,† Heather Duschl,† and Chris L. Dwyer*,†,‡ †Department of...guided folding of DNA , inspired by nature, allows designs to manipulate molecular-scale processes unlike any other material system. Thus, DNA can be

  9. Unbalance detection in rotor systems with active bearings using self-sensing piezoelectric actuators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ambur, Ramakrishnan; Rinderknecht, Stephan

    2018-03-01

    Machines which are developed today are highly automated due to increased use of mechatronic systems. To ensure their reliable operation, fault detection and isolation (FDI) is an important feature along with a better control. This research work aims to achieve and integrate both these functions with minimum number of components in a mechatronic system. This article investigates a rotating machine with active bearings equipped with piezoelectric actuators. There is an inherent coupling between their electrical and mechanical properties because of which they can also be used as sensors. Mechanical deflection can be reconstructed from these self-sensing actuators from measured voltage and current signals. These virtual sensor signals are utilised to detect unbalance in a rotor system. Parameters of unbalance such as its magnitude and phase are detected by parametric estimation method in frequency domain. Unbalance location has been identified using hypothesis of localization of faults. Robustness of the estimates against outliers in measurements is improved using weighted least squares method. Unbalances are detected in a real test bench apart from simulation using its model. Experiments are performed in stationary as well as in transient case. As a further step unbalances are estimated during simultaneous actuation of actuators in closed loop with an adaptive algorithm for vibration minimisation. This strategy could be used in systems which aim for both fault detection and control action.

  10. Linking climate change education through the integration of a kite-borne remote sensing system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yichun Xie

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available A majority of secondary science teachers are found to include the topic of climate change in their courses. However, teachers informally and sporadically discuss climate change and students rarely understand the underlying scientific concepts. The project team developed an innovative pedagogical approach, in which teachers and students learn climate change concepts by analyzing National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA global data collected through satellites and by imitating the NASA data collection process through NASA Airborne Earth Research Observation Kites And Tethered Systems (AEROKATS, a kite-borne remote sensing system. Besides AEROKATS, other major components of this system include a web-collection of NASA and remote sensing data and related educational resources, project-based learning for teacher professional development, teacher and student field trips, iOS devices, smart field data collector apps, portable weather stations, probeware, and a virtual teacher collaboratory supported with a GIS-enabled mapping portal. Three sets of research instruments, the NASA Long-Term Experience –Educator End of Event Survey, the Teacher End of Project Survey, and the pre-and-post-Investigating Climate Change and Remote Sensing (ICCARS project student exams, are adapted to study the pedagogical impacts of the NASA AEROKATS remote sensing system. These findings confirm that climate change education is more effective when both teachers and students actively participate in authentic scientific inquiry by collecting and analyzing remote sensing data, developing hypotheses, designing experiments, sharing findings, and discussing results.

  11. Closed-loop feedback control for microfluidic systems through automated capacitive fluid height sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soenksen, L R; Kassis, T; Noh, M; Griffith, L G; Trumper, D L

    2018-03-13

    Precise fluid height sensing in open-channel microfluidics has long been a desirable feature for a wide range of applications. However, performing accurate measurements of the fluid level in small-scale reservoirs (sensor contact needs to be avoided. In particular, gravity-driven systems used in several microfluidic applications to establish pressure gradients and impose flow remain open-loop and largely unmonitored due to these sensing limitations. Here we present an optimized self-shielded coplanar capacitive sensor design and automated control system to provide submillimeter fluid-height resolution (∼250 μm) and control of small-scale open reservoirs without the need for direct fluid contact. Results from testing and validation of our optimized sensor and system also suggest that accurate fluid height information can be used to robustly characterize, calibrate and dynamically control a range of microfluidic systems with complex pumping mechanisms, even in cell culture conditions. Capacitive sensing technology provides a scalable and cost-effective way to enable continuous monitoring and closed-loop feedback control of fluid volumes in small-scale gravity-dominated wells in a variety of microfluidic applications.

  12. BioRadioTransmitter: a self-powered wireless glucose-sensing system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanashi, Takuya; Yamazaki, Tomohiko; Tsugawa, Wakako; Ikebukuro, Kazunori; Sode, Koji

    2011-09-01

    Although an enzyme fuel cell can be utilized as a glucose sensor, the output power generated is too low to power a device such as a currently available transmitter and operating system, and an external power source is required for operating an enzyme-fuel-cell-based biosensing system. We proposed a novel biosensor that we named BioCapacitor, in which a capacitor serves as a transducer. In this study, we constructed a new BioCapacitor-based system with an added radio-transmitter circuit and a miniaturized enzyme fuel cell. A miniaturized direct-electron-transfer-type compartmentless enzyme fuel cell was constructed with flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent glucose dehydrogenase complex-based anode and a bilirubin-oxidase-based cathode. For construction of a BioRadioTransmitter wireless sensing system, a capacitor, an ultra-low-voltage charge-pump-integrated circuit, and Hartley oscillator circuit were connected to the miniaturized enzyme fuel cell. A radio-receiver circuit, comprising two field-effect transistors and a coil as an antenna, was used to amplify the signal generated from the biofuel cells. Radio wave signals generated by the BioRadioTransmitter were received, amplified, and converted from alternate to direct current by the radio receiver. When the capacitor discharges in the presence of glucose, the BioRadioTransmitter generates a radio wave, which is monitored by a radio receiver connected wirelessly to the sensing device. Magnitude of the radio wave transmission frequency change observed at the radio receiver was correlated to glucose concentration in the fuel cells. We constructed a stand-alone, self-powered, wireless glucose-sensing system called a BioRadioTransmitter by using a radio transmitter in which the radio wave transmission frequency changes with the glucose concentration in the fuel cell. The BioRadioTransmitter is a significant advance toward construction of an implantable continuous glucose monitor. © 2011 Diabetes Technology Society.

  13. Application of algorithms and artificial-intelligence approach for locating multiple harmonics in distribution systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hong, Y.-Y.; Chen, Y.-C. [Chung Yuan University (China). Dept. of Electrical Engineering

    1999-05-01

    A new method is proposed for locating multiple harmonic sources in distribution systems. The proposed method first determines the proper locations for metering measurement using fuzzy clustering. Next, an artificial neural network based on the back-propagation approach is used to identify the most likely location for multiple harmonic sources. A set of systematic algorithmic steps is developed until all harmonic locations are identified. The simulation results for an 18-busbar system show that the proposed method is very efficient in locating the multiple harmonics in a distribution system. (author)

  14. Automatic cross-sectioning and monitoring system locates defects in electronic devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, G.; Slaughter, B.

    1971-01-01

    System consists of motorized grinding and lapping apparatus, sample holder, and electronic control circuit. Low power microscope examines device to pinpoint location of circuit defect, and monitor displays output signal when defect is located exactly.

  15. A wearable 3D motion sensing system integrated with a Bluetooth smart phone application: A system level overview

    KAUST Repository

    Karimi, Muhammad Akram

    2018-01-02

    An era of ubiquitous motion sensing has just begun. All electronic gadgets ranging from game consoles to mobile phones have some sort of motion sensors in them. In contrast to rigid motion sensing systems, this paper presents a system level description of a wearable 3D motion sensor. The sensing mechanism is based upon well-established magnetic and inertial measurement unit (MIMU), which integrates accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer data. Two sensor boards have been integrated within a wearable arm sleeve to capture 3D orientation of the human arm. The sensors have been interfaced with a Bluetooth transceiver chip, which transmits data to a mobile phone app using standard Bluetooth protocol. An android mobile phone app has been developed to display the human arm motion in real time.

  16. Geospatial Analysis and Remote Sensing from Airplanes and Satellites for Cultural Resources Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giardino, Marco J.; Haley, Bryan S.

    2005-01-01

    Cultural resource management consists of research to identify, evaluate, document and assess cultural resources, planning to assist in decision-making, and stewardship to implement the preservation, protection and interpretation of these decisions and plans. One technique that may be useful in cultural resource management archaeology is remote sensing. It is the acquisition of data and derivative information about objects or materials (targets) located on the Earth's surface or in its atmosphere by using sensor mounted on platforms located at a distance from the targets to make measurements on interactions between the targets and electromagnetic radiation. Included in this definition are systems that acquire imagery by photographic methods and digital multispectral sensors. Data collected by digital multispectral sensors on aircraft and satellite platforms play a prominent role in many earth science applications, including land cover mapping, geology, soil science, agriculture, forestry, water resource management, urban and regional planning, and environmental assessments. Inherent in the analysis of remotely sensed data is the use of computer-based image processing techniques. Geographical information systems (GIS), designed for collecting, managing, and analyzing spatial information, are also useful in the analysis of remotely sensed data. A GIS can be used to integrate diverse types of spatially referenced digital data, including remotely sensed and map data. In archaeology, these tools have been used in various ways to aid in cultural resource projects. For example, they have been used to predict the presence of archaeological resources using modern environmental indicators. Remote sensing techniques have also been used to directly detect the presence of unknown sites based on the impact of past occupation on the Earth's surface. Additionally, remote sensing has been used as a mapping tool aimed at delineating the boundaries of a site or mapping previously

  17. Self-Evaluation of PANDA-FBG Based Sensing System for Dynamic Distributed Strain and Temperature Measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Mengshi; Murayama, Hideaki; Wada, Daichi

    2017-10-12

    A novel method is introduced in this work for effectively evaluating the performance of the PANDA type polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating (PANDA-FBG) distributed dynamic strain and temperature sensing system. Conventionally, the errors during the measurement are unknown or evaluated by using other sensors such as strain gauge and thermocouples. This will make the sensing system complicated and decrease the efficiency since more than one kind of sensor is applied for the same measurand. In this study, we used the approximately constant ratio of primary errors in strain and temperature measurement and realized the self-evaluation of the sensing system, which can significantly enhance the applicability, as well as the reliability in strategy making.

  18. Sensing charges of the Ciona intestinalis voltage-sensing phosphatase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villalba-Galea, Carlos A; Frezza, Ludivine; Sandtner, Walter; Bezanilla, Francisco

    2013-11-01

    Voltage control over enzymatic activity in voltage-sensitive phosphatases (VSPs) is conferred by a voltage-sensing domain (VSD) located in the N terminus. These VSDs are constituted by four putative transmembrane segments (S1 to S4) resembling those found in voltage-gated ion channels. The putative fourth segment (S4) of the VSD contains positive residues that likely function as voltage-sensing elements. To study in detail how these residues sense the plasma membrane potential, we have focused on five arginines in the S4 segment of the Ciona intestinalis VSP (Ci-VSP). After implementing a histidine scan, here we show that four arginine-to-histidine mutants, namely R223H to R232H, mediate voltage-dependent proton translocation across the membrane, indicating that these residues transit through the hydrophobic core of Ci-VSP as a function of the membrane potential. These observations indicate that the charges carried by these residues are sensing charges. Furthermore, our results also show that the electrical field in VSPs is focused in a narrow hydrophobic region that separates the extracellular and intracellular space and constitutes the energy barrier for charge crossing.

  19. The Use of a Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing Technology for Monitoring Land Use and Soil Carbon Change in the Subtropical Dry Forest Life Zone of Puerto Rico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velez-Rodriguez, Linda L. (Principal Investigator)

    1996-01-01

    Aerial photography, one of the first form of remote sensing technology, has long been an invaluable means to monitor activities and conditions at the Earth's surface. Geographic Information Systems or GIS is the use of computers in showing and manipulating spatial data. This report will present the use of geographic information systems and remote sensing technology for monitoring land use and soil carbon change in the subtropical dry forest life zone of Puerto Rico. This research included the south of Puerto Rico that belongs to the subtropical dry forest life zone. The Guanica Commonwealth Forest Biosphere Reserve and the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve are studied in detail, because of their location in the subtropical dry forest life zone. Aerial photography, digital multispectral imagery, soil samples, soil survey maps, field inspections, and differential global positioning system (DGPS) observations were used.

  20. Study on algorithm of process neural network for soft sensing in sewage disposal system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zaiwen; Xue, Hong; Wang, Xiaoyi; Yang, Bin; Lu, Siying

    2006-11-01

    A new method of soft sensing based on process neural network (PNN) for sewage disposal system is represented in the paper. PNN is an extension of traditional neural network, in which the inputs and outputs are time-variation. An aggregation operator is introduced to process neuron, and it makes the neuron network has the ability to deal with the information of space-time two dimensions at the same time, so the data processing enginery of biological neuron is imitated better than traditional neuron. Process neural network with the structure of three layers in which hidden layer is process neuron and input and output are common neurons for soft sensing is discussed. The intelligent soft sensing based on PNN may be used to fulfill measurement of the effluent BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) from sewage disposal system, and a good training result of soft sensing was obtained by the method.

  1. Crowd Sensing-Enabling Security Service Recommendation for Social Fog Computing Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Wu

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Fog computing, shifting intelligence and resources from the remote cloud to edge networks, has the potential of providing low-latency for the communication from sensing data sources to users. For the objects from the Internet of Things (IoT to the cloud, it is a new trend that the objects establish social-like relationships with each other, which efficiently brings the benefits of developed sociality to a complex environment. As fog service become more sophisticated, it will become more convenient for fog users to share their own services, resources, and data via social networks. Meanwhile, the efficient social organization can enable more flexible, secure, and collaborative networking. Aforementioned advantages make the social network a potential architecture for fog computing systems. In this paper, we design an architecture for social fog computing, in which the services of fog are provisioned based on “friend” relationships. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at an organized fog computing system-based social model. Meanwhile, social networking enhances the complexity and security risks of fog computing services, creating difficulties of security service recommendations in social fog computing. To address this, we propose a novel crowd sensing-enabling security service provisioning method to recommend security services accurately in social fog computing systems. Simulation results show the feasibilities and efficiency of the crowd sensing-enabling security service recommendation method for social fog computing systems.

  2. Crowd Sensing-Enabling Security Service Recommendation for Social Fog Computing Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jun; Su, Zhou; Li, Jianhua

    2017-01-01

    Fog computing, shifting intelligence and resources from the remote cloud to edge networks, has the potential of providing low-latency for the communication from sensing data sources to users. For the objects from the Internet of Things (IoT) to the cloud, it is a new trend that the objects establish social-like relationships with each other, which efficiently brings the benefits of developed sociality to a complex environment. As fog service become more sophisticated, it will become more convenient for fog users to share their own services, resources, and data via social networks. Meanwhile, the efficient social organization can enable more flexible, secure, and collaborative networking. Aforementioned advantages make the social network a potential architecture for fog computing systems. In this paper, we design an architecture for social fog computing, in which the services of fog are provisioned based on “friend” relationships. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at an organized fog computing system-based social model. Meanwhile, social networking enhances the complexity and security risks of fog computing services, creating difficulties of security service recommendations in social fog computing. To address this, we propose a novel crowd sensing-enabling security service provisioning method to recommend security services accurately in social fog computing systems. Simulation results show the feasibilities and efficiency of the crowd sensing-enabling security service recommendation method for social fog computing systems. PMID:28758943

  3. SENSOR: a tool for the simulation of hyperspectral remote sensing systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Börner, Anko; Wiest, Lorenz; Keller, Peter; Reulke, Ralf; Richter, Rolf; Schaepman, Michael; Schläpfer, Daniel

    The consistent end-to-end simulation of airborne and spaceborne earth remote sensing systems is an important task, and sometimes the only way for the adaptation and optimisation of a sensor and its observation conditions, the choice and test of algorithms for data processing, error estimation and the evaluation of the capabilities of the whole sensor system. The presented software simulator SENSOR (Software Environment for the Simulation of Optical Remote sensing systems) includes a full model of the sensor hardware, the observed scene, and the atmosphere in between. The simulator consists of three parts. The first part describes the geometrical relations between scene, sun, and the remote sensing system using a ray-tracing algorithm. The second part of the simulation environment considers the radiometry. It calculates the at-sensor radiance using a pre-calculated multidimensional lookup-table taking the atmospheric influence on the radiation into account. The third part consists of an optical and an electronic sensor model for the generation of digital images. Using SENSOR for an optimisation requires the additional application of task-specific data processing algorithms. The principle of the end-to-end-simulation approach is explained, all relevant concepts of SENSOR are discussed, and first examples of its use are given. The verification of SENSOR is demonstrated. This work is closely related to the Airborne PRISM Experiment (APEX), an airborne imaging spectrometer funded by the European Space Agency.

  4. Famine Early Warning Systems and Their Use of Satellite Remote Sensing Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Molly E.; Essam, Timothy; Leonard, Kenneth

    2011-01-01

    Famine early warning organizations have experience that has much to contribute to efforts to incorporate climate and weather information into economic and political systems. Food security crises are now caused almost exclusively by problems of food access, not absolute food availability, but the role of monitoring agricultural production both locally and globally remains central. The price of food important to the understanding of food security in any region, but it needs to be understood in the context of local production. Thus remote sensing is still at the center of much food security analysis, along with an examination of markets, trade and economic policies during food security analyses. Technology including satellite remote sensing, earth science models, databases of food production and yield, and modem telecommunication systems contributed to improved food production information. Here we present an econometric approach focused on bringing together satellite remote sensing and market analysis into food security assessment in the context of early warning.

  5. Annotated bibliography of remote sensing methods for monitoring desertification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, A.S.; Robinove, Charles J.

    1981-01-01

    Remote sensing techniques are valuable for locating, assessing, and monitoring desertification. Remotely sensed data provide a permanent record of the condition of the land in a format that allows changes in land features and condition to be measured. The annotated bibliography of 118 items discusses remote sensing methods that may be applied to desertification studies.

  6. Mapping of groundwater potential zones in the musi basin using remote sensing data and gis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ganapuram, Sreedhar; Vijaya Kumar, G.T.; Murali Krishna, I.V.; Kahya, Ercan; Demirel, M.C.

    2009-01-01

    The objective of this study is to explore the groundwater availability for agriculture in the Musi basin. Remote sensing data and geographic information system were used to locate potential zones for groundwater in the Musi basin. Various maps (i.e., base, hydrogeomorphological, geological,

  7. A Location-Based Interactive Model of Internet of Things and Cloud (IoT-Cloud) for Mobile Cloud Computing Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dinh, Thanh; Kim, Younghan; Lee, Hyukjoon

    2017-03-01

    This paper presents a location-based interactive model of Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud integration (IoT-cloud) for mobile cloud computing applications, in comparison with the periodic sensing model. In the latter, sensing collections are performed without awareness of sensing demands. Sensors are required to report their sensing data periodically regardless of whether or not there are demands for their sensing services. This leads to unnecessary energy loss due to redundant transmission. In the proposed model, IoT-cloud provides sensing services on demand based on interest and location of mobile users. By taking advantages of the cloud as a coordinator, sensing scheduling of sensors is controlled by the cloud, which knows when and where mobile users request for sensing services. Therefore, when there is no demand, sensors are put into an inactive mode to save energy. Through extensive analysis and experimental results, we show that the location-based model achieves a significant improvement in terms of network lifetime compared to the periodic model.

  8. Kingfisher: a system for remote sensing image database management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruzzo, Michele; Giordano, Ferdinando; Dellepiane, Silvana G.

    2003-04-01

    At present retrieval methods in remote sensing image database are mainly based on spatial-temporal information. The increasing amount of images to be collected by the ground station of earth observing systems emphasizes the need for database management with intelligent data retrieval capabilities. The purpose of the proposed method is to realize a new content based retrieval system for remote sensing images database with an innovative search tool based on image similarity. This methodology is quite innovative for this application, at present many systems exist for photographic images, as for example QBIC and IKONA, but they are not able to extract and describe properly remote image content. The target database is set by an archive of images originated from an X-SAR sensor (spaceborne mission, 1994). The best content descriptors, mainly texture parameters, guarantees high retrieval performances and can be extracted without losses independently of image resolution. The latter property allows DBMS (Database Management System) to process low amount of information, as in the case of quick-look images, improving time performance and memory access without reducing retrieval accuracy. The matching technique has been designed to enable image management (database population and retrieval) independently of dimensions (width and height). Local and global content descriptors are compared, during retrieval phase, with the query image and results seem to be very encouraging.

  9. Hierarchical fiber-optic-based sensing system: impact damage monitoring of large-scale CFRP structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Minakuchi, Shu; Banshoya, Hidehiko; Takeda, Nobuo; Tsukamoto, Haruka

    2011-01-01

    This study proposes a novel fiber-optic-based hierarchical sensing concept for monitoring randomly induced damage in large-scale composite structures. In a hierarchical system, several kinds of specialized devices are hierarchically combined to form a sensing network. Specifically, numerous three-dimensionally structured sensor devices are distributed throughout the whole structural area and connected with an optical fiber network through transducing mechanisms. The distributed devices detect damage, and the fiber-optic network gathers the damage signals and transmits the information to a measuring instrument. This study began by discussing the basic concept of a hierarchical sensing system through comparison with existing fiber-optic-based systems, and an impact damage detection system was then proposed to validate the new concept. The sensor devices were developed based on comparative vacuum monitoring (CVM), and Brillouin-based distributed strain measurement was utilized to identify damaged areas. Verification tests were conducted step-by-step, beginning with a basic test using a single sensor unit, and, finally, the proposed monitoring system was successfully verified using a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) fuselage demonstrator. It was clearly confirmed that the hierarchical system has better repairability, higher robustness, and a wider monitorable area compared to existing systems

  10. Integrated Circuit Design of 3 Electrode Sensing System Using Two-Stage Operational Amplifier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rani, S.; Abdullah, W. F. H.; Zain, Z. M.; N, Aqmar N. Z.

    2018-03-01

    This paper presents the design of a two-stage operational amplifier(op amp) for 3-electrode sensing system readout circuits. The designs have been simulated using 0.13μm CMOS technology from Silterra (Malaysia) with Mentor graphics tools. The purpose of this projects is mainly to design a miniature interfacing circuit to detect the redox reaction in the form of current using standard analog modules. The potentiostat consists of several op amps combined together in order to analyse the signal coming from the 3-electrode sensing system. This op amp design will be used in potentiostat circuit device and to analyse the functionality for each module of the system.

  11. Detection of arcing location on photovoltaic systems using filters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Jay

    2018-02-20

    The present invention relates to photovoltaic systems capable of identifying the location of an arc-fault. In particular, such systems include a unique filter connected to each photovoltaic (PV) string, thereby providing a unique filtered noise profile associated with a particular PV string. Also described herein are methods for identifying and isolating such arc-faults.

  12. Feasibility of Locating Leakages in Sewage Pressure Pipes Using the Distributed Temperature Sensing Technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apperl, Benjamin; Pressl, Alexander; Schulz, Karsten

    2017-01-01

    The cost effective maintenance of underwater pressure pipes for sewage disposal in Austria requires the detection and localization of leakages. Extrusion of wastewater in lakes can heavily influence the water and bathing quality of surrounding waters. The Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) technology is a widely used technique for oil and gas pipeline leakage detection. While in pipeline leakage detection, fiber optic cables are installed permanently at the outside or within the protective sheathing of the pipe; this paper aims at testing the feasibility of detecting leakages with temporary introduced fiber optic cable inside the pipe. The detection and localization were tested in a laboratory experiment. The intrusion of water from leakages into the pipe, producing a local temperature drop, served as indicator for leakages. Measurements were taken under varying measurement conditions, including the number of leakages as well as the positioning of the fiber optic cable. Experiments showed that leakages could be detected accurately with the proposed methodology, when measuring resolution, temperature gradient and measurement time were properly selected. Despite the successful application of DTS for leakage detection in this lab environment, challenges in real system applications may arise from temperature gradients within the pipe system over longer distances and the placement of the cable into the real pipe system.

  13. A methodology for selection of wind energy system locations using multicriterial analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sansevic, M.; Rabadan, Lj. Pilic [Croatia Univ., Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, Split (Croatia)

    1996-12-31

    The effectiveness of a wind turbine generator depends not only on its performance but also on the site`s wind resource. Thus the problem of location selection should be approached systematically, by considering a set of relevant parameters particularly those having a significant economical and ecological impact. This paper presents the methodology used in location selection for the operation of wind energy system. It is based on a multicriterial analysis which enables comparison and ranking of locations according to a set of different parameters. Principal objectives (criteria) in location selection are: energy-economical, technical-technological, physical planning and environment and life protection objectives. For the mathematical modeling of this multicriterial problem the PROMETHEE method is chosen which is developed especially for the solution of rather ``poorly`` structured problems, thus justifying its application in the preliminary stage of site selection for the wind energy systems. The developed methodology is applied in selecting the locations in the island of Rhodes using the available database of the Geographic Information System and the wind potential data obtained by means of the AIOLOS program. (Author)

  14. Intelligent geocoding system to locate traffic crashes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Xiao; Parker, Steven; Liu, Yi; Graettinger, Andrew J; Forde, Susie

    2013-01-01

    State agencies continue to face many challenges associated with new federal crash safety and highway performance monitoring requirements that use data from multiple and disparate systems across different platforms and locations. On a national level, the federal government has a long-term vision for State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) to report state route and off-state route crash data in a single network. In general, crashes occurring on state-owned or state maintained highways are a priority at the Federal and State level; therefore, state-route crashes are being geocoded by state DOTs. On the other hand, crashes occurring on off-state highway system do not always get geocoded due to limited resources and techniques. Creating and maintaining a statewide crash geographic information systems (GIS) map with state route and non-state route crashes is a complicated and expensive task. This study introduces an automatic crash mapping process, Crash-Mapping Automation Tool (C-MAT), where an algorithm translates location information from a police report crash record to a geospatial map and creates a pinpoint map for all crashes. The algorithm has approximate 83 percent mapping rate. An important application of this work is the ability to associate the mapped crash records to underlying business data, such as roadway inventory and traffic volumes. The integrated crash map is the foundation for effective and efficient crash analyzes to prevent highway crashes. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  15. Artificial Neural Network for Location Estimation in Wireless Communication Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chien-Sheng Chen

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available In a wireless communication system, wireless location is the technique used to estimate the location of a mobile station (MS. To enhance the accuracy of MS location prediction, we propose a novel algorithm that utilizes time of arrival (TOA measurements and the angle of arrival (AOA information to locate MS when three base stations (BSs are available. Artificial neural networks (ANN are widely used techniques in various areas to overcome the problem of exclusive and nonlinear relationships. When the MS is heard by only three BSs, the proposed algorithm utilizes the intersections of three TOA circles (and the AOA line, based on various neural networks, to estimate the MS location in non-line-of-sight (NLOS environments. Simulations were conducted to evaluate the performance of the algorithm for different NLOS error distributions. The numerical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can obtain more precise location estimation under different NLOS environments.

  16. Artificial neural network for location estimation in wireless communication systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chien-Sheng

    2012-01-01

    In a wireless communication system, wireless location is the technique used to estimate the location of a mobile station (MS). To enhance the accuracy of MS location prediction, we propose a novel algorithm that utilizes time of arrival (TOA) measurements and the angle of arrival (AOA) information to locate MS when three base stations (BSs) are available. Artificial neural networks (ANN) are widely used techniques in various areas to overcome the problem of exclusive and nonlinear relationships. When the MS is heard by only three BSs, the proposed algorithm utilizes the intersections of three TOA circles (and the AOA line), based on various neural networks, to estimate the MS location in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments. Simulations were conducted to evaluate the performance of the algorithm for different NLOS error distributions. The numerical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can obtain more precise location estimation under different NLOS environments.

  17. A packet-based dual-rate PID control strategy for a slow-rate sensing Networked Control System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuenca, A; Alcaina, J; Salt, J; Casanova, V; Pizá, R

    2018-05-01

    This paper introduces a packet-based dual-rate control strategy to face time-varying network-induced delays, packet dropouts and packet disorder in a Networked Control System. Slow-rate sensing enables to achieve energy saving and to avoid packet disorder. Fast-rate actuation makes reaching the desired control performance possible. The dual-rate PID controller is split into two parts: a slow-rate PI controller located at the remote side (with no permanent communication to the plant) and a fast-rate PD controller located at the local side. The remote side also includes a prediction stage in order to generate the packet of future, estimated slow-rate control actions. These actions are sent to the local side and converted to fast-rate ones to be used when a packet does not arrive at this side due to the network-induced delay or due to occurring dropouts. The proposed control solution is able to approximately reach the nominal (no-delay, no-dropout) performance despite the existence of time-varying delays and packet dropouts. Control system stability is ensured in terms of probabilistic Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs). Via real-time control for a Cartesian robot, results clearly reveal the superiority of the control solution compared to a previous proposal by authors. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Optimizing lengths of confidence intervals: fourth-order efficiency in location models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klaassen, C.; Venetiaan, S.

    2010-01-01

    Under regularity conditions the maximum likelihood estimator of the location parameter in a location model is asymptotically efficient among translation equivariant estimators. Additional regularity conditions warrant third- and even fourth-order efficiency, in the sense that no translation

  19. ICE Online Detainee Locator System

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Homeland Security — The Online Detainee Locator datasets provide the location of a detainee who is currently in ICE custody, or who was release from ICE custody for any reason with the...

  20. Sensing behaviour in healthcare design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thorpe, Julia Rosemary; Hysse Forchhammer, Birgitte; Maier, Anja

    2017-01-01

    We are entering an era of distributed healthcare that should fit and respond to individual needs, behaviour and lifestyles. Designing such systems is a challenging task that requires continuous information about human behaviour on a large scale, for which pervasive sensing (e.g. using smartphones...... specifically on activity and location data that can easily be obtained from smartphones or wearables. We further demonstrate how these are applied in healthcare design using an example from dementia care. Comparing a current and proposed scenario exemplifies how integrating sensor-derived information about...... user behaviour can support the healthcare design goals of personalisation, adaptability and scalability, while emphasising patient quality of life....

  1. Determining building interior structures using compressive sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagunas, Eva; Amin, Moeness G.; Ahmad, Fauzia; Nájar, Montse

    2013-04-01

    We consider imaging of the building interior structures using compressive sensing (CS) with applications to through-the-wall imaging and urban sensing. We consider a monostatic synthetic aperture radar imaging system employing stepped frequency waveform. The proposed approach exploits prior information of building construction practices to form an appropriate sparse representation of the building interior layout. We devise a dictionary of possible wall locations, which is consistent with the fact that interior walls are typically parallel or perpendicular to the front wall. The dictionary accounts for the dominant normal angle reflections from exterior and interior walls for the monostatic imaging system. CS is applied to a reduced set of observations to recover the true positions of the walls. Additional information about interior walls can be obtained using a dictionary of possible corner reflectors, which is the response of the junction of two walls. Supporting results based on simulation and laboratory experiments are provided. It is shown that the proposed sparsifying basis outperforms the conventional through-the-wall CS model, the wavelet sparsifying basis, and the block sparse model for building interior layout detection.

  2. Geometric model of pseudo-distance measurement in satellite location systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panchuk, K. L.; Lyashkov, A. A.; Lyubchinov, E. V.

    2018-04-01

    The existing mathematical model of pseudo-distance measurement in satellite location systems does not provide a precise solution of the problem, but rather an approximate one. The existence of such inaccuracy, as well as bias in measurement of distance from satellite to receiver, results in inaccuracy level of several meters. Thereupon, relevance of refinement of the current mathematical model becomes obvious. The solution of the system of quadratic equations used in the current mathematical model is based on linearization. The objective of the paper is refinement of current mathematical model and derivation of analytical solution of the system of equations on its basis. In order to attain the objective, geometric analysis is performed; geometric interpretation of the equations is given. As a result, an equivalent system of equations, which allows analytical solution, is derived. An example of analytical solution implementation is presented. Application of analytical solution algorithm to the problem of pseudo-distance measurement in satellite location systems allows to improve the accuracy such measurements.

  3. Interest Aware Location-Based Recommender System Using Geo-Tagged Social Media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Basma AlBanna

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Advances in location acquisition and mobile technologies led to the addition of the location dimension to Social Networks (SNs and to the emergence of a newer class called Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs. While LBSNs are richer in their model and functions than SNs, they fail so far to attract as many users as SNs. On the other hand, SNs have large amounts of geo-tagged media that are under-utilized. In this paper, we propose an Interest-Aware Location-Based Recommender system (IALBR, which combines the advantages of both LBSNs and SNs, in order to provide interest-aware location-based recommendations. This recommender system is proposed as an extension to LBSNs. It is novel in: (1 utilizing the geo-content in both LBSNs and SNs; (2 ranking the recommendations based on a novel scoring method that maps to the user interests. It also works for passive users who are not active content contributors to the LBSN. This feature is critical to increase the number of LBSN users. Moreover, it helps with reducing the cold start problem, which is a common problem facing the new users of recommender systems who get random unsatisfying recommendations. This is due to the lack of user interest awareness, which is reliant on user history in most of the recommenders. We evaluated our system with a large-scale real dataset collected from foursquare with respect to precision, recall and the f-measure. We also compared the results with a ground truth system using metrics like the normalized discounted cumulative gain and the mean absolute error. The results confirm that the proposed IALBR generates more efficient recommendations than baselines in terms of interest awareness.

  4. Two-Dimensional Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control of a Field-Sensed Magnetic Suspension System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jen-Hsing Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the two-dimensional fuzzy sliding mode control of a field-sensed magnetic suspension system. The fuzzy rules include both the sliding manifold and its derivative. The fuzzy sliding mode control has advantages of the sliding mode control and the fuzzy control rules are minimized. Magnetic suspension systems are nonlinear and inherently unstable systems. The two-dimensional fuzzy sliding mode control can stabilize the nonlinear systems globally and attenuate chatter effectively. It is adequate to be applied to magnetic suspension systems. New design circuits of magnetic suspension systems are proposed in this paper. ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller is utilized as a digital controller. The implemented driver, sensor, and control circuits are simpler, more inexpensive, and effective. This apparatus is satisfactory for engineering education. In the hands-on experiments, the proposed control scheme markedly improves performances of the field-sensed magnetic suspension system.

  5. Improvements in irrigation system modelling when using remotely sensed ET for calibration

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Opstal, J. D.; Neale, C. M. U.; Lecina, S.

    2014-10-01

    Irrigation system modelling is often used to aid decision-makers in the agricultural sector. It gives insight on the consequences of potential management and infrastructure changes. However, simulating an irrigation district requires a considerable amount of input data to properly represent the system, which is not easily acquired or available. During the simulation process, several assumptions have to be made and the calibration is usually performed only with flow measurements. The advancement of estimating evapotranspiration (ET) using remote sensing is a welcome asset for irrigation system modelling. Remotely-sensed ET can be used to improve the model accuracy in simulating the water balance and the crop production. This study makes use of the Ador-Simulation irrigation system model, which simulates water flows in irrigation districts in both the canal infrastructure and on-field. ET is estimated using an energy balance model, namely SEBAL, which has been proven to function well for agricultural areas. The seasonal ET by the Ador model and the ET from SEBAL are compared. These results determine sub-command areas, which perform well under current assumptions or, conversely, areas that need re-evaluation of assumptions and a re-run of the model. Using a combined approach of the Ador irrigation system model and remote sensing outputs from SEBAL, gives great insights during the modelling process and can accelerate the process. Additionally cost-savings and time-savings are apparent due to the decrease in input data required for simulating large-scale irrigation areas.

  6. Joint sensor location/power rating optimization for temporally-correlated source estimation

    KAUST Repository

    Bushnaq, Osama M.; Chaaban, Anas; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.

    2017-01-01

    via wireless AWGN channel. In addition to selecting the optimal sensing location, the sensor type to be placed in these locations is selected from a pool of T sensor types such that different sensor types have different power ratings and costs

  7. Quorum Sensing of Periodontal Pathogens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darije Plančak

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The term ‘quorum sensing’ describes intercellular bacterial communication which regulates bacterial gene expression according to population cell density. Bacteria produce and secrete small molecules, named autoinducers, into the intercellular space. The concentration of these molecules increases as a function of population cell density. Once the concentration of the stimulatory threshold is reached, alteration in gene expression occurs. Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria possess different types of quorum sensing systems. Canonical LuxI/R-type/acyl homoserine lactone mediated quorum sensing system is the best studied quorum sensing circuit and is described in Gram-negative bacteria which employ it for inter-species communication mostly. Grampositive bacteria possess a peptide-mediated quorum sensing system. Bacteria can communicate within their own species (intra-species but also between species (inter-species, for which they employ an autoinducer-2 quorum sensing system which is called the universal language of the bacteria. Periodontal pathogenic bacteria possess AI-2 quorum sensing systems. It is known that they use it for regulation of biofilm formation, iron uptake, stress response and virulence factor expression. A better understanding of bacterial communication mechanisms will allow the targeting of quorum sensing with quorum sensing inhibitors to prevent and control disease.

  8. Bi-Directional Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analyzer System for Long Range Distributed Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Nan; Wang, Liang; Wang, Jie; Jin, Chao; Tam, Hwa-Yaw; Zhang, A. Ping; Lu, Chao

    2016-01-01

    We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel scheme of bi-directional Brillouin time domain analyzer (BD-BOTDA) to extend the sensing range. By deploying two pump-probe pairs at two different wavelengths, the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) distribution over each half of the whole fiber can be obtained with the simultaneous detection of Brillouin signals in both channels. Compared to the conventional unidirectional BOTDA system of the same sensing range, the proposed BD-BOTDA scheme enables distributed sensing with a performance level comparable to the conventional one with half of the sensing range and a spatial resolution of 2 m, while maintaining the Brillouin signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the BFS uncertainty. Based on this technique, we have achieved distributed temperature sensing with a measurement range of 81.9 km fiber at a spatial resolution of 2 m and BFS uncertainty of ~0.44 MHz without introducing any complicated components or schemes. PMID:27999250

  9. Bi-Directional Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analyzer System for Long Range Distributed Sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Nan; Wang, Liang; Wang, Jie; Jin, Chao; Tam, Hwa-Yaw; Zhang, A Ping; Lu, Chao

    2016-12-16

    We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel scheme of bi-directional Brillouin time domain analyzer (BD-BOTDA) to extend the sensing range. By deploying two pump-probe pairs at two different wavelengths, the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) distribution over each half of the whole fiber can be obtained with the simultaneous detection of Brillouin signals in both channels. Compared to the conventional unidirectional BOTDA system of the same sensing range, the proposed BD-BOTDA scheme enables distributed sensing with a performance level comparable to the conventional one with half of the sensing range and a spatial resolution of 2 m, while maintaining the Brillouin signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the BFS uncertainty. Based on this technique, we have achieved distributed temperature sensing with a measurement range of 81.9 km fiber at a spatial resolution of 2 m and BFS uncertainty of ~0.44 MHz without introducing any complicated components or schemes.

  10. SLG(Single-Line-to-Ground Fault Location in NUGS(Neutral Un-effectively Grounded System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Wenhai

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews the SLG(Single-Line-to-Ground fault location methods in NUGS(Neutral Un-effectively Grounded System, including ungrounded system, resonant grounded system and high-resistance grounded system which are widely used in Northern Europe and China. This type of fault is hard to detect and location because fault current is the sum of capacitance current of the system which is always small(about tens of amperes. The characteristics of SLG fault in NUGS and the fault location methods are introduced in the paper.

  11. Sense and Respond Logistics: Integrating Prediction, Responsiveness, and Control Capabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-01-01

    location. In the current environment, increased ambiguity has diminished this advantage and increased the need for a sense and respond combat...readily be applied to system dynamics prob- lems in business and organization processes. ABMs bring the “natu- ralness” advantage (which allows more...negotiation) as part of eCommerce applications being achieved by 2007. In the general opinion of AgentLink’s respondents, as well as our technology

  12. Application of remote sensing and geographical information system for generation of runoff curve number

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meshram, S. Gajbhiye; Sharma, S. K.; Tignath, S.

    2017-07-01

    Watershed is an ideal unit for planning and management of land and water resources (Gajbhiye et al., IEEE international conference on advances in technology and engineering (ICATE), Bombay, vol 1, issue 9, pp 23-25, 2013a; Gajbhiye et al., Appl Water Sci 4(1):51-61, 2014a; Gajbhiye et al., J Geol Soc India (SCI-IF 0.596) 84(2):192-196, 2014b). This study aims to generate the curve number, using remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) and the effect of slope on curve number values. The study was carried out in Kanhaiya Nala watershed located in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. Soil map, Land Use/Land cover and slope map were generated in GIS Environment. The CN parameter values corresponding to various soil, land cover, and land management conditions were selected from Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) standard table. Curve number (CN) is an index developed by the NRCS, to represent the potential for storm water runoff within a drainage area. The CN for a drainage basin is estimated using a combination of land use, soil, and antecedent soil moisture condition (AMC). In present study effect of slope on CN values were determined. The result showed that the CN unadjusted value are higher in comparison to CN adjusted with slope. Remote sensing and GIS is very reliable technique for the preparation of most of the input data required by the SCS curve number model.

  13. MagicFinger: 3D Magnetic Fingerprints for Indoor Location

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Carrillo

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Given the indispensable role of mobile phones in everyday life, phone-centric sensing systems are ideal candidates for ubiquitous observation purposes. This paper presents a novel approach for mobile phone-centric observation applied to indoor location. The approach involves a location fingerprinting methodology that takes advantage of the presence of magnetic field anomalies inside buildings. Unlike existing work on the subject, which uses the intensity of magnetic field for fingerprinting, our approach uses all three components of the measured magnetic field vectors to improve accuracy. By using adequate soft computing techniques, it is possible to adequately balance the constraints of common solutions. The resulting system does not rely on any infrastructure devices and therefore is easy to manage and deploy. The proposed system consists of two phases: the offline phase and the online phase. In the offline phase, magnetic field measurements are taken throughout the building, and 3D maps are generated. Then, during the online phase, the user’s location is estimated through the best estimator for each zone of the building. Experimental evaluations carried out in two different buildings confirm the satisfactory performance of indoor location based on magnetic field vectors. These evaluations provided an error of (11.34 m, 4.78 m in the (x; y components of the estimated positions in the first building where the experiments were carried out, with a standard deviation of (3.41 m, 4.68 m; and in the second building, an error of (4 m, 2.98 m with a deviation of (2.64 m, 2.33 m.

  14. Functional requirements for a comprehensive transportation location referencing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-06-01

    Transportation agencies manage data that is referenced in one, two, three, and four dimensions. Location referencing system (LRS) data models vary across transportation agencies and often within organizations as well. This has resulted in failed atte...

  15. Air-Sense: indoor environment monitoring evaluation system based on ZigBee network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yang; Hu, Liang; Yang, Disheng; Liu, Hengchang

    2017-08-01

    In the modern life, people spend most of their time indoors. However, indoor environmental quality problems have always been affecting people’s social activities. In general, indoor environmental quality is also related to our indoor activities. Since most of the organic irritants and volatile gases are colorless, odorless and too tiny to be seen, because we have been unconsciously overlooked indoor environment quality. Consequently, our body suffer a great health problem. In this work, we propose Air-Sense system which utilizes the platform of ZigBee Network to collect and detect the real-time indoor environment quality. What’s more, Air-Sense system can also provide data analysis, and visualizing the results of the indoor environment to the user.

  16. Airborne Collision Detection and Avoidance for Small UAS Sense and Avoid Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahawneh, Laith Rasmi

    The increasing demand to integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace is motivated by the rapid growth of the UAS industry, especially small UAS weighing less than 55 pounds. Their use however has been limited by the Federal Aviation Administration regulations due to collision risk they pose, safety and regulatory concerns. Therefore, before civil aviation authorities can approve routine UAS flight operations, UAS must be equipped with sense-and-avoid technology comparable to the see-and-avoid requirements for manned aircraft. The sense-and-avoid problem includes several important aspects including regulatory and system-level requirements, design specifications and performance standards, intruder detecting and tracking, collision risk assessment, and finally path planning and collision avoidance. In this dissertation, our primary focus is on developing an collision detection, risk assessment and avoidance framework that is computationally affordable and suitable to run on-board small UAS. To begin with, we address the minimum sensing range for the sense-and-avoid (SAA) system. We present an approximate close form analytical solution to compute the minimum sensing range to safely avoid an imminent collision. The approach is then demonstrated using a radar sensor prototype that achieves the required minimum sensing range. In the area of collision risk assessment and collision prediction, we present two approaches to estimate the collision risk of an encounter scenario. The first is a deterministic approach similar to those been developed for Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance (TCAS) in manned aviation. We extend the approach to account for uncertainties of state estimates by deriving an analytic expression to propagate the error variance using Taylor series approximation. To address unanticipated intruders maneuvers, we propose an innovative probabilistic approach to quantify likely intruder trajectories and estimate the probability of

  17. A Location-Based Interactive Model of Internet of Things and Cloud (IoT-Cloud for Mobile Cloud Computing Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thanh Dinh

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a location-based interactive model of Internet of Things (IoT and cloud integration (IoT-cloud for mobile cloud computing applications, in comparison with the periodic sensing model. In the latter, sensing collections are performed without awareness of sensing demands. Sensors are required to report their sensing data periodically regardless of whether or not there are demands for their sensing services. This leads to unnecessary energy loss due to redundant transmission. In the proposed model, IoT-cloud provides sensing services on demand based on interest and location of mobile users. By taking advantages of the cloud as a coordinator, sensing scheduling of sensors is controlled by the cloud, which knows when and where mobile users request for sensing services. Therefore, when there is no demand, sensors are put into an inactive mode to save energy. Through extensive analysis and experimental results, we show that the location-based model achieves a significant improvement in terms of network lifetime compared to the periodic model.

  18. A Study on Recommendation Systems in Location Based Social Networking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ranganath Ashok Kumar

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Smart devices in the hands of people are revolutionizing the social lifestyle of one's self. Everyone across the world are using smart devices linked to their social networking activities one such activity is to share location data by uploading the tagged media content like photos, videos. The data is of surroundings, events attended/attending and travel experiences. Users share their experiences at a given location through localization techniques. Using such data from social networks an attempt is made to analyse tagged media content to acquire information on user context, individual’s interests, tastes, behaviours and derive meaningful relationships amongst them are referred to as Location Based Social Networks (LBSNs. The resulting information can be used to market a product and to improve business, as well recommend a travel and plan an itinerary. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of recommended systems for LBSNs covering the concepts of LBSNs, terminologies of LBSN and various recommendation systems.

  19. Zombie algorithms: a timesaving remote sensing systems engineering tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardanuy, Philip E.; Powell, Dylan C.; Marley, Stephen

    2008-08-01

    In modern horror fiction, zombies are generally undead corpses brought back from the dead by supernatural or scientific means, and are rarely under anyone's direct control. They typically have very limited intelligence, and hunger for the flesh of the living [1]. Typical spectroradiometric or hyperspectral instruments providess calibrated radiances for a number of remote sensing algorithms. The algorithms typically must meet specified latency and availability requirements while yielding products at the required quality. These systems, whether research, operational, or a hybrid, are typically cost constrained. Complexity of the algorithms can be high, and may evolve and mature over time as sensor characterization changes, product validation occurs, and areas of scientific basis improvement are identified and completed. This suggests the need for a systems engineering process for algorithm maintenance that is agile, cost efficient, repeatable, and predictable. Experience on remote sensing science data systems suggests the benefits of "plug-n-play" concepts of operation. The concept, while intuitively simple, can be challenging to implement in practice. The use of zombie algorithms-empty shells that outwardly resemble the form, fit, and function of a "complete" algorithm without the implemented theoretical basis-provides the ground systems advantages equivalent to those obtained by integrating sensor engineering models onto the spacecraft bus. Combined with a mature, repeatable process for incorporating the theoretical basis, or scientific core, into the "head" of the zombie algorithm, along with associated scripting and registration, provides an easy "on ramp" for the rapid and low-risk integration of scientific applications into operational systems.

  20. Multipath Suppression with an Absorber for UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Shuai; Franek, Ondrej; Eggers, Patrick Claus F.

    2017-01-01

    The deflection of a wind turbine blade can be monitored with an ultra-wideband (UWB) deflection sensing system which consists of one transmitting antenna at the blade tip and two receiving antennas at the blade root. The blade deflection is calculated by two estimated tip-root antenna distances...... verifications of the proposed method are carried out with different full-blade measurements. From all the results, it is found that the proposed technique can efficiently suppress multipath for the in-blade tip antenna, and improve the pulse wave front fidelity, so that the UWB sensing system can also...

  1. An integrated risk sensing system for geo-structural safety

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    H.W. Huang; D.M. Zhang; B.M. Ayyub

    2017-01-01

    Over the last decades, geo-structures are experiencing a rapid development in China. The potential risks inherent in the huge amount of construction and asset operation projects in China were well managed in the major project, i.e. the project of Shanghai Yangtze tunnel in 2002. Since then, risk assessment of geo-structures has been gradually developed from a qualitative manner to a quantitative manner. However, the current practices of risk management have been paid considerable attention to the assessment, but little on risk control. As a result, the responses to risks occurrences after a comprehensive assessment are basically too late. In this paper, a smart system for risk sensing incorporating the wireless sensor network (WSN) on-site visualization techniques and the resilience-based repair strategy was proposed. The merit of this system is the real-time monitoring for geo-structural performance and dynamic pre-warning for safety of on-site workers. The sectional convergence, joint opening, and seepage of segmental lining of shield tunnel were monitored by the micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) based sensors. The light emitting diode (LED) coupling with the above WSN system was used to indicate different risk levels on site. By sensing the risks and telling the risks in real time, the geo-risks could be controlled and the safety of geo-structures could be assured to a certain degree. Finally, a resilience-based analysis model was proposed for designing the repair strategy by using the measured data from the WSN system. The application and efficiency of this system have been validated by two cases including Shanghai metro tunnel and underwater road tunnel.

  2. Integrated Wavelength-Tunable Light Source for Optical Gas Sensing Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Li

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A compact instrument consisting of a distributed feedback laser (DFB at 1.65 μm was developed as a light source for gas sensing systems using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS technique. The wavelength of laser is tuned by adjusting the laser working temperature and injection current, which are performed by self-developed temperature controller and current modulator respectively. Stability test shows the fluctuation of the laser temperature is within the range of ±0.02°C. For gas detection experiments, the wavelength is tuned around the gas absorption line by adjusting laser temperature and is then shifted periodically to scan across the absorption line by the laser current modulator, which generates a 10 Hz saw wave signal. In addition, the current modulator is able to generate sine wave signal for gas sensing systems using wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS technique involving extraction of harmonic signals. The spectrum test proves good stability that the spectrum was measured 6 times every 10 minutes at the constant temperature and current condition. This standalone instrument can be applied as a light source for detection systems of different gases by integrating lasers at corresponding wavelength.

  3. Applications of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) in Archaeology

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    ManiMurali, R.

    The advancement of remote sensing technology and the analysing capability of Geographical Information System (GIS) can very well be used in the science of Archaeology. Though these subjects look apart, they can be studied in conjunction with each...

  4. Spatially monitoring oxygen level in 3D microfabricated cell culture systems using optical oxygen sensing beads.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lin; Acosta, Miguel A; Leach, Jennie B; Carrier, Rebecca L

    2013-04-21

    Capability of measuring and monitoring local oxygen concentration at the single cell level (tens of microns scale) is often desirable but difficult to achieve in cell culture. In this study, biocompatible oxygen sensing beads were prepared and tested for their potential for real-time monitoring and mapping of local oxygen concentration in 3D micro-patterned cell culture systems. Each oxygen sensing bead is composed of a silica core loaded with both an oxygen sensitive Ru(Ph2phen3)Cl2 dye and oxygen insensitive Nile blue reference dye, and a poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) shell rendering biocompatibility. Human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells were cultivated on a series of PDMS and type I collagen based substrates patterned with micro-well arrays for 3 or 7 days, and then brought into contact with oxygen sensing beads. Using an image analysis algorithm to convert florescence intensity of beads to partial oxygen pressure in the culture system, tens of microns-size oxygen sensing beads enabled the spatial measurement of local oxygen concentration in the microfabricated system. Results generally indicated lower oxygen level inside wells than on top of wells, and local oxygen level dependence on structural features of cell culture surfaces. Interestingly, chemical composition of cell culture substrates also appeared to affect oxygen level, with type-I collagen based cell culture systems having lower oxygen concentration compared to PDMS based cell culture systems. In general, results suggest that oxygen sensing beads can be utilized to achieve real-time and local monitoring of micro-environment oxygen level in 3D microfabricated cell culture systems.

  5. Position Tracking During Human Walking Using an Integrated Wearable Sensing System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giulio Zizzo

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Progress has been made enabling expensive, high-end inertial measurement units (IMUs to be used as tracking sensors. However, the cost of these IMUs is prohibitive to their widespread use, and hence the potential of low-cost IMUs is investigated in this study. A wearable low-cost sensing system consisting of IMUs and ultrasound sensors was developed. Core to this system is an extended Kalman filter (EKF, which provides both zero-velocity updates (ZUPTs and Heuristic Drift Reduction (HDR. The IMU data was combined with ultrasound range measurements to improve accuracy. When a map of the environment was available, a particle filter was used to impose constraints on the possible user motions. The system was therefore composed of three subsystems: IMUs, ultrasound sensors, and a particle filter. A Vicon motion capture system was used to provide ground truth information, enabling validation of the sensing system. Using only the IMU, the system showed loop misclosure errors of 1% with a maximum error of 4–5% during walking. The addition of the ultrasound sensors resulted in a 15% reduction in the total accumulated error. Lastly, the particle filter was capable of providing noticeable corrections, which could keep the tracking error below 2% after the first few steps.

  6. An Adaptive Joint Sparsity Recovery for Compressive Sensing Based EEG System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamza Djelouat

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The last decade has witnessed tremendous efforts to shape the Internet of things (IoT platforms to be well suited for healthcare applications. These platforms are comprised of a network of wireless sensors to monitor several physical and physiological quantities. For instance, long-term monitoring of brain activities using wearable electroencephalogram (EEG sensors is widely exploited in the clinical diagnosis of epileptic seizures and sleeping disorders. However, the deployment of such platforms is challenged by the high power consumption and system complexity. Energy efficiency can be achieved by exploring efficient compression techniques such as compressive sensing (CS. CS is an emerging theory that enables a compressed acquisition using well-designed sensing matrices. Moreover, system complexity can be optimized by using hardware friendly structured sensing matrices. This paper quantifies the performance of a CS-based multichannel EEG monitoring. In addition, the paper exploits the joint sparsity of multichannel EEG using subspace pursuit (SP algorithm as well as a designed sparsifying basis in order to improve the reconstruction quality. Furthermore, the paper proposes a modification to the SP algorithm based on an adaptive selection approach to further improve the performance in terms of reconstruction quality, execution time, and the robustness of the recovery process.

  7. OPF-Based Optimal Location of Two Systems Two Terminal HVDC to Power System Optimal Operation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehdi Abolfazli

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a suitable mathematical model of the two terminal HVDC system is provided for optimal power flow (OPF and optimal location based on OPF such power injection model. The ability of voltage source converter (VSC-based HVDC to independently control active and reactive power is well represented by the model. The model is used to develop an OPF-based optimal location algorithm of two systems two terminal HVDC to minimize the total fuel cost and active power losses as objective function. The optimization framework is modeled as non-linear programming (NLP and solved by Matlab and GAMS softwares. The proposed algorithm is implemented on the IEEE 14- and 30-bus test systems. The simulation results show ability of two systems two terminal HVDC in improving the power system operation. Furthermore, two systems two terminal HVDC is compared by PST and OUPFC in the power system operation from economical and technical aspects.

  8. FLUES - A new monitoring system for leak detection and location

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jax, P.; Streicher, V.

    1995-01-01

    A new Leakage Monitoring and Location System with high sensitivity was developed and tested by Siemens during the last years. Now this system has been installed in a Nuclear Power Plant. The experiences gained during the qualification test and the first months of operation can be reported. (author)

  9. Radar sensing via a Micro-UAV-borne system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catapano, Ilaria; Ludeno, Giovanni; Gennarelli, Gianluca; Soldovieri, Francesco; Rodi Vetrella, Amedeo; Fasano, Giancarmine

    2017-04-01

    In recent years, the miniaturization of flight control systems and payloads has contributed to a fast and widespread diffusion of micro-UAV (Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle). While micro-UAV can be a powerful tool in several civil applications such as environmental monitoring and surveillance, unleashing their full potential for societal benefits requires augmenting their sensing capability beyond the realm of active/passive optical sensors [1]. In this frame, radar systems are drawing attention since they allow performing missions in all-weather and day/night conditions and, thanks to the microwave ability to penetrate opaque media, they enable the detection and localization not only of surface objects but also of sub-surface/hidden targets. However, micro-UAV-borne radar imaging represents still a new frontier, since it is much more than a matter of technology miniaturization or payload installation, which can take advantage of the newly developed ultralight systems. Indeed, micro-UAV-borne radar imaging entails scientific challenges in terms of electromagnetic modeling and knowledge of flight dynamics and control. As a consequence, despite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging is a traditional remote sensing tool, its adaptation to micro-UAV is an open issue and so far only few case studies concerning the integration of SAR and UAV technologies have been reported worldwide [2]. In addition, only early results concerning subsurface imaging by means of an UAV-mounted radar are available [3]. As a contribution to radar imaging via autonomous micro-UAV, this communication presents a proof-of-concept experiment. This experiment represents the first step towards the development of a general methodological approach that exploits expertise about (sub-)surface imaging and aerospace systems with the aim to provide high-resolution images of the surveyed scene. In details, at the conference, we will present the results of a flight campaign carried out by using a single radar

  10. Advanced Spatial-Division Multiplexed Measurement Systems Propositions—From Telecommunication to Sensing Applications: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Weng

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The concepts of spatial-division multiplexing (SDM technology were first proposed in the telecommunications industry as an indispensable solution to reduce the cost-per-bit of optical fiber transmission. Recently, such spatial channels and modes have been applied in optical sensing applications where the returned echo is analyzed for the collection of essential environmental information. The key advantages of implementing SDM techniques in optical measurement systems include the multi-parameter discriminative capability and accuracy improvement. In this paper, to help readers without a telecommunication background better understand how the SDM-based sensing systems can be incorporated, the crucial components of SDM techniques, such as laser beam shaping, mode generation and conversion, multimode or multicore elements using special fibers and multiplexers are introduced, along with the recent developments in SDM amplifiers, opto-electronic sources and detection units of sensing systems. The examples of SDM-based sensing systems not only include Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry or Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDR/BOTDA using few-mode fibers (FMF and the multicore fiber (MCF based integrated fiber Bragg grating (FBG sensors, but also involve the widely used components with their whole information used in the full multimode constructions, such as the whispering gallery modes for fiber profiling and chemical species measurements, the screw/twisted modes for examining water quality, as well as the optical beam shaping to improve cantilever deflection measurements. Besides, the various applications of SDM sensors, the cost efficiency issue, as well as how these complex mode multiplexing techniques might improve the standard fiber-optic sensor approaches using single-mode fibers (SMF and photonic crystal fibers (PCF have also been summarized. Finally, we conclude with a prospective outlook for the opportunities and challenges of

  11. Advanced Spatial-Division Multiplexed Measurement Systems Propositions—From Telecommunication to Sensing Applications: A Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weng, Yi; Ip, Ezra; Pan, Zhongqi; Wang, Ting

    2016-01-01

    The concepts of spatial-division multiplexing (SDM) technology were first proposed in the telecommunications industry as an indispensable solution to reduce the cost-per-bit of optical fiber transmission. Recently, such spatial channels and modes have been applied in optical sensing applications where the returned echo is analyzed for the collection of essential environmental information. The key advantages of implementing SDM techniques in optical measurement systems include the multi-parameter discriminative capability and accuracy improvement. In this paper, to help readers without a telecommunication background better understand how the SDM-based sensing systems can be incorporated, the crucial components of SDM techniques, such as laser beam shaping, mode generation and conversion, multimode or multicore elements using special fibers and multiplexers are introduced, along with the recent developments in SDM amplifiers, opto-electronic sources and detection units of sensing systems. The examples of SDM-based sensing systems not only include Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry or Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDR/BOTDA) using few-mode fibers (FMF) and the multicore fiber (MCF) based integrated fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, but also involve the widely used components with their whole information used in the full multimode constructions, such as the whispering gallery modes for fiber profiling and chemical species measurements, the screw/twisted modes for examining water quality, as well as the optical beam shaping to improve cantilever deflection measurements. Besides, the various applications of SDM sensors, the cost efficiency issue, as well as how these complex mode multiplexing techniques might improve the standard fiber-optic sensor approaches using single-mode fibers (SMF) and photonic crystal fibers (PCF) have also been summarized. Finally, we conclude with a prospective outlook for the opportunities and challenges of SDM

  12. Fault Control on Copper Depositsin the Sar Cheshmeh Area Indicated by Remote Sensing & Geographic Information Systems (GIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hojjat Ollah Safari

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Introduction The Sar Cheshmeh copper deposit and indications of other deposits are located in the Dehaj-Sarduieh belt in the Kerman region (Khadem and Nedimovic, 1973. This belt is one of the most important provinces of Cu mineralization in Iran, with approximately 300 Cu deposits and prospects, includingtwenty of the porphyry copper type (Ghorbani, 2013. This belt, 300 km in length and 30–45 km width, is situated in the southern part of the Uramia-Dokhtar volcanic belt in central Iran (Shafiei, 2010. Zarasvandi (2004 has proposed that faulting has played a role in the location of copper deposition in this area. Methods of Investigation In order to check Zarasvandi’s hypothesis, the spatial relationship between faults and Cu deposits was investigated using remote sensing and GIS techniques together with field investigations in the Sar Cheshmeh area. The the following steps were used in this research: 1. Review of available data 2. Surface geology field studies 3. Preparation of digital overlay of Copper occurrences 4. Analysis of the relationshipof faulting to Copper occurrences Using remote sensing techniques, a geometrically corrected satellite image was filtered with high pass and Sharpen Edge filters to detect possible lineaments (Lillesand and Keifer, 2008; Sabins, 1996. Directional filters (45º, 90º, 135º and 180º were then applied to the processed image to enhance the linear structures. Subsequently,the major lineaments were documented in the field as major and minor faults (Safari et al., 2011. Four main faults, designated as the Rafsanjan, Mani, Gaud-e-Ahmar and Sar Cheshmeh faultswere determined to be major. These faults were digitized and overlaid on other data layers in GIS environment. The strikes, dips, striae and directions of movementof the faultswere measured at 20 locations in the field. Structural analyses were done with Rose diagrams, calculation of P-axes and preparation of a structural map. Copper occurrences on the

  13. Collaborative Educational Leadership: The Emergence of Human Interactional Sense-Making Process as a Complex System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jäppinen, Aini-Kristiina

    2014-01-01

    The article aims at explicating the emergence of human interactional sense-making process within educational leadership as a complex system. The kind of leadership is understood as a holistic entity called collaborative leadership. There, sense-making emerges across interdependent domains, called attributes of collaborative leadership. The…

  14. A Location-Based Interactive Model of Internet of Things and Cloud (IoT-Cloud) for Mobile Cloud Computing Applications †

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dinh, Thanh; Kim, Younghan; Lee, Hyukjoon

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents a location-based interactive model of Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud integration (IoT-cloud) for mobile cloud computing applications, in comparison with the periodic sensing model. In the latter, sensing collections are performed without awareness of sensing demands. Sensors are required to report their sensing data periodically regardless of whether or not there are demands for their sensing services. This leads to unnecessary energy loss due to redundant transmission. In the proposed model, IoT-cloud provides sensing services on demand based on interest and location of mobile users. By taking advantages of the cloud as a coordinator, sensing scheduling of sensors is controlled by the cloud, which knows when and where mobile users request for sensing services. Therefore, when there is no demand, sensors are put into an inactive mode to save energy. Through extensive analysis and experimental results, we show that the location-based model achieves a significant improvement in terms of network lifetime compared to the periodic model. PMID:28257067

  15. Thermoelectric-Driven Sustainable Sensing and Actuation Systems for Fault-Tolerant Nuclear Incidents

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Longtin, Jon [Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)

    2016-02-08

    The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident in March 2011 represented an unprecedented stress test on the safety and backup systems of a nuclear power plant. The lack of reliable information from key components due to station blackout was a serious setback, leaving sensing, actuation, and reporting systems unable to communicate, and safety was compromised. Although there were several independent backup power sources for required safety function on site, ultimately the batteries were drained and the systems stopped working. If, however, key system components were instrumented with self-powered sensing and actuation packages that could report indefinitely on the status of the system, then critical system information could be obtained while providing core actuation and control during off-normal status for as long as needed. This research project focused on the development of such a self-powered sensing and actuation system. The electrical power is derived from intrinsic heat in the reactor components, which is both reliable and plentiful. The key concept was based around using thermoelectric generators that can be integrated directly onto key nuclear components, including pipes, pump housings, heat exchangers, reactor vessels, and shielding structures, as well as secondary-side components. Thermoelectric generators are solid-state devices capable of converting heat directly into electricity. They are commercially available technology. They are compact, have no moving parts, are silent, and have excellent reliability. The key components to the sensor package include a thermoelectric generator (TEG), microcontroller, signal processing, and a wireless radio package, environmental hardening to survive radiation, flooding, vibration, mechanical shock (explosions), corrosion, and excessive temperature. The energy harvested from the intrinsic heat of reactor components can be then made available to power sensors, provide bi-directional communication, recharge batteries for other

  16. Thermoelectric-Driven Sustainable Sensing and Actuation Systems for Fault-Tolerant Nuclear Incidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Longtin, Jon

    2015-09-01

    The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident in March 2011 represented an unprecedented stress test on the safety and backup systems of a nuclear power plant. The lack of reliable information from key components due to station blackout was a serious setback, leaving sensing, actuation, and reporting systems unable to communicate, and safety was compromised. Although there were several independent backup power sources for required safety function on site, ultimately the batteries were drained and the systems stopped working. If, however, key system components were instrumented with self-powered sensing and actuation packages that could report indefinitely on the status of the system, then critical system information could be obtained while providing core actuation and control during off-normal status for as long as needed. This research project focused on the development of such a self-powered sensing and actuation system. The electrical power is derived from intrinsic heat in the reactor components, which is both reliable and plentiful. The key concept was based around using thermoelectric generators that can be integrated directly onto key nuclear components, including pipes, pump housings, heat exchangers, reactor vessels, and shielding structures, as well as secondary-side components. Thermoelectric generators are solid-state devices capable of converting heat directly into electricity. They are commercially available technology. They are compact, have no moving parts, are silent, and have excellent reliability. The key components to the sensor package include a thermoelectric generator (TEG), microcontroller, signal processing, and a wireless radio package, environmental hardening to survive radiation, flooding, vibration, mechanical shock (explosions), corrosion, and excessive temperature. The energy harvested from the intrinsic heat of reactor components can be then made available to power sensors, provide bi-directional communication, recharge batteries for other

  17. On Transform Domain Communication Systems under Spectrum Sensing Mismatch: A Deterministic Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Chuanxue; Hu, Su; Huang, Yixuan; Luo, Qu; Huang, Dan; Li, Yi; Gao, Yuan; Cheng, Shaochi

    2017-07-08

    Towards the era of mobile Internet and the Internet of Things (IoT), numerous sensors and devices are being introduced and interconnected. To support such an amount of data traffic, traditional wireless communication technologies are facing challenges both in terms of the increasing shortage of spectrum resources and massive multiple access. The transform-domain communication system (TDCS) is considered as an alternative multiple access system, where 5G and mobile IoT are mainly focused. However, previous studies about TDCS are under the assumption that the transceiver has the global spectrum information, without the consideration of spectrum sensing mismatch (SSM). In this paper, we present the deterministic analysis of TDCS systems under arbitrary given spectrum sensing scenarios, especially the influence of the SSM pattern to the signal to noise ratio (SNR) performance. Simulation results show that arbitrary SSM pattern can lead to inferior bit error rate (BER) performance.

  18. 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.

  19. A component-based system for agricultural drought monitoring by remote sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Heng; Li, Jun; Yuan, Yanbin; You, Lin; Chen, Chao

    2017-01-01

    In recent decades, various kinds of remote sensing-based drought indexes have been proposed and widely used in the field of drought monitoring. However, the drought-related software and platform development lag behind the theoretical research. The current drought monitoring systems focus mainly on information management and publishing, and cannot implement professional drought monitoring or parameter inversion modelling, especially the models based on multi-dimensional feature space. In view of the above problems, this paper aims at fixing this gap with a component-based system named RSDMS to facilitate the application of drought monitoring by remote sensing. The system is designed and developed based on Component Object Model (COM) to ensure the flexibility and extendibility of modules. RSDMS realizes general image-related functions such as data management, image display, spatial reference management, image processing and analysis, and further provides drought monitoring and evaluation functions based on internal and external models. Finally, China's Ningxia region is selected as the study area to validate the performance of RSDMS. The experimental results show that RSDMS provide an efficient and scalable support to agricultural drought monitoring.

  20. Winter wheat quality monitoring and forecasting system based on remote sensing and environmental factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haiyang, Yu; Yanmei, Liu; Guijun, Yang; Xiaodong, Yang; Chenwei, Nie; Dong, Ren

    2014-01-01

    To achieve dynamic winter wheat quality monitoring and forecasting in larger scale regions, the objective of this study was to design and develop a winter wheat quality monitoring and forecasting system by using a remote sensing index and environmental factors. The winter wheat quality trend was forecasted before the harvest and quality was monitored after the harvest, respectively. The traditional quality-vegetation index from remote sensing monitoring and forecasting models were improved. Combining with latitude information, the vegetation index was used to estimate agronomy parameters which were related with winter wheat quality in the early stages for forecasting the quality trend. A combination of rainfall in May, temperature in May, illumination at later May, the soil available nitrogen content and other environmental factors established the quality monitoring model. Compared with a simple quality-vegetation index, the remote sensing monitoring and forecasting model used in this system get greatly improved accuracy. Winter wheat quality was monitored and forecasted based on the above models, and this system was completed based on WebGIS technology. Finally, in 2010 the operation process of winter wheat quality monitoring system was presented in Beijing, the monitoring and forecasting results was outputted as thematic maps

  1. Robotic Tactile Sensing Technologies and System

    CERN Document Server

    Dahiya, Ravinder S

    2013-01-01

    Future robots are expected to work closely and interact safely with real-world objects and humans alike. Sense of touch is important in this context, as it helps estimate properties such as shape, texture, hardness, material type and many more; provides action related information, such as slip detection; and helps carrying out actions such as rolling an object between fingers without dropping it. This book presents an in-depth description of the solutions available for gathering tactile data, obtaining aforementioned tactile information from the data and effectively using the same in various robotic tasks. Better integration of tactile sensors on a robot’s body is prerequisite for the effective utilization of tactile data. For this reason, the hardware, software and application related issues (and resulting trade-offs) that must be considered to make tactile sensing an effective component of robotic platforms are discussed in-depth.To this end, human touch sensing has also been explored. The design hints co...

  2. Harmonic analysis in integrated energy system based on compressed sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Ting; Pen, Haibo; Wang, Dan; Wang, Zhaoxia

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • We propose a harmonic/inter-harmonic analysis scheme with compressed sensing theory. • Property of sparseness of harmonic signal in electrical power system is proved. • The ratio formula of fundamental and harmonic components sparsity is presented. • Spectral Projected Gradient-Fundamental Filter reconstruction algorithm is proposed. • SPG-FF enhances the precision of harmonic detection and signal reconstruction. - Abstract: The advent of Integrated Energy Systems enabled various distributed energy to access the system through different power electronic devices. The development of this has made the harmonic environment more complex. It needs low complexity and high precision of harmonic detection and analysis methods to improve power quality. To solve the shortages of large data storage capacities and high complexity of compression in sampling under the Nyquist sampling framework, this research paper presents a harmonic analysis scheme based on compressed sensing theory. The proposed scheme enables the performance of the functions of compressive sampling, signal reconstruction and harmonic detection simultaneously. In the proposed scheme, the sparsity of the harmonic signals in the base of the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) is numerically calculated first. This is followed by providing a proof of the matching satisfaction of the necessary conditions for compressed sensing. The binary sparse measurement is then leveraged to reduce the storage space in the sampling unit in the proposed scheme. In the recovery process, the scheme proposed a novel reconstruction algorithm called the Spectral Projected Gradient with Fundamental Filter (SPG-FF) algorithm to enhance the reconstruction precision. One of the actual microgrid systems is used as simulation example. The results of the experiment shows that the proposed scheme effectively enhances the precision of harmonic and inter-harmonic detection with low computing complexity, and has good

  3. Critical location identification and vulnerability analysis of interdependent infrastructure systems under spatially localized attacks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ouyang, Min

    2016-01-01

    Infrastructure systems are usually spatially distributed in a wide area and are subject to many types of hazards. For each type of hazards, modeling their direct impact on infrastructure components and analyzing their induced system-level vulnerability are important for identifying mitigation strategies. This paper mainly studies spatially localized attacks that a set of infrastructure components located within or crossing a circle shaped spatially localized area is subject to damage while other components do not directly fail. For this type of attacks, taking interdependent power and gas systems in Harris County, Texas, USA as an example, this paper proposes an approach to exactly identify critical locations in interdependent infrastructure systems and make pertinent vulnerability analysis. Results show that (a) infrastructure interdependencies and attack radius largely affect the position of critical locations; (b) spatially localized attacks cause less vulnerability than equivalent random failures; (c) in most values of attack radius critical locations identified by considering only node failures do not change when considering both node and edge failures in the attack area; (d) for many values of attack radius critical locations identified by topology-based model are also critical from the flow-based perspective. - Highlights: • We propose a method to identify critical locations in interdependent infrastructures. • Geographical interdependencies and attack radius largely affect critical locations. • Localized attacks cause less vulnerability than equivalent random failures. • Whether considering both node and edge failures affects critical locations. • Topology-based critical locations are also critical from flow-based perspective.

  4. Site-characterization information using LANDSAT satellite and other remote-sensing data: integration of remote-sensing data with geographic information systems. A case study in Pennsylvania

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campbell, W.J.; Imhoff, M.L.; Robinson, J.; Gunther, F.; Boyd, R.; Anuta, M.

    1983-06-01

    The utility and cost effectiveness of incorporating digitized aircraft and satellite remote sensing data into a geographic information system for facility siting and environmental impact assessments was evaluated. This research focused on the evaluation of several types of multisource remotely sensed data representing a variety of spectral band widths and spatial resolution. High resolution aircraft photography, Landsat MSS, and 7 band Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) data were acquired, analyzed, and evaluated for their suitability as input to an operational geographic information system (GIS). 78 references, 59 figures, 74 tables

  5. Landfills in Jiangsu province, China, and potential threats for public health: Leachate appraisal and spatial analysis using geographic information system and remote sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang Kun; Zhou Xiaonong; Yan Weian; Hang Derong; Steinmann, Peter

    2008-01-01

    Waste disposal is of growing environmental and public health concern in China where landfilling is the predominant method of disposal. The assessment of potential health hazards posed by existing landfills requires sound information, and processing of a significant amount of spatial data. Geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) are valuable tools for assessing health impacts due to landfills. The aims of this study were: (i) to analyze the leachate and gas emissions from landfills used for domestic waste disposal in a metropolitan area of Jiangsu province, China, (ii) to investigate remotely-sensed environmental features in close proximity to landfills, and (iii) to evaluate the compliance of their location and leachate quality with the relevant national regulations. We randomly selected five landfills in the metropolitan areas of Wuxi and Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, established a GIS database and examined whether data were in compliance with national environmental and public health regulations. The leachates of the sampled landfills contained heavy metals (Pb, As, Cr 6+ and Hg) and organic compounds in concentrations considered harmful to human health. Measured methane concentrations on landfill surfaces were low. Spatial analysis of the location of landfills with regard to distance from major water bodies, sensible infrastructure and environmental conditions according to current national legislation resulted in the rejection of four of the five sites as inappropriate for landfills. Our results call for rigorous evaluation of the spatial location of landfills in China that must take into consideration environmental and public health criteria

  6. Soft sensing of system parameters in membrane distillation

    KAUST Repository

    Laleg-Kirati, Taous-Meriem

    2017-03-23

    Various examples of methods and systems are provided for soft sensing of system parameters in membrane distillation (MD). In one example, a system includes a MD module comprising a feed side and a permeate side separated by a membrane boundary layer; and processing circuitry configured to estimate feed solution temperatures and permeate solution temperatures of the MD module using monitored outlet temperatures of the feed side and the permeate side. In another example, a method includes monitoring outlet temperatures of a feed side and a permeate side of a MD module to determine a current feed outlet temperature and a current permeate outlet temperature; and determining a plurality of estimated temperature states of a membrane boundary layer separating the feed side and the permeate side of the MD module using the current feed outlet temperature and the current permeate outlet temperature.

  7. Locating overlap information in quantum systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Albrecht, A.

    1994-01-01

    When discussing the black hole information problem the term ''information flow'' is frequently used in a rather loose fashion. In this paper I attempt to make this notion more concrete. I consider a Hilbert space which is constructed as a tensor product of two subspaces (representing, for example, inside and outside the black hole). I discuss how the system has the capacity to contain information which is in neither of the subspaces. I attempt to quantify the amount of information located in each of the two subspaces, and elsewere, and analyze the exent to which unitary evolution can correspond to ''information flow.'' I define the notion of ''overlap information'' which appears to be well suited to the problem

  8. Application of distributed optical fiber sensing technologies to the monitoring of leakage and abnormal disturbance of oil pipeline

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiaojun; Zhu, Xiaofei; Deng, Chi; Li, Junyi; Liu, Cheng; Yu, Wenpeng; Luo, Hui

    2017-10-01

    To improve the level of management and monitoring of leakage and abnormal disturbance of long distance oil pipeline, the distributed optical fiber temperature and vibration sensing system is employed to test the feasibility for the healthy monitoring of a domestic oil pipeline. The simulating leakage and abnormal disturbance affairs of oil pipeline are performed in the experiment. It is demonstrated that the leakage and abnormal disturbance affairs of oil pipeline can be monitored and located accurately with the distributed optical fiber sensing system, which exhibits good performance in the sensitivity, reliability, operation and maintenance etc., and shows good market application prospect.

  9. BreathSens: A Continuous On-Bed Respiratory Monitoring System With Torso Localization Using an Unobtrusive Pressure Sensing Array.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jason J; Huang, Ming-Chun; Xu, Wenyao; Zhang, Xiaoyi; Stevens, Luke; Alshurafa, Nabil; Sarrafzadeh, Majid

    2015-09-01

    The ability to continuously monitor respiration rates of patients in homecare or in clinics is an important goal. Past research showed that monitoring patient breathing can lower the associated mortality rates for long-term bedridden patients. Nowadays, in-bed sensors consisting of pressure sensitive arrays are unobtrusive and are suitable for deployment in a wide range of settings. Such systems aim to extract respiratory signals from time-series pressure sequences. However, variance of movements, such as unpredictable extremities activities, affect the quality of the extracted respiratory signals. BreathSens, a high-density pressure sensing system made of e-Textile, profiles the underbody pressure distribution and localizes torso area based on the high-resolution pressure images. With a robust bodyparts localization algorithm, respiratory signals extracted from the localized torso area are insensitive to arbitrary extremities movements. In a study of 12 subjects, BreathSens demonstrated its respiratory monitoring capability with variations of sleep postures, locations, and commonly tilted clinical bed conditions.

  10. A Truthful Incentive Mechanism for Online Recruitment in Mobile Crowd Sensing System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao Chen

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We investigate emerging mobile crowd sensing (MCS systems, in which new cloud-based platforms sequentially allocate homogenous sensing jobs to dynamically-arriving users with uncertain service qualities. Given that human beings are selfish in nature, it is crucial yet challenging to design an efficient and truthful incentive mechanism to encourage users to participate. To address the challenge, we propose a novel truthful online auction mechanism that can efficiently learn to make irreversible online decisions on winner selections for new MCS systems without requiring previous knowledge of users. Moreover, we theoretically prove that our incentive possesses truthfulness, individual rationality and computational efficiency. Extensive simulation results under both real and synthetic traces demonstrate that our incentive mechanism can reduce the payment of the platform, increase the utility of the platform and social welfare.

  11. A Truthful Incentive Mechanism for Online Recruitment in Mobile Crowd Sensing System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xiao; Liu, Min; Zhou, Yaqin; Li, Zhongcheng; Chen, Shuang; He, Xiangnan

    2017-01-01

    We investigate emerging mobile crowd sensing (MCS) systems, in which new cloud-based platforms sequentially allocate homogenous sensing jobs to dynamically-arriving users with uncertain service qualities. Given that human beings are selfish in nature, it is crucial yet challenging to design an efficient and truthful incentive mechanism to encourage users to participate. To address the challenge, we propose a novel truthful online auction mechanism that can efficiently learn to make irreversible online decisions on winner selections for new MCS systems without requiring previous knowledge of users. Moreover, we theoretically prove that our incentive possesses truthfulness, individual rationality and computational efficiency. Extensive simulation results under both real and synthetic traces demonstrate that our incentive mechanism can reduce the payment of the platform, increase the utility of the platform and social welfare.

  12. Remote-Sensing Time Series Analysis, a Vegetation Monitoring Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKellip, Rodney; Prados, Donald; Ryan, Robert; Ross, Kenton; Spruce, Joseph; Gasser, Gerald; Greer, Randall

    2008-01-01

    The Time Series Product Tool (TSPT) is software, developed in MATLAB , which creates and displays high signal-to- noise Vegetation Indices imagery and other higher-level products derived from remotely sensed data. This tool enables automated, rapid, large-scale regional surveillance of crops, forests, and other vegetation. TSPT temporally processes high-revisit-rate satellite imagery produced by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and by other remote-sensing systems. Although MODIS imagery is acquired daily, cloudiness and other sources of noise can greatly reduce the effective temporal resolution. To improve cloud statistics, the TSPT combines MODIS data from multiple satellites (Aqua and Terra). The TSPT produces MODIS products as single time-frame and multitemporal change images, as time-series plots at a selected location, or as temporally processed image videos. Using the TSPT program, MODIS metadata is used to remove and/or correct bad and suspect data. Bad pixel removal, multiple satellite data fusion, and temporal processing techniques create high-quality plots and animated image video sequences that depict changes in vegetation greenness. This tool provides several temporal processing options not found in other comparable imaging software tools. Because the framework to generate and use other algorithms is established, small modifications to this tool will enable the use of a large range of remotely sensed data types. An effective remote-sensing crop monitoring system must be able to detect subtle changes in plant health in the earliest stages, before the effects of a disease outbreak or other adverse environmental conditions can become widespread and devastating. The integration of the time series analysis tool with ground-based information, soil types, crop types, meteorological data, and crop growth models in a Geographic Information System, could provide the foundation for a large-area crop-surveillance system that could identify

  13. NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS) Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Lance; Parker, Allen R.; Piazza, Anthony; Chan, Patrick; Hamory, Phil; Pena, Frank

    2014-01-01

    Attached is a power point presentation created to assist the Tech Transfer Office and the FOSS project team members in responding to inquiries from the public about the capabilities of the Fiber Optic Sensing System.

  14. Can Remote Sensing Detect Aquifer Characteristics?: A Case Study in the Guarani Aquifer System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richey, A. S.; Thomas, B.; Famiglietti, J. S.

    2013-12-01

    Global water supply resiliency depends on groundwater, especially regions threatened by population growth and climate change. Aquifer characteristics, even as basic as confined versus unconfined, are necessary to prescribe regulations to sustainably manage groundwater supplies. A significant barrier to sustainable groundwater management exists in the difficulties associated with mapping groundwater resources and characteristics at a large spatial scale. This study addresses this challenge by investigating if remote sensing, including with NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), can detect and quantify key aquifer parameters and characteristics. We explore this through a case study in the Guarani Aquifer System (GAS) of South America, validating our remote sensing-based findings against the best available regional estimates. The use of remote sensing to advance the understanding of large aquifers is beneficial to sustainable groundwater management, especially in a trans-boundary system, where consistent information exchange can occur within hydrologic boundaries instead of political boundaries.

  15. Development of an Embedded Networked Sensing System for Structural Health Monitoring

    OpenAIRE

    Whang, Daniel; Xu, Ning; Rangwala, Sumit; Chintalapudi, Krishna; Govindan, Ramesh; Wallace, J W

    2004-01-01

    An innovative networked embedded sensing system for structural health monitoring is currently being developed. This sensor network has been prototyped in the laboratory, and will be deployed in a series of forced-vibration tests involving a full-scale, four-story office building in the next coming months. The low-power wireless seismic sensor system enables the acquisition of 15–30 channels of 16-bit accelerometer data at 128 Hz over a wireless network. The advantage of such a system is its t...

  16. Examination of a microwave sensing system using superconducting devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sekiya, N.; Mukaida, M.; Saito, A.; Hirano, S.; Oshima, S.

    2005-01-01

    We have designed and fabricated a microwave sensing system integrated with superconducting devices which can detect motion for crime prevention and security purposes. The system consists of a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna, a power divider as a directional coupler, and a mixer. The antennas and the directional coupler were fabricated using 50-nm thick YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ (YBCO) thin films. A superconducting antenna with a resonant frequency of 10.525 GHz and a superconducting directional coupler were designed and fabricated for the system. A Schottky barrier diode was used as a mixer. These devices were integrated and their operation as a sensor was examined. Comparisons of the output voltage of the IF signal amplifier showed that the superconducting integrated sensor system was superior to the normal conductor sensor

  17. A microelectromechanically controlled cavity optomechanical sensing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miao Houxun; Srinivasan, Kartik; Aksyuk, Vladimir

    2012-01-01

    Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been applied to many measurement problems in physics, chemistry, biology and medicine. In parallel, cavity optomechanical systems have achieved quantum-limited displacement sensitivity and ground state cooling of nanoscale objects. By integrating a novel cavity optomechanical structure into an actuated MEMS sensing platform, we demonstrate a system with high-quality-factor interferometric readout, electrical tuning of the optomechanical coupling by two orders of magnitude and a mechanical transfer function adjustable via feedback. The platform separates optical and mechanical components, allowing flexible customization for specific scientific and commercial applications. We achieve a displacement sensitivity of 4.6 fm Hz -1/2 and a force sensitivity of 53 aN Hz -1/2 with only 250 nW optical power launched into the sensor. Cold-damping feedback is used to reduce the thermal mechanical vibration of the sensor by three orders of magnitude and to broaden the sensor bandwidth by approximately the same factor, to above twice the fundamental frequency of ≈40 kHz. The readout sensitivity approaching the standard quantum limit is combined with MEMS actuation in a fully integrated, compact, low-power, stable system compatible with Si batch fabrication and electronics integration. (paper)

  18. Energy-Efficient Collaborative Outdoor Localization for Participatory Sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wendong Wang

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Location information is a key element of participatory sensing. Many mobile and sensing applications require location information to provide better recommendations, object search and trip planning. However, continuous GPS positioning consumes much energy, which may drain the battery of mobile devices quickly. Although WiFi and cell tower positioning are alternatives, they provide lower accuracy compared to GPS. This paper solves the above problem by proposing a novel localization scheme through the collaboration of multiple mobile devices to reduce energy consumption and provide accurate positioning. Under our scheme, the mobile devices are divided into three groups, namely the broadcaster group, the location information receiver group and the normal participant group. Only the broadcaster group and the normal participant group use their GPS. The location information receiver group, on the other hand, makes use of the locations broadcast by the broadcaster group to estimate their locations. We formulate the broadcaster set selection problem and propose two novel algorithms to minimize the energy consumption in collaborative localization. Simulations with real traces show that our proposed solution can save up to 68% of the energy of all of the participants and provide more accurate locations than WiFi and cellular network positioning.

  19. Automated borehole gravity meter system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lautzenhiser, Th.V.; Wirtz, J.D.

    1984-01-01

    An automated borehole gravity meter system for measuring gravity within a wellbore. The gravity meter includes leveling devices for leveling the borehole gravity meter, displacement devices for applying forces to a gravity sensing device within the gravity meter to bring the gravity sensing device to a predetermined or null position. Electronic sensing and control devices are provided for (i) activating the displacement devices, (ii) sensing the forces applied to the gravity sensing device, (iii) electronically converting the values of the forces into a representation of the gravity at the location in the wellbore, and (iv) outputting such representation. The system further includes electronic control devices with the capability of correcting the representation of gravity for tidal effects, as well as, calculating and outputting the formation bulk density and/or porosity

  20. Luminance gradient at object borders communicates object location to the human oculomotor system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilpeläinen, Markku; Georgeson, Mark A

    2018-01-25

    The locations of objects in our environment constitute arguably the most important piece of information our visual system must convey to facilitate successful visually guided behaviour. However, the relevant objects are usually not point-like and do not have one unique location attribute. Relatively little is known about how the visual system represents the location of such large objects as visual processing is, both on neural and perceptual level, highly edge dominated. In this study, human observers made saccades to the centres of luminance defined squares (width 4 deg), which appeared at random locations (8 deg eccentricity). The phase structure of the square was manipulated such that the points of maximum luminance gradient at the square's edges shifted from trial to trial. The average saccade endpoints of all subjects followed those shifts in remarkable quantitative agreement. Further experiments showed that the shifts were caused by the edge manipulations, not by changes in luminance structure near the centre of the square or outside the square. We conclude that the human visual system programs saccades to large luminance defined square objects based on edge locations derived from the points of maximum luminance gradients at the square's edges.

  1. Location and identification of radioactive waste in Massachusetts Bay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Colton, D.P.; Louft, H.L.

    1993-01-01

    The accurate location and identification of hazardous waste materials dumped in the world's oceans are becoming an increasing concern. For years, the oceans have been viewed as a convenient and economical place to dispose of all types of waste. In all but a few cases, major dump sites have been closed leaving behind years of accumulated debris. The extent of past environmental damage, the possibility of continued environmental damage, and the possibility of hazardous substances reaching the human food chain need to be carefully investigated. This paper reports an attempt to accurately locate and identify the radioactive component of the waste material. The Department of Energy's Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL), in support of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), provided the precision navigation system and prototype underwater radiological monitoring equipment that were used during this project. The paper also describes the equipment used, presents the data obtained, and discusses future equipment development

  2. Handbook on advances in remote sensing and geographic information systems paradigms and applications in forest landscape modeling

    CERN Document Server

    Favorskaya, Margarita N

    2017-01-01

    This book presents the latest advances in remote-sensing and geographic information systems and applications. It is divided into four parts, focusing on Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Optical Measurements of Forests; Individual Tree Modelling; Landscape Scene Modelling; and Forest Eco-system Modelling. Given the scope of its coverage, the book offers a valuable resource for students, researchers, practitioners, and educators interested in remote sensing and geographic information systems and applications.

  3. Integrating dynamic and distributed compressive sensing techniques to enhance image quality of the compressive line sensing system for unmanned aerial vehicles application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ouyang, Bing; Hou, Weilin; Caimi, Frank M.; Dalgleish, Fraser R.; Vuorenkoski, Anni K.; Gong, Cuiling

    2017-07-01

    The compressive line sensing imaging system adopts distributed compressive sensing (CS) to acquire data and reconstruct images. Dynamic CS uses Bayesian inference to capture the correlated nature of the adjacent lines. An image reconstruction technique that incorporates dynamic CS in the distributed CS framework was developed to improve the quality of reconstructed images. The effectiveness of the technique was validated using experimental data acquired in an underwater imaging test facility. Results that demonstrate contrast and resolution improvements will be presented. The improved efficiency is desirable for unmanned aerial vehicles conducting long-duration missions.

  4. Enabling affordable and efficiently deployed location based smart home systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Damian; McLoone, Sean; Dishongh, Terry

    2009-01-01

    With the obvious eldercare capabilities of smart environments it is a question of "when", rather than "if", these technologies will be routinely integrated into the design of future houses. In the meantime, health monitoring applications must be integrated into already complete home environments. However, there is significant effort involved in installing the hardware necessary to monitor the movements of an elder throughout an environment. Our work seeks to address the high infrastructure requirements of traditional location-based smart home systems by developing an extremely low infrastructure localisation technique. A study of the most efficient method of obtaining calibration data for an environment is conducted and different mobile devices are compared for localisation accuracy and cost trade-off. It is believed that these developments will contribute towards more efficiently deployed location-based smart home systems.

  5. Generalized location-based resource allocation for OFDMA cognitive radio systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ben Ghorbel, Mahdi

    2010-09-01

    Cognitive radio is one of the hot topics for emerging and future wireless communication. Cognitive users can share channels with primary users under the condition of non interference. In order to compute this interference, the cognitive system usually use the channel state information of the primary user which is often impractical to obtain. However, using location information, we can estimate this interference by pathloss computation. In this paper, we introduce a low-complexity resource allocation algorithm for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based cognitive radio systems, which uses relative location information between primary and secondary users to estimate the interference. This algorithm considers interference with multiple primary users having different thresholds. The simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm by comparing it with an optimal exhaustive search method. © 2010 IEEE.

  6. Protein (multi-)location prediction: using location inter-dependencies in a probabilistic framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Motivation Knowing the location of a protein within the cell is important for understanding its function, role in biological processes, and potential use as a drug target. Much progress has been made in developing computational methods that predict single locations for proteins. Most such methods are based on the over-simplifying assumption that proteins localize to a single location. However, it has been shown that proteins localize to multiple locations. While a few recent systems attempt to predict multiple locations of proteins, their performance leaves much room for improvement. Moreover, they typically treat locations as independent and do not attempt to utilize possible inter-dependencies among locations. Our hypothesis is that directly incorporating inter-dependencies among locations into both the classifier-learning and the prediction process can improve location prediction performance. Results We present a new method and a preliminary system we have developed that directly incorporates inter-dependencies among locations into the location-prediction process of multiply-localized proteins. Our method is based on a collection of Bayesian network classifiers, where each classifier is used to predict a single location. Learning the structure of each Bayesian network classifier takes into account inter-dependencies among locations, and the prediction process uses estimates involving multiple locations. We evaluate our system on a dataset of single- and multi-localized proteins (the most comprehensive protein multi-localization dataset currently available, derived from the DBMLoc dataset). Our results, obtained by incorporating inter-dependencies, are significantly higher than those obtained by classifiers that do not use inter-dependencies. The performance of our system on multi-localized proteins is comparable to a top performing system (YLoc+), without being restricted only to location-combinations present in the training set. PMID:24646119

  7. Protein (multi-)location prediction: using location inter-dependencies in a probabilistic framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simha, Ramanuja; Shatkay, Hagit

    2014-03-19

    Knowing the location of a protein within the cell is important for understanding its function, role in biological processes, and potential use as a drug target. Much progress has been made in developing computational methods that predict single locations for proteins. Most such methods are based on the over-simplifying assumption that proteins localize to a single location. However, it has been shown that proteins localize to multiple locations. While a few recent systems attempt to predict multiple locations of proteins, their performance leaves much room for improvement. Moreover, they typically treat locations as independent and do not attempt to utilize possible inter-dependencies among locations. Our hypothesis is that directly incorporating inter-dependencies among locations into both the classifier-learning and the prediction process can improve location prediction performance. We present a new method and a preliminary system we have developed that directly incorporates inter-dependencies among locations into the location-prediction process of multiply-localized proteins. Our method is based on a collection of Bayesian network classifiers, where each classifier is used to predict a single location. Learning the structure of each Bayesian network classifier takes into account inter-dependencies among locations, and the prediction process uses estimates involving multiple locations. We evaluate our system on a dataset of single- and multi-localized proteins (the most comprehensive protein multi-localization dataset currently available, derived from the DBMLoc dataset). Our results, obtained by incorporating inter-dependencies, are significantly higher than those obtained by classifiers that do not use inter-dependencies. The performance of our system on multi-localized proteins is comparable to a top performing system (YLoc+), without being restricted only to location-combinations present in the training set.

  8. Inferring Human Mobility from Sparse Low Accuracy Mobile Sensing Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cuttone, Andrea; Jørgensen, Sune Lehmann; Larsen, Jakob Eg

    2014-01-01

    Understanding both collective and personal human mobility is a central topic in Computational Social Science. Smartphone sensing data is emerging as a promising source for studying human mobility. However, most literature focuses on high-precision GPS positioning and high-frequency sampling, which...... is not always feasible in a longitudinal study or for everyday applications because location sensing has a high battery cost. In this paper we study the feasibility of inferring human mobility from sparse, low accuracy mobile sensing data. We validate our results using participants' location diaries......, and analyze the inferred geographical networks, the time spent at different places, and the number of unique places over time. Our results suggest that low resolution data allows accurate inference of human mobility patterns....

  9. Mobile teleoperator remote sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hall, E.L.

    1986-01-01

    Sensing systems are an important element of mobile teleoperators and robots. This paper discusses certain problems and limitations of vision and other sensing systems with respect to operations in a radiological accident environment. Methods which appear promising for near-term improvements to sensor technology are described. 3 refs

  10. A Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing (MASS) system for rapid roadway assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Yifeng; Zhang, Yi; Cao, Yinghong; McDaniel, J Gregory; Wang, Ming L

    2013-05-08

    Surface waves are commonly used for vibration-based nondestructive testing for infrastructure. Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW) has been used to detect subsurface properties for geologic inspections. Recently, efforts were made to scale down these subsurface detection approaches to see how they perform on small-scale structures such as concrete slabs and pavements. Additional efforts have been made to replace the traditional surface-mounted transducers with non-contact acoustic transducers. Though some success has been achieved, most of these new approaches are inefficient because they require point-to-point measurements or off-line signal analysis. This article introduces a Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing system as MASS, which is an improved surface wave based implementation for measuring the subsurface profile of roadways. The compact MASS system is a 3-wheeled cart outfitted with an electromagnetic impact source, distance register, non-contact acoustic sensors and data acquisition/ processing equipment. The key advantage of the MASS system is the capability to collect measurements continuously at walking speed in an automatic way. The fast scan and real-time analysis advantages are based upon the non-contact acoustic sensing and fast air-coupled surface wave analysis program. This integration of hardware and software makes the MASS system an efficient mobile prototype for the field test.

  11. A Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing (MASS System for Rapid Roadway Assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ming L. Wang

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Surface waves are commonly used for vibration-based nondestructive testing for infrastructure. Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW has been used to detect subsurface properties for geologic inspections. Recently, efforts were made to scale down these subsurface detection approaches to see how they perform on small-scale structures such as concrete slabs and pavements. Additional efforts have been made to replace the traditional surface-mounted transducers with non-contact acoustic transducers. Though some success has been achieved, most of these new approaches are inefficient because they require point-to-point measurements or off-line signal analysis. This article introduces a Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing system as MASS, which is an improved surface wave based implementation for measuring the subsurface profile of roadways. The compact MASS system is a 3-wheeled cart outfitted with an electromagnetic impact source, distance register, non-contact acoustic sensors and data acquisition/ processing equipment. The key advantage of the MASS system is the capability to collect measurements continuously at walking speed in an automatic way. The fast scan and real-time analysis advantages are based upon the non-contact acoustic sensing and fast air-coupled surface wave analysis program. This integration of hardware and software makes the MASS system an efficient mobile prototype for the field test.

  12. Shilnikov sense chaos in a simple three-dimensional system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei, Wang; Qi-Chang, Zhang; Rui-Lan, Tian

    2010-01-01

    The Shilnikov sense Smale horseshoe chaos in a simple 3D nonlinear system is studied. The proportional integral derivative (PID) controller is improved by introducing the quadratic and cubic nonlinearities into the governing equations. For the discussion of chaos, the bifurcate parameter value is selected in a reasonable regime at the requirement of the Shilnikov theorem. The analytic expression of the Shilnikov type homoclinic orbit is accomplished. It depends on the series form of the manifolds surrounding the saddle-focus equilibrium. Then the methodology is extended to research the dynamical behaviours of the simplified solar-wind-driven-magnetosphere-ionosphere system. As is illustrated, the Lyapunov characteristic exponent spectra of the two systems indicate the existence of chaotic attractor under some specific parameter conditions

  13. Chemical sensing underclothing system for testing PPE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slabotinsky, J.; Kralik, L.; Bradka, S.; Castulik, P.

    2009-01-01

    Personal protective equipment (PPE) when worn is subjected to pressure differentials across the garment due to ambient wind flow, by body movement and breathing creating the bellows effect, which may force hazardous chemicals vapor or aerosol through the closures, joints, outlet valves and/or clothing protective fabric. Thus the design, fit, size or improper donning of the protective garment will influence chemical-agent penetration. In order to determine penetration of chemical-protective garments by chemical vapor or aerosol, it is necessary to test the entire suit system, including seams, closures, outlet valves and areas of transition with other protective equipment, that is, at the ankles, waist, wrists, neck etc. In order to identify penetration of chemical vapor or aerosol through protective assembly, the Man-in-Simulant Test (MIST) with passive adsorptive devices (PADs) is used, when adsorbed challenging agent (simulant) is desorbed from the PAD and quantified. The current MIST method is failing in complexity of leak detection, due to limited number of passive collection points fixed on human body or a mannequin and very labor extensive work associated with allocation of 20-40 PADs and quantification of adsorbed agent. The Czech approach to detect and quantify penetration/permeation of chemical agent is based on chemical sensing underclothing enable to change the color when exposed with simulant or even with real CW agent. Color intensity and shape of stains on sensing fabric are processed with Laboratory Universal Computer Image Analysis (LUCIA) allowing determining the quantity and the allocation of the penetrating noxious agent(s). This method allows for example calculate individual doses of exposure, the breakthrough coefficient of protective garment as whole and uniquely precise allocation of penetration/permeation shortfalls. Presentation is providing detailed description of imaging system with nickname 'LUCY' in combination with testing mannequin

  14. US8,994,532 "Data Center Equipment Location and Monitoring System"

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2014-01-01

    A data center equipment location system includes both hardware and software to provide for location, monitoring, security and identification of servers and other equipment in equipment racks. The system provides a wired alternative to the wireless RFID tag system by using electronic ID tags...... connected to each piece of equipment, each electronic ID tag connected directly by wires to a equipment rack controller on the equipment rack. The equipment rack controllers then link over a local area network to a central control computer. The central control computer provides an operator interface......, and runs a software application program that communicates with the equipment rack controllers. The software application program of the central control computer stores IDs of the equipment rack controllers and each of its connected electronic ID tags in a database. The software application program...

  15. Secure Nearest Neighbor Query on Crowd-Sensing Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ke Cheng

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Nearest neighbor queries are fundamental in location-based services, and secure nearest neighbor queries mainly focus on how to securely and quickly retrieve the nearest neighbor in the outsourced cloud server. However, the previous big data system structure has changed because of the crowd-sensing data. On the one hand, sensing data terminals as the data owner are numerous and mistrustful, while, on the other hand, in most cases, the terminals find it difficult to finish many safety operation due to computation and storage capability constraints. In light of they Multi Owners and Multi Users (MOMU situation in the crowd-sensing data cloud environment, this paper presents a secure nearest neighbor query scheme based on the proxy server architecture, which is constructed by protocols of secure two-party computation and secure Voronoi diagram algorithm. It not only preserves the data confidentiality and query privacy but also effectively resists the collusion between the cloud server and the data owners or users. Finally, extensive theoretical and experimental evaluations are presented to show that our proposed scheme achieves a superior balance between the security and query performance compared to other schemes.

  16. Using presence to evaluate an augmented reality location aware game

    OpenAIRE

    McCall, Roderick; Wetzel, Richard; Löschner, Johannes; Braun, Anne-Kathrin

    2011-01-01

    Location-aware augmented reality games provide players with a rich and potentially unlimited range of interaction possibilities. In this paper, a study is described which uses a number of measurement techniques including questionnaires, direct observation, semi-structured interviews and video analysis to measure player’s sense of presence. The paper points to the importance of the availability of actions within augmented reality games and how this shapes their sense of presence. The findings ...

  17. Location of Urban Logistic Terminals as Hub Location Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasmina Pašagić Škrinjar

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the problems of locating urban logistic terminals are studied as hub location problems that due to a large number of potential nodes in big cities belong to hard non-polynomial problems, the so-called NP-problems. The hub location problems have found wide application in physical planning of transport and telecommunication systems, especially systems of fast delivery, networks of logistic and distribution centres and cargo traffic terminals of the big cities, etc. The paper defines single and multiple allocations and studies the numerical examples. The capacitated single allocation hub location problems have been studied, with the provision of a mathematical model of selecting the location for the hubs on the network. The paper also presents the differences in the possibilities of implementing the exact and heuristic methods to solve the actual location problems of big dimensions i.e. hub problems of the big cities.

  18. On the Influence of Quorum Sensing in the Competition Between Bacteria and Immune System of Invertebrates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fergola, Paolo; Zhang, Juan; Cerasuolo, Marianna; Ma, Zhien

    2008-07-01

    The competition between bacteria and innate immune system of invertebrate animals is described by means of ODEs. Two different systems are considered corresponding to the absence or the presence of Quorum Sensing (Q.S.) mechanism. Qualitative properties of the solutions of both systems as well as the stability of their meaningful equilibria are analyzed. By constructing suitable Lyapunov functions, global asymptotic stability results have been proved when the quorum sensing is absent. In order to better illustrate the dynamics of competition, some numerical simulations, obtained by means of MATHEMATICA (Wolfram Research, 1989) are presented.

  19. State-Of in Uav Remote Sensing Survey - First Insights Into Applications of Uav Sensing Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aasen, H.

    2017-08-01

    UAVs are increasingly adapted as remote sensing platforms. Together with specialized sensors, they become powerful sensing systems for environmental monitoring and surveying. Spectral data has great capabilities to the gather information about biophysical and biochemical properties. Still, capturing meaningful spectral data in a reproducible way is not trivial. Since a couple of years small and lightweight spectral sensors, which can be carried on small flexible platforms, have become available. With their adaption in the community, the responsibility to ensure the quality of the data is increasingly shifted from specialized companies and agencies to individual researchers or research teams. Due to the complexity of the data acquisition of spectral data, this poses a challenge for the community and standardized protocols, metadata and best practice procedures are needed to make data intercomparable. In November 2016, the ESSEM COST action Innovative optical Tools for proximal sensing of ecophysiological processes (OPTIMISE; http://optimise.dcs.aber.ac.uk/) held a workshop on best practices for UAV spectral sampling. The objective of this meeting was to trace the way from particle to pixel and identify influences on the data quality / reliability, to figure out how well we are currently doing with spectral sampling from UAVs and how we can improve. Additionally, a survey was designed to be distributed within the community to get an overview over the current practices and raise awareness for the topic. This talk will introduce the approach of the OPTIMISE community towards best practises in UAV spectral sampling and present first results of the survey (http://optimise.dcs.aber.ac.uk/uav-survey/). This contribution briefly introduces the survey and gives some insights into the first results given by the interviewees.

  20. A component-based system for agricultural drought monitoring by remote sensing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heng Dong

    Full Text Available In recent decades, various kinds of remote sensing-based drought indexes have been proposed and widely used in the field of drought monitoring. However, the drought-related software and platform development lag behind the theoretical research. The current drought monitoring systems focus mainly on information management and publishing, and cannot implement professional drought monitoring or parameter inversion modelling, especially the models based on multi-dimensional feature space. In view of the above problems, this paper aims at fixing this gap with a component-based system named RSDMS to facilitate the application of drought monitoring by remote sensing. The system is designed and developed based on Component Object Model (COM to ensure the flexibility and extendibility of modules. RSDMS realizes general image-related functions such as data management, image display, spatial reference management, image processing and analysis, and further provides drought monitoring and evaluation functions based on internal and external models. Finally, China's Ningxia region is selected as the study area to validate the performance of RSDMS. The experimental results show that RSDMS provide an efficient and scalable support to agricultural drought monitoring.

  1. Using web-sources for location based systems on mobile phones

    OpenAIRE

    Pannevis, M.; Marx, M.

    2008-01-01

    The paper describes the implementation of a context aware location and time based system on a normal mobile phone, with a minimum of requirements (Bluetooth, Internet access, Java ME, and a simple webbrowser). We can answer the following queries based on data crawled from the web and enriched with location coordinates: • Where are my friends? • What movies are playing, right here, right now? • I need to park my car. Where is the closest parking lot with free space? • What is a good place to h...

  2. Multimodal Sensing Interface for Haptic Interaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Diaz

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the integration of a multimodal sensing system for exploring limits of vibrato tactile haptic feedback when interacting with 3D representation of real objects. In this study, the spatial locations of the objects are mapped to the work volume of the user using a Kinect sensor. The position of the user’s hand is obtained using the marker-based visual processing. The depth information is used to build a vibrotactile map on a haptic glove enhanced with vibration motors. The users can perceive the location and dimension of remote objects by moving their hand inside a scanning region. A marker detection camera provides the location and orientation of the user’s hand (glove to map the corresponding tactile message. A preliminary study was conducted to explore how different users can perceive such haptic experiences. Factors such as total number of objects detected, object separation resolution, and dimension-based and shape-based discrimination were evaluated. The preliminary results showed that the localization and counting of objects can be attained with a high degree of success. The users were able to classify groups of objects of different dimensions based on the perceived haptic feedback.

  3. An arm wearable haptic interface for impact sensing on unmanned aerial vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Yunshil; Hong, Seung-Chan; Lee, Jung-Ryul

    2017-04-01

    In this paper, an impact monitoring system using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors and vibro-haptic actuators has been introduced. The system is suggested for structural health monitoring (SHM) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), by making a decision with human-robot interaction. The system is composed with two major subsystems; an on-board system equipped on UAV and an arm-wearable interface for ground pilot. The on-board system acquires impact-induced wavelength changes and performs localization process, which was developed based on arrival time calculation. The arm-wearable interface helps ground pilots to make decision about impact location themselves by stimulating their tactile-sense with motor vibration.

  4. Intensity-based fibre-optic sensing system using contrast modulation of subcarrier interference pattern

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamovsky, G.; Sherer, T. N.; Maitland, D. J.

    1989-01-01

    A novel technique to compensate for unwanted intensity losses in a fiber-optic sensing system is described. The technique involves a continuous sinusoidal modulation of the light source intensity at radio frequencies and an intensity sensor placed in an unbalanced interferometer. The system shows high sensitivity and stability.

  5. Method and System for Physiologically Modulating Videogames and Simulations which Use Gesture and Body Image Sensing Control Input Devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pope, Alan T. (Inventor); Stephens, Chad L. (Inventor); Habowski, Tyler (Inventor)

    2017-01-01

    Method for physiologically modulating videogames and simulations includes utilizing input from a motion-sensing video game system and input from a physiological signal acquisition device. The inputs from the physiological signal sensors are utilized to change the response of a user's avatar to inputs from the motion-sensing sensors. The motion-sensing system comprises a 3D sensor system having full-body 3D motion capture of a user's body. This arrangement encourages health-enhancing physiological self-regulation skills or therapeutic amplification of healthful physiological characteristics. The system provides increased motivation for users to utilize biofeedback as may be desired for treatment of various conditions.

  6. SENSOR++: Simulation of Remote Sensing Systems from Visible to Thermal Infrared

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paproth, C.; Schlüßler, E.; Scherbaum, P.; Börner, A.

    2012-07-01

    During the development process of a remote sensing system, the optimization and the verification of the sensor system are important tasks. To support these tasks, the simulation of the sensor and its output is valuable. This enables the developers to test algorithms, estimate errors, and evaluate the capabilities of the whole sensor system before the final remote sensing system is available and produces real data. The presented simulation concept, SENSOR++, consists of three parts. The first part is the geometric simulation which calculates where the sensor looks at by using a ray tracing algorithm. This also determines whether the observed part of the scene is shadowed or not. The second part describes the radiometry and results in the spectral at-sensor radiance from the visible spectrum to the thermal infrared according to the simulated sensor type. In the case of earth remote sensing, it also includes a model of the radiative transfer through the atmosphere. The final part uses the at-sensor radiance to generate digital images by using an optical and an electronic sensor model. Using SENSOR++ for an optimization requires the additional application of task-specific data processing algorithms. The principle of the simulation approach is explained, all relevant concepts of SENSOR++ are discussed, and first examples of its use are given, for example a camera simulation for a moon lander. Finally, the verification of SENSOR++ is demonstrated.

  7. Microelectromechanical acceleration-sensing apparatus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Robb M [Albuquerque, NM; Shul, Randy J [Albuquerque, NM; Polosky, Marc A [Albuquerque, NM; Hoke, Darren A [Albuquerque, NM; Vernon, George E [Rio Rancho, NM

    2006-12-12

    An acceleration-sensing apparatus is disclosed which includes a moveable shuttle (i.e. a suspended mass) and a latch for capturing and holding the shuttle when an acceleration event is sensed above a predetermined threshold level. The acceleration-sensing apparatus provides a switch closure upon sensing the acceleration event and remains latched in place thereafter. Examples of the acceleration-sensing apparatus are provided which are responsive to an acceleration component in a single direction (i.e. a single-sided device) or to two oppositely-directed acceleration components (i.e. a dual-sided device). A two-stage acceleration-sensing apparatus is also disclosed which can sense two acceleration events separated in time. The acceleration-sensing apparatus of the present invention has applications, for example, in an automotive airbag deployment system.

  8. A Web Service-Based Framework Model for People-Centric Sensing Applications Applied to Social Networking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Sá Silva

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available As the Internet evolved, social networks (such as Facebook have bloomed and brought together an astonishing number of users. Mashing up mobile phones and sensors with these social environments enables the creation of people-centric sensing systems which have great potential for expanding our current social networking usage. However, such systems also have many associated technical challenges, such as privacy concerns, activity detection mechanisms or intermittent connectivity, as well as limitations due to the heterogeneity of sensor nodes and networks. Considering the openness of the Web 2.0, good technical solutions for these cases consist of frameworks that expose sensing data and functionalities as common Web-Services. This paper presents our RESTful Web Service-based model for people-centric sensing frameworks, which uses sensors and mobile phones to detect users’ activities and locations, sharing this information amongst the user’s friends within a social networking site. We also present some screenshot results of our experimental prototype.

  9. A Web Service-based framework model for people-centric sensing applications applied to social networking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunes, David; Tran, Thanh-Dien; Raposo, Duarte; Pinto, André; Gomes, André; Silva, Jorge Sá

    2012-01-01

    As the Internet evolved, social networks (such as Facebook) have bloomed and brought together an astonishing number of users. Mashing up mobile phones and sensors with these social environments enables the creation of people-centric sensing systems which have great potential for expanding our current social networking usage. However, such systems also have many associated technical challenges, such as privacy concerns, activity detection mechanisms or intermittent connectivity, as well as limitations due to the heterogeneity of sensor nodes and networks. Considering the openness of the Web 2.0, good technical solutions for these cases consist of frameworks that expose sensing data and functionalities as common Web-Services. This paper presents our RESTful Web Service-based model for people-centric sensing frameworks, which uses sensors and mobile phones to detect users' activities and locations, sharing this information amongst the user's friends within a social networking site. We also present some screenshot results of our experimental prototype.

  10. Sensing Mine, Yours, Theirs and Ours

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mitchell, Robb

    2015-01-01

    To effectively leverage human sensorimotor abilities, this paper urges going beyond the traditional five senses. When users share physical space or location with other people, a crucial neglected modality is argued to be a sense of ownership. If, how, and what someone can see, touch, hear, feel....... Drawing upon urbanism theory helps show how different variations of territorial blending can articulate tactics for increasing sociality through interactive garments. These insights are offered to aid understanding of the design space for developers directly concerned with influencing co...

  11. Smart sensing surveillance system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Charles; Chu, Kai-Dee; O'Looney, James; Blake, Michael; Rutar, Colleen

    2010-04-01

    An effective public safety sensor system for heavily-populated applications requires sophisticated and geographically-distributed infrastructures, centralized supervision, and deployment of large-scale security and surveillance networks. Artificial intelligence in sensor systems is a critical design to raise awareness levels, improve the performance of the system and adapt to a changing scenario and environment. In this paper, a highly-distributed, fault-tolerant, and energy-efficient Smart Sensing Surveillance System (S4) is presented to efficiently provide a 24/7 and all weather security operation in crowded environments or restricted areas. Technically, the S4 consists of a number of distributed sensor nodes integrated with specific passive sensors to rapidly collect, process, and disseminate heterogeneous sensor data from near omni-directions. These distributed sensor nodes can cooperatively work to send immediate security information when new objects appear. When the new objects are detected, the S4 will smartly select the available node with a Pan- Tilt- Zoom- (PTZ) Electro-Optics EO/IR camera to track the objects and capture associated imagery. The S4 provides applicable advanced on-board digital image processing capabilities to detect and track the specific objects. The imaging detection operations include unattended object detection, human feature and behavior detection, and configurable alert triggers, etc. Other imaging processes can be updated to meet specific requirements and operations. In the S4, all the sensor nodes are connected with a robust, reconfigurable, LPI/LPD (Low Probability of Intercept/ Low Probability of Detect) wireless mesh network using Ultra-wide band (UWB) RF technology. This UWB RF technology can provide an ad-hoc, secure mesh network and capability to relay network information, communicate and pass situational awareness and messages. The Service Oriented Architecture of S4 enables remote applications to interact with the S4

  12. Symbiotic Sensing for Energy-Intensive Tasks in Large-Scale Mobile Sensing Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Duc V; Nguyen, Thuong; Scholten, Hans; Havinga, Paul J M

    2017-11-29

    Energy consumption is a critical performance and user experience metric when developing mobile sensing applications, especially with the significantly growing number of sensing applications in recent years. As proposed a decade ago when mobile applications were still not popular and most mobile operating systems were single-tasking, conventional sensing paradigms such as opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing do not explore the relationship among concurrent applications for energy-intensive tasks. In this paper, inspired by social relationships among living creatures in nature, we propose a symbiotic sensing paradigm that can conserve energy, while maintaining equivalent performance to existing paradigms. The key idea is that sensing applications should cooperatively perform common tasks to avoid acquiring the same resources multiple times. By doing so, this sensing paradigm executes sensing tasks with very little extra resource consumption and, consequently, extends battery life. To evaluate and compare the symbiotic sensing paradigm with the existing ones, we develop mathematical models in terms of the completion probability and estimated energy consumption. The quantitative evaluation results using various parameters obtained from real datasets indicate that symbiotic sensing performs better than opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing in large-scale sensing applications, such as road condition monitoring, air pollution monitoring, and city noise monitoring.

  13. Symbiotic Sensing for Energy-Intensive Tasks in Large-Scale Mobile Sensing Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scholten, Hans; Havinga, Paul J. M.

    2017-01-01

    Energy consumption is a critical performance and user experience metric when developing mobile sensing applications, especially with the significantly growing number of sensing applications in recent years. As proposed a decade ago when mobile applications were still not popular and most mobile operating systems were single-tasking, conventional sensing paradigms such as opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing do not explore the relationship among concurrent applications for energy-intensive tasks. In this paper, inspired by social relationships among living creatures in nature, we propose a symbiotic sensing paradigm that can conserve energy, while maintaining equivalent performance to existing paradigms. The key idea is that sensing applications should cooperatively perform common tasks to avoid acquiring the same resources multiple times. By doing so, this sensing paradigm executes sensing tasks with very little extra resource consumption and, consequently, extends battery life. To evaluate and compare the symbiotic sensing paradigm with the existing ones, we develop mathematical models in terms of the completion probability and estimated energy consumption. The quantitative evaluation results using various parameters obtained from real datasets indicate that symbiotic sensing performs better than opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing in large-scale sensing applications, such as road condition monitoring, air pollution monitoring, and city noise monitoring. PMID:29186037

  14. Symbiotic Sensing for Energy-Intensive Tasks in Large-Scale Mobile Sensing Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duc V. Le

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Energy consumption is a critical performance and user experience metric when developing mobile sensing applications, especially with the significantly growing number of sensing applications in recent years. As proposed a decade ago when mobile applications were still not popular and most mobile operating systems were single-tasking, conventional sensing paradigms such as opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing do not explore the relationship among concurrent applications for energy-intensive tasks. In this paper, inspired by social relationships among living creatures in nature, we propose a symbiotic sensing paradigm that can conserve energy, while maintaining equivalent performance to existing paradigms. The key idea is that sensing applications should cooperatively perform common tasks to avoid acquiring the same resources multiple times. By doing so, this sensing paradigm executes sensing tasks with very little extra resource consumption and, consequently, extends battery life. To evaluate and compare the symbiotic sensing paradigm with the existing ones, we develop mathematical models in terms of the completion probability and estimated energy consumption. The quantitative evaluation results using various parameters obtained from real datasets indicate that symbiotic sensing performs better than opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing in large-scale sensing applications, such as road condition monitoring, air pollution monitoring, and city noise monitoring.

  15. Spectrum Sensing in relation to Distributed Antenna System for Coverage Predictions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kumar, Ambuj; Mihovska, Albena D.; Prasad, Ramjee

    2014-01-01

    Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) is one of the most promising ways of network deployment now-a-days. Mostly it is used in indoor environment for shopping areas and office locations. Here the Outdoor application of DAS, where multiple service providers can install their Base Transceiver Station...... (BTS)/Nodes at one location known as BTS hotel and the antennas are distributed all over target area by fiber optic network, is discussed. The very concept of splitting Base Station (BS) from its antenna system and putting it at one location (BS Hotel) and distributing antenna as nodes (Remote Unit...

  16. Gyroscopic sensing in the wings of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta: the role of sensor location and directional sensitivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinson, Brian T; Morgansen, Kristi A

    2015-10-06

    The wings of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta are lined with mechanoreceptors called campaniform sensilla that encode wing deformations. During flight, the wings deform in response to a variety of stimuli, including inertial-elastic loads due to the wing flapping motion, aerodynamic loads, and exogenous inertial loads transmitted by disturbances. Because the wings are actuated, flexible structures, the strain-sensitive campaniform sensilla are capable of detecting inertial rotations and accelerations, allowing the wings to serve not only as a primary actuator, but also as a gyroscopic sensor for flight control. We study the gyroscopic sensing of the hawkmoth wings from a control theoretic perspective. Through the development of a low-order model of flexible wing flapping dynamics, and the use of nonlinear observability analysis, we show that the rotational acceleration inherent in wing flapping enables the wings to serve as gyroscopic sensors. We compute a measure of sensor fitness as a function of sensor location and directional sensitivity by using the simulation-based empirical observability Gramian. Our results indicate that gyroscopic information is encoded primarily through shear strain due to wing twisting, where inertial rotations cause detectable changes in pronation and supination timing and magnitude. We solve an observability-based optimal sensor placement problem to find the optimal configuration of strain sensor locations and directional sensitivities for detecting inertial rotations. The optimal sensor configuration shows parallels to the campaniform sensilla found on hawkmoth wings, with clusters of sensors near the wing root and wing tip. The optimal spatial distribution of strain directional sensitivity provides a hypothesis for how heterogeneity of campaniform sensilla may be distributed.

  17. Remote sensing systems – Platforms and sensors: Aerial, satellites, UAVs, optical, radar, and LiDAR: Chapter 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panda, Sudhanshu S.; Rao, Mahesh N.; Thenkabail, Prasad S.; Fitzerald, James E.

    2015-01-01

    The American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing defined remote sensing as the measurement or acquisition of information of some property of an object or phenomenon, by a recording device that is not in physical or intimate contact with the object or phenomenon under study (Colwell et al., 1983). Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in its geographic information system (GIS) dictionary defines remote sensing as “collecting and interpreting information about the environment and the surface of the earth from a distance, primarily by sensing radiation that is naturally emitted or reflected by the earth’s surface or from the atmosphere, or by sending signals transmitted from a device and reflected back to it (ESRI, 2014).” The usual source of passive remote sensing data is the measurement of reflected or transmitted electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from the sun across the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS); this can also include acoustic or sound energy, gravity, or the magnetic field from or of the objects under consideration. In this context, the simple act of reading this text is considered remote sensing. In this case, the eye acts as a sensor and senses the light reflected from the object to obtain information about the object. It is the same technology used by a handheld camera to take a photograph of a person or a distant scenic view. Active remote sensing, however, involves sending a pulse of energy and then measuring the returned energy through a sensor (e.g., Radio Detection and Ranging [RADAR], Light Detection and Ranging [LiDAR]). Thermal sensors measure emitted energy by different objects. Thus, in general, passive remote sensing involves the measurement of solar energy reflected from the Earth’s surface, while active remote sensing involves synthetic (man-made) energy pulsed at the environment and the return signals are measured and recorded.

  18. An Open Source Software and Web-GIS Based Platform for Airborne SAR Remote Sensing Data Management, Distribution and Sharing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changyong, Dou; Huadong, Guo; Chunming, Han; Ming, Liu

    2014-03-01

    With more and more Earth observation data available to the community, how to manage and sharing these valuable remote sensing datasets is becoming an urgent issue to be solved. The web based Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology provides a convenient way for the users in different locations to share and make use of the same dataset. In order to efficiently use the airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing data acquired in the Airborne Remote Sensing Center of the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a Web-GIS based platform for airborne SAR data management, distribution and sharing was designed and developed. The major features of the system include map based navigation search interface, full resolution imagery shown overlaid the map, and all the software adopted in the platform are Open Source Software (OSS). The functions of the platform include browsing the imagery on the map navigation based interface, ordering and downloading data online, image dataset and user management, etc. At present, the system is under testing in RADI and will come to regular operation soon.

  19. Remote Sensing for Mineral Exploration in Central Portugal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo Manuel

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Central Portugal is well known for the existence of Sn-W and Au-Ag mineral occurrences primarily associated with hydrothermal processes. Despite the economic and strategic importance of such occurrences, the detailed geology of this particular region is poorly known and there is an obvious absence of geological mapping at an adequate scale. Remote sensing techniques were used in order to increase current geological knowledge of the Góis–Castanheira de Pêra area (600 km2 and to guide future exploration stages by targeting and prioritising potential locations. Digital image processing algorithms, such as Red, Green, Blue (RGB colour composites, digital spatial filters, band ratios and Principal Components Analysis, were applied to Landsat 8 imagery and elevation data. Lineaments were extracted relying on geological photointerpretation criteria, allowing the identification of new geological–structural elements. Fieldwork was carried out in order to validate the remote sensing interpretations. Integration of remote sensing data with other information sources led to the definition of locations possibly suitable for hosting Sn-W and Au-Ag mineral occurrences. These areas were ranked according to their mineral potential. Targeting the most promising locations resulted in a reduction to less than 10% of the original study area (50.5 km2.

  20. Location Based Services for Outdoor Ecological Learning System: Design and Implementation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiao, Hsien-Sheng; Lin, Chih-Cheng; Feng, Ruei-Ting; Li, Kun Jing

    2010-01-01

    This paper aimed to demonstrate how location-based services were implemented in ubiquitous outdoor ecological learning system. In an elementary school in northern Taiwan, two fifth grade classes on an ecology project were randomly selected: The experimental group could access the ecological learning system on hand-held devices while the control…

  1. Leak Location of Pipeline with Multibranch Based on a Cyber-Physical System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xianming Lang

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Data cannot be shared and leakage cannot be located simultaneously among multiple pipeline leak detection systems. Based on cyber-physical system (CPS architecture, the method for locating leakage for pipelines with multibranch is proposed. The singular point of pressure signals at the ends of pipeline with multibranch is analyzed by wavelet packet analysis, so that the time feature samples could be established. Then, the Fischer-Burmeister function is introduced into the learning process of the twin support vector machine (TWSVM in order to avoid the matrix inversion calculation, and the samples are input into the improved twin support vector machine (ITWSVM to distinguish the pipeline leak location. The simulation results show that the proposed method is more effective than the back propagation (BP neural networks, the radial basis function (RBF neural networks, and the Lagrange twin support vector machine.

  2. Exploitation of commercial remote sensing images: reality ignored?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Paul C.

    1999-12-01

    The remote sensing market is on the verge of being awash in commercial high-resolution images. Market estimates are based on the growing numbers of planned commercial remote sensing electro-optical, radar, and hyperspectral satellites and aircraft. EarthWatch, Space Imaging, SPOT, and RDL among others are all working towards launch and service of one to five meter panchromatic or radar-imaging satellites. Additionally, new advances in digital air surveillance and reconnaissance systems, both manned and unmanned, are also expected to expand the geospatial customer base. Regardless of platform, image type, or location, each system promises images with some combination of increased resolution, greater spectral coverage, reduced turn-around time (request-to- delivery), and/or reduced image cost. For the most part, however, market estimates for these new sources focus on the raw digital images (from collection to the ground station) while ignoring the requirements for a processing and exploitation infrastructure comprised of exploitation tools, exploitation training, library systems, and image management systems. From this it would appear the commercial imaging community has failed to learn the hard lessons of national government experience choosing instead to ignore reality and replicate the bias of collection over processing and exploitation. While this trend may be not impact the small quantity users that exist today it will certainly adversely affect the mid- to large-sized users of the future.

  3. Spatial and functional characterization, identification and assessment of isolated wetlands in Alachua County, Florida, USA - GIS and remote sensing techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    In this study, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing mapping techniques were developed to identify the locations of isolated wetlands in Alachua County, FL, a 2510 sq km area in north-central Florida with diverse geology and numerous isolated wetlands. The resul...

  4. Introduction to remote sensing

    CERN Document Server

    Cracknell, Arthur P

    2007-01-01

    Addressing the need for updated information in remote sensing, Introduction to Remote Sensing, Second Edition provides a full and authoritative introduction for scientists who need to know the scope, potential, and limitations in the field. The authors discuss the physical principles of common remote sensing systems and examine the processing, interpretation, and applications of data. This new edition features updated and expanded material, including greater coverage of applications from across earth, environmental, atmospheric, and oceanographic sciences. Illustrated with remotely sensed colo

  5. Accurate and emergent applications for high precision light small aerial remote sensing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pei, Liu; Yingcheng, Li; Yanli, Xue; Qingwu, Hu; Xiaofeng, Sun

    2014-03-01

    In this paper, we focus on the successful applications of accurate and emergent surveying and mapping for high precision light small aerial remote sensing system. First, the remote sensing system structure and three integrated operation modes will be introduced. It can be combined to three operation modes depending on the application requirements. Second, we describe the preliminary results of a precision validation method for POS direct orientation in 1:500 mapping. Third, it presents two fast response mapping products- regional continuous three-dimensional model and digital surface model, taking the efficiency and accuracy evaluation of the two products as an important point. The precision of both products meets the 1:2 000 topographic map accuracy specifications in Pingdingshan area. In the end, conclusions and future work are summarized.

  6. Accurate and emergent applications for high precision light small aerial remote sensing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pei, Liu; Yingcheng, Li; Yanli, Xue; Xiaofeng, Sun; Qingwu, Hu

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we focus on the successful applications of accurate and emergent surveying and mapping for high precision light small aerial remote sensing system. First, the remote sensing system structure and three integrated operation modes will be introduced. It can be combined to three operation modes depending on the application requirements. Second, we describe the preliminary results of a precision validation method for POS direct orientation in 1:500 mapping. Third, it presents two fast response mapping products- regional continuous three-dimensional model and digital surface model, taking the efficiency and accuracy evaluation of the two products as an important point. The precision of both products meets the 1:2 000 topographic map accuracy specifications in Pingdingshan area. In the end, conclusions and future work are summarized

  7. Intelligent environmental sensing

    CERN Document Server

    Mukhopadhyay, Subhas

    2015-01-01

    Developing environmental sensing and monitoring technologies become essential especially for industries that may cause severe contamination. Intelligent environmental sensing uses novel sensor techniques, intelligent signal and data processing algorithms, and wireless sensor networks to enhance environmental sensing and monitoring. It finds applications in many environmental problems such as oil and gas, water quality, and agriculture. This book addresses issues related to three main approaches to intelligent environmental sensing and discusses their latest technological developments. Key contents of the book include:   Agricultural monitoring Classification, detection, and estimation Data fusion Geological monitoring Motor monitoring Multi-sensor systems Oil reservoirs monitoring Sensor motes Water quality monitoring Wireless sensor network protocol  

  8. Open Location Management in Automated Warehousing Systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Y. Yu (Yugang); M.B.M. de Koster (René)

    2009-01-01

    textabstractA warehouse needs to have sufficient open locations to be able to store incoming shipments of various sizes. In combination with ongoing load retrievals open locations gradually spread over the storage area. Unfavorable positions of open locations negatively impact the average load

  9. Sense of place along a scenic byway in Maine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marilynne Mann; Jessica Leahy

    2008-01-01

    Sense of place defines the value and meaning of location. The Rangeley Lakes area of Maine, an unusual natural environment with cultural and historic significance, was nationally recognized in 2000 by the designation of the Rangeley Lakes National Scenic Byway. A survey during the summer of 2006 sought to identify sense of place in the midst of tourism-related growth...

  10. Temporal and Location Based RFID Event Data Management and Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Fusheng; Liu, Peiya

    Advance of sensor and RFID technology provides significant new power for humans to sense, understand and manage the world. RFID provides fast data collection with precise identification of objects with unique IDs without line of sight, thus it can be used for identifying, locating, tracking and monitoring physical objects. Despite these benefits, RFID poses many challenges for data processing and management. RFID data are temporal and history oriented, multi-dimensional, and carrying implicit semantics. Moreover, RFID applications are heterogeneous. RFID data management or data warehouse systems need to support generic and expressive data modeling for tracking and monitoring physical objects, and provide automated data interpretation and processing. We develop a powerful temporal and location oriented data model for modeling and queryingRFID data, and a declarative event and rule based framework for automated complex RFID event processing. The approach is general and can be easily adapted for different RFID-enabled applications, thus significantly reduces the cost of RFID data integration.

  11. Design of a Novel Telerehabilitation System with a Force-Sensing Mechanism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Songyuan Zhang

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Many stroke patients are expected to rehabilitate at home, which limits their access to proper rehabilitation equipment, treatment, or assessment by therapists. We have developed a novel telerehabilitation system that incorporates a human-upper-limb-like device and an exoskeleton device. The system is designed to provide the feeling of real therapist–patient contact via telerehabilitation. We applied the principle of a series elastic actuator to both the master and slave devices. On the master side, the therapist can operate the device in a rehabilitation center. When performing passive training, the master device can detect the therapist’s motion while controlling the deflection of elastic elements to near-zero, and the patient can receive the motion via the exoskeleton device. When performing active training, the design of the force-sensing mechanism in the master device can detect the assisting force added by the therapist. The force-sensing mechanism also allows force detection with an angle sensor. Patients’ safety is guaranteed by monitoring the motor’s current from the exoskeleton device. To compensate for any possible time delay or data loss, a torque-limiter mechanism was also designed in the exoskeleton device for patients’ safety. Finally, we successfully performed a system performance test for passive training with transmission control protocol/internet protocol communication.

  12. Application of the remote-sensing communication model to a time-sensitive wildfire remote-sensing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christopher D. Lippitt; Douglas A. Stow; Philip J. Riggan

    2016-01-01

    Remote sensing for hazard response requires a priori identification of sensor, transmission, processing, and distribution methods to permit the extraction of relevant information in timescales sufficient to allow managers to make a given time-sensitive decision. This study applies and demonstrates the utility of the Remote Sensing Communication...

  13. Theory of the interaction of flat sensing organ with the head of the sugar beet root

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volodymyr Bulgakov

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Sugar beet leaves now are very widely used for livestock feeding, as an organic fertiliser, and also as a raw material for the production of biogas. Therefore the harvest of the sugar beet tops (including leaves can be considered as current task for the sugar beet growing system. Modern technologies involve harvest of the tops of sugar beet in two stages: flat basic cut and collecting of the entire green mass at higher altitude and the subsequent cutting of the heads of root crops from the residues. Therefore, topical issues of the sensing of the heads of sugar beet roots arranged in rows, are related to the majority of the sugar beet toppers, cleaners of the sugar beet heads, leaves cutters and, digging up working bodies of some designs. The aim of this study is theoretical determination the optimum design and kinematic parameters of a new sensing mechanism of the sugar beet heads located in the soil on the basis of the theory of interaction of flat passive swath board sensing organ with the sugar beet heads during their topping when located in the soil. In the study there are used methods of creation of mathematical models of functioning of the agricultural machines and their working bodies with the using of main provisions of mathematics, theoretical mechanics, programming and numerical calculations on the PC. In this paper, there is presented a theoretical study of the interaction of passive sensing organ with the head of the sugar beet root when there are located residues of the leaves on a root head spherical surface in the form of short elastic rods. Thus, for such an interaction of the sensing organ and the head of sugar beet root head there is taken into account elastic-damping properties of the sugar beet leaves residues. In the study there was first of all developed a new design of the topper for sugar beet heads with the use of a flat swath board sensing organ, there was developed the equivalent scheme of the interaction of the

  14. ChR2 transgenic animals in peripheral sensory system: Sensing light as various sensations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Zhi-Gang; Wang, Hongxia

    2016-04-01

    Since the introduction of Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) to neuroscience, optogenetics technology was developed, making it possible to activate specific neurons or circuits with spatial and temporal precision. Various ChR2 transgenic animal models have been generated and are playing important roles in revealing the mechanisms of neural activities, mapping neural circuits, controlling the behaviors of animals as well as exploring new strategy for treating the neurological diseases in both central and peripheral nervous system. An animal including humans senses environments through Aristotle's five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch). Usually, each sense is associated with a kind of sensory organ (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin). Is it possible that one could hear light, smell light, taste light and touch light? When ChR2 is targeted to different peripheral sensory neurons by viral vectors or generating ChR2 transgenic animals, the animals can sense the light as various sensations such as hearing, touch, pain, smell and taste. In this review, we focus on ChR2 transgenic animals in the peripheral nervous system. Firstly the working principle of ChR2 as an optogenetic actuator is simply described. Then the current transgenic animal lines where ChR2 was expressed in peripheral sensory neurons are presented and the findings obtained by these animal models are reviewed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Development of Laser Based Remote Sensing System for Inner-Concrete Defects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimada, Yoshinori; Kotyaev, Oleg

    Laser-based remote sensing using a vibration detection system has been developed using a photorefractive crystal to reduce the effect of concrete surface-roughness. An electric field was applied to the crystal and the reference beam was phase shifted to increase the detection efficiency (DE). The DE increased by factor of 8.5 times compared to that when no voltage and no phase shifting were applied. Vibration from concrete defects can be detected at a distance of 5 m from the system. A vibration-canceling system has also developed that appears to be promising for canceling vibrations between the laser system and the concrete. Finally, we have constructed a prototype system that can be transported in a small truck.

  16. Laser system for remote sensing monitoring of air pollution and quality control of the atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belić Ilija

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Monitoring of the atmosphere and determination of the types and amounts of pollutants is becoming more important issue in complex and global monitoring of the environment. On the geocomponent and geocomplex level problem of monitoring the environment is attracting the attention of the scientific experts of different profiles (chemists, physicists, geographers, biologists, meteorologists, both in the national and international projects. Because of the general characteristics of the Earth's atmosphere (Dynamically Ballanced Instability DBI and the potential contribution to climate change solutions air-pollution monitoring has become particularly important field of environmental research. Control of aerosol distribution over Europe is enabled by EARLINET systems (European Aerosol Lidar NETwork. Serbia’s inclusion into these European courses needs development of the device, the standardization of methods and direct activity in determining the type, quantity and location of aerosol. This paper is analyzing the first step in the study of air-pollution, which is consisted of the realization of a functional model of LIDAR remote sensing devices for the large particle pollutants.

  17. Local Positioning Systems in (Game) Sports

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leser, Roland; Baca, Arnold; Ogris, Georg

    2011-01-01

    Position data of players and athletes are widely used in sports performance analysis for measuring the amounts of physical activities as well as for tactical assessments in game sports. However, positioning sensing systems are applied in sports as tools to gain objective information of sports behavior rather than as components of intelligent spaces (IS). The paper outlines the idea of IS for the sports context with special focus to game sports and how intelligent sports feedback systems can benefit from IS. Henceforth, the most common location sensing techniques used in sports and their practical application are reviewed, as location is among the most important enabling techniques for IS. Furthermore, the article exemplifies the idea of IS in sports on two applications. PMID:22163725

  18. Institutional issues affecting the integration and use of remotely sensed data and geographic information systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lauer, D.T.; Estes, J.E.; Jensen, J.R.; Greenlee, D.D.

    1991-01-01

    The developers as well as the users of remotely sensed data and geographic information system (GIS) techniques are associated with nearly all types of institutions in government, industry, and academia. Individuals in these various institutions often find the barriers to accepting remote sensing and GIS are not necessarily technical in nature, but can be attributed to the institutions themselves. Several major institutional issues that affect the technologies of remote sensing and GIS are data availability, data marketing and costs, equipment availability and costs, standards and practices, education and training, and organizational infrastructures. Not only are problems associated with these issues identified, but needs and opportunities also are discussed. -from Authors

  19. Systems competing for mobile factors: decision making based on hard vs. soft locational factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clodnițchi Roxana

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper explores the links between capital relocation and soft locational factors addressing the quality of the business environment and the quality of life within the European Union. System competition is viewed as a competition between countries for the mobile factors capital and labour. The issue of systems competition is topical and insufficiently explored by contemporary literature. The scarcity of scientific papers describing the links between system competition theories and contemporary corporate geography theories, especially of the ones including the analysis of soft location factors, is a challenging aspect, which motivates the choice of this subject. This paper’s primary aim is to deliver an overview of the basic corporate geography conceptions, stressing the importance of soft location factors in today’s competition between systems for the mobile factors capital and labour. The paper further contains an analysis of the correlations between indicators regarding the institutional design of countries as developed by the World Bank (Ease of Doing Business, the Happiness Scale and the latest available data of FDI Stocks for the EU countries (2016. The relevance of such a study is based on the evidence that the contemporary business education relies on an extensive knowledge of the business environment. In the circumstance of similar infrastructural conditions, the main difference between locations is made by soft location factors. Since developed economies are characterised by a high degree of ubiquity of soft factors, the paper concludes that developing and emerging economies should foster the development of their soft location factors.

  20. Multi-Sensing system for outdoor thermal monitoring: Application to large scale civil engineering components

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crinière, Antoine; Dumoulin, Jean; Manceau, Jean-Luc; Perez, Laetitia; Bourquin, Frederic

    2014-05-01

    Aging of transport infrastructures combined with traffic and climatic solicitations contribute to the reduction of their performances. To address and quantify the resilience of civil engineering structure, investigations on robust, fast and efficient methods are required. Among research works carried out at IFSTTAR, methods for long term monitoring face an increasing demand. Such works take benefits of this last decade technological progresses in ICT domain. The present study follows the ISTIMES European project [1], which aimed at demonstrate the ability of different electromagnetic sensing techniques, processing methods and ICT architecture, to be used for long term monitoring of critical transport infrastructures. Thanks to this project a multi-sensing techniques system, able to date and synchronize measurements carried out by infrared thermography coupled with various measurements data (i.e. weather parameters), have been designed, developed and implemented on real site [2]. Among experiments carried out on real transport infrastructure, it has been shown, for the "Musmesci" bridge deck (Italy), that by using infrared thermal image sequence with weather measurements during sevral days it was possible to develop analysis methods able to produce qualitative and quantitative data [3]. In the present study, added functionalities were designed and added to the "IrLAW" system in order to reach full autonomy in term of power supply, very long term measurement capability (at least 1 year) and automated data base feeding. The surveyed civil engineering structures consist in two concrete beams of 16 m long and 21 T weight each. One of the two beams was damage by high energy mechanical impact at the IFSTTAR falling rocks test station facilities located in the French Alpes [4]. The system is composed of one IR uncooled microbolometric camera (FLIR SC325) with a 320X240 Focal Plane Array detector in band III, a weather station VAISALA WXT520, a GPS, a failover power supply

  1. Artificial senses for characterization of food quality

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    HUANG Yan-bo; LAN Yu-bin; R.E. Lacey

    2004-01-01

    Food quality is of primary concern in the food industry and to the consumer. Systems that mimic human senses have been developed and applied to the characterization of food quality. The five primary senses are: vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch.In the characterization of food quality, people assess the samples sensorially and differentiate "good" from "bad" on a continuum.However, the human sensory system is subjective, with mental and physical inconsistencies, and needs time to work. Artificial senses such as machine vision, the electronic ear, electronic nose, electronic tongue, artificial mouth and even artificial the head have been developed that mimic the human senses. These artificial senses are coordinated individually or collectively by a pattern recognition technique, typically artificial neural networks, which have been developed based on studies of the mechanism of the human brain. Such a structure has been used to formulate methods for rapid characterization of food quality. This research presents and discusses individual artificial sensing systems. With the concept of multi-sensor data fusion these sensor systems can work collectively in some way. Two such fused systems, artificial mouth and artificial head, are described and discussed. It indicates that each of the individual systems has their own artificially sensing ability to differentiate food samples. It further indicates that with a more complete mimic of human intelligence the fused systems are more powerful than the individual systems in differentiation of food samples.

  2. UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing for Wind Energy Cost Reduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shuai; Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm; Franek, Ondrej; Eggers, Patrick C F; Olesen, Kim; Byskov, Claus; Pedersen, Gert Frølund

    2015-08-12

    A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1-5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists of two UWB antennas at the blade root and one UWB antenna at the blade tip. The detailed topology and challenges of this deflection sensing system are addressed. Due to the complexity of the problem, this paper will first realize the on-blade UWB radio link in the simplest case, where the tip antenna is situated outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To investigate this case, full-blade time-domain measurements are designed and conducted under different deflections. The detailed measurement setups and results are provided. If the root and tip antenna locations are properly selected, the first pulse is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics on this application are listed finally.

  3. Integrated reconfigurable multiple-input–multiple-output antenna system with an ultra-wideband sensing antenna for cognitive radio platforms

    KAUST Repository

    Hussain, Rifaqat

    2015-06-18

    © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015. A compact, novel multi-mode, multi-band frequency reconfigurable multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system, integrated with ultra-wideband (UWB) sensing antenna, is presented. The developed model can be used as a complete antenna platform for cognitive radio applications. The antenna system is developed on a single substrate area of dimensions 65 × 120 mm2. The proposed sensing antenna is used to cover a wide range of frequency bands from 710 to 3600 MHz. The frequency reconfigurable dual-element MIMO antenna is integrated with P-type, intrinsic, N-type (PIN) diodes for frequency agility. Different modes of selection are used for the MIMO antenna system reconfigurability to support different wireless system standards. The proposed MIMO antenna configuration is used to cover various frequency bands from 755 to 3450 MHz. The complete system comprising the multi-band reconfigurable MIMO antennas and UWB sensing antenna for cognitive radio applications is proposed with a compact form factor.

  4. Use of Remote Sensing for Identification and Description of Subsurface Drainage System Condition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lenka Tlapáková

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents basic facts and knowledge of special survey focused on detection and evaluation methods of subsurface drainage systems by means of remote sensing. It is aimed at the complex analysis of applied processes in spatial localization, classification or assessment of subsurface drainage systems’ actual condition by means of distance research methods. Data collection, their analysis and interpretation have been shown in seven experimental areas in the Czech Republic. Mainly it means determination of potential, application principles and limits of pracical use of different technologies and image data obtained by remote sensing in solving questions.

  5. Pervasive sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagel, David J.

    2000-11-01

    The coordinated exploitation of modern communication, micro- sensor and computer technologies makes it possible to give global reach to our senses. Web-cameras for vision, web- microphones for hearing and web-'noses' for smelling, plus the abilities to sense many factors we cannot ordinarily perceive, are either available or will be soon. Applications include (1) determination of weather and environmental conditions on dense grids or over large areas, (2) monitoring of energy usage in buildings, (3) sensing the condition of hardware in electrical power distribution and information systems, (4) improving process control and other manufacturing, (5) development of intelligent terrestrial, marine, aeronautical and space transportation systems, (6) managing the continuum of routine security monitoring, diverse crises and military actions, and (7) medicine, notably the monitoring of the physiology and living conditions of individuals. Some of the emerging capabilities, such as the ability to measure remotely the conditions inside of people in real time, raise interesting social concerns centered on privacy issues. Methods for sensor data fusion and designs for human-computer interfaces are both crucial for the full realization of the potential of pervasive sensing. Computer-generated virtual reality, augmented with real-time sensor data, should be an effective means for presenting information from distributed sensors.

  6. Virulence Effects and Signaling Partners Modulated by Brucella melitensis Light-sensing Histidine Kinase

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gourley, Christopher R.

    The facultative intracellular pathogen Brucella melitensis utilizes diverse virulence factors. A Brucella light sensing histidine kinase can influence in vitro virulence of the bacteria during intracellular infection. First, we demonstrated that the B. melitensis light sensing kinase (BM-LOV-HK) affects virulence in an IRF-1-/- mouse model of infection. Infection with a Δ BM-LOV-HK strain resulted in less bacterial colonization of IRF-1-/- spleens and extended survivorship compared to mice infected with wild type B. melitensis 16M. Second, using PCR arrays, we observed less expression of innate and adaptive immune system activation markers in ΔBM-LOV-HK infected mouse spleens than wild type B. melitensis 16M infected mouse spleens 6 days after infection. Third, we demonstrated by microarray analysis of B. melitensis that deletion of BM-LOV-HK alters bacterial gene expression. Downregulation of genes involved in control of the general stress response system included the alternative sigma factor RpoE1 and its anti-anti sigma factor PhyR. Conversely, genes involved in flagella production, quorum sensing, and the type IV secretion system (VirB operon) were upregulated in the Δ BM-LOV-HK strain compared to the wild type B. melitensis 16M. Analysis of genes differentially regulated in Δ BM-LOV-HK versus the wild type strain indicated an overlap of 110 genes with data from previous quorum sensing regulator studies of Δ vjbR and/ΔblxR(babR) strains. Also, several predicted RpoE1 binding sites located upstream of genes were differentially regulated in the ΔBM-LOV-HK strain. Our results suggest BM-LOV-HK is important for in vivo Brucella virulence, and reveals that BM-LOV-HK directly or indirect regulates members of the Brucella quorum sensing, type IV secretion, and general stress systems.

  7. The International Space Station: A Unique Platform for Remote Sensing of Natural Disasters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefanov, William L.; Evans, Cynthia A.

    2014-01-01

    Assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) was completed in 2012, and the station is now fully operational as a platform for remote sensing instruments tasked with collecting scientific data about the Earth system. Remote sensing systems are mounted inside the ISS, primarily in the U.S. Destiny Module's Window Observational Research Facility (WORF), or are located on the outside of the ISS on any of several attachment points. While NASA and other space agencies have had remote sensing systems orbiting Earth and collecting publicly available data since the early 1970s, these sensors are carried onboard free-flying, unmanned satellites. These satellites are traditionally placed into Sun-synchronous polar orbits that allow imaging of the entire surface of the Earth to be repeated with approximately the same Sun illumination (typically local solar noon) over specific areas, with set revisit times that allow uniform data to be taken over long time periods and enable straightforward analysis of change over time. In contrast, the ISS has an inclined, Sun-asynchronous orbit (the solar illumination for data collections over any location changes as the orbit precesses) that carries it over locations on the Earth between approximately 52degnorth and 52deg south latitudes (figure 1). The ISS is also unique among NASA orbital platforms in that it has a human crew. The presence of a crew provides options not available to robotic sensors and platforms, such as the ability to collect unscheduled data of an unfolding event using handheld digital cameras as part of the Crew Earth Observations (CEO) facility and on-the-fly assessment of environmental conditions, such as cloud cover, to determine whether conditions are favorable for data collection. The crew can also swap out internal sensor systems installed in the WORF as needed. The ISS orbit covers more than 90 percent of the inhabited surface of the Earth, allowing the ISS to pass over the same ground locations at

  8. Using web-sources for location based systems on mobile phones

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pannevis, M.; Marx, M.

    2008-01-01

    The paper describes the implementation of a context aware location and time based system on a normal mobile phone, with a minimum of requirements (Bluetooth, Internet access, Java ME, and a simple webbrowser). We can answer the following queries based on data crawled from the web and enriched with

  9. GNSS-based Road Charging Systems - Assessment of Vehicle Location Determination

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zabic, Martina

    the collected data from the experiment, in its original for, as it would be used as input for the automated charge calculation process in a road charging system. Furthermore, new methodologies are developed for assessing the performance of the vehicle location determination function in terms of data reliability...

  10. Temperature-insensitive fiber Bragg grating dynamic pressure sensing system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Tuan; Zhao, Qida; Zhang, Hao; Zhang, Chunshu; Huang, Guiling; Xue, Lifang; Dong, Xiaoyi

    2006-08-01

    Temperature-insensitive dynamic pressure measurement using a single fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based on reflection spectrum bandwidth modulation and optical power detection is proposed. A specifically designed double-hole cantilever beam is used to provide a pressure-induced axial strain gradient along the sensing FBG and is also used to modulate the reflection bandwidth of the grating. The bandwidth modulation is immune to spatially uniform temperature effects, and the pressure can be unambiguously determined by measuring the reflected optical power, avoiding the complex wavelength interrogation system. The system acquisition time is up to 85 Hz for dynamic pressure measurement, and the thermal fluctuation is kept less than 1.2% full-scale for a temperature range of -10 degrees C to 80 degrees C.

  11. Thermocouple-based Temperature Sensing System for Chemical Cell Inside Micro UAV Device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Yanhui; Feng, Yue; Lou, Haozhe; Zhang, Xinzhao

    2018-03-01

    Environmental temperature of UAV system is crucial for chemical cell component inside. Once the temperature of this chemical cell is over 259 °C and keeps more than 20 min, the high thermal accumulation would result in an explosion, which seriously damage the whole UAV system. Therefore, we develop a micro temperature sensing system for monitoring the temperature of chemical cell thermally influenced by UAV device deployed in a 300 °C temperature environment, which is quite useful for insensitive munitions and UAV safety enhancement technologies.

  12. A Dual-Field Sensing Scheme for a Guidance System for the Blind

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qing Lin

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available An electronic guidance system is very helpful in improving blind people’s perceptions in a local environment. In our previous work “Lin, Q.; Han, Y. A Context-Aware-Based Audio Guidance System for Blind People Using a Multimodal Profile Model. Sensors 2014, 14, 18670–18700”, a context-aware guidance system using a combination of a laser scanner and a camera was proposed. By using a near-field graphical model, the proposed system could interpret a near-field scene in very high resolution. In this paper, our work is extended by adding a far-field graphical model. The integration of the near-field and the far-field models constitutes a dual-field sensing scheme. In the near-field range, reliable inference of the ground and object status is obtained by fusing range data and image data using the near-field graphical model. In the far-field range, which only the camera can cover, the far-field graphical model is proposed to interpret far-field image data based on appearance and spatial prototypes built using the near-field interpreted data. The dual-field sensing scheme provides a solution for the guidance systems to optimise their scene interpretation capability using simple sensor configurations. Experiments under various local conditions were conducted to show the efficiency of the proposed scheme in improving blind people’s perceptions in urban environments.

  13. Lightning Attachment Estimation to Wind Turbines by Utilizing Lightning Location Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vogel, Stephan; Holbøll, Joachim; Lopez, Javier

    2016-01-01

    three different wind power plant locations are analyzed and the impact of varying data qualities is evaluated regarding the ability to detect upward lightning. This work provides a variety of background information which is relevant to the exposure assessment of wind turbine and includes practical......The goal of a lightning exposure assessment is to identify the number, type and characteristics of lightning discharges to a certain structure. There are various Lightning Location System (LLS) technologies available, each of them are characterized by individual performance characteristics....... In this work, these technologies are reviewed and evaluated in order to obtain an estimation of which technologies are eligible to perform a lightning assessment to wind turbines. The results indicate that ground-based mid-range low frequency (LF) LLS systems are most qualified since they combine a wide...

  14. Geographic information systems, remote sensing, and spatial analysis activities in Texas, 2008-09

    Science.gov (United States)

    ,

    2009-01-01

    Geographic information system (GIS) technology has become an important tool for scientific investigation, resource management, and environmental planning. A GIS is a computer-aided system capable of collecting, storing, analyzing, and displaying spatially referenced digital data. GIS technology is useful for analyzing a wide variety of spatial data. Remote sensing involves collecting remotely sensed data, such as satellite imagery, aerial photography, or radar images, and analyzing the data to gather information or investigate trends about the environment or the Earth's surface. Spatial analysis combines remotely sensed, thematic, statistical, quantitative, and geographical data through overlay, modeling, and other analytical techniques to investigate specific research questions. It is the combination of data formats and analysis techniques that has made GIS an essential tool in scientific investigations. This fact sheet presents information about the technical capabilities and project activities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Texas Water Science Center (TWSC) GIS Workgroup during 2008 and 2009. After a summary of GIS Workgroup capabilities, brief descriptions of activities by project at the local and national levels are presented. Projects are grouped by the fiscal year (October-September 2008 or 2009) the project ends and include overviews, project images, and Internet links to additional project information and related publications or articles.

  15. Food, water, and fault lines: Remote sensing opportunities for earthquake-response management of agricultural water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez, Jenna; Ustin, Susan; Sandoval-Solis, Samuel; O'Geen, Anthony Toby

    2016-01-01

    Earthquakes often cause destructive and unpredictable changes that can affect local hydrology (e.g. groundwater elevation or reduction) and thus disrupt land uses and human activities. Prolific agricultural regions overlie seismically active areas, emphasizing the importance to improve our understanding and monitoring of hydrologic and agricultural systems following a seismic event. A thorough data collection is necessary for adequate post-earthquake crop management response; however, the large spatial extent of earthquake's impact makes challenging the collection of robust data sets for identifying locations and magnitude of these impacts. Observing hydrologic responses to earthquakes is not a novel concept, yet there is a lack of methods and tools for assessing earthquake's impacts upon the regional hydrology and agricultural systems. The objective of this paper is to describe how remote sensing imagery, methods and tools allow detecting crop responses and damage incurred after earthquakes because a change in the regional hydrology. Many remote sensing datasets are long archived with extensive coverage and with well-documented methods to assess plant-water relations. We thus connect remote sensing of plant water relations to its utility in agriculture using a post-earthquake agrohydrologic remote sensing (PEARS) framework; specifically in agro-hydrologic relationships associated with recent earthquake events that will lead to improved water management. - Highlights: • Remote sensing to improve agricultural disaster management • Introduce post-earthquake agrohydrologic remote sensing (PEARS) framework • Apply PEARS framework to 2010 Maule Earthquake in Central Chile

  16. Food, water, and fault lines: Remote sensing opportunities for earthquake-response management of agricultural water

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodriguez, Jenna, E-mail: jmmartin@ucdavis.edu; Ustin, Susan; Sandoval-Solis, Samuel; O' Geen, Anthony Toby

    2016-09-15

    Earthquakes often cause destructive and unpredictable changes that can affect local hydrology (e.g. groundwater elevation or reduction) and thus disrupt land uses and human activities. Prolific agricultural regions overlie seismically active areas, emphasizing the importance to improve our understanding and monitoring of hydrologic and agricultural systems following a seismic event. A thorough data collection is necessary for adequate post-earthquake crop management response; however, the large spatial extent of earthquake's impact makes challenging the collection of robust data sets for identifying locations and magnitude of these impacts. Observing hydrologic responses to earthquakes is not a novel concept, yet there is a lack of methods and tools for assessing earthquake's impacts upon the regional hydrology and agricultural systems. The objective of this paper is to describe how remote sensing imagery, methods and tools allow detecting crop responses and damage incurred after earthquakes because a change in the regional hydrology. Many remote sensing datasets are long archived with extensive coverage and with well-documented methods to assess plant-water relations. We thus connect remote sensing of plant water relations to its utility in agriculture using a post-earthquake agrohydrologic remote sensing (PEARS) framework; specifically in agro-hydrologic relationships associated with recent earthquake events that will lead to improved water management. - Highlights: • Remote sensing to improve agricultural disaster management • Introduce post-earthquake agrohydrologic remote sensing (PEARS) framework • Apply PEARS framework to 2010 Maule Earthquake in Central Chile.

  17. Expression and Quorum Sensing Regulation of Type III Secretion System Genes of Vibrio harveyi during Infection of Gnotobiotic Brine Shrimp.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H A Darshanee Ruwandeepika

    Full Text Available Type III secretion systems enable pathogens to inject their virulence factors directly into the cytoplasm of the host cells. The type III secretion system of Vibrio harveyi, a major pathogen of aquatic organisms and a model species in quorum sensing studies, is repressed by the quorum sensing master regulator LuxR. In this study, we found that during infection of gnotobiotic brine shrimp larvae, the expression levels of three type III secretion operons in V. harveyi increased within the first 12h after challenge and decreased again thereafter. The in vivo expression levels were highest in a mutant with a quorum sensing system that is locked in low cell density configuration (minimal LuxR levels and lowest in a mutant with a quorum sensing system that is locked in the high cell density configuration (maximal LuxR levels, which is consistent with repression of type III secretion by LuxR. Remarkably, in vivo expression levels of the type III secretion system genes were much (> 1000 fold higher than the in vitro expression levels, indicating that (currently unknown host factors significantly induce the type III secretion system. Given the fact that type III secretion is energy-consuming, repression by the quorum sensing master regulators might be a mechanism to save energy under conditions where it does not provide an advantage to the cells.

  18. Study of medieval fortified settlements destruction under natural and anthropogenic factors using remote sensing data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gainullin, I. I.; Khomyakov, P. V.; Usmanov, B. M.

    2018-01-01

    Archaeological monuments are an essential part of the cultural landscape. Modern condition of archaeological monuments of the Republic of Tatarstan is discussed in this article. Fortified settlements, with the system of defensive fortifications were selected as the objects of study, as they are easily identified by remote sensing data. Due to the fact, that most of monuments are located on the small rivers banks, the first task of our study was to assess the risk of their destruction by natural processes. The second objective was to evaluate the role of the human factor in archaeological sites destruction. One of the main used methods is archival and modern remote sensing data analysis that also made able to correct the form of study settlements in comparison with existing plans as well as their size and location in the landscape. The results of research will help to identify trends in monuments state and to quantify the risks of their destruction.

  19. Intelligent energy management of optimally located renewable energy systems incorporating PHEV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El-Zonkoly, Amany

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • The algorithm optimally selects the number, locations and sizes of DGs. • Wind units, PV units, diesel units and PHEV parking lots are considered as DGs. • The algorithm determines the corresponding energy scheduling of resources. • The problem is formulated as an optimization problem solved using ABC. • The objective is to minimize the overall energy cost of the system. - Abstract: The recent interest in plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) results in the increase in the utilization of vehicles batteries for grid support. In addition, the integration of renewable energy systems (RES) into electricity grid is a promising technique for addressing the environmental concerns. This paper presents a multi-objective algorithm to optimally allocate a number of renewable energy systems including parking lots for PHEV in a distribution system. The proposed algorithm determines the number, locations and sizes of the RES and parking lots. In addition, a rule based expert system is used to find the corresponding energy scheduling of the system resources. The objective of the proposed algorithm is to minimize the overall energy cost of the system. The problem is formulated as an optimization problem which is solved using artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm taking into consideration the power system and PHEV operational constraints. The proposed algorithm is applied to a 45-bus distribution network of Alexandria, Egypt. The test results indicate an improvement in the operational conditions of the system

  20. MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMAL NUMBER AND LOCATION FOR STEEL OUTRIGGER-BELT TRUSS SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MEHDI BABAEI

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available During the past two decades, outrigger-belt truss system has been investigated and used in design of tall buildings. Most of the studies focused on the optimization of the system for minimum displacement and some of them proposed the best locations. In this study, however, multi-objective optimization of tall steel frames with belt trusses is investigated to minimize displacement and weight of the structure. For this purpose, structures with 20, 30, 40, and 50 stories are considered as models, based on the suggestions in the literature. The location and number of trusses and cross section of all structural elements are considered as design variables. After sizing of the structure for a specific topology and shape, weight and displacement of the structure are obtained and plotted in a diagram to illustrate trade-off between two objective functions. The results show the optimal Pareto-front solutions for different stories. Smooth trade-off and optimal number of trusses and their locations obtained.

  1. Octopus vulgaris uses visual information to determine the location of its arm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutnick, Tamar; Byrne, Ruth A; Hochner, Binyamin; Kuba, Michael

    2011-03-22

    Octopuses are intelligent, soft-bodied animals with keen senses that perform reliably in a variety of visual and tactile learning tasks. However, researchers have found them disappointing in that they consistently fail in operant tasks that require them to combine central nervous system reward information with visual and peripheral knowledge of the location of their arms. Wells claimed that in order to filter and integrate an abundance of multisensory inputs that might inform the animal of the position of a single arm, octopuses would need an exceptional computing mechanism, and "There is no evidence that such a system exists in Octopus, or in any other soft bodied animal." Recent electrophysiological experiments, which found no clear somatotopic organization in the higher motor centers, support this claim. We developed a three-choice maze that required an octopus to use a single arm to reach a visually marked goal compartment. Using this operant task, we show for the first time that Octopus vulgaris is capable of guiding a single arm in a complex movement to a location. Thus, we claim that octopuses can combine peripheral arm location information with visual input to control goal-directed complex movements. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Compressed sensing based joint-compensation of power amplifier's distortions in OFDMA cognitive radio systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ali, Anum Z.

    2013-12-01

    Linearization of user equipment power amplifiers driven by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signals is addressed in this paper. Particular attention is paid to the power efficient operation of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access cognitive radio system and realization of such a system using compressed sensing. Specifically, precompensated overdriven amplifiers are employed at the mobile terminal. Over-driven amplifiers result in in-band distortions and out of band interference. Out of band interference mostly occupies the spectrum of inactive users, whereas the in-band distortions are mitigated using compressed sensing at the receiver. It is also shown that the performance of the proposed scheme can be further enhanced using multiple measurements of the distortion signal in single-input multi-output systems. Numerical results verify the ability of the proposed setup to improve error vector magnitude, bit error rate, outage capacity and mean squared error. © 2011 IEEE.

  3. Compressed sensing based joint-compensation of power amplifier's distortions in OFDMA cognitive radio systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ali, Anum Z.; Hammi, Oualid; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.

    2013-01-01

    Linearization of user equipment power amplifiers driven by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signals is addressed in this paper. Particular attention is paid to the power efficient operation of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access cognitive radio system and realization of such a system using compressed sensing. Specifically, precompensated overdriven amplifiers are employed at the mobile terminal. Over-driven amplifiers result in in-band distortions and out of band interference. Out of band interference mostly occupies the spectrum of inactive users, whereas the in-band distortions are mitigated using compressed sensing at the receiver. It is also shown that the performance of the proposed scheme can be further enhanced using multiple measurements of the distortion signal in single-input multi-output systems. Numerical results verify the ability of the proposed setup to improve error vector magnitude, bit error rate, outage capacity and mean squared error. © 2011 IEEE.

  4. Remote Sensing of Irrigated Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chelsea Cervantes

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Over the last several decades, remote sensing has emerged as an effective tool to monitor irrigated lands over a variety of climatic conditions and locations. The objective of this review, which summarizes the methods and the results of existing remote sensing studies, is to synthesize principle findings and assess the state of the art. We take a taxonomic approach to group studies based on location, scale, inputs, and methods, in an effort to categorize different approaches within a logical framework. We seek to evaluate the ability of remote sensing to provide synoptic and timely coverage of irrigated lands in several spectral regions. We also investigate the value of archived data that enable comparison of images through time. This overview of the studies to date indicates that remote sensing-based monitoring of irrigation is at an intermediate stage of development at local scales. For instance, there is overwhelming consensus on the efficacy of vegetation indices in identifying irrigated fields. Also, single date imagery, acquired at peak growing season, may suffice to identify irrigated lands, although to multi-date image data are necessary for improved classification and to distinguish different crop types. At local scales, the mapping of irrigated lands with remote sensing is also strongly affected by the timing of image acquisition and the number of images used. At the regional and global scales, on the other hand, remote sensing has not been fully operational, as methods that work in one place and time are not necessarily transferable to other locations and periods. Thus, at larger scales, more work is required to indentify the best spectral indices, best time periods, and best classification methods under different climatological and cultural environments. Existing studies at regional scales also establish the fact that both remote sensing and national statistical approaches require further refinement with a substantial investment of

  5. Development of a NDI system using the magneto-optical method. 2. Remote sensing using the novel magneto-optical inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Jinyi; Shoji, Tetsuo

    1999-01-01

    A new remote sensing system using the magneto-optical method is developed for inspection of flaws introduced during service operation where routine inspection is difficult because of difficult inaccessibility to the components. Among the advantages of non-destructive inspection (NDI) based on the magneto-optical sensor are: real time inspection, elimination of electrical noise and high spatial resolution. Remote sensing of flaws is achieved using the basic principles of Faraday effect, optical permeability, and diffraction of a laser by the domain walls. This paper describes a novel remote NDI system using the principles of optics and LMF. The main characteristic of the system is that image data and LMF information can be obtained simultaneously. It is possible to carry out remote and high speed inspection of cracks from the intensity of reflected light, and to estimate the size of a crack effectively with their diverse data. The advantages of this NDI system are demonstrated using two specimens. (author)

  6. Remote sensing for oil spill detection and response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engelhardt, F.R.

    1999-01-01

    This paper focuses on the use of remote sensing for marine oil spill detection and response. The surveillance and monitoring of discharges, and the main elements of effective surveillance are discussed. Tactical emergency response and the requirements for selecting a suitable remote sensing approach, airborne remote sensing systems, and the integration of satellite and airborne imaging are examined. Specifications of satellite surveillance systems potentially usable for oil spill detection, and specifications of airborne remote sensing systems suitable for oil spill detection, monitoring and supplemental actions are tabulated, and a schema of integrated satellite-airborne remote sensing (ISARS) is presented. (UK)

  7. Measurement of response time and detection of degradation in pressure sensor/sensing-line systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buchanan, M.E.; Miller, L.F.; Kerlin, T.W.; Ragan, G.; March-Leuba, J.; Thie, J.A.

    1985-01-01

    A team evaluated several methods for remote measurement of the response time and detection of degradation (blockage or air in lines) of pressure sensor/sensing line systems typical of nuclear power plants. A method was developed for obtaining the response time of force-balance pressure transmitters by briefly interrupting the power supply to the transmitter. The data thus generated are then analyzed in conjunction with a model to predict transmitter response to an actual pressure perturbation. The research team also evaluated a pressure perturbation method for determining the asymptotic delay time of a pressure-sensing line and found that this method yields accurate results for essentially unblocked sensing lines. However, these pressure perturbation tests are not recommended for use in nuclear power plants because they are difficult to implement on-line. A third method for remote measurement applied noise analysis method that yielded accurate estimates of asymptotic delay times for blockage or air in sensing lines. Even though noise analysis methods worked well in the laboratory, it is recommended that further evaluation be performed in operating nuclear plants. (orig.)

  8. Measurement of response time and detection of degradation in pressure sensor/sensing line systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buchanan, M.E.; Miller, L.F.; Thie, J.A.; Kerlin, T.W.; Ragan, G.E.; March-Leuba, J.

    1985-09-01

    A team evaluated several methods for remote measurement of the response time and detection of degradation (blockage or air in lines) of pressure sensor/sensing line systems typical of nuclear power plants. A method was developed for obtaining the response time of force-balance pressure transmitters by briefly interrupting the power supply to the transmitter. The data thus generated are then analyzed in conjunction with a model to predict transmitter response to an actual pressure perturbation. The research team also evaluated a pressure perturbation method for determining the asymptotic delay time of a pressure-sensing line and found that this method yields accurate results for essentially unblocked sensing lines. However, these pressure perturbation tests are not recommended for use in nuclear power plants because they are difficult to implement on-line. A third method for remote measurement applied noise analysis methods that yielded accurate estimates of asymptotic delay times for blockage or air in sensing lines. Even though noise analysis methods worked well in the laboratory, it is recommended that further evaluation be performed in operating nuclear plants

  9. Evaluating the Use of Remote Sensing Data in the USAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Molly E.; Brickley, Elizabeth B.

    2011-01-01

    The US Agency for International Development (USAID) s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) provides monitoring and early warning support to decision makers responsible for responding to food insecurity emergencies on three continents. FEWS NET uses satellite remote sensing and ground observations of rainfall and vegetation in order to provide information on drought, floods and other extreme weather events to decision makers. Previous research has presented results from a professional review questionnaire with FEWS NET expert end-users whose focus was to elicit Earth observation requirements. The review provided FEWS NET operational requirements and assessed the usefulness of additional remote sensing data. Here we analyzed 1342 food security update reports from FEWS NET. The reports consider the biophysical, socioeconomic, and contextual influences on the food security in 17 countries in Africa from 2000-2009. The objective was to evaluate the use of remote sensing information in comparison with other important factors in the evaluation of food security crises. The results show that all 17 countries use rainfall information, agricultural production statistics, food prices and food access parameters in their analysis of food security problems. The reports display large scale patterns that are strongly related to history of the FEWS NET program in each country. We found that rainfall data was used 84% of the time, remote sensing of vegetation 28% of the time, and gridded crop models 10%, reflecting the length of use of each product in the regions. More investment is needed in training personnel on remote sensing products to improve use of data products throughout the FEWS NET system.

  10. Remote sensing and skywave digital communication from antarctica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergadà, Pau; Deumal, Marc; Vilella, Carles; Regué, Joan R; Altadill, David; Marsal, Santi

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of the research activities undertaken by La Salle and the Ebro Observatory in the field of remote sensing. On 2003 we started a research project with two main objectives: implement a long-haul oblique ionospheric sounder and transmit the data from remote sensors located at the Spanish Antarctic station Juan Carlos I to Spain. The paper focuses on a study of feasibility of two possible physical layer candidates for the skywave link between both points. A DS-SS based solution and an OFDM based solution are considered to achieve a reliable low-power low-rate communication system between Antarctica and Spain.

  11. Comparison of Uncalibrated Rgbvi with Spectrometer-Based Ndvi Derived from Uav Sensing Systems on Field Scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bareth, G.; Bolten, A.; Gnyp, M. L.; Reusch, S.; Jasper, J.

    2016-06-01

    The development of UAV-based sensing systems for agronomic applications serves the improvement of crop management. The latter is in the focus of precision agriculture which intends to optimize yield, fertilizer input, and crop protection. Besides, in some cropping systems vehicle-based sensing devices are less suitable because fields cannot be entered from certain growing stages onwards. This is true for rice, maize, sorghum, and many more crops. Consequently, UAV-based sensing approaches fill a niche of very high resolution data acquisition on the field scale in space and time. While mounting RGB digital compact cameras to low-weight UAVs (modified version of the Yara N-Sensor. The latter is a well-established tractor-based hyperspectral sensor for crop management and is available on the market since a decade. It was modified for this study to fit the requirements of UAV-based data acquisition. Consequently, we focus on three objectives in this contribution: (1) to evaluate the potential of the uncalibrated RGBVI for monitoring nitrogen status in winter wheat, (2) investigate the UAV-based performance of the modified Yara N-Sensor, and (3) compare the results of the two different UAV-based sensing approaches for winter wheat.

  12. FLOATING ATRIAL SENSING OF THE VDD PACING SYSTEM AND ITS STABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomislav Kostić

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available mulate two heart chambers (usually the right atrium and right ventricle were de-signed. Those pacemakers were able to detect signals from the same heart chamber, and each of its functions (detection of intrinsing and application of artificial pacemaker signal was performed as previously programmed. Essential hemodynamic improvement of this type of stimulation was the achievement of AV synchronization allowing that optimized function of the atria and ventricles mimics their natural functioning - timely contraction of the atria in relation to the AV valves and the ventricular outflow tracts. This study included 130 patients who had VDD pacemaker implanted at the Department of Cardiology, Clinical Center Niš, during 2009-2013. At the time of implantation, atrial sensing was 2.1±1.2 mV. Patients had follow up visits at one month, six months and one year after pacemaker implantation. After one year, the floating sensing in the atrium was 1.6±0.7 mV which was lower but not clinically significant. Bearing in mind the aforementioned, VVD pacing systems may be considered as the first line therapy in patients with AV block and normal SA node function, particularly in elderly patients and in patients with unsuitable anatomical structures of musculoskeletal and venous systems of the upper thoracic part, in cases of which it is sometimes difficult to place two DDDR electrode systems.

  13. Evaluating a k-nearest neighbours-based classifier for locating faulty areas in power systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan José Mora Flórez

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports a strategy for identifying and locating faults in a power distribution system. The strategy was based on the K-nearest neighbours technique. This technique simply helps to estimate a distance from the features used for describing a particu-lar fault being classified to the faults presented during the training stage. If new data is presented to the proposed fault locator, it is classified according to the nearest example recovered. A characterisation of the voltage and current measurements obtained at one single line end is also presented in this document for assigning the area in the case of a fault in a power system. The pro-posed strategy was tested in a real power distribution system, average 93% confidence indexes being obtained which gives a good indicator of the proposal’s high performance. The results showed how a fault could be located by using features obtained from voltage and current, improving utility response and thereby improving system continuity indexes in power distribution sys-tems.

  14. Information Extraction of Tourist Geological Resources Based on 3d Visualization Remote Sensing Image

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, X.

    2018-04-01

    Tourism geological resources are of high value in admiration, scientific research and universal education, which need to be protected and rationally utilized. In the past, most of the remote sensing investigations of tourism geological resources used two-dimensional remote sensing interpretation method, which made it difficult for some geological heritages to be interpreted and led to the omission of some information. This aim of this paper is to assess the value of a method using the three-dimensional visual remote sensing image to extract information of geological heritages. skyline software system is applied to fuse the 0.36 m aerial images and 5m interval DEM to establish the digital earth model. Based on the three-dimensional shape, color tone, shadow, texture and other image features, the distribution of tourism geological resources in Shandong Province and the location of geological heritage sites were obtained, such as geological structure, DaiGu landform, granite landform, Volcanic landform, sandy landform, Waterscapes, etc. The results show that using this method for remote sensing interpretation is highly recognizable, making the interpretation more accurate and comprehensive.

  15. Quorum sensing in gram-negative bacteria

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wu, H.; Song, Z.J.; Høiby, N.

    2004-01-01

    Bacteria can communicate with each other by means of signal molecules to coordinate the behavior of the entire community, and the mechanism is referred to as quorum sensing (QS). Signal systems enable bacteria to sense the size of their densities by monitoring the concentration of the signal...... molecules. Among Gram-negative bacteria N-acyl-L-homoserine lactone (acyl-HSL)-dependent quorum sensing systems are particularly widespread. These systems are used to coordinate expression of phenotypes that are fundamental to the interaction of bacteria with each other and with their environment...

  16. Active sensing associated with spatial learning reveals memory-based attention in an electric fish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jun, James J; Longtin, André; Maler, Leonard

    2016-05-01

    Active sensing behaviors reveal what an animal is attending to and how it changes with learning. Gymnotus sp, a gymnotiform weakly electric fish, generates an electric organ discharge (EOD) as discrete pulses to actively sense its surroundings. We monitored freely behaving gymnotid fish in a large dark "maze" and extracted their trajectories and EOD pulse pattern and rate while they learned to find food with electrically detectable landmarks as cues. After training, they more rapidly found food using shorter, more stereotyped trajectories and spent more time near the food location. We observed three forms of active sensing: sustained high EOD rates per unit distance (sampling density), transient large increases in EOD rate (E-scans) and stereotyped scanning movements (B-scans) were initially strong at landmarks and food, but, after learning, intensified only at the food location. During probe (no food) trials, after learning, the fish's search area and intense active sampling was still centered on the missing food location, but now also increased near landmarks. We hypothesize that active sensing is a behavioral manifestation of attention and essential for spatial learning; the fish use spatial memory of landmarks and path integration to reach the expected food location and confine their attention to this region. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

  17. 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

  18. 30 CFR 75.1101-16 - Dry powder chemical systems; sensing and fire-suppression devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ...-contained dry powder chemical system shall be equipped with sensing devices which shall be designed to activate the fire-control system, sound an alarm and stop the conveyor drive motor in the event of a rise... belt drive, each sensor shall be equipped with a standby power source which shall be capable of...

  19. Nitrite sensing composite systems based on a core-shell emissive-superamagnetic structure: Construction, characterization and sensing behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yan; Liu, Liang; Zha, Jianhua; Yuan, Ningyi

    2017-04-01

    Two recyclable nitrite sensing composite samples were designed and constructed through a core-shell structure, with Fe3O4 nanoparticles as core, silica molecular sieve MCM-41 as shell and two rhodamine derivatives as chemosensors, respectively. These samples and their structure were identified with their electron microscopy images, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, magnetic response, IR spectra and thermogravimetric analysis. Their nitrite sensing behavior was discussed based on emission intensity quenching, their limit of detection was found as low as 1.2 μM. Further analysis suggested a static sensing mechanism between nitrite and chemosensors through an additive reaction between NO+ and chemosensors. After finishing their nitrite sensing, these composite samples and their emission could be recycled and recovered by sulphamic acid.

  20. Remote sensing and monitor system for a large poultry farm based on Internet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Hongwu; Teng, Guanghui; Ma, Liang; Li, Zhizhong; Yuan, Zhengdong; Li, Minzan; Yang, Xiuslayerg

    2005-09-01

    A remote sensing and monitor system for a large poultry layer farm is developed based on distributed data acquisition and internet control. The supervising system applied patent techniques known as arc orbit movable vidicon, wireless video transmission and telecommunications. It features supervising at all orientations, and digital video telecommunicating through internet. All measured and control information is sent to a central computer, which is in charge of storing, displaying, analyzing and serving to internet, where managers can monitor real time production scene anywhere and customers can also see the healthy layers through internet. This paper primarily discusses how to design the remote sensing and monitor system (RSMS), and its usage in a large poultry farm, Deqingyuan Healthy Breeding Ecological Garden, Yanqing County, Beijing, China. The system applied web service technology and the middleware using XML language and Java language. It preponderated in data management, data exchange, expansibility, security, and compatibility. As a part of poultry sustainable development management system, it has been applied in a large farm with 1,200,000 layers. Tests revealed that there was distinct decline in the death ratio of chicken with 2. 2%, as the surroundings of layers had been ameliorated. At the same time, there was definite increase in the laying ratio with 3. 5%.

  1. Remote sensing in the coming decade: the vision and the reality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gail, William B.

    2006-08-01

    Investment in understanding the Earth pays off twice. It enables pursuit of scientific questions that rank among the most interesting and profound of our time. It also serves society's practical need for increased prosperity and security. Over the last half-century, we have built a sophisticated network of satellites, aircraft, and ground-based remote sensing systems to provide the raw information from which we derive Earth knowledge. This network has served us well in the development of science and the provision of operational services. In the next decade, the demand for such information will grow dramatically. New remote sensing capabilities will emerge. Rapid evolution of Internet geospatial and location-based services will make communication and sharing of Earth knowledge much easier. Governments, businesses, and consumers will all benefit. But this exciting future is threatened from many directions. Risks range from technology and market uncertainties in the private sector to budget cuts and project setbacks in the public sector. The coming decade will see a dramatic confrontation between the vision of what needs to be accomplished in Earth remote sensing and the reality of our resources and commitment. The outcome will have long-term implications for both the remote sensing community and society as a whole.

  2. Actin-based gravity-sensing mechanisms in unicellular plant model systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braun, Markus; Limbach, Christoph

    2005-08-01

    Considerable progress has been made in the understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying gravity sensing and gravity-oriented polarized growth in single-celled rhizoids and protonemata of the characean algae. It is well known that the actin cytoskeleton plays a key role in these processes. Numerous actin-binding proteins control apical actin polymerization and the dynamic remodeling of the actin arrangement. An actomyosin-based system mediates the delivery and incorporation of secretory vesicles at the growing tip and coordinates the tip-high gradient of cytoplasmic free calcium which is required for local exocytosis. Additionally, the actomyosin system precisely controls the position of statoliths and, upon a change in orientation relative to the gravity vector, directs sedimenting statoliths to the confined graviperception sites of the plasma membrane where gravitropic signalling is initiated. The upward growth response of protonemata is preceded by an actin-dependent relocalization of the Ca2+-gradient to the upper flank. The downward growth response of rhizoids, however, is caused by differential growth of the opposite flankes due to a local reduction of cytoplasmic free calcium limited to the plasma membrane area where statoliths are sedimented. Thus, constant actin polymerization in the growing tip and the spatiotemporal control of actin remodeling are essential for gravity sensing and gravity-oriented polarized growth of characean rhizoids and protonemata.

  3. 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

  4. An Enhanced Sensing Application Based on a Flexible Projected Capacitive-Sensing Mattress

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wen-Ying Chang

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a cost-effective sensor system for mattresses that can classify the sleeping posture of an individual and prevent pressure ulcers. This system applies projected capacitive sensing to the field of health care. The charge time (CT method was used to sensitively and accurately measure the capacitance of the projected electrodes. The required characteristics of the projected capacitor were identified to develop large-area applications for sensory mattresses. The area of the electrodes, the use of shielding, and the increased length of the transmission line were calibrated to more accurately measure the capacitance of the electrodes in large-size applications. To offer the users comfort in the prone position, a flexible substrate was selected and covered with 16 × 20 electrodes. Compared with the static charge sensitive bed (SCSB, our proposed system-flexible projected capacitive-sensing mattress (FPCSM comes with more electrodes to increase the resolution of posture identification. As for the body pressure system (BPS, the FPCSM has advantages such as lower cost, higher aging-resistance capability, and the ability to sense the capacitance of the covered regions without physical contact. The proposed guard ring design effectively absorbs the noise and interrupts leakage paths. The projected capacitive electrode is suitable for proximity-sensing applications and succeeds at quickly recognizing the sleeping pattern of the user.

  5. Cancers by Body Location/System

    Science.gov (United States)

    A list of all cancers, organized by location and/or function in the body. Cancers on the list are linked to information about treatment, supportive care, screening, prevention, clinical trials, and other topics.

  6. Evaluation of real-time location systems in their hospital contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Jill A; Monahan, Torin

    2012-10-01

    The purpose of the research was to assess real-time location systems (RTLS) that have been implemented in U.S. hospitals. We examined the type of uses to which RTLS have been put, the degree of functionality of the various technologies and software, and the organizational effects of implementing RTLS. The project was a 3-year qualitative study of 23 U.S. hospitals that had implemented RTLS for the purpose of tracking assets, personnel, and/or patients. We observed the systems in use and conducted 80 semi-structured interviews with hospital personnel and vendors. In order to protect the confidentiality of the hospitals and vendors in our sample, we conducted an aggregate analysis of our findings rather than providing evaluations of specific technologies or hospital case studies. The most important findings from our research were (1) substandard functionality of most real-time location systems in use and (2) serious obstacles to effective deployment of the systems due to the material and organizational constraints of the hospitals themselves. We found that the current best use of RTLS is for asset tracking, but importantly it requires whole-hospital deployment as well as centralized control of the system, preferably by materials management or biomedical engineering departments. There are serious technological, material, and organizational barriers to the implementation of RTLS, and these barriers need to be overcome if hospitals are to maximize the potential benefits of these systems. In addition to considering the available technological options, hospitals must assess their unique environments, including the myriad material and organizational constraints that will affect the success of RTLS implementation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Learning about the functions of the olfactory system from people without a sense of smell.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilona Croy

    Full Text Available The olfactory system provides numerous functions to humans, influencing ingestive behavior, awareness of environmental hazards and social communication. Approximately 1/5 of the general population exhibit an impaired sense of smell. However, in contrast to the many affected, only few patients complain of their impairment. So how important is it for humans to have an intact sense of smell? Or is it even dispensable, at least in the Western world? To investigate this, we compared 32 patients, who were born without a sense of smell (isolated congenital anosmia--ICA with 36 age-matched controls. A broad questionnaire was used, containing domains relevant to olfaction in daily life, along with a questionnaire about social relationships and the BDI-questionnaire. ICA-patients differed only slightly from controls in functions of daily life related to olfaction. These differences included enhanced social insecurity, increased risk for depressive symptoms and increased risk for household accidents. In these domains the sense of olfaction seems to play a key role.

  8. Compressed sensing techniques for receiver based post-compensation of transmitter's nonlinear distortions in OFDM systems

    KAUST Repository

    Owodunni, Damilola S.

    2014-04-01

    In this paper, compressed sensing techniques are proposed to linearize commercial power amplifiers driven by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signals. The nonlinear distortion is considered as a sparse phenomenon in the time-domain, and three compressed sensing based algorithms are presented to estimate and compensate for these distortions at the receiver using a few and, at times, even no frequency-domain free carriers (i.e. pilot carriers). The first technique is a conventional compressed sensing approach, while the second incorporates a priori information about the distortions to enhance the estimation. Finally, the third technique involves an iterative data-aided algorithm that does not require any pilot carriers and hence allows the system to work at maximum bandwidth efficiency. The performances of all the proposed techniques are evaluated on a commercial power amplifier and compared. The error vector magnitude and symbol error rate results show the ability of compressed sensing to compensate for the amplifier\\'s nonlinear distortions. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

  9. Location accuracy evaluation of lightning location systems using natural lightning flashes recorded by a network of high-speed cameras

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alves, J.; Saraiva, A. C. V.; Campos, L. Z. D. S.; Pinto, O., Jr.; Antunes, L.

    2014-12-01

    This work presents a method for the evaluation of location accuracy of all Lightning Location System (LLS) in operation in southeastern Brazil, using natural cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes. This can be done through a multiple high-speed cameras network (RAMMER network) installed in the Paraiba Valley region - SP - Brazil. The RAMMER network (Automated Multi-camera Network for Monitoring and Study of Lightning) is composed by four high-speed cameras operating at 2,500 frames per second. Three stationary black-and-white (B&W) cameras were situated in the cities of São José dos Campos and Caçapava. A fourth color camera was mobile (installed in a car), but operated in a fixed location during the observation period, within the city of São José dos Campos. The average distance among cameras was 13 kilometers. Each RAMMER sensor position was determined so that the network can observe the same lightning flash from different angles and all recorded videos were GPS (Global Position System) time stamped, allowing comparisons of events between cameras and the LLS. The RAMMER sensor is basically composed by a computer, a Phantom high-speed camera version 9.1 and a GPS unit. The lightning cases analyzed in the present work were observed by at least two cameras, their position was visually triangulated and the results compared with BrasilDAT network, during the summer seasons of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013. The visual triangulation method is presented in details. The calibration procedure showed an accuracy of 9 meters between the accurate GPS position of the object triangulated and the result from the visual triangulation method. Lightning return stroke positions, estimated with the visual triangulation method, were compared with LLS locations. Differences between solutions were not greater than 1.8 km.

  10. An Improved Genetic Algorithm for Optimal Stationary Energy Storage System Locating and Sizing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Wang

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The application of a stationary ultra-capacitor energy storage system (ESS in urban rail transit allows for the recuperation of vehicle braking energy for increasing energy savings as well as for a better vehicle voltage profile. This paper aims to obtain the best energy savings and voltage profile by optimizing the location and size of ultra-capacitors. This paper firstly raises the optimization objective functions from the perspectives of energy savings, regenerative braking cancellation and installation cost, respectively. Then, proper mathematical models of the DC (direct current traction power supply system are established to simulate the electrical load-flow of the traction supply network, and the optimization objections are evaluated in the example of a Chinese metro line. Ultimately, a methodology for optimal ultra-capacitor energy storage system locating and sizing is put forward based on the improved genetic algorithm. The optimized result shows that certain preferable and compromised schemes of ESSs’ location and size can be obtained, acting as a compromise between satisfying better energy savings, voltage profile and lower installation cost.

  11. Opportunistic Sensing in Wireless Sensor Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scholten, Johan; Bakker, Pascal

    Opportunistic sensing systems consist of changing constellations of wireless sensor nodes that, for a limited amount of time, work together to achieve a common goal. Such constellations are self-organizing and come into being spontaneously. This paper presents an opportunistic sensing system to

  12. Development of corrosion condition sensing and monitoring system using radio-frequency identification devices (RFID)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gu, G.P.; Zheng, W. [Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory

    2008-05-15

    This study discussed the development of a corrosion sensing and monitoring system for military land vehicles. Radio-frequency identification device (RFID) technology uses radio waves to identify individual masses with RFID tags attached. A corrosion-sensing element was integrated with the RFID technology, which incorporated a galvanic corrosion cell designed to trigger RFID tags. Corrosion severity was then related to the galvanic current. The tag recorded the sensor reading and transmitted the data to an RFID reader. The tags consisted of a microchip and an antenna. A software development kit has also been developed to interface RFID data with existing applications. While it is currently not possible to modify the RFID tags to prevent security risks, further research is being conducted to assemble a data-logger system with corrosion probes to measure humidity, electrical resistance, and linear polarization resistance. Studies will also be conducted to assemble an active tag reader system and investigate potential modifications. 4 refs., 1 fig., 1 appendix.

  13. Spectrum Sensing and Primary User Localization in Cognitive Radio Networks via Sparsity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lanchao Liu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The theory of compressive sensing (CS has been employed to detect available spectrum resource in cognitive radio (CR networks recently. Capitalizing on the spectrum resource underutilization and spatial sparsity of primary user (PU locations, CS enables the identification of the unused spectrum bands and PU locations at a low sampling rate. Although CS has been studied in the cooperative spectrum sensing mechanism in which CR nodes work collaboratively to accomplish the spectrum sensing and PU localization task, many important issues remain unsettled. Does the designed compressive spectrum sensing mechanism satisfy the Restricted Isometry Property, which guarantees a successful recovery of the original sparse signal? Can the spectrum sensing results help the localization of PUs? What are the characteristics of localization errors? To answer those questions, we try to justify the applicability of the CS theory to the compressive spectrum sensing framework in this paper, and propose a design of PU localization utilizing the spectrum usage information. The localization error is analyzed by the Cramér-Rao lower bound, which can be exploited to improve the localization performance. Detail analysis and simulations are presented to support the claims and demonstrate the efficacy and efficiency of the proposed mechanism.

  14. A Decision Support System for the Location of Naval Surface Reserve Units

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Venable, Laura

    1998-01-01

    .... The research suggests the feasibility of a PC based Decision Support System to assist Commander, Naval Surface Reserve Force improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the unit location decision...

  15. Design of self-growing, self-sensing, and self-repairing materials for engineering applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dry, Carolyn M.

    2001-04-01

    Like natural biological building systems these materials are inexpensive, and self-form through interaction of the materials. They sense and self-repair, respond to changes in the environment. The volume and scale, cost and end use are all considered from the start. The purpose of the particular system we will describe is an engineered bridge. The materials form as bone does from the innate attributes of the material without much labor. They sense the environment, respond to it, and repair any damage. This composite bridge is designed from a self-forming polymer and concrete system. Internal release of chemicals, their properties and location account for responsiveness to change and for repair. The choice of matrix additives also allow for the responsiveness. Bridge frames were fabricated for dynamic testing. The results showed that self repair and response to loads could be accomplished by careful placement of chemicals for later release and by use of chemicals which could alter such attributes as stiffness, flexure and permanent deformation. Internal viewing sensors could determine the state of the frames after testing.

  16. On the Optimal Location of Sensors for Parametric Identification of Linear Structural Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Brincker, Rune

    A survey of the field of optimal location of sensors for parametric identification of linear structural systems is presented. The survey shows that few papers are devoted to the case of optimal location sensors in which the measurements are modelled by a random field with non-trivial covariance...... function. Most often it is assumed that the results of the measurements are statistically independent variables. In an example the importance of considering the measurements as statistically dependent random variables is shown. The example is concerned with optimal location of sensors for parametric...... identification of modal parameters for a vibrating beam under random loading. The covariance of the modal parameters expected to be obtained is investigated to variations of number and location of sensors. Further, the influence of the noise on the optimal location of the sensors is investigated....

  17. Unmanned Aerial Systems and Spectroscopy for Remote Sensing Applications in Archaeology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Themistocleous, K.; Agapiou, A.; Cuca, B.; Hadjimitsis, D. G.

    2015-04-01

    Remote sensing has open up new dimensions in archaeological research. Although there has been significant progress in increasing the resolution of space/aerial sensors and image processing, the detection of the crop (and soil marks) formations, which relate to buried archaeological remains, are difficult to detect since these marks may not be visible in the images if observed over different period or at different spatial/spectral resolution. In order to support the improvement of earth observation remote sensing technologies specifically targeting archaeological research, a better understanding of the crop/soil marks formation needs to be studied in detail. In this paper the contribution of both Unmanned Aerial Systems as well ground spectroradiometers is discussed in a variety of examples applied in the eastern Mediterranean region (Cyprus and Greece) as well in Central Europe (Hungary). In- situ spectroradiometric campaigns can be applied for the removal of atmospheric impact to simultaneous satellite overpass images. In addition, as shown in this paper, the systematic collection of ground truth data prior to the satellite/aerial acquisition can be used to detect the optimum temporal and spectral resolution for the detection of stress vegetation related to buried archaeological remains. Moreover, phenological studies of the crops from the area of interest can be simulated to the potential sensors based on their Relative Response Filters and therefore prepare better the satellite-aerial campaigns. Ground data and the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) can provide an increased insight for studying the formation of crop and soil marks. New algorithms such as vegetation indices and linear orthogonal equations for the enhancement of crop marks can be developed based on the specific spectral characteristics of the area. As well, UAS can be used for remote sensing applications in order to document, survey and model cultural heritage and archaeological sites.

  18. Current perspective on remote sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goodman, R.H.

    1992-01-01

    Surveillance and tracking of oil spills has been a feature of most spill response situations for many years. The simplest and most direct method uses visual observations from an aircraft and hand-plotting of the data on a map. This technique has proven adequate for most small spills and for responses in fair weather. As the size of the spill increases or the weather deteriorates, there is a need to augment visual aerial observations with remote sensing methods. Remote sensing and its associated systems are one of the most technically complex and sophisticated elements of an oil spill response. During the past few years, a number of initiatives have been undertaken to use contemporary electronic and computing systems to develop new and improved remote sensing systems

  19. Analyzing Forest Inventory Data from Geo-Located Photographs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toivanen, Timo; Tergujeff, Renne; Andersson, Kaj; Molinier, Matthieu; Häme, Tuomas

    2015-04-01

    Forests are widely monitored using a variety of remote sensing data and techniques. Remote sensing offers benefits compared to traditional in-situ forest inventories made by experts. One of the main benefits is that the number of ground reference plots can be significantly reduced. Remote sensing of forests can provide reduced costs and time requirement compared to full forest inventories. The availability of ground reference data has been a bottleneck in remote sensing analysis over wide forested areas, as the acquisition of this data is an expensive and slow process. In this paper we present a tool for estimating forest inventory data from geo-located photographs. The tool can be used to estimate in-situ forest inventory data including estimated biomass, tree species, tree height and diameter. The collected in-situ forest measurements can be utilized as a ground reference material for spaceborne or airborne remote sensing data analysis. The GPS based location information with measured forest data makes it possible to introduce measurements easily as in-situ reference data. The central projection geometry of digital photographs allows the use of the relascope principle [1] to measure the basal area of stems per area unit, a variable very closely associated with tree biomass. Relascope is applied all over the world for forest inventory. Experiments with independent ground reference data have shown that in-situ data analysed from photographs can be utilised as reference data for satellite image analysis. The concept was validated by comparing mobile measurements with 54 independent ground reference plots from the Hyytiälä forest research station in Finland [2]. Citizen scientists could provide the manpower for analysing photographs from forests on a global level and support researchers working on tasks related to forests. This low-cost solution can also increase the coverage of forest management plans, particularly in regions where possibilities to invest on

  20. The tracking and locating system of the mining personnel based on the Zigbee wireless network platform

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xiao-jia, Xie; Li-jun, Cheng; Yong, Wang [Chongqing University, Chongqing (China). College of Resources and Environmental Science

    2007-08-15

    By comparing the advanced Zigbee wireless network system with active RFID, the Zigbee wireless network technology was introduced into the system for tracking and locating of coal miners. The system structure and function characteristics were also introduced. This system makes it convenient to mine administrators, control room personnel and security inspectors to obtain information on the working hours and location of mine workers in the mine. 6 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.

  1. Power systems locational marginal pricing in deregulated markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hui-Fung Francis

    Since the beginning of the 1990s, the electricity business is transforming from a vertical integrating business to a competitive market operations. The generation, transmission, distribution subsystem of an electricity utility are operated independently as Genco (generation subsystem), Transco (transmission subsystem), and Distco (distribution subsystem). This trend promotes more economical inter- and intra regional transactions to be made by the participating companies and the users of electricity to achieve the intended objectives of deregulation. There are various types of electricity markets that are implemented in the North America in the past few years. However, transmission congestion management becomes a key issue in the electricity market design as more bilateral transactions are traded across long distances competing for scarce transmission resources. It directly alters the traditional concept of energy pricing and impacts the bottom line, revenue and cost of electricity, of both suppliers and buyers. In this research, transmission congestion problem in a deregulated market environment is elucidated by implementing by the Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP) method. With a comprehensive understanding of the LMP method, new mathematical tools will aid electric utilities in exploring new business opportunities are developed and presented in this dissertation. The dissertation focuses on the development of concept of (LMP) forecasting and its implication to the market participants in deregulated market. Specifically, we explore methods of developing fast LMP calculation techniques that are differ from existing LMPs. We also explore and document the usefulness of the proposed LMP in determining electricity pricing of a large scale power system. The developed mathematical tools use of well-known optimization techniques such as linear programming that are support by several flow charts. The fast and practical security constrained unit commitment methods are the

  2. Error Analysis of Determining Airplane Location by Global Positioning System

    OpenAIRE

    Hajiyev, Chingiz; Burat, Alper

    1999-01-01

    This paper studies the error analysis of determining airplane location by global positioning system (GPS) using statistical testing method. The Newton Rhapson method positions the airplane at the intersection point of four spheres. Absolute errors, relative errors and standard deviation have been calculated The results show that the positioning error of the airplane varies with the coordinates of GPS satellite and the airplane.

  3. Concept of an advanced hyperspectral remote sensing system for pipeline monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keskin, Göksu; Teutsch, Caroline D.; Lenz, Andreas; Middelmann, Wolfgang

    2015-10-01

    Areas occupied by oil pipelines and storage facilities are prone to severe contamination due to leaks caused by natural forces, poor maintenance or third parties. These threats have to be detected as quickly as possible in order to prevent serious environmental damage. Periodical and emergency monitoring activities need to be carried out for successful disaster management and pollution minimization. Airborne remote sensing stands out as an appropriate choice to operate either in an emergency or periodically. Hydrocarbon Index (HI) and Hydrocarbon Detection Index (HDI) utilize the unique absorption features of hydrocarbon based materials at SWIR spectral region. These band ratio based methods require no a priori knowledge of the reference spectrum and can be calculated in real time. This work introduces a flexible airborne pipeline monitoring system based on the online quasi-operational hyperspectral remote sensing system developed at Fraunhofer IOSB, utilizing HI and HDI for oil leak detection on the data acquired by an SWIR imaging sensor. Robustness of HI and HDI compared to state of the art detection algorithms is evaluated in an experimental setup using a synthetic dataset, which was prepared in a systematic way to simulate linear mixtures of selected background and oil spectra consisting of gradually decreasing percentages of oil content. Real airborne measurements in Ettlingen, Germany are used to gather background data while the crude oil spectrum was measured with a field spectrometer. The results indicate that the system can be utilized for online and offline monitoring activities.

  4. Experimenting with Electrical Load Sensing on a Backhoe Loader

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Torben Ole; Hansen, Michael Rygaard; Pedersen, Henrik Clemmensen

    2005-01-01

    Where traditional load sensing is made using hydro-mechanical regulators and load pressure is fed back hydraulically, electrical load sensing employs the usage of electronic sensors and electrically actuated components. This brings forth new possibilities, but also imposes problems concerning...... dynamic performance and stability. In this paper the possibilities for implementing electrical load sensing (ELS) on a backhoe loader is investigated. Major components in the system are modelled and verified, and a linear model of the pump is presented, which is used for designing the pump controller....... By comparing results from linear analyses performed on both the conventional hydraulic load sensing system (HLS) and the modified electrical load sensing system, it is concluded that system performance closely matching the conventional system is obtainable....

  5. PASSIVE WIRELESS MULTI-SENSOR TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE SENSING SYSTEM USING ACOUSTIC WAVE DEVICES, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This proposal describes the development of passive surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors and multi-sensor systems for NASA application to remote wireless sensing of...

  6. Online Location of Faults on AC Cables in Underground Transmission Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Christian Flytkjær

    under fault conditions well, but the accuracy of the calculated impedance is low for fault location purposes. The neural networks can therefore not be trained and no impedance-based fault location method can be used for crossbonded cables or hybrid lines. The use of travelling wave-based methods...... connection to verify the proposed method. Faults, at reduced a voltage are artificially applied in the cable system and the transient response is measured at two terminals at the cable’s ends. The measurements are time-synchronised and it is found that a very accurate estimation of the fault location can......A transmission grid is normally laid out as an almost pure overhead line (OHL) network. The introduction of transmission voltage level XLPE cables and the increasing interest in the environmental impact of OHL has resulted in an increasing interest in the use of underground cables on transmission...

  7. Flat Surface Damage Detection System (FSDDS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Martha; Lewis, Mark; Gibson, Tracy; Lane, John; Medelius, Pedro; Snyder, Sarah; Ciarlariello, Dan; Parks, Steve; Carrejo, Danny; Rojdev, Kristina

    2013-01-01

    The Flat Surface Damage Detection system (FSDDS} is a sensory system that is capable of detecting impact damages to surfaces utilizing a novel sensor system. This system will provide the ability to monitor the integrity of an inflatable habitat during in situ system health monitoring. The system consists of three main custom designed subsystems: the multi-layer sensing panel, the embedded monitoring system, and the graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI LABVIEW software uses a custom developed damage detection algorithm to determine the damage location based on the sequence of broken sensing lines. It estimates the damage size, the maximum depth, and plots the damage location on a graph. Successfully demonstrated as a stand alone technology during 2011 D-RATS. Software modification also allowed for communication with HDU avionics crew display which was demonstrated remotely (KSC to JSC} during 2012 integration testing. Integrated FSDDS system and stand alone multi-panel systems were demonstrated remotely and at JSC, Mission Operations Test using Space Network Research Federation (SNRF} network in 2012. FY13, FSDDS multi-panel integration with JSC and SNRF network Technology can allow for integration with other complementary damage detection systems.

  8. A vision-based driver nighttime assistance and surveillance system based on intelligent image sensing techniques and a heterogamous dual-core embedded system architecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yen-Lin; Chiang, Hsin-Han; Chiang, Chuan-Yen; Liu, Chuan-Ming; Yuan, Shyan-Ming; Wang, Jenq-Haur

    2012-01-01

    This study proposes a vision-based intelligent nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system (VIDASS system) implemented by a set of embedded software components and modules, and integrates these modules to accomplish a component-based system framework on an embedded heterogamous dual-core platform. Therefore, this study develops and implements computer vision and sensing techniques of nighttime vehicle detection, collision warning determination, and traffic event recording. The proposed system processes the road-scene frames in front of the host car captured from CCD sensors mounted on the host vehicle. These vision-based sensing and processing technologies are integrated and implemented on an ARM-DSP heterogamous dual-core embedded platform. Peripheral devices, including image grabbing devices, communication modules, and other in-vehicle control devices, are also integrated to form an in-vehicle-embedded vision-based nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system.

  9. Apparatus including a plurality of spaced transformers for locating short circuits in cables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cason, R. L.; Mcstay, J. J. (Inventor)

    1978-01-01

    A cable fault locator is described for sensing faults such as short circuits in power cables. The apparatus includes a plurality of current transformers strategically located along a cable. Trigger circuits are connected to each of the current transformers for placing a resistor in series with a resistive element responsive to an abnormally high current flowing through that portion of the cable. By measuring the voltage drop across the resistive element, the location of the fault can be determined.

  10. Development of a portable remote sensing system for measurement of diesel emissions from passing diesel trucks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-08

    A wireless remote-sensing system has been developed for measurement of NOx and particulate matters (PM) emissions from passing diesel trucks. The NOx measurement system has a UV light source with quartz fiber optics that focused the light source into...

  11. On reduction of risks in UXO and mine detection using remote sensing systems and related synthetic image simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bostater, Charles R., Jr.

    2005-06-01

    It is important to understand remote sensing systems and associated platforms in the context of autonomous or semi-autonomous designs for (robotic & mechatronics) that may be affect the motion control or stabilization aspects of the imagery, scan lines or fixed points scanned. This need can be most easily conceived as being related to the reduction of risks associated with false detection as well as the risks associated with hardware and software failure and risks associated with the actual operation of sensor and platform in dangerous environments. Thus safety is ultimately our concern when it comes to risk assessment. This paper will describe (a) remote sensing systems, (b) platforms (fixed and mobile, as well as to demonstrate (c) the value of thinking in terms of scalability as well as modularity in the design and application of new systems and (d) creation of synthetic signatures obtained for detection of targets in the aquatic environment. New systems - sensing systems as well as autonomous or semiautonomous robotic and mechatronic systems will be essential to secure domestic preparedness for humanitarian reasons as well as for demining and UXO detection. These same systems hold tremendous value, if thoughtfully designed for other applications which include environmental monitoring and surveillance.

  12. Utilizing patient geographic information system data to plan telemedicine service locations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soares, Neelkamal; Dewalle, Joseph; Marsh, Ben

    2017-09-01

    To understand potential utilization of clinical services at a rural integrated health care system by generating optimal groups of telemedicine locations from electronic health record (EHR) data using geographic information systems (GISs). This retrospective study extracted nonidentifiable grouped data of patients over a 2-year period from the EHR, including geomasked locations. Spatially optimal groupings were created using available telemedicine sites by calculating patients' average travel distance (ATD) to the closest clinic site. A total of 4027 visits by 2049 unique patients were analyzed. The best travel distances for site groupings of 3, 4, 5, or 6 site locations were ranked based on increasing ATD. Each one-site increase in the number of available telemedicine sites decreased minimum ATD by about 8%. For a given group size, the best groupings were very similar in minimum travel distance. There were significant differences in predicted patient load imbalance between otherwise similar groupings. A majority of the best site groupings used the same small number of sites, and urban sites were heavily used. With EHR geospatial data at an individual patient level, we can model potential telemedicine sites for specialty access in a rural geographic area. Relatively few sites could serve most of the population. Direct access to patient GIS data from an EHR provides direct knowledge of the client base compared to methods that allocate aggregated data. Geospatial data and methods can assist health care location planning, generating data about load, load balance, and spatial accessibility. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  13. Analysis of the location for peak heating in CHP based combined district heating systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Haichao; Lahdelma, Risto; Wang, Xin; Jiao, Wenling; Zhu, Chuanzhi; Zou, Pinghua

    2015-01-01

    Combined heat and power (CHP) is the main technology for providing the base load of district heating in China. However, CHP is not efficient for providing the peak load; instead, a peak boiler with high efficiency could be used to compensate the peak load. This paper studies how the location of the peak boiler can affect the energy efficiency and economic performance of such CHP based combined district heating system. Firstly, the connection mode and the control strategy for different peak heating locations are analyzed. Then the effect of the peak boiler's location on the initial investment of the network and the cost for distributing heat is studied. The objective is to place the peak boiler in a location where the overall costs are the smallest. Following this rule, the results indicate that the peak boiler should be located at the CHP plant if that allows using cheaper ‘self-use electricity’ in CHP for distributing the heat. However, if the market electricity price is used everywhere, or if energy efficiency is more emphasized, the location of the peak boiler should be closer to the users with dense heat loads. - Highlights: • Location for peak heating in the CHP based combined DH system is studied. • Regulation or control strategies for combined DH are summarized. • The heat load duration curve for combined DH is demonstrated. • Network design for combined DH with peak boiler outside of the CHP is analyzed

  14. Ambiguity resolution in systems using Omega for position location

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frenkel, G.; Gan, D. G.

    1974-01-01

    The lane ambiguity problem prevents the utilization of the Omega system for many applications such as locating buoys and balloons. The method of multiple lines of position introduced herein uses signals from four or more Omega stations for ambiguity resolution. The coordinates of the candidate points are determined first through the use of the Newton iterative procedure. Subsequently, a likelihood function is generated for each point, and the ambiguity is resolved by selecting the most likely point. The method was tested through simulation.

  15. Wireless Sensing System Using Open-circuit, Electrically-conductive Spiral-trace Sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodard, Stanley E. (Inventor); Taylor, Bryant D. (Inventor)

    2013-01-01

    A wireless sensing system includes a sensor made from an electrical conductor shaped to form an open-circuit, electrically-conductive spiral trace having inductance and capacitance. In the presence of a time-varying magnetic field, the sensor resonates to generate a harmonic response having a frequency, amplitude and bandwidth. A magnetic field response recorder wirelessly transmits the time-varying magnetic field to the sensor and wirelessly detects the sensor's response frequency, amplitude and bandwidth.

  16. Assessment of human respiration patterns via noncontact sensing using Doppler multi-radar system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Changzhan; Li, Changzhi

    2015-03-16

    Human respiratory patterns at chest and abdomen are associated with both physical and emotional states. Accurate measurement of the respiratory patterns provides an approach to assess and analyze the physical and emotional states of the subject persons. Not many research efforts have been made to wirelessly assess different respiration patterns, largely due to the inaccuracy of the conventional continuous-wave radar sensor to track the original signal pattern of slow respiratory movements. This paper presents the accurate assessment of different respiratory patterns based on noncontact Doppler radar sensing. This paper evaluates the feasibility of accurately monitoring different human respiration patterns via noncontact radar sensing. A 2.4 GHz DC coupled multi-radar system was used for accurate measurement of the complete respiration patterns without any signal distortion. Experiments were carried out in the lab environment to measure the different respiration patterns when the subject person performed natural breathing, chest breathing and diaphragmatic breathing. The experimental results showed that accurate assessment of different respiration patterns is feasible using the proposed noncontact radar sensing technique.

  17. Application of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems to ecosystem-based urban natural resource management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiaohui Zhang; George Ball; Eve Halper

    2000-01-01

    This paper presents an integrated system to support urban natural resource management. With the application of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS), the paper emphasizes the methodology of integrating information technology and a scientific basis to support ecosystem-based management. First, a systematic integration framework is developed and...

  18. A High Resolution Capacitive Sensing System for the Measurement of Water Content in Crude Oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aslam, Muhammad Zubair; Tang, Tong Boon

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents the design of a non-intrusive system to measure ultra-low water content in crude oil. The system is based on a capacitance to phase angle conversion method. Water content is measured with a capacitance sensor comprising two semi-cylindrical electrodes mounted on the outer side of a glass tube. The presence of water induces a capacitance change that in turn converts into a phase angle, with respect to a main oscillator. A differential sensing technique is adopted not only to ensure high immunity against temperature variation and background noise, but also to eliminate phase jitter and amplitude variation of the main oscillator that could destabilize the output. The complete capacitive sensing system was implemented in hardware and experiment results using crude oil samples demonstrated that a resolution of ±50 ppm of water content in crude oil was achieved by the proposed design. PMID:24967606

  19. A High Resolution Capacitive Sensing System for the Measurement of Water Content in Crude Oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Zubair Aslam

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the design of a non-intrusive system to measure ultra-low water content in crude oil. The system is based on a capacitance to phase angle conversion method. Water content is measured with a capacitance sensor comprising two semi-cylindrical electrodes mounted on the outer side of a glass tube. The presence of water induces a capacitance change that in turn converts into a phase angle, with respect to a main oscillator. A differential sensing technique is adopted not only to ensure high immunity against temperature variation and background noise, but also to eliminate phase jitter and amplitude variation of the main oscillator that could destabilize the output. The complete capacitive sensing system was implemented in hardware and experiment results using crude oil samples demonstrated that a resolution of ±50 ppm of water content in crude oil was achieved by the proposed design.

  20. Estimating location without external cues.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allen Cheung

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The ability to determine one's location is fundamental to spatial navigation. Here, it is shown that localization is theoretically possible without the use of external cues, and without knowledge of initial position or orientation. With only error-prone self-motion estimates as input, a fully disoriented agent can, in principle, determine its location in familiar spaces with 1-fold rotational symmetry. Surprisingly, localization does not require the sensing of any external cue, including the boundary. The combination of self-motion estimates and an internal map of the arena provide enough information for localization. This stands in conflict with the supposition that 2D arenas are analogous to open fields. Using a rodent error model, it is shown that the localization performance which can be achieved is enough to initiate and maintain stable firing patterns like those of grid cells, starting from full disorientation. Successful localization was achieved when the rotational asymmetry was due to the external boundary, an interior barrier or a void space within an arena. Optimal localization performance was found to depend on arena shape, arena size, local and global rotational asymmetry, and the structure of the path taken during localization. Since allothetic cues including visual and boundary contact cues were not present, localization necessarily relied on the fusion of idiothetic self-motion cues and memory of the boundary. Implications for spatial navigation mechanisms are discussed, including possible relationships with place field overdispersion and hippocampal reverse replay. Based on these results, experiments are suggested to identify if and where information fusion occurs in the mammalian spatial memory system.

  1. Wideband spectrum sensing order for cognitive radios with sensing errors and channel SNR probing uncertainty

    KAUST Repository

    Hamza, Doha R.

    2013-04-01

    A secondary user (SU) seeks to transmit by sequentially sensing statistically independent primary user (PU) channels. If a channel is sensed free, it is probed to estimate the signal-to-noise ratio between the SU transmitter-receiver pair over the channel. We jointly optimize the channel sensing time, the sensing decision threshold, the channel probing time, together with the channel sensing order under imperfect synchronization between the PU and the SU. The sensing and probing times and the decision threshold are assumed to be the same for all channels. We maximize a utility function related to the SU throughput under the constraint that the collision probability with the PU is kept below a certain value and taking sensing errors into account. We illustrate the optimal policy and the variation of SU throughput with various system parameters. © 2012 IEEE.

  2. Wideband spectrum sensing order for cognitive radios with sensing errors and channel SNR probing uncertainty

    KAUST Repository

    Hamza, Doha R.; Aï ssa, Sonia

    2013-01-01

    A secondary user (SU) seeks to transmit by sequentially sensing statistically independent primary user (PU) channels. If a channel is sensed free, it is probed to estimate the signal-to-noise ratio between the SU transmitter-receiver pair over the channel. We jointly optimize the channel sensing time, the sensing decision threshold, the channel probing time, together with the channel sensing order under imperfect synchronization between the PU and the SU. The sensing and probing times and the decision threshold are assumed to be the same for all channels. We maximize a utility function related to the SU throughput under the constraint that the collision probability with the PU is kept below a certain value and taking sensing errors into account. We illustrate the optimal policy and the variation of SU throughput with various system parameters. © 2012 IEEE.

  3. A dual-reservoir remote loading water target system for 18F and 13N production with direct in-target liquid level sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrieri, R.A.; Alexoff, D.L.; Schlyer, D.J.; Wolf, A.P.

    1991-01-01

    This report describes our universal water target loading system that serves both [ 18 F] and [ 13 N] production targets, and a radionuclide delivery system that is specific for [ 18 F] fluoride. The system was designed and fabricated around the operation of a single pneumatic syringe dispenser that accesses one of two reservoirs filled with [ 18 O] enriched water for [ 18 F] fluoride production from the 18 O(p,n) 18 F reaction and natural abundance water for [ 13 N] nitrate/nitrite production from the 16 O(p,α) 13 N reaction and loads one of two targets depending on the radionuclide desired. The system offers several novel features for reliable radionuclide production. First, there exists an in-target probe for direct liquid level sensing using the conductivity response of water. In addition, transfer of [ 18 F] fluoride to the Hot Lab is completely decoupled from the irradiated water through the actions of a resin/recovery system which is located in the cyclotron vault, thus maintaining transfer line integrity. This feature also provides a mechanism for vault-containment of long-lived contaminants generated through target activation and leaching into the water

  4. Covert Communication in MIMO-OFDM System Using Pseudo Random Location of Fake Subcarriers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rizky Pratama Hudhajanto

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM is the most used wireless transmission scheme in the world. However, its security is the interesting problem to discuss if we want to use this scheme to transmit a sensitive data, such as in the military and commercial communication systems. In this paper, we propose a new method to increase the security of MIMO-OFDM system using the change of location of fake subcarrier. The fake subcarriers’ location is generated per packet of data using Pseudo Random sequence generator. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme does not decrease the performance of conventional MIMO-OFDM. The attacker or eavesdropper gets worse Bit Error Rate (BER than the legal receiver compared to the conventional MIMO-OFDM system.

  5. Study on Network Error Analysis and Locating based on Integrated Information Decision System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, F.; Dong, Z. H.

    2017-10-01

    Integrated information decision system (IIDS) integrates multiple sub-system developed by many facilities, including almost hundred kinds of software, which provides with various services, such as email, short messages, drawing and sharing. Because the under-layer protocols are different, user standards are not unified, many errors are occurred during the stages of setup, configuration, and operation, which seriously affect the usage. Because the errors are various, which may be happened in different operation phases, stages, TCP/IP communication protocol layers, sub-system software, it is necessary to design a network error analysis and locating tool for IIDS to solve the above problems. This paper studies on network error analysis and locating based on IIDS, which provides strong theory and technology supports for the running and communicating of IIDS.

  6. Internet of Things for Sensing: A Case Study in the Healthcare System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Syed Aziz Shah

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Medical healthcare is one of the fascinating applications using Internet of Things (IoTs. The pervasive smart environment in IoTs has the potential to monitor various human activities by deploying smart devices. In our pilot study, we look at narcolepsy, a disorder in which individuals lose the ability to regulate their sleep-wake cycle. An imbalance in the brain chemical called orexin makes the sleep pattern irregular. This sleep disorder in patients suffering from narcolepsy results in them experience irrepressible sleep episodes while performing daily routine activities. This study presents a novel method for detecting sleep attacks or sleepiness due to immune system attacks and affecting daily activities measured using the S-band sensing technique. The S-Band sensing technique is channel sensing based on frequency spectrum sensing using the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing transmission at a 2 to 4 GHz frequency range leveraging amplitude and calibrated phase information of different frequencies obtained using wireless devices such as card, and omni-directional antenna. Each human behavior induces a unique channel information (CI signature contained in amplitude and phase information. By linearly transforming raw phase measurements into calibrated phase information, we ascertain phase coherence. Classification and validation of various human activities such as walking, sitting on a chair, push-ups, and narcolepsy sleep episodes are done using support vector machine, K-nearest neighbor, and random forest algorithms. The measurement and evaluation were carried out several times with classification values of accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, Kappa, and F-measure of more than 90% that were achieved when delineating sleep attacks.

  7. Novel Pressure-Sensing Smart Insole System Used for the Prevention of Pressure Ulceration in the Insensate Foot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allyson R. Alfonso, BS, BA

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Summary:. Wounds of the foot challenge reconstructive surgeons to manage multiple factors: sensibility, stability, and durability. In this article, we focus on the insensate foot, which poses challenges to wound prevention with its propensity to develop pressure ulceration. The authors present the innovative use of a pressure-sensing smart insole system (SurroSense Rx, Orpyx Medical Technologies Inc., Calgary, Canada in the management of the insensate foot in a patient following foot reconstruction. The pressure-sensing smart insole system provided unique feedback to both patient and provider in ways that contributed to the prevention of pressure ulcer recurrence, as well as highlight the importance of prescribed footwear in both the affected and unaffected foot. Wearable real-time monitoring and feedback faces the challenge of patient adherence. Future studies are indicated to examine the specific behaviors that are associated with favorable outcomes and long-term behavior changes.

  8. Digital methods and remote sensing in archaeology archaeology in the age of sensing

    CERN Document Server

    Campana, Stefano

    2016-01-01

    This volume debuts the new scope of Remote Sensing, which was first defined as the analysis of data collected by sensors that were not in physical contact with the objects under investigation (using cameras, scanners, and radar systems operating from spaceborne or airborne platforms). A wider characterization is now possible: Remote Sensing can be any non-destructive approach to viewing the buried and nominally invisible evidence of past activity. Spaceborne and airborne sensors, now supplemented by laser scanning, are united using ground-based geophysical instruments and undersea remote sensing, as well as other non-invasive techniques such as surface collection or field-walking survey. Now, any method that enables observation of evidence on or beneath the surface of the earth, without impact on the surviving stratigraphy, is legitimately within the realm of Remote Sensing. The new interfaces and senses engaged in Remote Sensing appear throughout the book. On a philosophical level, this is about the landscap...

  9. Remote RemoteRemoteRemote sensing potential for sensing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Remote RemoteRemoteRemote sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing p. A Ngie, F Ahmed, K Abutaleb ...

  10. Discrete rate resource allocation for OFDMA cognitive radio systems with location information

    KAUST Repository

    Ben Ghorbel, Mahdi; Nam, Haewoon; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2010-01-01

    In this paper we introduce a resource allocation algorithm based on location information for cognitive radio systems. The location information allows a practical implementation of cognitive radio systems when the channel state knowledge of the interference links with the primary users is not available. Using this information and measurements, the secondary users estimate the pathloss between the secondary and primary users to avoid interfering the primary users while sharing the frequency bands. The major improvement in this paper is low-complex algorithms for downlink and uplink resource allocations with integer bit distributions, where collocated subchannel constraint is considered in uplink case. We show, through numerical simulations, that for the downlink case, the proposed algorithm is indeed optimal while for the uplink case, it is near-optimal. ©2010 IEEE.

  11. Discrete rate resource allocation for OFDMA cognitive radio systems with location information

    KAUST Repository

    Ben Ghorbel, Mahdi

    2010-09-01

    In this paper we introduce a resource allocation algorithm based on location information for cognitive radio systems. The location information allows a practical implementation of cognitive radio systems when the channel state knowledge of the interference links with the primary users is not available. Using this information and measurements, the secondary users estimate the pathloss between the secondary and primary users to avoid interfering the primary users while sharing the frequency bands. The major improvement in this paper is low-complex algorithms for downlink and uplink resource allocations with integer bit distributions, where collocated subchannel constraint is considered in uplink case. We show, through numerical simulations, that for the downlink case, the proposed algorithm is indeed optimal while for the uplink case, it is near-optimal. ©2010 IEEE.

  12. City of Flagstaff Project: Ground Water Resource Evaluation, Remote Sensing Component

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chavez, Pat S.; Velasco, Miguel G.; Bowell, Jo-Ann; Sides, Stuart C.; Gonzalez, Rosendo R.; Soltesz, Deborah L.

    1996-01-01

    Many regions, cities, and towns in the Western United States need new or expanded water resources because of both population growth and increased development. Any tools or data that can help in the evaluation of an area's potential water resources must be considered for this increasingly critical need. Remotely sensed satellite images and subsequent digital image processing have been under-utilized in ground water resource evaluation and exploration. Satellite images can be helpful in detecting and mapping an area's regional structural patterns, including major fracture and fault systems, two important geologic settings for an area's surface to ground water relations. Within the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Flagstaff Field Center, expertise and capabilities in remote sensing and digital image processing have been developed over the past 25 years through various programs. For the City of Flagstaff project, this expertise and these capabilities were combined with traditional geologic field mapping to help evaluate ground water resources in the Flagstaff area. Various enhancement and manipulation procedures were applied to the digital satellite images; the results, in both digital and hardcopy format, were used for field mapping and analyzing the regional structure. Relative to surface sampling, remotely sensed satellite and airborne images have improved spatial coverage that can help study, map, and monitor the earth surface at local and/or regional scales. Advantages offered by remotely sensed satellite image data include: 1. a synoptic/regional view compared to both aerial photographs and ground sampling, 2. cost effectiveness, 3. high spatial resolution and coverage compared to ground sampling, and 4. relatively high temporal coverage on a long term basis. Remotely sensed images contain both spectral and spatial information. The spectral information provides various properties and characteristics about the surface cover at a given location or pixel

  13. Sensing Characteristics of A Precision Aligner Using Moire Gratings for Precision Alignment System

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZHOU Lizhong; Hideo Furuhashi; Yoshiyuki Uchida

    2001-01-01

    Sensing characteristics of a precision aligner using moire gratings for precision alignment sysem has been investigated. A differential moire alignment system and a modified alignment system were used. The influence of the setting accuracy of the gap length and inclination of gratings on the alignment accuracy has been studied experimentally and theoretically. Setting accuracy of the gap length less than 2.5μm is required in modified moire alignment. There is no influence of the gap length on the alignment accuracy in the differential alignment system. The inclination affects alignment accuracies in both differential and modified moire alignment systems.

  14. CMMAD Usability Case Study in Support of Countermine and Hazard Sensing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Victor G. Walker; David I. Gertman

    2010-04-01

    During field trials, operator usability data were collected in support of lane clearing missions and hazard sensing for two robot platforms with Robot Intelligence Kernel (RIK) software and sensor scanning payloads onboard. The tests featured autonomous and shared robot autonomy levels where tasking of the robot used a graphical interface featuring mine location and sensor readings. The goal of this work was to provide insights that could be used to further technology development. The efficacy of countermine systems in terms of mobility, search, path planning, detection, and localization were assessed. Findings from objective and subjective operator interaction measures are reviewed along with commentary from soldiers having taken part in the study who strongly endorse the system.

  15. Crop status sensing system by multi-spectral imaging sensor, 1: Image processing and paddy field sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishii, K.; Sugiura, R.; Fukagawa, T.; Noguchi, N.; Shibata, Y.

    2006-01-01

    The objective of the study is to construct a sensing system for precision farming. A Multi-Spectral Imaging Sensor (MSIS), which can obtain three images (G. R and NIR) simultaneously, was used for detecting growth status of plants. The sensor was mounted on an unmanned helicopter. An image processing method for acquiring information of crop status with high accuracy was developed. Crop parameters that were measured include SPAD, leaf height, and stems number. Both direct seeding variety and transplant variety of paddy rice were adopted in the research. The result of a field test showed that crop status of both varieties could be detected with sufficient accuracy to apply to precision farming

  16. Accurate Vehicle Location System Using RFID, an Internet of Things Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prinsloo, Jaco; Malekian, Reza

    2016-01-01

    Modern infrastructure, such as dense urban areas and underground tunnels, can effectively block all GPS signals, which implies that effective position triangulation will not be achieved. The main problem that is addressed in this project is the design and implementation of an accurate vehicle location system using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in combination with GPS and the Global system for Mobile communication (GSM) technology, in order to provide a solution to the limitation discussed above. In essence, autonomous vehicle tracking will be facilitated with the use of RFID technology where GPS signals are non-existent. The design of the system and the results are reflected in this paper. An extensive literature study was done on the field known as the Internet of Things, as well as various topics that covered the integration of independent technology in order to address a specific challenge. The proposed system is then designed and implemented. An RFID transponder was successfully designed and a read range of approximately 31 cm was obtained in the low frequency communication range (125 kHz to 134 kHz). The proposed system was designed, implemented, and field tested and it was found that a vehicle could be accurately located and tracked. It is also found that the antenna size of both the RFID reader unit and RFID transponder plays a critical role in the maximum communication range that can be achieved. PMID:27271638

  17. Accurate Vehicle Location System Using RFID, an Internet of Things Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prinsloo, Jaco; Malekian, Reza

    2016-06-04

    Modern infrastructure, such as dense urban areas and underground tunnels, can effectively block all GPS signals, which implies that effective position triangulation will not be achieved. The main problem that is addressed in this project is the design and implementation of an accurate vehicle location system using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in combination with GPS and the Global system for Mobile communication (GSM) technology, in order to provide a solution to the limitation discussed above. In essence, autonomous vehicle tracking will be facilitated with the use of RFID technology where GPS signals are non-existent. The design of the system and the results are reflected in this paper. An extensive literature study was done on the field known as the Internet of Things, as well as various topics that covered the integration of independent technology in order to address a specific challenge. The proposed system is then designed and implemented. An RFID transponder was successfully designed and a read range of approximately 31 cm was obtained in the low frequency communication range (125 kHz to 134 kHz). The proposed system was designed, implemented, and field tested and it was found that a vehicle could be accurately located and tracked. It is also found that the antenna size of both the RFID reader unit and RFID transponder plays a critical role in the maximum communication range that can be achieved.

  18. Accurate Vehicle Location System Using RFID, an Internet of Things Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaco Prinsloo

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Modern infrastructure, such as dense urban areas and underground tunnels, can effectively block all GPS signals, which implies that effective position triangulation will not be achieved. The main problem that is addressed in this project is the design and implementation of an accurate vehicle location system using radio-frequency identification (RFID technology in combination with GPS and the Global system for Mobile communication (GSM technology, in order to provide a solution to the limitation discussed above. In essence, autonomous vehicle tracking will be facilitated with the use of RFID technology where GPS signals are non-existent. The design of the system and the results are reflected in this paper. An extensive literature study was done on the field known as the Internet of Things, as well as various topics that covered the integration of independent technology in order to address a specific challenge. The proposed system is then designed and implemented. An RFID transponder was successfully designed and a read range of approximately 31 cm was obtained in the low frequency communication range (125 kHz to 134 kHz. The proposed system was designed, implemented, and field tested and it was found that a vehicle could be accurately located and tracked. It is also found that the antenna size of both the RFID reader unit and RFID transponder plays a critical role in the maximum communication range that can be achieved.

  19. Systemic Glucoregulation by Glucose-Sensing Neurons in the Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus (VMH).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimazu, Takashi; Minokoshi, Yasuhiko

    2017-05-01

    The ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) regulates glucose production in the liver as well as glucose uptake and utilization in peripheral tissues, including skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue, via efferent sympathetic innervation and neuroendocrine mechanisms. The action of leptin on VMH neurons also increases glucose uptake in specific peripheral tissues through the sympathetic nervous system, with improved insulin sensitivity. On the other hand, subsets of VMH neurons, such as those that express steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1), sense changes in the ambient glucose concentration and are characterized as glucose-excited (GE) and glucose-inhibited (GI) neurons whose action potential frequency increases and decreases, respectively, as glucose levels rise. However, how these glucose-sensing (GE and GI) neurons in the VMH contribute to systemic glucoregulation remains poorly understood. In this review, we provide historical background and discuss recent advances related to glucoregulation by VMH neurons. In particular, the article describes the role of GE neurons in the control of peripheral glucose utilization and insulin sensitivity, which depend on mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 of the neurons, as well as that of GI neurons in the control of hepatic glucose production through hypoglycemia-induced counterregulatory mechanisms.

  20. Challenges in Locating Microseismic Events Using Distributed Acoustic Sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, A.; Kendall, J. M.; Clarke, A.; Verdon, J.

    2017-12-01

    Microseismic monitoring is an important method of assessing the behaviour of subsurface fluid processes, and is commonly acquired using geophone arrays in boreholes or on the surface. A new alternative technology has been recently developed - fibre-optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) - using strain along a fibre-optic cable as a measure of seismic signals. DAS can offer high density arrays and full-well coverage from the surface to bottom, with less overall disruption to operations, so there are many exciting possible applications in monitoring both petroleum and other subsurface industries. However, there are challenges in locating microseismic events recorded using current DAS systems, which only record seismic data in one-component and consequently omit the azimuthal information provided by a three-component geophone. To test the impact of these limitations we used finite difference modelling to generate one-component synthetic DAS datasets and investigated the impact of picking solely P-wave or both P- and S-wave arrivals and the impact of different array geometries. These are then compared to equivalent 3-component synthetic geophone datasets. In simple velocity models, P-wave arrivals along linear arrays cannot be used to constrain locations using DAS, without further a priori information. We then tested the impact of straight cables vs. L-shaped arrays and found improved locations when the cable is deviated, especially when both P- and S-wave picks are included. There is a trade-off between the added coverage of DAS cables versus sparser 3C geophone arrays where particle motion helps constrains locations, which cannot be assessed without forward modelling.