A real-time traffic control method for the intersection with pre-signals under the phase swap sorting strategy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yiming Bie

Full Text Available To deal with the conflicts between left-turn and through traffic streams and increase the discharge capacity, this paper addresses the pre-signal which is implemented at a signalized intersection. Such an intersection with pre-signal is termed as a tandem intersection. For the tandem intersection, phase swap sorting strategy is deemed as the most effective phasing scheme in view of some exclusive merits, such as easier compliance of drivers, and shorter sorting area. However, a major limitation of the phase swap sorting strategy is not considered in previous studies: if one or more vehicle is left at the sorting area after the signal light turns to red, the capacity of the approach would be dramatically dropped. Besides, previous signal control studies deal with a fixed timing plan that is not adaptive with the fluctuation of traffic flows. Therefore, to cope with these two gaps, this paper firstly takes an in-depth analysis of the traffic flow operations at the tandem intersection. Secondly, three groups of loop detectors are placed to obtain the real-time vehicle information for adaptive signalization. The lane selection behavior in the sorting area is considered to set the green time for intersection signals. With the objective of minimizing the vehicle delay, the signal control parameters are then optimized based on a dynamic programming method. Finally, numerical experiments show that average vehicle delay and maximum queue length can be reduced under all scenarios.

A real-time traffic control method for the intersection with pre-signals under the phase swap sorting strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bie, Yiming; Liu, Zhiyuan; Wang, Yinhai

2017-01-01

To deal with the conflicts between left-turn and through traffic streams and increase the discharge capacity, this paper addresses the pre-signal which is implemented at a signalized intersection. Such an intersection with pre-signal is termed as a tandem intersection. For the tandem intersection, phase swap sorting strategy is deemed as the most effective phasing scheme in view of some exclusive merits, such as easier compliance of drivers, and shorter sorting area. However, a major limitation of the phase swap sorting strategy is not considered in previous studies: if one or more vehicle is left at the sorting area after the signal light turns to red, the capacity of the approach would be dramatically dropped. Besides, previous signal control studies deal with a fixed timing plan that is not adaptive with the fluctuation of traffic flows. Therefore, to cope with these two gaps, this paper firstly takes an in-depth analysis of the traffic flow operations at the tandem intersection. Secondly, three groups of loop detectors are placed to obtain the real-time vehicle information for adaptive signalization. The lane selection behavior in the sorting area is considered to set the green time for intersection signals. With the objective of minimizing the vehicle delay, the signal control parameters are then optimized based on a dynamic programming method. Finally, numerical experiments show that average vehicle delay and maximum queue length can be reduced under all scenarios.

Cross-Term Suppression in Time Order Distribution for AWGN Signal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

WAQAS MAHMOOD

2017-04-01

Full Text Available A technique of cross-term suppression in WD (Wigner Distribution for a multi-component signal that is embedded WGN (White Gaussian Noise is proposed. In this technique, an optimized algorithm is developed for time-varying noisy signal and a CAD (Computer Aided Design simulator is designed for Numerical simulations of synthetic signal. In proposed technique, signal components are localized in tf (time frequency plane by STFT (Short Time Fourier Transform. Rectified STFT is computed and Spectral Kurtosis is used to separate a signal components from noise in t-f plane. The t-f plane is segmented and then signal components are filtered out by FFT (Fractional Fourier Transform. Finally, WD (free of cross terms of isolated signal component is computed to obtain high resolution in t-f plane.

Real-time traffic signal optimization model based on average delay time per person

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pengpeng Jiao

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Real-time traffic signal control is very important for relieving urban traffic congestion. Many existing traffic control models were formulated using optimization approach, with the objective functions of minimizing vehicle delay time. To improve people’s trip efficiency, this article aims to minimize delay time per person. Based on the time-varying traffic flow data at intersections, the article first fits curves of accumulative arrival and departure vehicles, as well as the corresponding functions. Moreover, this article transfers vehicle delay time to personal delay time using average passenger load of cars and buses, employs such time as the objective function, and proposes a signal timing optimization model for intersections to achieve real-time signal parameters, including cycle length and green time. This research further implements a case study based on practical data collected at an intersection in Beijing, China. The average delay time per person and queue length are employed as evaluation indices to show the performances of the model. The results show that the proposed methodology is capable of improving traffic efficiency and is very effective for real-world applications.

Sci—Thur PM: Planning and Delivery — 06: Real-Time Interactive Treatment Planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthews, Q; Mestrovic, A; Otto, K

2014-01-01

Purpose: To describe and evaluate a novel system for generalized Real-Time Interactive Planning (RTIP) applied to head and neck (H and N) VMAT. Methods: The clinician interactively manipulates dose distributions using DVHs, isodoses, or rate of dose fall-off, which may be subjected to user-defined constraints. Dose is calculated using a fast Achievable Dose Estimate (ADE) algorithm, which simulates the limits of what can be achieved during treatment. After each manipulation contributing fluence elements are modified and the dose distribution updates in effectively real-time. For H and N VMAT planning, structure sets for 11 patients were imported into RTIP. Each dose distribution was interactively modified to minimize OAR dose while constraining target DVHs. The resulting RTIP DVHs were transferred to the Eclipse™ VMAT optimizer, and conventional VMAT optimization was performed. Results: Dose calculation and update times for the ADE algorithm ranged from 2.4 to 22.6 milliseconds, thus facilitating effectively real-time manipulation of dose distributions. For each of the 11 H and N VMAT cases, the RTIP process took ∼2–10 minutes. All RTIP plans exhibited acceptable PTV coverage, mean dose, and max dose. 10 of 11 RTIP plans achieved substantially improved sparing of one or more OARs without compromising dose to targets or other OARs. Importantly, 10 of the 11 RTIP plans required only one or two post-RTIP optimizations. Conclusions: RTIP is a novel system for manipulating and updating achievable dose distributions in real-time. H and N VMAT plans generated using RTIP demonstrate improved OAR sparing and planning efficiency. Disclosures: One author has a commercial interest in the presented materials

Time-frequency analysis of time-varying modulated signals based on improved energy separation by iterative generalized demodulation

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Zhipeng; Chu, Fulei; Zuo, Ming J.

2011-03-01

Energy separation algorithm is good at tracking instantaneous changes in frequency and amplitude of modulated signals, but it is subject to the constraints of mono-component and narrow band. In most cases, time-varying modulated vibration signals of machinery consist of multiple components, and have so complicated instantaneous frequency trajectories on time-frequency plane that they overlap in frequency domain. For such signals, conventional filters fail to obtain mono-components of narrow band, and their rectangular decomposition of time-frequency plane may split instantaneous frequency trajectories thus resulting in information loss. Regarding the advantage of generalized demodulation method in decomposing multi-component signals into mono-components, an iterative generalized demodulation method is used as a preprocessing tool to separate signals into mono-components, so as to satisfy the requirements by energy separation algorithm. By this improvement, energy separation algorithm can be generalized to a broad range of signals, as long as the instantaneous frequency trajectories of signal components do not intersect on time-frequency plane. Due to the good adaptability of energy separation algorithm to instantaneous changes in signals and the mono-component decomposition nature of generalized demodulation, the derived time-frequency energy distribution has fine resolution and is free from cross term interferences. The good performance of the proposed time-frequency analysis is illustrated by analyses of a simulated signal and the on-site recorded nonstationary vibration signal of a hydroturbine rotor during a shut-down transient process, showing that it has potential to analyze time-varying modulated signals of multi-components.

The short time Fourier transform and local signals

Science.gov (United States)

Okumura, Shuhei

In this thesis, I examine the theoretical properties of the short time discrete Fourier transform (STFT). The STFT is obtained by applying the Fourier transform by a fixed-sized, moving window to input series. We move the window by one time point at a time, so we have overlapping windows. I present several theoretical properties of the STFT, applied to various types of complex-valued, univariate time series inputs, and their outputs in closed forms. In particular, just like the discrete Fourier transform, the STFT's modulus time series takes large positive values when the input is a periodic signal. One main point is that a white noise time series input results in the STFT output being a complex-valued stationary time series and we can derive the time and time-frequency dependency structure such as the cross-covariance functions. Our primary focus is the detection of local periodic signals. I present a method to detect local signals by computing the probability that the squared modulus STFT time series has consecutive large values exceeding some threshold after one exceeding observation following one observation less than the threshold. We discuss a method to reduce the computation of such probabilities by the Box-Cox transformation and the delta method, and show that it works well in comparison to the Monte Carlo simulation method.

SignalR real-time application cookbook

CERN Document Server

Vespa, Roberto

2014-01-01

This book contains illustrated code examples to help you create real-time, asynchronous, and bi-directional client-server applications. Each recipe will concentrate on one specific aspect of application development with SignalR showing you how that aspect can be used proficiently. Different levels of developers will find this book useful. Beginners will be able to learn all the fundamental concepts of SignalR, quickly becoming productive in a difficult arena. Experienced programmers will find in this book a handy and useful collection of ready-made solutions to common use cases, which they wil

Time-Frequency Analysis of Signals Generated by Rotating Machines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Zetik

1999-06-01

Full Text Available This contribution is devoted to the higher order time-frequency analyses of signals. Firstly, time-frequency representations of higher order (TFRHO are defined. Then L-Wigner distribution (LWD is given as a special case of TFRHO. Basic properties of LWD are illustrated based on the analysis of mono-component and multi-component synthetic signals and acoustical signals generated by rotating machine. The obtained results confirm usefulness of LWD application for the purpose of rotating machine condition monitoring.

Time-frequency energy density precipitation method for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y; Huang, S L; Wang, S; Zhao, W

2016-05-01

The time-of-flight of the Lamb wave provides an important basis for defect evaluation in metal plates and is the input signal for Lamb wave tomographic imaging. However, the time-of-flight can be difficult to acquire because of the Lamb wave dispersion characteristics. This work proposes a time-frequency energy density precipitation method to accurately extract the time-of-flight of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals in metal plates. In the proposed method, a discrete short-time Fourier transform is performed on the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals to obtain the corresponding discrete time-frequency energy density distribution. The energy density values at the center frequency for all discrete time points are then calculated by linear interpolation. Next, the time-domain energy density curve focused on that center frequency is precipitated by least squares fitting of the calculated energy density values. Finally, the peak times of the energy density curve obtained relative to the initial pulse signal are extracted as the time-of-flight for the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals. An experimental platform is established for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals, and sensitivity analysis of the proposed time-frequency energy density precipitation method is performed in terms of propagation distance, dispersion characteristics, center frequency, and plate thickness. For comparison, the widely used Hilbert-Huang transform method is also implemented for time-of-flight extraction. The results show that the time-frequency energy density precipitation method can accurately extract the time-of-flight with relative error of wave detection signals.

Beam induced transit time signals at SPEAR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McConnell, R.A.

1975-01-01

Beam induced signals at frequencies related to inter-cavity transit times have been detected at SPEAR. Whether this effect enters significantly into beam instabilities has not yet been determined. Preliminary experiments suggest that under certain conditions at low energy (1.5 GeV) , when μ/sub s/, passes through one of the transit time resonances, some current is lost. Care must be taken, however, not to confuse this effect, if it exists, with synchrobetatron resonances and with an as yet unexplained vertical instability in SPEAR. At high energy (3.7 GeV), no effect has been shown to exist, though detectable signals are present. 2 refs., 2 tabs

Real time pressure signal system for a rotary engine

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, W. J. (Inventor)

1984-01-01

A real-time IMEP signal which is a composite of those produced in any one chamber of a three-lobed rotary engine is developed by processing the signals of four transducers positioned in a Wankel engine housing such that the rotor overlaps two of the transducers for a brief period during each cycle. During the overlap period of any two transducers, their output is compared and sampled for 10 microseconds per 0.18 degree of rotation by a sampling switch and capacitive circuit. When the switch is closed, the instantaneous difference between the value of the transducer signals is provided while with the switch open the average difference is produced. This combined signal, along with the original signal of the second transducer, is fed through a multiplexer to a pressure output terminal. Timing circuits, controlled by a crank angle encoder on the engine, determine which compared transducer signals are applied to the output terminal and when, as well as the open and closed periods of the switches.

Human-like motion planning model for driving in signalized intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanlei Gu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Highly automated and fully autonomous vehicles are much more likely to be accepted if they react in the same way as human drivers do, especially in a hybrid traffic situation, which allows autonomous vehicles and human-driven vehicles to share the same road. This paper proposes a human-like motion planning model to represent how human drivers assess environments and operate vehicles in signalized intersections. The developed model consists of a pedestrian intention detection model, gap detection model, and vehicle control model. These three submodels are individually responsible for situation assessment, decision making, and action, and also depend on each other in the process of motion planning. In addition, these submodels are constructed and learned on the basis of human drivers' data collected from real traffic environments. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed motion planning model, we compared the proposed model with actual human driver and pedestrian data. The experimental results showed that our proposed model and actual human driver behaviors are highly similar with respect to gap acceptance in intersections.

Time-frequency energy density precipitation method for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Y., E-mail: thuzhangyu@foxmail.com; Huang, S. L., E-mail: huangsling@tsinghua.edu.cn; Wang, S.; Zhao, W. [State Key Laboratory of Power Systems, Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

2016-05-15

The time-of-flight of the Lamb wave provides an important basis for defect evaluation in metal plates and is the input signal for Lamb wave tomographic imaging. However, the time-of-flight can be difficult to acquire because of the Lamb wave dispersion characteristics. This work proposes a time-frequency energy density precipitation method to accurately extract the time-of-flight of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals in metal plates. In the proposed method, a discrete short-time Fourier transform is performed on the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals to obtain the corresponding discrete time-frequency energy density distribution. The energy density values at the center frequency for all discrete time points are then calculated by linear interpolation. Next, the time-domain energy density curve focused on that center frequency is precipitated by least squares fitting of the calculated energy density values. Finally, the peak times of the energy density curve obtained relative to the initial pulse signal are extracted as the time-of-flight for the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals. An experimental platform is established for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals, and sensitivity analysis of the proposed time-frequency energy density precipitation method is performed in terms of propagation distance, dispersion characteristics, center frequency, and plate thickness. For comparison, the widely used Hilbert–Huang transform method is also implemented for time-of-flight extraction. The results show that the time-frequency energy density precipitation method can accurately extract the time-of-flight with relative error of <1% and thus can act as a universal time-of-flight extraction method for narrowband Lamb wave detection signals.

Time-frequency energy density precipitation method for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Y.; Huang, S. L.; Wang, S.; Zhao, W.

2016-01-01

The time-of-flight of the Lamb wave provides an important basis for defect evaluation in metal plates and is the input signal for Lamb wave tomographic imaging. However, the time-of-flight can be difficult to acquire because of the Lamb wave dispersion characteristics. This work proposes a time-frequency energy density precipitation method to accurately extract the time-of-flight of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals in metal plates. In the proposed method, a discrete short-time Fourier transform is performed on the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals to obtain the corresponding discrete time-frequency energy density distribution. The energy density values at the center frequency for all discrete time points are then calculated by linear interpolation. Next, the time-domain energy density curve focused on that center frequency is precipitated by least squares fitting of the calculated energy density values. Finally, the peak times of the energy density curve obtained relative to the initial pulse signal are extracted as the time-of-flight for the narrowband Lamb wave detection signals. An experimental platform is established for time-of-flight extraction of narrowband Lamb wave detection signals, and sensitivity analysis of the proposed time-frequency energy density precipitation method is performed in terms of propagation distance, dispersion characteristics, center frequency, and plate thickness. For comparison, the widely used Hilbert–Huang transform method is also implemented for time-of-flight extraction. The results show that the time-frequency energy density precipitation method can accurately extract the time-of-flight with relative error of <1% and thus can act as a universal time-of-flight extraction method for narrowband Lamb wave detection signals.

Master Clock and Time-Signal-Distribution System

Science.gov (United States)

Tjoelker, Robert; Calhoun, Malcolm; Kuhnle, Paul; Sydnor, Richard; Lauf, John

2007-01-01

A timing system comprising an electronic master clock and a subsystem for distributing time signals from the master clock to end users is undergoing development to satisfy anticipated timing requirements of NASA s Deep Space Network (DSN) for the next 20 to 30 years. This system has a modular, flexible, expandable architecture that is easier to operate and maintain than the present frequency and timing subsystem (FTS).

Tough Times: Strategic Planning as a War Canoe

Science.gov (United States)

Seymour, Daniel

2011-01-01

In this article, the author discusses how to make strategic planning a more valuable tool for higher education in today's tough times. Strategic planning is really the answer to five straightforward questions. The first three represent the plan itself, while the last two are what makes the plan vital and dynamic: (1) Why do we exist?; (2) What do…

Ictal time-irreversible intracranial EEG signals as markers of the epileptogenic zone.

Science.gov (United States)

Schindler, Kaspar; Rummel, Christian; Andrzejak, Ralph G; Goodfellow, Marc; Zubler, Frédéric; Abela, Eugenio; Wiest, Roland; Pollo, Claudio; Steimer, Andreas; Gast, Heidemarie

2016-09-01

To show that time-irreversible EEG signals recorded with intracranial electrodes during seizures can serve as markers of the epileptogenic zone. We use the recently developed method of mapping time series into directed horizontal graphs (dHVG). Each node of the dHVG represents a time point in the original intracranial EEG (iEEG) signal. Statistically significant differences between the distributions of the nodes' number of input and output connections are used to detect time-irreversible iEEG signals. In 31 of 32 seizure recordings we found time-irreversible iEEG signals. The maximally time-irreversible signals always occurred during seizures, with highest probability in the middle of the first seizure half. These signals spanned a large range of frequencies and amplitudes but were all characterized by saw-tooth like shaped components. Brain regions removed from patients who became post-surgically seizure-free generated significantly larger time-irreversibilities than regions removed from patients who still had seizures after surgery. Our results corroborate that ictal time-irreversible iEEG signals can indeed serve as markers of the epileptogenic zone and can be efficiently detected and quantified in a time-resolved manner by dHVG based methods. Ictal time-irreversible EEG signals can help to improve pre-surgical evaluation in patients suffering from pharmaco-resistant epilepsies. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Algorithm for removing scalp signals from functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals in real time using multidistance optodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiguchi, Masashi; Funane, Tsukasa

2014-11-01

A real-time algorithm for removing scalp-blood signals from functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals is proposed. Scalp and deep signals have different dependencies on the source-detector distance. These signals were separated using this characteristic. The algorithm was validated through an experiment using a dynamic phantom in which shallow and deep absorptions were independently changed. The algorithm for measurement of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobins using two wavelengths was explicitly obtained. This algorithm is potentially useful for real-time systems, e.g., brain-computer interfaces and neuro-feedback systems.

Digital timing: sampling frequency, anti-aliasing filter and signal interpolation filter dependence on timing resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Sanghee; Grazioso, Ron; Zhang Nan; Aykac, Mehmet; Schmand, Matthias

2011-01-01

The main focus of our study is to investigate how the performance of digital timing methods is affected by sampling rate, anti-aliasing and signal interpolation filters. We used the Nyquist sampling theorem to address some basic questions such as what will be the minimum sampling frequencies? How accurate will the signal interpolation be? How do we validate the timing measurements? The preferred sampling rate would be as low as possible, considering the high cost and power consumption of high-speed analog-to-digital converters. However, when the sampling rate is too low, due to the aliasing effect, some artifacts are produced in the timing resolution estimations; the shape of the timing profile is distorted and the FWHM values of the profile fluctuate as the source location changes. Anti-aliasing filters are required in this case to avoid the artifacts, but the timing is degraded as a result. When the sampling rate is marginally over the Nyquist rate, a proper signal interpolation is important. A sharp roll-off (higher order) filter is required to separate the baseband signal from its replicates to avoid the aliasing, but in return the computation will be higher. We demonstrated the analysis through a digital timing study using fast LSO scintillation crystals as used in time-of-flight PET scanners. From the study, we observed that there is no significant timing resolution degradation down to 1.3 Ghz sampling frequency, and the computation requirement for the signal interpolation is reasonably low. A so-called sliding test is proposed as a validation tool checking constant timing resolution behavior of a given timing pick-off method regardless of the source location change. Lastly, the performance comparison for several digital timing methods is also shown.

Continuous and Discrete-Time Optimal Controls for an Isolated Signalized Intersection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiyuan Tan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A classical control problem for an isolated oversaturated intersection is revisited with a focus on the optimal control policy to minimize total delay. The difference and connection between existing continuous-time planning models and recently proposed discrete-time planning models are studied. A gradient descent algorithm is proposed to convert the optimal control plan of the continuous-time model to the plan of the discrete-time model in many cases. Analytic proof and numerical tests for the algorithm are also presented. The findings shed light on the links between two kinds of models.

Management Matters: Planning Goals and Time

Science.gov (United States)

Pappas, Marjorie L.

2004-01-01

This article discusses the importance of setting and implementing goals that can help change and improve a library media program over time--goals that go beyond merely keeping the library media center running. Suggestions for developing an action plan and strategies for effective time management are also presented.

Prototype real-time baseband signal combiner. [deep space network

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, L. D.

1980-01-01

The design and performance of a prototype real-time baseband signal combiner, used to enhance the received Voyager 2 spacecraft signals during the Jupiter flyby, is described. Hardware delay paths, operating programs, and firmware are discussed.

All-optical signal processing of OTDM and OFDM signals based on time-domain optical fourier transformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Galili, Michael; Guan, Pengyu; Lillieholm, Mads

2017-01-01

In the talk, we will review recent work on optical signal processing based on time lenses. Various applications of optical Fourier transformation for optical communications will be discussed.......In the talk, we will review recent work on optical signal processing based on time lenses. Various applications of optical Fourier transformation for optical communications will be discussed....

Noncoplanar VMAT for nasopharyngeal tumors: Plan quality versus treatment time

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wild, Esther, E-mail: e.wild@dkfz.de; Bangert, Mark [Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120 Heidelberg (Germany); Nill, Simeon [Joint Department of Physics at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London SM2 5NG (United Kingdom); Oelfke, Uwe [Joint Department of Physics at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London SM2 5NG, United Kingdom and Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120 Heidelberg (Germany)

2015-05-15

Purpose: The authors investigated the potential of optimized noncoplanar irradiation trajectories for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatments of nasopharyngeal patients and studied the trade-off between treatment plan quality and delivery time in radiation therapy. Methods: For three nasopharyngeal patients, the authors generated treatment plans for nine different delivery scenarios using dedicated optimization methods. They compared these scenarios according to dose characteristics, number of beam directions, and estimated delivery times. In particular, the authors generated the following treatment plans: (1) a 4π plan, which is a not sequenced, fluence optimized plan that uses beam directions from approximately 1400 noncoplanar directions and marks a theoretical upper limit of the treatment plan quality, (2) a coplanar 2π plan with 72 coplanar beam directions as pendant to the noncoplanar 4π plan, (3) a coplanar VMAT plan, (4) a coplanar step and shoot (SnS) plan, (5) a beam angle optimized (BAO) coplanar SnS IMRT plan, (6) a noncoplanar BAO SnS plan, (7) a VMAT plan with rotated treatment couch, (8) a noncoplanar VMAT plan with an optimized great circle around the patient, and (9) a noncoplanar BAO VMAT plan with an arbitrary trajectory around the patient. Results: VMAT using optimized noncoplanar irradiation trajectories reduced the mean and maximum doses in organs at risk compared to coplanar VMAT plans by 19% on average while the target coverage remains constant. A coplanar BAO SnS plan was superior to coplanar SnS or VMAT; however, noncoplanar plans like a noncoplanar BAO SnS plan or noncoplanar VMAT yielded a better plan quality than the best coplanar 2π plan. The treatment plan quality of VMAT plans depended on the length of the trajectory. The delivery times of noncoplanar VMAT plans were estimated to be 6.5 min in average; 1.6 min longer than a coplanar plan but on average 2.8 min faster than a noncoplanar SnS plan with comparable

Noncoplanar VMAT for nasopharyngeal tumors: Plan quality versus treatment time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wild, Esther; Bangert, Mark; Nill, Simeon; Oelfke, Uwe

2015-01-01

Purpose: The authors investigated the potential of optimized noncoplanar irradiation trajectories for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatments of nasopharyngeal patients and studied the trade-off between treatment plan quality and delivery time in radiation therapy. Methods: For three nasopharyngeal patients, the authors generated treatment plans for nine different delivery scenarios using dedicated optimization methods. They compared these scenarios according to dose characteristics, number of beam directions, and estimated delivery times. In particular, the authors generated the following treatment plans: (1) a 4π plan, which is a not sequenced, fluence optimized plan that uses beam directions from approximately 1400 noncoplanar directions and marks a theoretical upper limit of the treatment plan quality, (2) a coplanar 2π plan with 72 coplanar beam directions as pendant to the noncoplanar 4π plan, (3) a coplanar VMAT plan, (4) a coplanar step and shoot (SnS) plan, (5) a beam angle optimized (BAO) coplanar SnS IMRT plan, (6) a noncoplanar BAO SnS plan, (7) a VMAT plan with rotated treatment couch, (8) a noncoplanar VMAT plan with an optimized great circle around the patient, and (9) a noncoplanar BAO VMAT plan with an arbitrary trajectory around the patient. Results: VMAT using optimized noncoplanar irradiation trajectories reduced the mean and maximum doses in organs at risk compared to coplanar VMAT plans by 19% on average while the target coverage remains constant. A coplanar BAO SnS plan was superior to coplanar SnS or VMAT; however, noncoplanar plans like a noncoplanar BAO SnS plan or noncoplanar VMAT yielded a better plan quality than the best coplanar 2π plan. The treatment plan quality of VMAT plans depended on the length of the trajectory. The delivery times of noncoplanar VMAT plans were estimated to be 6.5 min in average; 1.6 min longer than a coplanar plan but on average 2.8 min faster than a noncoplanar SnS plan with comparable

The time light signals of New Zealand: yet another way of communicating time in the pre-wireless era

Science.gov (United States)

Kinns, Roger

2017-08-01

The signalling of exact time using an array of lights appears to have been unique to New Zealand. It was a simple and effective solution for calibration of marine chronometers when transmission of time signals by wireless was in its infancy. Three lights, coloured green, red and white, were arranged in a vertical array. They were switched on in a defined sequence during the evening and then extinguished together to signal exact time. Time lights were first operated at the Dominion Observatory in Wellington during February 1912 and on the Ferry Building in Auckland during October 1915. The Wellington lights were immediately adjacent to the observatory buildings, but those in Auckland were operated using telegraph signals from Wellington. The timings varied over the years, but the same physical arrangement was retained at each location. The time light service was withdrawn during 1937, when wireless signals had become almost universally available for civil and navigation purposes.

Nonlinear Estimation of Discrete-Time Signals Under Random Observation Delay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caballero-Aguila, R.; Jimenez-Lopez, J. D.; Hermoso-Carazo, A.; Linares-Perez, J.; Nakamori, S.

2008-01-01

This paper presents an approximation to the nonlinear least-squares estimation problem of discrete-time stochastic signals using nonlinear observations with additive white noise which can be randomly delayed by one sampling time. The observation delay is modelled by a sequence of independent Bernoulli random variables whose values, zero or one, indicate that the real observation arrives on time or it is delayed and, hence, the available measurement to estimate the signal is not up-to-date. Assuming that the state-space model generating the signal is unknown and only the covariance functions of the processes involved in the observation equation are ready for use, a filtering algorithm based on linear approximations of the real observations is proposed.

The Photoplethismographic Signal Processed with Nonlinear Time Series Analysis Tools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernandez Caceres, Jose Luis; Hong, Rolando; Garcia Lanz, Abel; Garcia Dominguez, Luis; Cabannas, Karelia

2001-01-01

Finger photoplethismography (PPG) signals were submitted to nonlinear time series analysis. The applied analytical techniques were: (i) High degree polynomial fitting for baseline estimation; (ii) FFT analysis for estimating power spectra; (iii) fractal dimension estimation via the Higuchi's time-domain method, and (iv) kernel nonparametric estimation for reconstructing noise free-attractors and also for estimating signal's stochastic components

Time reversal signal processing in acoustic emission testing

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Převorovský, Zdeněk; Krofta, Josef; Kober, Jan; Dvořáková, Zuzana; Chlada, Milan; Dos Santos, S.

2014-01-01

Roč. 19, č. 12 (2014) ISSN 1435-4934. [European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT 2014) /11./. Praha, 06.10.2014-10.10.2014] Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : acoustic emission (AE) * ultrasonic testing (UT) * signal processing * source location * time reversal acoustic s * acoustic emission * signal processing and transfer Subject RIV: BI - Acoustic s http://www.ndt.net/events/ECNDT2014/app/content/Slides/637_Prevorovsky.pdf

Signal-to-noise characterization of time-gated intensifiers used for wide-field time-domain FLIM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McGinty, J; Requejo-Isidro, J; Munro, I; Talbot, C B; Dunsby, C; Neil, M A A; French, P M W [Photonics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2BW (United Kingdom); Kellett, P A; Hares, J D, E-mail: james.mcginty@imperial.ac.u [Kentech Instruments Ltd, Isis Building, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BA (United Kingdom)

2009-07-07

Time-gated imaging using gated optical intensifiers provides a means to realize high speed fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) for the study of fast events and for high throughput imaging. We present a signal-to-noise characterization of CCD-coupled micro-channel plate gated intensifiers used with this technique and determine the optimal acquisition parameters (intensifier gain voltage, CCD integration time and frame averaging) for measuring mono-exponential fluorescence lifetimes in the shortest image acquisition time for a given signal flux. We explore the use of unequal CCD integration times for different gate delays and show that this can improve the lifetime accuracy for a given total acquisition time.

A novel time-domain signal processing algorithm for real time ventricular fibrillation detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monte, G E; Scarone, N C; Liscovsky, P O; Rotter, P

2011-01-01

This paper presents an application of a novel algorithm for real time detection of ECG pathologies, especially ventricular fibrillation. It is based on segmentation and labeling process of an oversampled signal. After this treatment, analyzing sequence of segments, global signal behaviours are obtained in the same way like a human being does. The entire process can be seen as a morphological filtering after a smart data sampling. The algorithm does not require any ECG digital signal pre-processing, and the computational cost is low, so it can be embedded into the sensors for wearable and permanent applications. The proposed algorithms could be the input signal description to expert systems or to artificial intelligence software in order to detect other pathologies.

A novel time-domain signal processing algorithm for real time ventricular fibrillation detection

Science.gov (United States)

Monte, G. E.; Scarone, N. C.; Liscovsky, P. O.; Rotter S/N, P.

2011-12-01

This paper presents an application of a novel algorithm for real time detection of ECG pathologies, especially ventricular fibrillation. It is based on segmentation and labeling process of an oversampled signal. After this treatment, analyzing sequence of segments, global signal behaviours are obtained in the same way like a human being does. The entire process can be seen as a morphological filtering after a smart data sampling. The algorithm does not require any ECG digital signal pre-processing, and the computational cost is low, so it can be embedded into the sensors for wearable and permanent applications. The proposed algorithms could be the input signal description to expert systems or to artificial intelligence software in order to detect other pathologies.

A continuous-time control model on production planning network ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A continuous-time control model on production planning network. DEA Omorogbe, MIU Okunsebor. Abstract. In this paper, we give a slightly detailed review of Graves and Hollywood model on constant inventory tactical planning model for a job shop. The limitations of this model are pointed out and a continuous time ...

30 CFR 48.3 - Training plans; time of submission; where filed; information required; time for approval; method...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Training plans; time of submission; where filed....3 Training plans; time of submission; where filed; information required; time for approval; method... training plan shall be filed with the District Manager for the area in which the mine is located. (c) Each...

Sensor response time calculation with no stationary signals from a Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vela, O.; Vallejo, I.

1998-01-01

Protection systems in a Nuclear Power Plant have to response in a specific time fixed by design requirements. This time includes the event detection (sensor delay) and the actuation time system. This time is obtained in refuel simulating the physics event, which trigger the protection system, with an electric signal and measuring the protection system actuation time. Nowadays sensor delay is calculated with noise analysis techniques. The signals are measured in Control Room during the normal operation of the Plant, decreasing both the cost in time and personal radioactive exposure. The noise analysis techniques require stationary signals but normally the data collected are mixed with process signals that are no stationary. This work shows the signals processing to avoid no-stationary components using conventional filters and new wavelets analysis. (Author) 2 refs

Vis-A-Plan /visualize a plan/ management technique provides performance-time scale

Science.gov (United States)

Ranck, N. H.

1967-01-01

Vis-A-Plan is a bar-charting technique for representing and evaluating project activities on a performance-time basis. This rectilinear method presents the logic diagram of a project as a series of horizontal time bars. It may be used supplementary to PERT or independently.

The Real-time Frequency Spectrum Analysis of Neutron Pulse Signal Series

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang Yuelin; Ren Yong; Wei Biao; Feng Peng; Mi Deling; Pan Yingjun; Li Jiansheng; Ye Cenming

2009-01-01

The frequency spectrum analysis of neutron pulse signal is a very important method in nuclear stochastic signal processing Focused on the special '0' and '1' of neutron pulse signal series, this paper proposes new rotation-table and realizes a real-time frequency spectrum algorithm under 1G Hz sample rate based on PC with add, address and SSE. The numerical experimental results show that under the count rate of 3X10 6 s -1 , this algorithm is superior to FFTW in time-consumption and can meet the real-time requirement of frequency spectrum analysis. (authors)

Real-time inverse planning for Gamma KnifeTM radiosurgery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Q. Jackie; Chankong, Vira; Jitprapaikulsarn, Suradet; Wessels, Barry W.; Einstein, Douglas B.; Mathayomchan, Boonyanit; Kinsella, Timothy J.

2003-01-01

The challenges of real-time Gamma Knife TM inverse planning are the large number of variables involved and the unknown search space a priori. With limited collimator sizes, shots have to be heavily overlapped to form a smooth prescription isodose line that conforms to the irregular target shape. Such overlaps greatly influence the total number of shots per plan, making pre-determination of the total number of shots impractical. However, this total number of shots usually defines the search space, a pre-requisite for most of the optimization methods. Since each shot only covers part of the target, a collection of shots in different locations and various collimator sizes selected makes up the global dose distribution that conforms to the target. Hence, planning or placing these shots is a combinatorial optimization process that is computationally expensive by nature. We have previously developed a theory of shot placement and optimization based on skeletonization. The real-time inverse planning process, reported in this paper, is an expansion and the clinical implementation of this theory. The complete planning process consists of two steps. The first step is to determine an optimal number of shots including locations and sizes and to assign initial collimator size to each of the shots. The second step is to fine-tune the weights using a linear-programming technique. The objective function is to minimize the total dose to the target boundary (i.e., maximize the dose conformity). Results of an ellipsoid test target and ten clinical cases are presented. The clinical cases are also compared with physician's manual plans. The target coverage is more than 99% for manual plans and 97% for all the inverse plans. The RTOG PITV conformity indices for the manual plans are between 1.16 and 3.46, compared to 1.36 to 2.4 for the inverse plans. All the inverse plans are generated in less than 2 min, making real-time inverse planning a reality

Signal coupling and signal integrity in multi-strip resistive plate chambers used for timing applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gonzalez-Diaz, Diego, E-mail: D.Gonzalez-Diaz@gsi.de [GSI Helmholtzcenter for Heavy Ion Research, Darmstadt (Germany); Technical University, Darmstadt (Germany); Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing (China); Chen Huangshan; Wang Yi [Technical University, Darmstadt (Germany)

2011-08-21

We have systematically studied the transmission of electrical signals along several 2-strip Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) in the frequency range f=0.1-3.5GHz. Such a range was chosen to fully cover the bandwidth associated to the very short rise-times of signals originated in RPCs used for sub-100 ps timing applications. This work conveys experimental evidence of the dominant role of modal dispersion in counters built at the 1 m scale, a fact that results in large cross-talk levels and strong signal shaping. It is shown that modal dispersion appears in RPCs due to their inherent unbalance between capacitive and inductive coupling. A practical way to restore this symmetry has been introduced (hereafter 'electrostatic compensation'), allowing for a cross-talk suppression factor up to x12 and a rise-time reduction by 200 ps. Under conditions of compensation the signal transmission is only limited by dielectric losses, yielding a length-dependent cutoff frequency of around 1 GHz for propagation along 2 m in typical float glass-based RPCs. It is further shown that 'electrostatic compensation' can be achieved for an arbitrary number of strips as long as the nature of the coupling is 'short-range', that is an almost exact assumption for typical strip-line RPCs. This work extends the bandwidth of previous studies by a factor ofx20.

Locally-adaptive Myriad Filters for Processing ECG Signals in Real Time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nataliya Tulyakova

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The locally adaptive myriad filters to suppress noise in electrocardiographic (ECG signals in almost in real time are proposed. Statistical estimates of efficiency according to integral values of such criteria as mean square error (MSE and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR for the test ECG signals sampled at 400 Hz embedded in additive Gaussian noise with different values of variance are obtained. Comparative analysis of adaptive filters is carried out. High efficiency of ECG filtering and high quality of signal preservation are demonstrated. It is shown that locally adaptive myriad filters provide higher degree of suppressing additive Gaussian noise with possibility of real time implementation.

Multichannel Signal Enhancement using Non-Causal, Time-Domain Filters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Rindom; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll; Benesty, Jacob

2013-01-01

In the vast amount of time-domain filtering methods for speech enhancement, the filters are designed to be causal. Recently, however, it was shown that the noise reduction and signal distortion capabilities of such single-channel filters can be improved by allowing the filters to be non-causal. W......In the vast amount of time-domain filtering methods for speech enhancement, the filters are designed to be causal. Recently, however, it was shown that the noise reduction and signal distortion capabilities of such single-channel filters can be improved by allowing the filters to be non......-causal, multichannel filters for enhancement based on an orthogonal decomposition is proposed. The evaluation shows that there is a potential gain in noise reduction and signal distortion by introducing non-causality. Moreover, experiments on real-life speech show that we can improve the perceptual quality....

Detection of weak transitions in signal dynamics using recurrence time statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, J.B.; Cao Yinhe; Gu Lingyun; Harris, J.G.; Principe, J.C.

2003-01-01

Signal detection in noisy and nonstationary environments is very challenging. In this Letter, we study why the two types of recurrence times [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 (1999) 3178] may be very useful for detecting weak transitions in signal dynamics. We particularly emphasize that the recurrence times of the second type may be more powerful in detecting transitions with very low energy. These features are illustrated by studying a number of speech signals with fricatives and plosives. We have also shown that the recurrence times of the first type, nevertheless, has the distinguished feature of being more robust to the noise level and less sensitive to the parameter change of the algorithm. Since throughout our study, we have not explored any features unique to the speech signals, the results shown here may indicate that these tools may be useful in many different applications

A KST framework for correlation network construction from time series signals

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Jin-Peng; Gu, Quan; Zhu, Ying; Zhang, Ping

2018-04-01

A KST (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and T statistic) method is used for construction of a correlation network based on the fluctuation of each time series within the multivariate time signals. In this method, each time series is divided equally into multiple segments, and the maximal data fluctuation in each segment is calculated by a KST change detection procedure. Connections between each time series are derived from the data fluctuation matrix, and are used for construction of the fluctuation correlation network (FCN). The method was tested with synthetic simulations and the result was compared with those from using KS or T only for detection of data fluctuation. The novelty of this study is that the correlation analyses was based on the data fluctuation in each segment of each time series rather than on the original time signals, which would be more meaningful for many real world applications and for analysis of large-scale time signals where prior knowledge is uncertain.

Advanced Time-Frequency Representation in Voice Signal Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dariusz Mika

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The most commonly used time-frequency representation of the analysis in voice signal is spectrogram. This representation belongs in general to Cohen's class, the class of time-frequency energy distributions. From the standpoint of properties of the resolution spectrogram representation is not optimal. In Cohen class representations are known which have a better resolution properties. All of them are created by smoothing the Wigner-Ville'a (WVD distribution characterized by the best resolution, however, the biggest harmful interference. Used smoothing functions decide about a compromise between the properties of resolution and eliminating harmful interference term. Another class of time-frequency energy distributions is the affine class of distributions. From the point of view of readability of analysis the best properties are known so called Redistribution of energy caused by the use of a general methodology referred to as reassignment to any time-frequency representation. Reassigned distributions efficiently combine a reduction of the interference terms provided by a well adapted smoothing kernel and an increased concentration of the signal components.

A battery-operated pilot balloon time-signal generator

Science.gov (United States)

Ralph H. Moltzau

1966-01-01

Describes the design and construction of a 1-pound, battery-operated, time-signal transmitter, which is usable with portable radio or field telephone circuits for synchronizing multi-theodolite observation of pilot balloons.

Development plan for an advanced drilling system with real-time diagnostics (Diagnostics-While-Drilling)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

FINGER,JOHN T.; MANSURE,ARTHUR J.; PRAIRIE,MICHAEL R.; GLOWKA,D.A.

2000-02-01

This proposal provides the rationale for an advanced system called Diagnostics-while-drilling (DWD) and describes its benefits, preliminary configuration, and essential characteristics. The central concept is a closed data circuit in which downhole sensors collect information and send it to the surface via a high-speed data link, where it is combined with surface measurements and processed through drilling advisory software. The driller then uses this information to adjust the drilling process, sending control signals back downhole with real-time knowledge of their effects on performance. The report presents background of related previous work, and defines a Program Plan for US Department of Energy (DOE), university, and industry cooperation.

Ready...go: Amplitude of the FMRI signal encodes expectation of cue arrival time.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xu Cui

2009-08-01

Full Text Available What happens when the brain awaits a signal of uncertain arrival time, as when a sprinter waits for the starting pistol? And what happens just after the starting pistol fires? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, we have discovered a novel correlate of temporal expectations in several brain regions, most prominently in the supplementary motor area (SMA. Contrary to expectations, we found little fMRI activity during the waiting period; however, a large signal appears after the "go" signal, the amplitude of which reflects learned expectations about the distribution of possible waiting times. Specifically, the amplitude of the fMRI signal appears to encode a cumulative conditional probability, also known as the cumulative hazard function. The fMRI signal loses its dependence on waiting time in a "countdown" condition in which the arrival time of the go cue is known in advance, suggesting that the signal encodes temporal probabilities rather than simply elapsed time. The dependence of the signal on temporal expectation is present in "no-go" conditions, demonstrating that the effect is not a consequence of motor output. Finally, the encoding is not dependent on modality, operating in the same manner with auditory or visual signals. This finding extends our understanding of the relationship between temporal expectancy and measurable neural signals.

Real-time digital signal processing fundamentals, implementations and applications

CERN Document Server

Kuo, Sen M; Tian, Wenshun

2013-01-01

Combines both the DSP principles and real-time implementations and applications, and now updated with the new eZdsp USB Stick, which is very low cost, portable and widely employed at many DSP labs. Real-Time Digital Signal Processing introduces fundamental digital signal processing (DSP) principles and will be updated to include the latest DSP applications, introduce new software development tools and adjust the software design process to reflect the latest advances in the field. In the 3rd edition of the book, the key aspect of hands-on experiments will be enhanced to make the DSP principle

Waiting Endurance Time Estimation of Electric Two-Wheelers at Signalized Intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mei Huan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper proposed a model for estimating waiting endurance times of electric two-wheelers at signalized intersections using survival analysis method. Waiting duration times were collected by video cameras and they were assigned as censored and uncensored data to distinguish between normal crossing and red-light running behavior. A Cox proportional hazard model was introduced, and variables revealing personal characteristics and traffic conditions were defined as covariates to describe the effects of internal and external factors. Empirical results show that riders do not want to wait too long to cross intersections. As signal waiting time increases, electric two-wheelers get impatient and violate the traffic signal. There are 12.8% of electric two-wheelers with negligible wait time. 25.0% of electric two-wheelers are generally nonrisk takers who can obey the traffic rules after waiting for 100 seconds. Half of electric two-wheelers cannot endure 49.0 seconds or longer at red-light phase. Red phase time, motor vehicle volume, and conformity behavior have important effects on riders’ waiting times. Waiting endurance times would decrease with the longer red-phase time, the lower traffic volume, or the bigger number of other riders who run against the red light. The proposed model may be applicable in the design, management and control of signalized intersections in other developing cities.

Waiting endurance time estimation of electric two-wheelers at signalized intersections.

Science.gov (United States)

Huan, Mei; Yang, Xiao-bao

2014-01-01

The paper proposed a model for estimating waiting endurance times of electric two-wheelers at signalized intersections using survival analysis method. Waiting duration times were collected by video cameras and they were assigned as censored and uncensored data to distinguish between normal crossing and red-light running behavior. A Cox proportional hazard model was introduced, and variables revealing personal characteristics and traffic conditions were defined as covariates to describe the effects of internal and external factors. Empirical results show that riders do not want to wait too long to cross intersections. As signal waiting time increases, electric two-wheelers get impatient and violate the traffic signal. There are 12.8% of electric two-wheelers with negligible wait time. 25.0% of electric two-wheelers are generally nonrisk takers who can obey the traffic rules after waiting for 100 seconds. Half of electric two-wheelers cannot endure 49.0 seconds or longer at red-light phase. Red phase time, motor vehicle volume, and conformity behavior have important effects on riders' waiting times. Waiting endurance times would decrease with the longer red-phase time, the lower traffic volume, or the bigger number of other riders who run against the red light. The proposed model may be applicable in the design, management and control of signalized intersections in other developing cities.

Experiment on Synchronous Timing Signal Detection from ISDB-T Terrestrial Digital TV Signal with Application to Autonomous Distributed ITS-IVC Network

Science.gov (United States)

Karasawa, Yoshio; Kumagai, Taichi; Takemoto, Atsushi; Fujii, Takeo; Ito, Kenji; Suzuki, Noriyoshi

A novel timing synchronizing scheme is proposed for use in inter-vehicle communication (IVC) with an autonomous distributed intelligent transport system (ITS). The scheme determines the timing of packet signal transmission in the IVC network and employs the guard interval (GI) timing in the orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing (OFDM) signal currently used for terrestrial broadcasts in the Japanese digital television system (ISDB-T). This signal is used because it is expected that the automotive market will demand the capability for cars to receive terrestrial digital TV broadcasts in the near future. The use of broadcasts by automobiles presupposes that the on-board receivers are capable of accurately detecting the GI timing data in an extremely low carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) condition regardless of a severe multipath environment which will introduce broad scatter in signal arrival times. Therefore, we analyzed actual broadcast signals received in a moving vehicle in a field experiment and showed that the GI timing signal is detected with the desired accuracy even in the case of extremely low-CNR environments. Some considerations were also given about how to use these findings.

30 CFR 48.23 - Training plans; time of submission; where filed; information required; time for approval; method...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Training plans; time of submission; where filed... Surface Mines and Surface Areas of Underground Mines § 48.23 Training plans; time of submission; where... surface mine shall have an MSHA-approved plan containing programs for training new miners, training...

Stochastic skyline route planning under time-varying uncertainty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Bin; Guo, Chenjuan; Jensen, Christian S.

2014-01-01

Different uses of a road network call for the consideration of different travel costs: in route planning, travel time and distance are typically considered, and green house gas (GHG) emissions are increasingly being considered. Further, travel costs such as travel time and GHG emissions are time...

Time signal filtering by relative neighborhood graph localized linear approximation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Aasted

1994-01-01

A time signal filtering algorithm based on the relative neighborhood graph (RNG) used for localization of linear filters is proposed. The filter is constructed from a training signal during two stages. During the first stage an RNG is constructed. During the second stage, localized linear filters...

SCOTT: A time and amplitude digitizer ASIC for PMT signal processing

Science.gov (United States)

Ferry, S.; Guilloux, F.; Anvar, S.; Chateau, F.; Delagnes, E.; Gautard, V.; Louis, F.; Monmarthe, E.; Le Provost, H.; Russo, S.; Schuller, J.-P.; Stolarczyk, Th.; Vallage, B.; Zonca, E.; KM3NeT Consortium

2013-10-01

SCOTT is an ASIC designed for the readout electronics of photomultiplier tubes developed for KM3NeT, the cubic-kilometer scale neutrino telescope in Mediterranean Sea. To digitize the PMT signals, the multi-time-over-threshold technique is used with up to 16 adjustable thresholds. Digital outputs of discriminators feed a circular sampling memory and a “first in first out” digital memory. A specific study has shown that five specifically chosen thresholds are suited to reach the required timing accuracy. A dedicated method based on the duration of the signal over a given threshold allows an equivalent timing precision at any charge. To verify that the KM3NeT requirements are fulfilled, this method is applied on PMT signals digitized by SCOTT.

Analysis of Seasonal Signal in GPS Short-Baseline Time Series

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Kaihua; Jiang, Weiping; Chen, Hua; An, Xiangdong; Zhou, Xiaohui; Yuan, Peng; Chen, Qusen

2018-04-01

Proper modeling of seasonal signals and their quantitative analysis are of interest in geoscience applications, which are based on position time series of permanent GPS stations. Seasonal signals in GPS short-baseline (paper, to better understand the seasonal signal in GPS short-baseline time series, we adopted and processed six different short-baselines with data span that varies from 2 to 14 years and baseline length that varies from 6 to 1100 m. To avoid seasonal signals that are overwhelmed by noise, each of the station pairs is chosen with significant differences in their height (> 5 m) or type of the monument. For comparison, we also processed an approximately zero baseline with a distance of pass-filtered (BP) noise is valid for approximately 40% of the baseline components, and another 20% of the components can be best modeled by a combination of the first-order Gauss-Markov (FOGM) process plus white noise (WN). The TEM displacements are then modeled by considering the monument height of the building structure beneath the GPS antenna. The median contributions of TEM to the annual amplitude in the vertical direction are 84% and 46% with and without additional parts of the monument, respectively. Obvious annual signals with amplitude > 0.4 mm in the horizontal direction are observed in five short-baselines, and the amplitudes exceed 1 mm in four of them. These horizontal seasonal signals are likely related to the propagation of daily/sub-daily TEM displacement or other signals related to the site environment. Mismodeling of the tropospheric delay may also introduce spurious seasonal signals with annual amplitudes of 5 and 2 mm, respectively, for two short-baselines with elevation differences greater than 100 m. The results suggest that the monument height of the additional part of a typical GPS station should be considered when estimating the TEM displacement and that the tropospheric delay should be modeled cautiously, especially with station pairs with

A simple method to adapt time sampling of the analog signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalinin, Yu.G.; Martyanov, I.S.; Sadykov, Kh.; Zastrozhnova, N.N.

2004-01-01

In this paper we briefly describe the time sampling method, which is adapted to the speed of the signal change. Principally, this method is based on a simple idea--the combination of discrete integration with differentiation of the analog signal. This method can be used in nuclear electronics research into the characteristics of detectors and the shape of the pulse signal, pulse and transitive characteristics of inertial systems of processing of signals, etc

Visualizing time: how linguistic metaphors are incorporated into displaying instruments in the process of interpreting time-varying signals

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Belmonte, Germà

2017-06-01

Spatial visualization is a well-established topic of education research that has allowed improving science and engineering students' skills on spatial relations. Connections have been established between visualization as a comprehension tool and instruction in several scientific fields. Learning about dynamic processes mainly relies upon static spatial representations or images. Visualization of time is inherently problematic because time can be conceptualized in terms of two opposite conceptual metaphors based on spatial relations as inferred from conventional linguistic patterns. The situation is particularly demanding when time-varying signals are recorded using displaying electronic instruments, and the image should be properly interpreted. This work deals with the interplay between linguistic metaphors, visual thinking and scientific instrument mediation in the process of interpreting time-varying signals displayed by electronic instruments. The analysis draws on a simplified version of a communication system as example of practical signal recording and image visualization in a physics and engineering laboratory experience. Instrumentation delivers meaningful signal representations because it is designed to incorporate a specific and culturally favored time view. It is suggested that difficulties in interpreting time-varying signals are linked with the existing dual perception of conflicting time metaphors. The activation of specific space-time conceptual mapping might allow for a proper signal interpretation. Instruments play then a central role as visualization mediators by yielding an image that matches specific perception abilities and practical purposes. Here I have identified two ways of understanding time as used in different trajectories through which students are located. Interestingly specific displaying instruments belonging to different cultural traditions incorporate contrasting time views. One of them sees time in terms of a dynamic metaphor

Planning to cheat: EU fiscal policy in real time

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beetsma, R.; Giuliodori, M.; Wierts, P.

2009-01-01

Using real-time data from Europe's Stability and Convergence Programs, we explore how fiscal plans and their implementation in the EU are determined. We find that (1) implemented budgetary adjustment falls systematically short of planned adjustment and this shortfall increases with the projection

ARRIVAL TIME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS DUE TO GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takahashi, Ryuichi [Faculty of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 3 Bunkyo-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8561 (Japan)

2017-01-20

In this study we demonstrate that general relativity predicts arrival time differences between gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) signals caused by the wave effects in gravitational lensing. The GW signals can arrive earlier than the EM signals in some cases if the GW/EM signals have passed through a lens, even if both signals were emitted simultaneously by a source. GW wavelengths are much larger than EM wavelengths; therefore, the propagation of the GWs does not follow the laws of geometrical optics, including the Shapiro time delay, if the lens mass is less than approximately 10{sup 5} M {sub ⊙}( f /Hz){sup −1}, where f is the GW frequency. The arrival time difference can reach ∼0.1 s ( f /Hz){sup −1} if the signals have passed by a lens of mass ∼8000 M {sub ⊙}( f /Hz){sup −1} with the impact parameter smaller than the Einstein radius; therefore, it is more prominent for lower GW frequencies. For example, when a distant supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) in a galactic center is lensed by an intervening galaxy, the time lag becomes of the order of 10 days. Future pulsar timing arrays including the Square Kilometre Array and X-ray detectors may detect several time lags by measuring the orbital phase differences between the GW/EM signals in the SMBHBs. Gravitational lensing imprints a characteristic modulation on a chirp waveform; therefore, we can deduce whether a measured arrival time lag arises from intrinsic source properties or gravitational lensing. Determination of arrival time differences would be extremely useful in multimessenger observations and tests of general relativity.

Simulating GPS radio signal to synchronize network--a new technique for redundant timing.

Science.gov (United States)

Shan, Qingxiao; Jun, Yang; Le Floch, Jean-Michel; Fan, Yaohui; Ivanov, Eugene N; Tobar, Michael E

2014-07-01

Currently, many distributed systems such as 3G mobile communications and power systems are time synchronized with a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal. If there is a GPS failure, it is difficult to realize redundant timing, and thus time-synchronized devices may fail. In this work, we develop time transfer by simulating GPS signals, which promises no extra modification to original GPS-synchronized devices. This is achieved by applying a simplified GPS simulator for synchronization purposes only. Navigation data are calculated based on a pre-assigned time at a fixed position. Pseudo-range data which describes the distance change between the space vehicle (SV) and users are calculated. Because real-time simulation requires heavy-duty computations, we use self-developed software optimized on a PC to generate data, and save the data onto memory disks while the simulator is operating. The radio signal generation is similar to the SV at an initial position, and the frequency synthesis of the simulator is locked to a pre-assigned time. A filtering group technique is used to simulate the signal transmission delay corresponding to the SV displacement. Each SV generates a digital baseband signal, where a unique identifying code is added to the signal and up-converted to generate the output radio signal at the centered frequency of 1575.42 MHz (L1 band). A prototype with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) has been built and experiments have been conducted to prove that we can realize time transfer. The prototype has been applied to the CDMA network for a three-month long experiment. Its precision has been verified and can meet the requirements of most telecommunication systems.

State–time spectrum of signal transduction logic models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacNamara, Aidan; Terfve, Camille; Henriques, David; Bernabé, Beatriz Peñalver; Saez-Rodriguez, Julio

2012-01-01

Despite the current wealth of high-throughput data, our understanding of signal transduction is still incomplete. Mathematical modeling can be a tool to gain an insight into such processes. Detailed biochemical modeling provides deep understanding, but does not scale well above relatively a few proteins. In contrast, logic modeling can be used where the biochemical knowledge of the system is sparse and, because it is parameter free (or, at most, uses relatively a few parameters), it scales well to large networks that can be derived by manual curation or retrieved from public databases. Here, we present an overview of logic modeling formalisms in the context of training logic models to data, and specifically the different approaches to modeling qualitative to quantitative data (state) and dynamics (time) of signal transduction. We use a toy model of signal transduction to illustrate how different logic formalisms (Boolean, fuzzy logic and differential equations) treat state and time. Different formalisms allow for different features of the data to be captured, at the cost of extra requirements in terms of computational power and data quality and quantity. Through this demonstration, the assumptions behind each formalism are discussed, as well as their advantages and disadvantages and possible future developments. (paper)

Prediction of evacuation time for emergency planning zone of Uljin nuclear site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeon, In Young; Lee, Jai Ki

2002-01-01

The time for evacuation of residents in Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) of Uljin nuclear site in case of a radiological emergency was estimated with traffic analysis. Evacuees were classified into 4 groups by considering population density, local jurisdictions, and whether they are residents or transients. The survey to investigate the behavioral characteristics of the residents was made for 200 households and included a hypothetical scenario explaining the accident situation and questions such as dwelling place, time demand for evacuation preparation, transportation means for evacuation, sheltering place, and evacuation direction. The microscopic traffic simulation model, CORSIM, was used to simulate the behavior of evacuating vehicles on networks. The results showed that the evacuation time required for total vehicles to move out from EPZ took longer in the daytime than at night in spite that the delay times at intersections were longer at night than in the daytime. This was analyzed due to the differences of the trip generation time distribution. To validate whether the CORSIM model can appropriately simulate the congested traffic phenomena assumable in case of emergency, a benchmark study was conducted at an intersection without an actuated traffic signal near Uljin site during the traffic peak-time in the morning. This study indicated that the predicted output by the CORSIM model was in good agreement with the observed data, satisfying the purpose of this study

Shaping communicative colour signals over evolutionary time

Science.gov (United States)

Oyola Morales, José R.; Vital-García, Cuauhcihuatl; Hews, Diana K.; Martins, Emília P.

2016-01-01

Many evolutionary forces can shape the evolution of communicative signals, and the long-term impact of each force may depend on relative timing and magnitude. We use a phylogenetic analysis to infer the history of blue belly patches of Sceloporus lizards, and a detailed spectrophotometric analysis of four species to explore the specific forces shaping evolutionary change. We find that the ancestor of Sceloporus had blue patches. We then focus on four species; the first evolutionary shift (captured by comparison of S. merriami and S. siniferus) represents an ancient loss of the belly patch by S. siniferus, and the second evolutionary shift, bounded by S. undulatus and S. virgatus, represents a more recent loss of blue belly patch by S. virgatus. Conspicuousness measurements suggest that the species with the recent loss (S. virgatus) is the least conspicuous. Results for two other species (S. siniferus and S. merriami) suggest that over longer periods of evolutionary time, new signal colours have arisen which minimize absolute contrast with the habitat while maximizing conspicuousness to a lizard receiver. Specifically, males of the species representing an ancient loss of blue patch (S. siniferus) are more conspicuous than are females in the UV, whereas S. merriami males have evolved a green element that makes their belly patches highly sexually dimorphic but no more conspicuous than the white bellies of S. merriami females. Thus, our results suggest that natural selection may act more immediately to reduce conspicuousness, whereas sexual selection may have a more complex impact on communicative signals through the introduction of new colours. PMID:28018661

On the time lags of the LIGO signals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Creswell, James; Von Hausegger, Sebastian; Liu, Hao; Naselsky, Pavel [The Niels Bohr Institute and Discovery Center, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Jackson, Andrew D., E-mail: dgz764@alumni.ku.dk, E-mail: s.vonhausegger@nbi.dk, E-mail: jackson@nbi.dk, E-mail: liuhao@nbi.dk, E-mail: naselsky@nbi.dk [Niels Bohr International Academy, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark)

2017-08-01

To date, the LIGO collaboration has detected three gravitational wave (GW) events appearing in both its Hanford and Livingston detectors. In this article we reexamine the LIGO data with regard to correlations between the two detectors. With special focus on GW150914, we report correlations in the detector noise which, at the time of the event, happen to be maximized for the same time lag as that found for the event itself. Specifically, we analyze correlations in the calibration lines in the vicinity of 35 Hz as well as the residual noise in the data after subtraction of the best-fit theoretical templates. The residual noise for the other two events, GW151226 and GW170104, exhibits similar behavior. A clear distinction between signal and noise therefore remains to be established in order to determine the contribution of gravitational waves to the detected signals.

On the time lags of the LIGO signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Creswell, James; Von Hausegger, Sebastian; Liu, Hao; Naselsky, Pavel; Jackson, Andrew D.

2017-01-01

To date, the LIGO collaboration has detected three gravitational wave (GW) events appearing in both its Hanford and Livingston detectors. In this article we reexamine the LIGO data with regard to correlations between the two detectors. With special focus on GW150914, we report correlations in the detector noise which, at the time of the event, happen to be maximized for the same time lag as that found for the event itself. Specifically, we analyze correlations in the calibration lines in the vicinity of 35 Hz as well as the residual noise in the data after subtraction of the best-fit theoretical templates. The residual noise for the other two events, GW151226 and GW170104, exhibits similar behavior. A clear distinction between signal and noise therefore remains to be established in order to determine the contribution of gravitational waves to the detected signals.

The Denver region traffic signal system improvement program : planning for management and operations

Science.gov (United States)

2009-04-01

The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) works with over 30 local jurisdictions on the Traffic Signal System Improvement Program (TSSIP), a combination of management and operations strategies designed to time and coordinate traffic signals ...

Alleviating Border Effects in Wavelet Transforms for Nonlinear Time-varying Signal Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SU, H.

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Border effects are very common in many finite signals analysis and processing approaches using convolution operation. Alleviating the border effects that can occur in the processing of finite-length signals using wavelet transform is considered in this paper. Traditional methods for alleviating the border effects are suitable to compression or coding applications. We propose an algorithm based on Fourier series which is proved to be appropriate to the application of time-frequency analysis of nonlinear signals. Fourier series extension method preserves the time-varying characteristics of the signals. A modified signal duration expression for measuring the extent of border effects region is presented. The proposed algorithm is confirmed to be efficient to alleviate the border effects in comparison to the current methods through the numerical examples.

Photonic microwave signals with zeptosecond-level absolute timing noise

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xiaopeng; Bouchand, Romain; Nicolodi, Daniele; Giunta, Michele; Hänsel, Wolfgang; Lezius, Matthias; Joshi, Abhay; Datta, Shubhashish; Alexandre, Christophe; Lours, Michel; Tremblin, Pierre-Alain; Santarelli, Giorgio; Holzwarth, Ronald; Le Coq, Yann

2017-01-01

Photonic synthesis of radiofrequency (RF) waveforms revived the quest for unrivalled microwave purity because of its ability to convey the benefits of optics to the microwave world. In this work, we perform a high-fidelity transfer of frequency stability between an optical reference and a microwave signal via a low-noise fibre-based frequency comb and cutting-edge photodetection techniques. We demonstrate the generation of the purest microwave signal with a fractional frequency stability below 6.5 × 10-16 at 1 s and a timing noise floor below 41 zs Hz-1/2 (phase noise below -173 dBc Hz-1 for a 12 GHz carrier). This outperforms existing sources and promises a new era for state-of-the-art microwave generation. The characterization is achieved through a heterodyne cross-correlation scheme with the lowermost detection noise. This unprecedented level of purity can impact domains such as radar systems, telecommunications and time-frequency metrology. The measurement methods developed here can benefit the characterization of a broad range of signals.

Optimum short-time polynomial regression for signal analysis

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A Sreenivasa Murthy

the Proceedings of European Signal Processing Conference. (EUSIPCO) 2008. ... In a seminal paper, Savitzky and Golay [4] showed that short-time polynomial modeling is ...... We next consider a linearly frequency-modulated chirp with an exponentially .... 1 http://www.physionet.org/physiotools/matlab/ECGwaveGen/.

Stochastic resonance in a time-delayed asymmetric bistable system with mixed periodic signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yong-Feng, Guo; Wei, Xu; Liang, Wang

2010-01-01

This paper studies the phenomenon of stochastic resonance in an asymmetric bistable system with time-delayed feedback and mixed periodic signal by using the theory of signal-to-noise ratio in the adiabatic limit. A general approximate Fokker–Planck equation and the expression of the signal-to-noise ratio are derived through the small time delay approximation at both fundamental harmonics and mixed harmonics. The effects of the additive noise intensity Q, multiplicative noise intensity D, static asymmetry r and delay time τ on the signal-to-noise ratio are discussed. It is found that the higher mixed harmonics and the static asymmetry r can restrain stochastic resonance, and the delay time τ can enhance stochastic resonance. Moreover, the longer the delay time τ is, the larger the additive noise intensity Q and the multiplicative noise intensity D are, when the stochastic resonance appears. (general)

Comparison of time required for traditional versus virtual orthognathic surgery treatment planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Wrzosek, M K; Peacock, Z S; Laviv, A; Goldwaser, B R; Ortiz, R; Resnick, C M; Troulis, M J; Kaban, L B

2016-09-01

Virtual surgical planning (VSP) is a tool for predicting complex surgical movements in three dimensions and it may reduce preoperative laboratory time. A prospective study to compare the time required for standard preoperative planning versus VSP was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital from January 2014 through January 2015. Workflow data for bimaxillary cases planned by both standard techniques and VSP were recorded in real time. Time spent was divided into three parts: (1) obtaining impressions, face-bow mounting, and model preparation; (2) occlusal analysis and modification, model surgery, and splint fabrication; (3) online VSP session. Average times were compared between standard treatment planning (sum of parts 1 and 2) and VSP (sum of parts 1 and 3). Of 41 bimaxillary cases included, 20 were simple (symmetric) and 21 were complex (asymmetry and segmental osteotomies). Average times for parts 1, 2, and 3 were 4.43, 3.01, and 0.67h, respectively. The average time required for standard treatment planning was 7.45h and for VSP was 5.10h, a 31% time reduction (Porthognathic surgery cases. Copyright © 2016 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Time-frequency analysis of phonocardiogram signals using wavelet transform: a comparative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ergen, Burhan; Tatar, Yetkin; Gulcur, Halil Ozcan

2012-01-01

Analysis of phonocardiogram (PCG) signals provides a non-invasive means to determine the abnormalities caused by cardiovascular system pathology. In general, time-frequency representation (TFR) methods are used to study the PCG signal because it is one of the non-stationary bio-signals. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is especially suitable for the analysis of non-stationary signals and to obtain the TFR, due to its high resolution, both in time and in frequency and has recently become a favourite tool. It decomposes a signal in terms of elementary contributions called wavelets, which are shifted and dilated copies of a fixed mother wavelet function, and yields a joint TFR. Although the basic characteristics of the wavelets are similar, each type of the wavelets produces a different TFR. In this study, eight real types of the most known wavelets are examined on typical PCG signals indicating heart abnormalities in order to determine the best wavelet to obtain a reliable TFR. For this purpose, the wavelet energy and frequency spectrum estimations based on the CWT and the spectra of the chosen wavelets were compared with the energy distribution and the autoregressive frequency spectra in order to determine the most suitable wavelet. The results show that Morlet wavelet is the most reliable wavelet for the time-frequency analysis of PCG signals.

Time-frequency analysis of fusion plasma signals beyond the short-time Fourier transform paradigm: An overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bizarro, Joao P.S.; Figueiredo, Antonio C.A.

2008-01-01

Performing a time-frequency (t-f) analysis on actual magnetic pick-up coil data from the JET tokamak, a comparison is presented between the spectrogram and the Wigner and Choi-Williams distributions. Whereas the former, which stems from the short-time Fourier transform and has been the work-horse for t-f signal processing, implies an unavoidable trade-off between time and frequency resolutions, the latter two belong to a later generation of distributions that yield better, if not optimal joint t-f localization. Topics addressed include signal representation in the t-f plane, frequency identification and evolution, instantaneous-frequency estimation, and amplitude tracking

Traffic signal synchronization in the saturated high-density grid road network.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xiaojian; Lu, Jian; Wang, Wei; Zhirui, Ye

2015-01-01

Most existing traffic signal synchronization strategies do not perform well in the saturated high-density grid road network (HGRN). Traffic congestion often occurs in the saturated HGRN, and the mobility of the network is difficult to restore. In order to alleviate traffic congestion and to improve traffic efficiency in the network, the study proposes a regional traffic signal synchronization strategy, named the long green and long red (LGLR) traffic signal synchronization strategy. The essence of the strategy is to control the formation and dissipation of queues and to maximize the efficiency of traffic flows at signalized intersections in the saturated HGRN. With this strategy, the same signal control timing plan is used at all signalized intersections in the HGRN, and the straight phase of the control timing plan has a long green time and a long red time. Therefore, continuous traffic flows can be maintained when vehicles travel, and traffic congestion can be alleviated when vehicles stop. Using the strategy, the LGLR traffic signal synchronization model is developed, with the objective of minimizing the number of stops. Finally, the simulation is executed to analyze the performance of the model by comparing it to other models, and the superiority of the LGLR model is evident in terms of delay, number of stops, queue length, and overall performance in the saturated HGRN.

Multi-Modal Intelligent Traffic Signal Systems Signal Plans for Roadside Equipment

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — Data were collected during the Multi-Modal Intelligent Transportation Signal Systems (MMITSS) study. MMITSS is a next-generation traffic signal system that seeks to...

Unsupervised Symbolization of Signal Time Series for Extraction of the Embedded Information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yue Li

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper formulates an unsupervised algorithm for symbolization of signal time series to capture the embedded dynamic behavior. The key idea is to convert time series of the digital signal into a string of (spatially discrete symbols from which the embedded dynamic information can be extracted in an unsupervised manner (i.e., no requirement for labeling of time series. The main challenges here are: (1 definition of the symbol assignment for the time series; (2 identification of the partitioning segment locations in the signal space of time series; and (3 construction of probabilistic finite-state automata (PFSA from the symbol strings that contain temporal patterns. The reported work addresses these challenges by maximizing the mutual information measures between symbol strings and PFSA states. The proposed symbolization method has been validated by numerical simulation as well as by experimentation in a laboratory environment. Performance of the proposed algorithm has been compared to that of two commonly used algorithms of time series partitioning.

System and method for constructing filters for detecting signals whose frequency content varies with time

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, S.; Dunham, M.E.

1996-11-12

A system and method are disclosed for constructing a bank of filters which detect the presence of signals whose frequency content varies with time. The present invention includes a novel system and method for developing one or more time templates designed to match the received signals of interest and the bank of matched filters use the one or more time templates to detect the received signals. Each matched filter compares the received signal x(t) with a respective, unique time template that has been designed to approximate a form of the signals of interest. The robust time domain template is assumed to be of the order of w(t)=A(t)cos(2{pi}{phi}(t)) and the present invention uses the trajectory of a joint time-frequency representation of x(t) as an approximation of the instantaneous frequency function {phi}{prime}(t). First, numerous data samples of the received signal x(t) are collected. A joint time frequency representation is then applied to represent the signal, preferably using the time frequency distribution series. The joint time-frequency transformation represents the analyzed signal energy at time t and frequency f, P(t,f), which is a three-dimensional plot of time vs. frequency vs. signal energy. Then P(t,f) is reduced to a multivalued function f(t), a two dimensional plot of time vs. frequency, using a thresholding process. Curve fitting steps are then performed on the time/frequency plot, preferably using Levenberg-Marquardt curve fitting techniques, to derive a general instantaneous frequency function {phi}{prime}(t) which best fits the multivalued function f(t). Integrating {phi}{prime}(t) along t yields {phi}{prime}(t), which is then inserted into the form of the time template equation. A suitable amplitude A(t) is also preferably determined. Once the time template has been determined, one or more filters are developed which each use a version or form of the time template. 7 figs.

Changes in crash risk following re-timing of traffic signal change intervals.

Science.gov (United States)

Retting, Richard A; Chapline, Janella F; Williams, Allan F

2002-03-01

More than I million motor vehicle crashes occur annually at signalized intersections in the USA. The principal method used to prevent crashes associated with routine changes in signal indications is employment of a traffic signal change interval--a brief yellow and all-red period that follows the green indication. No universal practice exists for selecting the duration of change intervals, and little is known about the influence of the duration of the change interval on crash risk. The purpose of this study was to estimate potential crash effects of modifying the duration of traffic signal change intervals to conform with values associated with a proposed recommended practice published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. A sample of 122 intersections was identified and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Of 51 eligible experimental sites, 40 (78%) needed signal timing changes. For the 3-year period following implementation of signal timing changes, there was an 8% reduction in reportable crashes at experimental sites relative to those occurring at control sites (P = 0.08). For injury crashes, a 12% reduction at experimental sites relative to those occurring at control sites was found (P = 0.03). Pedestrian and bicycle crashes at experimental sites decreased 37% (P = 0.03) relative to controls. Given these results and the relatively low cost of re-timing traffic signals, modifying the duration of traffic signal change intervals to conform with values associated with the Institute of Transportation Engineers' proposed recommended practice should be strongly considered by transportation agencies to reduce the frequency of urban motor vehicle crashes.

Motion Planning in Multi-robot Systems using Timed Automata

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Michael. S.; Jensen, Rune S.; Bak, Thomas

This paper dscribes how interacting timed automata can be used to model, analyze, and verify motion planning problems for systems with multiple mobile robots. The method assumes an infra-structure of simple unicycle type robots, moving om a planar grid. The motion of the robots, including simple...... kinematics, is captured in an automata formalism that allows formal composition and symbolic reasoning. The verification software UppAal is used to verify specification requirements formulated in computational tree logic (CTL), generating all feasible trajectories that satisfy specifications. The results...... of the planning are demonstrateted in a testbed that allows execution of the planned paths and motion primitives by synchronizing the planning results from UppAal with actual robotic vehicles. The planning problem may be modified online by moving obstacles in the physical environment, which causes a re...

Time resolution improvement of Schottky CdTe PET detectors using digital signal processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakhostin, M.; Ishii, K.; Kikuchi, Y.; Matsuyama, S.; Yamazaki, H.; Torshabi, A. Esmaili

2009-01-01

We present the results of our study on the timing performance of Schottky CdTe PET detectors using the technique of digital signal processing. The coincidence signals between a CdTe detector (15x15x1 mm 3 ) and a fast liquid scintillator detector were digitized by a fast digital oscilloscope and analyzed. In the analysis, digital versions of the elements of timing circuits, including pulse shaper and time discriminator, were created and a digital implementation of the Amplitude and Rise-time Compensation (ARC) mode of timing was performed. Owing to a very fine adjustment of the parameters of timing measurement, a good time resolution of less than 9.9 ns (FWHM) at an energy threshold of 150 keV was achieved. In the next step, a new method of time pickoff for improvement of timing resolution without loss in the detection efficiency of CdTe detectors was examined. In the method, signals from a CdTe detector are grouped by their rise-times and different procedures of time pickoff are applied to the signals of each group. Then, the time pickoffs are synchronized by compensating the fixed time offset, caused by the different time pickoff procedures. This method leads to an improved time resolution of ∼7.2 ns (FWHM) at an energy threshold of as low as 150 keV. The methods presented in this work are computationally fast enough to be used for online processing of data in an actual PET system.

Multi-Robot Motion Planning: A Timed Automata Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Quottrup, Michael Melholt; Bak, Thomas; Izadi-Zamanabadi, Roozbeh

2004-01-01

This paper describes how a network of interacting timed automata can be used to model, analyze, and verify motion planning problems in a scenario with multiple robotic vehicles. The method presupposes an infra-structure of robots with feed-back controllers obeying simple restriction on a planar...... grid. The automata formalism merely presents a high-level model of environment, robots and control, but allows composition and formal symbolic reasoning about coordinated solutions. Composition is achieved through synchronization, and the verification software UPPAAL is used for a symbolic verification...... then subsequently be used as a high-level motion plan for the robots. This paper reports on the timed automata framework, results of two verification experiments, promise of the approach, and gives a perspective for future research....

Multi-Robot Motion Planning: A Timed Automata Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Quottrup, Michael Melholt; Bak, Thomas; Izadi-Zamanabadi, Roozbeh

This paper describes how a network of interacting timed automata can be used to model, analyze, and verify motion planning problems in a scenario with multiple robotic vehicles. The method presupposes an infra-structure of robots with feed-back controllers obeying simple restriction on a planar...... grid. The automata formalism merely presents a high-level model of environment, robots and control, but allows composition and formal symbolic reasoning about coordinated solutions. Composition is achieved through synchronization, and the verification software UPPAAL is used for a symbolic verification...... then subsequently be used as a high-level motion plan for the robots. This paper reports on the timed automata framework, results of two verification experiments, promise of the approach, and gives a perspective for future research....

Application on technique of joint time-frequency analysis of seismic signal's first arrival estimation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Chaoyang; Liu Junmin; Fan Yanfang; Ji Guohua

2008-01-01

Joint time-frequency analysis is conducted to construct one joint density function of time and frequency. It can open out one signal's frequency components and their evolvements. It is the new evolvement of Fourier analysis. In this paper, according to the characteristic of seismic signal's noise, one estimation method of seismic signal's first arrival based on triple correlation of joint time-frequency spectrum is introduced, and the results of experiment and conclusion are presented. (authors)

Online stochastic UAV mission planning with time windows and time-sensitive targets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evers, L.; Barros, A.I.; Monsuur, H.; Wagelmans, A.

2014-01-01

In this paper we simultaneously consider three extensions to the standard Orienteering Problem (OP) to model characteristics that are of practical relevance in planning reconnaissance missions of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). First, travel and recording times are uncertain. Secondly, the

42 CFR 457.160 - Notice and timing of CMS action on State plan material.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Notice and timing of CMS action on State plan... § 457.160 Notice and timing of CMS action on State plan material. (a) Notice of final determination. The... amendment. (b) Timing. (1) A State plan or plan amendment will be considered approved unless CMS, within 90...

Time Lens based Optical Fourier Transformation for All-Optical Signal Processing of Spectrally-Efficient Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guan, Pengyu; Røge, Kasper Meldgaard; Lillieholm, Mads

2017-01-01

We review recent progress in the use of time lens based optical Fourier transformation for advanced all-optical signal processing. A novel time lens based complete optical Fourier transformation (OFT) technique is introduced. This complete OFT is based on two quadratic phase-modulation stages using...... four-wave mixing (FWM), separated by a dispersive medium, which enables time-to-frequency and frequency-to-time conversions simultaneously, thus performing an exchange between the temporal and spectral profiles of the input signal. Using the proposed complete OFT, several advanced all-optical signal......, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), Nyquist wavelength-division multiplexing (Nyquist-WDM) and Nyquist optical time division multiplexing (Nyquist-OTDM) signals....

Signal Processing for Time-Series Functions on a Graph

Science.gov (United States)

2018-02-01

Figures Fig. 1 Time -series function on a fixed graph.............................................2 iv Approved for public release; distribution is...φi〉`2(V)φi (39) 6= f̄ (40) Instead, we simply recover the average of f over time . 13 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. This...ARL-TR-8276• FEB 2018 US Army Research Laboratory Signal Processing for Time -Series Functions on a Graph by Humberto Muñoz-Barona, Jean Vettel, and

Time-Frequency Analysis and Hermite Projection Method Applied to Swallowing Accelerometry Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ervin Sejdić

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Fast Hermite projections have been often used in image-processing procedures such as image database retrieval, projection filtering, and texture analysis. In this paper, we propose an innovative approach for the analysis of one-dimensional biomedical signals that combines the Hermite projection method with time-frequency analysis. In particular, we propose a two-step approach to characterize vibrations of various origins in swallowing accelerometry signals. First, by using time-frequency analysis we obtain the energy distribution of signal frequency content in time. Second, by using fast Hermite projections we characterize whether the analyzed time-frequency regions are associated with swallowing or other phenomena (vocalization, noise, bursts, etc.. The numerical analysis of the proposed scheme clearly shows that by using a few Hermite functions, vibrations of various origins are distinguishable. These results will be the basis for further analysis of swallowing accelerometry to detect swallowing difficulties.

Real-time numerical processing for HPGE detectors signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eric Barat; Thomas Dautremer; Laurent Laribiere; Jean Christophe Trama

2006-01-01

Full text of publication follows: Concerning the gamma spectrometry, technology progresses in the processor field makes very conceivable and attractive executing complex real-time digital process. Only some simplified and rigid treatments can be find in the market up to now. Indeed, the historical solution used for 50 years consists of performing a so-called 'cusp' filtering and disturbing the optimal shape in order to shrink and/or truncate it. This tuning largely determined by the input count rate (ICR) the user expects to measure is then a compromise between the resolution and the throughput. Because it is not possible to tune it for each pulse, that is a kind of 'leveling down' which is made: the energy of each pulse is not as well estimated as it could be. The new approach proposed here avoids totally this restricting hand tuning. The innovation lies in the modelling of the shot-noise signal as a Jump Markov Linear System. The jump is the occurrence of a pulse in the signal. From this model, we developed an algorithm which makes possible the on-line estimation of the energies without having to temporally enlarge the pulses as the cusp filter does. The algorithm first determines whether there is a pulse or not at each time, then conditionally to this information, it performs an optimal Kalman smoother. Thanks to this global optimization, this allows us to dramatically increase the compromise throughput versus resolution, gaining an important factor on a commercial device concerning the admissible ICR (more than 1 million counts per second admissible). A huge advantage of the absence of hand tuning is that the system accepts fluctuating ICR. To validate the concept we built a real time demonstrator. First, our equipment is composed of an electronic stage which prepared the signal coming from the preamplifier of the detector and optimized the signal-to-noise ratio. Then the signal is sampled at 10 MHz and the powerful of two Pentium running at 3 GHz is enough to

Shock Timing Plan for the National Ignition Campaign

Science.gov (United States)

Munro, D. H.; Robey, H. F.; Spears, B. K.; Boehly, T. R.

2006-10-01

We report progress on the design of the shock timing tuning procedure for the 2010 ignition campaign at the National Ignition Facility. Our keyhole target design provides adequate drive surrogacy for us to time the first three shocks empirically. The major risk to our plan is hard x-ray preheat, which can cause the diagnostic window to become opaque.

78 FR 12676 - Timing Requirements for the Submission of a Site Assessment Plan (SAP) or General Activities Plan...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-25

...: BOEM-2012-0077] RIN 1010-AD77 Timing Requirements for the Submission of a Site Assessment Plan (SAP) or... would amend the timing requirements for submitting a Site Assessment Plan (SAP) or General Activities... and grants will have a preliminary term of 12 months in which a lessee or grantee must submit a SAP or...

Time-frequency peak filtering for random noise attenuation of magnetic resonance sounding signal

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Tingting; Zhang, Yang; Yi, Xiaofeng; Fan, Tiehu; Wan, Ling

2018-05-01

When measuring in a geomagnetic field, the method of magnetic resonance sounding (MRS) is often limited because of the notably low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Most current studies focus on discarding spiky noise and power-line harmonic noise cancellation. However, the effects of random noise should not be underestimated. The common method for random noise attenuation is stacking, but collecting multiple recordings merely to suppress random noise is time-consuming. Moreover, stacking is insufficient to suppress high-level random noise. Here, we propose the use of time-frequency peak filtering for random noise attenuation, which is performed after the traditional de-spiking and power-line harmonic removal method. By encoding the noisy signal with frequency modulation and estimating the instantaneous frequency using the peak of the time-frequency representation of the encoded signal, the desired MRS signal can be acquired from only one stack. The performance of the proposed method is tested on synthetic envelope signals and field data from different surveys. Good estimations of the signal parameters are obtained at different SNRs. Moreover, an attempt to use the proposed method to handle a single recording provides better results compared to 16 stacks. Our results suggest that the number of stacks can be appropriately reduced to shorten the measurement time and improve the measurement efficiency.

Predict or classify: The deceptive role of time-locking in brain signal classification

Science.gov (United States)

Rusconi, Marco; Valleriani, Angelo

2016-06-01

Several experimental studies claim to be able to predict the outcome of simple decisions from brain signals measured before subjects are aware of their decision. Often, these studies use multivariate pattern recognition methods with the underlying assumption that the ability to classify the brain signal is equivalent to predict the decision itself. Here we show instead that it is possible to correctly classify a signal even if it does not contain any predictive information about the decision. We first define a simple stochastic model that mimics the random decision process between two equivalent alternatives, and generate a large number of independent trials that contain no choice-predictive information. The trials are first time-locked to the time point of the final event and then classified using standard machine-learning techniques. The resulting classification accuracy is above chance level long before the time point of time-locking. We then analyze the same trials using information theory. We demonstrate that the high classification accuracy is a consequence of time-locking and that its time behavior is simply related to the large relaxation time of the process. We conclude that when time-locking is a crucial step in the analysis of neural activity patterns, both the emergence and the timing of the classification accuracy are affected by structural properties of the network that generates the signal.

Real-time intelligent pattern recognition algorithm for surface EMG signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jahed Mehran

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Electromyography (EMG is the study of muscle function through the inquiry of electrical signals that the muscles emanate. EMG signals collected from the surface of the skin (Surface Electromyogram: sEMG can be used in different applications such as recognizing musculoskeletal neural based patterns intercepted for hand prosthesis movements. Current systems designed for controlling the prosthetic hands either have limited functions or can only be used to perform simple movements or use excessive amount of electrodes in order to achieve acceptable results. In an attempt to overcome these problems we have proposed an intelligent system to recognize hand movements and have provided a user assessment routine to evaluate the correctness of executed movements. Methods We propose to use an intelligent approach based on adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS integrated with a real-time learning scheme to identify hand motion commands. For this purpose and to consider the effect of user evaluation on recognizing hand movements, vision feedback is applied to increase the capability of our system. By using this scheme the user may assess the correctness of the performed hand movement. In this work a hybrid method for training fuzzy system, consisting of back-propagation (BP and least mean square (LMS is utilized. Also in order to optimize the number of fuzzy rules, a subtractive clustering algorithm has been developed. To design an effective system, we consider a conventional scheme of EMG pattern recognition system. To design this system we propose to use two different sets of EMG features, namely time domain (TD and time-frequency representation (TFR. Also in order to decrease the undesirable effects of the dimension of these feature sets, principle component analysis (PCA is utilized. Results In this study, the myoelectric signals considered for classification consists of six unique hand movements. Features chosen for EMG signal

Study of time-domain digital pulse shaping algorithms for nuclear signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Jianbin; Tuo Xianguo; Zhu Xing; Liu Yi; Zhou Wei; Lei Jiarong

2012-01-01

With the development on high-speed integrated circuit, fast high resolution sampling ADC and digital signal processors are replacing analog shaping amplifier circuit. This paper firstly presents the numerical analysis and simulation on R-C shaping circuit model and C-R shaping circuit model. Mathematic models are established based on 1 st order digital differential method and Kirchhoff Current Law in time domain, and a simulation and error evaluation experiment on an ideal digital signal are carried out with Excel VBA. A digital shaping test for a semiconductor X-ray detector in real time is also presented. Then a numerical analysis for Sallen-Key(S-K) low-pass filter circuit model is implemented based on the analysis of digital R-C and digital C-R shaping methods. By applying the 2 nd order non-homogeneous differential equation,the authors implement a digital Gaussian filter model for a standard exponential-decaying signal and a nuclear pulse signal. Finally, computer simulations and experimental tests are carried out and the results show the possibility of the digital pulse processing algorithms. (authors)

Using Proactivity, Time Discounting, and the Theory of Planned Behavior to Identify Predictors of Retirement Planning

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, Barbara; Loe, David; Hesketh, Beryl

2012-01-01

This study developed and tested a model to identify the predictors of retirement planning based on an extension of the theory of planned behavior ([TPB], Ajzen, 1991) that included individual differences in proactivity and time discounting. The results showed that personal attitudes, sense of control, social influence, and stable traits have a…

18th ICPR paper: Master Production Scheduling and A Comparision of Material Requirements Planning and Cover-Time Planning

OpenAIRE

2006-01-01

Abstract For a company?s long-term profitability, most important processes are the way it starts parts of the manufacturing process before the customer order arrives and the way it determines and promises delivery quantities and times for the customer orders. In practical computer applications Material Requirement Planning and/or Reorder point systems are the base techniques mostly used. This article pre?sents Cover-Time Planning, a variant of a reorder point system. Cover-Time Pla...

Estimation of Saturation Flow Rate and Start-Up Lost Time for Signal Timing Based on Headway Distribution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Zhao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to calibrate saturation flow rate (SFR and start-up lost time (SLT when developing signal timing. In current commonly used methods, SFR for one given lane is usually calibrated from many subjective adjustment factors and a fixed result. SLT is calculated based on the fixed SFR, which prevents local applications in China. Considering the importance of traffic behavior (headway in determining SFR and SLT, this study started from headway distribution and attempted to specify the relationships between headway and vehicle position directly. A common intersection in Nanjing, China, was selected to implement field study and data from 920 queues was collected. Headway distribution was explored and the 78th percentile of headway at each position was selected to build model. Based on the developed relationships, SFR and SLT were calibrated. The results showed that SFR and SLT were correlated with queue length. Moreover, the results showed that it was difficult to reach saturated state even with a long queue length. This paper provides a new perspective on calibrating important parameters in signal timing, which will be useful for traffic agencies to complete signal timing by making the process simpler.

Joint Maximum Likelihood Time Delay Estimation of Unknown Event-Related Potential Signals for EEG Sensor Signal Quality Enhancement

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kyungsoo; Lim, Sung-Ho; Lee, Jaeseok; Kang, Won-Seok; Moon, Cheil; Choi, Ji-Woong

2016-01-01

Electroencephalograms (EEGs) measure a brain signal that contains abundant information about the human brain function and health. For this reason, recent clinical brain research and brain computer interface (BCI) studies use EEG signals in many applications. Due to the significant noise in EEG traces, signal processing to enhance the signal to noise power ratio (SNR) is necessary for EEG analysis, especially for non-invasive EEG. A typical method to improve the SNR is averaging many trials of event related potential (ERP) signal that represents a brain’s response to a particular stimulus or a task. The averaging, however, is very sensitive to variable delays. In this study, we propose two time delay estimation (TDE) schemes based on a joint maximum likelihood (ML) criterion to compensate the uncertain delays which may be different in each trial. We evaluate the performance for different types of signals such as random, deterministic, and real EEG signals. The results show that the proposed schemes provide better performance than other conventional schemes employing averaged signal as a reference, e.g., up to 4 dB gain at the expected delay error of 10°. PMID:27322267

Joint Maximum Likelihood Time Delay Estimation of Unknown Event-Related Potential Signals for EEG Sensor Signal Quality Enhancement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyungsoo Kim

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Electroencephalograms (EEGs measure a brain signal that contains abundant information about the human brain function and health. For this reason, recent clinical brain research and brain computer interface (BCI studies use EEG signals in many applications. Due to the significant noise in EEG traces, signal processing to enhance the signal to noise power ratio (SNR is necessary for EEG analysis, especially for non-invasive EEG. A typical method to improve the SNR is averaging many trials of event related potential (ERP signal that represents a brain’s response to a particular stimulus or a task. The averaging, however, is very sensitive to variable delays. In this study, we propose two time delay estimation (TDE schemes based on a joint maximum likelihood (ML criterion to compensate the uncertain delays which may be different in each trial. We evaluate the performance for different types of signals such as random, deterministic, and real EEG signals. The results show that the proposed schemes provide better performance than other conventional schemes employing averaged signal as a reference, e.g., up to 4 dB gain at the expected delay error of 10°.

A Review of Time-Scale Modification of Music Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Driedger

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Time-scale modification (TSM is the task of speeding up or slowing down an audio signal’s playback speed without changing its pitch. In digital music production, TSM has become an indispensable tool, which is nowadays integrated in a wide range of music production software. Music signals are diverse—they comprise harmonic, percussive, and transient components, among others. Because of this wide range of acoustic and musical characteristics, there is no single TSM method that can cope with all kinds of audio signals equally well. Our main objective is to foster a better understanding of the capabilities and limitations of TSM procedures. To this end, we review fundamental TSM methods, discuss typical challenges, and indicate potential solutions that combine different strategies. In particular, we discuss a fusion approach that involves recent techniques for harmonic-percussive separation along with time-domain and frequency-domain TSM procedures.

An X-ray CCD signal generator with true random arrival time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huo Jia; Xu Yuming; Chen Yong; Cui Weiwei; Li Wei; Zhang Ziliang; Han Dawei; Wang Yusan; Wang Juan

2011-01-01

An FPGA-based true random signal generator with adjustable amplitude and exponential distribution of time interval is presented. Since traditional true random number generators (TRNG) are resource costly and difficult to transplant, we employed a method of random number generation based on jitter and phase noise in ring oscillators formed by gates in an FPGA. In order to improve the random characteristics, a combination of two different pseudo-random processing circuits is used for post processing. The effects of the design parameters, such as sample frequency are discussed. Statistical tests indicate that the generator can well simulate the timing behavior of random signals with Poisson distribution. The X-ray CCD signal generator will be used in debugging the CCD readout system of the Low Energy X-ray Instrument onboard the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT). (authors)

Synthetic river flow time series generator for dispatch and spot price forecast

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flores, R.A.

2007-01-01

Decision-making in electricity markets is complicated by uncertainties in demand growth, power supplies and fuel prices. In Peru, where the electrical power system is highly dependent on water resources at dams and river flows, hydrological uncertainties play a primary role in planning, price and dispatch forecast. This paper proposed a signal processing method for generating new synthetic river flow time series as a support for planning and spot market price forecasting. River flow time series are natural phenomena representing a continuous-time domain process. As an alternative synthetic representation of the original river flow time series, this proposed signal processing method preserves correlations, basic statistics and seasonality. It takes into account deterministic, periodic and non periodic components such as those due to the El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon. The new synthetic time series has many correlations with the original river flow time series, rendering it suitable for possible replacement of the classical method of sorting historical river flow time series. As a dispatch and planning approach to spot pricing, the proposed method offers higher accuracy modeling by decomposing the signal into deterministic, periodic, non periodic and stochastic sub signals. 4 refs., 4 tabs., 13 figs

Robust real-time extraction of respiratory signals from PET list-mode data

Science.gov (United States)

Salomon, André; Zhang, Bin; Olivier, Patrick; Goedicke, Andreas

2018-06-01

Respiratory motion, which typically cannot simply be suspended during PET image acquisition, affects lesions’ detection and quantitative accuracy inside or in close vicinity to the lungs. Some motion compensation techniques address this issue via pre-sorting (‘binning’) of the acquired PET data into a set of temporal gates, where each gate is assumed to be minimally affected by respiratory motion. Tracking respiratory motion is typically realized using dedicated hardware (e.g. using respiratory belts and digital cameras). Extracting respiratory signals directly from the acquired PET data simplifies the clinical workflow as it avoids handling additional signal measurement equipment. We introduce a new data-driven method ‘combined local motion detection’ (CLMD). It uses the time-of-flight (TOF) information provided by state-of-the-art PET scanners in order to enable real-time respiratory signal extraction without additional hardware resources. CLMD applies center-of-mass detection in overlapping regions based on simple back-positioned TOF event sets acquired in short time frames. Following a signal filtering and quality-based pre-selection step, the remaining extracted individual position information over time is then combined to generate a global respiratory signal. The method is evaluated using seven measured FDG studies from single and multiple scan positions of the thorax region, and it is compared to other software-based methods regarding quantitative accuracy and statistical noise stability. Correlation coefficients around 90% between the reference and the extracted signal have been found for those PET scans where motion affected features such as tumors or hot regions were present in the PET field-of-view. For PET scans with a quarter of typically applied radiotracer doses, the CLMD method still provides similar high correlation coefficients which indicates its robustness to noise. Each CLMD processing needed less than 0.4 s in total on a standard

Real-time Nyquist signaling with dynamic precision and flexible non-integer oversampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmogrow, R; Meyer, M; Schindler, P C; Nebendahl, B; Dreschmann, M; Meyer, J; Josten, A; Hillerkuss, D; Ben-Ezra, S; Becker, J; Koos, C; Freude, W; Leuthold, J

2014-01-13

We demonstrate two efficient processing techniques for Nyquist signals, namely computation of signals using dynamic precision as well as arbitrary rational oversampling factors. With these techniques along with massively parallel processing it becomes possible to generate and receive high data rate Nyquist signals with flexible symbol rates and bandwidths, a feature which is highly desirable for novel flexgrid networks. We achieved maximum bit rates of 252 Gbit/s in real-time.

Interpolation of band-limited discrete-time signals by minimising out-of-band energy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, A.J.E.M.; Vries, L.B.

1984-01-01

An interpolation method for restoring burst errors in discrete—time, band—limited signals is presented. The restoration is such that the restored signal has minimal out—of—band energy. The filter coefficients depend Only on the burst length and on the size of the band to which the signal is assumed

Study of signal discrimination for timing measurements

CERN Document Server

Krepelkova, Marta

2017-01-01

The timing detectors of the CMS-TOTEM Precision Proton Spectrometer (CT-PPS) are currently read out using discrete components, separated into three boards; the first board hosts the sensors and the amplifiers, the second one hosts the discriminators and the third is dedicated to the Time to Digital Converter (TDC) and to the interface with the data acquisition system (DAQ). This work proposes a new front-end electronics for the timing detector, with sensors, amplifiers and discriminators integrated on the same board. We simulated an updated version of the amplifier together with a discriminator designed using commercial components. We decided to use an LVDS buffer as a discriminator, because of its cost, availability, speed and lo w power consumption. As a proof of concept, we used the LVDS input of an FPGA to discriminate signals produced by a detector prototype, using a radioactive source.

Windowing of THz time-domain spectroscopy signals: A study based on lactose

Science.gov (United States)

Vázquez-Cabo, José; Chamorro-Posada, Pedro; Fraile-Peláez, Francisco Javier; Rubiños-López, Óscar; López-Santos, José María; Martín-Ramos, Pablo

2016-05-01

Time-domain spectroscopy has established itself as a reference method for determining material parameters in the terahertz spectral range. This procedure requires the processing of the measured time-domain signals in order to estimate the spectral data. In this work, we present a thorough study of the properties of the signal windowing, a step previous to the parameter extraction algorithm, that permits to improve the accuracy of the results. Lactose has been used as sample material in the study.

Modeling and Simulation of Bus Dispatching Policy for Timed Transfers on Signalized Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Hsun-Jung; Lin, Guey-Shii

2007-12-01

The major work of this study is to formulate the system cost functions and to integrate the bus dispatching policy with signal control. The integrated model mainly includes the flow dispersion model for links, signal control model for nodes, and dispatching control model for transfer terminals. All such models are inter-related for transfer operations in one-center transit network. The integrated model that combines dispatching policies with flexible signal control modes can be applied to assess the effectiveness of transfer operations. It is found that, if bus arrival information is reliable, an early dispatching decision made at the mean bus arrival times is preferable. The costs for coordinated operations with slack times are relatively low at the optimal common headway when applying adaptive route control. Based on such findings, a threshold function of bus headway for justifying an adaptive signal route control under various time values of auto drivers is developed.

General Time-Division AltBOC Modulation Technique for GNSS Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Zhou

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a general time-division alternate binary offset carrier (GTD-AltBOC modulation method is proposed, which is an extension of TD-AltBOC and time-multiplexed offset-carrier quadrature phase shift keying (TMOC-QPSK with high design flexibility. In this method, binary complex subcarriers and a time-division technique with flexible time slot assignment are used to achieve constant envelope modulation of the signal components with a variable power allocation ratio (PAR. The underlying principle of GTD-AltBOC and the constraints related to the PAR are investigated. For the generation of GTD-AltBOC signals, a lookup table (LUT-based scheme is presented; the minimum required clock rate is half or less of that for existing non-time-division methods. The receiver processing complexities are analyzed for three typical receiving modes, and the power spectral densities (PSDs, cross-correlation functions, multiplexing efficiencies and code-tracking performance are simulated; the results show that GTD-AltBOC enables a significant decrease in receiving complexity compared with existing methods while maintaining high performance in terms of multiplexing efficiency and code tracking.

Ultra-high throughput real-time instruments for capturing fast signals and rare events

Science.gov (United States)

Buckley, Brandon Walter

Wide-band signals play important roles in the most exciting areas of science, engineering, and medicine. To keep up with the demands of exploding internet traffic, modern data centers and communication networks are employing increasingly faster data rates. Wide-band techniques such as pulsed radar jamming and spread spectrum frequency hopping are used on the battlefield to wrestle control of the electromagnetic spectrum. Neurons communicate with each other using transient action potentials that last for only milliseconds at a time. And in the search for rare cells, biologists flow large populations of cells single file down microfluidic channels, interrogating them one-by-one, tens of thousands of times per second. Studying and enabling such high-speed phenomena pose enormous technical challenges. For one, parasitic capacitance inherent in analog electrical components limits their response time. Additionally, converting these fast analog signals to the digital domain requires enormous sampling speeds, which can lead to significant jitter and distortion. State-of-the-art imaging technologies, essential for studying biological dynamics and cells in flow, are limited in speed and sensitivity by finite charge transfer and read rates, and by the small numbers of photo-electrons accumulated in short integration times. And finally, ultra-high throughput real-time digital processing is required at the backend to analyze the streaming data. In this thesis, I discuss my work in developing real-time instruments, employing ultrafast optical techniques, which overcome some of these obstacles. In particular, I use broadband dispersive optics to slow down fast signals to speeds accessible to high-bit depth digitizers and signal processors. I also apply telecommunication multiplexing techniques to boost the speeds of confocal fluorescence microscopy. The photonic time stretcher (TiSER) uses dispersive Fourier transformation to slow down analog signals before digitization and

Evaluation of the autoregression time-series model for analysis of a noisy signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, J.W.

1977-01-01

The autoregression (AR) time-series model of a continuous noisy signal was statistically evaluated to determine quantitatively the uncertainties of the model order, the model parameters, and the model's power spectral density (PSD). The result of such a statistical evaluation enables an experimenter to decide whether an AR model can adequately represent a continuous noisy signal and be consistent with the signal's frequency spectrum, and whether it can be used for on-line monitoring. Although evaluations of other types of signals have been reported in the literature, no direct reference has been found to AR model's uncertainties for continuous noisy signals; yet the evaluation is necessary to decide the usefulness of AR models of typical reactor signals (e.g., neutron detector output or thermocouple output) and the potential of AR models for on-line monitoring applications. AR and other time-series models for noisy data representation are being investigated by others since such models require fewer parameters than the traditional PSD model. For this study, the AR model was selected for its simplicity and conduciveness to uncertainty analysis, and controlled laboratory bench signals were used for continuous noisy data. (author)

Signal Tracking Beyond the Time Resolution of an Atomic Sensor by Kalman Filtering

Science.gov (United States)

Jiménez-Martínez, Ricardo; Kołodyński, Jan; Troullinou, Charikleia; Lucivero, Vito Giovanni; Kong, Jia; Mitchell, Morgan W.

2018-01-01

We study causal waveform estimation (tracking) of time-varying signals in a paradigmatic atomic sensor, an alkali vapor monitored by Faraday rotation probing. We use Kalman filtering, which optimally tracks known linear Gaussian stochastic processes, to estimate stochastic input signals that we generate by optical pumping. Comparing the known input to the estimates, we confirm the accuracy of the atomic statistical model and the reliability of the Kalman filter, allowing recovery of waveform details far briefer than the sensor's intrinsic time resolution. With proper filter choice, we obtain similar benefits when tracking partially known and non-Gaussian signal processes, as are found in most practical sensing applications. The method evades the trade-off between sensitivity and time resolution in coherent sensing.

Real Time Phase Noise Meter Based on a Digital Signal Processor

Science.gov (United States)

Angrisani, Leopoldo; D'Arco, Mauro; Greenhall, Charles A.; Schiano Lo Morille, Rosario

2006-01-01

A digital signal-processing meter for phase noise measurement on sinusoidal signals is dealt with. It enlists a special hardware architecture, made up of a core digital signal processor connected to a data acquisition board, and takes advantage of a quadrature demodulation-based measurement scheme, already proposed by the authors. Thanks to an efficient measurement process and an optimized implementation of its fundamental stages, the proposed meter succeeds in exploiting all hardware resources in such an effective way as to gain high performance and real-time operation. For input frequencies up to some hundreds of kilohertz, the meter is capable both of updating phase noise power spectrum while seamlessly capturing the analyzed signal into its memory, and granting as good frequency resolution as few units of hertz.

Signal Timing Optimization for Corridors with Multiple Highway-Rail Grade Crossings Using Genetic Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yifeng Chen

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Safety and efficiency are two critical issues at highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs and their nearby intersections. Standard traffic signal optimization programs are not designed to work on roadway networks that contain multiple HRGCs, because their underlying assumption is that the roadway traffic is in a steady-state. During a train event, steady-state conditions do not occur. This is particularly true for corridors that experience high train traffic (e.g., over 2 trains per hour. In this situation, the non-steady-state conditions predominate. This paper develops a simulation-based methodology for optimizing traffic signal timing plan on corridors of this kind. The primary goal is to maximize safety, and the secondary goal is to minimize delay. A Genetic Algorithm (GA was used as the optimization approach in the proposed methodology. A new transition preemption strategy for dual tracks (TPS_DT and a train arrival prediction model were integrated in the proposed methodology. An urban road network with multiple HRGCs in Lincoln, NE, was used as the study network. The microsimulation model VISSIM was used for evaluation purposes and was calibrated to local traffic conditions. A sensitivity analysis with different train traffic scenarios was conducted. It was concluded that the methodology can significantly improve both the safety and efficiency of traffic corridors with HRGCs.

Stability of the Filter Equation for a Time-Dependent Signal on Rd

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stannat, Wilhelm

2005-01-01

Stability of the pathwise filter equation for a time-dependent signal process induced by a d-dimensional stochastic differential equation and a linear observation is studied, using a variational approach. A lower bound for the rate of stability is identified in terms of the mass-gap of a parabolic ground state transform associated with the generator of the signal process and the square of the observation. The lower bound can be easily calculated a priori and provides hints on how precisely to measure the signal in order to reach a certain rate of stability. Ergodicity of the signal process is not needed

Can I solve my structure by SAD phasing? Planning an experiment, scaling data and evaluating the useful anomalous correlation and anomalous signal.

Science.gov (United States)

Terwilliger, Thomas C; Bunkóczi, Gábor; Hung, Li Wei; Zwart, Peter H; Smith, Janet L; Akey, David L; Adams, Paul D

2016-03-01

A key challenge in the SAD phasing method is solving a structure when the anomalous signal-to-noise ratio is low. Here, algorithms and tools for evaluating and optimizing the useful anomalous correlation and the anomalous signal in a SAD experiment are described. A simple theoretical framework [Terwilliger et al. (2016), Acta Cryst. D72, 346-358] is used to develop methods for planning a SAD experiment, scaling SAD data sets and estimating the useful anomalous correlation and anomalous signal in a SAD data set. The phenix.plan_sad_experiment tool uses a database of solved and unsolved SAD data sets and the expected characteristics of a SAD data set to estimate the probability that the anomalous substructure will be found in the SAD experiment and the expected map quality that would be obtained if the substructure were found. The phenix.scale_and_merge tool scales unmerged SAD data from one or more crystals using local scaling and optimizes the anomalous signal by identifying the systematic differences among data sets, and the phenix.anomalous_signal tool estimates the useful anomalous correlation and anomalous signal after collecting SAD data and estimates the probability that the data set can be solved and the likely figure of merit of phasing.

Optimization of Signal Timing of Intersections by Internal Metering of Queue Time Ratio of Vehicles in Network Scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mina Ghanbarikarekani

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Optimization of signal timing in urban network is usually done by minimizing the delay times or queue lengths. Sincethe effect of each intersection on the whole network is not considered in the mentioned methods, traffic congestion may occur in network links. Therefore, this paper has aimed to provide a timing optimization algorithm for traffic signals using internal timing policy based on balancing queue time ratio of vehicles in network links. In the proposed algorithm, the difference between the real queue time ratio and the optimum one for each link of intersection was minimized. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm on traffic performance, the proposed algorithm was applied in a hypothetical network. By comparing the simulating software outputs, before and after implementing the algorithm, it was concluded that the queue time ratio algorithm has improved the traffic parameters by increasing the flow as well as reducing the delay time and density of the network.

Effects of the troposphere on the propagation time of microwave signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, M.C.

1975-01-01

Technological developments in the microwave spectrum have made possible highly accurate radio systems for position determination. Most of these systems depend upon measurements of the signal transit time or of the differential transit time for different portions of the received wavefront. In practice, the performance of such systems when operating in the Earth's atmosphere is usually limited by the random signal velocity. This effect is a consequence of the variable density and water vapor distribution throughout the normal troposphere. Theoretical and experimental work has provided a useful degree of understanding of these tropospheric effects and some progress has been made in reducing them in certain applications. (auth)

Time-frequency analysis of non-stationary fusion plasma signals using an improved Hilbert-Huang transform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Yangqing; Tan, Yi; Xie, Huiqiao; Wang, Wenhao; Gao, Zhe

2014-01-01

An improved Hilbert-Huang transform method is developed to the time-frequency analysis of non-stationary signals in tokamak plasmas. Maximal overlap discrete wavelet packet transform rather than wavelet packet transform is proposed as a preprocessor to decompose a signal into various narrow-band components. Then, a correlation coefficient based selection method is utilized to eliminate the irrelevant intrinsic mode functions obtained from empirical mode decomposition of those narrow-band components. Subsequently, a time varying vector autoregressive moving average model instead of Hilbert spectral analysis is performed to compute the Hilbert spectrum, i.e., a three-dimensional time-frequency distribution of the signal. The feasibility and effectiveness of the improved Hilbert-Huang transform method is demonstrated by analyzing a non-stationary simulated signal and actual experimental signals in fusion plasmas

Low Computational Signal Acquisition for GNSS Receivers Using a Resampling Strategy and Variable Circular Correlation Time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yeqing Zhang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available For the objective of essentially decreasing computational complexity and time consumption of signal acquisition, this paper explores a resampling strategy and variable circular correlation time strategy specific to broadband multi-frequency GNSS receivers. In broadband GNSS receivers, the resampling strategy is established to work on conventional acquisition algorithms by resampling the main lobe of received broadband signals with a much lower frequency. Variable circular correlation time is designed to adapt to different signal strength conditions and thereby increase the operation flexibility of GNSS signal acquisition. The acquisition threshold is defined as the ratio of the highest and second highest correlation results in the search space of carrier frequency and code phase. Moreover, computational complexity of signal acquisition is formulated by amounts of multiplication and summation operations in the acquisition process. Comparative experiments and performance analysis are conducted on four sets of real GPS L2C signals with different sampling frequencies. The results indicate that the resampling strategy can effectively decrease computation and time cost by nearly 90–94% with just slight loss of acquisition sensitivity. With circular correlation time varying from 10 ms to 20 ms, the time cost of signal acquisition has increased by about 2.7–5.6% per millisecond, with most satellites acquired successfully.

Low Computational Signal Acquisition for GNSS Receivers Using a Resampling Strategy and Variable Circular Correlation Time

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yeqing; Wang, Meiling; Li, Yafeng

2018-01-01

For the objective of essentially decreasing computational complexity and time consumption of signal acquisition, this paper explores a resampling strategy and variable circular correlation time strategy specific to broadband multi-frequency GNSS receivers. In broadband GNSS receivers, the resampling strategy is established to work on conventional acquisition algorithms by resampling the main lobe of received broadband signals with a much lower frequency. Variable circular correlation time is designed to adapt to different signal strength conditions and thereby increase the operation flexibility of GNSS signal acquisition. The acquisition threshold is defined as the ratio of the highest and second highest correlation results in the search space of carrier frequency and code phase. Moreover, computational complexity of signal acquisition is formulated by amounts of multiplication and summation operations in the acquisition process. Comparative experiments and performance analysis are conducted on four sets of real GPS L2C signals with different sampling frequencies. The results indicate that the resampling strategy can effectively decrease computation and time cost by nearly 90–94% with just slight loss of acquisition sensitivity. With circular correlation time varying from 10 ms to 20 ms, the time cost of signal acquisition has increased by about 2.7–5.6% per millisecond, with most satellites acquired successfully. PMID:29495301

Bilinear Time-frequency Analysis for Lamb Wave Signal Detected by Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Wenxiu; Liu, Guoqiang; Xia, Hui; Xia, Zhengwu

2018-03-01

Accurate acquisition of the detection signal travel time plays a very important role in cross-hole tomography. The experimental platform of aluminum plate under the perpendicular magnetic field is established and the bilinear time-frequency analysis methods, Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD) and the pseudo-Wigner-Ville distribution (PWVD), are applied to analyse the Lamb wave signals detected by electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT). By extracting the same frequency component of the time-frequency spectrum as the excitation frequency, the travel time information can be obtained. In comparison with traditional linear time-frequency analysis method such as short-time Fourier transform (STFT), the bilinear time-frequency analysis method PWVD is more appropriate in extracting travel time and recognizing patterns of Lamb wave.

The 22nd Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Applications and Planning Meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sydnor, R.L.

1990-05-01

Papers presented at the 22nd Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Applications and Planning Meeting are compiled. The following subject areas are covered: Rb, Cs, and H-based frequency standards and cryogenic and trapped-ion technology; satellite laser tracking networks, GLONASS timing, intercomparison of national time scales and international telecommunications; telecommunications, power distribution, platform positioning, and geophysical survey industries; military communications and navigation systems; and dissemination of precise time and frequency by means of GPS, GLONASS, MIL STAR, LORAN, and synchronous communication satellites

The Time-Frequency Signatures of Advanced Seismic Signals Generated by Debris Flows

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, C. R.; Huang, C. J.; Lin, C. R.; Wang, C. C.; Kuo, B. Y.; Yin, H. Y.

2014-12-01

The seismic monitoring is expected to reveal the process of debris flow from the initial area to alluvial fan, because other field monitoring techniques, such as the video camera and the ultrasonic sensor, are limited by detection range. For this reason, seismic approaches have been used as the detection system of debris flows over the past few decades. The analysis of the signatures of the seismic signals in time and frequency domain can be used to identify the different phases of debris flow. This study dedicates to investigate the different stages of seismic signals due to debris flow, including the advanced signal, the main front, and the decaying tail. Moreover, the characteristics of the advanced signals forward to the approach of main front were discussed for the warning purpose. This study presents a permanent system, composed by two seismometers, deployed along the bank of Ai-Yu-Zi Creek in Nantou County, which is one of the active streams with debris flow in Taiwan. The three axes seismometer with frequency response of 7 sec - 200 Hz was developed by the Institute of Earth Sciences (IES), Academia Sinica for the purpose to detect debris flow. The original idea of replacing the geophone system with the seismometer technique was for catching the advanced signals propagating from the upper reach of the stream before debris flow arrival because of the high sensitivity. Besides, the low frequency seismic waves could be also early detected because of the low attenuation. However, for avoiding other unnecessary ambient vibrations, the sensitivity of seismometer should be lower than the general seismometer for detecting teleseism. Three debris flows with different mean velocities were detected in 2013 and 2014. The typical triangular shape was obviously demonstrated in time series data and the spectrograms of the seismic signals from three events. The frequency analysis showed that enormous debris flow bearing huge boulders would induce low frequency seismic

Time-frequency representation of a highly nonstationary signal via the modified Wigner distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Zoladz, T. F.; Jones, J. H.; Jong, J.

1992-01-01

A new signal analysis technique called the modified Wigner distribution (MWD) is presented. The new signal processing tool has been very successful in determining time frequency representations of highly non-stationary multicomponent signals in both simulations and trials involving actual Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) high frequency data. The MWD departs from the classic Wigner distribution (WD) in that it effectively eliminates the cross coupling among positive frequency components in a multiple component signal. This attribute of the MWD, which prevents the generation of 'phantom' spectral peaks, will undoubtedly increase the utility of the WD for real world signal analysis applications which more often than not involve multicomponent signals.

Time orientation, planning horizons and responsibility into the future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Svenson, O.; Nilsson, G.

1988-01-01

Subjects of four categories (social science students, engineering students, retired people and nuclear waste experts) were asked about past events, planning, risks and future time with emphasis on energy related issues and in particular questions concerning spent nuclear waste. Among, the results reported it was found that events in the past were located more or less correctly and that events further back systematically too close to the present. Today's responsibility into the future was judged to cover 3 to 6 generations ahead and an adequate planning horizon for a local community to be on the average 11 to 14 years. Adequate planning horizons for the handling of spent nuclear fuel were judged to be from 100 to 500 years. The responsibility for effects of today's decisions was judged to be from about 100 to 300 years into the future for environmental pollution and from about 50 to 600 years for nuclear waste. However, non-negliqable proportions of the subjects choose a more moral standpoint and gave answers indicating that responsibility had to be unlimited. Some sex differences were found and an interaction with age offered as a hypothesis to be investigated in the future. Interrelations between clusters of questions revealed some links from past time and planning to judgements of environmental and nuclear power related risks. (orig.)

A Method of Signal Timing Optimization for Spillover Dissipation in Urban Street Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongfang Ma

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The precise identification and quick dissipation of spillovers are critically important in a traffic control system, especially when heavy congestion occurs. This paper first presents a calculation method for the occupancy per cycle under different traffic conditions and identifies the threshold of occupancy that characterizes the formation of spillovers. Then, capacity adjustments are determined for the incoming and outgoing streams of bottleneck links, with the aim of dissipating the queue to a permissible length within a given period of time, and optimization schemes are defined to calculate splits for the upstream and downstream intersections. Finally, taking average vehicular delay, outputs per cycle, and maximum queue length on the bottleneck link as the evaluation indices, the method of dissipating spillovers proposed in this paper is evaluated using a VISSIM simulation. The results show that the maximum queue length on the bottleneck link and the average vehicular delay at the upstream and downstream intersections decrease significantly under the new signal control plan; meanwhile, the new control schemes have little influence on the outputs of the two intersections per cycle.

Minimum Time Path Planning for Robotic Manipulator in Drilling/ Spot Welding Tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiang Zhang

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a minimum time path planning strategy is proposed for multi points manufacturing problems in drilling/spot welding tasks. By optimizing the travelling schedule of the set points and the detailed transfer path between points, the minimum time manufacturing task is realized under fully utilizing the dynamic performance of robotic manipulator. According to the start-stop movement in drilling/spot welding task, the path planning problem can be converted into a traveling salesman problem (TSP and a series of point to point minimum time transfer path planning problems. Cubic Hermite interpolation polynomial is used to parameterize the transfer path and then the path parameters are optimized to obtain minimum point to point transfer time. A new TSP with minimum time index is constructed by using point-point transfer time as the TSP parameter. The classical genetic algorithm (GA is applied to obtain the optimal travelling schedule. Several minimum time drilling tasks of a 3-DOF robotic manipulator are used as examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Earthquake early warning system using real-time signal processing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leach, R.R. Jr.; Dowla, F.U.

1996-02-01

An earthquake warning system has been developed to provide a time series profile from which vital parameters such as the time until strong shaking begins, the intensity of the shaking, and the duration of the shaking, can be derived. Interaction of different types of ground motion and changes in the elastic properties of geological media throughout the propagation path result in a highly nonlinear function. We use neural networks to model these nonlinearities and develop learning techniques for the analysis of temporal precursors occurring in the emerging earthquake seismic signal. The warning system is designed to analyze the first-arrival from the three components of an earthquake signal and instantaneously provide a profile of impending ground motion, in as little as 0.3 sec after first ground motion is felt at the sensors. For each new data sample, at a rate of 25 samples per second, the complete profile of the earthquake is updated. The profile consists of a magnitude-related estimate as well as an estimate of the envelope of the complete earthquake signal. The envelope provides estimates of damage parameters, such as time until peak ground acceleration (PGA) and duration. The neural network based system is trained using seismogram data from more than 400 earthquakes recorded in southern California. The system has been implemented in hardware using silicon accelerometers and a standard microprocessor. The proposed warning units can be used for site-specific applications, distributed networks, or to enhance existing distributed networks. By producing accurate, and informative warnings, the system has the potential to significantly minimize the hazards of catastrophic ground motion. Detailed system design and performance issues, including error measurement in a simple warning scenario are discussed in detail.

GPU-accelerated ray-tracing for real-time treatment planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heinrich, H; Ziegenhein, P; Kamerling, C P; Oelfke, U; Froening, H

2014-01-01

Dose calculation methods in radiotherapy treatment planning require the radiological depth information of the voxels that represent the patient volume to correct for tissue inhomogeneities. This information is acquired by time consuming ray-tracing-based calculations. For treatment planning scenarios with changing geometries and real-time constraints this is a severe bottleneck. We implemented an algorithm for the graphics processing unit (GPU) which implements a ray-matrix approach to reduce the number of rays to trace. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of different strategies of accessing memory in kernel implementations as well as strategies for rapid data transfers between main memory and memory of the graphics device. Our study included the overlapping of computations and memory transfers to reduce the overall runtime using Hyper-Q. We tested our approach on a prostate case (9 beams, coplanar). The measured execution times for a complete ray-tracing range from 28 msec for the computations on the GPU to 99 msec when considering data transfers to and from the graphics device. Our GPU-based algorithm performed the ray-tracing in real-time. The strategies efficiently reduce the time consumption of memory accesses and data transfer overhead. The achieved runtimes demonstrate the viability of this approach and allow improved real-time performance for dose calculation methods in clinical routine.

Robust real-time extraction of respiratory signals from PET list-mode data.

Science.gov (United States)

Salomon, Andre; Zhang, Bin; Olivier, Patrick; Goedicke, Andreas

2018-05-01

Respiratory motion, which typically cannot simply be suspended during PET image acquisition, affects lesions' detection and quantitative accuracy inside or in close vicinity to the lungs. Some motion compensation techniques address this issue via pre-sorting ("binning") of the acquired PET data into a set of temporal gates, where each gate is assumed to be minimally affected by respiratory motion. Tracking respiratory motion is typically realized using dedicated hardware (e.g. using respiratory belts and digital cameras). Extracting respiratory signalsdirectly from the acquired PET data simplifies the clinical workflow as it avoids to handle additional signal measurement equipment. We introduce a new data-driven method "Combined Local Motion Detection" (CLMD). It uses the Time-of-Flight (TOF) information provided by state-of-the-art PET scanners in order to enable real-time respiratory signal extraction without additional hardware resources. CLMD applies center-of-mass detection in overlapping regions based on simple back-positioned TOF event sets acquired in short time frames. Following a signal filtering and quality-based pre-selection step, the remaining extracted individual position information over time is then combined to generate a global respiratory signal. The method is evaluated using 7 measured FDG studies from single and multiple scan positions of the thorax region, and it is compared to other software-based methods regarding quantitative accuracy and statistical noise stability. Correlation coefficients around 90% between the reference and the extracted signal have been found for those PET scans where motion affected features such as tumors or hot regions were present in the PET field-of-view. For PET scans with a quarter of typically applied radiotracer doses, the CLMD method still provides similar high correlation coefficients which indicates its robustness to noise. Each CLMD processing needed less than 0.4s in total on a standard multi-core CPU

Reducing dose calculation time for accurate iterative IMRT planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siebers, Jeffrey V.; Lauterbach, Marc; Tong, Shidong; Wu Qiuwen; Mohan, Radhe

2002-01-01

A time-consuming component of IMRT optimization is the dose computation required in each iteration for the evaluation of the objective function. Accurate superposition/convolution (SC) and Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations are currently considered too time-consuming for iterative IMRT dose calculation. Thus, fast, but less accurate algorithms such as pencil beam (PB) algorithms are typically used in most current IMRT systems. This paper describes two hybrid methods that utilize the speed of fast PB algorithms yet achieve the accuracy of optimizing based upon SC algorithms via the application of dose correction matrices. In one method, the ratio method, an infrequently computed voxel-by-voxel dose ratio matrix (R=D SC /D PB ) is applied for each beam to the dose distributions calculated with the PB method during the optimization. That is, D PB xR is used for the dose calculation during the optimization. The optimization proceeds until both the IMRT beam intensities and the dose correction ratio matrix converge. In the second method, the correction method, a periodically computed voxel-by-voxel correction matrix for each beam, defined to be the difference between the SC and PB dose computations, is used to correct PB dose distributions. To validate the methods, IMRT treatment plans developed with the hybrid methods are compared with those obtained when the SC algorithm is used for all optimization iterations and with those obtained when PB-based optimization is followed by SC-based optimization. In the 12 patient cases studied, no clinically significant differences exist in the final treatment plans developed with each of the dose computation methodologies. However, the number of time-consuming SC iterations is reduced from 6-32 for pure SC optimization to four or less for the ratio matrix method and five or less for the correction method. Because the PB algorithm is faster at computing dose, this reduces the inverse planning optimization time for our implementation

SIBYLLE: an expert system for the interpretation in real time of mono-dimensional signals; application to vocal signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Minault, Sophie

1987-01-01

This report presents an interactive tool for computer aided building of signals processing and interpretation systems. This tool includes three main parts: - an expert system, - a rule compiler, - a real time procedural system. The expert system allows the acquisition of knowledge about the signal. Knowledge has to be formalized as a set of rewriting rules (or syntaxical rules) and is introduced with an interactive interface. The compiler makes a compilation of the knowledge base (the set of rules) and generates a procedural system, which is equivalent to the expert system. The generated procedural system is a fixed one but is much faster than the expert system: it can work in real time. The expert system is used along the experimental phase on a small corpus of data: the knowledge base is then tested and possibly modified thanks to the interactive interface. Once the knowledge base is steady enough, the procedural system is generated and tested on a bigger data corpus. This allows to perform significant statistical studies which generally induce some corrections at the expert system level. The overall constitutes a tool which conciliates the expert systems flexibility with the procedural systems speed. It has been used for building a set of recognition rules modules on vocal signal - module of sound-silence detection - module of voiced-unvoiced segmentation - module of synchronous pitch detection. Its possibilities are not limited to the study of vocal signal, but can be enlarged to any mono-dimensional signal processing. A feasibility study has been realised for an electrocardiograms application. (author) [fr

Precise timing signal transmission by a new optical fiber cable

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Shigeru; Murakami, Yasunori; Sato, Yoshihiro; Urakawa, Junji.

1990-05-01

For the precise timing signal transmission, a new optical fiber cable system was developed and installed between the 2.5GeV LINAC gun room and the TRISTAN control room. This fiber cable showed the reduced thermal transmission delay change less than 10psec/km in the temperature range from -20 to 30degC (average 0.04ppm/degC), which is 100 times smaller than that of any other existing coaxial cables and conventional optical fiber cables. The developed optical to electrical (O/E) and electrical to optical (E/O) converters also achieved the timing accuracy within 11psec over the temperature range from 10 to 35degC. The installed cable system in KEK eliminated the necessity of adjusting the phase drift of the TRISTAN Accumulation Ring (AR) RF signal (508MHz), which was required with the former coaxial cable due to the temperature change in a year. Measured full width of jitter over the installed 1600m fiber link was 18.8psec. (author)

ISS Operations Cost Reductions Through Automation of Real-Time Planning Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Timothy A.

2011-01-01

In 2008 the Johnson Space Center s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) management team challenged their organization to find ways to reduce the costs of International Space station (ISS) console operations in the Mission Control Center (MCC). Each MOD organization was asked to identify projects that would help them attain a goal of a 30% reduction in operating costs by 2012. The MOD Operations and Planning organization responded to this challenge by launching several software automation projects that would allow them to greatly improve ISS console operations and reduce staffing and operating costs. These projects to date have allowed the MOD Operations organization to remove one full time (7 x 24 x 365) ISS console position in 2010; with the plan of eliminating two full time ISS console support positions by 2012. This will account for an overall 10 EP reduction in staffing for the Operations and Planning organization. These automation projects focused on utilizing software to automate many administrative and often repetitive tasks involved with processing ISS planning and daily operations information. This information was exchanged between the ground flight control teams in Houston and around the globe, as well as with the ISS astronaut crew. These tasks ranged from managing mission plan changes from around the globe, to uploading and downloading information to and from the ISS crew, to even more complex tasks that required multiple decision points to process the data, track approvals and deliver it to the correct recipient across network and security boundaries. The software solutions leveraged several different technologies including customized web applications and implementation of industry standard web services architecture between several planning tools; as well as a engaging a previously research level technology (TRL 2-3) developed by Ames Research Center (ARC) that utilized an intelligent agent based system to manage and automate file traffic flow

Some factors affecting time reversal signal reconstruction

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Převorovský, Zdeněk; Kober, Jan

2015-01-01

Roč. 70, September (2015), s. 604-608 ISSN 1875-3892. [ICU International Congress on Ultrasonics 2015. Metz, 10.05.2015-15.05.2015] Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : nondestructive testing * time reversal signal processing * ultrasonic source reconstruction * acoustic emission * coda wave interferometry Subject RIV: BI - Acoustic s http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1875389215007762/1-s2.0-S1875389215007762-main.pdf?_tid=1513a4a2-9e5b-11e5-9693-00000aab0f27&acdnat=1449655153_455a4e32a1135236d0796c3f973ff58e

Dynamic time warping and machine learning for signal quality assessment of pulsatile signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Q; Clifford, G D

2012-01-01

In this work, we describe a beat-by-beat method for assessing the clinical utility of pulsatile waveforms, primarily recorded from cardiovascular blood volume or pressure changes, concentrating on the photoplethysmogram (PPG). Physiological blood flow is nonstationary, with pulses changing in height, width and morphology due to changes in heart rate, cardiac output, sensor type and hardware or software pre-processing requirements. Moreover, considerable inter-individual and sensor-location variability exists. Simple template matching methods are therefore inappropriate, and a patient-specific adaptive initialization is therefore required. We introduce dynamic time warping to stretch each beat to match a running template and combine it with several other features related to signal quality, including correlation and the percentage of the beat that appeared to be clipped. The features were then presented to a multi-layer perceptron neural network to learn the relationships between the parameters in the presence of good- and bad-quality pulses. An expert-labeled database of 1055 segments of PPG, each 6 s long, recorded from 104 separate critical care admissions during both normal and verified arrhythmic events, was used to train and test our algorithms. An accuracy of 97.5% on the training set and 95.2% on test set was found. The algorithm could be deployed as a stand-alone signal quality assessment algorithm for vetting the clinical utility of PPG traces or any similar quasi-periodic signal. (paper)

Dynamic time warping and machine learning for signal quality assessment of pulsatile signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Q; Clifford, G D

2012-09-01

In this work, we describe a beat-by-beat method for assessing the clinical utility of pulsatile waveforms, primarily recorded from cardiovascular blood volume or pressure changes, concentrating on the photoplethysmogram (PPG). Physiological blood flow is nonstationary, with pulses changing in height, width and morphology due to changes in heart rate, cardiac output, sensor type and hardware or software pre-processing requirements. Moreover, considerable inter-individual and sensor-location variability exists. Simple template matching methods are therefore inappropriate, and a patient-specific adaptive initialization is therefore required. We introduce dynamic time warping to stretch each beat to match a running template and combine it with several other features related to signal quality, including correlation and the percentage of the beat that appeared to be clipped. The features were then presented to a multi-layer perceptron neural network to learn the relationships between the parameters in the presence of good- and bad-quality pulses. An expert-labeled database of 1055 segments of PPG, each 6 s long, recorded from 104 separate critical care admissions during both normal and verified arrhythmic events, was used to train and test our algorithms. An accuracy of 97.5% on the training set and 95.2% on test set was found. The algorithm could be deployed as a stand-alone signal quality assessment algorithm for vetting the clinical utility of PPG traces or any similar quasi-periodic signal.

Using hyperentanglement to enhance resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and measurement time

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, James F.

2017-03-01

A hyperentanglement-based atmospheric imaging/detection system involving only a signal and an ancilla photon will be considered for optical and infrared frequencies. Only the signal photon will propagate in the atmosphere and its loss will be classical. The ancilla photon will remain within the sensor experiencing low loss. Closed form expressions for the wave function, normalization, density operator, reduced density operator, symmetrized logarithmic derivative, quantum Fisher information, quantum Cramer-Rao lower bound, coincidence probabilities, probability of detection, probability of false alarm, probability of error after M measurements, signal-to-noise ratio, quantum Chernoff bound, time-on-target expressions related to probability of error, and resolution will be provided. The effect of noise in every mode will be included as well as loss. The system will provide the basic design for an imaging/detection system functioning at optical or infrared frequencies that offers better than classical angular and range resolution. Optimization for enhanced resolution will be included. The signal-to-noise ratio will be increased by a factor equal to the number of modes employed during the hyperentanglement process. Likewise, the measurement time can be reduced by the same factor. The hyperentanglement generator will typically make use of entanglement in polarization, energy-time, orbital angular momentum and so on. Mathematical results will be provided describing the system's performance as a function of loss mechanisms and noise.

Traffic design and signal timing of staggered intersections based on a sorting strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhengyi Cai

2016-04-01

Full Text Available A staggered intersection is a special type of intersection in a road network. Its geographical characteristics consist of two T-legged intersections that cause the lost time per cycle to become longer than at cross intersections under conventional signal control, thus leading to low intersection efficiency. This article shows that the problem can be eliminated at the left–right type of staggered intersection by channelization and signal phasing, based on a sorting strategy and pre-signal, which reduce the amount of lost time during the signal cycle using the split distance as the sorting area. VISSIM was used to model and analyze the proposed method as well as the conventional method for comparison purposes. The simulation revealed that the proposed method reduced the average delays and maximum queue lengths in each movement and for the entire intersection, both in the peak hours and in the off-peak hour.

Micro-Doppler Signal Time-Frequency Algorithm Based on STFRFT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cunsuo Pang

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a time-frequency algorithm based on short-time fractional order Fourier transformation (STFRFT for identification of a complicated movement targets. This algorithm, consisting of a STFRFT order-changing and quick selection method, is effective in reducing the computation load. A multi-order STFRFT time-frequency algorithm is also developed that makes use of the time-frequency feature of each micro-Doppler component signal. This algorithm improves the estimation accuracy of time-frequency curve fitting through multi-order matching. Finally, experiment data were used to demonstrate STFRFT’s performance in micro-Doppler time-frequency analysis. The results validated the higher estimate accuracy of the proposed algorithm. It may be applied to an LFM (Linear frequency modulated pulse radar, SAR (Synthetic aperture radar, or ISAR (Inverse synthetic aperture radar, for improving the probability of target recognition.

Micro-Doppler Signal Time-Frequency Algorithm Based on STFRFT.

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Cunsuo; Han, Yan; Hou, Huiling; Liu, Shengheng; Zhang, Nan

2016-09-24

This paper proposes a time-frequency algorithm based on short-time fractional order Fourier transformation (STFRFT) for identification of a complicated movement targets. This algorithm, consisting of a STFRFT order-changing and quick selection method, is effective in reducing the computation load. A multi-order STFRFT time-frequency algorithm is also developed that makes use of the time-frequency feature of each micro-Doppler component signal. This algorithm improves the estimation accuracy of time-frequency curve fitting through multi-order matching. Finally, experiment data were used to demonstrate STFRFT's performance in micro-Doppler time-frequency analysis. The results validated the higher estimate accuracy of the proposed algorithm. It may be applied to an LFM (Linear frequency modulated) pulse radar, SAR (Synthetic aperture radar), or ISAR (Inverse synthetic aperture radar), for improving the probability of target recognition.

Real-time and high accuracy frequency measurements for intermediate frequency narrowband signals

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Jing; Meng, Xiaofeng; Nie, Jing; Lin, Liwei

2018-01-01

Real-time and accurate measurements of intermediate frequency signals based on microprocessors are difficult due to the computational complexity and limited time constraints. In this paper, a fast and precise methodology based on the sigma-delta modulator is designed and implemented by first generating the twiddle factors using the designed recursive scheme. This scheme requires zero times of multiplications and only half amounts of addition operations by using the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and the combination of the Rife algorithm and Fourier coefficient interpolation as compared with conventional methods such as DFT and Fast Fourier Transform. Experimentally, when the sampling frequency is 10 MHz, the real-time frequency measurements with intermediate frequency and narrowband signals have a measurement mean squared error of ±2.4 Hz. Furthermore, a single measurement of the whole system only requires approximately 0.3 s to achieve fast iteration, high precision, and less calculation time.

Effects of timing of signal indicating jump directions on knee biomechanics in jump-landing-jump tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephenson, Mitchell L; Hinshaw, Taylour J; Wadley, Haley A; Zhu, Qin; Wilson, Margaret A; Byra, Mark; Dai, Boyi

2018-03-01

A variety of the available time to react (ATR) has been utilised to study knee biomechanics during reactive jump-landing tasks. The purpose was to quantify knee kinematics and kinetics during a jump-land-jump task of three possible directions as the ATR was reduced. Thirty-four recreational athletes performed 45 trials of a jump-land-jump task, during which the direction of the second jump (lateral, medial or vertical) was indicated before they initiated the first jump, the instant they initiated the first jump, 300 ms before landing, 150 ms before landing or at the instant of landing. Knee joint angles and moments close to the instant of landing were significantly different when the ATR was equal to or more than 300 ms before landing, but became similar when the ATR was 150 ms or 0 ms before landing. As the ATR was decreased, knee moments decreased for the medial jump direction, but increased for the lateral jump direction. When the ATR is shorter than an individual's reaction time, the movement pattern cannot be pre-planned before landing. Knee biomechanics are dependent on the timing of the signal and the subsequent jump direction. Precise control of timing and screening athletes with low ATR are suggested.

Antipersistent dynamics in short time scale variability of self-potential signals

OpenAIRE

Cuomo, V.; Lanfredi, M.; Lapenna, V.; Macchiato, M.; Ragosta, M.; Telesca, L.

2000-01-01

Time scale properties of self-potential signals are investigated through the analysis of the second order structure function (variogram), a powerful tool to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of observational data. In this work we analyse two sequences of self-potential values measured by means of a geophysical monitoring array located in a seismically active area of Southern Italy. The range of scales investigated goes from a few minutes to several days. It is shown that signal...

Multimodal signal variation in space and time : how important is matching a signal with its signaler?

OpenAIRE

Taylor, Ryan C.; Klein, Barrett; Stein, Joey; Ryan, Michael J.

2011-01-01

Multimodal signals (acoustic+visual) are known to be used by many anuran amphibians during courtship displays. The relative degree to which each signal component influences female mate choice, however, remains poorly understood. In this study we used a robotic frog with an inflating vocal sac and acoustic playbacks to document responses of female túngara frogs to unimodal signal components (acoustic and visual). We then tested female responses to a synchronous multimodal signal. Finally, we t...

Microcomputer-based real-time optical signal processing system

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, F. T. S.; Cao, M. F.; Ludman, J. E.

1986-01-01

A microcomputer-based real-time programmable optical signal processing system utilizing a Magneto-Optic Spatial Light Modulator (MOSLM) and a Liquid Crystal Light Valve (LCLV) is described. This system can perform a myriad of complicated optical operations, such as image correlation, image subtraction, matrix multiplication and many others. The important assets of this proposed system must be the programmability and the capability of real-time addressing. The design specification and the progress toward practical implementation of this proposed system are discussed. Some preliminary experimental demonstrations are conducted. The feasible applications of this proposed system to image correlation for optical pattern recognition, image subtraction for IC chip inspection and matrix multiplication for optical computing are demonstrated.

Spectrogram analysis of selected tremor signals using short-time Fourier transform and continuous wavelet transform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Seidl

1999-06-01

Full Text Available Among a variety of spectrogram methods Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT and Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT were selected to analyse transients in non-stationary tremor signals. Depending on the properties of the tremor signal a more suitable representation of the signal is gained by CWT. Three selected broadband tremor signals from the volcanos Mt. Stromboli, Mt. Semeru and Mt. Pinatubo were analyzed using both methods. The CWT can also be used to extend the definition of coherency into a time-varying coherency spectrogram. An example is given using array data from the volcano Mt. Stromboli.

Engineering satellite-based navigation and timing global navigation satellite systems, signals, and receivers

CERN Document Server

Betz, J

2016-01-01

This book describes the design and performance analysis of satnav systems, signals, and receivers. It also provides succinct descriptions and comparisons of all the world’s satnav systems. Its comprehensive and logical structure addresses all satnav signals and systems in operation and being developed. Engineering Satellite-Based Navigation and Timing: Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Signals, and Receivers provides the technical foundation for designing and analyzing satnav signals, systems, and receivers. Its contents and structure address all satnav systems and signals: legacy, modernized, and new. It combines qualitative information with detailed techniques and analyses, providing a comprehensive set of insights and engineering tools for this complex multidisciplinary field. Part I describes system and signal engineering including orbital mechanics and constellation design, signal design principles and underlying considerations, link budgets, qua tifying receiver performance in interference, and e...

Time difference of arrival estimation of microseismic signals based on alpha-stable distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Rui-Sheng; Gong, Yue; Peng, Yan-Jun; Sun, Hong-Mei; Zhang, Xing-Li; Lu, Xin-Ming

2018-05-01

Microseismic signals are generally considered to follow the Gauss distribution. A comparison of the dynamic characteristics of sample variance and the symmetry of microseismic signals with the signals which follow α-stable distribution reveals that the microseismic signals have obvious pulse characteristics and that the probability density curve of the microseismic signal is approximately symmetric. Thus, the hypothesis that microseismic signals follow the symmetric α-stable distribution is proposed. On the premise of this hypothesis, the characteristic exponent α of the microseismic signals is obtained by utilizing the fractional low-order statistics, and then a new method of time difference of arrival (TDOA) estimation of microseismic signals based on fractional low-order covariance (FLOC) is proposed. Upon applying this method to the TDOA estimation of Ricker wavelet simulation signals and real microseismic signals, experimental results show that the FLOC method, which is based on the assumption of the symmetric α-stable distribution, leads to enhanced spatial resolution of the TDOA estimation relative to the generalized cross correlation (GCC) method, which is based on the assumption of the Gaussian distribution.

Real-Time EEG Signal Enhancement Using Canonical Correlation Analysis and Gaussian Mixture Clustering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chin-Teng Lin

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Electroencephalogram (EEG signals are usually contaminated with various artifacts, such as signal associated with muscle activity, eye movement, and body motion, which have a noncerebral origin. The amplitude of such artifacts is larger than that of the electrical activity of the brain, so they mask the cortical signals of interest, resulting in biased analysis and interpretation. Several blind source separation methods have been developed to remove artifacts from the EEG recordings. However, the iterative process for measuring separation within multichannel recordings is computationally intractable. Moreover, manually excluding the artifact components requires a time-consuming offline process. This work proposes a real-time artifact removal algorithm that is based on canonical correlation analysis (CCA, feature extraction, and the Gaussian mixture model (GMM to improve the quality of EEG signals. The CCA was used to decompose EEG signals into components followed by feature extraction to extract representative features and GMM to cluster these features into groups to recognize and remove artifacts. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm was demonstrated by effectively removing artifacts caused by blinks, head/body movement, and chewing from EEG recordings while preserving the temporal and spectral characteristics of the signals that are important to cognitive research.

Dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of signals over time.

Science.gov (United States)

Jack, Rachael E; Garrod, Oliver G B; Schyns, Philippe G

2014-01-20

Designed by biological and social evolutionary pressures, facial expressions of emotion comprise specific facial movements to support a near-optimal system of signaling and decoding. Although highly dynamical, little is known about the form and function of facial expression temporal dynamics. Do facial expressions transmit diagnostic signals simultaneously to optimize categorization of the six classic emotions, or sequentially to support a more complex communication system of successive categorizations over time? Our data support the latter. Using a combination of perceptual expectation modeling, information theory, and Bayesian classifiers, we show that dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of "biologically basic to socially specific" information over time. Early in the signaling dynamics, facial expressions systematically transmit few, biologically rooted face signals supporting the categorization of fewer elementary categories (e.g., approach/avoidance). Later transmissions comprise more complex signals that support categorization of a larger number of socially specific categories (i.e., the six classic emotions). Here, we show that dynamic facial expressions of emotion provide a sophisticated signaling system, questioning the widely accepted notion that emotion communication is comprised of six basic (i.e., psychologically irreducible) categories, and instead suggesting four. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical Time-Division Multiplexing of 10 Gbit/s Ethernet Signals Synchronized by All-Optical Signal Processing Based on a Time-Lens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Areal, Janaina Laguardia

This Thesis presents 3 years work of an optical circuit that performs both pulse compression and frame synchronization and retiming. Our design aims at directly multiplexing several 10G Ethernet data packets (frames) to a high-speed OTDM link. This scheme is optically transparent and does not req...... coupler, completing the OTDM signal generation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the design by laboratory experiments and simulations with VPI and MatLab....... not require clock recovery, resulting in a potentially very efficient solution. The scheme uses a time-lens, implemented through a sinusoidally driven optical phase modulation, combined with a linear dispersion element. As time-lenses are also used for pulse compression, we design the circuit also to perform...

Simulation and real-time replacement of missing plasma signals for disruption prediction: an implementation with APODIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rattá, G A; Vega, J; Murari, A

2014-01-01

So far, the best results for real-time disruption prediction on the Joint European Torus (JET) have been achieved with the Advanced Predictor of Disruptions (APODIS). APODIS is a data-driven system whose latest version has been implemented in JET's real time-data network. It has been designed for the real-time analysis of features (mean and frequency values) corresponding to seven plasma signals in order to foresee upcoming disruptions. In this article, non-linear regression techniques are applied to create (off-line) signal models. The models are able to generate (in real-time) ‘synthetic’ signals. Therefore, these ‘synthetic’ signals can be used to replace the original ones in cases where they are in error or missing. APODIS has been tested under these conditions, emulating real-time operation. The simulation results demonstrate that once a signal in error is replaced by the generated ‘synthetic’ one, APODIS performance is considerably improved. The development of the regression models and the implications of the results are detailed and discussed in this paper. (paper)

Study on the ratio of signal to noise for single photon resolution time spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Zhaomin; Huang Shengli; Xu Zizong; Wu Chong

2001-01-01

The ratio of signal to noise for single photon resolution time spectrometer and their influence factors were studied. A method to depress the background, to shorten the measurement time and to increase the ratio of signal to noise was discussed. Results show that ratio of signal to noise is proportional to solid angle of detector to source and detection efficiency, and inverse proportional to electronics noise. Choose the activity of the source was important for decreasing of random coincidence counting. To use a coincidence gate and a discriminator of single photon were an effective way of increasing measurement accuracy and detection efficiency

Improved real-time dosimetry using the radioluminescence signal from Al2O3:C

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Damkjaer, S.M.S.; Andersen, C.E.; Aznar, M.C.

2008-01-01

Carbon-doped aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 :C) is a highly sensitive luminescence material for ionizing radiation dosimetry, and it is well established that the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) signal from Al 2 O 3 :C can be used for absorbed-dose measurements. During irradiation, Al 2 O 3 :C also emits prompt radioluminescence (RL) which allows for real-time dose verification. The RL-signal is not linear in the absorbed dose due to sensitivity changes and the presence of shallow traps. Despite this the signal can be processed to obtain a reliable dose rate signal in real time. Previously a simple algorithm for correcting the RL-signal has been published and here we report two improvements: a better and more stable calibration method which is independent of a reference dose rate and a correction for the effect of the shallow traps. Good agreement was found between reference doses and doses derived from the RL-signal using the new algorithm (the standard deviation of the residuals were ∼2% including phantom positioning errors). The RL-algorithm was found to greatly reduce the influence of shallow traps in the range from 0 to 3 Gy and the RL dose-rate measurements with a time resolution of 0.1 s closely matched dose-rate changes monitored with an ionization chamber

Perceptual Coding of Audio Signals Using Adaptive Time-Frequency Transform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Umapathy Karthikeyan

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Wide band digital audio signals have a very high data-rate associated with them due to their complex nature and demand for high-quality reproduction. Although recent technological advancements have significantly reduced the cost of bandwidth and miniaturized storage facilities, the rapid increase in the volume of digital audio content constantly compels the need for better compression algorithms. Over the years various perceptually lossless compression techniques have been introduced, and transform-based compression techniques have made a significant impact in recent years. In this paper, we propose one such transform-based compression technique, where the joint time-frequency (TF properties of the nonstationary nature of the audio signals were exploited in creating a compact energy representation of the signal in fewer coefficients. The decomposition coefficients were processed and perceptually filtered to retain only the relevant coefficients. Perceptual filtering (psychoacoustics was applied in a novel way by analyzing and performing TF specific psychoacoustics experiments. An added advantage of the proposed technique is that, due to its signal adaptive nature, it does not need predetermined segmentation of audio signals for processing. Eight stereo audio signal samples of different varieties were used in the study. Subjective (mean opinion score—MOS listening tests were performed and the subjective difference grades (SDG were used to compare the performance of the proposed coder with MP3, AAC, and HE-AAC encoders. Compression ratios in the range of 8 to 40 were achieved by the proposed technique with subjective difference grades (SDG ranging from –0.53 to –2.27.

Real-time trafficking and signaling of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roed, Sarah Noerklit; Wismann, Pernille; Underwood, Christina Rye

2014-01-01

The glucagon-like peptide-1 incretin receptor (GLP-1R) of family B G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is a major drug target in type-2-diabetes due to its regulatory effect on post-prandial blood-glucose levels. The mechanism(s) controlling GLP-1R mediated signaling are far from fully understood....... A fundamental mechanism controlling the signaling capacity of GPCRs is the post-endocytic trafficking of receptors between recycling and degradative fates. Here, we combined microscopy with novel real-time assays to monitor both receptor trafficking and signaling in living cells. We find that the human GLP-1R...

Front-end data reduction of diagnostic signals by real-time digital filtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zasche, D.; Fahrbach, H.U.; Harmeyer, E.

1984-01-01

Diagnostic measurements on a fusion plasma with high resolution in space, time and signal amplitude involve handling large amounts of data. In the design of the soft-X-ray pinhole camera diagnostic for JET (100 detectors in 2 cameras) a new approach to this problem was found. The analogue-to-digital conversion is performed continuously at the highest sample rate of 200 kHz, lower sample rates (10 kHz, 1 kHz, 100 Hz) are obtained by real-time digital filters which calculate weighted averages over consecutive samples and are undersampled at their outputs to reduce the data rate. At any time, the signals from all detectors are available at all possible data rates in ring buffers. The appropriate data rate can always be recorded on demand. (author)

Photonics-based real-time ultra-high-range-resolution radar with broadband signal generation and processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Fangzheng; Guo, Qingshui; Pan, Shilong

2017-10-23

Real-time and high-resolution target detection is highly desirable in modern radar applications. Electronic techniques have encountered grave difficulties in the development of such radars, which strictly rely on a large instantaneous bandwidth. In this article, a photonics-based real-time high-range-resolution radar is proposed with optical generation and processing of broadband linear frequency modulation (LFM) signals. A broadband LFM signal is generated in the transmitter by photonic frequency quadrupling, and the received echo is de-chirped to a low frequency signal by photonic frequency mixing. The system can operate at a high frequency and a large bandwidth while enabling real-time processing by low-speed analog-to-digital conversion and digital signal processing. A conceptual radar is established. Real-time processing of an 8-GHz LFM signal is achieved with a sampling rate of 500 MSa/s. Accurate distance measurement is implemented with a maximum error of 4 mm within a range of ~3.5 meters. Detection of two targets is demonstrated with a range-resolution as high as 1.875 cm. We believe the proposed radar architecture is a reliable solution to overcome the limitations of current radar on operation bandwidth and processing speed, and it is hopefully to be used in future radars for real-time and high-resolution target detection and imaging.

Economic planning: Time to reconsider?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kafouros Wassily

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Together with the collapse of what was once called the socialist system, was also the collapse of research on any other form of economic organization of a society. Administrative methods for running an economy, with economic planning foremost among them, were inseparably linked to the collapse of the socialist system and, in essence, were held responsible for it. Thus, although the dominant economic paradigm has once again failed to deliver in recent years, the research for other methods fell into oblivion along with the system they were attached to. This work represents an attempt to reconsider the potential of economic planning as a means of organizing an economy at various levels, at various degrees and in various environments. I shall try to illustrate that the blame for the collapse of different socialist systems should not have fallen on the systemic deficiencies of economic planning but, instead, on the political institutions responsible for its application. In addition, I will stress that economic planning has been condemned by non-economic parameters and the application of wrong planning methods. In making this argument I hope to provide an angle through which the discussion of economic organization can be opened to a broader scope of research.

Advanced Optical Signal Processing using Time Lens based Optical Fourier Transformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guan, Pengyu; Røge, Kasper Meldgaard; Lillieholm, Mads

2016-01-01

An overview of recent progress on time lens based advanced optical signal processing is presented, with a special focus on all-optical ultrafast 640 Gbit/s all-channel serial-to-parallel conversion, and scalable WDM regeneration....

Simulation of time of flight defraction signals for reactor vessel head penetrations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lim, Tae Hun; Kim, Young Sik; Lee, Jeong Seok [KHNP Central Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-08-15

The simulation of nondestructive testing has been used in the prediction of the signal characteristics of various defects and in the development of the procedures. CIVA, a simulation tool dedicated to nondestructive testing, has good accuracy and speed, and provides a three-dimensional graphical user interface for improved visualization and familiar data displays consistent with an NDE technique. Even though internal validations have been performed by the CIVA software development specialists, an independent validation study is necessary for the assessment of the accuracy of the software prior to practical use. In this study, time of flight diffraction signals of ultrasonic inspection of a calibration block for reactor vessel head penetrations were simulated using CIVA. The results were compared to the experimentally inspected signals. The accuracy of the simulated signals and the possible range for simulation were verified. It was found that, there is a good agreement between the CIVA simulated and experimental results in the A-scan signal, B-scan image, and measurement of depth.

Simulation of time of flight defraction signals for reactor vessel head penetrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, Tae Hun; Kim, Young Sik; Lee, Jeong Seok

2016-01-01

The simulation of nondestructive testing has been used in the prediction of the signal characteristics of various defects and in the development of the procedures. CIVA, a simulation tool dedicated to nondestructive testing, has good accuracy and speed, and provides a three-dimensional graphical user interface for improved visualization and familiar data displays consistent with an NDE technique. Even though internal validations have been performed by the CIVA software development specialists, an independent validation study is necessary for the assessment of the accuracy of the software prior to practical use. In this study, time of flight diffraction signals of ultrasonic inspection of a calibration block for reactor vessel head penetrations were simulated using CIVA. The results were compared to the experimentally inspected signals. The accuracy of the simulated signals and the possible range for simulation were verified. It was found that, there is a good agreement between the CIVA simulated and experimental results in the A-scan signal, B-scan image, and measurement of depth

Discrepancies Between Planned and Actual Operating Room Turnaround Times at a Large Rural Hospital in Germany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Regula Morgenegg

2018-01-01

retrospective study examined the OR turnaround data of 875 elective surgery cases scheduled at the Marienhospital, Vechta, Germany, between July and October 2014. The frequency distributions of planned and actual OR turnaround times were compared and correlations between turnaround times and various factors were established, including the time of day of the procedure, patient age and the planned duration of the surgery. Results: There was a significant difference between mean planned and actual OR turnaround times (0.32 versus 0.64 hours; P <0.001. In addition, significant correlations were noted between actual OR turnaround times and the time of day of the surgery, patient age, actual duration of the procedure and staffing changes affecting the surgeon or the medical specialty of the surgery (P <0.001 each. The quotient of actual/planned OR turnaround times ranged from 1.733–3.000. Conclusion: Significant discrepancies between planned and actual OR turnaround times were noted during the study period. Such findings may be potentially used in future studies to establish a tool to improve OR planning, measure OR management performance and enable benchmarking.

Production, staff, working time and financial planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Orlando Boiteux

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Aggregate planning can be a tool for coordinating the tactical decisions belonging to some functional areas of a company. This potential has been limited due to methodological and technical reasons, but nowadays it is possible to solve very sophisticated models integrating, with a high level of detail, a great number of decisions of several functional areas and that permit to include new management schemes. In this paper, a production, staff, working time and cash management model is introduced.

TIME TO CHANGE : The foreseeable future for water planning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Segrave, A.J.

2014-01-01

The decisions people make, and the actions they take, depend on how they conceptualize and experience time. This fundamental and influential factor is seldom acknowledged, little understood, and rarely considered explicitly in planning; be that for the material systems or the knowledge systems in

Perceptual Coding of Audio Signals Using Adaptive Time-Frequency Transform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karthikeyan Umapathy

2007-08-01

Full Text Available Wide band digital audio signals have a very high data-rate associated with them due to their complex nature and demand for high-quality reproduction. Although recent technological advancements have significantly reduced the cost of bandwidth and miniaturized storage facilities, the rapid increase in the volume of digital audio content constantly compels the need for better compression algorithms. Over the years various perceptually lossless compression techniques have been introduced, and transform-based compression techniques have made a significant impact in recent years. In this paper, we propose one such transform-based compression technique, where the joint time-frequency (TF properties of the nonstationary nature of the audio signals were exploited in creating a compact energy representation of the signal in fewer coefficients. The decomposition coefficients were processed and perceptually filtered to retain only the relevant coefficients. Perceptual filtering (psychoacoustics was applied in a novel way by analyzing and performing TF specific psychoacoustics experiments. An added advantage of the proposed technique is that, due to its signal adaptive nature, it does not need predetermined segmentation of audio signals for processing. Eight stereo audio signal samples of different varieties were used in the study. Subjective (mean opinion score—MOS listening tests were performed and the subjective difference grades (SDG were used to compare the performance of the proposed coder with MP3, AAC, and HE-AAC encoders. Compression ratios in the range of 8 to 40 were achieved by the proposed technique with subjective difference grades (SDG ranging from –0.53 to –2.27.

Smart signal processing for an evolving electric grid

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Leandro Rodrigues Manso; Duque, Calos Augusto; Ribeiro, Paulo F.

2015-12-01

Electric grids are interconnected complex systems consisting of generation, transmission, distribution, and active loads, recently called prosumers as they produce and consume electric energy. Additionally, these encompass a vast array of equipment such as machines, power transformers, capacitor banks, power electronic devices, motors, etc. that are continuously evolving in their demand characteristics. Given these conditions, signal processing is becoming an essential assessment tool to enable the engineer and researcher to understand, plan, design, and operate the complex and smart electronic grid of the future. This paper focuses on recent developments associated with signal processing applied to power system analysis in terms of characterization and diagnostics. The following techniques are reviewed and their characteristics and applications discussed: active power system monitoring, sparse representation of power system signal, real-time resampling, and time-frequency (i.e., wavelets) applied to power fluctuations.

Signal encoding method for a time-of-flight PET detector using a silicon photomultiplier array

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Sun Il; Lee, Jae Sung

2014-10-01

The silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is a promising photosensor for magnetic resonance (MR) compatible time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. The compact size of the SiPM allows direct one-to-one coupling between the scintillation crystal and the photosensor, yielding better timing and energy resolutions than the light sharing methods that have to be used in photomultiplier tube (PMT) PET systems. However, the one-to-one coupling scheme requires a huge volume of readout and processing electronics if no electric signal multiplexing or encoding scheme is properly applied. In this paper, we develop an electric signal encoding scheme for SiPM array based TOF PET detector blocks with the aim of reducing the complexity and volume of the signal readout and processing electronics. In an M×N SiPM array, the output signal of each channel in the SiPM array is divided into two signal lines. These output lines are then tied together in row and column lines. The row and column signals are used to measure the energy and timing information (or vice versa) of each incident gamma-ray event, respectively. Each SiPM channel was directly coupled to a 3×3×20 mm3 LGSO crystal. The reference detector, which was used to measure timing, consisted of an R9800 PMT and a 4×4×10 mm3 LYSO crystal and had a single time resolution of ~200 ps (FWHM). Leading edge discriminators were used to determine coincident events. Dedicated front-end electronics were developed, and the timing and energy resolutions of SiPM arrays with different array sizes (4×4, 8×8, and 12×12) were compared. Breakdown voltage of each SiPM channel was measured using energy spectra within various bias voltages. Coincidence events were measured using a 22Na point source. The average coincidence time resolution of 4×4, 8×8, and 12×12 SiPM arrays were 316 ps, 320 ps, and 335 ps (FWHM), respectively. The energy resolution of 4×4, 8×8, and 12×12 SiPM arrays were 11.8%, 12.5%, and 12.8% (FWHM

A Dynamic Traffic Signal Timing Model and its Algorithm for Junction of Urban Road

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cai, Yanguang; Cai, Hao

2012-01-01

As an important part of Intelligent Transportation System, the scientific traffic signal timing of junction can improve the efficiency of urban transport. This paper presents a novel dynamic traffic signal timing model. According to the characteristics of the model, hybrid chaotic quantum...... evolutionary algorithm is employed to solve it. The proposed model has simple structure, and only requires traffic inflow speed and outflow speed are bounded functions with at most finite number of discontinuity points. The condition is very loose and better meets the requirements of the practical real......-time and dynamic signal control of junction. To obtain the optimal solution of the model by hybrid chaotic quantum evolutionary algorithm, the model is converted to an easily solvable form. To simplify calculation, we give the expression of the partial derivative and change rate of the objective function...

Prospects for Measuring Planetary Spin and Frame-Dragging in Spacecraft Timing Signals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schärer, Andreas; Bondarescu, Ruxandra [Department of Physics, University of Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland); Saha, Prasenjit [Department of Physics, University of Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland); Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland); Angélil, Raymond [Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland); Helled, Ravit [Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland); Department of Geosciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv (Israel); Jetzer, Philippe, E-mail: andreas.schaerer@physik.uzh.ch [Department of Physics, University of Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland)

2017-09-05

Satellite tracking involves sending electromagnetic signals to Earth. Both the orbit of the spacecraft and the electromagnetic signals themselves are affected by the curvature of spacetime. The arrival time of the pulses is compared to the ticks of local clocks to reconstruct the orbital path of the satellite to high accuracy, and implicitly measure general relativistic effects. In particular, Schwarzschild space curvature (static) and frame-dragging (stationary) due to the planet's spin affect the satellite's orbit. The dominant relativistic effect on the path of the signal photons is Shapiro delays due to static space curvature. We compute these effects for some current and proposed space missions, using a Hamiltonian formulation in four dimensions. For highly eccentric orbits, such as in the Juno mission and in the Cassini Grand Finale, the relativistic effects have a kick-like nature, which could be advantageous for detecting them if their signatures are properly modeled as functions of time. Frame-dragging appears, in principle, measurable by Juno and Cassini, though not by Galileo 5 and 6. Practical measurement would require disentangling frame-dragging from the Newtonian “foreground” such as the gravitational quadrupole which has an impact on both the spacecraft's orbit and the signal propagation. The foreground problem remains to be solved.

Detection and classification of defects in ultrasonic NDE signals using time-frequency representations

Science.gov (United States)

Qidwai, Uvais; Costa, Antonio H.; Chen, C. H.

2000-05-01

The ultrasonic wave, generated by a piezoelectric transducer coupled to the test specimen, propagates through the material and part of its energy is reflected when it encounters an non-homogeneity or discontinuity in its path, while the remainder is reflected by the back surface of the test specimen. Defect echo signals are masked by the characteristics of the measuring instruments, the propagation paths taken by the ultrasonic wave, and are corrupted by additive noise. This leads to difficulties in comparing and analyzing signals, particularly in automated defect identification systems employing different transducers. Further, the multi-component nature of material defects can add to the complexity of the defect identification criteria. With many one-dimensional (1-D) approaches, the multi-component defects can not be detected. Another drawback is that these techniques are not very robust for sharp ultrasonic peaks especially in a very hazardous environment. This paper proposes a technique based on the time-frequency representations (TFRs) of the real defect signals corresponding to artificially produced defects of various geometries in metals. Cohen's class (quadratic) TFRs with Gaussian kernels are then used to represent the signals in the time-frequency (TF) plane. Once the TFR is obtained, various image processing morphological techniques are applied to the TFR (e.g. region of interest masking, edge detection, and profile separation). Based on the results of these operations, a binary image is produced which, in turn, leads to a novel set of features. Using these new features, defects have not only been detected but also classified as flat-cut, angular-cut, and circular-drills. Moreover, with some modifications of the threshold levels of the TFR kernel design, our technique can be used in relatively hostile environments with SNRs as low as 0 dB. Another important characteristic of our approach is the detection of multiple defects. This consists of detection of

Influence of planning time and treatment complexity on radiation therapy errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Gensheimer, Michael F; Zeng, Jing; Carlson, Joshua; Spady, Phil; Jordan, Loucille; Kane, Gabrielle; Ford, Eric C

2016-01-01

Radiation treatment planning is a complex process with potential for error. We hypothesized that shorter time from simulation to treatment would result in rushed work and higher incidence of errors. We examined treatment planning factors predictive for near-miss events. Treatments delivered from March 2012 through October 2014 were analyzed. Near-miss events were prospectively recorded and coded for severity on a 0 to 4 scale; only grade 3-4 (potentially severe/critical) events were studied in this report. For 4 treatment types (3-dimensional conformal, intensity modulated radiation therapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy [SBRT], neutron), logistic regression was performed to test influence of treatment planning time and clinical variables on near-miss events. There were 2257 treatment courses during the study period, with 322 grade 3-4 near-miss events. SBRT treatments had more frequent events than the other 3 treatment types (18% vs 11%, P = .04). For the 3-dimensional conformal group (1354 treatments), univariate analysis showed several factors predictive of near-miss events: longer time from simulation to first treatment (P = .01), treatment of primary site versus metastasis (P < .001), longer treatment course (P < .001), and pediatric versus adult patient (P = .002). However, on multivariate regression only pediatric versus adult patient remained predictive of events (P = 0.02). For the intensity modulated radiation therapy, SBRT, and neutron groups, time between simulation and first treatment was not found to be predictive of near-miss events on univariate or multivariate regression. When controlling for treatment technique and other clinical factors, there was no relationship between time spent in radiation treatment planning and near-miss events. SBRT and pediatric treatments were more error-prone, indicating that clinical and technical complexity of treatments should be taken into account when targeting safety interventions. Copyright © 2015 American

Time lens based optical fourier transformation for advanced processing of spectrally-efficient OFDM and N-WDM signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guan, Pengyu; Røge, Kasper Meldgaard; Morioka, Toshio

2016-01-01

We review recent progress in the use of time lens based optical Fourier transformation for advanced optical signal processing, with focus on all-optical generation, detection and format conversion of spectrally-efficient OFDM and N-WDM signals.......We review recent progress in the use of time lens based optical Fourier transformation for advanced optical signal processing, with focus on all-optical generation, detection and format conversion of spectrally-efficient OFDM and N-WDM signals....

Key technology research of nuclear signal digitized pulse shaping in real time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Jianbin; Wang Min; Zhou Wei; Zhu Xing; Liu Yi; Chen Bao; Lu Baoping; Yue Aizhong; Qin Li; He Xuxin

2014-01-01

The computer simulation and analysis were carried out for the ideal nuclear pulse signal and the actual detector output signals, and the determination method of digital trapezoidal shape parameter for different nuclear pulse shaping time was summarized. At high count rate measurement occasion, the effective count rate is increased, some pile-up pulses are eliminated and the accumulation of dead time of the system is reduced. Meanwhile, Si-PIN semiconductor detector performance was tested by 256 points and 512 points digital triangle forming methods and the analog circuit forming methods for comparative tests. Test results show that the pulse forming treatment method increases the count rate performance and the resolution of detector. (authors)

Timing-based location estimation for OFDM signals with applications in LTE, WLAN and Wimax Timing-based location estimation for OFDM signals with applications in LTE, WLAN and Wimax Timing-based location estimation for OFDM signals with applications in LTE, WLAN and Wimax

OpenAIRE

Juárez Leria, Víctor

2012-01-01

Projecte realitzat en el marc d'un programa de mobilitat amb la Tampere University of Technology (Tampereen Teknillinen Yliopisto) [ANGLÈS] Literature study of various preamble-based and non-preamble-based timing synchronization algorithms in OFDM - Implementation (in Matlab) of the following preamble-based algorithms: Schmidl, Minn, Park, Kim, Ren and Kang. Implementation (in Matlab) of Correlation-Based Timing Synchronization and MUltiple SIgnal Classification estimators. Comparison of v...

Application of time-resolved glucose concentration photoacoustic signals based on an improved wavelet denoising

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Zhong; Liu, Guodong; Huang, Zhen

2014-10-01

Real-time monitoring of blood glucose concentration (BGC) is a great important procedure in controlling diabetes mellitus and preventing the complication for diabetic patients. Noninvasive measurement of BGC has already become a research hotspot because it can overcome the physical and psychological harm. Photoacoustic spectroscopy is a well-established, hybrid and alternative technique used to determine the BGC. According to the theory of photoacoustic technique, the blood is irradiated by plused laser with nano-second repeation time and micro-joule power, the photoacoustic singals contained the information of BGC are generated due to the thermal-elastic mechanism, then the BGC level can be interpreted from photoacoustic signal via the data analysis. But in practice, the time-resolved photoacoustic signals of BGC are polluted by the varities of noises, e.g., the interference of background sounds and multi-component of blood. The quality of photoacoustic signal of BGC directly impacts the precision of BGC measurement. So, an improved wavelet denoising method was proposed to eliminate the noises contained in BGC photoacoustic signals. To overcome the shortcoming of traditional wavelet threshold denoising, an improved dual-threshold wavelet function was proposed in this paper. Simulation experimental results illustrated that the denoising result of this improved wavelet method was better than that of traditional soft and hard threshold function. To varify the feasibility of this improved function, the actual photoacoustic BGC signals were test, the test reslut demonstrated that the signal-to-noises ratio(SNR) of the improved function increases about 40-80%, and its root-mean-square error (RMSE) decreases about 38.7-52.8%.

Global Optimization for Transport Network Expansion and Signal Setting

OpenAIRE

Liu, Haoxiang; Wang, David Z. W.; Yue, Hao

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a model to address an urban transport planning problem involving combined network design and signal setting in a saturated network. Conventional transport planning models usually deal with the network design problem and signal setting problem separately. However, the fact that network capacity design and capacity allocation determined by network signal setting combine to govern the transport network performance requires the optimal transport planning to consider the two pr...

Microscopic Control Delay Modeling at Signalized Arterials Using Bluetooth Technology

OpenAIRE

Rajasekhar, Lakshmi

2011-01-01

Real-time control delay estimation is an important performance measure for any intersection to improve the signal timing plans dynamically in real-time and hence improve the overall system performance. Control delay estimates helps to determine the level-of-service (LOS) characteristics of various approaches at an intersection and takes into account deceleration delay, stopped delay and acceleration delay. All kinds of traffic delay calculation especially control delay calculation has always ...

A methodological framework of travel time distribution estimation for urban signalized arterial roads

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zheng, Fangfang; van Zuylen, H.J.; Liu, Xiaobo

2017-01-01

Urban travel times are rather variable as a result of a lot of stochastic factors both in traffic flows, signals, and other conditions on the infrastructure. However, the most common way both in literature and practice is to estimate or predict only expected travel times, not travel time

Real-time bicycle detection at signalized intersections using thermal imaging technology

Science.gov (United States)

Collaert, Robin

2013-02-01

More and more governments and authorities around the world are promoting the use of bicycles in cities, as this is healthy for the bicyclist and improves the quality of life in general. Safety and efficiency of bicyclists has become a major focus. To achieve this, there is a need for a smarter approach towards the control of signalized intersections. Various traditional detection technologies, such as video, microwave radar and electromagnetic loops, can be used to detect vehicles at signalized intersections, but none of these can consistently separate bikes from other traffic, day and night and in various weather conditions. As bikes should get a higher priority and also require longer green time to safely cross the signalized intersection, traffic managers are looking for alternative detection systems that can make the distinction between bicycles and other vehicles near the stop bar. In this paper, the drawbacks of a video-based approach are presented, next to the benefits of a thermal-video-based approach for vehicle presence detection with separation of bicycles. Also, the specific technical challenges are highlighted in developing a system that combines thermal image capturing, image processing and output triggering to the traffic light controller in near real-time and in a single housing.

Unified and Modular Modeling and Functional Verification Framework of Real-Time Image Signal Processors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abhishek Jain

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In VLSI industry, image signal processing algorithms are developed and evaluated using software models before implementation of RTL and firmware. After the finalization of the algorithm, software models are used as a golden reference model for the image signal processor (ISP RTL and firmware development. In this paper, we are describing the unified and modular modeling framework of image signal processing algorithms used for different applications such as ISP algorithms development, reference for hardware (HW implementation, reference for firmware (FW implementation, and bit-true certification. The universal verification methodology- (UVM- based functional verification framework of image signal processors using software reference models is described. Further, IP-XACT based tools for automatic generation of functional verification environment files and model map files are described. The proposed framework is developed both with host interface and with core using virtual register interface (VRI approach. This modeling and functional verification framework is used in real-time image signal processing applications including cellphone, smart cameras, and image compression. The main motivation behind this work is to propose the best efficient, reusable, and automated framework for modeling and verification of image signal processor (ISP designs. The proposed framework shows better results and significant improvement is observed in product verification time, verification cost, and quality of the designs.

Effect of sample storage time on detection of hybridization signals in Checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization.

Science.gov (United States)

do Nascimento, Cássio; Muller, Katia; Sato, Sandra; Albuquerque Junior, Rubens Ferreira

2012-04-01

Long-term sample storage can affect the intensity of the hybridization signals provided by molecular diagnostic methods that use chemiluminescent detection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different storage times on the hybridization signals of 13 bacterial species detected by the Checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization method using whole-genomic DNA probes. Ninety-six subgingival biofilm samples were collected from 36 healthy subjects, and the intensity of hybridization signals was evaluated at 4 different time periods: (1) immediately after collecting (n = 24) and (2) after storage at -20 °C for 6 months (n = 24), (3) for 12 months (n = 24), and (4) for 24 months (n = 24). The intensity of hybridization signals obtained from groups 1 and 2 were significantly higher than in the other groups (p  0.05). The Checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization method was suitable to detect hybridization signals from all groups evaluated, and the intensity of signals decreased significantly after long periods of sample storage.

Chaos analysis of the electrical signal time series evoked by acupuncture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Jiang; Sun Li; Fei Xiangyang; Zhu Bing

2007-01-01

This paper employs chaos theory to analyze the time series of electrical signal which are evoked by different acupuncture methods applied to the Zusanli point. The phase space is reconstructed and the embedding parameters are obtained by the mutual information and Cao's methods. Subsequently, the largest Lyapunov exponent is calculated. From the analyses we can conclude that the time series are chaotic. In addition, differences between various acupuncture methods are discussed

Time dependent auto-correlation, autospectrum and decay ratio estimation of transient signals in JET soft X-ray records

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Por, G.

1999-08-01

A program package was developed to estimate the time dependent auto-correlation function (ACF) from the time signals of soft X-ray records taken along the various lines-of-sights in JET-SHOTS, and also to estimate the time dependent Decay Ratio (DR) from that. On the basis of ACF the time dependent auto-power spectral density (APSD) was also calculated. The steps and objectives of this work were: eliminating the white detection noise, trends and slow variation from the time signals, since ordinary methods can give good estimate of the time dependent ACF and DR only for 'nearly' stationary signals, developing an automatic algorithm for finding the maxima and minima of ACF, since they are the basis for DR estimation, evaluating and testing different DR estimators for JET-SHOT, with the aim of finding parts of the signals, where the oscillating character is strong, estimating time dependent ACF and APSD that can follow the relatively fast variation in the time signal. The methods that we have developed for data processing of transient signals are: White detection noise removal and preparation for trend removal - weak components, white detection noise and high frequency components are filtered from the signal using the so-called soft-threshold wavelet filter. Removal of trends and slow variation - Three-point differentiation of the pre-filtered signal is used to remove trends and slow variation. Here we made use of the DERIV function of IDL program language. This leads to a filtered signal that has zero mean value in each time step. Calculation of the time dependent ACF - The signal treated by the two previous steps is used as the input. Calculated ACF value is added in each new time step, but the previously accumulated ACF value is multiplied by a weighting factor. Thus the new sample has 100% contribution, while the contributions from the previous samples are forgotten quickly. DR calculation - DR is a measure of the decay of oscillating ACF. This parameter was shown

Real-time GPS Signal Simulator

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — With a minimal FTE investment and no additional procurement funds, the development of a low fidelity orbital GPS Signal simulator would is possible.  This IRAD...

Time-frequency feature analysis and recognition of fission neutrons signal based on support vector machine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin Jing; Wei Biao; Feng Peng; Tang Yuelin; Zhou Mi

2010-01-01

Based on the interdependent relationship between fission neutrons ( 252 Cf) and fission chain ( 235 U system), the paper presents the time-frequency feature analysis and recognition in fission neutron signal based on support vector machine (SVM) through the analysis on signal characteristics and the measuring principle of the 252 Cf fission neutron signal. The time-frequency characteristics and energy features of the fission neutron signal are extracted by using wavelet decomposition and de-noising wavelet packet decomposition, and then applied to training and classification by means of support vector machine based on statistical learning theory. The results show that, it is effective to obtain features of nuclear signal via wavelet decomposition and de-noising wavelet packet decomposition, and the latter can reflect the internal characteristics of the fission neutron system better. With the training accomplished, the SVM classifier achieves an accuracy rate above 70%, overcoming the lack of training samples, and verifying the effectiveness of the algorithm. (authors)

Stochastic resonance in a bistable system subject to multi-time-delayed feedback and aperiodic signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Jianlong; Zeng Lingzao

2010-01-01

We discuss in detail the effects of the multi-time-delayed feedback driven by an aperiodic signal on the output of a stochastic resonance (SR) system. The effective potential function and dynamical probability density function (PDF) are derived. To measure the performance of the SR system in the presence of a binary random signal, the bit error rate (BER) defined by the dynamical PDF is employed, as is commonly used in digital communications. We find that the delay time, strength of the feedback, and number of time-delayed terms can change the effective potential function and the effective amplitude of the signal, and then affect the BER of the SR system. The numerical simulations strongly support the theoretical results. The goal of this investigation is to explore the effects of the multi-time-delayed feedback on SR and give a guidance to nonlinear systems in the application of information processing.

Saturation flow versus green time at two-stage signal controlled intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Boumediene

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Intersections are the key components of road networks considerably affecting capacity. As flow levels and experience have increased over the years, methods and means have been developed to cope with growing demand for traffic at road junctions. Among various traffic control devices and techniques developed to cope with conflicting movements, traffic signals create artificial gaps to accommodate the impeded traffic streams. The majority of parameters that govern signalised intersection control and operations such as a degree of saturation, delays, queue lengths, the level of service etc. are very sensitive to saturation flow. Therefore, it is essential to reliably evaluate saturation flow for correctly setting traffic signals to avoid unnecessary delays and conflicts. Generally, almost all guidelines support the constancy of saturation flow irrespective of green time duration. This paper presents the results of field studies carried out to enable the performance of signalised intersections to be compared at different green time durations. It was found that saturation flow decreased slightly with growing green time. Reduction corresponded to between 2 and 5 pcus/gh per second of green time. However, the analyses of the discharge rate during the successive time intervals of 6-seconds showed a substantial reduction of 10% to 13% in saturation flow levels after 36 seconds of green time compared to those relating to 6–36 seconds range. No reduction in saturation flow levels was detected at the sites where only green periods of 44 seconds or less were implemented.

The choice: Lewellys F. Barker and the full-time plan.

Science.gov (United States)

Bryan, Charles S; Stinson, M Shawn

2002-09-17

In 1914, Lewellys F. Barker, William Osler's successor as Professor of Medicine and physician-in-chief at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, resigned to enter private practice rather than accept the terms of a full-time plan, whereby professors in clinical departments would be salaried like other professors in the university. Barker had been an early proponent of the full-time plan. His decision reflected not only a personal desire for a larger income but also contradictions inherent in the Flexnerian ideal of clinical medicine as a research-oriented university discipline devoid of financial incentives to see patients. In private practice, Barker maintained a high profile as a teacher, writer, supporter of the Johns Hopkins medical institutions, and public figure. The issues raised by his difficult decision remain relevant and have not been satisfactorily resolved.

Robust high-resolution quantification of time signals encoded by in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Belkić, Dževad; Belkić, Karen

2018-01-01

This paper on molecular imaging emphasizes improving specificity of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) for early cancer diagnostics by high-resolution data analysis. Sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is excellent, but specificity is insufficient. Specificity is improved with MRS by going beyond morphology to assess the biochemical content of tissue. This is contingent upon accurate data quantification of diagnostically relevant biomolecules. Quantification is spectral analysis which reconstructs chemical shifts, amplitudes and relaxation times of metabolites. Chemical shifts inform on electronic shielding of resonating nuclei bound to different molecular compounds. Oscillation amplitudes in time signals retrieve the abundance of MR sensitive nuclei whose number is proportional to metabolite concentrations. Transverse relaxation times, the reciprocal of decay probabilities of resonances, arise from spin-spin coupling and reflect local field inhomogeneities. In MRS single voxels are used. For volumetric coverage, multi-voxels are employed within a hybrid of MRS and MRI called magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). Common to MRS and MRSI is encoding of time signals and subsequent spectral analysis. Encoded data do not provide direct clinical information. Spectral analysis of time signals can yield the quantitative information, of which metabolite concentrations are the most clinically important. This information is equivocal with standard data analysis through the non-parametric, low-resolution fast Fourier transform and post-processing via fitting. By applying the fast Padé transform (FPT) with high-resolution, noise suppression and exact quantification via quantum mechanical signal processing, advances are made, presented herein, focusing on four areas of critical public health importance: brain, prostate, breast and ovarian cancers.

Chaos analysis of the electrical signal time series evoked by acupuncture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang Jiang [School of Electrical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China)]. E-mail: jiangwang@tju.edu.cn; Sun Li [School of Electrical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Fei Xiangyang [School of Electrical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Zhu Bing [Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100700 (China)

2007-08-15

This paper employs chaos theory to analyze the time series of electrical signal which are evoked by different acupuncture methods applied to the Zusanli point. The phase space is reconstructed and the embedding parameters are obtained by the mutual information and Cao's methods. Subsequently, the largest Lyapunov exponent is calculated. From the analyses we can conclude that the time series are chaotic. In addition, differences between various acupuncture methods are discussed.

A METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING TIMING SIGNALS TO A NUMBER OF CIRCUITS, AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT AND A NODE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2006-01-01

A method of providing or transporting a timing signal between a number of circuits, electrical or optical, where each circuit is fed by a node. The nodes forward timing signals between each other, and at least one node is adapted to not transmit a timing signal before having received a timing...... signal from at least two nodes. In this manner, the direction of the timing skew between nodes and circuits is known and data transport between the circuits made easier....

Front-end data reduction of diagnostic signals by real-time digital filtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zasche, D.; Fahrbach, H.U.; Harmeyer, E.

1985-01-01

Diagnostic measurements on a fusion plasma with high resolution in space, time and signal amplitude involve handling large amounts of data. In the design of the soft-X-ray pinhole camera diagnostic for JET (100 detectors in 2 cameras) a new approach to this problem was found. The analogue-to-digital conversion is performed continuously at the highest sample rate of 200 kHz, lower sample rates (10 kHz, 1 kHz, 100 Hz) are obtained by real-time digital filters which calculate weighted averages over consecutive samples and are undersampled at their outputs to reduce the data rate. At any time, the signals from all detectors are available at all possible data rates in ring buffers. Thus the appropriate data rate can always be recorded on demand (preprogrammed or triggered by the experiment). With this system a reduction of the raw data by a factor of up to 2000 (typically 200) is possible without severe loss of information

Multi-Robot Motion Planning: A Timed Automata Approach

OpenAIRE

Quottrup, Michael Melholt; Bak, Thomas; Izadi-Zamanabadi, Roozbeh

2004-01-01

This paper describes how a network of interacting timed automata can be used to model, analyze, and verify motion planning problems in a scenario with multiple robotic vehicles. The method presupposes an infra-structure of robots with feed-back controllers obeying simple restriction on a planar grid. The automata formalism merely presents a high-level model of environment, robots and control, but allows composition and formal symbolic reasoning about coordinated solutions. Composition is achi...

Inverse methods for estimating primary input signals from time-averaged isotope profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Passey, Benjamin H.; Cerling, Thure E.; Schuster, Gerard T.; Robinson, Todd F.; Roeder, Beverly L.; Krueger, Stephen K.

2005-08-01

Mammalian teeth are invaluable archives of ancient seasonality because they record along their growth axes an isotopic record of temporal change in environment, plant diet, and animal behavior. A major problem with the intra-tooth method is that intra-tooth isotope profiles can be extremely time-averaged compared to the actual pattern of isotopic variation experienced by the animal during tooth formation. This time-averaging is a result of the temporal and spatial characteristics of amelogenesis (tooth enamel formation), and also results from laboratory sampling. This paper develops and evaluates an inverse method for reconstructing original input signals from time-averaged intra-tooth isotope profiles. The method requires that the temporal and spatial patterns of amelogenesis are known for the specific tooth and uses a minimum length solution of the linear system Am = d, where d is the measured isotopic profile, A is a matrix describing temporal and spatial averaging during amelogenesis and sampling, and m is the input vector that is sought. Accuracy is dependent on several factors, including the total measurement error and the isotopic structure of the measured profile. The method is shown to accurately reconstruct known input signals for synthetic tooth enamel profiles and the known input signal for a rabbit that underwent controlled dietary changes. Application to carbon isotope profiles of modern hippopotamus canines reveals detailed dietary histories that are not apparent from the measured data alone. Inverse methods show promise as an effective means of dealing with the time-averaging problem in studies of intra-tooth isotopic variation.

Study of the effect of solar flares on VLF signals during D-layer preparation or disappearance time

Science.gov (United States)

Ray, Suman; Chakrabarti, Sandip Kumar; Palit, Sourav

2016-07-01

"Very Low Frequency" (VLF) is one of the bands of the Radio waves having frequency 3-30 KHz, which propagates through the Earth-ionosphere wave-guide. In relation to propagation of radio waves through ionosphere, low mass and high mobility cause electrons to play a vital role. Electrons are not distributed uniformly in the ionosphere and depending on this factor, ionosphere has different layers namely D, E and F. Different ionospheric layers generally exist during day and night time. During day-time when the main source of the ionization of the ionosphere is Sun, the lower most layer of ionosphere is D-layer. But during the night-time when Sun is absent and cosmic ray is the main source of the ionization of the ionosphere, this D-layer disappears and E-layer becomes the lower most region of the ionosphere. Normally, patterns of VLF signal depend on regular solar flux variations. However, during solar flares extra energetic particles are released from Sun, which makes the changes in the ionization of the ionosphere and these changes can perturb VLF signal amplitude. Usually if a solar flare occurs during any time of day, it only affects the amplitude and phase of the VLF signals. But in the present work, we found the if the flare occurs during D-layer preparation / disappearance time, then it will not only affect to amplitude and phase of the VLF signals but also to terminator times of VLF signals. We have observed that the sun set terminator time of the VLF signals shifted towards night time due to the effect of a M-class solar flare which occurred during the D-layer disappearance time. The shift is so high that it crossed 5σ level. We are now trying to a make model using the ion-chemistry and LWPC code to explain this observed effect.

Antipersistent dynamics in short time scale variability of self-potential signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ragosta

2000-06-01

Full Text Available Time scale properties of self-potential signals are investigated through the analysis of the second order structure function (variogram, a powerful tool to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of observational data. In this work we analyse two sequences of self-potential values measured by means of a geophysical monitoring array located in a seismically active area of Southern Italy. The range of scales investigated goes from a few minutes to several days. It is shown that signal fluctuations are characterised by two time scale ranges in which self-potential variability appears to follow slightly different dynamical behaviours. Results point to the presence of fractal, non stationary features expressing a long term correlation with scaling coefficients which are the clue of stabilising mechanisms. In the scale ranges in which the series show scale invariant behaviour, self-potentials evolve like fractional Brownian motions with anticorrelated increments typical of processes regulated by negative feedback mechanisms (antipersistence. On scales below about 6 h the strength of such an antipersistence appears to be slightly greater than that observed on larger time scales where the fluctuations are less efficiently stabilised.

Multiobjective optimization model of intersection signal timing considering emissions based on field data: A case study of Beijing.

Science.gov (United States)

Kou, Weibin; Chen, Xumei; Yu, Lei; Gong, Huibo

2018-04-18

Most existing signal timing models are aimed to minimize the total delay and stops at intersections, without considering environmental factors. This paper analyzes the trade-off between vehicle emissions and traffic efficiencies on the basis of field data. First, considering the different operating modes of cruising, acceleration, deceleration, and idling, field data of emissions and Global Positioning System (GPS) are collected to estimate emission rates for heavy-duty and light-duty vehicles. Second, multiobjective signal timing optimization model is established based on a genetic algorithm to minimize delay, stops, and emissions. Finally, a case study is conducted in Beijing. Nine scenarios are designed considering different weights of emission and traffic efficiency. The results compared with those using Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) 2010 show that signal timing optimized by the model proposed in this paper can decrease vehicles delay and emissions more significantly. The optimization model can be applied in different cities, which provides supports for eco-signal design and development. Vehicle emissions are heavily at signal intersections in urban area. The multiobjective signal timing optimization model is proposed considering the trade-off between vehicle emissions and traffic efficiencies on the basis of field data. The results indicate that signal timing optimized by the model proposed in this paper can decrease vehicle emissions and delays more significantly. The optimization model can be applied in different cities, which provides supports for eco-signal design and development.

Intraoperative real-time planned conformal prostate brachytherapy: Post-implantation dosimetric outcome and clinical implications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zelefsky, Michael J.; Yamada, Yoshiya; Cohen, Gil'ad N.; Sharma, Neha; Shippy, Alison M.; Fridman, David; Zaider, Marco

2007-01-01

Purpose: To report the dosimetric outcome of patients with clinically localized prostate cancer treated with I-125 permanent implantation using an intraoperative real-time conformal planning technique. Methods and materials: Five hundred and sixty-two patients with prostate cancer were treated with I-125 permanent interstitial implantation using a transrectal ultrasound-guided approach. Real-time intraoperative treatment planning software that incorporates inverse planning optimization was used. Dose-volume constraints for this inverse-planning system included: prostate V100 ≥95%, maximal urethral dose ≤120%, and average rectal dose 3 of the rectum was exposed to the prescription dose, the incidence of late grade 2 toxicity rectal toxicity was 9% compared to 4% for smaller volumes of the rectum exposed to similar doses (p = 0.003). No dosimetric parameter in these patients with tight dose confines for the urethra influenced acute or late urinary toxicity. Conclusion: Real-time intraoperative planning was associated with a 90% consistency of achieving the planned intraoperative dose constraints for target coverage and maintaining planned urethral and rectal constraints in a high percentage of implants. Rectal volumes of ≥2.5 cm 3 exposed to the prescription doses were associated with an increased incidence of grade 2 rectal bleeding. Further enhancements in imaging guidance for optimal seed deposition are needed to guarantee optimal dose distribution for all patients. Whether such improvements lead to further reduction in acute and late morbidities associated with therapy requires further study

Optical Synchronization of a 10-G Ethernet Packet and Time-Division Multiplexing to a 50-Gb/s Signal Using an Optical Time Lens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Hao; Laguardia Areal, Janaina; Palushani, Evarist

2010-01-01

A 10-G Ethernet packet with maximum packet size of 1518 bytes is synchronized to a master clock with 200-kHz frequency offset using a time lens. The input 10-Gb/s non-return-to-zero packet is at the same time converted into a return-to-zero (RZ) packet with a pulsewidth of 10 ps and then time......-division multiplexed with four 10-Gb/s optical time-division-multiplexing (OTDM) channels, thus constituting a 50-Gb/s OTDM serial signal. Error-free performances of the synchronized RZ packet and demultiplexed packet from the aggregated 50-Gb/s OTDM signal are achieved....

Time courses of MRI BOLD signals in prolonged visual stimulation. Comparison between colors and orders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kashikura, Kenichi; Fujita, Hideaki; Kershaw, J.B.; Matsuura, Tetsuya; Seki, Chie; Kashikura, Akemi; Ardekani, B.A.; Kanno, Iwao

1998-01-01

We investigated: the BOLD signal response during 270 second photic stimulation using an EPI pulse sequence; the BOLD signal response for two different color checkerboards; and the BOLD signal response during six consecutive stimulation series. Ten healthy human subjects (age 25±5.5 years) were studied with a 1.5 T MRI system (Siemens Vision, Erlangen, Germany). Black and white (BW) and red and white (RW) checkerboards alternating at 8 Hz were applied in turns for a total series of six. Stimulation timing was: 30 sec. off, 15 sec. on, 15 sec. off, 270 sec. on, 15 sec. off, 15 sec. on, 15 sec. off. Acquired data were analyzed according to color and/or order: color (without considering the order); color and order (1st BW vs. 1st RW, 2nd BW vs. 2nd RW, 3rd BW vs. 3rd RW); and order (without considering the color). A t-test (p<0.001) was used for obtaining the activated areas, and simple regression and two-way repeated-measures ANOVA were used for testing the statistical significance of the BOLD response. Results were: the BOLD signal responses during sustained photic stimulation maintained a constant level for the full duration and all series, suggesting stable levels of oxygen extraction and metabolism during cortical activation; the BOLD signal responses in two colors showed no significant difference in time response, suggesting that the neuronal populations perceiving black and red give a similar time response; and the effect of habituation or fatigue as observed by a signal decrease was not obtained, although the S.D. for each subject greatly increased with time and might be an indicator for evaluation fatigue or attention. (author)

DST9-1, an ASIC for receiving and delivery of time signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cuzon, J.C.

1999-01-01

In order to evaluate the 1.2 μ BiCMOS technology of AMS foundry the electronics department developed a full custom ASIC for time signal receiving and shaping according to our fast TDC pre-diffused ASIC. (author)

Real-time implementations of acoustic signal enhancement techniques for aerial based surveillance and rescue applications

Science.gov (United States)

Ramos, Antonio L. L.; Shao, Zhili; Holthe, Aleksander; Sandli, Mathias F.

2017-05-01

The introduction of the System-on-Chip (SoC) technology has brought exciting new opportunities for the development of smart low cost embedded systems spanning a wide range of applications. Currently available SoC devices are capable of performing high speed digital signal processing tasks in software while featuring relatively low development costs and reduced time-to-market. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are an application example that has shown tremendous potential in an increasing number of scenarios, ranging from leisure to surveillance as well as in search and rescue missions. Video capturing from UAV platforms is a relatively straightforward task that requires almost no preprocessing. However, that does not apply to audio signals, especially in cases where the data is to be used to support real-time decision making. In fact, the enormous amount of acoustic interference from the surroundings, including the noise from the UAVs propellers, becomes a huge problem. This paper discusses a real-time implementation of the NLMS adaptive filtering algorithm applied to enhancing acoustic signals captured from UAV platforms. The model relies on a combination of acoustic sensors and a computational inexpensive algorithm running on a digital signal processor. Given its simplicity, this solution can be incorporated into the main processing system of an UAV using the SoC technology, and run concurrently with other required tasks, such as flight control and communications. Simulations and real-time DSP-based implementations have shown significant signal enhancement results by efficiently mitigating the interference from the noise generated by the UAVs propellers as well as from other external noise sources.

SU-C-202-01: Incorporating Time-Dependent Hypoxia in IMRT Planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roy, A [Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH (United States); Nohadani, O [Northwestern University Evanston, IL (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: To incorporate uncertainties in oxygenation of tumor cells into radiation therapy planning via robust optimization. The model is demonstrated using a clinical prostate cancer case. Methods: The tumor oxygenation levels are determined based on pre- and mid-treatment PET scans. To account for oxygenation changes, we use a radio-sensitivity factor for the effective dose necessary to treat hypoxic cells. Due to the unpredictable nature of re-oxygenation of hypoxic cells, the radio-sensitivity factor and its change is modeled to reside in a time-dependent uncertainty set. This uncertainty can adapt to both pre- and mid-treatment scans, resulting in a two-stage robust treatment planning model. We develop a robust counterpart reformulation that transforms the original NP-hard problem into a linear program consisting of finitely many linear constraints, which can be solved efficiently. Results: The robust plan is compared to both the corresponding fractionated plan which ignores hypoxia, and to the commonly practiced dose-escalated plan that uniformly increases dose based on initial oxygen concentrations. For PTV, the robust plan improves D{sub 50}, D{sub 95}, and EUD by 4% on average compared to fractionated, and by 11% compared to the optimal escalated plan. Moreover, the robust plan spared organs at risk similar to the fractionated plan, while the escalated plan led to over 170% increase of Bladder D{sub 30}. Conclusion: The proposed robust adaptive model can improve tumor coverage by increasing dose to hypoxic tumor voxels that is overlooked by common fractionated treatments. In addition, the robust model anticipates the re-oxygenation process, thus reducing the excess dose at later fractions in comparison to uniform dose-escalation methods.

Intelligent Noise Removal from EMG Signal Using Focused Time-Lagged Recurrent Neural Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. N. Kale

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Electromyography (EMG signals can be used for clinical/biomedical application and modern human computer interaction. EMG signals acquire noise while traveling through tissue, inherent noise in electronics equipment, ambient noise, and so forth. ANN approach is studied for reduction of noise in EMG signal. In this paper, it is shown that Focused Time-Lagged Recurrent Neural Network (FTLRNN can elegantly solve to reduce the noise from EMG signal. After rigorous computer simulations, authors developed an optimal FTLRNN model, which removes the noise from the EMG signal. Results show that the proposed optimal FTLRNN model has an MSE (Mean Square Error as low as 0.000067 and 0.000048, correlation coefficient as high as 0.99950 and 0.99939 for noise signal and EMG signal, respectively, when validated on the test dataset. It is also noticed that the output of the estimated FTLRNN model closely follows the real one. This network is indeed robust as EMG signal tolerates the noise variance from 0.1 to 0.4 for uniform noise and 0.30 for Gaussian noise. It is clear that the training of the network is independent of specific partitioning of dataset. It is seen that the performance of the proposed FTLRNN model clearly outperforms the best Multilayer perceptron (MLP and Radial Basis Function NN (RBF models. The simple NN model such as the FTLRNN with single-hidden layer can be employed to remove noise from EMG signal.

Evolving from Planning and Scheduling to Real-Time Operations Support: Design Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Marquez, Jessica J.; Ludowise, Melissa; McCurdy, Michael; Li, Jack

2010-01-01

Versions of Scheduling and Planning Interface for Exploration (SPIFe) have supported a variety of mission operations across NASA. This software tool has evolved and matured over several years, assisting planners who develop intricate schedules. While initially conceived for surface Mars missions, SPIFe has been deployed in other domains, where people rather than robotic explorers, execute plans. As a result, a diverse set of end-users has compelled growth in a new direction: supporting real-time operations. This paper describes the new needs and challenges that accompany this development. Among the key features that have been built for SPIFe are current time indicators integrated into the interface and timeline, as well as other plan attributes that enable execution of scheduled activities. Field tests include mission support for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) and Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) campaigns.

Time-Frequency Analysis of Non-Stationary Biological Signals with Sparse Linear Regression Based Fourier Linear Combiner

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yubo Wang

2017-06-01

Full Text Available It is often difficult to analyze biological signals because of their nonlinear and non-stationary characteristics. This necessitates the usage of time-frequency decomposition methods for analyzing the subtle changes in these signals that are often connected to an underlying phenomena. This paper presents a new approach to analyze the time-varying characteristics of such signals by employing a simple truncated Fourier series model, namely the band-limited multiple Fourier linear combiner (BMFLC. In contrast to the earlier designs, we first identified the sparsity imposed on the signal model in order to reformulate the model to a sparse linear regression model. The coefficients of the proposed model are then estimated by a convex optimization algorithm. The performance of the proposed method was analyzed with benchmark test signals. An energy ratio metric is employed to quantify the spectral performance and results show that the proposed method Sparse-BMFLC has high mean energy (0.9976 ratio and outperforms existing methods such as short-time Fourier transfrom (STFT, continuous Wavelet transform (CWT and BMFLC Kalman Smoother. Furthermore, the proposed method provides an overall 6.22% in reconstruction error.

Time-Frequency Analysis of Non-Stationary Biological Signals with Sparse Linear Regression Based Fourier Linear Combiner.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yubo; Veluvolu, Kalyana C

2017-06-14

It is often difficult to analyze biological signals because of their nonlinear and non-stationary characteristics. This necessitates the usage of time-frequency decomposition methods for analyzing the subtle changes in these signals that are often connected to an underlying phenomena. This paper presents a new approach to analyze the time-varying characteristics of such signals by employing a simple truncated Fourier series model, namely the band-limited multiple Fourier linear combiner (BMFLC). In contrast to the earlier designs, we first identified the sparsity imposed on the signal model in order to reformulate the model to a sparse linear regression model. The coefficients of the proposed model are then estimated by a convex optimization algorithm. The performance of the proposed method was analyzed with benchmark test signals. An energy ratio metric is employed to quantify the spectral performance and results show that the proposed method Sparse-BMFLC has high mean energy (0.9976) ratio and outperforms existing methods such as short-time Fourier transfrom (STFT), continuous Wavelet transform (CWT) and BMFLC Kalman Smoother. Furthermore, the proposed method provides an overall 6.22% in reconstruction error.

Finding hidden periodic signals in time series - an application to stock prices

Science.gov (United States)

O'Shea, Michael

2014-03-01

Data in the form of time series appear in many areas of science. In cases where the periodicity is apparent and the only other contribution to the time series is stochastic in origin, the data can be `folded' to improve signal to noise and this has been done for light curves of variable stars with the folding resulting in a cleaner light curve signal. Stock index prices versus time are classic examples of time series. Repeating patterns have been claimed by many workers and include unusually large returns on small-cap stocks during the month of January, and small returns on the Dow Jones Industrial average (DJIA) in the months June through September compared to the rest of the year. Such observations imply that these prices have a periodic component. We investigate this for the DJIA. If such a component exists it is hidden in a large non-periodic variation and a large stochastic variation. We show how to extract this periodic component and for the first time reveal its yearly (averaged) shape. This periodic component leads directly to the `Sell in May and buy at Halloween' adage. We also drill down and show that this yearly variation emerges from approximately half of the underlying stocks making up the DJIA index.

Generation of Long-time Complex Signals for Testing the Instruments for Detection of Voltage Quality Disturbances

Science.gov (United States)

Živanović, Dragan; Simić, Milan; Kokolanski, Zivko; Denić, Dragan; Dimcev, Vladimir

2018-04-01

Software supported procedure for generation of long-time complex test sentences, suitable for testing the instruments for detection of standard voltage quality (VQ) disturbances is presented in this paper. This solution for test signal generation includes significant improvements of computer-based signal generator presented and described in the previously published paper [1]. The generator is based on virtual instrumentation software for defining the basic signal parameters, data acquisition card NI 6343, and power amplifier for amplification of output voltage level to the nominal RMS voltage value of 230 V. Definition of basic signal parameters in LabVIEW application software is supported using Script files, which allows simple repetition of specific test signals and combination of more different test sequences in the complex composite test waveform. The basic advantage of this generator compared to the similar solutions for signal generation is the possibility for long-time test sequence generation according to predefined complex test scenarios, including various combinations of VQ disturbances defined in accordance with the European standard EN50160. Experimental verification of the presented signal generator capability is performed by testing the commercial power quality analyzer Fluke 435 Series II. In this paper are shown some characteristic complex test signals with various disturbances and logged data obtained from the tested power quality analyzer.

Spectrogram analysis of selected tremor signals using short-time Fourier transform and continuous wavelet transform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bartosch, T. [Erlanger-Nuernberg Univ., Erlanger (Germany). Lehrstul fuer Nachrichtentechnik I; Seidl, D. [Seismologisches Zentralobservatorium Graefenberg, Erlanegen (Greece). Bundesanstalt fuer Geiwissenschaften und Rohstoffe

1999-06-01

Among a variety of spectrogram methods short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) were selected to analyse transients in non-stationary signals. Depending on the properties of the tremor signals from the volcanos Mt. Stromboli, Mt. Semeru and Mt. Pinatubo were analyzed using both methods. The CWT can also be used to extend the definition of coherency into a time-varying coherency spectrogram. An example is given using array data from the volcano Mt. Stromboli (Italy).

Noise and signal processing in a microstrip detector with a time variant readout system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cattaneo, P.W.

1995-01-01

This paper treats the noise and signal processing by a time variant filter in a microstrip detector. In particular, the noise sources in the detector-electronics chain and the signal losses that cause a substantial decrease of the original signal are thoroughly analyzed. This work has been motivated by the analysis of the data of the microstrip detectors designed for the ALEPH minivertex detector. Hence, even if the discussion will be kept as general as possible, concrete examples will be presented referring to the specific ALEPH design. (orig.)

The Research of Vehicle Acceleration at Signalized Intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vuk Bogdanović

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Vehicle acceleration is an important parameter used in planning various road elements, traffic signalization, geometric elements of an intersection, signal plans of traffic lights, etc. The knowledge of vehicle acceleration values is also necessary in using simulation softwares for more accurate analysis of the total situation at an intersection, on a road section or in a traffic network. In a lot of earlier studies, acceleration values were analysed and defined, mostly in optimal conditions for traffic functioning. However, values of almost all traffic flow parameters have been changed over time, due to changes in driving-dynamic vehicle characteristics, pneumatic tyres, material used for building road surface, etc. Besides, local environment influence and changes in drivers’ behaviour also significantly affect values of this parameter. According to HCM, it is advisable to perform local research for all values of the parameters recommended within the framework of this handbook, and to adapt their values to local conditions as well. The results of measuring the values of vehicles acceleration at signalized intersections in Novi Sad, Serbia, have been shown in this paper, using the procedure based on video recording processing.

Searching for patterns in TJ-II time evolution signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farias, G.; Dormido-Canto, S.; Vega, J.; Sanchez, J.; Duro, N.; Dormido, R.; Ochando, M.; Santos, M.; Pajares, G.

2006-01-01

Since fusion plasma experiments generate hundreds of signals, it is important for their analysis to have automatic mechanisms for searching for similarities and retrieving specific data from the signal database. This paper describes a technique for searching in the TJ-II database that combines support vector machines and similarity query methods. Firstly, plasma signals are pre-processed by wavelet transform or discrete Fourier transform to reduce the dimensionality of the problem and to extract their main features. Secondly, support vector machines are used to classify a set of signals by reference to an input signal. Finally, similarity query methods (Euclidean distance and bounding envelope) are used to search the set of signals that best matches the input signal

PSO-Based Robot Path Planning for Multisurvivor Rescue in Limited Survival Time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Geng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Since the strength of a trapped person often declines with time in urgent and dangerous circumstances, adopting a robot to rescue as many survivors as possible in limited time is of considerable significance. However, as one key issue in robot navigation, how to plan an optimal rescue path of a robot has not yet been fully solved. This paper studies robot path planning for multisurvivor rescue in limited survival time using a representative heuristic, particle swarm optimization (PSO. First, the robot path planning problem including multiple survivors is formulated as a discrete optimization one with high constraint, where the number of rescued persons is taken as the unique objective function, and the strength of a trapped person is used to constrain the feasibility of a path. Then, a new integer PSO algorithm is presented to solve the mathematical model, and several new operations, such as the update of a particle, the insertion and inversion operators, and the rapidly local search method, are incorporated into the proposed algorithm to improve its effectiveness. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the capacity of our method in generating optimal paths with high quality.

Pricing by timing: innovating broadband data plans

Science.gov (United States)

Ha, Sangtae; Joe-Wong, Carlee; Sen, Soumya; Chiang, Mung

2012-01-01

Wireless Internet usage is doubling every year. Users are using more of high bandwidth data applications, and the heavy usage concentrates on several peak hours in a day, forcing ISPs to overprovision their networks accordingly. In order to remain profitable, ISPs have been using pricing as a congestion management tool. We review many of such pricing schemes in practice today and argue that they do not solve ISPs' problem of growing data traffic. We believe that dynamic, time-dependent usage pricing, which charges users based on when they access the Internet, can incentivize users to spread out their bandwidth consumption more evenly across different times of the day, thus helping ISPs to overcome the problem of peak congestion. Congestion pricing is not a new idea in itself, but the time for its implementation in data networks has finally arrived. Our key contribution lies in developing new analysis and a fully integrated system architecture, called TUBE (Time-dependent Usage-based Broadband price Engineering) that enables ISPs to implement the proposed TDP plan. The theory, simulation, and system implementation of TUBE system is further complemented with consumer surveys conducted in India and the US, along with preparations for a field trial that is currently underway.

Robustness via Run-Time Adaptation of Contingent Plans

Science.gov (United States)

Bresina, John L.; Washington, Richard; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

In this paper, we discuss our approach to making the behavior of planetary rovers more robust for the purpose of increased productivity. Due to the inherent uncertainty in rover exploration, the traditional approach to rover control is conservative, limiting the autonomous operation of the rover and sacrificing performance for safety. Our objective is to increase the science productivity possible within a single uplink by allowing the rover's behavior to be specified with flexible, contingent plans and by employing dynamic plan adaptation during execution. We have deployed a system exhibiting flexible, contingent execution; this paper concentrates on our ongoing efforts on plan adaptation, Plans can be revised in two ways: plan steps may be deleted, with execution continuing with the plan suffix; and the current plan may be merged with an "alternate plan" from an on-board library. The plan revision action is chosen to maximize the expected utility of the plan. Plan merging and action deletion constitute a more conservative general-purpose planning system; in return, our approach is more efficient and more easily verified, two important criteria for deployed rovers.

Improving EWMA Plans for Detecting Unusual Increases in Poisson Counts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. S. Sparks

2009-01-01

adaptive exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA plan is developed for signalling unusually high incidence when monitoring a time series of nonhomogeneous daily disease counts. A Poisson transitional regression model is used to fit background/expected trend in counts and provides “one-day-ahead” forecasts of the next day's count. Departures of counts from their forecasts are monitored. The paper outlines an approach for improving early outbreak data signals by dynamically adjusting the exponential weights to be efficient at signalling local persistent high side changes. We emphasise outbreak signals in steady-state situations; that is, changes that occur after the EWMA statistic had run through several in-control counts.

Revising superior planning performance in chess players: the impact of time restriction and motivation aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

Unterrainer, Josef Martin; Kaller, Christoph Philipp; Leonhart, Rainer; Rahm, Benjamin

2011-01-01

In a previous study (Unterrainer, Kaller, Halsband, & Rahm, 2006), chess players outperformed non-chess players in the Tower of London planning task but exhibited disproportionately longer processing times. This pattern of results raises the question of whether chess players' planning capabilities are superior or whether the results reflect differences in the speed-accuracy trade-off between the groups, possibly attributable to sports motivation. The present study was designed to disambiguate these alternative suggestions by implementing various constraints on planning time and by assessing self-reported motivation. In contrast to the previous study, chess players' performance was not superior, independently of whether problems had to be solved with (Experiment 1) or without (Experiment 2) time limits. As expected, chess players reported higher overall trait and state motivation scores across both experiments. These findings revise the notion of superior planning performance in chess players. In consequence, they do not conform with the assumption of a general transfer of chess-related planning expertise to other cognitive domains, instead suggesting that superior performance may be possible only under specific circumstances such as receiving competitive instructions.

Anticipation of lead time performance in supply chain operations planning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, M.M.; Kok, de A.G.; Fransoo, J.C.

2009-01-01

Whilst being predominantly used in practice, linear and mixed integer programming models for Supply Chain Operations Planning (SCOP) are not well suited for modeling the relationship between the release of work to a production unit and its output over time. In this paper we propose an approach where

The HAL 9000 Space Operating System Real-Time Planning Engine Design and Operations Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Stetson, Howard; Watson, Michael D.; Shaughnessy, Ray

2012-01-01

In support of future deep space manned missions, an autonomous/automated vehicle, providing crew autonomy and an autonomous response planning system, will be required due to the light time delays in communication. Vehicle capabilities as a whole must provide for tactical response to vehicle system failures and space environmental effects induced failures, for risk mitigation of permanent loss of communication with Earth, and for assured crew return capabilities. The complexity of human rated space systems and the limited crew sizes and crew skills mix drive the need for a robust autonomous capability on-board the vehicle. The HAL 9000 Space Operating System[2] designed for such missions and space craft includes the first distributed real-time planning / re-planning system. This paper will detail the software architecture of the multiple planning engine system, and the interface design for plan changes, approval and implementation that is performed autonomously. Operations scenarios will be defined for analysis of the planning engines operations and its requirements for nominal / off nominal activities. An assessment of the distributed realtime re-planning system, in the defined operations environment, will be provided as well as findings as it pertains to the vehicle, crew, and mission control requirements needed for implementation.

On Time Domain Analysis of Photoplethysmogram Signals for Monitoring Heat Stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Elgendi

2015-09-01

Full Text Available There are a limited number of studies on heat stress dynamics during exercise using the photoplethysmogram (PPG and its second derivative (APG. However, we investigate the most suitable index from short PPG signal recordings for heat stress assessment. The APG waveform consists of a, b, c and d waves in systole and an e wave in diastole. Our preliminary results indicate that the use of the energy of aa area, derived from PPG signals measured from emergency responders in tropical conditions, is promising in determining the heat stress level using 20-s recordings. After examining 14 time domain features using leave-one-out cross-validation, we found that the aa energy extracted from PPG signals is the most informative feature for classifying heat-stressed subjects, with an overall accuracy of 79%. Moreover, the combination of the aa energy with the traditional heart rate variability index of heat stress (i.e., the square root of the mean of the squares of the successive aa intervals improved the heat stress detection to an overall accuracy of 83%.

Oscillation effects and time variation of the supernova neutrino signal

Science.gov (United States)

Kneller, James P.; McLaughlin, Gail C.; Brockman, Justin

2008-02-01

The neutrinos detected from the next galactic core-collapse supernova will contain valuable information on the internal dynamics of the explosion. One mechanism leading to a temporal evolution of the neutrino signal is the variation of the induced neutrino flavor mixing driven by changes in the density profile. With one and two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations we identify the behavior and properties of prominent features of the explosion. Using these results we demonstrate the time variation of the neutrino crossing probabilities due to changes in the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) neutrino transformations as the star explodes by using the S-matrix—Monte Carlo—approach to neutrino propagation. After adopting spectra for the neutrinos emitted from the proto-neutron star we calculate for a galactic supernova the evolution of the positron spectra within a water Cerenkov detector and find that this signal allows us to probe of a number of explosion features.

An Application of Reassigned Time-Frequency Representations for Seismic Noise/Signal Decomposition

Science.gov (United States)

Mousavi, S. M.; Langston, C. A.

2016-12-01

Seismic data recorded by surface arrays are often strongly contaminated by unwanted noise. This background noise makes the detection of small magnitude events difficult. An automatic method for seismic noise/signal decomposition is presented based upon an enhanced time-frequency representation. Synchrosqueezing is a time-frequency reassignment method aimed at sharpening a time-frequency picture. Noise can be distinguished from the signal and suppressed more easily in this reassigned domain. The threshold level is estimated using a general cross validation approach that does not rely on any prior knowledge about the noise level. Efficiency of thresholding has been improved by adding a pre-processing step based on higher order statistics and a post-processing step based on adaptive hard-thresholding. In doing so, both accuracy and speed of the denoising have been improved compared to our previous algorithms (Mousavi and Langston, 2016a, 2016b; Mousavi et al., 2016). The proposed algorithm can either kill the noise (either white or colored) and keep the signal or kill the signal and keep the noise. Hence, It can be used in either normal denoising applications or in ambient noise studies. Application of the proposed method on synthetic and real seismic data shows the effectiveness of the method for denoising/designaling of local microseismic, and ocean bottom seismic data. References: Mousavi, S.M., C. A. Langston., and S. P. Horton (2016), Automatic Microseismic Denoising and Onset Detection Using the Synchrosqueezed-Continuous Wavelet Transform. Geophysics. 81, V341-V355, doi: 10.1190/GEO2015-0598.1. Mousavi, S.M., and C. A. Langston (2016a), Hybrid Seismic Denoising Using Higher-Order Statistics and Improved Wavelet Block Thresholding. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 106, doi: 10.1785/0120150345. Mousavi, S.M., and C.A. Langston (2016b), Adaptive noise estimation and suppression for improving microseismic event detection, Journal of Applied Geophysics., doi: http

Sensitivity of Hurst parameter estimation to periodic signals in time series and filtering approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Marković, D.; Koch, M.

2005-09-01

The influence of the periodic signals in time series on the Hurst parameter estimate is investigated with temporal, spectral and time-scale methods. The Hurst parameter estimates of the simulated periodic time series with a white noise background show a high sensitivity on the signal to noise ratio and for some methods, also on the data length used. The analysis is then carried on to the investigation of extreme monthly river flows of the Elbe River (Dresden) and of the Rhine River (Kaub). Effects of removing the periodic components employing different filtering approaches are discussed and it is shown that such procedures are a prerequisite for an unbiased estimation of H. In summary, our results imply that the first step in a time series long-correlation study should be the separation of the deterministic components from the stochastic ones. Otherwise wrong conclusions concerning possible memory effects may be drawn.

Using Balanced Time Perspective to Explain Well-Being and Planning in Retirement

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, Anna; Earl, Joanne K.; Mooney, Carl H.; Bateman, Hazel

2017-01-01

The notion of whether people focus on the past, present or future, and how it shapes their behavior is known as Time Perspective. Fundamental to the work of two of its earliest proponents, Zimbardo and Boyd (2008), was the concept of balanced time perspective and its relationship to wellness. A person with balanced time perspective can be expected to have a flexible temporal focus of mostly positive orientations (past-positive, present-hedonistic, and future) and much less negative orientations (past-negative and present-fatalistic). This study measured deviation from balanced time perspective (DBTP: Zhang et al., 2013) in a sample of 243 mature adults aged 45 to 91 years and explored relationships to Retirement Planning, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Positive Mood, and Negative Mood. Results indicate that DBTP accounts for unexplained variance in the outcome measures even after controlling for demographic variables. DBTP was negatively related to Retirement Planning and Positive Mood and positively related to Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Negative Mood. Theoretical and practical implications regarding balanced time perspective are discussed. PMID:29081757

Using Balanced Time Perspective to Explain Well-Being and Planning in Retirement.

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, Anna; Earl, Joanne K; Mooney, Carl H; Bateman, Hazel

2017-01-01

The notion of whether people focus on the past, present or future, and how it shapes their behavior is known as Time Perspective. Fundamental to the work of two of its earliest proponents, Zimbardo and Boyd (2008), was the concept of balanced time perspective and its relationship to wellness. A person with balanced time perspective can be expected to have a flexible temporal focus of mostly positive orientations (past-positive, present-hedonistic, and future) and much less negative orientations (past-negative and present-fatalistic). This study measured deviation from balanced time perspective (DBTP: Zhang et al., 2013) in a sample of 243 mature adults aged 45 to 91 years and explored relationships to Retirement Planning, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Positive Mood, and Negative Mood. Results indicate that DBTP accounts for unexplained variance in the outcome measures even after controlling for demographic variables. DBTP was negatively related to Retirement Planning and Positive Mood and positively related to Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Negative Mood. Theoretical and practical implications regarding balanced time perspective are discussed.

Using Balanced Time Perspective to Explain Well-Being and Planning in Retirement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Mooney

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The notion of whether people focus on the past, present or future, and how it shapes their behavior is known as Time Perspective. Fundamental to the work of two of its earliest proponents, Zimbardo and Boyd (2008, was the concept of balanced time perspective and its relationship to wellness. A person with balanced time perspective can be expected to have a flexible temporal focus of mostly positive orientations (past-positive, present-hedonistic, and future and much less negative orientations (past-negative and present-fatalistic. This study measured deviation from balanced time perspective (DBTP: Zhang et al., 2013 in a sample of 243 mature adults aged 45 to 91 years and explored relationships to Retirement Planning, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Positive Mood, and Negative Mood. Results indicate that DBTP accounts for unexplained variance in the outcome measures even after controlling for demographic variables. DBTP was negatively related to Retirement Planning and Positive Mood and positively related to Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Negative Mood. Theoretical and practical implications regarding balanced time perspective are discussed.

Welding quality evaluation of resistance spot welding using the time-varying inductive reactance signal

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hongjie; Hou, Yanyan; Yang, Tao; Zhang, Qian; Zhao, Jian

2018-05-01

In the spot welding process, a high alternating current is applied, resulting in a time-varying electromagnetic field surrounding the welder. When measuring the welding voltage signal, the impedance of the measuring circuit consists of two parts: dynamic resistance relating to weld nugget nucleation event and inductive reactance caused by mutual inductance. The aim of this study is to develop a method to acquire the dynamic reactance signal and to discuss the possibility of using this signal to evaluate the weld quality. For this purpose, a series of experiments were carried out. The reactance signals under different welding conditions were compared and the results showed that the morphological feature of the reactance signal was closely related to the welding current and it was also significantly influenced by some abnormal welding conditions. Some features were extracted from the reactance signal and combined to construct weld nugget strength and diameter prediction models based on the radial basis function (RBF) neural network. In addition, several features were also used to monitor the expulsion in the welding process by using Fisher linear discriminant analysis. The results indicated that using the dynamic reactance signal to evaluate weld quality is possible and feasible.

Time planning and Cost Management in Strategic Alliances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana-Maria Giurea

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The paper highlights a mutual support example out of ten simulations regarding strategic alliances based on the hypothesis that every partner allocates its resources and budget in an equitable manner according to total expected time (PERT. In today’s strategic alliances, the partner plays an essential role regarding the support capacity of the firm, assuming the statement: “many hands make light work”. The equitable allocations of time and cost, that the firms are able to honor, will be an advantage within the strategic mutual support. If one of the partners fails to respond with the same resources that the other partner offers, within a certain phase of the process, he will have the possibility to prove his capacity of support in another phase, when the other partner cannot afford to allocate the same resources. Mutual support between partners, time planning and cost management represent the best ways for a complex mechanism, such as the strategic alliance, to work properly.

Time-optimal path planning in uncertain flow fields using ensemble method

KAUST Repository

Wang, Tong; Le Maitre, Olivier; Hoteit, Ibrahim; Knio, Omar

2016-01-01

the performance of sampling strategy, and develop insight into extensions dealing with regional or general circulation models. In particular, the ensemble method enables us to perform a statistical analysis of travel times, and consequently develop a path planning

Symmetry breaking in optimal timing of traffic signals on an idealized two-way street.

Science.gov (United States)

Panaggio, Mark J; Ottino-Löffler, Bertand J; Hu, Peiguang; Abrams, Daniel M

2013-09-01

Simple physical models based on fluid mechanics have long been used to understand the flow of vehicular traffic on freeways; analytically tractable models of flow on an urban grid, however, have not been as extensively explored. In an ideal world, traffic signals would be timed such that consecutive lights turned green just as vehicles arrived, eliminating the need to stop at each block. Unfortunately, this "green-wave" scenario is generally unworkable due to frustration imposed by competing demands of traffic moving in different directions. Until now this has typically been resolved by numerical simulation and optimization. Here, we develop a theory for the flow in an idealized system consisting of a long two-way road with periodic intersections. We show that optimal signal timing can be understood analytically and that there are counterintuitive asymmetric solutions to this signal coordination problem. We further explore how these theoretical solutions degrade as traffic conditions vary and automotive density increases.

Symmetry breaking in optimal timing of traffic signals on an idealized two-way street

Science.gov (United States)

Panaggio, Mark J.; Ottino-Löffler, Bertand J.; Hu, Peiguang; Abrams, Daniel M.

2013-09-01

Simple physical models based on fluid mechanics have long been used to understand the flow of vehicular traffic on freeways; analytically tractable models of flow on an urban grid, however, have not been as extensively explored. In an ideal world, traffic signals would be timed such that consecutive lights turned green just as vehicles arrived, eliminating the need to stop at each block. Unfortunately, this “green-wave” scenario is generally unworkable due to frustration imposed by competing demands of traffic moving in different directions. Until now this has typically been resolved by numerical simulation and optimization. Here, we develop a theory for the flow in an idealized system consisting of a long two-way road with periodic intersections. We show that optimal signal timing can be understood analytically and that there are counterintuitive asymmetric solutions to this signal coordination problem. We further explore how these theoretical solutions degrade as traffic conditions vary and automotive density increases.

A real time ECG signal processing application for arrhythmia detection on portable devices

Science.gov (United States)

Georganis, A.; Doulgeraki, N.; Asvestas, P.

2017-11-01

Arrhythmia describes the disorders of normal heart rate, which, depending on the case, can even be fatal for a patient with severe history of heart disease. The purpose of this work is to develop an application for heart signal visualization, processing and analysis in Android portable devices e.g. Mobile phones, tablets, etc. The application is able to retrieve the signal initially from a file and at a later stage this signal is processed and analysed within the device so that it can be classified according to the features of the arrhythmia. In the processing and analysing stage, different algorithms are included among them the Moving Average and Pan Tompkins algorithm as well as the use of wavelets, in order to extract features and characteristics. At the final stage, testing is performed by simulating our application in real-time records, using the TCP network protocol for communicating the mobile with a simulated signal source. The classification of ECG beat to be processed is performed by neural networks.

Time reduction and automation of routine planning activities through the use of macros

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alaman, C.; Perez-Alija, J.; Herrero, C.; Real, C. del; Osorio, J. L.; Almansa, J.

2011-01-01

The use of macros in scheduler automates Adac Pinnacle3 much of the routine activities in the planning process, from the display options and placement of beams, to, among other possibilities, systematic naming them and export of the physical and clinical dosimetry. This automation allows reduction of the times associated with the planning process and an error reduction.

Nonlinear time-series analysis of current signal in cathodic contact glow discharge electrolysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allagui, Anis; Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali; Rojas, Andrea Espinel; Bonny, Talal; Elwakil, Ahmed S.

2016-01-01

In the standard two-electrode configuration employed in electrolytic process, when the control dc voltage is brought to a critical value, the system undergoes a transition from conventional electrolysis to contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE), which has also been referred to as liquid-submerged micro-plasma, glow discharge plasma electrolysis, electrode effect, electrolytic plasma, etc. The light-emitting process is associated with the development of an irregular and erratic current time-series which has been arbitrarily labelled as “random,” and thus dissuaded further research in this direction. Here, we examine the current time-series signals measured in cathodic CGDE configuration in a concentrated KOH solution at different dc bias voltages greater than the critical voltage. We show that the signals are, in fact, not random according to the NIST SP. 800-22 test suite definition. We also demonstrate that post-processing low-pass filtered sequences requires less time than the native as-measured sequences, suggesting a superposition of low frequency chaotic fluctuations and high frequency behaviors (which may be produced by more than one possible source of entropy). Using an array of nonlinear time-series analyses for dynamical systems, i.e., the computation of largest Lyapunov exponents and correlation dimensions, and re-construction of phase portraits, we found that low-pass filtered datasets undergo a transition from quasi-periodic to chaotic to quasi-hyper-chaotic behavior, and back again to chaos when the voltage controlling-parameter is increased. The high frequency part of the signals is discussed in terms of highly nonlinear turbulent motion developed around the working electrode.

Transient-Switch-Signal Suppressor

Science.gov (United States)

Bozeman, Richard J., Jr.

1995-01-01

Circuit delays transmission of switch-opening or switch-closing signal until after preset suppression time. Used to prevent transmission of undesired momentary switch signal. Basic mode of operation simple. Beginning of switch signal initiates timing sequence. If switch signal persists after preset suppression time, circuit transmits switch signal to external circuitry. If switch signal no longer present after suppression time, switch signal deemed transient, and circuit does not pass signal on to external circuitry, as though no transient switch signal. Suppression time preset at value large enough to allow for damping of underlying pressure wave or other mechanical transient.

Daily CT planning during boost irradiation of prostate cancer. Feasibility and time requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geinitz, H.; Zimmermann, F.B.; Kuzmany, A.; Kneschaurek, P.

2000-01-01

Background: In the irradiation of prostate cancer internal organ movement leads to uncertainties in the daily localization of the clinical target volume. Therefore more or less large safety margins are added when designing the treatment portals. With daily CT planning internal organ movement can be compensated to some extent, safety margins can be reduced and irradiated normal tissue can be spared. The feasibility of daily CT-based 3D treatment planning is studied in a patient with localized prostate carcinoma using a new patient positioning system. Methods: Daily CT planning was applied during boost irradiation of a patient with prostate cancer: After patient immobilization the pelvis was scanned in 3 mm CT slices. Planning was done with the BrainSCAN planning system for stereotactic body irradiation. The prostate was contoured in all slices and the safety margins of the micromultileafs were automatically set to the distance chosen by the physician (0.8 cm). Patient positioning was done with the BrainLAB ExacTrac positioning system on the basis of skin attached stereotactic body markers. Before each treatment verification images of the isocenter were taken. Results: The total time requirement for planning and irradiation was about 1 hour 15 minutes. Patient positioning on the treatment couch took about 10 minutes. The accuracy of the positioning system was good (75% of the deviations were smaller than 3 mm). The shift of the single markers from CT scan to CT scan was more extensive than those of the center of all 7 markers combined (47% of the deviations were smaller than 3 mm). The location of the markers seems to influence the magnitude of their dislocation. Conclusion: Daily CT planning is feasible but time consuming. The new patient positioning system ExacTrac is an interesting tool especially for daily CT planning since conventional simulation can be omitted. (orig.) [de

Real-time signal communication between diagnostic and control in ASDEX Upgrade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Treutterer, Wolfgang; Neu, Gregor; Raupp, Gerhard; Zehetbauer, Thomas; Zasche, Dieter; Lueddecke, Klaus; Cole, Richard

2010-01-01

The ASDEX Upgrade tokamak experiment is equipped with a versatile discharge monitoring and control system. It allows to develop and use advanced control algorithms to investigate plasma physics under well-defined conditions with the objective of optimising plasma performance. The achievable quality depends on the accuracy with which the plasma state can be reconstructed from measurements under real-time conditions. Today's advanced algorithms need physics quantities - scalar entities as well as profiles. These are obtained processing huge numbers of raw measurements with complex diagnostic algorithms. Adequate network communication for the resulting signals is crucial to satisfy real-time requirements, especially when several diagnostic systems cooperate in a feedback control loop. Support for the technology of choice, however, is not easily available for all of the diverse, highly specialised diagnostic systems. We give an overview about the methods that have been explored at ASDEX Upgrade for real-time signal transfer. In particular, we investigated reflective shared memory and Ethernet technologies. Our solution strives to combine their strengths. For fast communication on dedicated computing nodes, reflective shared memory is used. For the majority of diagnostic systems producing large data blocks at moderate rates, Ethernet connections with UDP protocol are employed. Following ASDEX Upgrade's framework concept, a software layer hides the networks used from both diagnostic and control applications.

Real-time synchronization of wireless sensor network by 1-PPS signal

Science.gov (United States)

Giammarini, Marco; Pieralisi, Marco; Isidori, Daniela; Concettoni, Enrico; Cristalli, Cristina; Fioravanti, Matteo

2015-05-01

The use of wireless sensor networks with different nodes is desirable in a smart environment, because the network setting up and installation on preexisting structures can be done without a fixed cabled infrastructure. The flexibility of the monitoring system is fundamental where the use of a considerable quantity of cables could compromise the normal exercise, could affect the quality of acquired signal and finally increase the cost of the materials and installation. The network is composed of several intelligent "nodes", which acquires data from different kind of sensors, and then store or transmit them to a central elaboration unit. The synchronization of data acquisition is the core of the real-time wireless sensor network (WSN). In this paper, we present a comparison between different methods proposed by literature for the real-time acquisition in a WSN and finally we present our solution based on 1-Pulse-Per-Second (1-PPS) signal generated by GPS systems. The sensor node developed is a small-embedded system based on ARM microcontroller that manages the acquisition, the timing and the post-processing of the data. The communications between the sensors and the master based on IEEE 802.15.4 protocol and managed by dedicated software. Finally, we present the preliminary results obtained on a 3 floor building simulator with the wireless sensors system developed.

Real-time signal communication between diagnostic and control in ASDEX Upgrade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Treutterer, Wolfgang, E-mail: Wolfgang.Treutterer@ipp.mpg.d [Max-Planck Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, Garching, EURATOM Association (Germany); Neu, Gregor; Raupp, Gerhard; Zehetbauer, Thomas; Zasche, Dieter [Max-Planck Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, Garching, EURATOM Association (Germany); Lueddecke, Klaus; Cole, Richard [Unlimited Computer Systems, Iffeldorf (Germany)

2010-07-15

The ASDEX Upgrade tokamak experiment is equipped with a versatile discharge monitoring and control system. It allows to develop and use advanced control algorithms to investigate plasma physics under well-defined conditions with the objective of optimising plasma performance. The achievable quality depends on the accuracy with which the plasma state can be reconstructed from measurements under real-time conditions. Today's advanced algorithms need physics quantities - scalar entities as well as profiles. These are obtained processing huge numbers of raw measurements with complex diagnostic algorithms. Adequate network communication for the resulting signals is crucial to satisfy real-time requirements, especially when several diagnostic systems cooperate in a feedback control loop. Support for the technology of choice, however, is not easily available for all of the diverse, highly specialised diagnostic systems. We give an overview about the methods that have been explored at ASDEX Upgrade for real-time signal transfer. In particular, we investigated reflective shared memory and Ethernet technologies. Our solution strives to combine their strengths. For fast communication on dedicated computing nodes, reflective shared memory is used. For the majority of diagnostic systems producing large data blocks at moderate rates, Ethernet connections with UDP protocol are employed. Following ASDEX Upgrade's framework concept, a software layer hides the networks used from both diagnostic and control applications.

Cross Time-Frequency Analysis of Gastrocnemius Electromyographic Signals in Hypertensive and Nonhypertensive Subjects

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Patrick; Krotish, Debra; Shin, Yong-June; Hirth, Victor

2010-12-01

The effects of hypertension are chronic and continuous; it affects gait, balance, and fall risk. Therefore, it is desirable to assess gait health across hypertensive and nonhypertensive subjects in order to prevent or reduce the risk of falls. Analysis of electromyography (EMG) signals can identify age related changes of neuromuscular activation due to various neuropathies and myopathies, but it is difficult to translate these medical changes to clinical diagnosis. To examine and compare geriatrics patients with these gait-altering diseases, we acquire EMG muscle activation signals, and by use of a timesynchronized mat capable of recording pressure information, we localize the EMG data to the gait cycle, ensuring identical comparison across subjects. Using time-frequency analysis on the EMG signal, in conjunction with several parameters obtained from the time-frequency analyses, we can determine the statistical discrepancy between diseases. We base these parameters on physiological manifestations caused by hypertension, as well as other comorbities that affect the geriatrics community. Using these metrics in a small population, we identify a statistical discrepancy between a control group and subjects with hypertension, neuropathy, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and several other common diseases which severely affect the geriatrics community.

LISA time-delay interferometry zero-signal solution: Geometrical properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tinto, Massimo; Larson, Shane L.

2004-01-01

Time-delay interferometry (TDI) is the data processing technique needed for generating interferometric combinations of data measured by the multiple Doppler readouts available onboard the three Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) spacecraft. Within the space of all possible interferometric combinations TDI can generate, we have derived a specific combination that has zero response to the gravitational wave signal, and called it the zero-signal solution (ZSS). This is a two-parameter family of linear combinations of the generators of the TDI space, and its response to a gravitational wave becomes null when these two parameters coincide with the values of the angles of the source location in the sky. Remarkably, the ZSS does not rely on any assumptions about the gravitational waveform, and in fact it works for waveforms of any kind. Our approach is analogous to the data analysis method introduced by Guersel and Tinto in the context of networks of Earth-based, wideband, interferometric gravitational wave detectors observing in coincidence a gravitational wave burst. The ZSS should be regarded as an application of the Guersel and Tinto method to the LISA data

Digital signal processing for the Johnson noise thermometry: a time series analysis of the Johnson noise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moon, Byung Soo; Hwang, In Koo; Chung, Chong Eun; Kwon, Kee Choon; David, E. H.; Kisner, R.A.

2004-06-01

In this report, we first proved that a random signal obtained by taking the sum of a set of signal frequency signals generates a continuous Markov process. We used this random signal to simulate the Johnson noise and verified that the Johnson noise thermometry can be used to improve the measurements of the reactor coolant temperature within an accuracy of below 0.14%. Secondly, by using this random signal we determined the optimal sampling rate when the frequency band of the Johnson noise signal is given. Also the results of our examination on how good the linearity of the Johnson noise is and how large the relative error of the temperature could become when the temperature increases are described. Thirdly, the results of our analysis on a set of the Johnson noise signal blocks taken from a simple electric circuit are described. We showed that the properties of the continuous Markov process are satisfied even when some channel noises are present. Finally, we describe the algorithm we devised to handle the problem of the time lag in the long-term average or the moving average in a transient state. The algorithm is based on the Haar wavelet and is to estimate the transient temperature that has much smaller time delay. We have shown that the algorithm can track the transient temperature successfully

Time-Frequency Characterization of Cerebral Hemodynamics of Migraine Sufferers as Assessed by NIRS Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filippo Molinari

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS is a noninvasive system for the real-time monitoring of the concentration of oxygenated (O2Hb and reduced (HHb hemoglobin in the brain cortex. O2Hb and HHb concentrations vary in response to cerebral autoregulation. Sixty-eight women (14 migraineurs without aura, 49 migraineurs with aura, and 5 controls performed breath-holding and hyperventilation during NIRS recordings. Signals were processed using the Choi-Williams time-frequency transform in order to measure the power variation of the very-low frequencies (VLF: 20–40 mHz and of the low frequencies (LF: 40–140 mHz. Results showed that migraineurs without aura present different LF and VLF power levels than controls and migraineurs with aura. The accurate power measurement of the time-frequency analysis allowed for the discrimination of the subjects' hemodynamic patterns. The time-frequency analysis of NIRS signals can be used in clinical practice to assess cerebral hemodynamics.

Time-Frequency Characterization of Cerebral Hemodynamics of Migraine Sufferers as Assessed by NIRS Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liboni William

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS is a noninvasive system for the real-time monitoring of the concentration of oxygenated ( and reduced (HHb hemoglobin in the brain cortex. and HHb concentrations vary in response to cerebral autoregulation. Sixty-eight women (14 migraineurs without aura, 49 migraineurs with aura, and 5 controls performed breath-holding and hyperventilation during NIRS recordings. Signals were processed using the Choi-Williams time-frequency transform in order to measure the power variation of the very-low frequencies (VLF: 20–40 mHz and of the low frequencies (LF: 40–140 mHz. Results showed that migraineurs without aura present different LF and VLF power levels than controls and migraineurs with aura. The accurate power measurement of the time-frequency analysis allowed for the discrimination of the subjects' hemodynamic patterns. The time-frequency analysis of NIRS signals can be used in clinical practice to assess cerebral hemodynamics.

Learning-based traffic signal control algorithms with neighborhood information sharing: An application for sustainable mobility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aziz, H. M. Abdul [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Zhu, Feng [Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (United States). Lyles School of Civil Engineering; Ukkusuri, Satish V. [Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (United States). Lyles School of Civil Engineering

2017-10-04

Here, this research applies R-Markov Average Reward Technique based reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm, namely RMART, for vehicular signal control problem leveraging information sharing among signal controllers in connected vehicle environment. We implemented the algorithm in a network of 18 signalized intersections and compare the performance of RMART with fixed, adaptive, and variants of the RL schemes. Results show significant improvement in system performance for RMART algorithm with information sharing over both traditional fixed signal timing plans and real time adaptive control schemes. Additionally, the comparison with reinforcement learning algorithms including Q learning and SARSA indicate that RMART performs better at higher congestion levels. Further, a multi-reward structure is proposed that dynamically adjusts the reward function with varying congestion states at the intersection. Finally, the results from test networks show significant reduction in emissions (CO, CO₂, NO_x, VOC, PM₁₀) when RL algorithms are implemented compared to fixed signal timings and adaptive schemes.

Mobile Robots Path Planning Using the Overall Conflict Resolution and Time Baseline Coordination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Ma

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at resolving the path planning problem in a time-varying environment based on the idea of overall conflict resolution and the algorithm of time baseline coordination. The basic task of the introduced path planning algorithms is to fulfill the automatic generation of the shortest paths from the defined start poses to their end poses with consideration of generous constraints for multiple mobile robots. Building on this, by using the overall conflict resolution, within the polynomial based paths, we take into account all the constraints including smoothness, motion boundary, kinematics constraints, obstacle avoidance, and safety constraints among robots together. And time baseline coordination algorithm is proposed to process the above formulated problem. The foremost strong point is that much time can be saved with our approach. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of our approach.

Using Automated Planning for Traffic Signals Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matija Gulić

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Solving traffic congestions represents a high priority issue in many big cities. Traditional traffic control systems are mainly based on pre-programmed, reactive and local techniques. This paper presents an autonomic system that uses automated planning techniques instead. These techniques are easily configurable and modified, and can reason about the future implications of actions that change the default traffic lights behaviour. The proposed implemented system includes some autonomic properties, since it monitors the current traffic state, detects if the system is degrading its performance, sets up new sets of goals to be achieved by the planner, triggers the planner that generates plans with control actions, and executes the selected courses of actions. The obtained results in several artificial and real world data-based simulation scenarios show that the proposed system can efficiently solve traffic congestion.

Enhancement of Single-Channel Periodic Signals in the Time-Domain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Rindom; Benesty, Jacob; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll

2012-01-01

speech. That is, signal-dependent methods based on the signal statistics will introduce undesired distortion for some parts of speech compared to signal-independent methods based on the noise statistics. Since both the signal-independent and signal-dependent approaches to speech enhancement have...

Using mean duration and variation of procedure times to plan a list of surgical operations to fit into the scheduled list time.

Science.gov (United States)

Pandit, Jaideep J; Tavare, Aniket

2011-07-01

It is important that a surgical list is planned to utilise as much of the scheduled time as possible while not over-running, because this can lead to cancellation of operations. We wished to assess whether, theoretically, the known duration of individual operations could be used quantitatively to predict the likely duration of the operating list. In a university hospital setting, we first assessed the extent to which the current ad-hoc method of operating list planning was able to match the scheduled operating list times for 153 consecutive historical lists. Using receiver operating curve analysis, we assessed the ability of an alternative method to predict operating list duration for the same operating lists. This method uses a simple formula: the sum of individual operation times and a pooled standard deviation of these times. We used the operating list duration estimated from this formula to generate a probability that the operating list would finish within its scheduled time. Finally, we applied the simple formula prospectively to 150 operating lists, 'shadowing' the current ad-hoc method, to confirm the predictive ability of the formula. The ad-hoc method was very poor at planning: 50% of historical operating lists were under-booked and 37% over-booked. In contrast, the simple formula predicted the correct outcome (under-run or over-run) for 76% of these operating lists. The calculated probability that a planned series of operations will over-run or under-run was found useful in developing an algorithm to adjust the planned cases optimally. In the prospective series, 65% of operating lists were over-booked and 10% were under-booked. The formula predicted the correct outcome for 84% of operating lists. A simple quantitative method of estimating operating list duration for a series of operations leads to an algorithm (readily created on an Excel spreadsheet, http://links.lww.com/EJA/A19) that can potentially improve operating list planning.

Planning GPS Measurements of a Linear Object for a Specified Time Interval

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Specht Cezary

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The previous measurement campaigns planning used in geodesy is conducted exclusively for individual points. For the natural process aimed at the adoption of the introduction of the planning (prediction of constellation state in navigation, which is characterized by the movement, one should adopt measurement campaigns planning for linear objects. In contrast to the existing planning solutions, focused on point presentation of the state of the constellation of navigation system, the author of this article rearranges the proposal of determination of geometrical factors, and their summation. In the presented simulation, one has specified the route of passing at certain times and it was assumed that the receiver will move with variable motion. One has defined the geometric ratios (PDOP, which allow to distinguish the results corresponding to the adopted criteria for the measurement of linear object to be conducted with the best possible accuracy.

The time course of individual face recognition: A pattern analysis of ERP signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Nemrodov, Dan; Niemeier, Matthias; Mok, Jenkin Ngo Yin; Nestor, Adrian

2016-05-15

An extensive body of work documents the time course of neural face processing in the human visual cortex. However, the majority of this work has focused on specific temporal landmarks, such as N170 and N250 components, derived through univariate analyses of EEG data. Here, we take on a broader evaluation of ERP signals related to individual face recognition as we attempt to move beyond the leading theoretical and methodological framework through the application of pattern analysis to ERP data. Specifically, we investigate the spatiotemporal profile of identity recognition across variation in emotional expression. To this end, we apply pattern classification to ERP signals both in time, for any single electrode, and in space, across multiple electrodes. Our results confirm the significance of traditional ERP components in face processing. At the same time though, they support the idea that the temporal profile of face recognition is incompletely described by such components. First, we show that signals associated with different facial identities can be discriminated from each other outside the scope of these components, as early as 70ms following stimulus presentation. Next, electrodes associated with traditional ERP components as well as, critically, those not associated with such components are shown to contribute information to stimulus discriminability. And last, the levels of ERP-based pattern discrimination are found to correlate with recognition accuracy across subjects confirming the relevance of these methods for bridging brain and behavior data. Altogether, the current results shed new light on the fine-grained time course of neural face processing and showcase the value of novel methods for pattern analysis to investigating fundamental aspects of visual recognition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An optimization based method for line planning to minimize travel time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bull, Simon Henry; Lusby, Richard Martin; Larsen, Jesper

2015-01-01

The line planning problem is to select a number of lines from a potential pool which provides sufficient passenger capacity and meets operational requirements, with some objective measure of solution line quality. We model the problem of minimizing the average passenger system time, including...

Four-dimensional treatment planning and fluoroscopic real-time tumor tracking radiotherapy for moving tumor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shirato, Hiroki; Shimizu, Shinichi; Kitamura, Kei; Nishioka, Takeshi; Kagei, Kenji; Hashimoto, Seiko; Aoyama, Hidefumi; Kunieda, Tatsuya; Shinohara, Nobuo; Dosaka-Akita, Hirotoshi; Miyasaka, Kazuo

2000-01-01

Purpose: To achieve precise three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiotherapy for mobile tumors, a new radiotherapy system and its treatment planning system were developed and used for clinical practice. Methods and Materials: We developed a linear accelerator synchronized with a fluoroscopic real-time tumor tracking system by which 3D coordinates of a 2.0-mm gold marker in the tumor can be determined every 0.03 second. The 3D relationships between the marker and the tumor at different respiratory phases are evaluated using CT image at each respiratory phase, whereby the optimum phase can be selected to synchronize with irradiation (4D treatment planning). The linac is triggered to irradiate the tumor only when the marker is located within the region of the planned coordinates relative to the isocenter. Results: The coordinates of the marker were detected with an accuracy of ± 1 mm during radiotherapy in the phantom experiment. The time delay between recognition of the marker position and the start or stop of megavoltage X-ray irradiation was 0.03 second. Fourteen patients with various tumors were treated by conformal radiotherapy with a 'tight' planning target volume (PTV) margin. They were surviving without relapse or complications with a median follow-up of 6 months. Conclusion: Fluoroscopic real-time tumor tracking radiotherapy following 4D treatment planning was developed and shown to be feasible to improve the accuracy of the radiotherapy for mobile tumors

Release the BEESTS: Bayesian Estimation of Ex-Gaussian STop-Signal Reaction Time Distributions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dora eMatzke

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The stop-signal paradigm is frequently used to study response inhibition. Inthis paradigm, participants perform a two-choice response time task wherethe primary task is occasionally interrupted by a stop-signal that promptsparticipants to withhold their response. The primary goal is to estimatethe latency of the unobservable stop response (stop signal reaction timeor SSRT. Recently, Matzke, Dolan, Logan, Brown, and Wagenmakers (inpress have developed a Bayesian parametric approach that allows for theestimation of the entire distribution of SSRTs. The Bayesian parametricapproach assumes that SSRTs are ex-Gaussian distributed and uses Markovchain Monte Carlo sampling to estimate the parameters of the SSRT distri-bution. Here we present an efficient and user-friendly software implementa-tion of the Bayesian parametric approach —BEESTS— that can be appliedto individual as well as hierarchical stop-signal data. BEESTS comes withan easy-to-use graphical user interface and provides users with summarystatistics of the posterior distribution of the parameters as well various diag-nostic tools to assess the quality of the parameter estimates. The softwareis open source and runs on Windows and OS X operating systems. In sum,BEESTS allows experimental and clinical psychologists to estimate entiredistributions of SSRTs and hence facilitates the more rigorous analysis ofstop-signal data.

ISS Operations Cost Reductions Through Automation of Real-Time Planning Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Timothy A.; Clancey, William J.; McDonald, Aaron; Toschlog, Jason; Tucker, Tyson; Khan, Ahmed; Madrid, Steven (Eric)

2011-01-01

In 2007 the Johnson Space Center s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) management team challenged their organizations to find ways to reduce the cost of operations for supporting the International Space Station (ISS) in the Mission Control Center (MCC). Each MOD organization was asked to define and execute projects that would help them attain cost reductions by 2012. The MOD Operations Division Flight Planning Branch responded to this challenge by launching several software automation projects that would allow them to greatly improve console operations and reduce ISS console staffing and intern reduce operating costs. These tasks ranged from improving the management and integration mission plan changes, to automating the uploading and downloading of information to and from the ISS and the associated ground complex tasks that required multiple decision points. The software solutions leveraged several different technologies including customized web applications and implementation of industry standard web services architecture; as well as engaging a previously TRL 4-5 technology developed by Ames Research Center (ARC) that utilized an intelligent agent-based system to manage and automate file traffic flow, archive data, and generate console logs. These projects to date have allowed the MOD Operations organization to remove one full time (7 x 24 x 365) ISS console position in 2010; with the goal of eliminating a second full time ISS console support position by 2012. The team will also reduce one long range planning console position by 2014. When complete, these Flight Planning Branch projects will account for the elimination of 3 console positions and a reduction in staffing of 11 engineering personnel (EP) for ISS.

Broadband true time delay for microwave signal processing, using slow light based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Chin, Sanghoon; Thévenaz, Luc; Sancho, Juan; Sales, Salvador; Capmany, José; Berger, Perrine; Bourderionnet, Jérôme; Dolfi, Daniel

2010-10-11

We experimentally demonstrate a novel technique to process broadband microwave signals, using all-optically tunable true time delay in optical fibers. The configuration to achieve true time delay basically consists of two main stages: photonic RF phase shifter and slow light, based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in fibers. Dispersion properties of fibers are controlled, separately at optical carrier frequency and in the vicinity of microwave signal bandwidth. This way time delay induced within the signal bandwidth can be manipulated to correctly act as true time delay with a proper phase compensation introduced to the optical carrier. We completely analyzed the generated true time delay as a promising solution to feed phased array antenna for radar systems and to develop dynamically reconfigurable microwave photonic filters.

Robust power detector for wideband signals among many single tone signals

Science.gov (United States)

Musgrove, Cameron H.; Thompson, Douglas

2018-03-06

Various technologies for isolating a signal of interest from signals received contemporaneously by an antenna are described herein. A time period for which a signal of interest is present in a second signal can be identified based upon ratios of values of the second signal to the mean value of the second signal. When the ratio of the value of the second signal at a particular time to the mean of the second signal exceeds a threshold value, the signal of interest is considered to be present in the second signal.

Real-Time Motion Planning and Safe Navigation in Dynamic Multi-Robot Environments

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bruce, James R

2006-01-01

.... While motion planning has been used for high level robot navigation, or limited to semi-static or single-robot domains, it has often been dismissed for the real-time low-level control of agents due...

Ultrasonic Detection of Small Crack in Studs[Bolts] by Time Difference of Thread Signals(TDTS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suh, D. M.; Park, D. Y.; Kim, C. K.

1990-01-01

It is difficult to detect such flaws as stress - corrosion cracking or corrosion wastage(loss of bolt diameter) in the threads. In many cases the critical size of a flaw is very small(1-2 mm order). This paper describes how it is possible to discriminate small flaw indications in threads using the time difference or thread signals(TDTS) by a signal-conditioning technique

Signals, systems, transforms, and digital signal processing with Matlab

CERN Document Server

Corinthios, Michael

2009-01-01

Continuous-Time and Discrete-Time Signals and SystemsIntroductionContinuous-Time SignalsPeriodic FunctionsUnit Step FunctionGraphical Representation of FunctionsEven and Odd Parts of a FunctionDirac-Delta ImpulseBasic Properties of the Dirac-Delta ImpulseOther Important Properties of the ImpulseContinuous-Time SystemsCausality, StabilityExamples of Electrical Continuous-Time SystemsMechanical SystemsTransfer Function and Frequency ResponseConvolution and CorrelationA Right-Sided and a Left-Sided FunctionConvolution with an Impulse and Its DerivativesAdditional Convolution PropertiesCorrelation FunctionProperties of the Correlation FunctionGraphical InterpretationCorrelation of Periodic FunctionsAverage, Energy and Power of Continuous-Time SignalsDiscrete-Time SignalsPeriodicityDifference EquationsEven/Odd DecompositionAverage Value, Energy and Power SequencesCausality, StabilityProblemsAnswers to Selected ProblemsFourier Series ExpansionTrigonometric Fourier SeriesExponential Fourier SeriesExponential versus ...

Interactive dose shaping - efficient strategies for CPU-based real-time treatment planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ziegenhein, P; Kamerling, C P; Oelfke, U

2014-01-01

Conventional intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment planning is based on the traditional concept of iterative optimization using an objective function specified by dose volume histogram constraints for pre-segmented VOIs. This indirect approach suffers from unavoidable shortcomings: i) The control of local dose features is limited to segmented VOIs. ii) Any objective function is a mathematical measure of the plan quality, i.e., is not able to define the clinically optimal treatment plan. iii) Adapting an existing plan to changed patient anatomy as detected by IGRT procedures is difficult. To overcome these shortcomings, we introduce the method of Interactive Dose Shaping (IDS) as a new paradigm for IMRT treatment planning. IDS allows for a direct and interactive manipulation of local dose features in real-time. The key element driving the IDS process is a two-step Dose Modification and Recovery (DMR) strategy: A local dose modification is initiated by the user which translates into modified fluence patterns. This also affects existing desired dose features elsewhere which is compensated by a heuristic recovery process. The IDS paradigm was implemented together with a CPU-based ultra-fast dose calculation and a 3D GUI for dose manipulation and visualization. A local dose feature can be implemented via the DMR strategy within 1-2 seconds. By imposing a series of local dose features, equal plan qualities could be achieved compared to conventional planning for prostate and head and neck cases within 1-2 minutes. The idea of Interactive Dose Shaping for treatment planning has been introduced and first applications of this concept have been realized.

Differentiating BOLD and non-BOLD signals in fMRI time series using multi-echo EPI.

Science.gov (United States)

Kundu, Prantik; Inati, Souheil J; Evans, Jennifer W; Luh, Wen-Ming; Bandettini, Peter A

2012-04-15

A central challenge in the fMRI based study of functional connectivity is distinguishing neuronally related signal fluctuations from the effects of motion, physiology, and other nuisance sources. Conventional techniques for removing nuisance effects include modeling of noise time courses based on external measurements followed by temporal filtering. These techniques have limited effectiveness. Previous studies have shown using multi-echo fMRI that neuronally related fluctuations are Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signals that can be characterized in terms of changes in R(2)* and initial signal intensity (S(0)) based on the analysis of echo-time (TE) dependence. We hypothesized that if TE-dependence could be used to differentiate BOLD and non-BOLD signals, non-BOLD signal could be removed to denoise data without conventional noise modeling. To test this hypothesis, whole brain multi-echo data were acquired at 3 TEs and decomposed with Independent Components Analysis (ICA) after spatially concatenating data across space and TE. Components were analyzed for the degree to which their signal changes fit models for R(2)* and S(0) change, and summary scores were developed to characterize each component as BOLD-like or not BOLD-like. These scores clearly differentiated BOLD-like "functional network" components from non BOLD-like components related to motion, pulsatility, and other nuisance effects. Using non BOLD-like component time courses as noise regressors dramatically improved seed-based correlation mapping by reducing the effects of high and low frequency non-BOLD fluctuations. A comparison with seed-based correlation mapping using conventional noise regressors demonstrated the superiority of the proposed technique for both individual and group level seed-based connectivity analysis, especially in mapping subcortical-cortical connectivity. The differentiation of BOLD and non-BOLD components based on TE-dependence was highly robust, which allowed for the

A new approach in simulating RF linacs using a general, linear real-time signal processor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Young, A.; Jachim, S.P.

1991-01-01

Strict requirements on the tolerances of the amplitude and phase of the radio frequency (RF) cavity field are necessary to advance the field of accelerator technology. Due to these stringent requirements upon modern accelerators,a new approach of modeling and simulating is essential in developing and understanding their characteristics. This paper describes the implementation of a general, linear model of an RF cavity which is used to develop a real-time signal processor. This device fully emulates the response of an RF cavity upon receiving characteristic parameters (Q 0 , ω 0 , Δω, R S , Z 0 ). Simulating an RF cavity with a real-time signal processor is beneficial to an accelerator designer because the device allows one to answer fundamental questions on the response of the cavity to a particular stimulus without operating the accelerator. In particular, the complex interactions between the RF power and the control systems, the beam and cavity fields can simply be observed in a real-time domain. The signal processor can also be used upon initialization of the accelerator as a diagnostic device and as a dummy load for determining the closed-loop error of the control system. In essence, the signal processor is capable of providing information that allows an operator to determine whether the control systems and peripheral devices are operating properly without going through the tedious procedure of running the beam through a cavity

Gating in time domain as a tool for improving the signal-to-noise ratio of beam transfer function measurements

CERN Document Server

Oeftiger, U; Caspers, Fritz

1992-01-01

For the measurement of Beam Transfer Functions the signal-to-noise ratio is of great importance. In order to get a reasonable quality of the measured data one may apply averaging and smoothing. In the following another technique called time gating to improve the quality of the measurement will be described. By this technique the measurement data are Fourier transformed and then modified in time domain. Tune gating suppresses signal contributions that are correlated to a time interval when no interesting information is expected. Afterivards an inverse Fourier transform leads to data in frequency domain with an improved signal to noise ratio.

An Investigation of the Effectiveness and Validity of Planning Time in Speaking Test Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Wigglesworth, Gillian; Elder, Cathie

2010-01-01

The study described in this article investigated the relationship between three variables in the IELTS oral module--planning, proficiency, and task--and was designed to enhance our understanding of how or whether these variables interact. The study aimed to determine whether differences in performance resulted from 1 or 2 min of planning time. It…

A Harmony Search Algorithm approach for optimizing traffic signal timings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauro Dell'Orco

2013-07-01

Full Text Available In this study, a bi-level formulation is presented for solving the Equilibrium Network Design Problem (ENDP. The optimisation of the signal timing has been carried out at the upper-level using the Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA, whilst the traffic assignment has been carried out through the Path Flow Estimator (PFE at the lower level. The results of HSA have been first compared with those obtained using the Genetic Algorithm, and the Hill Climbing on a two-junction network for a fixed set of link flows. Secondly, the HSA with PFE has been applied to the medium-sized network to show the applicability of the proposed algorithm in solving the ENDP. Additionally, in order to test the sensitivity of perceived travel time error, we have used the HSA with PFE with various level of perceived travel time. The results showed that the proposed method is quite simple and efficient in solving the ENDP.

Real-time radar signal processing using GPGPU (general-purpose graphic processing unit)

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Fanxing; Zhang, Yan Rockee; Cai, Jingxiao; Palmer, Robert D.

2016-05-01

This study introduces a practical approach to develop real-time signal processing chain for general phased array radar on NVIDIA GPUs(Graphical Processing Units) using CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) libraries such as cuBlas and cuFFT, which are adopted from open source libraries and optimized for the NVIDIA GPUs. The processed results are rigorously verified against those from the CPUs. Performance benchmarked in computation time with various input data cube sizes are compared across GPUs and CPUs. Through the analysis, it will be demonstrated that GPGPUs (General Purpose GPU) real-time processing of the array radar data is possible with relatively low-cost commercial GPUs.

Basic digital signal processing

CERN Document Server

Lockhart, Gordon B

1985-01-01

Basic Digital Signal Processing describes the principles of digital signal processing and experiments with BASIC programs involving the fast Fourier theorem (FFT). The book reviews the fundamentals of the BASIC program, continuous and discrete time signals including analog signals, Fourier analysis, discrete Fourier transform, signal energy, power. The text also explains digital signal processing involving digital filters, linear time-variant systems, discrete time unit impulse, discrete-time convolution, and the alternative structure for second order infinite impulse response (IIR) sections.

Study of the vocal signal in the amplitude-time representation. Speech segmentation and recognition algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baudry, Marc

1978-01-01

This dissertation exposes an acoustical and phonetical study of vocal signal. The complex pattern of the signal is segmented into simple sub-patterns and each one of these sub-patterns may be segmented again into another more simplest patterns with lower level. Application of pattern recognition techniques facilitates on one hand this segmentation and on the other hand the definition of the structural relations between the sub-patterns. Particularly, we have developed syntactic techniques in which the rewriting rules, context-sensitive, are controlled by predicates using parameters evaluated on the sub-patterns themselves. This allow to generalize a pure syntactic analysis by adding a semantic information. The system we expose, realizes pre-classification and a partial identification of the phonemes as also the accurate detection of each pitch period. The voice signal is analysed directly using the amplitude-time representation. This system has been implemented on a mini-computer and it works in the real time. (author) [fr

Hybrid IMRT plans-concurrently treating conventional and IMRT beams for improved breast irradiation and reduced planning time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mayo, Charles S.; Urie, Marcia M.; Fitzgerald, Thomas J.

2005-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate a hybrid intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) technique as a class solution for treatment of the intact breast. Methods and materials: The following five plan techniques were compared for 10 breast patients using dose-volume histogram analysis: conventional wedged-field tangents (Tangents), forward-planned field-within-a-field tangents (FIF), IMRT-only tangents (IMRT tangents), conventional open plus IMRT tangents (4-field hybrid), and conventional open plus IMRT tangents with 2 anterior oblique IMRT beams (6-field hybrid). Results: The 4-field hybrid and FIF achieved dose distributions better than Tangents and IMRT tangents. The volume of tissue outside the planning target volume receiving ≥110% of prescribed dose was largest for IMRT tangents (average 158 cc) and least for 6-field hybrid (average 1 cc); the FIF and 4-field hybrid were comparable (average 15 cc). Heart volume ≥30 Gy averaged 13 cc for all techniques, except Tangents, for which it was 32 cc. Average total lung volume ≥20 Gy was 7% for all. Contralateral breast doses were < 3% for all. Planning time for hybrid techniques was significantly less than for conventional FIF technique. Conclusions: The 4-field hybrid technique is a viable class solution. The 6-field hybrid technique creates the most conformal dose distribution at the expense of more normal tissue receiving low dose

Real-time digital signal recovery for a multi-pole low-pass transfer function system.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jhinhwan

2017-08-01

In order to solve the problems of waveform distortion and signal delay by many physical and electrical systems with multi-pole linear low-pass transfer characteristics, a simple digital-signal-processing (DSP)-based method of real-time recovery of the original source waveform from the distorted output waveform is proposed. A mathematical analysis on the convolution kernel representation of the single-pole low-pass transfer function shows that the original source waveform can be accurately recovered in real time using a particular moving average algorithm applied on the input stream of the distorted waveform, which can also significantly reduce the overall delay time constant. This method is generalized for multi-pole low-pass systems and has noise characteristics of the inverse of the low-pass filter characteristics. This method can be applied to most sensors and amplifiers operating close to their frequency response limits to improve the overall performance of data acquisition systems and digital feedback control systems.

PEANO, a toolbox for real-time process signal validation and estimation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fantoni, Paolo F.; Figedy, Stefan; Racz, Attila

1998-02-01

PEANO (Process Evaluation and Analysis by Neural Operators), a toolbox for real time process signal validation and condition monitoring has been developed. This system analyses the signals, which are e.g. the readings of process monitoring sensors, computes their expected values and alerts if real values are deviated from the expected ones more than limits allow. The reliability level of the current analysis is also produced. The system is based on neuro-fuzzy techniques. Artificial Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic models can be combined to exploit learning and generalisation capability of the first technique with the approximate reasoning embedded in the second approach. Real-time process signal validation is an application field where the use of this technique can improve the diagnosis of faulty sensors and the identification of outliers in a robust and reliable way. This study implements a fuzzy and possibilistic clustering algorithm to classify the operating region where the validation process has to be performed. The possibilistic approach (rather than probabilistic) allows a ''don't know'' classification that results in a fast detection of unforeseen plant conditions or outliers. Specialised Artificial Neural Networks are used for the validation process, one for each fuzzy cluster in which the operating map has been divided. There are two main advantages in using this technique: the accuracy and generalisation capability is increased compared to the case of a single network working in the entire operating region, and the ability to identify abnormal conditions, where the system is not capable to operate with a satisfactory accuracy, is improved. This model has been tested in a simulated environment on a French PWR, to monitor safety-related reactor variables over the entire power-flow operating map. (author)

PEANO, a toolbox for real-time process signal validation and estimation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fantoni, Paolo F.; Figedy, Stefan; Racz, Attila

1998-02-01

PEANO (Process Evaluation and Analysis by Neural Operators), a toolbox for real time process signal validation and condition monitoring has been developed. This system analyses the signals, which are e.g. the readings of process monitoring sensors, computes their expected values and alerts if real values are deviated from the expected ones more than limits allow. The reliability level of the current analysis is also produced. The system is based on neuro-fuzzy techniques. Artificial Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic models can be combined to exploit learning and generalisation capability of the first technique with the approximate reasoning embedded in the second approach. Real-time process signal validation is an application field where the use of this technique can improve the diagnosis of faulty sensors and the identification of outliers in a robust and reliable way. This study implements a fuzzy and possibilistic clustering algorithm to classify the operating region where the validation process has to be performed. The possibilistic approach (rather than probabilistic) allows a ''don't know'' classification that results in a fast detection of unforeseen plant conditions or outliers. Specialised Artificial Neural Networks are used for the validation process, one for each fuzzy cluster in which the operating map has been divided. There are two main advantages in using this technique: the accuracy and generalisation capability is increased compared to the case of a single network working in the entire operating region, and the ability to identify abnormal conditions, where the system is not capable to operate with a satisfactory accuracy, is improved. This model has been tested in a simulated environment on a French PWR, to monitor safety-related reactor variables over the entire power-flow operating map. (author)

Time-Frequency Analysis of Terahertz Radar Signals for Rapid Heart and Breath Rate Detection

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Massar, Melody L

2008-01-01

We develop new time-frequency analytic techniques which facilitate the detection of a person's heart and breath rates from the Doppler shift the movement of their body induces in a terahertz radar signal...

Real-time remedial action against aperiodic small signal rotor angle instability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weckesser, Johannes Tilman Gabriel; Jóhannsson, Hjörtur; Østergaard, Jacob

2016-01-01

This paper presents a method that in real-time determines remedial actions, which restore stable operation with respect to aperiodic small signal rotor angle stability (ASSRAS) when insecure or unstable operation has been detected. An ASSRAS assessment method is used to monitor the stability...... impedance plane to determine an active power redispatch among selected generators to restore stable and secure operation. Since the method is purely based on analytically derived expression, the computation of the remedial actions is fast and well suited for real-time operation. The method was tested...... boundary for each generator in real-time. The ASSRAS boundary represents the condition when a generator reaches the maximum steady state active power injection. The proposed control method exploits analytically derived expressions for the ASSRAS boundary and other characteristic curves in the injection...

Shortening Delivery Times of Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy by Reducing Proton Energy Layers During Treatment Plan Optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Water, Steven van de, E-mail: s.vandewater@erasmusmc.nl [Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Kooy, Hanne M. [F. H. Burr Proton Therapy Center, Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Heijmen, Ben J.M.; Hoogeman, Mischa S. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam (Netherlands)

2015-06-01

Purpose: To shorten delivery times of intensity modulated proton therapy by reducing the number of energy layers in the treatment plan. Methods and Materials: We have developed an energy layer reduction method, which was implemented into our in-house-developed multicriteria treatment planning system “Erasmus-iCycle.” The method consisted of 2 components: (1) minimizing the logarithm of the total spot weight per energy layer; and (2) iteratively excluding low-weighted energy layers. The method was benchmarked by comparing a robust “time-efficient plan” (with energy layer reduction) with a robust “standard clinical plan” (without energy layer reduction) for 5 oropharyngeal cases and 5 prostate cases. Both plans of each patient had equal robust plan quality, because the worst-case dose parameters of the standard clinical plan were used as dose constraints for the time-efficient plan. Worst-case robust optimization was performed, accounting for setup errors of 3 mm and range errors of 3% + 1 mm. We evaluated the number of energy layers and the expected delivery time per fraction, assuming 30 seconds per beam direction, 10 ms per spot, and 400 Giga-protons per minute. The energy switching time was varied from 0.1 to 5 seconds. Results: The number of energy layers was on average reduced by 45% (range, 30%-56%) for the oropharyngeal cases and by 28% (range, 25%-32%) for the prostate cases. When assuming 1, 2, or 5 seconds energy switching time, the average delivery time was shortened from 3.9 to 3.0 minutes (25%), 6.0 to 4.2 minutes (32%), or 12.3 to 7.7 minutes (38%) for the oropharyngeal cases, and from 3.4 to 2.9 minutes (16%), 5.2 to 4.2 minutes (20%), or 10.6 to 8.0 minutes (24%) for the prostate cases. Conclusions: Delivery times of intensity modulated proton therapy can be reduced substantially without compromising robust plan quality. Shorter delivery times are likely to reduce treatment uncertainties and costs.

49 CFR 234.7 - Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure... PLANS Reports and Plans § 234.7 Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure. (a) Each railroad... (activation failure report) and 49 CFR 225.11 (accident/ incident report). (b) Each telephone report must...

Timing performance of a self-cancelling turn-signal mechanism in motorcycles based on the ATMega328P microcontroller

Science.gov (United States)

Nurbuwat, Adzin Kondo; Eryandi, Kholid Yusuf; Estriyanto, Yuyun; Widiastuti, Indah; Pambudi, Nugroho Agung

2018-02-01

The objective of this study is to measure the time performance of a self-cancelling turn signal mechanism based on the In this study the performance of self-cancelling turn signal based on ATMega328P microcontroller is measured at low speed and high speed treatment on motorcycles commonly used in Indonesia. Time performance measurements were made by comparing the self-cancelling turn signal based on ATMega328P microcontroller with standard motor turn time. Measurements of time at low speed treatment were performed at a speed range of 15 km / h, 20 km / h, 25 km / h on the U-turn test trajectory. The angle of the turning angle of the potentiometer is determined at 3°. The limit of steering wheel turning angle at the potentiometer is set at 3°. For high-speed treatment is 30 km / h, 40 km / h, 50km / h, and 60 km / h, on the L-turn test track with a tilt angle (roll angle) read by the L3G4200D gyroscope sensor. Each speed test is repeated 3 replications. Standard time is a reference for self-cancelling turn signal performance. The standard time obtained is 15.68 s, 11.96 s, 9.34 s at low speed and 4.63 s, 4.06 s, 3.61 s, 3.13 s at high speed. The time test of self-cancelling turn signal shows 16.10 s, 12.42 s, 10.24 s at the low speed and 5.18, 4.51, 3.73, 3.21 at the high speed. At a speed of 15 km / h occurs the instability of motion turns motorcycle so that testing is more difficult. Small time deviations indicate the tool works well. The largest time deviation value is 0.9 seconds at low speed and 0.55 seconds at high speed. The conclusion at low velocity of the highest deviation value occurred at the speed of 25 km / h test due to the movement of slope with inclination has started to happen which resulted in slow reading of steering movement. At higher speeds the time slows down due to rapid sensor readings on the tilt when turning fast at ever higher speeds. The timing performance of self-cancelling turn signal decreases as the motorcycle turning

Internet plan and planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kahriman Emina

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Paper discuss specific features of internet plan as well as planning as management process in general in the contemporary environment. No need to stress out that marketing plan and marketing planning is core activity in approaching to market. At the same time, there are a lot specific c request in preparing marketing plan comparing to business planning due to marketing plan is an essential part. The importance of internet plan and planning rely on specific features of the internet network but as a part of general corporate as well as marketing strategy.

Analysis of vocal signal in its amplitude - time representation. speech synthesis-by-rules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodet, Xavier

1977-01-01

In the first part of this dissertation, the natural speech production and the resulting acoustic waveform are examined under various aspects: communication, phonetics, frequency and temporal analysis. Our own study of direct signal is compared to other researches in these different fields, and fundamental features of vocal signals are described. The second part deals with the numerous methods already used for automatic text-to-speech synthesis. In the last part, we expose the new speech synthesis-by-rule methods that we have worked out, and we present in details the structure of the real-time speech synthesiser that we have implemented on a mini-computer. (author) [fr

Rac1 signaling in the establishment of the fucoid algal body plan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Whitney E Hable

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Fucoid zygotes use environmental vectors, including sunlight, to initiate a growth axis a few hours after fertilization. The first division is then transversely oriented by the growth axis, producing daughter cells of distinct fates. The tip growing rhizoid cell gives rise to the holdfast, anchoring the alga to the intertidal substratum, while the opposite thallus cell mainly generates the photosynthetic and reproductive stipe and fronds. Elaboration of this simple growth axis thus establishes the basic body plan of the adult; and elucidating the mechanisms responsible for formation of the growth axis is paramount to understanding fucoid morphogenesis. Recent studies have culminated in a model whereby sunlight, and perhaps other environmental cues, activate the signaling protein Rac1 at the rhizoid pole. Here it sets in motion nucleation of a patch of actin filaments that in turn, targets ions, proteins and cellular processes to the future growth site. At germination, Rac1 initiates morphogenesis by inducing transformation of the patch of actin filaments to a structure that delivers vesicles to the growing tip, and a few hours later orients the spindle and cytokinetic plate.

Simultaneous hit finding and timing method for pulse shape analysis of drift chamber signals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schaile, D; Schaile, O; Schwarz, J

1986-01-01

An algorithm for the analysis of the digitized signal waveform of drift chamber pulses is described which yields a good multihit resolution and an accurate drift time determination with little processing time. The method has been tested and evaluated with measured pulse shapes from the full size prototype of the OPAL central detector which were digitized by 100 MHz FADCs. (orig.).

Simultaneous hit finding and timing method for pulse shape analysis of drift chamber signals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schaile, D; Schaile, O; Schwarz, J

1986-01-01

An algorithm for the analysis of the digitized signal waveform of drift chamber pulses is described which yields a good multihit resolution and an accurate drift time determination with little processing time. The method has been tested and evaluated with measured pulse shapes from the full size prototype of the OPAL central detector which were digitized by 100 MHz FADCs.

Impact of the planning CT scan time on the reflection of the lung tumor motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Su San; Choi, Eun Kyung; Yi, Byong Yong; Ha, Sung Whan

2004-01-01

To evaluate the reflection of tumor motion according to the planning CT scan time. A model of N-shape, which moved along the longitudinal axis during the ventilation caused by a mechanical ventilator, was produced. The model was scanned by planning CT, while setting the relative CT scan time (T; CT scan time/ventilatory period) to 0.33, 0.50, 0.67, 0.75, 1.00, 1.33 T, and 1.53 T. In addition, three patients with non-small cell lung cancer who received stereotactic radiosurgery in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Asan Medical Center from 03/19/2002 to 05/21/2002 were scanned. Slow (IQ Premier, Picker, scan time 2.0 seconds per slice) and fast CT scans (Light Speed, GE Medical System, with a scan time of 0.8 second per slice) were performed for each patient. The magnitude of reflected movement of the N-shaped model was evaluated by measuring the transverse length, which reflected the movement of the declined bar of the model at each slice. For patients' scans, all CT data sets were registered using a stereotactic body frame scale with the gross tumor volumes delineated in one CT image set. The volume and three-dimensional diameter of the gross tumor volume were measured and analyzed between the slow and fast CT scans. The reflection degree of longitudinal movement of the model increased in proportion to the relative CT scan times below 1.00 T, but remained constant above 1.00 T. Assuming the mean value of scanned transverse lengths with CT scan time 1.00 T to be 100%, CT scans with scan times of 0.33, 0.50, 0.67, and 0.75 T missed the tumor motion by 30, 27, 20, and 7.0% respectively. Slow (scan time 2.0 sec) and Fast (scan time 0.8 sec) CT scans of three patients with longitudinal movement of 3, 5, and 10 mm measured by fluoroscopy revealed the increases in the diameter along the longitudinal axis increased by 6.3, 17, and 23% in the slow CT scans. As the relative CT scan time increased, the reflection of the respiratory tumor movement on planning CT also

Adaptive interpolation of discrete-time signals that can be modeled as autoregressive processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, A.J.E.M.; Veldhuis, R.N.J.; Vries, L.B.

1986-01-01

The authors present an adaptive algorithm for the restoration of lost sample values in discrete-time signals that can locally be described by means of autoregressive processes. The only restrictions are that the positions of the unknown samples should be known and that they should be embedded in a

Adaptive interpolation of discrete-time signals that can be modeled as autoregressive processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, A.J.E.M.; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.; Vries, Lodewijk B.

1986-01-01

This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for the restoration of lost sample values in discrete-time signals that can locally be described by means of autoregressive processes. The only restrictions are that the positions of the unknown samples should be known and that they should be embedded in a

Classification of acoustic emission signals for drive systems coupling crack detection in semi-real time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Godinez, V.; Shu, F.; Finlayson, R.; O'Donnell, B.; Anastasopoulos, A.; Tsimogiannis, A.

2004-01-01

Early detection of mechanical failure in helicopter drive train components is a key safety and economical issue with both military and civil sectors of aviation. Of these components, couplings are particularly critical. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility of designing and developing a reliable, real time monitoring methodology based on Supervised Pattern Recognition (SPR) for early detection of cracks in couplings used in helicopter and engine drive systems. Within this framework, a portable Acoustic Emission (AE) system was used, equipped with a semi-real time SPR software package. Results from AE tests performed in a gearbox-testing bench at different speeds and different torque values are presented. These results indicate that the energy content of different frequency bands in the AE signals power spectra is strongly correlated with the introduction of EDM notches in the main gear. Further tests indicate that a strong shift in the frequency of the AE signals is observed after spalling occurred in the pinion gear. The variation of displacement and velocity between signal classes are discussed as a potential feature in characterizing crack severity. Finally, a scope of the work for optimizing the methodology in detecting and evaluating coupling cracking in real time will be presented. (author)

A Space-Time Signal Decomposition Algorithm for Downlink MIMO DS-CDMA Receivers

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yung-Yi; Fang, Wen-Hsien; Chen, Jiunn-Tsair

We propose a dimension reduction algorithm for the receiver of the downlink of direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems in which both the transmitters and the receivers employ antenna arrays of multiple elements. To estimate the high order channel parameters, we develop a layered architecture using dimension-reduced parameter estimation algorithms to estimate the frequency-selective multipath channels. In the proposed architecture, to exploit the space-time geometric characteristics of multipath channels, spatial beamformers and constrained (or unconstrained) temporal filters are adopted for clustered-multipath grouping and path isolation. In conjunction with the multiple access interference (MAI) suppression techniques, the proposed architecture jointly estimates the direction of arrivals, propagation delays, and fading amplitudes of the downlink fading multipaths. With the outputs of the proposed architecture, the signals of interest can then be naturally detected by using path-wise maximum ratio combining. Compared to the traditional techniques, such as the Joint-Angle-and-Delay-Estimation (JADE) algorithm for DOA-delay joint estimation and the space-time minimum mean square error (ST-MMSE) algorithm for signal detection, computer simulations show that the proposed algorithm substantially mitigate the computational complexity at the expense of only slight performance degradation.

Filter frequency response of time dependent signal using Laplace transform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shestakov, Aleksei I. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2018-01-16

We analyze the effect a filter has on a time dependent signal x(t). If X(s) is the Laplace transform of x and H (s) is the filter Transfer function, the response in frequency space is X (s) H (s). Consequently, in real space, the response is the convolution (x*h) (t), where hi is the Laplace inverse of H. Effects are analyzed and analytically for functions such as (t/t_c)² e^-t/t$_c$, where t_c = const. We consider lowpass, highpass and bandpass filters.

Amplification of weak signals via the non-adiabatic regime of stochastic resonance in a bistable dynamical system with time delay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du Luchun; Mei Dongcheng

2011-01-01

The non-adiabatic regime of stochastic resonance (SR) in a bistable system with time delay, an additive white noise and a periodic signal was investigated. The signal power amplification η was employed to characterize the SR of the system. The simulation results indicate that (i) in the case of intermediate frequency Ω of the periodic signal, the typical behavior of SR is lowered monotonically by increasing the delay time τ; in the case of large Ω, τ weakens the SR behavior and then enhances it, with a non-monotonic behavior as a function of time delay; (ii) time delay induces SR when A is above the threshold, whereas no such resonance exists in the absence of time delay; (iii) time delay induces a transition from bimodal to unimodal configuration of η; (iv) varying the particular form of time delay results in different phenomena.

1.28 Tbaud Nyquist Signal Transmission using Time-Domain Optical Fourier Transformation based Receiver

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Hao; Kong, Deming; Palushani, Evarist

2013-01-01

We demonstrate transmission of a 1.28-Tbaud Nyquist-OTDM signal over a record distance of 100 km with detection by time-domain optical Fourier transformation followed by FEC decoding, resulting in error-free performance for all tributaries....

A framework for inverse planning of beam-on times for 3D small animal radiotherapy using interactive multi-objective optimisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balvert, Marleen; Den Hertog, Dick; Van Hoof, Stefan J; Granton, Patrick V; Trani, Daniela; Hoffmann, Aswin L; Verhaegen, Frank

2015-01-01

Advances in precision small animal radiotherapy hardware enable the delivery of increasingly complicated dose distributions on the millimeter scale. Manual creation and evaluation of treatment plans becomes difficult or even infeasible with an increasing number of degrees of freedom for dose delivery and available image data. The goal of this work is to develop an optimisation model that determines beam-on times for a given beam configuration, and to assess the feasibility and benefits of an automated treatment planning system for small animal radiotherapy.The developed model determines a Pareto optimal solution using operator-defined weights for a multiple-objective treatment planning problem. An interactive approach allows the planner to navigate towards, and to select the Pareto optimal treatment plan that yields the most preferred trade-off of the conflicting objectives. This model was evaluated using four small animal cases based on cone-beam computed tomography images. Resulting treatment plan quality was compared to the quality of manually optimised treatment plans using dose-volume histograms and metrics.Results show that the developed framework is well capable of optimising beam-on times for 3D dose distributions and offers several advantages over manual treatment plan optimisation. For all cases but the simple flank tumour case, a similar amount of time was needed for manual and automated beam-on time optimisation. In this time frame, manual optimisation generates a single treatment plan, while the inverse planning system yields a set of Pareto optimal solutions which provides quantitative insight on the sensitivity of conflicting objectives. Treatment planning automation decreases the dependence on operator experience and allows for the use of class solutions for similar treatment scenarios. This can shorten the time required for treatment planning and therefore increase animal throughput. In addition, this can improve treatment standardisation and

Application of real-time cooperative editing in urban planning management system

Science.gov (United States)

Jing, Changfeng; Liu, Renyi; Liu, Nan; Bao, Weizheng

2007-06-01

With the increasing of business requirement of urban planning bureau, co-edit function is needed urgently, however conventional GIS are not support this. In order to overcome this limitation, a new kind urban 1planning management system with co-edit function is needed. Such a system called PM2006 has been used in Suzhou Urban Planning Bureau. PM2006 is introduced in this paper. In this paper, four main issues of Co-edit system--consistency, responsiveness time, data recoverability and unconstrained operation--were discussed. And for these four questions, resolutions were put forward in paper. To resolve these problems of co-edit GIS system, a data model called FGDB (File and ESRI GeoDatabase) that is mixture architecture of File and ESRI Geodatabase was introduced here. The main components of FGDB data model are ESRI versioned Geodatabase and replicated architecture. With FGDB, client responsiveness, spatial data recoverability and unconstrained operation were overcome. In last of paper, MapServer, the co-edit map server module, is presented. Main functions of MapServer are operation serialization and spatial data replication between file and versioned data.

On-line trajectory planning of time-jerk optimal for robotic arms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadir Bendali

2016-09-01

Full Text Available A method based on the computation of the time intervals of the knots for time-jerk optimal planning under kinematic constraints of robot manipulators in predefined operations is described in this paper. In order to ensure that the resulting trajectory is smooth enough, a cost function containing a term proportional to the integral of the squared jerk (defined as the derivative of the acceleration along the trajectory is considered. Moreover, a second term, proportional to the total execution time, is added to the expression of the cost function. A Cubic Spline functions are then used to compose overall trajectory. This method can meet the requirements of a short execution time and low arm vibration of the manipulator and the simulation provides good results.

Towards real-time 3D ultrasound planning and personalized 3D printing for breast HDR brachytherapy treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poulin, Eric; Gardi, Lori; Fenster, Aaron; Pouliot, Jean; Beaulieu, Luc

2015-01-01

Two different end-to-end procedures were tested for real-time planning in breast HDR brachytherapy treatment. Both methods are using a 3D ultrasound (3DUS) system and a freehand catheter optimization algorithm. They were found fast and efficient. We demonstrated a proof-of-concept approach for personalized real-time guidance and planning to breast HDR brachytherapy treatments

Fast Helical Tomotherapy in a head and neck cancer planning study: is time priceless?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Gestel, Dirk; De Kerf, Geert; Wouters, Kristien; Crijns, Wouter; Vermorken, Jan B.; Gregoire, Vincent; Verellen, Dirk

2015-01-01

The last few years, in radiotherapy there has been a growing focus on speed of treatment delivery (largely driven by economical and commercial interests). This study investigates the influence of treatment time on plan quality for helical tomotherapy (HT), using delivery times with Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT; Rapid Arc [RA]) as reference. In a previous study, double arc RA (Eclipse) and standard HT plans (TomoHD™) were created for five oropharyngeal cancer patients and reported according to ICRU 83 guidelines. By modifying the beam width from 2.5 to 5.0 cm, elevating the pitch and lowering the modulation factor, “TomoFast” (TF) plans were generated with treatment times equal to RA plans. To quantify the impact of TF’s craniocaudal gradient, similar plans were generated on TomoEdge TM (TomoEdgeFast;TEF). The homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI), mean dose, D near-max (D2) and D near-min (D98) of the PTVs were analyzed as well as the mean dose, specific critical doses and volumes of 26 organs at risk (OARs). Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. With a mean treatment time of 3.05 min (RA), 2.89 min (TF) and 2.95 min (TEF), PTV therapeutic coverage was more homogeneous with TF (HI.07;SE.01) and TEF (HI.08;SE.01) compared to RA (HI.10;SE.01), while PTV prophylactic was most homogeneous with RA. Mean doses to parotid glands were comparable for RA, TF, TEF: 25.62, 25.34, 23.09 Gy for contralateral and 32.02, 31.96, 30.01 Gy for ipsilateral glands, respectively. OARs’ mean doses varied between different approaches not favoring a particular technique. TF’s higher dose to OARs at the cranial-caudal edges of the PTVs and its higher integral dose, both due to the extended cranial-caudal gradient, seems to be solved by the new TomoEdge™ software. However, all these faster techniques lose part of standard TomoHD’s OAR sparing capacity It is possible to treat oropharyngeal cancer patients using HT (TF/TEF) within time

Measurand transient signal suppressor

Science.gov (United States)

Bozeman, Richard J., Jr. (Inventor)

1994-01-01

A transient signal suppressor for use in a controls system which is adapted to respond to a change in a physical parameter whenever it crosses a predetermined threshold value in a selected direction of increasing or decreasing values with respect to the threshold value and is sustained for a selected discrete time interval is presented. The suppressor includes a sensor transducer for sensing the physical parameter and generating an electrical input signal whenever the sensed physical parameter crosses the threshold level in the selected direction. A manually operated switch is provided for adapting the suppressor to produce an output drive signal whenever the physical parameter crosses the threshold value in the selected direction of increasing or decreasing values. A time delay circuit is selectively adjustable for suppressing the transducer input signal for a preselected one of a plurality of available discrete suppression time and producing an output signal only if the input signal is sustained for a time greater than the selected suppression time. An electronic gate is coupled to receive the transducer input signal and the timer output signal and produce an output drive signal for energizing a control relay whenever the transducer input is a non-transient signal which is sustained beyond the selected time interval.

Real time uncertainty in fiscal planning and debt accumulation in the euro area

OpenAIRE

Paloviita, Maritta

2012-01-01

This study explores real time uncertainty in euro area fiscal policies since the late 1990s. Using real time data from the OECD Economic Outlook publications we investigate the impact of real time uncertainty on fiscal planning and debt accumulation separately for two country groups in the euro area: countries in geographical periphery (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain) and other euro area countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany and the Netherlands). The results indica...

Helical Tomotherapy-Based STAT Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: Dosimetric Evaluation for a Real-Time SBRT Treatment Planning and Delivery Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dunlap, Neal; McIntosh, Alyson; Sheng Ke; Yang Wensha; Turner, Benton; Shoushtari, Asal; Sheehan, Jason; Jones, David R.; Lu Weigo; Ruchala, Keneth; Olivera, Gustavo; Parnell, Donald; Larner, James L.; Benedict, Stanley H.; Read, Paul W.

2010-01-01

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) treatments have high-dose gradients and even slight patient misalignment from the simulation to treatment could lead to target underdosing or organ at risk (OAR) overdosing. Daily real-time SBRT treatment planning could minimize the risk of geographic miss. As an initial step toward determining the clinical feasibility of developing real-time SBRT treatment planning, we determined the calculation time of helical TomoTherapy-based STAT radiation therapy (RT) treatment plans for simple liver, lung, and spine SBRT treatments to assess whether the planning process was fast enough for practical clinical implementation. Representative SBRT planning target volumes for hypothetical liver, peripheral lung, and thoracic spine lesions and adjacent OARs were contoured onto a planning computed tomography scan (CT) of an anthropomorphic phantom. Treatment plans were generated using both STAT RT 'full scatter' and conventional helical TomoTherapy 'beamlet' algorithms. Optimized plans were compared with respect to conformality index (CI), heterogeneity index (HI), and maximum dose to regional OARs to determine clinical equivalence and the number of required STAT RT optimization iterations and calculation times were determined. The liver and lung dosimetry for the STAT RT and standard planning algorithms were clinically and statistically equivalent. For the liver lesions, 'full scatter' and 'beamlet' algorithms showed a CI of 1.04 and 1.04 and HI of 1.03 and 1.03, respectively. For the lung lesions, 'full scatter' and 'beamlet' algorithms showed a CI of 1.05 and 1.03 and HI of 1.05and 1.05, respectively. For spine lesions, 'full scatter' and 'beamlet' algorithms showed a CI of 1.15 and 1.14 and HI of 1.22 and 1.14, respectively. There was no difference between treatment algorithms with respect to maximum doses to the OARs. The STAT RT iteration time with current treatment planning systems is 45 sec, and the treatment planning required 3

Early Flood Detection for Rapid Humanitarian Response: Harnessing Near Real-Time Satellite and Twitter Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brenden Jongman

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Humanitarian organizations have a crucial role in response and relief efforts after floods. The effectiveness of disaster response is contingent on accurate and timely information regarding the location, timing and impacts of the event. Here we show how two near-real-time data sources, satellite observations of water coverage and flood-related social media activity from Twitter, can be used to support rapid disaster response, using case-studies in the Philippines and Pakistan. For these countries we analyze information from disaster response organizations, the Global Flood Detection System (GFDS satellite flood signal, and flood-related Twitter activity analysis. The results demonstrate that these sources of near-real-time information can be used to gain a quicker understanding of the location, the timing, as well as the causes and impacts of floods. In terms of location, we produce daily impact maps based on both satellite information and social media, which can dynamically and rapidly outline the affected area during a disaster. In terms of timing, the results show that GFDS and/or Twitter signals flagging ongoing or upcoming flooding are regularly available one to several days before the event was reported to humanitarian organizations. In terms of event understanding, we show that both GFDS and social media can be used to detect and understand unexpected or controversial flood events, for example due to the sudden opening of hydropower dams or the breaching of flood protection. The performance of the GFDS and Twitter data for early detection and location mapping is mixed, depending on specific hydrological circumstances (GFDS and social media penetration (Twitter. Further research is needed to improve the interpretation of the GFDS signal in different situations, and to improve the pre-processing of social media data for operational use.

A GI Proposal to Display ECG Digital Signals Wirelessly Real-time Transmitted onto a Remote PC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius Corneliu Rosu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The sensors, as wireless communication system, comply the 7-layer model Open Systems Interconnection (OSI. In this paper, a point-to-point transmission model was used. The ECG signal is transmitted from the Router Sensor (RS to an end Coordinator Node (CN plugged-in to the laptop via USB port; RS acquires ECG signal in analogical mode, and is also responsible with sampling, quantization and sending it wirelessly direct to CN. The distance between RS and CN is a single-hop transmission, and does not exceed the range of the XBeeS2Pro transceivers. The communication protocol is ZigBee. Remote viewing of the transmitted signal is performed on a Graphical Interface (GI written under MATLAB, after the signal has been digitized; the choice of MATLAB was motivated by future developments. Particular aspects will be highlighted, so that the reader to be edified about the results obtained during laboratory experiments. Recording demonstrate that the purpose exposed in title has been reached: Direct link in Real-Time was established, and the digital ECG signal received is reconstituted accurately on MATLAB GI; signal received on laptop is compared with the analog signal displayed on oscilloscope.

Real-time photonic sampling with improved signal-to-noise and distortion ratio using polarization-dependent modulators

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Dong; Zhang, Zhiyao; Liu, Yong; Li, Xiaojun; Jiang, Wei; Tan, Qinggui

2018-04-01

A real-time photonic sampling structure with effective nonlinearity suppression and excellent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance is proposed. The key points of this scheme are the polarization-dependent modulators (P-DMZMs) and the sagnac loop structure. Thanks to the polarization sensitive characteristic of P-DMZMs, the differences between transfer functions of the fundamental signal and the distortion become visible. Meanwhile, the selection of specific biases in P-DMZMs is helpful to achieve a preferable linearized performance with a low noise level for real-time photonic sampling. Compared with the quadrature-biased scheme, the proposed scheme is capable of valid nonlinearity suppression and is able to provide a better SNR performance even in a large frequency range. The proposed scheme is proved to be effective and easily implemented for real time photonic applications.

Virtual instrumentation technique used in the nuclear digital signal processing system design: Energy and time measurement tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pechousek, J.; Prochazka, R.; Prochazka, V.; Frydrych, J.

2011-01-01

In this report, computer-based digital signal processing system with a 200 MS s -1 sampling digitizer is presented. Virtual instrumentation technique is used to easily develop a system which provides spectroscopy measurements such as amplitude and time signal analysis, with the time-of-flight facility. Several test measurements were performed to determine the characteristics of a system. The presented system may find its application in the coincidence measurement since the system is usable for different types of detectors and sensitive to decay lifetimes from tens of nanoseconds to seconds.

Basic Investigations of Dynamic Travel Time Estimation Model for Traffic Signals Control Using Information from Optical Beacons

Science.gov (United States)

Okutani, Iwao; Mitsui, Tatsuro; Nakada, Yusuke

In this paper put forward are neuron-type models, i.e., neural network model, wavelet neuron model and three layered wavelet neuron model(WV3), for estimating traveling time between signalized intersections in order to facilitate adaptive setting of traffic signal parameters such as green time and offset. Model validation tests using simulated data reveal that compared to other models, WV3 model works very fast in learning process and can produce more accurate estimates of travel time. Also, it is exhibited that up-link information obtainable from optical beacons, i.e., travel time observed during the former cycle time in this case, makes a crucial input variable to the models in that there isn't any substantial difference between the change of estimated and simulated travel time with the change of green time or offset when up-link information is employed as input while there appears big discrepancy between them when not employed.

Kurtosis based blind source extraction of complex noncircular signals with application in EEG artifact removal in real-time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soroush eJavidi

2011-10-01

Full Text Available A new class of complex domain blind source extraction (BSE algorithms suitable for the extraction of both circular and noncircular complex signals is proposed. This is achieved through sequential extraction based on the degree of kurtosis and in the presence of noncircular measurement noise. The existence and uniqueness analysis of the solution is followed by a study of fast converging variants of the algorithm. The performance is first assessed through simulations on well understood benchmark signals, followed by a case study on real-time artifact removal from EEG signals, verified using both qualitative and quantitative metrics. The results illustrate the power of the proposed approach in real-time blind extraction of general complex-valued sources.

Method of signal detection from silicon photomultipliers using fully differential Charge to Time Converter and fast shaper

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baszczyk, M.; Dorosz, P.; Glab, S.; Kucewicz, W.; Mik, L.; Sapor, M.

2016-01-01

The paper presents an implementation of fully differential readout method for Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM). Front-end electronics consists of a fast and slow path. The former creates the trigger signal while the latter produces a pulse of width proportional to the input charge. The fast shaper generates unipolar pulse and utilizes the pole-zero cancelation circuit. The peaking time for single photoelectron is equal to 3.6 ns and the FWHM is 3.8 ns. The pulse width of the Charge to Time Converter (QTC) depends on the number of photons entering the SiPM at the moment of measurement. The QTC response is nonlinear but it allows us to work with signals in a wide dynamic range. The proposed readout method is effective in measurements of random signals where frequent events tend to pile-up. Thermal generation and afterpulses have a strong influence on the width of pulses from QTC. The proposed method enables us to distinguish those overlapping signals and get the reliable information on the number of detected photons.

Method of signal detection from silicon photomultipliers using fully differential Charge to Time Converter and fast shaper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baszczyk, M., E-mail: baszczyk@agh.edu.pl [AGH University of Science and Technology, Department of Electronics, Krakow (Poland); Dorosz, P.; Glab, S.; Kucewicz, W. [AGH University of Science and Technology, Department of Electronics, Krakow (Poland); Mik, L. [AGH University of Science and Technology, Department of Electronics, Krakow (Poland); State Higher Vocational School, Tarnow (Poland); Sapor, M. [AGH University of Science and Technology, Department of Electronics, Krakow (Poland)

2016-07-11

The paper presents an implementation of fully differential readout method for Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM). Front-end electronics consists of a fast and slow path. The former creates the trigger signal while the latter produces a pulse of width proportional to the input charge. The fast shaper generates unipolar pulse and utilizes the pole-zero cancelation circuit. The peaking time for single photoelectron is equal to 3.6 ns and the FWHM is 3.8 ns. The pulse width of the Charge to Time Converter (QTC) depends on the number of photons entering the SiPM at the moment of measurement. The QTC response is nonlinear but it allows us to work with signals in a wide dynamic range. The proposed readout method is effective in measurements of random signals where frequent events tend to pile-up. Thermal generation and afterpulses have a strong influence on the width of pulses from QTC. The proposed method enables us to distinguish those overlapping signals and get the reliable information on the number of detected photons.

Fetal-to-maternal signaling in the timing of birth.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendelson, Carole R; Montalbano, Alina P; Gao, Lu

2017-06-01

Preterm birth remains the major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality throughout the world. This is due, in part, to our incomplete understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the maintenance of pregnancy and the initiation of parturition at term. In this article, we review our current knowledge of the complex, interrelated and concerted mechanisms whereby progesterone maintains myometrial quiescence throughout most of pregnancy, as well as those that mediate the upregulation of the inflammatory response and decline in progesterone receptor function leading to parturition. Herein, we review findings that demonstrate a role of the fetus in the timing of birth. Specifically, we focus on our own studies indicating that maturation of the fetal lung and enhanced secretion of the surfactant components, surfactant protein A (SP-A) and the potent inflammatory glycerophospholipid, platelet-activating factor (PAF), initiate a signaling cascade culminating in parturition. Our studies suggest an essential role of steroid receptor coactivators, SRC-1 and SRC-2, which activate expression of genes encoding SP-A and LPCAT1. LPCAT1 is a key enzyme in the synthesis of PAF, as well as DPPC, a highly surface-active glycerophospholipid component of surfactant. Thus, we describe a novel pathway through which the fetus contributes to the initiation of labor by signaling the mother when its lungs have achieved sufficient maturity for survival in an aerobic environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Security-Constrained Resource Planning in Electricity Market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roh, Jae Hyung; Shahidehpour, Mohammad; Yong Fu

2007-06-01

We propose a market-based competitive generation resource planning model in electricity markets. The objective of the model is to introduce the impact of transmission security in a multi-GENCO generation resource planning. The proposed approach is based on effective decomposition and coordination strategies. Lagrangian relaxation and Benders decomposition like structure are applied to the model. Locational price signal and capacity signal are defined for the simulation of competition among GENCOs and the coordination of security between GENCOs and the regulatory body (ISO). The numerical examples exhibit the effectiveness of the proposed generation planning model in electricity markets.

Time reversal violation in radiative beta decay: experimental plans

Science.gov (United States)

Behr, J. A.; McNeil, J.; Anholm, M.; Gorelov, A.; Melconian, D.; Ashery, D.

2017-01-01

Some explanations for the excess of matter over antimatter in the universe involve sources of time reversal violation (TRV) in addition to the one known in the standard model of particle physics. We plan to search for TRV in a correlation between the momenta of the beta, neutrino, and the radiative gamma sometimes emitted in nuclear beta decay. Correlations involving three (out of four) momenta are sensitive at lowest order to different TRV physics than observables involving spin, such as electric dipole moments and spin-polarized beta decay correlations. Such experiments have been done in radiative kaon decay, but not in systems involving the lightest generation of quarks. An explicit low-energy physics model being tested produces TRV effects in the Fermi beta decay of the neutron, tritium, or some positron-decaying isotopes. We will present plans to measure the TRV asymmetry in radiative beta decay of laser-trapped 38mK at better than 0.01 sensitivity, including suppression of background from positron annihilation. Supported by NSERC, D.O.E., Israel Science Foundation. TRIUMF receives federal funding via a contribution agreement with the National Research Council of Canada.

A Distributed Framework for Real Time Path Planning in Practical Multi-agent Systems

KAUST Repository

Abdelkader, Mohamed; Jaleel, Hassan; Shamma, Jeff S.

2017-01-01

We present a framework for distributed, energy efficient, and real time implementable algorithms for path planning in multi-agent systems. The proposed framework is presented in the context of a motivating example of capture the flag which

Building Modern Vibration Diagnostics Systems Based on the Frequency-Time Transformations of A Measured Signal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasoveev Vasikh

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Basic methods of analysis of vibration transducers signals were reviewed. Continuous wavelet transform, being a time-frequency transform, was found to be an advanced mathematical tool for analysis of vibration signals. Experimental studies revealed obvious changes in the continuous wavelet transform spectrum depending on the existing defects. A method for detection and identification of technological violations based on the analysis of CWT spectrum components and normalized correlation coefficient was suggested. In accordance with the suggested method software for vibration diagnostics was developed.

Differential Dopamine Regulation of Ca2+ Signaling and Its Timing Dependence in the Nucleus Accumbens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Immani Swapna

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Dopamine action in the nucleus accumbens (NAc is thought to drive appetitive behavior and Pavlovian reward learning. However, it remains controversial how dopamine achieves these behavioral effects by regulating medium spiny projection neurons (MSNs of the NAc, especially on a behaviorally relevant timescale. Metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR-induced Ca2+ signaling dependent on the Ca2+- releasing messenger inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3 plays a critical role in controlling neuronal excitability and synaptic plasticity. Here, we show that transient dopamine application facilitates mGluR/IP3-induced Ca2+ signals within a time window of ∼2–10 s in a subpopulation of MSNs in the NAc core. Dopamine facilitation of IP3-induced Ca2+ signaling is mediated by D1 dopamine receptors. In dopamine-insensitive MSNs, activation of A2A adenosine receptors causes enhancement of IP3-evoked Ca2+ signals, which is reversed by D2 dopamine receptor activation. These results show that dopamine differentially regulates Ca2+ signaling on the order of seconds in two distinct MSN subpopulations.

Modeling and Assessment of Precise Time Transfer by Using BeiDou Navigation Satellite System Triple-Frequency Signals

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Pengfei; Zhang, Rui; Liu, Jinhai; Lu, Xiaochun

2018-01-01

This study proposes two models for precise time transfer using the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System triple-frequency signals: ionosphere-free (IF) combined precise point positioning (PPP) model with two dual-frequency combinations (IF-PPP1) and ionosphere-free combined PPP model with a single triple-frequency combination (IF-PPP2). A dataset with a short baseline (with a common external time frequency) and a long baseline are used for performance assessments. The results show that IF-PPP1 and IF-PPP2 models can both be used for precise time transfer using BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) triple-frequency signals, and the accuracy and stability of time transfer is the same in both cases, except for a constant system bias caused by the hardware delay of different frequencies, which can be removed by the parameter estimation and prediction with long time datasets or by a priori calibration. PMID:29596330

Time of correlation of low-frequency fluctuations in the regional laser Doppler flow signal from human skin

Science.gov (United States)

Folgosi-Correa, M. S.; Nogueira, G. E. C.

2012-06-01

The laser Doppler flowmetry allows the non-invasive assessment of the skin perfusion in real-time, being an attractive technique to study the human microcirculation in clinical settings. Low-frequency oscillations in the laser Doppler blood flow signal from the skin have been related to the endothelial, endothelial-metabolic, neurogenic and myogenic mechanisms of microvascular flow control, in the range 0.005-0.0095 Hz, 0.0095-0.021 Hz, 0.021-0.052 Hz and 0.052- 0.145 Hz respectively. The mean Amplitude (A) of the periodic fluctuations in the laser Doppler blood flow signal, in each frequency range, derived from the respective wavelet-transformed coefficients, has been used to assess the function and dysfunctions of each mechanism of flow control. Known sources of flow signal variances include spatial and temporal variability, diminishing the discriminatory capability of the technique. Here a new time domain method of analysis is proposed, based on the Time of Correlation (TC) of flow fluctuations between two adjacent sites. Registers of blood flow from two adjacent regions, for skin temperature at 32 0C (basal) and thermally stimulated (42 0C) of volar forearms from 20 healthy volunteers were collected and analyzed. The results obtained revealed high time of correlation between two adjacent regions when thermally stimulated, for signals in the endothelial, endothelial-metabolic, neurogenic and myogenic frequency ranges. Experimental data also indicate lower variability for TC when compared to A, when thermally stimulated, suggesting a new promising parameter for assessment of the microvascular flow control.

Big Pylons: Mixed signals for transmission. Spatial planning for energy distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ritchie, Heather; Hardy, Maelíosa; Lloyd, M. Greg; McGreal, Stanley

2013-01-01

The effective delivery of a sustainable energy future raises many challenges in relation to energy distribution where a new understanding of spatial planning is needed in relation to energy production, consumption and storage. Understanding the emergent low carbon energy economy in terms of its production, distribution and consumption characteristics has prompted a deliberate spatial planning interest. This paper examines issues relating to spatial planning, regulation, political legitimacy and accountability in the current and future systems for energy distribution. In particular it examines the Beauly Denny public inquiry in Scotland as a case study in terms of demonstrating the changing state–market–civil relations in an energy transition context with differentiated values and interests. The case study highlights implications for the regulation in the public interest of highly contested spaces, places and development schemes, together with a synopsis of government structure and change that is influencing the future of spatial planning and energy distribution in particular. - Highlights: • We examine links between spatial planning and regulation of energy distribution. • We examine the Beauly Denny public inquiry in Scotland. • We highlight challenges surrounding the development of a resilient energy system. • We highlight links between spatial planning and infrastructural development

Measuring parent time scarcity and fatigue as barriers to meal planning and preparation: quantitative scale development.

Science.gov (United States)

Storfer-Isser, Amy; Musher-Eizenman, Dara

2013-03-01

To examine the psychometric properties of 9 quantitative items that assess time scarcity and fatigue as parent barriers to planning and preparing meals for their children. A convenience sample of 342 parents of children aged 2-6 years completed a 20-minute online survey. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure and create summary scales. Internal consistency reliability and measures of construct and concurrent validity were assessed. Two scales were created based on the factor analysis: time and energy for meals and meal planning. Preliminary evidence suggests that both scales are reliable and valid. The time and energy for meals and meal planning scales can be completed quickly by busy and tired parents. As many children do not eat nutritious diets, a better understanding of the barriers that parents face is critical and may help inform interventions tailored to the needs of tired, busy parents. Copyright © 2013 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Time and Memory Efficient Online Piecewise Linear Approximation of Sensor Signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Grützmacher, Florian; Beichler, Benjamin; Hein, Albert; Kirste, Thomas; Haubelt, Christian

2018-05-23

Piecewise linear approximation of sensor signals is a well-known technique in the fields of Data Mining and Activity Recognition. In this context, several algorithms have been developed, some of them with the purpose to be performed on resource constrained microcontroller architectures of wireless sensor nodes. While microcontrollers are usually constrained in computational power and memory resources, all state-of-the-art piecewise linear approximation techniques either need to buffer sensor data or have an execution time depending on the segment’s length. In the paper at hand, we propose a novel piecewise linear approximation algorithm, with a constant computational complexity as well as a constant memory complexity. Our proposed algorithm’s worst-case execution time is one to three orders of magnitude smaller and its average execution time is three to seventy times smaller compared to the state-of-the-art Piecewise Linear Approximation (PLA) algorithms in our experiments. In our evaluations, we show that our algorithm is time and memory efficient without sacrificing the approximation quality compared to other state-of-the-art piecewise linear approximation techniques, while providing a maximum error guarantee per segment, a small parameter space of only one parameter, and a maximum latency of one sample period plus its worst-case execution time.

Acoustic wave focusing in complex media using Nonlinear Time Reversal coded signal processing

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Dos Santos, S.; Dvořáková, Zuzana; Lints, M.; Kůs, V.; Salupere, A.; Převorovský, Zdeněk

2014-01-01

Roč. 19, č. 12 (2014) ISSN 1435-4934. [European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT 2014) /11./. Praha, 06.10.2014-10.10.2014] Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : ultrasonic testing (UT) * signal processing * TR- NEWS * nonlinear time reversal * NDT * nonlinear acoustics Subject RIV: BI - Acoustics http://www.ndt.net/events/ECNDT2014/app/content/Slides/590_DosSantos_Rev1.pdf

Division Multiplexing of 10 Gbit/s Ethernet Signals Synchronized by All-Optical Signal Processing Based on a Time-Lens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Areal, Janaina Laguardia

This Thesis presents 3 years work of an optical circuit that performs both pulse compression and frame synchronization and retiming. Our design aims at directly multiplexing several 10G Ethernet data packets (frames) to a high-speed OTDM link. This scheme is optically trans-parent and does not re...... coupler, completing the OTDM signal generation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the design by laboratory experi-ments and simulations with VPI and MatLab....... not require clock recovery, resulting in a potentially very efficient solution. The scheme uses a time-lens, implemented through a sinusoidally driven optical phase modulation, combined with a linear dispersion element. As time-lenses are also used for pulse compression, we de-sign the circuit also to perform...

Real-time measurement and control at JET signal processing and physics analysis for diagnostics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Felton, R.; Joffrin, E.; Murari, A.

2005-01-01

To meet the requirements of the scientific programme, the EFDA JET real-time measurement and control project has developed an integrated set of real-time plasma measurements, experiment control and communication facilities. Traditional experiments collected instrument data during the plasma pulse and calculated physics data after the pulse. The challenge for continuous tokamak operation is to calculate the physics data in real-time, keeping up with the evolution of the plasma. In JET, many plasma diagnostics have been augmented with extra data acquisition and signal-processing systems so that they can both capture instrument data for conventional post-pulse analysis and calculate calibrated, validated physics results in real-time. During the pulse, the systems send sampled data sets into a network, which distributes the data to several destinations. The receiving systems may do further analysis, integrating data from several measurements, or may control the plasma scenario by heating or fuelling. The simplest real-time diagnostic systems apply scale factors to the signals, as with the electron cyclotron emission (ECE) diagnostic's 96 tuned radiometer channels, giving the electron temperature profile. In various spectroscopy diagnostics, spectral features are least-squares-fitted to measure spectra from several lines of sight, within 50 ms. Ion temperatures and rotation speed can be calculated from the line widths and shifts. For diagnostics using modulation techniques, the systems implement digital-signal processing phase trackers, lock-in amplifiers and filters, e.g., the far infrared (FIR) interferometer samples 15 channels at 400 kHz for 30 s, i.e., six million samples per second. Diagnostics have specific lines of sight, spatial channels, and various sampling rates. The heating/fuelling systems have relatively coarse spatial localisation. Analysis systems have been developed to integrate the basic physics data into smaller sets of controllable parameters on a

Method of signal analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berthomier, Charles

1975-01-01

A method capable of handling the amplitude and the frequency time laws of a certain kind of geophysical signals is described here. This method is based upon the analytical signal idea of Gabor and Ville, which is constructed either in the time domain by adding an imaginary part to the real signal (in-quadrature signal), or in the frequency domain by suppressing negative frequency components. The instantaneous frequency of the initial signal is then defined as the time derivative of the phase of the analytical signal, and his amplitude, or envelope, as the modulus of this complex signal. The method is applied to three types of magnetospheric signals: chorus, whistlers and pearls. The results obtained by analog and numerical calculations are compared to results obtained by classical systems using filters, i.e. based upon a different definition of the concept of frequency. The precision with which the frequency-time laws are determined leads then to the examination of the principle of the method and to a definition of instantaneous power density spectrum attached to the signal, and to the first consequences of this definition. In this way, a two-dimensional representation of the signal is introduced which is less deformed by the analysis system properties than the usual representation, and which moreover has the advantage of being obtainable practically in real time [fr

Signals and systems laboratory with Matlab

CERN Document Server

Palamides, Alex

2010-01-01

Introduction to MATLAB®Working EnvironmentGetting StartedMemory ManagementVectorsMatricesPlotting with MATLABComplex NumbersM-FilesInput-Output CommandsFile ManagementLogical-Relational OperatorsControl FlowSymbolic VariablesPolynomials(Pseudo)Random NumbersSignalsCategorization by the Variable TypeBasic Continuous-Time SignalsDiscrete-Time SignalsProperties of SignalsTransformations of the Time Variable for Continuous-Time SignalsTransformations of the Time Variable for Discrete-Time SignalsSystemsSystems ClassificationProperties of SystemsTime Domain System AnalysisImpulse ResponseContinuous Time Convolution Convolution PropertiesInterconnections of SystemsStabilityDiscrete-Time ConvolutionSystems Described by Difference EquationsFiltersStability Criterion for Discrete-Time SystemsSystems Described by Differential EquationsStep Response of a SystemFourier SeriesOrthogonality of Complex Exponential SignalsComplex Exponential Fourier SeriesTrigonometric Fourier SeriesFourier Series in the Cosine with Phase F...

The dosimetric impact of inversely optimized arc radiotherapy plan modulation for real-time dynamic MLC tracking delivery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Falk, Marianne; Larsson, Tobias; Keall, Paul; Chul Cho, Byung; Aznar, Marianne; Korreman, Stine; Poulsen, Per; Munck af Rosenschoeld, Per

2012-01-01

Purpose: Real-time dynamic multileaf collimator (MLC) tracking for management of intrafraction tumor motion can be challenging for highly modulated beams, as the leaves need to travel far to adjust for target motion perpendicular to the leaf travel direction. The plan modulation can be reduced by using a leaf position constraint (LPC) that reduces the difference in the position of adjacent MLC leaves in the plan. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the LPC on the quality of inversely optimized arc radiotherapy plans and the effect of the MLC motion pattern on the dosimetric accuracy of MLC tracking delivery. Specifically, the possibility of predicting the accuracy of MLC tracking delivery based on the plan modulation was investigated. Methods: Inversely optimized arc radiotherapy plans were created on CT-data of three lung cancer patients. For each case, five plans with a single 358 deg. arc were generated with LPC priorities of 0 (no LPC), 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 (highest possible LPC), respectively. All the plans had a prescribed dose of 2 Gy x 30, used 6 MV, a maximum dose rate of 600 MU/min and a collimator angle of 45 deg. or 315 deg. To quantify the plan modulation, an average adjacent leaf distance (ALD) was calculated by averaging the mean adjacent leaf distance for each control point. The linear relationship between the plan quality [i.e., the calculated dose distributions and the number of monitor units (MU)] and the LPC was investigated, and the linear regression coefficient as well as a two tailed confidence level of 95% was used in the evaluation. The effect of the plan modulation on the performance of MLC tracking was tested by delivering the plans to a cylindrical diode array phantom moving with sinusoidal motion in the superior-inferior direction with a peak-to-peak displacement of 2 cm and a cycle time of 6 s. The delivery was adjusted to the target motion using MLC tracking, guided in real-time by an infrared optical system

Planning Study Comparison of Real-Time Target Tracking and Four-Dimensional Inverse Planning for Managing Patient Respiratory Motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Peng; Hugo, Geoffrey D.; Yan Di

2008-01-01

Purpose: Real-time target tracking (RT-TT) and four-dimensional inverse planning (4D-IP) are two potential methods to manage respiratory target motion. In this study, we evaluated each method using the cumulative dose-volume criteria in lung cancer radiotherapy. Methods and Materials: Respiration-correlated computed tomography scans were acquired for 4 patients. Deformable image registration was applied to generate a displacement mapping for each phase image of the respiration-correlated computed tomography images. First, the dose distribution for the organs of interest obtained from an idealized RT-TT technique was evaluated, assuming perfect knowledge of organ motion and beam tracking. Inverse planning was performed on each phase image separately. The treatment dose to the organs of interest was then accumulated from the optimized plans. Second, 4D-IP was performed using the probability density function of respiratory motion. The beam arrangement, prescription dose, and objectives were consistent in both planning methods. The dose-volume and equivalent uniform dose in the target volume, lung, heart, and spinal cord were used for the evaluation. Results: The cumulative dose in the target was similar for both techniques. The equivalent uniform dose of the lung, heart, and spinal cord was 4.6 ± 2.2, 11 ± 4.4, and 11 ± 6.6 Gy for RT-TT with a 0-mm target margin, 5.2 ± 3.1, 12 ± 5.9, and 12 ± 7.8 Gy for RT-TT with a 2-mm target margin, and 5.3 ± 2.3, 11.9 ± 5.0, and 12 ± 5.6 Gy for 4D-IP, respectively. Conclusion: The results of our study have shown that 4D-IP can achieve plans similar to those achieved by RT-TT. Considering clinical implementation, 4D-IP could be a more reliable and practical method to manage patient respiration-induced motion

A new optimization method using a compressed sensing inspired solver for real-time LDR-brachytherapy treatment planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guthier, C; Aschenbrenner, K P; Buergy, D; Ehmann, M; Wenz, F; Hesser, J W

2015-01-01

This work discusses a novel strategy for inverse planning in low dose rate brachytherapy. It applies the idea of compressed sensing to the problem of inverse treatment planning and a new solver for this formulation is developed. An inverse planning algorithm was developed incorporating brachytherapy dose calculation methods as recommended by AAPM TG-43. For optimization of the functional a new variant of a matching pursuit type solver is presented. The results are compared with current state-of-the-art inverse treatment planning algorithms by means of real prostate cancer patient data. The novel strategy outperforms the best state-of-the-art methods in speed, while achieving comparable quality. It is able to find solutions with comparable values for the objective function and it achieves these results within a few microseconds, being up to 542 times faster than competing state-of-the-art strategies, allowing real-time treatment planning. The sparse solution of inverse brachytherapy planning achieved with methods from compressed sensing is a new paradigm for optimization in medical physics. Through the sparsity of required needles and seeds identified by this method, the cost of intervention may be reduced. (paper)

A new optimization method using a compressed sensing inspired solver for real-time LDR-brachytherapy treatment planning

Science.gov (United States)

Guthier, C.; Aschenbrenner, K. P.; Buergy, D.; Ehmann, M.; Wenz, F.; Hesser, J. W.

2015-03-01

This work discusses a novel strategy for inverse planning in low dose rate brachytherapy. It applies the idea of compressed sensing to the problem of inverse treatment planning and a new solver for this formulation is developed. An inverse planning algorithm was developed incorporating brachytherapy dose calculation methods as recommended by AAPM TG-43. For optimization of the functional a new variant of a matching pursuit type solver is presented. The results are compared with current state-of-the-art inverse treatment planning algorithms by means of real prostate cancer patient data. The novel strategy outperforms the best state-of-the-art methods in speed, while achieving comparable quality. It is able to find solutions with comparable values for the objective function and it achieves these results within a few microseconds, being up to 542 times faster than competing state-of-the-art strategies, allowing real-time treatment planning. The sparse solution of inverse brachytherapy planning achieved with methods from compressed sensing is a new paradigm for optimization in medical physics. Through the sparsity of required needles and seeds identified by this method, the cost of intervention may be reduced.

Fast digitizing and digital signal processing of detector signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hannaske, Roland

2008-01-01

A fast-digitizer data acquisition system recently installed at the neutron time-of-flight experiment nELBE, which is located at the superconducting electron accelerator ELBE of Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, is tested with two different detector types. Preamplifier signals from a high-purity germanium detector are digitized, stored and finally processed. For a precise determination of the energy of the detected radiation, the moving-window deconvolution algorithm is used to compensate the ballistic deficit and different shaping algorithms are applied. The energy resolution is determined in an experiment with γ-rays from a 22 Na source and is compared to the energy resolution achieved with analogously processed signals. On the other hand, signals from the photomultipliers of barium fluoride and plastic scintillation detectors are digitized. These signals have risetimes of a few nanoseconds only. The moment of interaction of the radiation with the detector is determined by methods of digital signal processing. Therefore, different timing algorithms are implemented and tested with data from an experiment at nELBE. The time resolutions achieved with these algorithms are compared to each other as well as to reference values coming from analog signal processing. In addition to these experiments, some properties of the digitizing hardware are measured and a program for the analysis of stored, digitized data is developed. The analysis of the signals shows that the energy resolution achieved with the 10-bit digitizer system used here is not competitive to a 14-bit peak-sensing ADC, although the ballistic deficit can be fully corrected. However, digital methods give better result in sub-ns timing than analog signal processing. (orig.)

Detection of different-time-scale signals in the length of day variation based on EEMD analysis technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenbin Shen

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Scientists pay great attention to different-time-scale signals in the length of day (LOD variations ΔLOD, which provide signatures of the Earth's interior structure, couplings among different layers, and potential excitations of ocean and atmosphere. In this study, based on the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD, we analyzed the latest time series of ΔLOD data spanning from January 1962 to March 2015. We observed the signals with periods and amplitudes of about 0.5 month and 0.19 ms, 1.0 month and 0.19 ms, 0.5 yr and 0.22 ms, 1.0 yr and 0.18 ms, 2.28 yr and 0.03 ms, 5.48 yr and 0.05 ms, respectively, in coincidence with the results of predecessors. In addition, some signals that were previously not definitely observed by predecessors were detected in this study, with periods and amplitudes of 9.13 d and 0.12 ms, 13.69 yr and 0.10 ms, respectively. The mechanisms of the LOD fluctuations of these two signals are still open.

Modeling and Assessment of Precise Time Transfer by Using BeiDou Navigation Satellite System Triple-Frequency Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rui Tu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This study proposes two models for precise time transfer using the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System triple-frequency signals: ionosphere-free (IF combined precise point positioning (PPP model with two dual-frequency combinations (IF-PPP1 and ionosphere-free combined PPP model with a single triple-frequency combination (IF-PPP2. A dataset with a short baseline (with a common external time frequency and a long baseline are used for performance assessments. The results show that IF-PPP1 and IF-PPP2 models can both be used for precise time transfer using BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS triple-frequency signals, and the accuracy and stability of time transfer is the same in both cases, except for a constant system bias caused by the hardware delay of different frequencies, which can be removed by the parameter estimation and prediction with long time datasets or by a priori calibration.

Real-time Planning Support: A Task-technology Fit Perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E. Krauth (Elfriede)

2008-01-01

textabstractPlanning technology by itself is not sufficient to improve planning performance. What are the factors that determine the extent to which the benefits of planning technology are realized? In order to answer this question, this dissertation studies four mechanisms of fit between task and

Fast, multi-channel real-time processing of signals with microsecond latency using graphics processing units

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rath, N., E-mail: Nikolaus@rath.org; Levesque, J. P.; Mauel, M. E.; Navratil, G. A.; Peng, Q. [Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, 500 W 120th St, New York, New York 10027 (United States); Kato, S. [Department of Information Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya (Japan)

2014-04-15

Fast, digital signal processing (DSP) has many applications. Typical hardware options for performing DSP are field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated DSP chips, or general purpose personal computer systems. This paper presents a novel DSP platform that has been developed for feedback control on the HBT-EP tokamak device. The system runs all signal processing exclusively on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to achieve real-time performance with latencies below 8 μs. Signals are transferred into and out of the GPU using PCI Express peer-to-peer direct-memory-access transfers without involvement of the central processing unit or host memory. Tests were performed on the feedback control system of the HBT-EP tokamak using forty 16-bit floating point inputs and outputs each and a sampling rate of up to 250 kHz. Signals were digitized by a D-TACQ ACQ196 module, processing done on an NVIDIA GTX 580 GPU programmed in CUDA, and analog output was generated by D-TACQ AO32CPCI modules.

Fast, multi-channel real-time processing of signals with microsecond latency using graphics processing units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rath, N.; Levesque, J. P.; Mauel, M. E.; Navratil, G. A.; Peng, Q.; Kato, S.

2014-01-01

Fast, digital signal processing (DSP) has many applications. Typical hardware options for performing DSP are field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated DSP chips, or general purpose personal computer systems. This paper presents a novel DSP platform that has been developed for feedback control on the HBT-EP tokamak device. The system runs all signal processing exclusively on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to achieve real-time performance with latencies below 8 μs. Signals are transferred into and out of the GPU using PCI Express peer-to-peer direct-memory-access transfers without involvement of the central processing unit or host memory. Tests were performed on the feedback control system of the HBT-EP tokamak using forty 16-bit floating point inputs and outputs each and a sampling rate of up to 250 kHz. Signals were digitized by a D-TACQ ACQ196 module, processing done on an NVIDIA GTX 580 GPU programmed in CUDA, and analog output was generated by D-TACQ AO32CPCI modules

Where one hand meets the other: limb-specific and action-dependent movement plans decoded from preparatory signals in single human frontoparietal brain areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallivan, Jason P; McLean, D Adam; Flanagan, J Randall; Culham, Jody C

2013-01-30

Planning object-directed hand actions requires successful integration of the movement goal with the acting limb. Exactly where and how this sensorimotor integration occurs in the brain has been studied extensively with neurophysiological recordings in nonhuman primates, yet to date, because of limitations of non-invasive methodologies, the ability to examine the same types of planning-related signals in humans has been challenging. Here we show, using a multivoxel pattern analysis of functional MRI (fMRI) data, that the preparatory activity patterns in several frontoparietal brain regions can be used to predict both the limb used and hand action performed in an upcoming movement. Participants performed an event-related delayed movement task whereby they planned and executed grasp or reach actions with either their left or right hand toward a single target object. We found that, although the majority of frontoparietal areas represented hand actions (grasping vs reaching) for the contralateral limb, several areas additionally coded hand actions for the ipsilateral limb. Notable among these were subregions within the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), ventral premotor cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, presupplementary motor area, and motor cortex, a region more traditionally implicated in contralateral movement generation. Additional analyses suggest that hand actions are represented independently of the intended limb in PPC and PMd. In addition to providing a unique mapping of limb-specific and action-dependent intention-related signals across the human cortical motor system, these findings uncover a much stronger representation of the ipsilateral limb than expected from previous fMRI findings.

Small-Signal Analysis of the Microgrid Secondary Control Considering a Communication Time Delay

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Coelho, Ernane Antônio Alves; Wu, Dan; Guerrero, Josep M.

2016-01-01

This paper presents a small-signal analysis of an islanded microgrid composed of two or more voltage-source inverters connected in parallel. The primary control of each inverter is integrated through an internal current and voltage loops using proportional resonant compensators, a virtual impedance......, and an external power controller based on frequency and voltage droops. The frequency restoration function is implemented at the secondary control level, which executes a consensus algorithm that consists of a load-frequency control and a single time delay communication network. The consensus network consists...... the behavior of the system considering control parameters and time delay variation....

Effective production planning for purchased part under long lead time and uncertain demand: MRP Vs demand-driven MRP

Science.gov (United States)

Shofa, M. J.; Moeis, A. O.; Restiana, N.

2018-04-01

MRP as a production planning system is appropriate for the deterministic environment. Unfortunately, most production systems such as customer demands are stochastic, so that MRP is inappropriate at the time. Demand-Driven MRP (DDMRP) is new approach for production planning system dealing with demand uncertainty. The objective of this paper is to compare the MRP and DDMRP for purchased part under long lead time and uncertain demand in terms of average inventory levels. The evaluation is conducted through a discrete event simulation with the long lead time and uncertain demand scenarios. The next step is evaluating the performance of DDMRP by comparing the inventory level of DDMRP with MRP. As result, DDMRP is more effective production planning than MRP in terms of average inventory levels.

Assessing and controlling the impact of hospital capacity planning on the waiting time

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dellaert, N.; Çayiroglu, E.; Jeunet, J.

2015-01-01

In the literature, tactical plans of elective patients aim at increasing hospital efficiency through a better resource utilisation, although hospitals claim that patient satisfaction, usually measured by the waiting time, is also important. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to show how

Impact of gantry rotation time on plan quality and dosimetric verification. Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) vs. intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pasler, Marlies; Wirtz, Holger; Lutterbach, Johannes [Gemeinschaftspraxis fuer Strahlentherapie Singen-Friedrichshafen, Singen (Germany)

2011-12-15

To compare plan quality criteria and dosimetric accuracy of step-and-shoot intensity-modulated radiotherapy (ss-IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy (VMAT) using two different gantry rotation times. This retrospective planning study based on 20 patients was comprised of 10 prostate cancer (PC) and 10 head and neck (HN) cancer cases. Each plan contained two target volumes: a primary planning target volume (PTV) and a boost volume. For each patient, one ss-IMRT plan and two VMAT plans at 90 s (VMAT90) and 120 s (VMAT120) per arc were generated with the Pinnacle {sup copyright} planning system. Two arcs were provided for the PTV plans and a single arc for boost volumes. Dosimetric verification of the plans was performed using a 2D ionization chamber array placed in a full scatter phantom. VMAT reduced delivery time and monitor units for both treatment sites compared to IMRT. VMAT120 vs. VMAT90 increased delivery time and monitor units in PC plans without improving plan quality. For HN cases, VMAT120 provided comparable organs at risk sparing and better target coverage and conformity than VMAT90. In the VMAT plan verification, an average of 97.1% of the detector points passed the 3 mm, 3% {gamma} criterion, while in IMRT verification it was 98.8%. VMAT90, VMAT120, and IMRT achieved comparable treatment plans. Slower gantry movement in VMAT120 plans only improves dosimetric quality for highly complex targets.

Impact of gantry rotation time on plan quality and dosimetric verification. Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) vs. intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pasler, Marlies; Wirtz, Holger; Lutterbach, Johannes

2011-01-01

To compare plan quality criteria and dosimetric accuracy of step-and-shoot intensity-modulated radiotherapy (ss-IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy (VMAT) using two different gantry rotation times. This retrospective planning study based on 20 patients was comprised of 10 prostate cancer (PC) and 10 head and neck (HN) cancer cases. Each plan contained two target volumes: a primary planning target volume (PTV) and a boost volume. For each patient, one ss-IMRT plan and two VMAT plans at 90 s (VMAT90) and 120 s (VMAT120) per arc were generated with the Pinnacle copyright planning system. Two arcs were provided for the PTV plans and a single arc for boost volumes. Dosimetric verification of the plans was performed using a 2D ionization chamber array placed in a full scatter phantom. VMAT reduced delivery time and monitor units for both treatment sites compared to IMRT. VMAT120 vs. VMAT90 increased delivery time and monitor units in PC plans without improving plan quality. For HN cases, VMAT120 provided comparable organs at risk sparing and better target coverage and conformity than VMAT90. In the VMAT plan verification, an average of 97.1% of the detector points passed the 3 mm, 3% γ criterion, while in IMRT verification it was 98.8%. VMAT90, VMAT120, and IMRT achieved comparable treatment plans. Slower gantry movement in VMAT120 plans only improves dosimetric quality for highly complex targets.

SU-E-P-27: Efficient Process for AccuBoost Planning and Treatment Delivery to Minimize Patient Compression Time

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Iftimia, I; Talmadge, M; Halvorsen, P [Lahey Clinic, Burlington, MA (United States)

2015-06-15

Purpose: To implement an efficient and robust process for AccuBoost planning and treatment delivery that can be safely performed by a single Physicist while minimizing patient’s total session time. Methods: Following a thorough commissioning and validation process, templates were created in the brachytherapy planning system for each AccuBoost applicator. Tables of individual and total nominal dwell times for each applicator as a function of separation were generated to streamline planning while an Excel-based nomogram provided by the vendor functions as a secondary verification of the treatment parameters. Tables of surface dose as a function of separation and applicator, along with concise guidance documents for applicator selection, are readily available during the planning process. The entire process is described in a set of detailed Standard Operating Procedures which, in addition to the items described above, include a verbal time-out between the primary planner and the individual performing the secondary verification as well as direct visual confirmation of applicator placement using an articulated mirror. Prior to treatment initiation, a final time-out is conducted with the Radiation Oncologist. Chart documentation is finalized after the patient is released from compression following completion of the treatment. Results: With the aforementioned procedures, it has been possible to consistently limit the time required to prepare each treatment such that the patient is typically under compression for less than 10 minutes per orientation prior to the initiation of the treatment, which is particularly important for APBI cases. This process can be overseen by a single physicist assisted by a dosimetrist and has been optimized during the past 16 months, with 180 treatment sessions safely completed to date. Conclusion: This work demonstrates the implementation of an efficient and robust process for real-time-planned AccuBoost treatments that effectively minimizes

The dosimetric impact of inversely optimized arc radiotherapy plan modulation for real-time dynamic MLC tracking delivery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Falk, Marianne; Larsson, Tobias; Keall, P.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Real-time dynamic multileaf collimator (MLC) tracking for management of intrafraction tumor motion can be challenging for highly modulated beams, as the leaves need to travel far to adjust for target motion perpendicular to the leaf travel direction. The plan modulation can be reduced......-to-peak displacement of 2 cm and a cycle time of 6 s. The delivery was adjusted to the target motion using MLC tracking, guided in real-time by an infrared optical system. The dosimetric results were evaluated using gamma index evaluation with static target measurements as reference. Results: The plan quality...

Automatic planning of head and neck treatment plans

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hazell, Irene; Bzdusek, Karl; Kumar, Prashant

2016-01-01

radiation dose planning (dosimetrist) and potentially improve the overall plan quality. This study evaluates the performance of the Auto-Planning module that has recently become clinically available in the Pinnacle3 radiation therapy treatment planning system. Twenty-six clinically delivered head and neck...... as the previously delivered clinical plans. For all patients, the Auto-Planning tool produced clinically acceptable head and neck treatment plans without any manual intervention, except for the initial target and OAR delineations. The main benefit of the method is the likely improvement in the overall treatment......Treatment planning is time-consuming and the outcome depends on the person performing the optimization. A system that automates treatment planning could potentially reduce the manual time required for optimization and could also pro-vide a method to reduce the variation between persons performing...

Lead time anticipation in supply chain operations planning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, M.M.; Kok, de A.G.; Fransoo, J.C.

2013-01-01

Linear programming (LP) models for Supply Chain Operations Planning are widely used in Advanced Planning Systems. The solution to the LP model is a proposal for order releases to the various production units (PU) in the supply network. There is a non-linear relationship between the work-in-process

Clock gene evolution: seasonal timing, phylogenetic signal, or functional constraint?

Science.gov (United States)

Krabbenhoft, Trevor J; Turner, Thomas F

2014-01-01

Genetic determinants of seasonal reproduction are not fully understood but may be important predictors of organism responses to climate change. We used a comparative approach to study the evolution of seasonal timing within a fish community in a natural common garden setting. We tested the hypothesis that allelic length variation in the PolyQ domain of a circadian rhythm gene, Clock1a, corresponded to interspecific differences in seasonal reproductive timing across 5 native and 1 introduced cyprinid fishes (n = 425 individuals) that co-occur in the Rio Grande, NM, USA. Most common allele lengths were longer in native species that initiated reproduction earlier (Spearman's r = -0.70, P = 0.23). Clock1a allele length exhibited strong phylogenetic signal and earlier spawners were evolutionarily derived. Aside from length variation in Clock1a, all other amino acids were identical across native species, suggesting functional constraint over evolutionary time. Interestingly, the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hybognathus amarus) exhibited less allelic variation in Clock1a and observed heterozygosity was 2- to 6-fold lower than the 5 other (nonimperiled) species. Reduced genetic variation in this functionally important gene may impede this species' capacity to respond to ongoing environmental change.

Production planning of a perishable product with lead time and non-stationary demand

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pauls-Worm, K.G.J.; Haijema, R.; Hendrix, E.M.T.; Rossi, R.; Vorst, van der J.G.A.J.

2012-01-01

We study a production planning problem for a perishable product with a fixed lifetime, under a service-level constraint. The product has a non-stationary stochastic demand. Food supply chains of fresh products like cheese and several crop products, are characterised by long lead times due to

Multi-time-over-threshold technique for photomultiplier signal processing: Description and characterization of the SCOTT ASIC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferry, S.; Guilloux, F.; Anvar, S.; Chateau, F.; Delagnes, E.; Gautard, V.; Louis, F.; Monmarthe, E.; Le Provost, H.; Russo, S.; Schuller, J.-P.; Stolarczyk, Th.; Vallage, B.; Zonca, E.

2012-01-01

KM3NeT aims to build a cubic-kilometer scale neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea based on a 3D array of photomultiplier tubes. A dedicated ASIC, named SCOTT, has been developed for the readout electronics of the PMTs: it uses up to 16 adjustable thresholds to digitize the signals with the multi-time-over-threshold technique. Digital outputs of discriminators feed a circular sampling memory and a “first in first out” digital memory for derandomization. At the end of the data processing, the ASIC produces a digital waveform sampled at 800 MHz. A specific study was carried out to process PMT data and has showed that five specifically chosen thresholds are suited to reach the required timing precision. A dedicated method based on the duration of the signal over a given threshold allows an equivalent timing precision at any charge. A charge estimator using the information from the thresholds allows a charge determination within less than 20% up to 60 pe.

Multi-time-over-threshold technique for photomultiplier signal processing: Description and characterization of the SCOTT ASIC

Science.gov (United States)

Ferry, S.; Guilloux, F.; Anvar, S.; Chateau, F.; Delagnes, E.; Gautard, V.; Louis, F.; Monmarthe, E.; Le Provost, H.; Russo, S.; Schuller, J.-P.; Stolarczyk, Th.; Vallage, B.; Zonca, E.; Representing the KM3NeT Consortium

2012-12-01

KM3NeT aims to build a cubic-kilometer scale neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea based on a 3D array of photomultiplier tubes. A dedicated ASIC, named SCOTT, has been developed for the readout electronics of the PMTs: it uses up to 16 adjustable thresholds to digitize the signals with the multi-time-over-threshold technique. Digital outputs of discriminators feed a circular sampling memory and a “first in first out” digital memory for derandomization. At the end of the data processing, the ASIC produces a digital waveform sampled at 800 MHz. A specific study was carried out to process PMT data and has showed that five specifically chosen thresholds are suited to reach the required timing precision. A dedicated method based on the duration of the signal over a given threshold allows an equivalent timing precision at any charge. A charge estimator using the information from the thresholds allows a charge determination within less than 20% up to 60 pe.

Failure-censored accelerated life test sampling plans for Weibull distribution under expected test time constraint

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai, D.S.; Chun, Y.R.; Kim, J.G.

1995-01-01

This paper considers the design of life-test sampling plans based on failure-censored accelerated life tests. The lifetime distribution of products is assumed to be Weibull with a scale parameter that is a log linear function of a (possibly transformed) stress. Two levels of stress higher than the use condition stress, high and low, are used. Sampling plans with equal expected test times at high and low test stresses which satisfy the producer's and consumer's risk requirements and minimize the asymptotic variance of the test statistic used to decide lot acceptability are obtained. The properties of the proposed life-test sampling plans are investigated

Data mining tools for the support of traffic signal timing plan development in arterial networks

Science.gov (United States)

2001-05-01

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) include large numbers of traffic sensors that collect enormous quantities of data. The data provided by ITS is necessary for advanced forms of control; however, basic forms of control, primarily time-of-day (T...

Tunable Signal-Off and Signal-On Electrochemical Cisplatin Sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yao; Lai, Rebecca Y

2017-09-19

We report the first electrochemical cisplatin sensor fabricated with a thiolated and methylene blue (MB)-modified oligo-adenine (A)-guanine (G) DNA probe. Depending on the probe coverage, the sensor can behave as a signal-off or signal-on sensor. For the high-coverage sensor, formation of intrastrand Pt(II)-AG adducts rigidifies the oligo-AG probe, resulting in a concentration-dependent decrease in the MB signal. For the low-coverage sensor, the increase in probe-to-probe spacing enables binding of cisplatin via the intrastrand GNG motif (N = A), generating a bend in the probe which results in an increase in the MB current. Although both high-coverage signal-off and low-coverage signal-on sensors are capable of detecting cisplatin, the signal-on sensing mechanism is better suited for real time analysis of cisplatin. The low-coverage sensor has a lower limit of detection, wider optimal AC frequency range, and faster response time. It has high specificity for cisplatin and potentially other Pt(II) drugs and does not cross-react with satraplatin, a Pt(IV) prodrug. It is also selective enough to be employed directly in 50% saliva and 50% urine. This detection strategy may offer a new approach for sensitive and real time analysis of cisplatin in clinical samples.

A Non-Uniformly Under-Sampled Blade Tip-Timing Signal Reconstruction Method for Blade Vibration Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zheng Hu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available High-speed blades are often prone to fatigue due to severe blade vibrations. In particular, synchronous vibrations can cause irreversible damages to the blade. Blade tip-timing methods (BTT have become a promising way to monitor blade vibrations. However, synchronous vibrations are unsuitably monitored by uniform BTT sampling. Therefore, non-equally mounted probes have been used, which will result in the non-uniformity of the sampling signal. Since under-sampling is an intrinsic drawback of BTT methods, how to analyze non-uniformly under-sampled BTT signals is a big challenge. In this paper, a novel reconstruction method for non-uniformly under-sampled BTT data is presented. The method is based on the periodically non-uniform sampling theorem. Firstly, a mathematical model of a non-uniform BTT sampling process is built. It can be treated as the sum of certain uniform sample streams. For each stream, an interpolating function is required to prevent aliasing in the reconstructed signal. Secondly, simultaneous equations of all interpolating functions in each sub-band are built and corresponding solutions are ultimately derived to remove unwanted replicas of the original signal caused by the sampling, which may overlay the original signal. In the end, numerical simulations and experiments are carried out to validate the feasibility of the proposed method. The results demonstrate the accuracy of the reconstructed signal depends on the sampling frequency, the blade vibration frequency, the blade vibration bandwidth, the probe static offset and the number of samples. In practice, both types of blade vibration signals can be particularly reconstructed by non-uniform BTT data acquired from only two probes.

Symbol-stream Combiner: Description and Demonstration Plans

Science.gov (United States)

Hurd, W. J.; Reder, L. J.; Russell, M. D.

1984-01-01

A system is described and demonstration plans presented for antenna arraying by symbol stream combining. This system is used to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of a spacecraft signals by combining the detected symbol streams from two or more receiving stations. Symbol stream combining has both cost and performance advantages over other arraying methods. Demonstrations are planned on Voyager 2 both prior to and during Uranus encounter. Operational use is possible for interagency arraying of non-Deep Space Network stations at Neptune encounter.

Task performance changes the amplitude and timing of the BOLD signal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akhrif Atae

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Translational studies comparing imaging data of animals and humans have gained increasing scientific interests. With this upcoming translational approach, however, identifying harmonized statistical analysis as well as shared data acquisition protocols and/or combined statistical approaches is necessary. Following this idea, we applied Bayesian Adaptive Regression Splines (BARS, which have until now mainly been used to model neural responses of electrophysiological recordings from rodent data, on human hemodynamic responses as measured via fMRI. Forty-seven healthy subjects were investigated while performing the Attention Network Task in the MRI scanner. Fluctuations in the amplitude and timing of the BOLD response were determined and validated externally with brain activation using GLM and also ecologically with the influence of task performance (i.e. good vs. bad performers. In terms of brain activation, bad performers presented reduced activation bilaterally in the parietal lobules, right prefrontal cortex (PFC and striatum. This was accompanied by an enhanced left PFC recruitment. With regard to the amplitude of the BOLD-signal, bad performers showed enhanced values in the left PFC. In addition, in the regions of reduced activation such as the parietal and striatal regions, the temporal dynamics were higher in bad performers. Based on the relation between BOLD response and neural firing with the amplitude of the BOLD signal reflecting gamma power and timing dynamics beta power, we argue that in bad performers, an enhanced left PFC recruitment hints towards an enhanced functioning of gamma-band activity in a compensatory manner. This was accompanied by reduced parieto-striatal activity, associated with increased and potentially conflicting beta-band activity.

Technical Note: Intrafractional changes in time lag relationship between anterior–posterior external and superior–inferior internal motion signals in abdominal tumor sites

Science.gov (United States)

Regmi, Rajesh; Lovelock, D. Michael; Zhang, Pengpeng; Pham, Hai; Xiong, Jianping; Yorke, Ellen D.; Goodman, Karyn A.; Wu, Abraham J.; Mageras, Gig S.

2015-01-01

Purpose: To investigate constancy, within a treatment session, of the time lag relationship between implanted markers in abdominal tumors and an external motion surrogate. Methods: Six gastroesophageal junction and three pancreatic cancer patients (IRB-approved protocol) received two cone-beam CTs (CBCT), one before and one after treatment. Time between scans was less than 30 min. Each patient had at least one implanted fiducial marker near the tumor. In all scans, abdominal displacement (Varian RPM) was recorded as the external motion signal. Purpose-built software tracked fiducials, representing internal signal, in CBCT projection images. Time lag between superior–inferior (SI) internal and anterior–posterior external signals was found by maximizing the correlation coefficient in each breathing cycle and averaging over all cycles. Time-lag-induced discrepancy between internal SI position and that predicted from the external signal (external prediction error) was also calculated. Results: Mean ± standard deviation time lag, over all scans and patients, was 0.10 ± 0.07 s (range 0.01–0.36 s). External signal lagged the internal in 17/18 scans. Change in time lag between pre- and post-treatment CBCT was 0.06 ± 0.07 s (range 0.01–0.22 s), corresponding to 3.1% ± 3.7% (range 0.6%–10.8%) of gate width (range 1.6–3.1 s). In only one patient, change in time lag exceeded 10% of the gate width. External prediction error over all scans of all patients varied from 0.1 ± 0.1 to 1.6 ± 0.4 mm. Conclusions: Time lag between internal motion along SI and external signals is small compared to the treatment gate width of abdominal patients examined in this study. Change in time lag within a treatment session, inferred from pre- to post-treatment measurements is also small, suggesting that a single measurement of time lag at the session start is adequate. These findings require confirmation in a larger number of patients. PMID:26127033

Technical Note: Intrafractional changes in time lag relationship between anterior-posterior external and superior-inferior internal motion signals in abdominal tumor sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Regmi, Rajesh; Lovelock, D Michael; Zhang, Pengpeng; Pham, Hai; Xiong, Jianping; Yorke, Ellen D; Goodman, Karyn A; Wu, Abraham J; Mageras, Gig S

2015-06-01

To investigate constancy, within a treatment session, of the time lag relationship between implanted markers in abdominal tumors and an external motion surrogate. Six gastroesophageal junction and three pancreatic cancer patients (IRB-approved protocol) received two cone-beam CTs (CBCT), one before and one after treatment. Time between scans was less than 30 min. Each patient had at least one implanted fiducial marker near the tumor. In all scans, abdominal displacement (Varian RPM) was recorded as the external motion signal. Purpose-built software tracked fiducials, representing internal signal, in CBCT projection images. Time lag between superior-inferior (SI) internal and anterior-posterior external signals was found by maximizing the correlation coefficient in each breathing cycle and averaging over all cycles. Time-lag-induced discrepancy between internal SI position and that predicted from the external signal (external prediction error) was also calculated. Mean ± standard deviation time lag, over all scans and patients, was 0.10 ± 0.07 s (range 0.01-0.36 s). External signal lagged the internal in 17/18 scans. Change in time lag between pre- and post-treatment CBCT was 0.06 ± 0.07 s (range 0.01-0.22 s), corresponding to 3.1% ± 3.7% (range 0.6%-10.8%) of gate width (range 1.6-3.1 s). In only one patient, change in time lag exceeded 10% of the gate width. External prediction error over all scans of all patients varied from 0.1 ± 0.1 to 1.6 ± 0.4 mm. Time lag between internal motion along SI and external signals is small compared to the treatment gate width of abdominal patients examined in this study. Change in time lag within a treatment session, inferred from pre- to post-treatment measurements is also small, suggesting that a single measurement of time lag at the session start is adequate. These findings require confirmation in a larger number of patients.

ERP application of real-time vdc-enabled last planner system for planning reliability improvement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cho, S.; Sørensen, Kristian Birch; Fischer, M.

2009-01-01

The Last Planner System (LPS) has since its introduction in 1994 become a widely used method of AEC practitioners for improvement of planning reliability and tracking and monitoring of project progress. However, the observations presented in this paper indicate that the last planners...... and coordinators are in need of a new system that integrates the existing LPS with Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and automatic object identification by means of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. This is because current practice of the LPS...... implementations is guesswork-driven, textual report-generated, hand-updated, and even interpersonal trust-oriented, resulting in less accurate and reliable plans. This research introduces a prototype development of the VREL (VDC + RFID + ERP + LPS) integration to generate a real-time updated cost + physical...

Characteristics of official and experimental GRACE time series by GFZ and CSR - with applications to polar signals

Science.gov (United States)

Horvath, Alexander; Horwath, Martin; Pail, Roland

2014-05-01

The Release-05 monthly solutions by the three centers of the GRACE Science and Data System are a significant improvement with respect to the previous Release 4. Meanwhile, previous assessments have revealed different noise levels between the solutions by CSR, GFZ and JPL, and also different amplitudes of interannual signal in the solutions by GFZ as compared to the two other centers. Encouraged by the science community, GFZ and CSR have kindly provided additional sets of time series. GFZ has reprocessed the RL05 monthly solutions (up to degree and order 90) with revised processing. CSR has made available monthly solutions with standard processing up to degree and order 96, in addition to their solutions up to degree and order 60. We compare these different time series with respect to their signal and noise content and analyze them on global and regional scale. For the regional scale our special interest is paid on Antarctica and on revealing polar signals such as ice mass trends and GIA. Following the necessity of destriping, an optimal choice for the setup of the Swenson & Wahr filter approach is evaluated to adapt to the specific signal and noise level in Antarctica. Furthermore we analyze the potential benefit of mixed time series solutions in order to combine the strengths of the solutions available. Concerning the question for an optimal maximum degree we suggest that for resolving large polar ice mass changes, it would be beneficial to provide gravity field variations even beyond degree 90.

Timing is everything: Reiterative Wnt, BMP and RA signaling regulate developmental competence during endoderm organogenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rankin, Scott A; McCracken, Kyle W; Luedeke, David M; Han, Lu; Wells, James M; Shannon, John M; Zorn, Aaron M

2018-02-01

A small number of signaling pathways are used repeatedly during organogenesis, and they can have drastically different effects on the same population of cells depending on the embryonic stage. How cellular competence changes over developmental time is not well understood. Here we used Xenopus, mouse, and human pluripotent stem cells to investigate how the temporal sequence of Wnt, BMP, and retinoic acid (RA) signals regulates endoderm developmental competence and organ induction, focusing on respiratory fate. While Nkx2-1+ lung fate is not induced until late somitogenesis stages, here we show that lung competence is restricted by the gastrula stage as a result of Wnt and BMP-dependent anterior-posterior (A-P) patterning. These early Wnt and BMP signals make posterior endoderm refractory to subsequent RA/Wnt/BMP-dependent lung induction. We further mapped how RA modulates the response to Wnt and BMP in a temporal specific manner. In the gastrula RA promotes posterior identity, however in early somite stages of development RA regulates respiratory versus pharyngeal potential in anterior endoderm and midgut versus hindgut potential in posterior endoderm. Together our data suggest a dynamic and conserved response of vertebrate endoderm during organogenesis, wherein early Wnt/BMP/RA impacts how cells respond to later Wnt/BMP/RA signals, illustrating how reiterative combinatorial signaling can regulate both developmental competence and subsequent fate specification. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Complexity of EEG-signal in Time Domain - Possible Biomedical Application

Science.gov (United States)

Klonowski, Wlodzimierz; Olejarczyk, Elzbieta; Stepien, Robert

2002-07-01

Human brain is a highly complex nonlinear system. So it is not surprising that in analysis of EEG-signal, which represents overall activity of the brain, the methods of Nonlinear Dynamics (or Chaos Theory as it is commonly called) can be used. Even if the signal is not chaotic these methods are a motivating tool to explore changes in brain activity due to different functional activation states, e.g. different sleep stages, or to applied therapy, e.g. exposure to chemical agents (drugs) and physical factors (light, magnetic field). The methods supplied by Nonlinear Dynamics reveal signal characteristics that are not revealed by linear methods like FFT. Better understanding of principles that govern dynamics and complexity of EEG-signal can help to find `the signatures' of different physiological and pathological states of human brain, quantitative characteristics that may find applications in medical diagnostics.

Radiotherapy beyond cancer: Target localization in real-time MRI and treatment planning for cardiac radiosurgery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ipsen, S.; Blanck, O.; Rades, D.; Oborn, B.; Bode, F.; Liney, G.; Hunold, P.; Schweikard, A.; Keall, P. J.

2014-01-01

Purpose: Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia that affects millions of patients world-wide. AFib is usually treated with minimally invasive, time consuming catheter ablation techniques. While recently noninvasive radiosurgery to the pulmonary vein antrum (PVA) in the left atrium has been proposed for AFib treatment, precise target location during treatment is challenging due to complex respiratory and cardiac motion. A MRI linear accelerator (MRI-Linac) could solve the problems of motion tracking and compensation using real-time image guidance. In this study, the authors quantified target motion ranges on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and analyzed the dosimetric benefits of margin reduction assuming real-time motion compensation was applied. Methods: For the imaging study, six human subjects underwent real-time cardiac MRI under free breathing. The target motion was analyzed retrospectively using a template matching algorithm. The planning study was conducted on a CT of an AFib patient with a centrally located esophagus undergoing catheter ablation, representing an ideal case for cardiac radiosurgery. The target definition was similar to the ablation lesions at the PVA created during catheter treatment. Safety margins of 0 mm (perfect tracking) to 8 mm (untracked respiratory motion) were added to the target, defining the planning target volume (PTV). For each margin, a 30 Gy single fraction IMRT plan was generated. Additionally, the influence of 1 and 3 T magnetic fields on the treatment beam delivery was simulated using Monte Carlo calculations to determine the dosimetric impact of MRI guidance for two different Linac positions. Results: Real-time cardiac MRI showed mean respiratory target motion of 10.2 mm (superior–inferior), 2.4 mm (anterior–posterior), and 2 mm (left–right). The planning study showed that increasing safety margins to encompass untracked respiratory motion leads to overlapping structures even in the

Radiotherapy beyond cancer: Target localization in real-time MRI and treatment planning for cardiac radiosurgery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ipsen, S. [Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia and Institute for Robotics and Cognitive Systems, University of Luebeck, Luebeck 23562 (Germany); Blanck, O.; Rades, D. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Luebeck and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Luebeck, Luebeck 23562 (Germany); Oborn, B. [Illawarra Cancer Care Centre (ICCC), Wollongong, New South Wales 2500, Australia and Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP), University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2500 (Australia); Bode, F. [Medical Department II, University of Luebeck and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Luebeck, Luebeck 23562 (Germany); Liney, G. [Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, New South Wales 2170 (Australia); Hunold, P. [Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Luebeck and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Luebeck, Luebeck 23562 (Germany); Schweikard, A. [Institute for Robotics and Cognitive Systems, University of Luebeck, Luebeck 23562 (Germany); Keall, P. J., E-mail: paul.keall@sydney.edu.au [Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006 (Australia)

2014-12-15

Purpose: Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia that affects millions of patients world-wide. AFib is usually treated with minimally invasive, time consuming catheter ablation techniques. While recently noninvasive radiosurgery to the pulmonary vein antrum (PVA) in the left atrium has been proposed for AFib treatment, precise target location during treatment is challenging due to complex respiratory and cardiac motion. A MRI linear accelerator (MRI-Linac) could solve the problems of motion tracking and compensation using real-time image guidance. In this study, the authors quantified target motion ranges on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and analyzed the dosimetric benefits of margin reduction assuming real-time motion compensation was applied. Methods: For the imaging study, six human subjects underwent real-time cardiac MRI under free breathing. The target motion was analyzed retrospectively using a template matching algorithm. The planning study was conducted on a CT of an AFib patient with a centrally located esophagus undergoing catheter ablation, representing an ideal case for cardiac radiosurgery. The target definition was similar to the ablation lesions at the PVA created during catheter treatment. Safety margins of 0 mm (perfect tracking) to 8 mm (untracked respiratory motion) were added to the target, defining the planning target volume (PTV). For each margin, a 30 Gy single fraction IMRT plan was generated. Additionally, the influence of 1 and 3 T magnetic fields on the treatment beam delivery was simulated using Monte Carlo calculations to determine the dosimetric impact of MRI guidance for two different Linac positions. Results: Real-time cardiac MRI showed mean respiratory target motion of 10.2 mm (superior–inferior), 2.4 mm (anterior–posterior), and 2 mm (left–right). The planning study showed that increasing safety margins to encompass untracked respiratory motion leads to overlapping structures even in the

Radiotherapy beyond cancer: target localization in real-time MRI and treatment planning for cardiac radiosurgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Ipsen, S; Blanck, O; Oborn, B; Bode, F; Liney, G; Hunold, P; Rades, D; Schweikard, A; Keall, P J

2014-12-01

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia that affects millions of patients world-wide. AFib is usually treated with minimally invasive, time consuming catheter ablation techniques. While recently noninvasive radiosurgery to the pulmonary vein antrum (PVA) in the left atrium has been proposed for AFib treatment, precise target location during treatment is challenging due to complex respiratory and cardiac motion. A MRI linear accelerator (MRI-Linac) could solve the problems of motion tracking and compensation using real-time image guidance. In this study, the authors quantified target motion ranges on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and analyzed the dosimetric benefits of margin reduction assuming real-time motion compensation was applied. For the imaging study, six human subjects underwent real-time cardiac MRI under free breathing. The target motion was analyzed retrospectively using a template matching algorithm. The planning study was conducted on a CT of an AFib patient with a centrally located esophagus undergoing catheter ablation, representing an ideal case for cardiac radiosurgery. The target definition was similar to the ablation lesions at the PVA created during catheter treatment. Safety margins of 0 mm (perfect tracking) to 8 mm (untracked respiratory motion) were added to the target, defining the planning target volume (PTV). For each margin, a 30 Gy single fraction IMRT plan was generated. Additionally, the influence of 1 and 3 T magnetic fields on the treatment beam delivery was simulated using Monte Carlo calculations to determine the dosimetric impact of MRI guidance for two different Linac positions. Real-time cardiac MRI showed mean respiratory target motion of 10.2 mm (superior-inferior), 2.4 mm (anterior-posterior), and 2 mm (left-right). The planning study showed that increasing safety margins to encompass untracked respiratory motion leads to overlapping structures even in the ideal scenario, compromising

Adaptive Signal Processing Testbed: VME-based DSP board market survey

Science.gov (United States)

Ingram, Rick E.

1992-04-01

The Adaptive Signal Processing Testbed (ASPT) is a real-time multiprocessor system utilizing digital signal processor technology on VMEbus based printed circuit boards installed on a Sun workstation. The ASPT has specific requirements, particularly as regards to the signal excision application, with respect to interfacing with current and planned data generation equipment, processing of the data, storage to disk of final and intermediate results, and the development tools for applications development and integration into the overall EW/COM computing environment. A prototype ASPT was implemented using three VME-C-30 boards from Applied Silicon. Experience gained during the prototype development led to the conclusions that interprocessor communications capability is the most significant contributor to overall ASPT performance. In addition, the host involvement should be minimized. Boards using different processors were evaluated with respect to the ASPT system requirements, pricing, and availability. Specific recommendations based on various priorities are made as well as recommendations concerning the integration and interaction of various tools developed during the prototype implementation.

Climate Signals: An On-Line Digital Platform for Mapping Climate Change Impacts in Real Time

Science.gov (United States)

Cutting, H.

2016-12-01

Climate Signals is an on-line digital platform for cataloging and mapping the impacts of climate change. The CS platform specifies and details the chains of connections between greenhouse gas emissions and individual climate events. Currently in open-beta release, the platform is designed to to engage and serve the general public, news media, and policy-makers, particularly in real-time during extreme climate events. Climate Signals consists of a curated relational database of events and their links to climate change, a mapping engine, and a gallery of climate change monitors offering real-time data. For each event in the database, an infographic engine provides a custom attribution "tree" that illustrates the connections to climate change. In addition, links to key contextual resources are aggregated and curated for each event. All event records are fully annotated with detailed source citations and corresponding hyper links. The system of attribution used to link events to climate change in real-time is detailed here. This open-beta release is offered for public user testing and engagement. Launched in May 2016, the operation of this platform offers lessons for public engagement in climate change impacts.

A Real-Time Rejection Circuit to Automatically Reject Multiple Interfering Hopping Signals While Passing a Lower Level Desired Signal.

Science.gov (United States)

contain the low level desired frequency components that are passed through an inverse transform device for producing a frequency domain signal of the desired signal uncorrupted by unwanted signals. Patent applications. (RRH)

Algorithm for real-time detection of signal patterns using phase synchrony: an application to an electrode array

Science.gov (United States)

Sadeghi, Saman; MacKay, William A.; van Dam, R. Michael; Thompson, Michael

2011-02-01

Real-time analysis of multi-channel spatio-temporal sensor data presents a considerable technical challenge for a number of applications. For example, in brain-computer interfaces, signal patterns originating on a time-dependent basis from an array of electrodes on the scalp (i.e. electroencephalography) must be analyzed in real time to recognize mental states and translate these to commands which control operations in a machine. In this paper we describe a new technique for recognition of spatio-temporal patterns based on performing online discrimination of time-resolved events through the use of correlation of phase dynamics between various channels in a multi-channel system. The algorithm extracts unique sensor signature patterns associated with each event during a training period and ranks importance of sensor pairs in order to distinguish between time-resolved stimuli to which the system may be exposed during real-time operation. We apply the algorithm to electroencephalographic signals obtained from subjects tested in the neurophysiology laboratories at the University of Toronto. The extension of this algorithm for rapid detection of patterns in other sensing applications, including chemical identification via chemical or bio-chemical sensor arrays, is also discussed.

Influence of dimension box differences and time differences during operations of red box for motorcycles at signalized intersection

Science.gov (United States)

Mulyadi, Agah Muhammad

2017-11-01

Performance of signalized intersection has declined due to a large number of motorcycles. The number of motorcycles reached 98.2 million units and the composition of motorcycles has reached around 81.7% of the total composition of vehicles in Indonesia (AISI, 2017). To solve that problem, the red box for motorcycles are provided at the signalized intersection. Red box for the motorcycle at signalized intersections was developed from the concept of Advance Stop Line (ASL) for bicycles. The Red Box was developed to split the queue between motorcycles and other vehicles when waiting at red light. This paper aims to evaluate the influence of the red box dimension and red time operation differences. The survey was conducted as many as 30 cycles of traffic signals per day. The data were analyzed using software IBM SPSS Statistics 20 by using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to obtain p-value (significant). The analysis shows that there are insignificant influences between the occupancy rates to the dimension of Red Box. Furthermore, that there is a significant difference that shows the dependency of only motorcycles in the Red Box Area towards red time operation.

SU-E-T-113: Dose Distribution Using Respiratory Signals and Machine Parameters During Treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imae, T; Haga, A; Saotome, N; Kida, S; Nakano, M; Takeuchi, Y; Shiraki, T; Yano, K; Yamashita, H; Nakagawa, K; Ohtomo, K

2014-01-01

Purpose: Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) is a rotational intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) technique capable of acquiring projection images during treatment. Treatment plans for lung tumors using stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) are calculated with planning computed tomography (CT) images only exhale phase. Purpose of this study is to evaluate dose distribution by reconstructing from only the data such as respiratory signals and machine parameters acquired during treatment. Methods: Phantom and three patients with lung tumor underwent CT scans for treatment planning. They were treated by VMAT while acquiring projection images to derive their respiratory signals and machine parameters including positions of multi leaf collimators, dose rates and integrated monitor units. The respiratory signals were divided into 4 and 10 phases and machine parameters were correlated with the divided respiratory signals based on the gantry angle. Dose distributions of each respiratory phase were calculated from plans which were reconstructed from the respiratory signals and the machine parameters during treatment. The doses at isocenter, maximum point and the centroid of target were evaluated. Results and Discussion: Dose distributions during treatment were calculated using the machine parameters and the respiratory signals detected from projection images. Maximum dose difference between plan and in treatment distribution was −1.8±0.4% at centroid of target and dose differences of evaluated points between 4 and 10 phases were no significant. Conclusion: The present method successfully evaluated dose distribution using respiratory signals and machine parameters during treatment. This method is feasible to verify the actual dose for moving target