WorldWideScience

Sample records for waste autonomous mobile

  1. The Stored Waste Autonomous Mobile Inspector (SWAMI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peterson, K.D.; Ward, C.R.

    1995-01-01

    A mobile robot system called Stored Waste Autonomous Mobile Inspector (SWAMI) is under development by the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) Robotics Group of Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) to perform mandated inspections of waste drums stored in warehouse facilities. The system will reduce personnel exposure to potential hazards and create accurate, high-quality documentation to ensure regulatory compliance and enhance waste management operations. Development work is coordinated among several Department of Energy (DOE), academic, and commercial entities in accordance wit DOE's technology transfer initiative. The prototype system, SWAMI I, was demonstrated at Savannah River Site (SRS) in November, 1993. SWAMI II is now under development for field trails at the Fernald site

  2. Development of the stored waste autonomous mobile inspector (SWAMI II)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peterson, K.D.; Ward, C.R.

    1995-01-01

    A mobile robot system called the Stored Waste Autonomous Mobile Inspector (SWAMI) is under development by the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) Robotics Group of Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) to perform mandated inspections of waste drums stored in warehouse facilities. The system will reduce personnel exposure to potential hazards and create accurate, high-quality documentation to ensure regulatory compliance and enhance waste management operations. Development work is coordinated among several Department of Energy (DOE), academic, and commercial entities in accordance with DOE's technology transfer initiative. The prototype system, SWAMI I, was demonstrated at Savannah River Site (SRS) in November, 1993. SWAMI II is now under development for field trials at the Fernald site

  3. Remote radioactive waste drum inspection with an autonomous mobile robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heckendorn, F.M.; Ward, C.R.; Wagner, D.G.

    1992-01-01

    An autonomous mobile robot is being developed to perform remote surveillance and inspection task on large numbers of stored radioactive waste drums. The robot will be self guided through narrow storage aisles and record the visual image of each viewable drum for subsequent off line analysis and archiving. The system will remove the personnel from potential exposure to radiation, perform the require inspections, and improve the ability to assess the long term trends in drum conditions

  4. System safety analysis of an autonomous mobile robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartos, R.J.

    1994-01-01

    Analysis of the safety of operating and maintaining the Stored Waste Autonomous Mobile Inspector (SWAMI) II in a hazardous environment at the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP) was completed. The SWAMI II is a version of a commercial robot, the HelpMate trademark robot produced by the Transitions Research Corporation, which is being updated to incorporate the systems required for inspecting mixed toxic chemical and radioactive waste drums at the FEMP. It also has modified obstacle detection and collision avoidance subsystems. The robot will autonomously travel down the aisles in storage warehouses to record images of containers and collect other data which are transmitted to an inspector at a remote computer terminal. A previous study showed the SWAMI II has economic feasibility. The SWAMI II will more accurately locate radioactive contamination than human inspectors. This thesis includes a System Safety Hazard Analysis and a quantitative Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). The objectives of the analyses are to prevent potentially serious events and to derive a comprehensive set of safety requirements from which the safety of the SWAMI II and other autonomous mobile robots can be evaluated. The Computer-Aided Fault Tree Analysis (CAFTA copyright) software is utilized for the FTA. The FTA shows that more than 99% of the safety risk occurs during maintenance, and that when the derived safety requirements are implemented the rate of serious events is reduced to below one event per million operating hours. Training and procedures in SWAMI II operation and maintenance provide an added safety margin. This study will promote the safe use of the SWAMI II and other autonomous mobile robots in the emerging technology of mobile robotic inspection

  5. Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation (AIMM)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hvilshøj, Mads; Bøgh, Simon; Nielsen, Oluf Skov

    2012-01-01

    Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the interdisciplinary research field Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation (AIMM), with an emphasis on physical implementations and applications. Design/methodology/approach - Following an introduction to AIMM, this paper investiga......Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the interdisciplinary research field Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation (AIMM), with an emphasis on physical implementations and applications. Design/methodology/approach - Following an introduction to AIMM, this paper......; sustainability, configuration, adaptation, autonomy, positioning, manipulation and grasping, robot-robot interaction, human-robot interaction, process quality, dependability, and physical properties. Findings - The concise yet comprehensive review provides both researchers (academia) and practitioners (industry......) with a quick and gentle overview of AIMM. Furthermore, the paper identifies key open issues and promising research directions to realize real-world integration and maturation of the AIMM technology. Originality/value - This paper reviews the interdisciplinary research field Autonomous Industrial Mobile...

  6. Autonomous E-Mobility as a Service - Final Report

    OpenAIRE

    Pitera, Kelly; Marinelli, Giuseppe

    2017-01-01

    Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a systems-oriented approach of integration of numerous transport services into a single, seamless mobility service using a technology platform. Building on MaaS to incorporate both electric and autonomous mobility, the concept of Autonomous E-Mobility as a Service (AE-MaaS) is examined within this project as a way to improve the environmental sustainability of urban mobility. Through a series of workshops and meetings, the aim was to understand the feasibility ...

  7. Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Jitendra R. Raol; Ajith Gopal

    2010-01-01

    Mobile intelligent autonomous systems (MIAS) is a fast emerging research area. Although it can be regarded as a general R&D area, it is mainly directed towards robotics. Several important subtopics within MIAS research are:(i) perception and reasoning, (ii) mobility and navigation,(iii) haptics and teleoperation, (iv) image fusion/computervision, (v) modelling of manipulators, (vi) hardware/software architectures for planning and behaviour learning leadingto robotic architecture, (vii) ve...

  8. CSIR eNews: Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    CSIR

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available autonomous systems Distinguished scientist from India to share knowledge with CSIR An esteemed scientist from India, Dr Jitendra Raol, will spend the next 14 months at the CSIR, specifically in the mobile intelligence autonomous systems (MIAS) emerging...

  9. An autonomous mobil robot to perform waste drum inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peterson, K.D.; Ward, C.R.

    1994-01-01

    A mobile robot is being developed by the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) Robotics Group of Westinghouse Savannah River company (WSRC) to perform mandated inspections of waste drums stored in warehouse facilities. The system will reduce personnel exposure and create accurate, high quality documentation to ensure regulatory compliance. Development work is being coordinated among several DOE, academic and commercial entities in accordance with DOE's technology transfer initiative. The prototype system was demonstrated in November of 1993. A system is now being developed for field trails at the Fernald site

  10. Low-level stored waste inspection using mobile robots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byrd, J.S.; Pettus, R.O.

    1996-01-01

    A mobile robot inspection system, ARIES (Autonomous Robotic Inspection Experimental System), has been developed for the U.S. Department of Energy to replace human inspectors in the routine, regulated inspection of radioactive waste stored in drums. The robot will roam the three-foot aisles of drums, stacked four high, making decisions about the surface condition of the drums and maintaining a database of information about each drum. A distributed system of onboard and offboard computers will provide versatile, friendly control of the inspection process. This mobile robot system, based on a commercial mobile platform, will improve the quality of inspection, generate required reports, and relieve human operators from low-level radioactive exposure. This paper describes and discusses primarily the computer and control processes for the system

  11. Autonomous mobile robot teams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agah, Arvin; Bekey, George A.

    1994-01-01

    This paper describes autonomous mobile robot teams performing tasks in unstructured environments. The behavior and the intelligence of the group is distributed, and the system does not include a central command base or leader. The novel concept of the Tropism-Based Cognitive Architecture is introduced, which is used by the robots in order to produce behavior transforming their sensory information to proper action. The results of a number of simulation experiments are presented. These experiments include worlds where the robot teams must locate, decompose, and gather objects, and defend themselves against hostile predators, while navigating around stationary and mobile obstacles.

  12. Autonomous mobile robot localization using Kalman filter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohd Nasir Nabil Zhafri

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Autonomous mobile robot field has gain interest among researchers in recent years. The ability of a mobile robot to locate its current position and surrounding environment is the fundamental in order for it to operate autonomously, which commonly known as localization. Localization of mobile robot are commonly affected by the inaccuracy of the sensors. These inaccuracies are caused by various factors which includes internal interferences of the sensor and external environment noises. In order to overcome these noises, a filtering method is required in order to improve the mobile robot’s localization. In this research, a 2- wheeled-drive (2WD mobile robot will be used as platform. The odometers, inertial measurement unit (IMU, and ultrasonic sensors are used for data collection. Data collected is processed using Kalman filter to predict and correct the error from these sensors reading. The differential drive model and measurement model which estimates the environmental noises and predict a correction are used in this research. Based on the simulation and experimental results, the x, y and heading was corrected by converging the error to10 mm, 10 mm and 0.06 rad respectively.

  13. Design considerations for an intelligent mobile robot for mixed-waste inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sias, F.R.; Dawson, D.M.; Schalkoff, R.J. [Clemson Univ., SC (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Byrd, J.S.; Pettus, R.O. [South Carolina Univ., Columbia, SC (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    1993-06-01

    Large quantities of low-level radioactive waste are stored in steel drums at various Department of Energy (DOE) sites in the United States. Much of the stored waste qualifies as mixed waste and falls under Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that require periodic inspection. A semi-autonomous mobile robot is being developed during Phase 1 of a DOE contract to perform the inspection task and consequently reduce the radiation exposure of inspection personnel to ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable). The nature of the inspection process, the resulting robot design requirements, and the current status of the project are the subjects of this paper.

  14. Design considerations for an intelligent mobile robot for mixed-waste inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sias, F.R.; Dawson, D.M.; Schalkoff, R.J.; Byrd, J.S.; Pettus, R.O.

    1993-01-01

    Large quantities of low-level radioactive waste are stored in steel drums at various Department of Energy (DOE) sites in the United States. Much of the stored waste qualifies as mixed waste and falls under Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that require periodic inspection. A semi-autonomous mobile robot is being developed during Phase 1 of a DOE contract to perform the inspection task and consequently reduce the radiation exposure of inspection personnel to ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable). The nature of the inspection process, the resulting robot design requirements, and the current status of the project are the subjects of this paper

  15. "Little Helper" - An Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulator Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mads Hvilshoj

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the concept "autonomous industrial mobile manipulation" (AIMM based on the mobile manipulator "Little Helper" - an ongoing research project at Aalborg University, Denmark, concerning the development of an autonomous and flexible manufacturing assistant. The paper focuses on the contextual aspects and the working principles of AIMM. Furthermore, the paper deals with the design principles and overall hardware and software architectures of "Little Helper" from a functional and modular mechatronics point of view, in order to create a generic AIMM platform. The design challenges faced in the project is to integrate commercial off‐the‐shelf (COTS and dedicated highly integrated systems into an autonomous mobile manipulator system with the ability to perform diverse tasks in industrial environments. We propose an action based domain specific communication language for AIMM for routine and task definition, in order to lower the entry barriers for the users of the technology. To demonstrate the "Little Helper" concept a full‐scale prototype has been built and different application examples carried out. Experiences and knowledge gained from this show promising results regarding industrial integration, exploitation and maturation of the AIMM technology.

  16. Mobile autonomous robot for radiological surveys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dudar, A.M.; Wagner, D.G.; Teese, G.D.

    1992-01-01

    The robotics development group at the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) is developing a mobile autonomous robot that performs radiological surveys of potentially contaminated floors. The robot is called SIMON, which stands for Semi-Intelligent Mobile Observing Navigator. Certain areas of SRL are classified as radiologically controlled areas (RCAs). In an RCA, radioactive materials are frequently handled by workers, and thus, the potential for contamination is ever present. Current methods used for floor radiological surveying includes labor-intensive manual scanning or random smearing of certain floor locations. An autonomous robot such as SIMON performs the surveying task in a much more efficient manner and will track down contamination before it is contacted by humans. SIMON scans floors at a speed of 1 in./s and stops and alarms upon encountering contamination. Its environment is well defined, consisting of smooth building floors with wide corridors. The kind of contaminations that SIMON is capable of detecting are alpha and beta-gamma. The contamination levels of interest are low to moderate

  17. Autonomous Deployment and Restoration of Sensor Network using Mobile Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tsuyoshi Suzuki

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes an autonomous deployment and restoration of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN using mobile robots. The authors have been developing an information-gathering system using mobile robots and WSNs in underground spaces in post-disaster environments. In our system, mobile robots carry wireless sensor nodes (SN and deploy them into the environment while measuring Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI values to ensure communication, thereby enabling the WSN to be deployed and restored autonomously. If the WSN is disrupted, mobile robots restore the communication route by deploying additional or alternate SNs to suitable positions. Utilizing the proposed method, a mobile robot can deploy a WSN and gather environmental information via the WSN. Experimental results using a verification system equipped with a SN deployment and retrieval mechanism are presented.

  18. Autonomous Deployment and Restoration of Sensor Network using Mobile Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tsuyoshi Suzuki

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes an autonomous deployment and restoration of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN using mobile robots. The authors have been developing an information-gathering system using mobile robots and WSNs in underground spaces in post-disaster environments. In our system, mobile robots carry wireless sensor nodes (SN and deploy them into the environment while measuring Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI values to ensure communication, thereby enabling the WSN to be deployed and restored autonomously. If the WSN is disrupted, mobile robots restore the communication route by deploying additional or alternate SNs to suitable positions. Utilizing the proposed method, a mobile robot can deploy a WSN and gather environmental information via the WSN. Experimental results using a verification system equipped with a SN deployment and retrieval mechanism are presented.

  19. Computer vision for an autonomous mobile robot

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Withey, Daniel J

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Computer vision systems are essential for practical, autonomous, mobile robots – machines that employ artificial intelligence and control their own motion within an environment. As with biological systems, computer vision systems include the vision...

  20. Development and implementation of algorithms in a population of cooperative autonomous mobile robots

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Namoshe, M

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available An increase in the number of mobile robot users has lead to the design and implementation of cooperative autonomous mobile robots. Autonomous robots require the ability to build maps of an unknown environment while simultaneously using these maps...

  1. Experiments in Competence Acquisition for Autonomous Mobile Robots

    OpenAIRE

    Nehmzow, Ulrich

    1992-01-01

    This thesis addresses the problem of intelligent control of autonomous mobile robots, particularly under circumstances unforeseen by the designer.As the range of applications for autonomous robots widens and increasingly includes operation in unknown environments (exploration) and tasks which are not clearly specifiable a priori (maintenance work), this question is becoming more and more important. It is argued that in order to achieve such flexibility in unforeseen situations it is necess...

  2. An Adaptive Game Algorithm for an Autonomous, Mobile Robot

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Søren Tranberg; Bak, Thomas; Risager, Claus

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents a field study of a physical ball game for elderly based on an autonomous, mobile robot. The game algorithm is based on Case Based Reasoning and adjusts the game challenge to the player’s mobility skills by registering the spatio-temporal behaviour of the player using an on boa...

  3. “Little Helper” — An Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulator Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mads Hvilshøj

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the concept “autonomous industrial mobile manipulation” (AIMM based on the mobile manipulator “Little Helper” – an ongoing research project at Aalborg University, Denmark, concerning the development of an autonomous and flexible manufacturing assistant. The paper focuses on the contextual aspects and the working principles of AIMM. Furthermore, the paper deals with the design principles and overall hardware and software architectures of “Little Helper” from a functional and modular mechatronics point of view, in order to create a generic AIMM platform. The design challenges faced in the project is to integrate commercial off-the-shelf (COTS and dedicated highly integrated systems into an autonomous mobile manipulator system with the ability to perform diverse tasks in industrial environments. We propose an action based domain specific communication language for AIMM for routine and task definition, in order to lower the entry barriers for the users of the technology. To demonstrate the “Little Helper” concept a full-scale prototype has been built and different application examples carried out. Experiences and knowledge gained from this show promising results regarding industrial integration, exploitation and maturation of the AIMM technology.

  4. Autonomous navigation system for mobile robots of inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Angulo S, P.; Segovia de los Rios, A.

    2005-01-01

    One of the goals in robotics is the human personnel's protection that work in dangerous areas or of difficult access, such it is the case of the nuclear industry where exist areas that, for their own nature, they are inaccessible for the human personnel, such as areas with high radiation level or high temperatures; it is in these cases where it is indispensable the use of an inspection system that is able to carry out a sampling of the area in order to determine if this areas can be accessible for the human personnel. In this situation it is possible to use an inspection system based on a mobile robot, of preference of autonomous navigation, for the realization of such inspection avoiding by this way the human personnel's exposure. The present work proposes a model of autonomous navigation for a mobile robot Pioneer 2-D Xe based on the algorithm of wall following using the paradigm of fuzzy logic. (Author)

  5. Toward semi-autonomous control of mobile robots for constrained environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mercier, O.; Cara, O.

    1991-01-01

    Drawing from long-time experience in nuclear maintenance robotics, FRAMATOME leads with several partners an important effort with the goal of developing the decision and operator assistance capabilities of mobile robots. Future robots shall be better adapted (in size and configuration) to the operational requirements of nuclear plants work than current demonstrators. Due regards shall be paid to safety aspects and qualification procedure shall be specified soon. Also, dosimetry gains (e.g. as evaluated by DOSIANA) shall be evaluated to establish further the advantages of robotic solutions. Current achievements and plans for the next two years are expected to provide the necessary know-how for semi-autonomous control of various mobile robots in actual missions in nuclear plant environment. These advances in many closely connected disciplines and technologies should put FRAMATOME in a leader position as systems integrator or as developer for future markets in autonomous mobile robotics, not only in the nuclear field but in other domains as well. (author)

  6. Mobile waste inspection real time radiography system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vigil, J.; Taggart, D.; Betts, S.; Rael, C.; Martinez, F.; Mendez, J.

    1995-01-01

    The 450-KeV Mobile Real Time Radiography System was designed and purchased to inspect containers of radioactive waste produced at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Mobile Real Time Radiography System has the capability of inspecting waste containers of various sizes from 5-gal. buckets to standard waste boxes (SWB, dimensions 54.5 in. x 71 in. x 37 in.). The fact that this unit is mobile makes it an attractive alternative to the costly road closures associated with moving waste from the waste generator to storage or disposal facilities

  7. Mechanical deployment system on aries an autonomous mobile robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rocheleau, D.N.

    1995-01-01

    ARIES (Autonomous Robotic Inspection Experimental System) is under development for the Department of Energy (DOE) to survey and inspect drums containing low-level radioactive waste stored in warehouses at DOE facilities. This paper focuses on the mechanical deployment system-referred to as the camera positioning system (CPS)-used in the project. The CPS is used for positioning four identical but separate camera packages consisting of vision cameras and other required sensors such as bar-code readers and light stripe projectors. The CPS is attached to the top of a mobile robot and consists of two mechanisms. The first is a lift mechanism composed of 5 interlocking rail-elements which starts from a retracted position and extends upward to simultaneously position 3 separate camera packages to inspect the top three drums of a column of four drums. The second is a parallelogram special case Grashof four-bar mechanism which is used for positioning a camera package on drums on the floor. Both mechanisms are the subject of this paper, where the lift mechanism is discussed in detail

  8. Millimeter-scale MEMS enabled autonomous systems: system feasibility and mobility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulskamp, Jeffrey S.

    2012-06-01

    Millimeter-scale robotic systems based on highly integrated microelectronics and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) could offer unique benefits and attributes for small-scale autonomous systems. This extreme scale for robotics will naturally constrain the realizable system capabilities significantly. This paper assesses the feasibility of developing such systems by defining the fundamental design trade spaces between component design variables and system level performance parameters. This permits the development of mobility enabling component technologies within a system relevant context. Feasible ranges of system mass, required aerodynamic power, available battery power, load supported power, flight endurance, and required leg load bearing capability are presented for millimeter-scale platforms. The analysis illustrates the feasibility of developing both flight capable and ground mobile millimeter-scale autonomous systems while highlighting the significant challenges that must be overcome to realize their potential.

  9. Autonomous Mobile Robot That Can Read

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Létourneau Dominic

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The ability to read would surely contribute to increased autonomy of mobile robots operating in the real world. The process seems fairly simple: the robot must be capable of acquiring an image of a message to read, extract the characters, and recognize them as symbols, characters, and words. Using an optical Character Recognition algorithm on a mobile robot however brings additional challenges: the robot has to control its position in the world and its pan-tilt-zoom camera to find textual messages to read, potentially having to compensate for its viewpoint of the message, and use the limited onboard processing capabilities to decode the message. The robot also has to deal with variations in lighting conditions. In this paper, we present our approach demonstrating that it is feasible for an autonomous mobile robot to read messages of specific colors and font in real-world conditions. We outline the constraints under which the approach works and present results obtained using a Pioneer 2 robot equipped with a Pentium 233 MHz and a Sony EVI-D30 pan-tilt-zoom camera.

  10. An Autonomous Mobile Robotic System for Surveillance of Indoor Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donato Di Paola

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available The development of intelligent surveillance systems is an active research area. In this context, mobile and multi-functional robots are generally adopted as means to reduce the environment structuring and the number of devices needed to cover a given area. Nevertheless, the number of different sensors mounted on the robot, and the number of complex tasks related to exploration, monitoring, and surveillance make the design of the overall system extremely challenging. In this paper, we present our autonomous mobile robot for surveillance of indoor environments. We propose a system able to handle autonomously general-purpose tasks and complex surveillance issues simultaneously. It is shown that the proposed robotic surveillance scheme successfully addresses a number of basic problems related to environment mapping, localization and autonomous navigation, as well as surveillance tasks, like scene processing to detect abandoned or removed objects and people detection and following. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated through experimental tests using a multisensor platform equipped with a monocular camera, a laser scanner, and an RFID device. Real world applications of the proposed system include surveillance of wide areas (e.g. airports and museums and buildings, and monitoring of safety equipment.

  11. An Autonomous Mobile Robotic System for Surveillance of Indoor Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donato Di Paola

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available The development of intelligent surveillance systems is an active research area. In this context, mobile and multi-functional robots are generally adopted as means to reduce the environment structuring and the number of devices needed to cover a given area. Nevertheless, the number of different sensors mounted on the robot, and the number of complex tasks related to exploration, monitoring, and surveillance make the design of the overall system extremely challenging. In this paper, we present our autonomous mobile robot for surveillance of indoor environments. We propose a system able to handle autonomously general-purpose tasks and complex surveillance issues simultaneously. It is shown that the proposed robotic surveillance scheme successfully addresses a number of basic problems related to environment mapping, localization and autonomous navigation, as well as surveillance tasks, like scene processing to detect abandoned or removed objects and people detection and following. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated through experimental tests using a multisensor platform equipped with a monocular camera, a laser scanner, and an RFID device. Real world applications of the proposed system include surveillance of wide areas (e.g. airports and museums and buildings, and monitoring of safety equipment.

  12. Robotic inspection of nuclear waste storage facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fulbright, R.; Stephens, L.M.

    1995-01-01

    The University of South Carolina and the Westinghouse Savannah River Company have developed a prototype mobile robot designed to perform autonomous inspection of nuclear waste storage facilities. The Stored Waste Autonomous Mobile Inspector (SWAMI) navigates and inspects rows of nuclear waste storage drums, in isles as narrow as 34 inches with drums stacked three high on each side. SWAMI reads drum barcodes, captures drum images, and monitors floor-level radiation levels. The topics covered in this article reporting on SWAMI include the following: overall system design; typical mission scenario; barcode reader subsystem; video subsystem; radiation monitoring subsystem; position determination subsystem; onboard control system hardware; software development environment; GENISAS, a C++ library; MOSAS, an automatic code generating tool. 10 figs

  13. Present status of recycling waste mobile phones in China: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jingying; Ge, Zhongying; Liang, Changjin; An, Ni

    2017-07-01

    A large number of waste mobile phones have already been generated and are being generated. Various countries around the world have all been positively exploring the way of recycling and reuse when facing such a large amount of waste mobile phones. In some countries, processing waste mobile phones has been forming a complete industrial chain, which can not only recycle waste mobile phones to reduce their negative influence on the environment but also turn waste into treasure to acquire economic benefits dramatically. However, the situation of recycling waste mobile phones in China is not going well. Waste mobile phones are not formally covered by existing regulations and policies for the waste electric and electronic equipment in China. In order to explore an appropriate system to recover waste mobile phones, the mobile phone production and the amount of waste mobile phones are introduced in this paper, and status of waste mobile phones recycling is described; then, the disposal technology of electronic waste that would be most likely to be used for processing of electronic waste in industrial applications in the near future is reviewed. Finally, rationalization proposals are put forward based on the current recovery status of waste mobile phones for the purpose of promoting the development of recycling waste mobile phones in developing countries with a special emphasis on China.

  14. Simulation Framework for Rebalancing of Autonomous Mobility on Demand Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marczuk Katarzyna A.

    2016-01-01

    This study is built upon our previous work on Autonomous Mobility on Demand (AMOD systems. Our methodology is simulation-based and we make use of SimMobility, an agent-based microscopic simulation platform. In the current work we focus on the framework for testing different rebalancing policies for the AMOD systems. We compare three different rebalancing methods: (i no rebalancing, (ii offline rebalancing, and (iii online rebalancing. Simulation results indicate that rebalancing reduces the required fleet size and shortens the customers’ wait time.

  15. Mobile Autonomous Reconfigurable System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavliuk N.A.

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The object of this study is a multifunctional modular robot able to assemble independently in a given configuration and responsively change it in the process of operation depending on the current task. In this work we aim at developing and examining unified modules for a modular robot, which can both perform autonomous movement and form a complex structure by connecting to other modules. The existing solutions in the field of modular robotics were reviewed and classified by power supply, the ways of interconnection, the ways of movement and the possibility of independent movement of separate modules. Basing on the analysis of the shortcomings of existing analogues, we have developed a module of mobile autonomous reconfigurable system, including a base unit, a set of magneto-mechanical connectors and two motor wheels. The basic kinematic scheme of the modular robot, the features of a single module, as well as the modular structure formed by an array of similar modules were described. Two schemes for placing sets of magneto-mechanical connectors in the basic module have been proposed. We described the principle of operation of a magneto-mechanical connector based on redirection of the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet. This solution simplifies the system for controlling a mechanism of connection with other modules, increases energy efficiency and a battery life of the module. Since the energy is required only at the moment of switching the operating modes of the connector, there is no need to power constantly the connector mechanism to maintain the coupling mode.

  16. MART: an overview of the Mobile Autonomous Robot Twente project

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tillema, H.G.; de Graaf, A.J.; Koster, M.P.; Nauta, J.M.; Oelen, W.; Schipper, D.A.

    1993-01-01

    At the University of Twente a mobile autonomous robot system is built that is designed to operate in a 'factory of the future'. Multiple robots, consisting of a manipulator on top of a vehicle, will drive through an assembly hall to collect components at part supply stations and to assemble

  17. Context recognition and situation assessment in autonomous mobile robots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yavnai, Arie

    1993-05-01

    The capability to recognize the operating context and to assess the situation in real-time is needed, if a high functionality autonomous mobile robot has to react properly and effectively to continuously changing situations and events, either external or internal, while the robot is performing its assigned tasks. A new approach and architecture for context recognition and situation assessment module (CORSA) is presented in this paper. CORSA is a multi-level information processing module which consists of adaptive decision and classification algorithms. It performs dynamic mapping from the data space to the context space, and dynamically decides on the context class. Learning mechanism is employed to update the decision variables so as to minimize the probability of misclassification. CORSA is embedded within the Mission Manager module of the intelligent autonomous hyper-controller (IAHC) of the mobile robot. The information regarding operating context, events and situation is then communicated to other modules of the IAHC where it is used to: (a) select the appropriate action strategy; (b) support the processes to arbitration and conflict resolution between reflexive behaviors and reasoning-driven behaviors; (c) predict future events and situations; and (d) determine criteria and priorities for planning, replanning, and decision making.

  18. Do mobile phones pose a potential risk to autonomic modulation of the heart?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barutcu, Irfan; Esen, Ali Metin; Kaya, Dayimi; Turkmen, Muhsin; Karakaya, Osman; Saglam, Mustafa; Melek, Mehmet; Çelik, Ataç; Kilit, Celal; Onrat, Ersel; Kirma, Cevat

    2011-11-01

    It has long been speculated that mobile phones may interact with the cardiac devices and thereby cardiovascular system may be a potential target for the electromagnetic fields emitted by the mobile phones. Therefore, the present study was designed to test possible effects of radiofrequency waves emitted by digital mobile phones on cardiac autonomic modulation by short-time heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. A total of 20 healthy young subjects were included to the study. All participants were rested in supine position at least for 15 minutes on a comfortable bed, and then time and frequency domain HRV parameters were recorded at baseline in supine position for 5 minutes. After completion of baseline records, by using a mobile GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) phone, HRV parameters were recorded at turned off mode, at turned on mode, and at calling mode over 5 minutes periods for each stage. Neither time nor frequency domain HRV parameters altered significantly during off mode compare to their baseline values. Also, neither time nor frequency domain HRV parameters altered significantly during turned on and calling mode compared to their baseline values. Short-time exposure to electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phone does not affect cardiac autonomic modulation in healthy subjects.

  19. Developing operation algorithms for vision subsystems in autonomous mobile robots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shikhman, M. V.; Shidlovskiy, S. V.

    2018-05-01

    The paper analyzes algorithms for selecting keypoints on the image for the subsequent automatic detection of people and obstacles. The algorithm is based on the histogram of oriented gradients and the support vector method. The combination of these methods allows successful selection of dynamic and static objects. The algorithm can be applied in various autonomous mobile robots.

  20. Predictive routing for autonomous mobility-on-demand systems with ride-sharing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alonso Mora, J.; Wallar, Alex; Rus, Daniela; Bicchi, A.; Maciejewski, T.

    2017-01-01

    Ride-sharing, or carpooling, systems with autonomous vehicles will provide efficient and reliable urban mobility on demand. In this work we present a method for dynamic vehicle routing that leverages historical data to improve the performance of a network of self-driving taxis. In particular, we

  1. [Factors related to lack of autonomous mobility during out-of-hospital emergency care].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montero García, Antonio; Morales Asencio, José Miguel; Trujillo Illescas, Juan Alfonso; Martí, Celia

    2016-10-01

    To explore the frequency of lack of autonomous mobility and factors related to it in patients requiring prehospital emergency services. Cross-sectional, observational, retrospective analysis. We identified a stratified random sample of patients attended by the public health emergency service of Andalusia in 2011. The sample included 280 patients with a mean age of 56 years; 63.9% were men. The majority were attended in homes and streets or other public spaces. Most were transported to a hospital in a mobile intensive care unit. The reasons for calling the service were most often related to chest pain or injuries. Loss of autonomous mobility was seen more often in men, when care was required in a public area, when there were injuries or altered vital signs, and when the patient required transport in a mobile intensive care unit. Dependence on others was significantly associated with the presence of a prior condition before the patient required transport (odds ratio [OR], 3.27; 95% CI, 1.60-6.33), the use of immobilization strategies (OR, 7.71; 95% CI, 1.7-34.96], and the use of ambulance transport (OR, 4.35; 95% CI, 1.63-11.60]. The following 2 variables were at the limit of significance: pain during the care process (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.99-1.29) and age (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.97-1.01). The profile we identified for patients and situations in which patients cannot move autonomously during prehospital emergency care can be used to plan preventive strategies to ensure patient safety.

  2. Autonomous Soil Assessment System: A Data-Driven Approach to Planetary Mobility Hazard Detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raimalwala, K.; Faragalli, M.; Reid, E.

    2018-04-01

    The Autonomous Soil Assessment System predicts mobility hazards for rovers. Its development and performance are presented, with focus on its data-driven models, machine learning algorithms, and real-time sensor data fusion for predictive analytics.

  3. Application of autonomous mobile patrol system for nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanemoto, S.; Hattori, Y.; Ochiai, M.; Tai, I.; Ozaki, O.; Shimada, H.; Okano, H.

    1995-01-01

    The integrity of the components of an operating nuclear power plant (NPP) is usually monitored daily by an operator patrol. Currently, there is a great need to replace such human patrol activities by automated remote monitoring in order to reduce radiation exposure and severe workload. From this perspective, we started an R and D project with the objective of developing an autonomous mobile patrol system for NPPs. The project started in 1991 and is scheduled to be completed in 1996. The main targets of this project are as follows. (1) Development of an autonomous and independent mobile robot, (2) Development of a transportable compact remote sensing system for plant component inspection, (3) Development of a patrol guidance and sensing data evaluation system. The remote sensing system has the capability of detecting video image, sound, temperature and vibration distribution of component surfaces. A laser Doppler vibrometer is newly developed to measure a wide range of vibration distribution remotely. Also, in order to integrate and recognize various kinds of remote sensing data, a 3-dimensional (3D) computer aided design database and 3D graphics technology is extensively used. Operators can interpret the measured image data by mapping their textures onto the 3-dimensional model surface. In this paper, we describe the concept of the entire patrol system and its three main component technologies, that is, mobile robot, remote sensing and inspected data evaluations. (author)

  4. Adaptive Control for Autonomous Navigation of Mobile Robots Considering Time Delay and Uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armah, Stephen Kofi

    Autonomous control of mobile robots has attracted considerable attention of researchers in the areas of robotics and autonomous systems during the past decades. One of the goals in the field of mobile robotics is development of platforms that robustly operate in given, partially unknown, or unpredictable environments and offer desired services to humans. Autonomous mobile robots need to be equipped with effective, robust and/or adaptive, navigation control systems. In spite of enormous reported work on autonomous navigation control systems for mobile robots, achieving the goal above is still an open problem. Robustness and reliability of the controlled system can always be improved. The fundamental issues affecting the stability of the control systems include the undesired nonlinear effects introduced by actuator saturation, time delay in the controlled system, and uncertainty in the model. This research work develops robustly stabilizing control systems by investigating and addressing such nonlinear effects through analytical, simulations, and experiments. The control systems are designed to meet specified transient and steady-state specifications. The systems used for this research are ground (Dr Robot X80SV) and aerial (Parrot AR.Drone 2.0) mobile robots. Firstly, an effective autonomous navigation control system is developed for X80SV using logic control by combining 'go-to-goal', 'avoid-obstacle', and 'follow-wall' controllers. A MATLAB robot simulator is developed to implement this control algorithm and experiments are conducted in a typical office environment. The next stage of the research develops an autonomous position (x, y, and z) and attitude (roll, pitch, and yaw) controllers for a quadrotor, and PD-feedback control is used to achieve stabilization. The quadrotor's nonlinear dynamics and kinematics are implemented using MATLAB S-function to generate the state output. Secondly, the white-box and black-box approaches are used to obtain a linearized

  5. Investigating the Mobility of Light Autonomous Tracked Vehicles using a High Performance Computing Simulation Capability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negrut, Dan; Mazhar, Hammad; Melanz, Daniel; Lamb, David; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Letherwood, Michael; Jain, Abhinandan; Quadrelli, Marco

    2012-01-01

    This paper is concerned with the physics-based simulation of light tracked vehicles operating on rough deformable terrain. The focus is on small autonomous vehicles, which weigh less than 100 lb and move on deformable and rough terrain that is feature rich and no longer representable using a continuum approach. A scenario of interest is, for instance, the simulation of a reconnaissance mission for a high mobility lightweight robot where objects such as a boulder or a ditch that could otherwise be considered small for a truck or tank, become major obstacles that can impede the mobility of the light autonomous vehicle and negatively impact the success of its mission. Analyzing and gauging the mobility and performance of these light vehicles is accomplished through a modeling and simulation capability called Chrono::Engine. Chrono::Engine relies on parallel execution on Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) cards.

  6. Thiosulfate leaching of gold from waste mobile phones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ha, Vinh Hung; Lee, Jae-chun; Jeong, Jinki; Hai, Huynh Trung; Jha, Manis K

    2010-06-15

    The present communication deals with the leaching of gold from the printed circuit boards (PCBs) of waste mobile phones using an effective and less hazardous system, i.e., a copper-ammonia-thiosulfate solution, as an alternative to the conventional and toxic cyanide leaching of gold. The influence of thiosulfate, ammonia and copper sulfate concentrations on the leaching of gold from PCBs of waste mobile phones was investigated. Gold extraction was found to be enhanced with solutions containing 15-20 mM cupric, 0.1-0.14 M thiosulfate, and 0.2-0.3 M ammonia. Similar trends were obtained for the leaching of gold from two different types of scraps and PCBs of waste mobile phones. From the scrap samples, 98% of the gold was leached out using a solution containing 20 mM copper, 0.12 M thiosulfate and 0.2 M ammonia. Similarly, the leaching of gold from the PCBs samples was also found to be good, but it was lower than that of scrap samples in similar experimental conditions. In this case, only 90% of the gold was leached, even with a contact time of 10h. The obtained data will be useful for the development of processes for the recycling of gold from waste mobile phones. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Secure Cooperation of Autonomous Mobile Sensors Using an Underwater Acoustic Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gianluca Dini

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Methodologies and algorithms are presented for the secure cooperation of a team of autonomous mobile underwater sensors, connected through an acoustic communication network, within surveillance and patrolling applications. In particular, the work proposes a cooperative algorithm in which the mobile underwater sensors (installed on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles—AUVs respond to simple local rules based on the available information to perform the mission and maintain the communication link with the network (behavioral approach. The algorithm is intrinsically robust: with loss of communication among the vehicles the coverage performance (i.e., the mission goal is degraded but not lost. The ensuing form of graceful degradation provides also a reactive measure against Denial of Service. The cooperative algorithm relies on the fact that the available information from the other sensors, though not necessarily complete, is trustworthy. To ensure trustworthiness, a security suite has been designed, specifically oriented to the underwater scenario, and in particular with the goal of reducing the communication overhead introduced by security in terms of number and size of messages. The paper gives implementation details on the integration between the security suite and the cooperative algorithm and provides statistics on the performance of the system as collected during the UAN project sea trial held in Trondheim, Norway, in May 2011.

  8. ARIES: A mobile robot inspector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byrd, J.S.

    1995-01-01

    ARIES (Autonomous Robotic Inspection Experimental System) is a mobile robot inspection system being developed for the Department of Energy (DOE) to survey and inspect drums containing mixed and low-level radioactive waste stored in warehouses at DOE facilities. The drums are typically stacked four high and arranged in rows with three-foot aisle widths. The robot will navigate through the aisles and perform an autonomous inspection operation, typically performed by a human operator. It will make real-time decisions about the condition of the drums, maintain a database of pertinent information about each drum, and generate reports

  9. Mining in the Future: Autonomous Robotics for Safer Mines

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Shahdi, A

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available ? Require less support infrastructure ? Advanced sensors ? CSIR 2012 Slide 4 Degree of Autonomy ? Teleoperation ? Semi-autonomous ? Autonomous ? CSIR 2012 Slide 5 Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems Group ? The Mobile Intelligent Autonomous...

  10. Results of Sludge Mobilization Testing at Hanford High Level Waste (HLW) Tank

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    STAEHR, T.W.

    2001-01-01

    Waste stored in the Tank 241-AZ-101 at the US DOE Hanford is scheduled as the initial feed for high-level waste vitrification. Tank 241-AZ-101 currently holds over 3,000,000 liters of waste made up of a settled sludge layer covered by a layer of liquid supernant. To retrieve the waste from the tank, it is necessary to mobilize and suspend the settled sludge so that the resulting slurry can be pumped from the tank for treatment and vitrification. Two 223.8-kilowatt mixer pumps have been installed in Tank 241-AZ-101 to mobilize the settled sludge layer of waste for retrieval. In May of 2000, the mixer pumps were subjected to a series of tests to determine (1) the extent to which the mixer pumps could mobilize the settle sludge layer of waste, (2) if the mixer pumps could function within operating parameters, and (3) if state-of-the-art monitoring equipment could effectively monitor and quantify the degree of sludge mobilization and suspension. This paper presents the major findings and results of the Tank 241-AZ-101 mixer pump tests, based on analysis of data and waste samples that were collected during the testing. Discussion of the results focuses on the effective cleaning radius achieved and the volume and concentration of sludge mobilized, with both one and two pumps operating in various configurations and speeds. The Tank 241-AZ-101 mixer pump tests were unique in that sludge mobilization parameters were measured using actual waste in an underground storage tank at the hanford Site. The methods and instruments that were used to measure waste mobilization parameters in Tank 241-AZ-101 can be used in other tanks. It can be concluded from the testing that the use of mixer pumps is an effective retrieval method for the mobilization of settled solids in Tank 241-AZ-101

  11. Mobile robot for hazardous environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bains, N.

    1995-01-01

    This paper describes the architecture and potential applications of the autonomous robot for a known environment (ARK). The ARK project has developed an autonomous mobile robot that can move around by itself in a complicated nuclear environment utilizing a number of sensors for navigation. The primary sensor system is computer vision. The ARK has the intelligence to determine its position utilizing open-quotes natural landmarks,close quotes such as ordinary building features at any point along its path. It is this feature that gives ARK its uniqueness to operate in an industrial type of environment. The prime motivation to develop ARK was the potential application of mobile robots in radioactive areas within nuclear generating stations and for nuclear waste sites. The project budget is $9 million over 4 yr and will be completed in October 1995

  12. A survey on pattern formation of autonomous mobile robots: asynchrony, obliviousness and visibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamauchi, Yukiko

    2013-01-01

    A robot system consists of autonomous mobile robots each of which repeats Look-Compute-Move cycles, where the robot observes the positions of other robots (Look phase), computes the track to the next location (Compute phase), and moves along the track (Move phase). In this survey, we focus on self-organization of mobile robots, especially their power of forming patterns. The formation power of a robot system is the class of patterns that the robots can form, and existing results show that the robot system's formation power is determined by their asynchrony, obliviousness, and visibility. We briefly survey existing results, with impossibilities and pattern formation algorithms. Finally, we present several open problems related to the pattern formation problem of mobile robots

  13. Autonomous mobile robotic system for supporting counterterrorist and surveillance operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamczyk, Marek; Bulandra, Kazimierz; Moczulski, Wojciech

    2017-10-01

    Contemporary research on mobile robots concerns applications to counterterrorist and surveillance operations. The goal is to develop systems that are capable of supporting the police and special forces by carrying out such operations. The paper deals with a dedicated robotic system for surveillance of large objects such as airports, factories, military bases, and many others. The goal is to trace unauthorised persons who try to enter to the guarded area, document the intrusion and report it to the surveillance centre, and then warn the intruder by sound messages and eventually subdue him/her by stunning through acoustic effect of great power. The system consists of several parts. An armoured four-wheeled robot assures required mobility of the system. The robot is equipped with a set of sensors including 3D mapping system, IR and video cameras, and microphones. It communicates with the central control station (CCS) by means of a wideband wireless encrypted system. A control system of the robot can operate autonomously, and under remote control. In the autonomous mode the robot follows the path planned by the CCS. Once an intruder has been detected, the robot can adopt its plan to allow tracking him/her. Furthermore, special procedures of treatment of the intruder are applied including warning about the breach of the border of the protected area, and incapacitation of an appropriately selected very loud sound until a patrol of guards arrives. Once getting stuck the robot can contact the operator who can remotely solve the problem the robot is faced with.

  14. A Voice Operated Tour Planning System for Autonomous Mobile Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles V. Smith Iii

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Control systems driven by voice recognition software have been implemented before but lacked the context driven approach to generate relevant responses and actions. A partially voice activated control system for mobile robotics is presented that allows an autonomous robot to interact with people and the environment in a meaningful way, while dynamically creating customized tours. Many existing control systems also require substantial training for voice application. The system proposed requires little to no training and is adaptable to chaotic environments. The traversable area is mapped once and from that map a fully customized route is generated to the user

  15. HUMS: An Autonomous Moving Strategy for Mobile Sinks in Data-Gathering Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanzhong Bi

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Sink mobility has attracted much research interest in recent years because it can improve network performance such as energy efficiency and throughput. An energy-unconscious moving strategy is potentially harmful to the balance of the energy consumption among sensor nodes so as to aggravate the hotspot problem of sensor networks. In this paper, we propose an autonomous moving strategy for the mobile sinks in data-gathering applications. In our solution, a mobile sink approaches the nodes with high residual energy to force them to forward data for other nodes and tries to avoid passing by the nodes with low energy. We performed simulation experiments to compare our solution with other three data-gathering schemes. The simulation results show that our strategy cannot only extend network lifetime notably but also provides scalability and topology adaptability.

  16. A mobile system for treating low-salinity low-activity liquid wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sobolev, I.A.; Timofeev, E.M.; Panteleev, V.I.; Karlin Yu.V.; Kropotov, V.N.; Slastennikov, Yu.T.; Chuikov, V.Yu.; Demkin, V.I.; Rozhkov, V.T.

    1993-01-01

    Radioactive wastes are produced not only in radiochemical production and nuclear power stations but also in numerous research institutes and industrial organizations. The specific activities of these wastes are low, and the volumes do not exceed a few dozen cubic meters a year at each individual organization, but processing such territorially distributed wastes is complicated. This particularly applies to liquid wastes, whose transportation involves a high risk of contamination if the sealing fails. As a rule, liquid wastes are solidified before transportation to a storage site. In some cases, that simplified approach leads to an unduly large consumption of solidifying materials, and particularly to an increase in volume, while storage is an expensive technique. A considerable volume reduction in the wastes to be stored is provided by processing the liquid wastes to concentrate the radionuclides in a small volume, with the main volume of treated water discharged to the drains. Two styles are possible: a stationary plant for processing wastes at each institution or a mobile one with a centralized service base, e.g., at the storage site. Mobile systems have been reported in world practice, although there is no detailed information on them. From the economic viewpoint, the second approach is preferable because it enables one to conduct such operations with fewer plants and fewer staff. That a mobile concept that was used at the Moscow Radon Cooperative in 1985 in processing liquid wastes at regional storage locations is summarized in this article. Research and development led in 1989 to the manufacture of a prototype mobile system mounted on an MAZ articulated vehicle, which included three basic modules: ultrafiltration, electrodialysis, and filtration ones. Each module is located on a separate framework and is connected to the others by reinforced rubber hoses

  17. Autonomous Navigation Apparatus With Neural Network for a Mobile Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quraishi, Naveed (Inventor)

    1996-01-01

    An autonomous navigation system for a mobile vehicle arranged to move within an environment includes a plurality of sensors arranged on the vehicle and at least one neural network including an input layer coupled to the sensors, a hidden layer coupled to the input layer, and an output layer coupled to the hidden layer. The neural network produces output signals representing respective positions of the vehicle, such as the X coordinate, the Y coordinate, and the angular orientation of the vehicle. A plurality of patch locations within the environment are used to train the neural networks to produce the correct outputs in response to the distances sensed.

  18. Mobile loading transuranic waste at small quantity sites in the Department of Energy complex-10523

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carter, Mitch; Howard, Bryan; Weyerman, Wade; Mctaggart, Jerri

    2009-01-01

    Los Alamos National Laboratory, Carlsbad Office (LANL-CO), operates mobile loading operations for all of the large and small quantity transuranic (TRU) waste sites in the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. The mobile loading team performs loading and unloading evolutions for both contact handled (CH) and remote handled (RH) waste. For small quantity sites, many of which have yet to remove their TRU waste, the mobile loading team will load shipments that will ship to Idaho National Laboratory, a centralization site, or ship directly to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). For example, Argonne National Laboratory and General Electric Vallecitos Nuclear Center have certified programs for RH waste so they will ship their RH waste directly to WIPP. Many of the other sites will ship their waste to Idaho for characterization and certification. The Mobile Loading Units (MLU) contain all of the necessary equipment needed to load CH and RH waste into the appropriate shipping vessels. Sites are required to provide additional equipment, such as cranes, fork trucks, and office space. The sites are also required to provide personnel to assist in the shipping operations. Each site requires a site visit from the mobile loading team to ensure that all of the necessary site equipment, site requirements and space for shipping can be provided. The mobile loading team works diligently with site representatives to ensure that all safety and regulatory requirements are met. Once the waste is ready and shipping needs are met, the mobile loading team can be scheduled to ship the waste. The CH MLU is designed to support TRUPACT-II and HalfPACT loading activities wherever needed within the DOE complex. The team that performs the mobile loading operation has obtained national certification under DOE for TRUPACT-II and HalfPACT loading and shipment certification. The RH MLU is designed to support removable lid canister (RLC) and RH-72B cask loading activities wherever needed within the DOE

  19. Autonomous Power Control MAC Protocol for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Battery energy limitation has become a performance bottleneck for mobile ad hoc networks. IEEE 802.11 has been adopted as the current standard MAC protocol for ad hoc networks. However, it was developed without considering energy efficiency. To solve this problem, many modifications on IEEE 802.11 to incorporate power control have been proposed in the literature. The main idea of these power control schemes is to use a maximum possible power level for transmitting RTS/CTS and the lowest acceptable power for sending DATA/ACK. However, these schemes may degrade network throughput and reduce the overall energy efficiency of the network. This paper proposes autonomous power control MAC protocol (APCMP, which allows mobile nodes dynamically adjusting power level for transmitting DATA/ACK according to the distances between the transmitter and its neighbors. In addition, the power level for transmitting RTS/CTS is also adjustable according to the power level for DATA/ACK packets. In this paper, the performance of APCMP protocol is evaluated by simulation and is compared with that of other protocols.

  20. Automatic detection and classification of obstacles with applications in autonomous mobile robots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ponomaryov, Volodymyr I.; Rosas-Miranda, Dario I.

    2016-04-01

    Hardware implementation of an automatic detection and classification of objects that can represent an obstacle for an autonomous mobile robot using stereo vision algorithms is presented. We propose and evaluate a new method to detect and classify objects for a mobile robot in outdoor conditions. This method is divided in two parts, the first one is the object detection step based on the distance from the objects to the camera and a BLOB analysis. The second part is the classification step that is based on visuals primitives and a SVM classifier. The proposed method is performed in GPU in order to reduce the processing time values. This is performed with help of hardware based on multi-core processors and GPU platform, using a NVIDIA R GeForce R GT640 graphic card and Matlab over a PC with Windows 10.

  1. Mobile fission and activation products in nuclear waste disposal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Umeki, H; Evans, N; Czervinski, K; Bruggeman, Ch; Poineau, F; Breynaert, A; Reiler, P; Pablo, J de; Pipon, Y; Molnar, M; Nishimura, T; Kienzler, B; Van Iseghem, P; Crovisier, J L; Wieland, E; Mace, N; Pablo, J de; Spahiu, K; Cui, D; Lida, Y; Charlet, L; Liu, X; Sato, H; Goutelard, F; Savoye, S; Glaus, M; Poinssot, C; Seby, F; Sato, H; Tournassat, Ch; Montavon, G; Rotenberg, B; Spahiu, K; Smith, G; Marivoet, J; Landais, P; Bruno, J; Johnson, H; Umeki, L; Geckeis, H; Giffaut, E; Grambow, B; Dierckx, A

    2007-07-01

    This document gathers 33 oral presentations that were made at this workshop dedicated to the mobility of some radionuclides in nuclear waste disposal. The workshop was organized into 6 sessions: 1) performance assessment, 2) speciation/interaction in aqueous media, 3) radioactive wastes, 4) redox processes at interfaces, 5) diffusion processes, and 6) retention processes.

  2. Mobile fission and activation products in nuclear waste disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Umeki, H.; Evans, N.; Czervinski, K.; Bruggeman, Ch.; Poineau, F.; Breynaert, A.; Reiler, P.; Pablo, J. de; Pipon, Y.; Molnar, M.; Nishimura, T.; Kienzler, B.; Van Iseghem, P.; Crovisier, J.L.; Wieland, E.; Mace, N.; Pablo, J. de; Spahiu, K.; Cui, D.; Lida, Y.; Charlet, L.; Liu, X.; Sato, H.; Goutelard, F.; Savoye, S.; Glaus, M.; Poinssot, C.; Seby, F.; Sato, H.; Tournassat, Ch.; Montavon, G.; Rotenberg, B.; Spahiu, K.; Smith, G.; Marivoet, J.; Landais, P.; Bruno, J.; Johnson, H.; Umeki, L.; Geckeis, H.; Giffaut, E.; Grambow, B.; Dierckx, A.

    2007-01-01

    This document gathers 33 oral presentations that were made at this workshop dedicated to the mobility of some radionuclides in nuclear waste disposal. The workshop was organized into 6 sessions: 1) performance assessment, 2) speciation/interaction in aqueous media, 3) radioactive wastes, 4) redox processes at interfaces, 5) diffusion processes, and 6) retention processes

  3. Technical baseline description of high-level waste and low-activity waste feed mobilization and delivery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Papp, I.G.

    1997-01-01

    This document is a compilation of information related to the high-level waste (HLW) and low-activity waste (LAW) feed staging, mobilization, and transfer/delivery issues. Information relevant to current Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) inventories and activities designed to feed the Phase I Privatization effort at the Hanford Site is included. Discussions on the higher level Phase II activities are offered for a perspective on the interfaces

  4. Autonomous navigation system for mobile robots of inspection; Sistema de navegacion autonoma para robots moviles de inspeccion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Angulo S, P. [ITT, Metepec, Estado de Mexico (Mexico); Segovia de los Rios, A. [ININ, 52045 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico)]. e-mail: pedrynteam@hotmail.com

    2005-07-01

    One of the goals in robotics is the human personnel's protection that work in dangerous areas or of difficult access, such it is the case of the nuclear industry where exist areas that, for their own nature, they are inaccessible for the human personnel, such as areas with high radiation level or high temperatures; it is in these cases where it is indispensable the use of an inspection system that is able to carry out a sampling of the area in order to determine if this areas can be accessible for the human personnel. In this situation it is possible to use an inspection system based on a mobile robot, of preference of autonomous navigation, for the realization of such inspection avoiding by this way the human personnel's exposure. The present work proposes a model of autonomous navigation for a mobile robot Pioneer 2-D Xe based on the algorithm of wall following using the paradigm of fuzzy logic. (Author)

  5. Robotics for waste storage inspection: A user's perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hazen, F.B.

    1994-01-01

    Self-navigating robotic vehicles are now commercially available, and the technology supporting other important system components has also matured. Higher reliability and the obtainability of system support now make it practical to consider robotics as a way of addressing the growing operational requirement for the periodic inspection and maintenance of radioactive, hazardous, and mixed waste inventories. This paper describes preparations for the first field deployment of an autonomous container inspection robot at a Department of Energy (DOE) site. The Stored Waste Autonomous Mobile Inspector (SWAMI) is presently being completed by engineers at the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC). It is a modified version of a commercially available robot. It has been outfitted with sensor suites and cognition that allow it to perform inspections of drum inventories and their storage facilities

  6. Behavioural domain knowledge transfer for autonomous agents

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Rosman, Benjamin S

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available , and Behavior Transfer in Autonomous Robots, AAAI 2014 Fall Symposium Series, 13-15 November 2014 Behavioural Domain Knowledge Transfer for Autonomous Agents Benjamin Rosman Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems Modelling and Digital Science Council...

  7. Mobile concrete solidification systems for power reactor waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tchemitcheff, E.; Bordas, Y.

    1990-01-01

    In late 1988 SGN received an order from Electricite de France (EDF) for the construction of a mobile concrete solidification system to process secondary system resins generated by the P'4 and N4 series PWR power plants in France. This order was placed in view of SGN's experience with low- and medium-level radioactive waste treatment and conditioning over a period of almost 20 years. In addition to the construction of fixed waste processing facilities using more conventional technologies, SGN has been involved in application of the mobile system concept to the bituminization process in the United States, which led to the construction and commissioning of two transportable systems in collaboration with its American licensee US Ecology. It has also conducted large-scale R ampersand D on LLW/MLW concrete solidification, particularly for ion exchange resins. 5 figs

  8. Temporal Memory Reinforcement Learning for the Autonomous Micro-mobile Robot Based-behavior

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yang Yujun(杨玉君); Cheng Junshi; Chen Jiapin; Li Xiaohai

    2004-01-01

    This paper presents temporal memory reinforcement learning for the autonomous micro-mobile robot based-behavior. Human being has a memory oblivion process, i.e. the earlier to memorize, the earlier to forget, only the repeated thing can be remembered firmly. Enlightening forms this, and the robot need not memorize all the past states, at the same time economizes the EMS memory space, which is not enough in the MPU of our AMRobot. The proposed algorithm is an extension of the Q-learning, which is an incremental reinforcement learning method. The results of simulation have shown that the algorithm is valid.

  9. Navigation strategies for multiple autonomous mobile robots moving in formation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, P. K. C.

    1991-01-01

    The problem of deriving navigation strategies for a fleet of autonomous mobile robots moving in formation is considered. Here, each robot is represented by a particle with a spherical effective spatial domain and a specified cone of visibility. The global motion of each robot in the world space is described by the equations of motion of the robot's center of mass. First, methods for formation generation are discussed. Then, simple navigation strategies for robots moving in formation are derived. A sufficient condition for the stability of a desired formation pattern for a fleet of robots each equipped with the navigation strategy based on nearest neighbor tracking is developed. The dynamic behavior of robot fleets consisting of three or more robots moving in formation in a plane is studied by means of computer simulation.

  10. Problems in the development of autonomous mobile laser systems based on a cw chemical DF laser

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aleksandrov, B P; Bashkin, A S; Beznozdrev, V N; Parfen'ev, M V; Pirogov, N A; Semenov, S N

    2003-01-01

    The problems involved in designing autonomous mobile laser systems based on high-power cw chemical DF lasers, whose mass and size parameters would make it possible to install them on various vehicles, are discussed. The need for mobility of such lasers necessitates special attention to be paid to the quest for ways and means of reducing the mass and size of the main laser systems. The optimisation of the parameters of such lasers is studied for various methods of scaling their systems. A complex approach to analysis of the optical scheme of the laser system is developed. (special issue devoted to the 80th anniversary of academician n g basov's birth)

  11. An Autonomous Mobile Agent-Based Distributed Learning Architecture-A Proposal and Analytical Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Ahmed M. J. SADIIG

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available An Autonomous Mobile Agent-Based Distributed Learning Architecture-A Proposal and Analytical Analysis Dr. I. Ahmed M. J. SADIIG Department of Electrical & Computer EngineeringInternational Islamic University GombakKuala Lumpur-MALAYSIA ABSTRACT The traditional learning paradigm invoving face-to-face interaction with students is shifting to highly data-intensive electronic learning with the advances in Information and Communication Technology. An important component of the e-learning process is the delivery of the learning contents to their intended audience over a network. A distributed learning system is dependent on the network for the efficient delivery of its contents to the user. However, as the demand of information provision and utilization increases on the Internet, the current information service provision and utilization methods are becoming increasingly inefficient. Although new technologies have been employed for efficient learning methodologies within the context of an e-learning environment, the overall efficiency of the learning system is dependent on the mode of distribution and utilization of its learning contents. It is therefore imperative to employ new techniques to meet the service demands of current and future e-learning systems. In this paper, an architecture based on autonomous mobile agents creating a Faded Information Field is proposed. Unlike the centralized information distribution in a conventional e-learning system, the information is decentralized in the proposed architecture resulting in increased efficiency of the overall system for distribution and utilization of system learning contents efficiently and fairly. This architecture holds the potential to address the heterogeneous user requirements as well as the changing conditions of the underlying network.

  12. Mobile Phones-An asset or a liability: A study based on characterization and assessment of metals in waste mobile phone components using leaching tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hira, Meenakshi; Yadav, Sudesh; Morthekai, P; Linda, Anurag; Kumar, Sushil; Sharma, Anupam

    2018-01-15

    The prolonged use of old fashioned gadgets, especially mobile phones, is declining readily with the advancement in technology which ultimately lead to generation of e-waste. The present study investigates the concentrations of nine metals (Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Sn, and Zn) in various components of the mobile phones using Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), Waste Extraction Test (WET) and Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP). The results were compared with the threshold limits for hazardous waste defined by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (CDTSC) and United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The average concentrations of metals were found high in PWBs. WET was found relatively aggressive as compared to TCLP and SPLP. Redundancy analysis (RDA) suggests that part of mobile, extraction test, manufacturer, mobile model and year of manufacturing explain 34.66% of the variance. According to the present study, waste mobile phones must be considered as hazardous due to the potential adverse impact of toxic metals on human health and environment. However, mobile phones can be an asset as systematic extraction and recycling could reduce the demand of primary metals mining and conserve the natural resources. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Mobile/portable transuranic waste characterization systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a model for their use complex-wide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Derr, E.D.; Harper, J.R.; Zygmunt, S.J.; Taggart, D.P.; Betts, S.E.

    1997-01-01

    Los Alamos National Laboratory has implemented mobile and portable characterization and repackaging systems to characterize TRU waste in storage for ultimate shipment and disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, NM. These mobile systems are being used to characterize and repackage waste to meet the full requirements of the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) and the WIPP Characterization Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP). Mobile and portable characterization and repackaging systems are being used to supplement the capabilities and throughputs of existing facilities. Utilization of mobile systems is a key factor that is enabling LANL to: (1) reduce its TRU waste work-off schedule from 36 years to 8.5 years; (2) eliminate the need to construct a $70M+ TRU waste characterization facility; (3) have waste certified for shipment to WIPP when WIPP opens; (4) continue to ship TRU waste to WIPP at the rate of 5000 drums per year; and, (5) reduce overall costs by more than $200M. Aggressive implementation of mobile and portable systems throughout the DOE complex through a centralized-distributed services model will result in similar advantages complex-wide

  14. Mobile/portable transuranic waste characterization systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a model for their use complex-wide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Derr, E.D.; Harper, J.R.; Zygmunt, S.J.; Taggart, D.P.; Betts, S.E.

    1997-01-01

    Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has implemented mobile and portable characterization and repackaging systems to characterize transuranic (TRU) waste in storage for ultimate shipment and disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, NM. These mobile systems are being used to characterize and repackage waste to meet the full requirements of the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) and the WIPP Characterization Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP). Mobile and portable characterization and repackaging systems are being used to supplement the capabilities and throughputs of existing facilities. Utilization of mobile systems is a key factor that is enabling LANL to (1) reduce its TRU waste work-off schedule from 36 years to 8.5 years; (2) eliminate the need to construct a $70M+ TRU waste characterization facility; (3) have waste certified for shipment to WIPP when WIPP opens; (4) continue to ship TRU waste to WIPP at the rate of 5000 drums per year; and (5) reduce overall costs by more than $200M. Aggressive implementation of mobile and portable systems throughout the Department of Energy complex through a centralized-distributed services model will result in similar advantages complex-wide

  15. ELABORATION OF NOT LARGE MOBILE MODULAR INSTALLATION ''AQUA - EXPRESS'' (300 L/H) FOR LRW CLEANING

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karlin, Yurii; Dmitriev, Sergey; Iljin, Vadim; Ojovan, Mihail; Burcl, Rudolf

    2003-01-01

    Mobile modular installation ''Aqua-Express'' is a liquid low level and intermediate level radioactive waste (LL and ILRW) treatment facility, intended for not large research centers and other organizations, which activity causes the formation of a few quantity (up to 500 m3/year) of low and intermediate level radioactive waste water. Mobile modular installation ''Aqua-Express'' has the following features: (1) filtration, sorption and ultrafiltration units are used for LL and ILRW purification; (2) installation ''Aqua-Express'' consists of a cascade of three autonomous aqueous liquid waste-purifying installations; (3) installation ''Aqua-Express'' is a mobile installation; the installation can be transported by car, train, ship, or plane, as well as placed in a standard transport (sea or railway) container; (4) installation ''Aqua-Express'' does not includes any technological equipment for conditioning the secondary radioactive waste. Productivity of the installation ''Aqua-Express'' by purified water depends on composition of the initial liquid waste and makes up to 300 l/h. In present report is described the design of installation ''Aqua-Express'', theory of LRW purification in the installation ''Aqua-Express'' and some results of its use at cleaning real radioactive waters at State unitary enterprise - MosNPO ''Radon''

  16. A Trivia like Mobile Game with Autonomous Content That Uses Wikipedia Based Ontologies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bogdan IANCU

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The mobile devices are everywhere and the gaming industry has an important market share on this field. This paper aims to present a new approach of game which generates autonomous its content, without human intervention, by using existing facts from the semantic version of Wikipedia, called DBpedia. At the beginning a short introduction of the studied field and of the used terms and technologies is presented. There are also remembered similar approaches and different struggles from this domain. In the middle part the architecture and the logic of the system are shown. The paper ends with some conclusions and future plans.

  17. Concepts of the Internet of Things from the Aspect of the Autonomous Mobile Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janos Simon

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The Internet of Things (IoT is slowly gaining grounds and through the properties of barcodes, QR codes, RFID, active sensors and IPv6, objects are fitted with some form of readability and traceability. People are becoming part of digital global network driven by personal interests. The feeling being part of a community and the constant drive of getting connected from real life finds it continuation in digital networks. This article investigates the concepts of the internet of things from the aspect of the autonomous mobile robots with an overview of the performances of the currently available database systems.

  18. Fast mapping of the local environment of an autonomous mobile robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fanton, Herve

    1989-01-01

    The construction of a map of the local world for the navigation of an autonomous mobile robot leads to the following problem: how to extract among the sensor data information accurate an reliable enough to plan a path, in a way that enables a reasonable displacement speed. Choice has been made not to tele-operate the vehicle nor to design any custom architecture. So the only way to match the computational cost is to look for the most efficient sensor-algorithms-architecture combination. A good solution is described in this study, using a laser range-finder, a grid model of the world and both SIMD and MIMD parallel processors. A short review of some possible approaches is made first; the mapping algorithms are then described as also the parallel implementations with the corresponding speedup and efficiency factors. (author) [fr

  19. Abandoned Pb−Zn mining wastes and their mobility as proxy to toxicity: A review

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gutiérrez, Mélida, E-mail: mgutierrez@missouristate.edu [Department of Geography, Geology and Planning, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 65897 (United States); Mickus, Kevin, E-mail: kevinmickus@missouristate.edu [Department of Geography, Geology and Planning, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 65897 (United States); Camacho, Lucy Mar, E-mail: lucy.camacho@tamuk.edu [Department of Environmental Engineering, Texas & M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363 (United States)

    2016-09-15

    Lead and zinc (Pb−Zn) mines are a common occurrence worldwide; and while approximately 240 mines are active, the vast majority have been abandoned for decades. Abandoned mining wastes represent a serious environmental hazard, as Pb, Zn and associated metals are continuously released into the environment, threatening the health of humans and affecting ecosystems. Iron sulfide minerals, when present, can form acid mine drainage and increase the toxicity by mobilizing the metals into more bioavailable forms. Remediation of the metal waste is costly and, in the case of abandoned wastes, the responsible party(ies) for the cleanup can be difficult to determine, which makes remediation a complex and lengthy process. In this review, we provide a common ground from a wide variety of investigations about concentrations, chemical associations, and potential mobility of Pb, Zn and cadmium (Cd) near abandoned Pb−Zn mines. Comparing mobility results is a challenging task, as instead of one standard methodology, there are 4–5 different methods reported. Results show that, as a general consensus, the metal content of soils and sediments vary roughly around 1000 mg/kg for Zn, 100 for Pb and 10 for Cd, and mobilities of Cd > Zn > Pb. Also, mobility is a function of pH, particle size, and formation of secondary minerals. New and novel remediation techniques continue to be developed in laboratories but have seldom been applied to the field. Remediation at most of the sites has consisted of neutralization (e.g. lime,) for acid mine discharge, and leveling followed by phytostabilization. In the latter, amendments (e.g. biochar, fertilizers) are added to boost the efficiency of the treatment. Any remediation method has to be tested before being implemented as the best treatment is site-specific. Potential treatments are described and compared. - Highlights: • Abandoned Pb−Zn mine wastes represent a hazard to the environment. • Cd is a toxic metal closely associated to Zn and

  20. Abandoned Pb−Zn mining wastes and their mobility as proxy to toxicity: A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gutiérrez, Mélida; Mickus, Kevin; Camacho, Lucy Mar

    2016-01-01

    Lead and zinc (Pb−Zn) mines are a common occurrence worldwide; and while approximately 240 mines are active, the vast majority have been abandoned for decades. Abandoned mining wastes represent a serious environmental hazard, as Pb, Zn and associated metals are continuously released into the environment, threatening the health of humans and affecting ecosystems. Iron sulfide minerals, when present, can form acid mine drainage and increase the toxicity by mobilizing the metals into more bioavailable forms. Remediation of the metal waste is costly and, in the case of abandoned wastes, the responsible party(ies) for the cleanup can be difficult to determine, which makes remediation a complex and lengthy process. In this review, we provide a common ground from a wide variety of investigations about concentrations, chemical associations, and potential mobility of Pb, Zn and cadmium (Cd) near abandoned Pb−Zn mines. Comparing mobility results is a challenging task, as instead of one standard methodology, there are 4–5 different methods reported. Results show that, as a general consensus, the metal content of soils and sediments vary roughly around 1000 mg/kg for Zn, 100 for Pb and 10 for Cd, and mobilities of Cd > Zn > Pb. Also, mobility is a function of pH, particle size, and formation of secondary minerals. New and novel remediation techniques continue to be developed in laboratories but have seldom been applied to the field. Remediation at most of the sites has consisted of neutralization (e.g. lime,) for acid mine discharge, and leveling followed by phytostabilization. In the latter, amendments (e.g. biochar, fertilizers) are added to boost the efficiency of the treatment. Any remediation method has to be tested before being implemented as the best treatment is site-specific. Potential treatments are described and compared. - Highlights: • Abandoned Pb−Zn mine wastes represent a hazard to the environment. • Cd is a toxic metal closely associated to Zn and

  1. Development and status of the AL Mixed Waste Treatment Plan or I love that mobile unit of mine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bounini, L.; Williams, M.; Zygmunt, S.

    1995-01-01

    Nine Department of Energy (DOE) sites reporting to the Albuquerque Office (AL) have mixed waste that is chemically hazardous and radioactive. The hazardous waste regulations require the chemical portion of mixed waste to be to be treated to certain standards. The total volume of low-level mixed waste at the nine sites is equivalent to 7,000 drums, with individual site volumes ranging from 1 gallon of waste at the Pinellas Plant to 4,500 drums at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Nearly all the sites have a diversity of wastes requiring a diversity of treatment processes. Treatment capacity does not exist for much of this waste, and it would be expensive for each site to build the diversity of treatment processes needed to treat its own wastes. DOE-AL assembled a team that developed the AL Mixed Waste Treatment Plan that uses the resources of the nine sites to treat the waste at the sites. Work on the plan started in October 1993, and the plan was finalized in March 1994. The plan uses commercial treatment, treatability studies, and mobile treatment units. The plan specifies treatment technologies that will be built as mobile treatment units to be moved from site to site. Mobile units include bench-top units for very small volumes and treatability studies, drum-size units that treat one drum per day, and skid-size units that handle multiple drum volumes. After the tools needed to treat the wastes were determined, the sites were assigned to provide part of the treatment capacity using their own resources and expertise. The sites are making progress on treatability studies, commercial treatment, and mobile treatment design and fabrication. To date, this is the only plan for treating waste that brings the resources of several DOE sites together to treat mixed waste. It is the only program actively planning to use mobile treatment coordinated between DOE sites

  2. Tracked robot controllers for climbing obstacles autonomously

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincent, Isabelle

    2009-05-01

    Research in mobile robot navigation has demonstrated some success in navigating flat indoor environments while avoiding obstacles. However, the challenge of analyzing complex environments to climb obstacles autonomously has had very little success due to the complexity of the task. Unmanned ground vehicles currently exhibit simple autonomous behaviours compared to the human ability to move in the world. This paper presents the control algorithms designed for a tracked mobile robot to autonomously climb obstacles by varying its tracks configuration. Two control algorithms are proposed to solve the autonomous locomotion problem for climbing obstacles. First, a reactive controller evaluates the appropriate geometric configuration based on terrain and vehicle geometric considerations. Then, a reinforcement learning algorithm finds alternative solutions when the reactive controller gets stuck while climbing an obstacle. The methodology combines reactivity to learning. The controllers have been demonstrated in box and stair climbing simulations. The experiments illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for crossing obstacles.

  3. Thiourea leaching gold and silver from the printed circuit boards of waste mobile phones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing-ying, Li; Xiu-li, Xu; Wen-quan, Liu

    2012-06-01

    The present communication deals with the leaching of gold and silver from the printed circuit boards (PCBs) of waste mobile phones using an effective and less hazardous system, i.e., a thiourea leaching process as an alternative to the conventional and toxic cyanide leaching of gold. The influence of particle size, thiourea and Fe(3+) concentrations and temperature on the leaching of gold and silver from waste mobile phones was investigated. Gold extraction was found to be enhanced in a PCBs particle size of 100 mesh with the solutions containing 24 g/L thiourea and Fe(3+) concentration of 0.6% under the room temperature. In this case, about 90% of gold and 50% of silver were leached by the reaction of 2h. The obtained data will be useful for the development of processes for the recycling of gold and silver from the PCBs of waste mobile phones. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. A mobile robot for remote inspection of radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suh, Y. C.; Kim, C. H.; Cho, J. W.; Choi, Y. S.; Kim, S. H.

    2004-01-01

    Tele-operation and remote monitoring techniques are essential and important technologies for the inspection and maintenance of the radioactive waste. A mobile robot has been developed for the application of remote monitoring and inspection of nuclear facilities, where human access is limited because of the high-level radioactive environments. The mobile robot was designed with reconfigurable crawler type of wheels attached on the front and rear side in order to pass through the ditch. The extendable mast, mounted on the mobile robot, car be extended up to 8 m vertically. The robust controller for radiation is designed in focus on electric components to prevent abnormal operation in a highly radioactivated area during reactor operation. This robot system will enhance the reliability of nuclear power facilities, and cope with the unexpected radiation accident

  5. Mobile Technology Applications for Manufacturing, Reduction of Muda (Waste and the Effect on Manufacturing Economy and Efficiency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angela M Huenerfauth

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Mobile devices in the manufacturing setting offer mobility and information whenever and wherever it is needed; these advantages allow for a more efficient workflow and allow the user to make more informed decisions. Due to these advantages, companies are reducing muda (waste by using mobile devices (implementing Lean Manufacturing and therefore saving money. Some of the mobile applications discussed in this paper are the following: Augmented Reality for assembly training, pruefcubing, remotely-monitored shop floors, statistical process control (SPC, and change requests for construction, and the two types of muda (waste reduced by these mobile applications are “unnecessary / excess motion and defects.”

  6. Arsenic mobility in brownfield soils amended with green waste compost or biochar and planted with Miscanthus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartley, William; Dickinson, Nicholas M.; Riby, Philip; Lepp, Nicholas W.

    2009-01-01

    Degraded land that is historically contaminated from different sources of industrial waste provides an opportunity for conversion to bioenergy fuel production and also to increase sequestration of carbon in soil through organic amendments. In pot experiments, As mobility was investigated in three different brownfield soils amended with green waste compost (GWC, 30% v/v) or biochar (BC, 20% v/v), planted with Miscanthus. Using GWC improved crop yield but had little effect on foliar As uptake, although the proportion of As transferred from roots to foliage differed considerably between the three soils. It also increased dissolved carbon concentrations in soil pore water that influenced Fe and As mobility. Effects of BC were less pronounced, but the impacts of both amendments on SOC, Fe, P and pH are likely to be critical in the context of As leaching to ground water. Growing Miscanthus had no measurable effect on As mobility. - Green waste compost enhances water-soluble iron, phosphorus and carbon, increasing arsenic mobility in soil pore water.

  7. Mobile Robot Designed with Autonomous Navigation System

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, Feng; Chen, Qiang; Zha, Yanfang; Tao, Wenyin

    2017-10-01

    With the rapid development of robot technology, robots appear more and more in all aspects of life and social production, people also ask more requirements for the robot, one is that robot capable of autonomous navigation, can recognize the road. Take the common household sweeping robot as an example, which could avoid obstacles, clean the ground and automatically find the charging place; Another example is AGV tracking car, which can following the route and reach the destination successfully. This paper introduces a new type of robot navigation scheme: SLAM, which can build the environment map in a totally strange environment, and at the same time, locate its own position, so as to achieve autonomous navigation function.

  8. Characterizing Early Adolescent Plate Waste Using the Mobile Food Record

    OpenAIRE

    Panizza, Chloe E.; Boushey, Carol J.; Delp, Edward J.; Kerr, Deborah A.; Lim, Eunjung; Gandhi, Krupa; Banna, Jinan C.

    2017-01-01

    This study aimed to assess the amount of plate waste and how plate waste was disposed by early adolescent girls using a mobile food record (mFR). Participants were girls nine to thirteen years residing in O’ahu, Hawai’i (n = 93). Foods selected and leftover were estimated using a three day mFR. Each leftover food was then classified as thrown into the trash, fed to a pet, eaten later, or other (e.g., composted). Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted and Tukey’s post-ho...

  9. Ambler - An autonomous rover for planetary exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bares, John; Hebert, Martial; Kanade, Takeo; Krotkov, Eric; Mitchell, Tom

    1989-01-01

    The authors are building a prototype legged rover, called the Ambler (loosely an acronym for autonomous mobile exploration robot) and testing it on full-scale, rugged terrain of the sort that might be encountered on the Martian surface. They present an overview of their research program, focusing on locomotion, perception, planning, and control. They summarize some of the most important goals and requirements of a rover design and describe how locomotion, perception, and planning systems can satisfy these requirements. Since the program is relatively young (one year old at the time of writing) they identify issues and approaches and describe work in progress rather than report results. It is expected that many of the technologies developed will be applicable to other planetary bodies and to terrestrial concerns such as hazardous waste assessment and remediation, ocean floor exploration, and mining.

  10. Research project RoboGas{sup Inspector}. Gas leak detection with autonomous mobile robots; Forschungsprojekt RoboGas{sup Inspector}. Gaslecksuche mit autonomen mobilen Robotern

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Habib, Abdelkarim [BAM Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung, Berlin (Germany); Bonow, Gero; Kroll, Andreas [Fachgebiet Mess- und Regelungstechnik, Universitaet Kassel, Kassel (Germany); Hegenberg, Jens; Schmidt, Ludger [Fachgebiet Mensch-Maschine-Systemtechnik, Universitaet Kassel, Kassel (Germany); Barz, Thomas; Schulz, Dirk [Fraunhofer FKIE, Unbemannte Systeme, Wachtberg (Germany)

    2013-05-15

    As part of the promotional program AUTONOMIK of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany) a consortium of nine project partners developed a prototype of an autonomous mobile robot looking for gas leaks in extended industrial equipment. The autonomous mobility of the system for any systems was implemented using different types of sensors for self-localization and navigation. The tele-operation enables a manual intervention in the process. The robot performs inspection tasks in industrial plants by means of video technology and remote gas measurement technology without driving into the possible risk areas and without the presence of humans. The robot can be used for routine inspections of facilities or for the targeted inspection of specific plant components. Thanks to the remote sensing technique also plant components can be inspected which are difficult to be inspected due to their limited accessibility by conventional measurement techniques.

  11. Mobile instrumentation platform and robotic accessory for real-time screening of hazardous waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, M.S.; Jaselskis, E.J.

    1992-01-01

    An innovative mobile laboratory for real-time field screening of soils for inorganic hazardous waste using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry sampling and analysis technique is being developed at Ames Laboratory. This sampling technique as well as the concept for installing, monitoring, and controlling the instrumentation and utilities in the mobile laboratory, the robotic sampling accessory, and manual sampling method are discussed. Benefits of this mobile configuration and future development plans also are described

  12. Mobility and attenuation of arsenic in sulfide-rich mining wastes from the Czech Republic

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Drahota, Petr, E-mail: petr.drahota@natur.cuni.cz [Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic); Knappová, Magdaléna; Kindlová, Helena; Culka, Adam [Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic); Majzlan, Juraj [Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich-Schiller University, Burgweg 11, D-07749 Jena (Germany); Mihaljevič, Martin [Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic); Rohovec, Jan [Institute of Geology, The Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i., Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Prague 6 (Czech Republic); Veselovský, František [Czech Geological Survey, Geologická 6, 152 00 Prague 5 (Czech Republic); Fridrichová, Michaela [Institute of Geology, The Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i., Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Prague 6 (Czech Republic); Jehlička, Jan [Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2 (Czech Republic)

    2016-07-01

    The mineralogical composition of mining wastes deposited in countless dumps around the world is the key factor that controls retention and release of pollutants. Here we report a multi-method data set combining mineralogical (X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe and Raman microspectrometry) and geochemical (sequential extraction and pore water analysis) methods to resolve As mobility in two 50-years-old mining waste dumps. Originally, all of the As in the mining wastes selected for the study was present as arsenopyrite and with time it has been replaced by secondary As phases. At Jedová jáma mining area, the most of As precipitated as X-ray amorphous ferric arsenate (HFA). Arsenic is also accumulated in the scorodite and Fe (hydr)oxide (with up to 3.2 wt.% As{sub 2}O{sub 5}) that is particularly represented by hematite. Mining wastes at Dlouhá Ves contain only trace amount of scorodite. Arsenic is primarily bound to Pb-jarosite and Fe (hydr)oxides (especially goethite) with up to 1.6 and 1.8 wt.% As{sub 2}O{sub 5}, respectively. The pore water collected after rainfall events indicated high concentrations of As (~ 4600 μg·L{sup −1}) at Jedová jáma, whereas aqueous As at Dlouhá Ves was negligible (up to 1.5 μg·L{sup −1}). Highly mobile As at Jedová jáma is attributed to the dissolution of HFA and simultaneous precipitation of Fe (hydr)oxides under mildly acidic conditions (pH ~ 4.4); immobile As at Dlouhá Ves is due to the efficient adsorption on the Fe (hydr)oxides and hydroxosulfates under acidic pH of ~ 2.8. Taken together, As mobility in the ferric arsenates-containing mining wastes may significantly vary. These wastes must be kept under acidic conditions or with high aqueous Fe(III) concentrations to prevent the release of As from incongruent dissolution of ferric arsenates. - Highlights: • Two 50 years-old sulfide-rich mining waste dumps were studied. • Environmental stability of secondary arsenic mineral phases were assessed.

  13. Mobility and attenuation of arsenic in sulfide-rich mining wastes from the Czech Republic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drahota, Petr; Knappová, Magdaléna; Kindlová, Helena; Culka, Adam; Majzlan, Juraj; Mihaljevič, Martin; Rohovec, Jan; Veselovský, František; Fridrichová, Michaela; Jehlička, Jan

    2016-01-01

    The mineralogical composition of mining wastes deposited in countless dumps around the world is the key factor that controls retention and release of pollutants. Here we report a multi-method data set combining mineralogical (X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe and Raman microspectrometry) and geochemical (sequential extraction and pore water analysis) methods to resolve As mobility in two 50-years-old mining waste dumps. Originally, all of the As in the mining wastes selected for the study was present as arsenopyrite and with time it has been replaced by secondary As phases. At Jedová jáma mining area, the most of As precipitated as X-ray amorphous ferric arsenate (HFA). Arsenic is also accumulated in the scorodite and Fe (hydr)oxide (with up to 3.2 wt.% As_2O_5) that is particularly represented by hematite. Mining wastes at Dlouhá Ves contain only trace amount of scorodite. Arsenic is primarily bound to Pb-jarosite and Fe (hydr)oxides (especially goethite) with up to 1.6 and 1.8 wt.% As_2O_5, respectively. The pore water collected after rainfall events indicated high concentrations of As (~ 4600 μg·L"−"1) at Jedová jáma, whereas aqueous As at Dlouhá Ves was negligible (up to 1.5 μg·L"−"1). Highly mobile As at Jedová jáma is attributed to the dissolution of HFA and simultaneous precipitation of Fe (hydr)oxides under mildly acidic conditions (pH ~ 4.4); immobile As at Dlouhá Ves is due to the efficient adsorption on the Fe (hydr)oxides and hydroxosulfates under acidic pH of ~ 2.8. Taken together, As mobility in the ferric arsenates-containing mining wastes may significantly vary. These wastes must be kept under acidic conditions or with high aqueous Fe(III) concentrations to prevent the release of As from incongruent dissolution of ferric arsenates. - Highlights: • Two 50 years-old sulfide-rich mining waste dumps were studied. • Environmental stability of secondary arsenic mineral phases were assessed. • Different modes of As binding are

  14. Arsenic stability and mobilization in soil at an amenity grassland overlying chemical waste (St. Helens, UK)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hartley, William [School of Biological and Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF (United Kingdom)], E-mail: w.hartley@ljmu.ac.uk; Dickinson, Nicholas M. [School of Biological and Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF (United Kingdom); Clemente, Rafael [Department of Soil and Water Conservation and Organic Waste Management, Centro de Edafologia y Biologia Aplicada del Segura, CSIC, Apartado 4195, 30080 Murcia (Spain); French, Christopher [School of Biological and Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF (United Kingdom); Piearce, Trevor G. [Biological Sciences Division, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ (United Kingdom); Sparke, Shaun; Lepp, Nicholas W. [School of Biological and Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF (United Kingdom)

    2009-03-15

    A 6.6 ha grassland, established on a former chemical waste site adjacent to a residential area, contains arsenic (As) in surface soil at concentrations 200 times higher than UK Soil Guideline Values. The site is not recognized as statutory contaminated land, partly on the assumption that mobility of the metalloid presents a negligible threat to human health, groundwater and ecological receptors. Evidence for this is evaluated, based on studies of the effect of organic (green waste compost) and inorganic (iron oxides, lime and phosphate) amendments on As fractionation, mobility, plant uptake and earthworm communities. Arsenic mobility in soil was low but significantly related to dissolved organic matter and phosphate, with immobilization associated with iron oxides. Plant uptake was low and there was little apparent impact on earthworms. The existing vegetation cover reduces re-entrainment of dust-blown particulates and pathways of As exposure via this route. Minimizing risks to receptors requires avoidance of soil exposure, and no compost or phosphate application. - Stabilization of alkali industry waste requires careful management to minimise soil arsenic mobilization and dispersal to the wider environment.

  15. MicroMAIS : executing and orchestrating Web services on constrained mobile devices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Plebani, P.; Cappiello, C.; Comuzzi, M.; Pernici, B.; Yadav, S.

    2012-01-01

    Mobile devices with their more and more powerful resources allow the development of mobile information systems in which services are not only provided by traditional systems but also autonomously executed and controlled in the mobile devices themselves. Services distributed on autonomous mobile

  16. Adaptive Behavior for Mobile Robots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huntsberger, Terrance

    2009-01-01

    The term "System for Mobility and Access to Rough Terrain" (SMART) denotes a theoretical framework, a control architecture, and an algorithm that implements the framework and architecture, for enabling a land-mobile robot to adapt to changing conditions. SMART is intended to enable the robot to recognize adverse terrain conditions beyond its optimal operational envelope, and, in response, to intelligently reconfigure itself (e.g., adjust suspension heights or baseline distances between suspension points) or adapt its driving techniques (e.g., engage in a crabbing motion as a switchback technique for ascending steep terrain). Conceived for original application aboard Mars rovers and similar autonomous or semi-autonomous mobile robots used in exploration of remote planets, SMART could also be applied to autonomous terrestrial vehicles to be used for search, rescue, and/or exploration on rough terrain.

  17. Controls on the Mobility of Antimony in Mine Waste from Three Deposit Types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamieson, H.; Radková, A. B.; Fawcett, S.

    2017-12-01

    Antimony can be considered both a critical metal and an environmental hazard, with a toxicity similar to arsenic. It is concentrated in stibnite deposits, but also present in polymetallic and precious metal ores, frequently accompanied by arsenic. We have studied the mineralogical controls on the mobility of antimony in three types of mine waste: stibnite tailings from an antimony mine, tetrahedrite-bearing waste rock from copper mining, and gold mine tailings and ore roaster waste. Our results demonstrate that the tendency of antimony to leach into the aqueous environment or remain sequestered in solid phases depends on the primary host minerals and conditions governing the precipitation of secondary antimony-hosting phases. In tailings at the Beaver Brook antimony mine in Newfoundland, Canada, stibnite oxidizes rapidly, and secondary minerals such as the relatively insoluble Sb-Fe tripuhyite-like phase and Sb-bearing goethite. However, under dry conditions, the most important secondary Sb host is the Mg-Sb hydroxide brandholzite, but this easily soluble mineral disappears when it rains. Antimony that was originally hosted in tetrahedrite, a complex multi-element sulfosalt, in the historic waste rock piles at Špania Dolina-Piesky, Slovakia, is not as mobile as Cu and As during weathering but reprecipiates to a mixture of tripuhyite and romeite. Finally, the original antimony-hosting minerals, both stibnite and sulphosalts, in the gold ore at Giant Mine, Yellowknife, Canada were completely destroyed during ore roasting. In tailings-contaminated sediments, antimony persists in roaster-generated iron oxide phases, except under reducing conditions where some of the antimony forms a Sb-S phase. The combined presence of antimony and arsenic in mine waste complicates risk assessment but in general, our findings suggest that antimony is less mobile than arsenic in the environment.

  18. Kinematics modeling and simulation of an autonomous omni-directional mobile robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Garcia Sillas

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Although robotics has progressed to the extent that it has become relatively accessible with low-cost projects, there is still a need to create models that accurately represent the physical behavior of a robot. Creating a completely virtual platform allows us to test behavior algorithms such as those implemented using artificial intelligence, and additionally, it enables us to find potential problems in the physical design of the robot. The present work describes a methodology for the construction of a kinematic model and a simulation of the autonomous robot, specifically of an omni-directional wheeled robot. This paper presents the kinematic model development and its implementation using several tools. The result is a model that follows the kinematics of a triangular omni-directional mobile wheeled robot, which is then tested by using a 3D model imported from 3D Studio® and Matlab® for the simulation. The environment used for the experiment is very close to the real environment and reflects the kinematic characteristics of the robot.

  19. Vision-based autonomous grasping of unknown piled objects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, R.K.

    1994-01-01

    Computer vision techniques have been used to develop a vision-based grasping capability for autonomously picking and placing unknown piled objects. This work is currently being applied to the problem of hazardous waste sorting in support of the Department of Energy's Mixed Waste Operations Program

  20. Development and deployment of a low-cost, mobile-ready, air quality sensor system: progress toward distributed networks and autonomous aerial sampling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hersey, S. P.; DiVerdi, R.; Gadtaula, P.; Sheneman, T.; Flores, K.; Chen, Y. H.; Jayne, J. T.; Cross, E. S.

    2017-12-01

    Throughout the 2016-2017 academic year, a new partnership between Olin College of Engineering and Aerodyne Research, Inc. developed an affordable, self-contained air quality monitoring instrument called Modulair. The Modulair instrument is based on the same operating principles as Aerodyne's newly-developed ARISense integrated sensor system, employing electrochemical sensors for gas-phase measurements of CO, NO, NO2, and O3 and an off-the-shelf optical particle counter for particle concentration, number, and size distribution information (0.4 backend with a mobile, cloud-based data management system for real-time data posting and analysis. Open source tools and software were utilized in the development of the instrument. All initial work was completed by a team of undergraduate students as part of the Senior Capstone Program in Engineering (SCOPE) at Olin College. Deployment strategies for Modulair include distributed, mobile measurements and drone-based aerial sampling. Design goals for the drone integration include maximizing airborne sampling time and laying the foundation for software integration with the drone's autopilot system to allow for autonomous plume sampling across concentration gradients. Modulair and its flexible deployments enable real-time mapping of air quality data at exposure-relevant spatial scales, as well as regular, autonomous characterization of sources and dispersion of atmospheric pollutants. We will present an overview of the Modulair instrument and results from benchtop and field validation, including mobile and drone-based plume sampling in the Boston area.

  1. An autonomous, automated and mobile device to concurrently assess several cognitive functions in group-living non-human primates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fizet, Jonas; Rimele, Adam; Pebayle, Thierry; Cassel, Jean-Christophe; Kelche, Christian; Meunier, Hélène

    2017-11-01

    Research methods in cognitive neuroscience using non-human primates have undergone notable changes over the last decades. Recently, several research groups have described freely accessible devices equipped with a touchscreen interface. Two characteristics of such systems are of particular interest: some apparatuses include automated identification of subjects, while others are mobile. Here, we designed, tested and validated an experimental system that, for the first time, combine automatization and mobility. Moreover, our system allows autonomous learning and testing of cognitive performance in group-living subjects, including follow-up assessments. The mobile apparatus is designed to be available 24h a day, 7days a week, in a typical confined primate breeding and housing facility. Here we present as proof of concept, the results of two pilot studies. We report that rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) learned the tasks rapidly and achieved high-level of stable performance. Approaches of this kind should be developed for future pharmacological and biomedical studies in non-human primates. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Collaborative Indoor Access Point Localization Using Autonomous Mobile Robot Swarm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Awad, Fahed; Naserllah, Muhammad; Omar, Ammar; Abu-Hantash, Alaa; Al-Taj, Abrar

    2018-01-31

    Localization of access points has become an important research problem due to the wide range of applications it addresses such as dismantling critical security threats caused by rogue access points or optimizing wireless coverage of access points within a service area. Existing proposed solutions have mostly relied on theoretical hypotheses or computer simulation to demonstrate the efficiency of their methods. The techniques that rely on estimating the distance using samples of the received signal strength usually assume prior knowledge of the signal propagation characteristics of the indoor environment in hand and tend to take a relatively large number of uniformly distributed random samples. This paper presents an efficient and practical collaborative approach to detect the location of an access point in an indoor environment without any prior knowledge of the environment. The proposed approach comprises a swarm of wirelessly connected mobile robots that collaboratively and autonomously collect a relatively small number of non-uniformly distributed random samples of the access point's received signal strength. These samples are used to efficiently and accurately estimate the location of the access point. The experimental testing verified that the proposed approach can identify the location of the access point in an accurate and efficient manner.

  3. Collaborative Indoor Access Point Localization Using Autonomous Mobile Robot Swarm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fahed Awad

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Localization of access points has become an important research problem due to the wide range of applications it addresses such as dismantling critical security threats caused by rogue access points or optimizing wireless coverage of access points within a service area. Existing proposed solutions have mostly relied on theoretical hypotheses or computer simulation to demonstrate the efficiency of their methods. The techniques that rely on estimating the distance using samples of the received signal strength usually assume prior knowledge of the signal propagation characteristics of the indoor environment in hand and tend to take a relatively large number of uniformly distributed random samples. This paper presents an efficient and practical collaborative approach to detect the location of an access point in an indoor environment without any prior knowledge of the environment. The proposed approach comprises a swarm of wirelessly connected mobile robots that collaboratively and autonomously collect a relatively small number of non-uniformly distributed random samples of the access point’s received signal strength. These samples are used to efficiently and accurately estimate the location of the access point. The experimental testing verified that the proposed approach can identify the location of the access point in an accurate and efficient manner.

  4. A new semi-mobile plant for radiation processing of waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tata, A.

    1998-04-01

    A new pilot/demonstrative semi-mobile irradiation plant, named TRIRIS (TRIsaia-RIfiuti-Sterilizzazione, namely 'Trisaia Res. Center - Wastes- Sterilization') has been designed and erected. The plant goal is recognized in proposing and exploring new technological opportunities, based on an 'in-situ' effective processing of solid or liquid waste, mainly with reference to emergency situations (e.g. need of a quick environmental restoring operation following an accidental groundwater pollution). The project, which was jointly carried out by ENEA and Hitesys Co. and Italian electrons accelerators manufacturer, foresees a LINAC type EB-machine (s band) having 4-6 M e V and till 1000 W as beam features. Scattered radiation shielding is performed by a water pool surrounding the EB-machine head, filled up before operations. The plant, that is to be located at ENEA-Trisaia Res. Center (Basilicata southern of Italy), allows a large operative flexibility: groundwater and wastewater decontamination (1800 to 70 kg/h in the 1 to 25 kGy does range), organic and chlorinated waste streams (25 kg/h at 75 kGy), solid hospital wastes (50 kg/h at 35 kGy) or hazardous wastes like polycyclic aromatic compounds (180 to 35 kg/h in the 10 to 50 kGy dose range) [it

  5. Derived Requirements for Double Shell Tank (DST) High Level Waste (HLW) Auxiliary Solids Mobilization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    TEDESCHI, A.R.

    2000-02-28

    The potential need for auxiliary double-shell tank waste mixing and solids mobilization requires an evaluation of optional technologies. This document formalizes those operating and design requirements needed for further engineering evaluations.

  6. Derived Requirements for Double-Shell Tank (DST) High Level Waste (HLW) Auxiliary Solids Mobilization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    TEDESCHI, A.R.

    2000-01-01

    The potential need for auxiliary double-shell tank waste mixing and solids mobilization requires an evaluation of optional technologies. This document formalizes those operating and design requirements needed for further engineering evaluations

  7. Autonomic Semantic-Based Context-Aware Platform for Mobile Applications in Pervasive Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adel Alti

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Currently, the field of smart-* (home, city, health, tourism, etc. is naturally heterogeneous and multimedia oriented. In such a domain, there is an increasing usage of heterogeneous mobile devices, as well as captors transmitting data (IoT. They are highly connected and can be used for many different services, such as to monitor, to analyze and to display information to users. In this context, data management and adaptation in real time are becoming a challenging task. More precisely, at one time, it is necessary to handle in a dynamic, intelligent and transparent framework various data provided by multiple devices with several modalities. This paper presents a Kali-Smart platform, which is an autonomic semantic-based context-aware platform. It is based on semantic web technologies and a middleware providing autonomy and reasoning facilities. Moreover, Kali-Smart is generic and, as a consequence, offers to users a flexible infrastructure where they can easily control various interaction modalities of their own situations. An experimental study has been made to evaluate the performance and feasibility of the proposed platform.

  8. Autonomous trajectory generation for mobile robots with non-holonomic and steering angle constraints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pin, F.G.; Vasseur, H.A.

    1990-01-01

    This paper presents an approach to the trajectory planning of mobile platforms characterized by non-holonomic constraints and constraints on the steering angle and steering angle rate. The approach is based on geometric reasoning and provides deterministic trajectories for all pairs of initial and final configurations (position x, y, and orientation θ) of the robot. Furthermore, the method generates trajectories taking into account the forward and reverse mode of motion of the vehicle, or combination of these when complex maneuvering is involved or when the environment is obstructed with obstacles. The trajectory planning algorithm is described, and examples of trajectories generated for a variety of environmental conditions are presented. The generation of the trajectories only takes a few milliseconds of run time on a micro Vax, making the approach quite attractive for use as a real-time motion planner for teleoperated or sensor-based autonomous vehicles in complex environments. 10 refs., 11 figs

  9. MicroMAIS: executing and orchestrating Web services on constrained mobile devices

    OpenAIRE

    Plebani, Pierluigi; Cappiello, Cinzia; Comuzzi, Marco; Pernici, Barbara; Yadav, Sandeep

    2012-01-01

    Mobile devices with their more and more powerful resources allow the development of mobile information systems in which services are not only provided by traditional systems but also autonomously executed and controlled in the mobile devices themselves. Services distributed on autonomous mobile devices allow both the development of cooperative applications without a back-end infrastructure and the development of applications blending distributed and centralized services. In this paper, we pro...

  10. Mobility and attenuation of arsenic in sulfide-rich mining wastes from the Czech Republic

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Drahota, P.; Knappová, M.; Kindlová, H.; Culka, A.; Majzlan, J.; Mihaljevič, M.; Rohovec, Jan; Veselovský, F.; Fridrichová, Michaela; Jehlička, J.

    557/558, July 01 (2016), s. 192-203 ISSN 0048-9697 Institutional support: RVO:67985831 Keywords : arsenic * mining waste * mobility * pore water * secondary arsenic minerals Subject RIV: DD - Geochemistry Impact factor: 4.900, year: 2016

  11. Physics Simulation Software for Autonomous Propellant Loading and Gas House Autonomous System Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Regalado Reyes, Bjorn Constant

    2015-01-01

    1. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is developing a mobile launching system with autonomous propellant loading capabilities for liquid-fueled rockets. An autonomous system will be responsible for monitoring and controlling the storage, loading and transferring of cryogenic propellants. The Physics Simulation Software will reproduce the sensor data seen during the delivery of cryogenic fluids including valve positions, pressures, temperatures and flow rates. The simulator will provide insight into the functionality of the propellant systems and demonstrate the effects of potential faults. This will provide verification of the communications protocols and the autonomous system control. 2. The High Pressure Gas Facility (HPGF) stores and distributes hydrogen, nitrogen, helium and high pressure air. The hydrogen and nitrogen are stored in cryogenic liquid state. The cryogenic fluids pose several hazards to operators and the storage and transfer equipment. Constant monitoring of pressures, temperatures and flow rates are required in order to maintain the safety of personnel and equipment during the handling and storage of these commodities. The Gas House Autonomous System Monitoring software will be responsible for constantly observing and recording sensor data, identifying and predicting faults and relaying hazard and operational information to the operators.

  12. Development of TRU waste mobile analysis methods for RCRA-regulated metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahan, C.A.; Villarreal, R.; Drake, L.; Figg, D.; Wayne, D.; Goldstein, S.

    1998-01-01

    This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Glow-discharge mass spectrometry (GD-MS), laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), dc-arc atomic-emission spectroscopy (DC-ARC-AES), laser-ablation inductively-coupled-plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) were identified as potential solid-sample analytical techniques for mobile characterization of TRU waste. Each technology developers was provided with surrogate TRU waste samples in order to develop an analytical method. Following successful development of the analytical method, five performance evaluation samples were distributed to each of the researchers in a blind round-robin format. Results of the round robin were compared to known values and Transuranic Waste Characterization Program (TWCP) data quality objectives. Only two techniques, DC-ARC-AES and EDXRF, were able to complete the entire project. Methods development for GD-MS and LA-ICP-MS was halted due to the stand-down at the CMR facility. Results of the round-robin analysis are given for the EDXRF and DCARC-AES techniques. While DC-ARC-AES met several of the data quality objectives, the performance of the EDXRF technique by far surpassed the DC-ARC-AES technique. EDXRF is a simple, rugged, field portable instrument that appears to hold great promise for mobile characterization of TRU waste. The performance of this technique needs to be tested on real TRU samples in order to assess interferences from actinide constituents. In addition, mercury and beryllium analysis will require another analytical technique because the EDXRF method failed to meet the TWCP data quality objectives. Mercury analysis is easily accomplished on solid samples by cold vapor atomic fluorescence (CVAFS). Beryllium can be analyzed by any of a variety of emission techniques

  13. From Autonomous Robots to Artificial Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mastrogiovanni, Fulvio; Sgorbissa, Antonio; Zaccaria, Renato

    During the past few years, starting from the two mainstream fields of Ambient Intelligence [2] and Robotics [17], several authors recognized the benefits of the socalled Ubiquitous Robotics paradigm. According to this perspective, mobile robots are no longer autonomous, physically situated and embodied entities adapting themselves to a world taliored for humans: on the contrary, they are able to interact with devices distributed throughout the environment and get across heterogeneous information by means of communication technologies. Information exchange, coupled with simple actuation capabilities, is meant to replace physical interaction between robots and their environment. Two benefits are evident: (i) smart environments overcome inherent limitations of mobile platforms, whereas (ii) mobile robots offer a mobility dimension unknown to smart environments.

  14. Electronic waste recovery in Finland: Consumers' perceptions towards recycling and re-use of mobile phones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ylä-Mella, Jenni; Keiski, Riitta L; Pongrácz, Eva

    2015-11-01

    This paper examines consumers' awareness and perceptions towards mobile phone recycling and re-use. The results are based on a survey conducted in the city of Oulu, Finland, and analysed in the theoretical framework based on the theories of planned behaviour (TPB) and value-belief-norm (VBN). The findings indicate that consumers' awareness of the importance and existence of waste recovery system is high; however, awareness has not translated to recycling behaviour. The survey reveals that 55% of respondents have two or more unused mobile phones at homes. The more phones stored at homes, the more often reasons 'I don't know where to return' and/or 'have not got to do it yet' were mentioned. This indicates that proximity and the convenience of current waste management system are inadequate in promoting the return of small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). To facilitate re-use, and the highest level of recovery, consumers will need to be committed to return end-of-use electronics to WEEE collection centres without delays. Further, the supply and demand of refurbished mobile phones do not meet at this moment in Finland due to consumer's storing habits versus expectations of recent features under guarantee and unrealistic low prizes. The study also points out that, in order to change current storing habits of consumers, there is an explicit need for more information and awareness on mobile phone collection in Finland, especially on regarding retailers' take-back. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Autonomic Regulation of Splanchnic Circulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathleen A Fraser

    1991-01-01

    Full Text Available The role of the autonomic nervous system in circulatory regulation of the splanchnic organs (stomach, small intestine, colon, liver, pancreas and spleen is reviewed. In general, the sympathetic nervous system is primarily involved in vasoconstriction, while the parasympathetic contributes to vasodilation. Vasoconstriction in the splanchnic circulation appears to be mediated by alpha-2 receptors and vasodilation by activation of primary afferent nerves with subsequent release of vasodilatory peptides, or by stimulation of beta-adrenergic receptors. As well, an important function of the autonomic nervous system is to provide a mechanism by which splanchnic vascular reserve can be mobilized during stress to maintain overall cardiovascular homeostasis.

  16. The technology of mobile robot with articulated crawler mechanism

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Seung Ho; Kim, Byung Soo; Kim, Chang Hoi; Hwang, Suk Yong; Suh, Yong Chil; Lee, Yung Kwang; Sin, Jae Ho [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    1995-01-01

    The main application of a mobile robot are to do the inspection and maintenance tasks in the primary and auxiliary building, and to meet with the radiological emergency response in nuclear power plant. Our project to develop crawler-type mobile robot has been divided into 3 phases. In 1 st phase, the-state-of-the-arts of mobile robot technology were studied and analyzed. And then the technical report `development of mobile robot technology for the light work` was published on July, 1993. In current phase, the articulated crawler type mobile robot named as ANDROS Mark VI was purchased to evaluate deeply its mechanism and control system. Then we designed the autonomous track surface, to get the inclination angle of robot, and to control the front and rear auxiliary track autonomously during climbing up and down stairs. And also, the autonomous stair-climbing algorithm has been developed to going over stairs with high stability. For the final phase, the advanced model of articulated crawler type mobile robot is going to be developed. (Author) 13 refs., 30 figs., 12 tabs.

  17. The technology of mobile robot with articulated crawler mechanism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Seung Ho; Kim, Byung Soo; Kim, Chang Hoi; Hwang, Suk Yong; Suh, Yong Chil; Lee, Yung Kwang; Sin, Jae Ho

    1995-01-01

    The main application of a mobile robot are to do the inspection and maintenance tasks in the primary and auxiliary building, and to meet with the radiological emergency response in nuclear power plant. Our project to develop crawler-type mobile robot has been divided into 3 phases. In 1 st phase, the-state-of-the-arts of mobile robot technology were studied and analyzed. And then the technical report 'development of mobile robot technology for the light work' was published on July, 1993. In current phase, the articulated crawler type mobile robot named as ANDROS Mark VI was purchased to evaluate deeply its mechanism and control system. Then we designed the autonomous track surface, to get the inclination angle of robot, and to control the front and rear auxiliary track autonomously during climbing up and down stairs. And also, the autonomous stair-climbing algorithm has been developed to going over stairs with high stability. For the final phase, the advanced model of articulated crawler type mobile robot is going to be developed. (Author) 13 refs., 30 figs., 12 tabs

  18. Toxicity characterization of waste mobile phone plastics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nnorom, I.C.; Osibanjo, O.

    2009-01-01

    Waste plastic housing units (N = 60) of mobile phones (of different models, and brands), were collected and analyzed for lead, cadmium, nickel and silver using atomic absorption spectrophotometry after acid digestion using a 1:1 mixture of H 2 SO 4 and HNO 3 . The mean (±S.D.) and range of the results are 58.3 ± 50.4 mg/kg (5.0-340 mg/kg) for Pb, 69.9 ± 145 mg/kg (4.6-1005 mg/kg) for Cd, 432 ± 1905 mg/kg (5.0-11,000 mg/kg) for Ni, and 403 ± 1888 mg/kg (5.0-12,500 mg/kg) for Ag. Approximately 90% of the results for the various metals were ≤100 mg/kg. Results greater than 300 mg/kg were generally less than 7% for each metal and could be attributed to exogenous contamination of the samples. These results suggest that there may not be any immediate danger from end-of-life (EoL) mobile phone plastic housing if appropriately treated/managed. However, considering the large quantities generated and the present low-end management practices in most developing countries, such as open burning, there appears a genuine concern over the potential for environmental pollution and toxicity to man and the ecology

  19. Impeding 99Tc(IV) mobility in novel waste forms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Mal-Soon; Um, Wooyong; Wang, Guohui; Kruger, Albert A.; Lukens, Wayne W.; Rousseau, Roger; Glezakou, Vassiliki-Alexandra

    2016-01-01

    Technetium (99Tc) is an abundant, long-lived radioactive fission product whose mobility in the subsurface is largely governed by its oxidation state. Tc immobilization is crucial for radioactive waste management and environmental remediation. Tc(IV) incorporation in spinels has been proposed as a novel method to increase Tc retention in glass waste forms during vitrification. However, experiments under high-temperature and oxic conditions show reoxidation of Tc(IV) to volatile pertechnetate, Tc(VII). Here we examine this problem with ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and propose that, at elevated temperatures, doping with first row transition metal can significantly enhance Tc retention in magnetite in the order Co>Zn>Ni. Experiments with doped spinels at 700 °C provide quantitative confirmation of the theoretical predictions in the same order. This work highlights the power of modern, state-of-the-art simulations to provide essential insights and generate theory-inspired design criteria of complex materials at elevated temperatures. PMID:27357121

  20. Structured control for autonomous robots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simmons, R.G.

    1994-01-01

    To operate in rich, dynamic environments, autonomous robots must be able to effectively utilize and coordinate their limited physical and occupational resources. As complexity increases, it becomes necessary to impose explicit constraints on the control of planning, perception, and action to ensure that unwanted interactions between behaviors do not occur. This paper advocates developing complex robot systems by layering reactive behaviors onto deliberative components. In this structured control approach, the deliberative components handle normal situations and the reactive behaviors, which are explicitly constrained as to when and how they are activated, handle exceptional situations. The Task Control Architecture (TCA) has been developed to support this approach. TCA provides an integrated set of control constructs useful for implementing deliberative and reactive behaviors. The control constructs facilitate modular and evolutionary system development: they are used to integrate and coordinate planning, perception, and execution, and to incrementally improve the efficiency and robustness of the robot systems. To date, TCA has been used in implementing a half-dozen mobile robot systems, including an autonomous six-legged rover and indoor mobile manipulator

  1. DualTrust: A Trust Management Model for Swarm-Based Autonomic Computing Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maiden, Wendy M. [Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)

    2010-05-01

    Trust management techniques must be adapted to the unique needs of the application architectures and problem domains to which they are applied. For autonomic computing systems that utilize mobile agents and ant colony algorithms for their sensor layer, certain characteristics of the mobile agent ant swarm -- their lightweight, ephemeral nature and indirect communication -- make this adaptation especially challenging. This thesis looks at the trust issues and opportunities in swarm-based autonomic computing systems and finds that by monitoring the trustworthiness of the autonomic managers rather than the swarming sensors, the trust management problem becomes much more scalable and still serves to protect the swarm. After analyzing the applicability of trust management research as it has been applied to architectures with similar characteristics, this thesis specifies the required characteristics for trust management mechanisms used to monitor the trustworthiness of entities in a swarm-based autonomic computing system and describes a trust model that meets these requirements.

  2. Self-localization for an autonomous mobile robot based on an omni-directional vision system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, Shu-Yin; Lin, Kuang-Yu; Chia, Tsorng-Lin

    2013-12-01

    In this study, we designed an autonomous mobile robot based on the rules of the Federation of International Robotsoccer Association (FIRA) RoboSot category, integrating the techniques of computer vision, real-time image processing, dynamic target tracking, wireless communication, self-localization, motion control, path planning, and control strategy to achieve the contest goal. The self-localization scheme of the mobile robot is based on the algorithms featured in the images from its omni-directional vision system. In previous works, we used the image colors of the field goals as reference points, combining either dual-circle or trilateration positioning of the reference points to achieve selflocalization of the autonomous mobile robot. However, because the image of the game field is easily affected by ambient light, positioning systems exclusively based on color model algorithms cause errors. To reduce environmental effects and achieve the self-localization of the robot, the proposed algorithm is applied in assessing the corners of field lines by using an omni-directional vision system. Particularly in the mid-size league of the RobotCup soccer competition, selflocalization algorithms based on extracting white lines from the soccer field have become increasingly popular. Moreover, white lines are less influenced by light than are the color model of the goals. Therefore, we propose an algorithm that transforms the omni-directional image into an unwrapped transformed image, enhancing the extraction features. The process is described as follows: First, radical scan-lines were used to process omni-directional images, reducing the computational load and improving system efficiency. The lines were radically arranged around the center of the omni-directional camera image, resulting in a shorter computational time compared with the traditional Cartesian coordinate system. However, the omni-directional image is a distorted image, which makes it difficult to recognize the

  3. How Can Autonomous and Connected Vehicles, Electromobility, BRT, Hyperloop, Shared Use Mobility and Mobility-As-A-Service Shape Transport Futures for the Context of Smart Cities?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandros Nikitas

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available A smarter transport system that caters for social, economic and environmental sustainability is arguably one of the most critical prerequisites for creating pathways to more livable urban futures. This paper aims to provide a state-of-the-art analysis of a selection of mobility initiatives that may dictate the future of urban transportation and make cities smarter. These are mechanisms either recently introduced with encouraging uptake so far and much greater potential to contribute in a shift to a better transport paradigm or still in an embryonic stage of their development and yet to be embraced as powerful mechanisms that could change travel behaviour norms. Autonomous and connected vehicles are set to revolutionise the urban landscape by allowing machines to take over driving that for over a century has been exclusively a human activity, while electrical vehicles are already helping decarbonising the transport sector. Bus rapid transit has been steadily reinventing and rebranding conventional bus services revitalising the use of the humblest form of public transport, while hyperloop is an entirely new, disruptive, and somewhat provocative, travel mode proposition based on the use of sealed tube systems through which pods could travel free of air resistance with speeds exceeding 1000 km/h. Shared use mobility mechanisms like car-sharing, ride-sharing, ride-sourcing and public bicycles can help establishing a culture for using mobility resources on an as-needed basis, while mobility-as-a-service will take this sharing culture a step further, offering tailored mobility and trip planning packages that could entirely replace the need for privately owned modes of transport.

  4. Mobile Agents in Networking and Distributed Computing

    CERN Document Server

    Cao, Jiannong

    2012-01-01

    The book focuses on mobile agents, which are computer programs that can autonomously migrate between network sites. This text introduces the concepts and principles of mobile agents, provides an overview of mobile agent technology, and focuses on applications in networking and distributed computing.

  5. Crowdsourced Quantification and Visualization of Urban Mobility Space Inequality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Szell

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Most cities are car-centric, allocating a privileged amount of urban space to cars at the expense of sustainable mobility like cycling. Simultaneously, privately owned vehicles are vastly underused, wasting valuable opportunities for accommodating more people in a livable urban environment by occupying spacious parking areas. Since a data-driven quantification and visualization of such urban mobility space inequality is lacking, here we explore how crowdsourced data can help to advance its understanding. In particular, we describe how the open-source online platform What the Street!? uses massive user-generated data from OpenStreetMap for the interactive exploration of city-wide mobility spaces. Using polygon packing and graph algorithms, the platform rearranges all parking and mobility spaces of cars, rails, and bicycles of a city to be directly comparable, making mobility space inequality accessible to a broad public. This crowdsourced method confirms a prevalent imbalance between modal share and space allocation in 23 cities worldwide, typically discriminating bicycles. Analyzing the guesses of the platform’s visitors about mobility space distributions, we find that this discrimination is consistently underestimated in the public opinion. Finally, we discuss a visualized scenario in which extensive parking areas are regained through fleets of shared, autonomous vehicles. We outline how such accessible visualization platforms can facilitate urban planners and policy makers to reclaim road and parking space for pushing forward sustainable transport solutions.

  6. Mobile systems capability plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-09-01

    This plan was prepared to initiate contracting for and deployment of these mobile system services. 102,000 cubic meters of retrievable, contact-handled TRU waste are stored at many sites around the country. Also, an estimated 38,000 cubic meters of TRU waste will be generated in the course of waste inventory workoff and continuing DOE operations. All the defense TRU waste is destined for disposal in WIPP near Carlsbad NM. To ship TRU waste there, sites must first certify that the waste meets WIPP waste acceptance criteria. The waste must be characterized, and if not acceptable, subjected to additional processing, including repackaging. Most sites plan to use existing fixed facilities or open new ones between FY1997-2006 to perform these functions; small-quantity sites lack this capability. An alternative to fixed facilities is the use of mobile systems mounted in trailers or skids, and transported to sites. Mobile systems will be used for all characterization and certification at small sites; large sites can also use them. The Carlsbad Area Office plans to pursue a strategy of privatization of mobile system services, since this offers a number of advantages. To indicate the possible magnitude of the costs of deploying mobile systems, preliminary estimates of equipment, maintenance, and operating costs over a 10-year period were prepared and options for purchase, lease, and privatization through fixed-price contracts considered

  7. Design of an autonomous mobile robot for service applications

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    De Villiers, M

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available This research project proposes the development of an autonomous, omnidirectional vehicle that will be used for general indoor service applications. A suggested trial application for this service robot will be to deliver printouts to various network...

  8. Semi-autonomous exploration of multi-floor buildings with a legged robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wenger, Garrett J.; Johnson, Aaron M.; Taylor, Camillo J.; Koditschek, Daniel E.

    2015-05-01

    This paper presents preliminary results of a semi-autonomous building exploration behavior using the hexapedal robot RHex. Stairwells are used in virtually all multi-floor buildings, and so in order for a mobile robot to effectively explore, map, clear, monitor, or patrol such buildings it must be able to ascend and descend stairwells. However most conventional mobile robots based on a wheeled platform are unable to traverse stairwells, motivating use of the more mobile legged machine. This semi-autonomous behavior uses a human driver to provide steering input to the robot, as would be the case in, e.g., a tele-operated building exploration mission. The gait selection and transitions between the walking and stair climbing gaits are entirely autonomous. This implementation uses an RGBD camera for stair acquisition, which offers several advantages over a previously documented detector based on a laser range finder, including significantly reduced acquisition time. The sensor package used here also allows for considerable expansion of this behavior. For example, complete automation of the building exploration task driven by a mapping algorithm and higher level planner is presently under development.

  9. Security Infrastructure and Applicationsfor Mobile Agents

    OpenAIRE

    Shibli, Awais

    2010-01-01

    Research areas of this dissertation are security for mobile agents, for applications based on mobile agents, and for distributed network environments in which mobile agents execute. Mobile agents paradigm has captured researchers’ and industry’s interests long time ago because of its innovative capabilities and attractive applications. The ability of mobile agents to autonomously migrate from host to host, transferring their code and internal state, enables them to accomplish tasks in network...

  10. Control of autonomous robot using neural networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, Adam; Volna, Eva

    2017-07-01

    The aim of the article is to design a method of control of an autonomous robot using artificial neural networks. The introductory part describes control issues from the perspective of autonomous robot navigation and the current mobile robots controlled by neural networks. The core of the article is the design of the controlling neural network, and generation and filtration of the training set using ART1 (Adaptive Resonance Theory). The outcome of the practical part is an assembled Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot solving the problem of avoiding obstacles in space. To verify models of an autonomous robot behavior, a set of experiments was created as well as evaluation criteria. The speed of each motor was adjusted by the controlling neural network with respect to the situation in which the robot was found.

  11. A new semi-mobile plant for radiation processing of waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iacoboni, V.; Liccione, G.; Schwarz, M.; Tata, A.; Fantini, M.

    1998-01-01

    A new pilot/demonstrative semi-mobile irradiation plant, named TRIRIS (TRIsaia-RIfiuti-Sterilizzazione, namely ''Trisaia Res. Center - Wastes - Sterilization''), has been designed and erected in order to propose and explore new technological opportunities, based on in ''in-situ'' effective cleaning process. The main general goal is to face increased problems and concerns related to the treatment/disposal of different solid-liquid wastes, particularly with reference to emergency situation (e.g. need of quick environment restoring operation following an accident with groundwater pollution). The project, which was jointly carried out by ENEA and Hitesys Co., an Italian electron accelerators manufacturer, foresees a LINAC type EB-machine (s band) having 4-6 MeV and till 1000 W as beam features. A highly flexible automatic system allows materials (solid or liquid wastes) transporting and handling to be equipped with a belt conveyor and a piping net. Scattered radiation shielding is performed by a water pool surrounding the EB-machine head, filled up before operations. Auxiliary systems, control console and analytical chemical laboratories are hosted in suitable containers near the plant and are easily transportable. The whole plant and annexed systems disassembling and reassembling in a new site can be easily carried out in a short time (few days). The plant, located at ENEA-Trisaia Res. Center (Basilicata, southern Italy), allows a large operative flexibility: groundwater and wastewater decontamination (1800 to 70 kg/h in the 1 to 25 kGy dose range), organic and chlorinated waste streams (25 kg/h at 75 kGy), solid hospital wastes (50 kg/h at 35 kGy) or hazardous wastes like polycyclic aromatic compounds (180 to 35 kg/h in the 10 to 50 kGy dose range). The paper describes and illustrates the plant in details and presents the first available operating results so far performed by the installed plant

  12. High-level waste tank modifications, installation of mobilization equipment/check out

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schiffhauer, M.A.; Thompson, S.C.

    1992-01-01

    PUREX high-level waste (HLW) is contained at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) in an underground carbon-steel storage tank. The HLW consists of a precipitated sludge and an alkaline supernate. This report describes the system that the WVDP has developed and implemented to resuspend and wash the HLW sludge from the tank. The report discusses Sludge Mobilization and Wash System (SMWS) equipment design, installation, and testing. The storage tank required modifications to accommodate the SMWS. These modifications are discussed as well

  13. Waste degradation and mobilization in performance assessments for the Yucca Mountain disposal system for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rechard, Rob P.; Stockman, Christine T.

    2014-01-01

    This paper summarizes modeling of waste degradation and mobilization in performance assessments (PAs) conducted between 1984 and 2008 to evaluate feasibility, viability, and assess compliance of a repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada. As understanding of the Yucca Mountain disposal system increased, the waste degradation module, or succinctly called the source-term, evolved from initial assumptions in 1984 to results based on process modeling in 2008. In early PAs, waste degradation had significant influence on calculated behavior but as the robustness of the waste container was increased and modeling of the container degradation improved, waste degradation had much less influence in later PAs. The variation of dissolved concentrations of radionuclides progressed from simple probability distributions in early PAs to functions dependent upon water chemistry in later PAs. Also, transport modeling of radionuclides in the waste, container, and invert were added in 1995; and, colloid-facilitated transport of radionuclides was added in 1998. - Highlights: • Progression of modeling of waste degradation in performance assessments is discussed for the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. • Progression of evaluating dissolved concentrations of radionuclides in the source-term is discussed. • Radionuclide transport modeling in the waste, container, and invert in 1995 and thereafter is discussed. • Colloid-facilitated transport in the waste, container, and invert in 1998 and thereafter is discussed

  14. A Mobile Self-Reconfigurable Microrobot with Power and Communication Relays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dawei Zhang

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available A modular mobile self-reconfigurable microrobot is developed to enlarge the whole surveillance range of mobile microrobot. The microrobot is designed as differential driven vehicle equipped with a passive universal connector with autonomic engagement/disengagement function, and actuated by MEMS-based electromagnetic micromotors. To realize that the microrobot is autonomous, its electrical system is designed in modularity and integrated. A simple autonomous docking approach based on infrared sensors is presented. Experimental results verify high efficiency and reliability of the proposed docking method, and demonstrate the improved ability of performing large-range vision-based surveillance by power and communication relays.

  15. A Mobile Self-reconfigurable Microrobot with Power and Communication Relays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dawei Zhang

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available A modular mobile self-reconfigurable microrobot is developed to enlarge the whole surveillance range of mobile microrobot. The microrobot is designed as differential driven vehicle equipped with a passive universal connector with autonomic engagement/disengagement function, and actuated by MEMS-based electromagnetic micromotors. To realize that the microrobot is autonomous, its electrical system is designed in modularity and integrated. A simple autonomous docking approach based on infrared sensors is presented. Experimental results verify high efficiency and reliability of the proposed docking method, and demonstrate the improved ability of performing large-range vision-based surveillance by power and communication relays.

  16. Multisensor Data Fusion and Integration for Mobile Robots: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    KS Nagla

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available One of the most important and useful feature of autonomous mobile robots is their ability to adopt themselves to operate in unstructured environment. Today robots are performing autonomously in industrial floor, office environments, as well as in crowded public places where the robots need to maintain their localization and mapping parameters.The basic requirement of an intelligent mobile robot is to develop and maintain localization and mapping parameters to complete the complex missions. In such situations, several difficulties arise in due to the inaccuracies and uncertainties in sensor measurements. Various techniques are there to handle such noises where the multisensor data fusion is not the exceptional one.From the last two decades, multisensor data fusions in mobile robots become a dominant paradigm  due to its potential advantages like reduction in uncertainty, increase in accuracy and reliability and reduction of cost.This paper presents the reviews of autonomous mobile robots and role of multisenosr data fusion.

  17. Characterizing Early Adolescent Plate Waste Using the Mobile Food Record.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panizza, Chloe E; Boushey, Carol J; Delp, Edward J; Kerr, Deborah A; Lim, Eunjung; Gandhi, Krupa; Banna, Jinan C

    2017-01-26

    This study aimed to assess the amount of plate waste and how plate waste was disposed by early adolescent girls using a mobile food record (mFR). Participants were girls nine to thirteen years residing in O'ahu, Hawai'i ( n = 93). Foods selected and leftover were estimated using a three day mFR. Each leftover food was then classified as thrown into the trash, fed to a pet, eaten later, or other (e.g., composted). Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted and Tukey's post-hoc test were used to adjust for multiple comparisons between times (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack) on leftover food and leftover food thrown into the trash. The percentage of food leftover and thrown into the trash was highest at lunch. The percentage of protein, grain, vegetables, fruit, and dairy leftover at lunch were unexpectedly low compared to previous studies. The median for percentage of food thrown into the trash at lunch was <5% for all food groups, and was consistently low across the day (<10%). Average energy intake was 436 kcal (±216) at lunch, and 80% of caregivers reported total household income as ≥$70,000. Studies in real-time using technology over full days may better quantify plate waste among adolescents.

  18. Characterizing Early Adolescent Plate Waste Using the Mobile Food Record

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chloe E. Panizza

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to assess the amount of plate waste and how plate waste was disposed by early adolescent girls using a mobile food record (mFR. Participants were girls nine to thirteen years residing in O’ahu, Hawai’i (n = 93. Foods selected and leftover were estimated using a three day mFR. Each leftover food was then classified as thrown into the trash, fed to a pet, eaten later, or other (e.g., composted. Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA were conducted and Tukey’s post-hoc test were used to adjust for multiple comparisons between times (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack on leftover food and leftover food thrown into the trash. The percentage of food leftover and thrown into the trash was highest at lunch. The percentage of protein, grain, vegetables, fruit, and dairy leftover at lunch were unexpectedly low compared to previous studies. The median for percentage of food thrown into the trash at lunch was <5% for all food groups, and was consistently low across the day (<10%. Average energy intake was 436 kcal (±216 at lunch, and 80% of caregivers reported total household income as ≥$70,000. Studies in real-time using technology over full days may better quantify plate waste among adolescents.

  19. Distributed Hardware-in-the-loop simulator for autonomous continuous dynamical systems with spatially constrained interactions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verburg, D.J.; Papp, Z.; Dorrepaal, M.

    2003-01-01

    The state-of-the-art intelligent vehicle, autonomous guided vehicle and mobile robotics application domains can be described as collection of interacting highly autonomous complex dynamical systems. Extensive formal analysis of these systems – except special cases – is not feasible, consequently the

  20. Autonomously Implemented Versatile Path Planning for Mobile Robots Based on Cellular Automata and Ant Colony

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adel Akbarimajd

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available A path planning method for mobile robots based on two dimensional cellular automata is proposed. The method can be applied for environments with both concave and convex obstacles. It is also appropriate for multi-robot problems as well as dynamic environments. In order to develop the planning method, environment of the robot is decomposed to a rectangular grid and the automata is defined with four states including Robot cell, Free cell, Goal cell and Obstacle cell. Evolution rules of automata are proposed in order to direct the robot toward its goal. CA based path planner method is afterwards modified by a colony technique to be applicable for concave obstacles. Then a layered architecture is proposed to autonomously implement the planning algorithm. The architecture employs an abstraction approach which makes the complexity manageable. An important feature of the architecture is internal artifacts that have some beliefs about the world. Most actions of the robot are planned and performed with respect to these artifacts.

  1. Mobile/Modular Deployment Project-Enhancing Efficiencies within the National Transuranic Waste Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Triay, I.R.; Basabilvazo, G.B.; Countiss, S.; Moody, D.C.; Behrens, R.G.; Lott, S.A.

    2002-01-01

    In 1999, the National Transuranic (TRU) Waste Program (NTP) achieved two significant milestones. First, the Waste Isolation Plant (WIPP) opened in March for the permanent disposal of TRU waste generated by, and temporarily stored at, various sites supporting the nation's defense programs. Second, the Hazardous Waste Facility Permit, issued by the New Mexico Environment Department, for WIPP became effective in November. While the opening of WIPP brought to closure a number of scientific, engineering, regulatory, and political challenges, achieving this major milestone led to a new set of challenges-how to achieve the Department of Energy's (DOE's) NTP end-state vision: All TRU waste from DOE sites scheduled for closure is removed All legacy TRU waste from DOE sites with an ongoing nuclear mission is disposed 0 All newly generated TRU waste is disposed as it is generated The goal is to operate the national TRU waste program safely, cost effectively, in compliance with applicable regulations and agreements, and at full capacity in a fully integrated mode. The existing schedule for TRU waste disposition would achieve the NTP vision in 2034 at an estimated life-cycle cost of $16B. The DOE's Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) seeks to achieve this vision early-by at least 10 years- while saving the nation an estimated $48 to $6B. CBFO's approach is to optimize, or to make as functional as possible, TRU waste disposition. That is, to remove barriers that impede waste disposition, and increase the rate and cost efficiency of waste disposal at WIPP, while maintaining safety. The Mobile/Modular Deployment Project (MMDP) is the principal vehicle for implementing DOE's new commercial model of using best business practices of national authorization basis, standardization, and economies of scale to accelerate the completion of WIPP's mission. The MMDP is one of the cornerstones of the National TRU Waste System Optimization Project (1). The objective of the MMDP is to increase TRU

  2. Localization of Non-Linearly Modeled Autonomous Mobile Robots Using Out-of-Sequence Measurements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesus M. de la Cruz

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a state of the art of the estimation algorithms dealing with Out-of-Sequence (OOS measurements for non-linearly modeled systems. The state of the art includes a critical analysis of the algorithm properties that takes into account the applicability of these techniques to autonomous mobile robot navigation based on the fusion of the measurements provided, delayed and OOS, by multiple sensors. Besides, it shows a representative example of the use of one of the most computationally efficient approaches in the localization module of the control software of a real robot (which has non-linear dynamics, and linear and non-linear sensors and compares its performance against other approaches. The simulated results obtained with the selected OOS algorithm shows the computational requirements that each sensor of the robot imposes to it. The real experiments show how the inclusion of the selected OOS algorithm in the control software lets the robot successfully navigate in spite of receiving many OOS measurements. Finally, the comparison highlights that not only is the selected OOS algorithm among the best performing ones of the comparison, but it also has the lowest computational and memory cost.

  3. Design characteristics of the Sludge Mobilization System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McMahon, C.L.

    1990-01-01

    Radioactive waste stored in underground tanks at the West Valley Demonstration Project is being processed into low-level waste and solidified in cement. High-level waste also stored underground will be vitrified and solidified into canistered glass logs. To move the waste from where it resides at the Waste Tank Farm to the Vitrification Facility requires equipment to prepare the storage tanks for low-level and high-level waste processing, equipment to mobilize and mix the radioactive sludge into a homogeneous slurry, and equipment to transfer the slurry for vitrification. The design of the Sludge Mobilization System has incorporated the necessary components to effect the preparation and transfer of waste in five operational phases. The first phase of the Sludge Mobilization System, which began in 1987, prepared the waste tanks to process radioactive liquid for delivery to the Cement Solidification System and to support the mobilization equipment. The second phase, beginning in 1991, will wash the sludge that remains after the liquid supernatant is decanted to prepare it for mobilization operations. The third phase will combine the contents of various waste tanks into one tank. The fourth phase will resuspend and mix the contents of the high-level waste tank. The fifth and final phase of the Sludge Mobilization System will entail transferring the waste mixture to the Vitrification Facility for processing into glass logs. Provisions for recycling the waste streams or slurries within the tank farm or for returning process streams to the Waste Tank Farm from the Vitrification Facility are also included in the final phase. This document addresses the Sludge Mobilization System equipment design characteristics in terms of its use in each of the five operational phases listed above

  4. Metal mobilization from metallurgical wastes by soil organic acids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potysz, Anna; Grybos, Malgorzata; Kierczak, Jakub; Guibaud, Gilles; Fondaneche, Patrice; Lens, Piet N L; van Hullebusch, Eric D

    2017-07-01

    Three types of Cu-slags differing in chemical and mineralogical composition (historical, shaft furnace, and granulated slags) and a matte from a lead recovery process were studied with respect to their susceptibility to release Cu, Zn and Pb upon exposure to organic acids commonly encountered in soil environments. Leaching experiments (24-960 h) were conducted with: i) humic acid (20 mg/L) at pH t 0  = 4.4, ii) fulvic acid (20 mg/L) at pH t 0  = 4.4, iii) an artificial root exudates (ARE) (17.4 g/L) solution at pH t 0  = 4.4, iv) ARE solution at pH t 0  = 2.9 and v) ultrapure water (pH t 0  = 5.6). The results demonstrated that the ARE contribute the most to the mobilization of metals from all the wastes analyzed, regardless of the initial pH of the solution. For example, up to 14%, 30%, 24% and 5% of Cu is released within 960 h from historical, shaft furnace, granulated slags and lead matte, respectively, when exposed to the artificial root exudates solution (pH 2.9). Humic and fulvic acids were found to have a higher impact on granulated and shaft furnace slags as compared to the ultrapure water control and increased the release of metals by a factor up to 37.5 (Pb) and 20.5 (Cu) for granulated and shaft furnace slags, respectively. Humic and fulvic acids amplified the mobilization of metals by a maximal factor of 13.6 (Pb) and 12.1 (Pb) for historical slag and lead matte, respectively. The studied organic compounds contributed to different release rates of metallic contaminants from individual metallurgical wastes under the conditions tested. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Sensor Fusion for Autonomous Mobile Robot Navigation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Plascencia, Alfredo

    Multi-sensor data fusion is a broad area of constant research which is applied to a wide variety of fields such as the field of mobile robots. Mobile robots are complex systems where the design and implementation of sensor fusion is a complex task. But research applications are explored constantl....... The scope of the thesis is limited to building a map for a laboratory robot by fusing range readings from a sonar array with landmarks extracted from stereo vision images using the (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) SIFT algorithm....

  6. A ToF-Camera as a 3D Vision Sensor for Autonomous Mobile Robotics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sobers Lourdu Xavier Francis

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to deploy a time-of-flight (ToF based photonic mixer device (PMD camera on an Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV whose overall target is to traverse from one point to another in hazardous and hostile environments employing obstacle avoidance without human intervention. The hypothesized approach of applying a ToF Camera for an AGV is a suitable approach to autonomous robotics because, as the ToF camera can provide three-dimensional (3D information at a low computational cost, it is utilized to extract information about obstacles after their calibration and ground testing and is mounted and integrated with the Pioneer mobile robot. The workspace is a two-dimensional (2D world map which has been divided into a grid/cells, where the collision-free path defined by the graph search algorithm is a sequence of cells the AGV can traverse to reach the target. PMD depth data is used to populate traversable areas and obstacles by representing a grid/cells of suitable size. These camera data are converted into Cartesian coordinates for entry into a workspace grid map. A more optimal camera mounting angle is needed and adopted by analysing the camera's performance discrepancy, such as pixel detection, the detection rate and the maximum perceived distances, and infrared (IR scattering with respect to the ground surface. This mounting angle is recommended to be half the vertical field-of-view (FoV of the PMD camera. A series of still and moving tests are conducted on the AGV to verify correct sensor operations, which show that the postulated application of the ToF camera in the AGV is not straightforward. Later, to stabilize the moving PMD camera and to detect obstacles, a tracking feature detection algorithm and the scene flow technique are implemented to perform a real-time experiment.

  7. Mobile hot cell transition design phase study for radioactive waste treatment on the Hanford reservation site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pons, Y.

    2010-01-01

    Full text of publication follows: At the US Department of Energy's Hanford Reservation site, 4 caissons in under ground storage contain approximately 23 cubic meters of Transuranic (TRU) waste, in over 5,000 small packages. The retrieval of these wastes presents a number of very difficult issues, including the configuration of the vaults, approximately 50,000 curies of activity, high dose rates, and damaged/degraded waste packages. The waste will require remote retrieval and processing sufficient to produce certifiable RH-TRU waste packages. This RH-TRU will be packaged for staging on site until certification by CCP is completed to authorize shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The project has introduced AREVA' s innovative Hot Mobile Cell (HMC) technology to perform size reduction, sorting, characterization, and packaging of the RH waste stream at the point of generation, the retrieval site in the field. This approach minimizes dose and hazard exposure to workers that is usually associated with this operation. The HMC can also be used to provide employee protection, weather protection, and capacity improvements similar to those realized in general burial ground. AREVA TA and his partner AFS will provide this technology based on the existing HMCs developed and operated in France: - ERFB (Bituminized Waste Drum Retrieval Facility): ERFB was built specifically for retrieving the bituminized waste drums (approximately 6,000 stored in trenches in the North zone on the Marcoule site (in operation since 2001). - ERCF (Waste Drum Recovery and Packaging Facility): The ERCF was built specifically to retrieve bituminized waste drums stored in 35 pits located in the south area on Marcoule site (in operation) - FOSSEA (Legacy Waste Removal and Trench Cleanup): The FOSSEA project consists of the retrieval of waste stored on the Basic Nuclear Facility. Waste from the 56 trenches will be inspected, characterised, and if necessary processed or repackaged, and

  8. Autonomous biomorphic robots as platforms for sensors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tilden, M.; Hasslacher, B.; Mainieri, R.; Moses, J.

    1996-10-01

    The idea of building autonomous robots that can carry out complex and nonrepetitive tasks is an old one, so far unrealized in any meaningful hardware. Tilden has shown recently that there are simple, processor-free solutions to building autonomous mobile machines that continuously adapt to unknown and hostile environments, are designed primarily to survive, and are extremely resistant to damage. These devices use smart mechanics and simple (low component count) electronic neuron control structures having the functionality of biological organisms from simple invertebrates to sophisticated members of the insect and crab family. These devices are paradigms for the development of autonomous machines that can carry out directed goals. The machine then becomes a robust survivalist platform that can carry sensors or instruments. These autonomous roving machines, now in an early stage of development (several proof-of-concept prototype walkers have been built), can be developed so that they are inexpensive, robust, and versatile carriers for a variety of instrument packages. Applications are immediate and many, in areas as diverse as prosthetics, medicine, space, construction, nanoscience, defense, remote sensing, environmental cleanup, and biotechnology.

  9. Autonomous biomorphic robots as platforms for sensors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tilden, M.; Hasslacher, B.; Mainieri, R.; Moses, J.

    1996-01-01

    The idea of building autonomous robots that can carry out complex and nonrepetitive tasks is an old one, so far unrealized in any meaningful hardware. Tilden has shown recently that there are simple, processor-free solutions to building autonomous mobile machines that continuously adapt to unknown and hostile environments, are designed primarily to survive, and are extremely resistant to damage. These devices use smart mechanics and simple (low component count) electronic neuron control structures having the functionality of biological organisms from simple invertebrates to sophisticated members of the insect and crab family. These devices are paradigms for the development of autonomous machines that can carry out directed goals. The machine then becomes a robust survivalist platform that can carry sensors or instruments. These autonomous roving machines, now in an early stage of development (several proof-of-concept prototype walkers have been built), can be developed so that they are inexpensive, robust, and versatile carriers for a variety of instrument packages. Applications are immediate and many, in areas as diverse as prosthetics, medicine, space, construction, nanoscience, defense, remote sensing, environmental cleanup, and biotechnology

  10. Simultaneous scheduling of machines and mobile robots

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dang, Vinh Quang; Nielsen, Izabela Ewa

    2013-01-01

    This paper deals with the problem of simultaneously scheduling machines and a number of autonomous mobile robots in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). Besides capability of transporting materials between machines, the considered mobile robots are different from other material handling devices...

  11. Urban planning for autonomous vehicles

    OpenAIRE

    Fourie, Pieter J.; Ordoñez Medina, Sergio A.; Maheshwari, Tanvi; Wang, Biyu; Erath, Alexander; Cairns, Stephen; Axhausen, Kay W.

    2018-01-01

    In land-scarce Singapore, population growth and increasingly dense development are running up against limited remaining space for mobility infrastructure expansion. Autonomous Vehicles (AV) promise to relieve some of this pressure, through more efficient use of road space through platooning and intersection coordination, reducing the need for parking space, and reducing overall reliance on privately owned cars, realising Singapore’s vision of a “car-lite” future. In a collaborative resear...

  12. Introduction to autonomous manipulation case study with an underwater robot, SAUVIM

    CERN Document Server

    Marani, Giacomo

    2014-01-01

    Autonomous manipulation” is a challenge in robotic technologies. It refers to the capability of a mobile robot system with one or more manipulators that performs intervention tasks requiring physical contacts in unstructured environments and without continuous human supervision. Achieving autonomous manipulation capability is a quantum leap in robotic technologies as it is currently beyond the state of the art in robotics. This book addresses issues with the complexity of the problems encountered in autonomous manipulation including representation and modeling of robotic structures, kinematic and dynamic robotic control, kinematic and algorithmic singularity avoidance, dynamic task priority, workspace optimization and environment perception. Further development in autonomous manipulation should be able to provide robust improvements of the solutions for all of the above issues. The book provides an extensive tract on sensory-based autonomous manipulation for intervention tasks in unstructured environment...

  13. Towards autonomous vehicular clouds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephan Olariu

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The dawn of the 21st century has seen a growing interest in vehicular networking and its myriad potential applications. The initial view of practitioners and researchers was that radio-equipped vehicles could keep the drivers informed about potential safety risks and increase their awareness of road conditions. The view then expanded to include access to the Internet and associated services. This position paper proposes and promotes a novel and more comprehensive vision namely, that advances in vehicular networks, embedded devices and cloud computing will enable the formation of autonomous clouds of vehicular computing, communication, sensing, power and physical resources. Hence, we coin the term, autonomous vehicular clouds (AVCs. A key feature distinguishing AVCs from conventional cloud computing is that mobile AVC resources can be pooled dynamically to serve authorized users and to enable autonomy in real-time service sharing and management on terrestrial, aerial, or aquatic pathways or theaters of operations. In addition to general-purpose AVCs, we also envision the emergence of specialized AVCs such as mobile analytics laboratories. Furthermore, we envision that the integration of AVCs with ubiquitous smart infrastructures including intelligent transportation systems, smart cities and smart electric power grids will have an enormous societal impact enabling ubiquitous utility cyber-physical services at the right place, right time and with right-sized resources.

  14. Navigation Algorithm Using Fuzzy Control Method in Mobile Robotics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cviklovič Vladimír

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The issue of navigation methods is being continuously developed globally. The aim of this article is to test the fuzzy control algorithm for track finding in mobile robotics. The concept of an autonomous mobile robot EN20 has been designed to test its behaviour. The odometry navigation method was used. The benefits of fuzzy control are in the evidence of mobile robot’s behaviour. These benefits are obtained when more physical variables on the base of more input variables are controlled at the same time. In our case, there are two input variables - heading angle and distance, and two output variables - the angular velocity of the left and right wheel. The autonomous mobile robot is moving with human logic.

  15. Implementation of Obstacle-Avoidance Control for an Autonomous Omni-Directional Mobile Robot Based on Extension Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi-Chung Lai

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper demonstrates a following robot with omni-directional wheels, which is able to take action to avoid obstacles. The robot design is based on both fuzzy and extension theory. Fuzzy theory was applied to tune the PMW signal of the motor revolution, and correct path deviation issues encountered when the robot is moving. Extension theory was used to build a robot obstacle-avoidance model. Various mobile models were developed to handle different types of obstacles. The ultrasonic distance sensors mounted on the robot were used to estimate the distance to obstacles. If an obstacle is encountered, the correlation function is evaluated and the robot avoids the obstacle autonomously using the most appropriate mode. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was verified through several tracking experiments, which demonstrates the feasibility of a fuzzy path tracker as well as the extensible collision avoidance system.

  16. Toxicity characterization of waste mobile phone plastics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nnorom, I C; Osibanjo, O

    2009-01-15

    Waste plastic housing units (N=60) of mobile phones (of different models, and brands), were collected and analyzed for lead, cadmium, nickel and silver using atomic absorption spectrophotometry after acid digestion using a 1:1 mixture of H2SO4 and HNO3. The mean (+/-S.D.) and range of the results are 58.3+/-50.4mg/kg (5.0-340mg/kg) for Pb, 69.9+/-145mg/kg (4.6-1005mg/kg) for Cd, 432+/-1905mg/kg (5.0-11,000mg/kg) for Ni, and 403+/-1888mg/kg (5.0-12,500mg/kg) for Ag. Approximately 90% of the results for the various metals were plastic housing if appropriately treated/managed. However, considering the large quantities generated and the present low-end management practices in most developing countries, such as open burning, there appears a genuine concern over the potential for environmental pollution and toxicity to man and the ecology.

  17. Arsenic mobility and speciation in a contaminated urban soil are affected by different methods of green waste compost application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartley, William; Dickinson, Nicholas M.; Riby, Philip; Leese, Elizabeth; Morton, Jackie; Lepp, Nicholas W.

    2010-01-01

    Application of green waste compost (GWC) to brownfield land is now common practice in soil restoration. However, previous studies have demonstrated both beneficial and detrimental effects on arsenic and metal mobility. In this paper, trace element behaviour was investigated following GWC application, either as surface mulch to, or mixed into soil from a previously described brownfield site in the U.K. Significant differences in arsenic mobility were observed between treatments. Mulching caused most disturbance, significantly increasing soil pore water As, together with Fe, P, Cr, Ni and dissolved organic carbon, the latter was a critical factor enhancing As mobilization. Arsenate was the main inorganic As species in soil pore water, increasing in concentration over time. An initial flush of potentially more toxic arsenite decreased 4 weeks after compost application. Biological processes appeared to play an important role in influencing As mobility. The results point to the necessity for careful management of As-contaminated soils. - A comparison of mulching and mixing of green waste compost to an urban soil results in differences in arsenic and metal leaching.

  18. Arsenic mobility and speciation in a contaminated urban soil are affected by different methods of green waste compost application

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hartley, William, E-mail: w.hartley@ljmu.ac.u [Liverpool John Moores University, Faculty of Science, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF (United Kingdom); Dickinson, Nicholas M.; Riby, Philip [Liverpool John Moores University, Faculty of Science, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF (United Kingdom); Leese, Elizabeth; Morton, Jackie [Health and Safety Laboratory, Harpur Hill, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 9JN (United Kingdom); Lepp, Nicholas W., E-mail: nickandeileenlepp@hotmail.co [35 Victoria Road, Formby L37 7DH (United Kingdom)

    2010-12-15

    Application of green waste compost (GWC) to brownfield land is now common practice in soil restoration. However, previous studies have demonstrated both beneficial and detrimental effects on arsenic and metal mobility. In this paper, trace element behaviour was investigated following GWC application, either as surface mulch to, or mixed into soil from a previously described brownfield site in the U.K. Significant differences in arsenic mobility were observed between treatments. Mulching caused most disturbance, significantly increasing soil pore water As, together with Fe, P, Cr, Ni and dissolved organic carbon, the latter was a critical factor enhancing As mobilization. Arsenate was the main inorganic As species in soil pore water, increasing in concentration over time. An initial flush of potentially more toxic arsenite decreased 4 weeks after compost application. Biological processes appeared to play an important role in influencing As mobility. The results point to the necessity for careful management of As-contaminated soils. - A comparison of mulching and mixing of green waste compost to an urban soil results in differences in arsenic and metal leaching.

  19. Localization Using Magnetic Patterns for Autonomous Mobile Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Won Suk You

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present a method of localization using magnetic landmarks. With this method, it is possible to compensate the pose error (xe, ye, θe of a mobile robot correctly and localize its current position on a global coordinate system on the surface of a structured environment with magnetic landmarks. A set of four magnetic bars forms total six different patterns of landmarks and these patterns can be read by the mobile robot with magnetic hall sensors. A sequential motion strategy for a mobile robot is proposed to find the geometric center of magnetic landmarks by reading the nonlinear magnetic field. The mobile robot first moves into the center region of the landmark where it can read the magnetic pattern, after which tracking and global localization can be easily achieved by recognizing the patterns of neighboring landmarks. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the sequential motion strategy for estimating the center of the first encountered landmark as well as the performance of tracking and global localization of the proposed system.

  20. Training Revising Based Traversability Analysis of Complex Terrains for Mobile Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui Song

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Traversability analysis is one of the core issues in the autonomous navigation for mobile robots to identify the accessible area by the information of sensors on mobile robots. This paper proposed a model to analyze the traversability of complex terrains based on rough sets and training revising. The model described the traversability for mobile robots by traversability cost. Through the experiment, the paper gets the conclusion that traversability analysis model based on rough sets and training revising can be used where terrain features are rich and complex, can effectively handle the unstructured environment, and can provide reliable and effective decision rules in the autonomous navigation for mobile robots.

  1. 12th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS-12)

    CERN Document Server

    Yoon, Kwang-Joon; Lee, Jangmyung; Frontiers of Intelligent Autonomous Systems

    2013-01-01

    This carefully edited volume aims at providing readers with the most recent progress on intelligent autonomous systems, with its particular emphasis on intelligent autonomous ground, aerial and underwater vehicles as well as service robots for home and healthcare under the context of the aforementioned convergence. “Frontiers of Intelligent Autonomous Systems” includes thoroughly revised and extended papers selected from the 12th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS-12), held in Jeju, Korea, June 26-29, 2012. The editors chose 35 papers out of the 202 papers presented at IAS-12 which are organized into three chapters: Chapter 1 is dedicated to autonomous navigation and mobile manipulation, Chapter 2 to unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles and Chapter 3 to service robots for home and healthcare. To help the readers to easily access this volume, each chapter starts with a chapter summary introduced by one of the editors: Chapter 1 by Sukhan Lee, Chapter 2 by Kwang Joon Yoon and...

  2. Mobile agents basic concepts, mobility models, and the tracy toolkit

    CERN Document Server

    Braun, Peter

    2005-01-01

    Mobile agents are software nomads that act as your personal representative, working autonomously through networks. They are able to visit network nodes directly using available computing power and are not limited by platform. This emerging field is now poised to become a cornerstone for new Web-based ubiquitous computing environments. Mobile Agents provides a practical introduction to mobile agent technology and surveys the state of the art in mobile agent research. Students and researchers can use the book as an introduction to the concepts and possibilities of this field and as an overview of ongoing research. Developers can use it to identify the capabilities of the technology to decide if mobile agents are the right solution for them. Practioners can also gain hands-on experience in programming mobile agents through exploration of the source code for a complete mobile agent environment available through the companion website.*Summarizes the state of the art in mobile agent research*Identifies the benefits...

  3. Dynamic Arc Fitting Path Follower for Skid-Steered Mobile Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Lepej

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Many applications, such as surveillance, inspection or search and rescue operations, can be performed with autonomous robots. Our aim is a control of modular autonomous systems in rescue robotics. One of the basic problems with autonomous robotics is the execution part where the control commands (translation and rotational velocities are produced for mobile bases. Therefore we have focused on this area because there is only a small amount of available path following software for skid-steered mobile robots. Our goal was to develop a velocity controller that could be used for multiple skid-steered mobile bases. We considered differential drive mobile bases such as tracked skid-steering mobile bases. Our approach is based on an arc fitting algorithm, which takes into account the robot constraints and kinematical model. It produces a continuous trajectory where fitting to the given path is adapted based on given parameters. Moreover, we have included orientation angle compensation while the mobile robot is moving and ground inclination compensation. Our rescue robot is described, together with the simulation setup and algorithm implementation. We compared our algorithm to the Hector-based software and curvature velocity approach. The results for the proposed algorithm are shown for the simulation results and the experiment.

  4. Combining Hector SLAM and Artificial Potential Field for Autonomous Navigation Inside a Greenhouse

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    El Houssein Chouaib Harik

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The key factor for autonomous navigation is efficient perception of the surroundings, while being able to move safely from an initial to a final point. We deal in this paper with a wheeled mobile robot working in a GPS-denied environment typical for a greenhouse. The Hector Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM approach is used in order to estimate the robots’ pose using a LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR sensor. Waypoint following and obstacle avoidance are ensured by means of a new artificial potential field (APF controller presented in this paper. The combination of the Hector SLAM and the APF controller allows the mobile robot to perform periodic tasks that require autonomous navigation between predefined waypoints. It also provides the mobile robot with a robustness to changing conditions that may occur inside the greenhouse, caused by the dynamic of plant development through the season. In this study, we show that the robot is safe to operate autonomously with a human presence, and that in contrast to classical odometry methods, no calibration is needed for repositioning the robot over repetitive runs. We include here both hardware and software descriptions, as well as simulation and experimental results.

  5. Guideline on action plans and strategies to mobilize waste-to-energy production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loonik, J.; Saarepera, R.; Kaeger, M. [and others

    2012-12-15

    This report presents some results of the REMOWE project and sets guidelines for regional policy makers, SME's and the general public as well for more deep realization of waste-to-energy policy principles in action. The overall objective of the project is, on regional levels, to contribute to a decreased negative effect on the environment by reduction of carbon dioxide emission by creating a balance between energy consumption and sustainable use of renewable energy sources (waste-to-energy cycle). Reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and use of renewable energy sources are broad areas and this project will focus on energy resources from waste and actions to facilitate implementation of energy efficient technology in the Baltic Sea region within the waste-to-energy area. The focus is to utilise waste from cities, farming and industry for energy purposes in an efficient way. The project seeks to facilitate the implementation of sustainable systems for waste-to-energy in the Baltic Sea region and specifically, in a first step, in the project partner regions. The project's duration is 12/2009-12/2012. This report is structured into 8 chapters, which are further divided into subchapters if needed. Relevant data about current situation about waste generation and management in partner regions of REMOWE project are described in Chapter 1. There are guidelines on action plan and strategies for regional policy makers, SME's and the general public to mobilize waste to energy production in Chapter 2. Beside guidelines, this report contains references to basic political acts of waste and energy management of EU and best practices of implementation them in regional level (Chapter 3). The focus of Chapters 4 and 5 is on energetic potential of waste and technologies for utilisation of waste for energy purposes. During the project period in each of partner region innovation processes were realised and innovation ides evaluated, basic results are collected into

  6. Leaching of Au, Ag, and Pd from waste printed circuit boards of mobile phone by iodide lixiviant after supercritical water pre-treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiu, Fu-Rong; Qi, Yingying; Zhang, Fu-Shen

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • We report a novel process for recovering Au, Ag, and Pd from waste PCBs. • The effect of SCWO on the leaching of Au, Ag, and Pd in waste PCBs was studied. • SCWO was highly efficient for enhancing the leaching of Au, Ag, and Pd. • The optimum leaching parameters for Au, Ag, and Pd in iodine–iodide were studied. - Abstract: Precious metals are the most attractive resources in waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) of mobile phones. In this work, an alternative process for recovering Au, Ag, and Pd from waste PCBs of mobile phones by supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) pre-treatment combined with iodine–iodide leaching process was developed. In the process, the waste PCBs of mobile phones were pre-treated in supercritical water, then a diluted hydrochloric acid leaching (HL) process was used to recovery the Cu, whose leaching efficiency was approximately 100%, finally the resulting residue was subjected to the iodine–iodide leaching process for recovering the Au, Ag, and Pd. Experimental results indicated that SCWO pre-treatment temperature, time, and pressure had significant influence on the Au, Ag, and Pd leaching from (SCWO + HL)-treated waste PCBs. The optimal SCWO pre-treatment conditions were 420 °C and 60 min for Au and Pd, and 410 °C and 30 min for Ag. The optimum dissolution parameters for Au, Pd, and Ag in (SCWO + HL)-treated PCBs with iodine–iodide system were leaching time of 120 min (90 min for Ag), iodine/iodide mole ratio of 1:5 (1:6 for Ag), solid-to-liquid ratio (S/L) of 1:10 g/mL (1:8 g/mL for Ag), and pH of 9, respectively. It is believed that the process developed in this study is environment friendly for the recovery of Au, Ag, and Pd from waste PCBs of mobile phones by SCWO pre-treatment combined with iodine–iodide leaching process

  7. Leaching of Au, Ag, and Pd from waste printed circuit boards of mobile phone by iodide lixiviant after supercritical water pre-treatment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xiu, Fu-Rong, E-mail: xiu_chem@hotmail.com [College of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350108 (China); Qi, Yingying [College of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350108 (China); Zhang, Fu-Shen [Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085 (China)

    2015-07-15

    Highlights: • We report a novel process for recovering Au, Ag, and Pd from waste PCBs. • The effect of SCWO on the leaching of Au, Ag, and Pd in waste PCBs was studied. • SCWO was highly efficient for enhancing the leaching of Au, Ag, and Pd. • The optimum leaching parameters for Au, Ag, and Pd in iodine–iodide were studied. - Abstract: Precious metals are the most attractive resources in waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) of mobile phones. In this work, an alternative process for recovering Au, Ag, and Pd from waste PCBs of mobile phones by supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) pre-treatment combined with iodine–iodide leaching process was developed. In the process, the waste PCBs of mobile phones were pre-treated in supercritical water, then a diluted hydrochloric acid leaching (HL) process was used to recovery the Cu, whose leaching efficiency was approximately 100%, finally the resulting residue was subjected to the iodine–iodide leaching process for recovering the Au, Ag, and Pd. Experimental results indicated that SCWO pre-treatment temperature, time, and pressure had significant influence on the Au, Ag, and Pd leaching from (SCWO + HL)-treated waste PCBs. The optimal SCWO pre-treatment conditions were 420 °C and 60 min for Au and Pd, and 410 °C and 30 min for Ag. The optimum dissolution parameters for Au, Pd, and Ag in (SCWO + HL)-treated PCBs with iodine–iodide system were leaching time of 120 min (90 min for Ag), iodine/iodide mole ratio of 1:5 (1:6 for Ag), solid-to-liquid ratio (S/L) of 1:10 g/mL (1:8 g/mL for Ag), and pH of 9, respectively. It is believed that the process developed in this study is environment friendly for the recovery of Au, Ag, and Pd from waste PCBs of mobile phones by SCWO pre-treatment combined with iodine–iodide leaching process.

  8. Application of autonomous robotics to surveillance of waste storage containers for radioactive surface contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sweeney, F.J.; Beckerman, M.; Butler, P.L.; Jones, J.P.; Reister, D.B.

    1991-01-01

    This paper describes a proof-of-principal demonstration performed with the HERMIES-III mobile robot to automate the inspection of waste storage drums for radioactive surface contamination and thereby reduce the human burden of operating a robot and worker exposure to potentially hazardous environments. Software and hardware for the demonstration were developed by a team consisting of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Universities of Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, and Texas. Robot navigation, machine vision, manipulator control, parallel processing and human-machine interface techniques developed by the team were demonstrated utilizing advanced computer architectures. The demonstration consists of over 100,000 lines of computer code executing on nine computers

  9. HERMIES-3: A step toward autonomous mobility, manipulation, and perception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weisbin, C. R.; Burks, B. L.; Einstein, J. R.; Feezell, R. R.; Manges, W. W.; Thompson, D. H.

    1989-01-01

    HERMIES-III is an autonomous robot comprised of a seven degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator designed for human scale tasks, a laser range finder, a sonar array, an omni-directional wheel-driven chassis, multiple cameras, and a dual computer system containing a 16-node hypercube expandable to 128 nodes. The current experimental program involves performance of human-scale tasks (e.g., valve manipulation, use of tools), integration of a dexterous manipulator and platform motion in geometrically complex environments, and effective use of multiple cooperating robots (HERMIES-IIB and HERMIES-III). The environment in which the robots operate has been designed to include multiple valves, pipes, meters, obstacles on the floor, valves occluded from view, and multiple paths of differing navigation complexity. The ongoing research program supports the development of autonomous capability for HERMIES-IIB and III to perform complex navigation and manipulation under time constraints, while dealing with imprecise sensory information.

  10. Leaching of Au, Ag, and Pd from waste printed circuit boards of mobile phone by iodide lixiviant after supercritical water pre-treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiu, Fu-Rong; Qi, Yingying; Zhang, Fu-Shen

    2015-07-01

    Precious metals are the most attractive resources in waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) of mobile phones. In this work, an alternative process for recovering Au, Ag, and Pd from waste PCBs of mobile phones by supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) pre-treatment combined with iodine-iodide leaching process was developed. In the process, the waste PCBs of mobile phones were pre-treated in supercritical water, then a diluted hydrochloric acid leaching (HL) process was used to recovery the Cu, whose leaching efficiency was approximately 100%, finally the resulting residue was subjected to the iodine-iodide leaching process for recovering the Au, Ag, and Pd. Experimental results indicated that SCWO pre-treatment temperature, time, and pressure had significant influence on the Au, Ag, and Pd leaching from (SCWO+HL)-treated waste PCBs. The optimal SCWO pre-treatment conditions were 420°C and 60min for Au and Pd, and 410°C and 30min for Ag. The optimum dissolution parameters for Au, Pd, and Ag in (SCWO+HL)-treated PCBs with iodine-iodide system were leaching time of 120min (90min for Ag), iodine/iodide mole ratio of 1:5 (1:6 for Ag), solid-to-liquid ratio (S/L) of 1:10g/mL (1:8g/mL for Ag), and pH of 9, respectively. It is believed that the process developed in this study is environment friendly for the recovery of Au, Ag, and Pd from waste PCBs of mobile phones by SCWO pre-treatment combined with iodine-iodide leaching process. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Autonomous distributed self-organization for mobile wireless sensor networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Chih-Yu; Tang, Hung-Kai

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents an adaptive combined-metrics-based clustering scheme for mobile wireless sensor networks, which manages the mobile sensors by utilizing the hierarchical network structure and allocates network resources efficiently A local criteria is used to help mobile sensors form a new cluster or join a current cluster. The messages transmitted during hierarchical clustering are applied to choose distributed gateways such that communication for adjacent clusters and distributed topology control can be achieved. In order to balance the load among clusters and govern the topology change, a cluster reformation scheme using localized criterions is implemented. The proposed scheme is simulated and analyzed to abstract the network behaviors in a number of settings. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides efficient network topology management and achieves high scalability in mobile sensor networks.

  12. Mobile calcination and cementation unit for solidification of concentrated radioactive wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Napravnik, J.; Sazavsky, P.; Skaba, V.; Skvarenina, R.; Ditl, P.

    1985-01-01

    Mobile experimental unit MESA-1 was developed and manufactured for processing radioactive concentrates by direct cementation. The unit is mainly designed for processing low-level liquid wastes from nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations, in which the level of radioactivity does not exceed 10 10 Bq/m 3 , the salt content of liquid solutions does not exceed 500 kg/m 3 and the maximum amount of boric acid is 130 kg/m 3 . The equipment is built into three modules which may be assembled and dismantled in a short time and transported separately. The unit without the calciner module was tested in non-radioactive mode and in operation with actual radioactive wastes from the V-1 nuclear power plant. The course and results of the tests are described in detail. All project design values were achieved, a total of 18 dm 3 model solutions were processed and 1 m 3 of actual wastes with a salt content of 450 kg/m 3 . The test showed that with regard to the radiation level reached it will be necessary in the process of calcination to increase the shielding of certain exposed points. The calciner module is being assembled for completion. (Z.M.)

  13. Autonomous driving technical, legal and social aspects

    CERN Document Server

    Gerdes, J; Lenz, Barbara; Winner, Hermann

    2016-01-01

    This book takes a look at fully automated, autonomous vehicles and discusses many open questions: How can autonomous vehicles be integrated into the current transportation system with diverse users and human drivers? Where do automated vehicles fall under current legal frameworks? What risks are associated with automation and how will society respond to these risks? How will the marketplace react to automated vehicles and what changes may be necessary for companies? Experts from Germany and the United States define key societal, engineering, and mobility issues related to the automation of vehicles. They discuss the decisions programmers of automated vehicles must make to enable vehicles to perceive their environment, interact with other road users, and choose actions that may have ethical consequences. The authors further identify expectations and concerns that will form the basis for individual and societal acceptance of autonomous driving. While the safety benefits of such vehicles are tremendous, the auth...

  14. Autonomous Distributed Self-Organization for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chih-Yu Wen

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an adaptive combined-metrics-based clustering scheme for mobile wireless sensor networks, which manages the mobile sensors by utilizing the hierarchical network structure and allocates network resources efficiently. A local criteria is used to help mobile sensors form a new cluster or join a current cluster. The messages transmitted during hierarchical clustering are applied to choose distributed gateways such that communication for adjacent clusters and distributed topology control can be achieved. In order to balance the load among clusters and govern the topology change, a cluster reformation scheme using localized criterions is implemented. The proposed scheme is simulated and analyzed to abstract the network behaviors in a number of settings. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides efficient network topology management and achieves high scalability in mobile sensor networks.

  15. Car-Like Mobile Robot Oriented Positioning by Fuzzy Controllers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noureddine Ouadah

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, fuzzy logic controllers (FLC are used to implement an efficient and accurate positioning of an autonomous car-like mobile robot, respecting final orientation. To accomplish this task, called "Oriented Positioning", two FLC have been developed: robot positioning controller (RPC and robot following controller (RFC. Computer simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Finally, real-time experiments have been made on an autonomous car-like mobile robot called "Robucar", developed to perform people transportation. Obtained results from experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

  16. Car-Like Mobile Robot Oriented Positioning by Fuzzy Controllers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noureddine Ouadah

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, fuzzy logic controllers (FLC are used to implement an efficient and accurate positioning of an autonomous car-like mobile robot, respecting final orientation. To accomplish this task, called “Oriented Positioning”, two FLC have been developed: robot positioning controller (RPC and robot following controller (RFC. Computer simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Finally, real-time experiments have been made on an autonomous car-like mobile robot called “Robucar”, developed to perform people transportation. Obtained results from experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

  17. Navigation Method for Autonomous Robots in a Dynamic Indoor Environment

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Věchet, Stanislav; Chen, K.-S.; Krejsa, Jiří

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 3, č. 4 (2013), s. 273-277 ISSN 2223-9766 Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : particle filters * autonomous mobile robots * mixed potential fields Subject RIV: JD - Computer Applications, Robotics http://www.ausmt.org/index.php/AUSMT/article/view/214/239

  18. Mobile plant for encapsulating of solid high-level radioactive waste in metal matrix

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sobolev, I.A.; Arustamov, A.Eh.; Shiryaev, V.V.; Ozhovan, M.I.; Semenov, K.N.; Kachalov, M.B.

    1993-01-01

    Technology for disposal of spent radionuclide sources of ionizing radiation into the standard well-type storage facilities is considered. Universal mobile facility, providing for incorporation of high-level solid wastes into metallic matrices, is proposed. The facility consists of separate moduli, assembled on a transport platform. Electrical meter, wherein the matrix metal (lead and its alloys) is melted and heated up to 600-800 C constitutes the basic modulus in the facility. 4 refs., 4 figs

  19. Reverse technological waste logistics: a study of the behavior of mobile devices consumers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liliane de Souza Vieira da Silva

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The electronics industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. It is estimated that 41 million tons of electronic waste, such as computers and mobile phones, is produced worldwide each year. The indiscriminate disposal of these materials has caused a lot of damage to the environment, and indirectly to human health. RL stands out as a new field of study that seeks to reintroduce these products to the economic chain or lead them to the proper disposal. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of the administrative staff of a public educational institution in relation to the RL of mobile devices, with a sample of 142 respondents. This research is characterized as a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional survey. The key results showed that 60% of the population surveyed acknowledge that the improper disposal of mobile devices creates environmental problems, however, only 35% acknowledge that their improper disposal also creates problems for human health. Most consumers still keep their old devices at home. The survey found that 44% of respondents do not know where to dispose of their mobile devices, highlighting the need to educate consumers about the risks, and to provide consumers with collection points for these devices.

  20. Integration of Mobile Manipulators in an Industrial Production

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Ole; Bøgh, Simon; Schou, Casper

    2015-01-01

    Purpose – The purpose of this study has been to evaluate the technology of autonomous mobile manipulation in a real world industrial manufacturing environment. The objective has been to obtain experience in the integration with existing equipment and determine key challenges in maturing...... reports from such a real-world industrial experiment with two mobile manipulators. Design/methodology/approach – In the experiment, autonomous industrial mobile manipulators are integrated into the actual manufacturing environment of the pump manufacturer Grundfos. The two robots together solve the task...... of producing rotors; a task constituted by several sub-tasks ranging from logistics to complex assembly. With a total duration of 10 days, the experiment includes workspace adaptation, safety regulations, rapid robot instruction and running production. Findings – With a setup time of less than one day...

  1. Infrared Beacons based Localization of Mobile Robot

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Krejsa, Jiří; Věchet, Stanislav

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 117, č. 1 (2012), s. 17-22 ISSN 1392-1215 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20760514 Keywords : mobile robot localization * extended Kalman filter * autonomous mobile robot Subject RIV: JD - Computer Applications, Robotics Impact factor: 0.411, year: 2012 http://www.eejournal.ktu.lt/index.php/elt/article/view/1046

  2. Applying Technology Management concepts in analyzing e Waste, sustainability and technology development in Mobile Industry: A conceptual perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Lasrado, Lester Allan; Agnihothri, Subodh; Lugmayr, Artur

    2013-01-01

    In the highly globalized, competitive and technocrat world, mobile industry is heavily focused on making itself sustainable. In order to achieve this focus should be on improving the e waste management in the industry. Currently the industry is advanced beyond market demand in delivery services to customers in terms of ICT and smart phones. This research paper is trying to conceptualize the aspect of technology management by comparing technology advancement of mobile phone technology and the ...

  3. Change of heavy metal speciation, mobility, bioavailability, and ecological risk during potassium ferrate treatment of waste-activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Ming; Zhang, Jian; Tian, Yu

    2018-05-01

    The effects of potassium ferrate treatment on the heavy metal concentrations, speciation, mobility, bioavailability, and environmental risk in waste-activated sludge (WAS) at various dosages of potassium ferrate and different treatment times were investigated. Results showed that the total concentrations of all metals (except Cd) were decreased slightly after treatment and the order of metal concentrations in WAS and treated waste-activated sludge (TWAS) was Mg > Zn > Cu > Cr > Pb > Ni > Cd. Most heavy metals in WAS remained in TWAS after potassium ferrate treatment with metal residual rates over 67.8% in TWAS. The distribution of metal speciation in WAS was affected by potassium ferrate treatment. The bioavailability and the mobility of heavy metals (except Mg) in TWAS were mitigated, compared to those in WAS. Meanwhile, the environmental risk of heavy metals (except Pb and Cu) was alleviated after potassium ferrate treatment.

  4. Wavefront Propagation and Fuzzy Based Autonomous Navigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adel Al-Jumaily

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Path planning and obstacle avoidance are the two major issues in any navigation system. Wavefront propagation algorithm, as a good path planner, can be used to determine an optimal path. Obstacle avoidance can be achieved using possibility theory. Combining these two functions enable a robot to autonomously navigate to its destination. This paper presents the approach and results in implementing an autonomous navigation system for an indoor mobile robot. The system developed is based on a laser sensor used to retrieve data to update a two dimensional world model of therobot environment. Waypoints in the path are incorporated into the obstacle avoidance. Features such as ageing of objects and smooth motion planning are implemented to enhance efficiency and also to cater for dynamic environments.

  5. Evaluation of Flygt Propeller Mixers for Double-Shell Tank (DST) High Level Waste Auxiliary Solids Mobilization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    PACQUET, E.A.

    2000-01-01

    The River Protection Project (RPP) is planning to retrieve radioactive waste from the single-shell tanks (SST) and double-shell tanks (DST) underground at the Hanford Site. This waste will then be transferred to a waste treatment plant to be immobilized (vitrified) in a stable glass form. Over the years, the waste solids in many of the tanks have settled to form a layer of sludge at the bottom. The thickness of the sludge layer varies from tank to tank, from no sludge or a few inches of sludge to about 15 ft of sludge. The purpose of this technology and engineering case study is to evaluate the Flygt(trademark) submersible propeller mixer as a potential technology for auxiliary mobilization of DST HLW solids. Considering the usage and development to date by other sites in the development of this technology, this study also has the objective of expanding the knowledge base of the Flygt(trademark) mixer concept with the broader perspective of Hanford Site tank waste retrieval. More specifically, the objectives of this study delineated from the work plan are described

  6. Evaluation of Flygt Propeller Xixers for Double Shell Tank (DST) High Level Waste Auxiliary Solids Mobilization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    PACQUET, E.A.

    2000-07-20

    The River Protection Project (RPP) is planning to retrieve radioactive waste from the single-shell tanks (SST) and double-shell tanks (DST) underground at the Hanford Site. This waste will then be transferred to a waste treatment plant to be immobilized (vitrified) in a stable glass form. Over the years, the waste solids in many of the tanks have settled to form a layer of sludge at the bottom. The thickness of the sludge layer varies from tank to tank, from no sludge or a few inches of sludge to about 15 ft of sludge. The purpose of this technology and engineering case study is to evaluate the Flygt{trademark} submersible propeller mixer as a potential technology for auxiliary mobilization of DST HLW solids. Considering the usage and development to date by other sites in the development of this technology, this study also has the objective of expanding the knowledge base of the Flygt{trademark} mixer concept with the broader perspective of Hanford Site tank waste retrieval. More specifically, the objectives of this study delineated from the work plan are described.

  7. An architecture for an autonomous learning robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tillotson, Brian

    1988-01-01

    An autonomous learning device must solve the example bounding problem, i.e., it must divide the continuous universe into discrete examples from which to learn. We describe an architecture which incorporates an example bounder for learning. The architecture is implemented in the GPAL program. An example run with a real mobile robot shows that the program learns and uses new causal, qualitative, and quantitative relationships.

  8. Recognition and automatic tracking of weld line in fringe welding by autonomous mobile robot with visual sensor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suga, Yasuo; Saito, Keishin; Ishii, Hideaki.

    1994-01-01

    An autonomous mobile robot with visual sensor and four driving axes for welding of pipe and fringe was constructed. The robot can move along a pipe, and detect the weld line to be welded by visual sensor. Moreover, in order to perform welding automatically, the tip of welding torch can track the weld line of the joint by rotating the robot head. In the case of welding of pipe and fringe, the robot can detect the contact angle between the two base metals to be welded, and the torch angle changes according to the contact angle. As the result of tracking test by the robot system, it was made clear that the recognition of geometry of the joint by the laser lighting method and automatic tracking of weld line were possible. The average tracking error was ±0.3 mm approximately and the torch angle could be always kept at the optimum angle. (author)

  9. Advanced robotics technology applied to mixed waste characterization, sorting and treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilhelmsen, K.; Hurd, R.; Grasz, E.

    1994-04-01

    There are over one million cubic meters of radioactively contaminated hazardous waste, known as mixed waste, stored at Department of Energy facilities. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are developing methods to safely and efficiently treat this type of waste. LLNL has automated and demonstrated a means of segregating items in a mixed waste stream. This capability incorporates robotics and automation with advanced multi-sensor information for autonomous and teleoperational handling of mixed waste items with previously unknown characteristics. The first phase of remote waste stream handling was item singulation; the ability to remove individual items of heterogeneous waste directly from a drum, box, bin, or pile. Once objects were singulated, additional multi-sensory information was used for object classification and segregation. In addition, autonomous and teleoperational surface cleaning and decontamination of homogeneous metals has been demonstrated in processing mixed waste streams. The LLNL waste stream demonstration includes advanced technology such as object classification algorithms, identification of various metal types using active and passive gamma scans and RF signatures, and improved teleoperational and autonomous grasping of waste objects. The workcell control program used an off-line programming system as a server to perform both simulation control as well as actual hardware control of the workcell. This paper will discuss the motivation for remote mixed waste stream handling, the overall workcell layout, sensor specifications, workcell supervisory control, 3D vision based automated grasp planning and object classification algorithms

  10. Adaptive learning fuzzy control of a mobile robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsukada, Akira; Suzuki, Katsuo; Fujii, Yoshio; Shinohara, Yoshikuni

    1989-11-01

    In this report a problem is studied to construct a fuzzy controller for a mobile robot to move autonomously along a given reference direction curve, for which control rules are generated and acquired through an adaptive learning process. An adaptive learning fuzzy controller has been developed for a mobile robot. Good properties of the controller are shown through the travelling experiments of the mobile robot. (author)

  11. Visual technology for the autonomous learning of mathematics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helmut Linneweber‐Lammerskitten

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a collaborative research and development project between the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland and Rhodes University in South Africa. The project seeks to establish, disseminate and research the efficacy and use of short video clips designed specifically for the autonomous learning of mathematics. Specific to the South African context is our interest in capitalising on the ubiquity of cellphone technology and the autonomous affordances offered by mobile learning. This paper engages with a number of theoretical and pedagogical issues relating to the design, production and use of these video clips. Although the focus is specific to the contexts of South Africa and Switzerland, the discussion is of broad applicability.

  12. Autonomous Car Parking System through a Cooperative Vehicular Positioning Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Correa, Alejandro; Boquet, Guillem; Morell, Antoni; Lopez Vicario, Jose

    2017-04-13

    The increasing development of the automotive industry towards a fully autonomous car has motivated the design of new value-added services in Vehicular Sensor Networks (VSNs). Within the context of VSNs, the autonomous car, with an increasing number of on-board sensors, is a mobile node that exchanges sensed and state information within the VSN. Among all the value added services for VSNs, the design of new intelligent parking management architectures where the autonomous car will coexist with traditional cars is mandatory in order to profit from all the opportunities associated with the increasing intelligence of the new generation of cars. In this work, we design a new smart parking system on top of a VSN that takes into account the heterogeneity of cars and provides guidance to the best parking place for the autonomous car based on a collaborative approach that searches for the common good of all of them measured by the accessibility rate, which is the ratio of the free parking places accessible for an autonomous car. Then, we simulate a real parking lot and the results show that the performance of our system is close to the optimum considering different communication ranges and penetration rates for the autonomous car.

  13. Autonomous Car Parking System through a Cooperative Vehicular Positioning Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Correa, Alejandro; Boquet, Guillem; Morell, Antoni; Lopez Vicario, Jose

    2017-01-01

    The increasing development of the automotive industry towards a fully autonomous car has motivated the design of new value-added services in Vehicular Sensor Networks (VSNs). Within the context of VSNs, the autonomous car, with an increasing number of on-board sensors, is a mobile node that exchanges sensed and state information within the VSN. Among all the value added services for VSNs, the design of new intelligent parking management architectures where the autonomous car will coexist with traditional cars is mandatory in order to profit from all the opportunities associated with the increasing intelligence of the new generation of cars. In this work, we design a new smart parking system on top of a VSN that takes into account the heterogeneity of cars and provides guidance to the best parking place for the autonomous car based on a collaborative approach that searches for the common good of all of them measured by the accessibility rate, which is the ratio of the free parking places accessible for an autonomous car. Then, we simulate a real parking lot and the results show that the performance of our system is close to the optimum considering different communication ranges and penetration rates for the autonomous car. PMID:28406426

  14. Innovative thermal energy harvesting for future autonomous applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monfray, Stephane

    2013-12-01

    As communicating autonomous systems market is booming, the role of energy harvesting will be a key enabler. As example, heat is one of the most abundant energy sources that can be converted into electricity in order to power circuits. Harvesting systems that use wasted heat open new ways to power autonomous sensors when the energy consumption is low, or to create systems of power generators when the conversion efficiency is high. The combination of different technologies (low power μ-processors, μ-batteries, radio, sensors...) with new energy harvesters compatible with large varieties of use-cases with allow to address this booming market. Thanks to the conjunction of ultra-low power electronic development, 3D technologies & Systems in Package approaches, the integration of autonomous sensors and electronics with ambient energy harvesting will be achievable. The applications are very wide, from environment and industrial sensors to medical portable applications, and the Internet of things may also represent in the future a several billions units market.

  15. Innovative thermal energy harvesting for future autonomous applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Monfray, Stephane

    2013-01-01

    As communicating autonomous systems market is booming, the role of energy harvesting will be a key enabler. As example, heat is one of the most abundant energy sources that can be converted into electricity in order to power circuits. Harvesting systems that use wasted heat open new ways to power autonomous sensors when the energy consumption is low, or to create systems of power generators when the conversion efficiency is high. The combination of different technologies (low power μ-processors, μ-batteries, radio, sensors...) with new energy harvesters compatible with large varieties of use-cases with allow to address this booming market. Thanks to the conjunction of ultra-low power electronic development, 3D technologies and Systems in Package approaches, the integration of autonomous sensors and electronics with ambient energy harvesting will be achievable. The applications are very wide, from environment and industrial sensors to medical portable applications, and the Internet of things may also represent in the future a several billions units market

  16. Reliable Autonomous Surface Mobility (RASM) in Support of Human Exploration, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — ProtoInnovations, LLC and Carnegie Mellon University have formed a partnership to commercially develop rover-autonomy technologies into Reliable Autonomous Surface...

  17. Multi-sensors multi-baseline mapping system for mobile robot using stereovision camera and laser-range device

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Faisal

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Countless applications today are using mobile robots, including autonomous navigation, security patrolling, housework, search-and-rescue operations, material handling, manufacturing, and automated transportation systems. Regardless of the application, a mobile robot must use a robust autonomous navigation system. Autonomous navigation remains one of the primary challenges in the mobile-robot industry; many control algorithms and techniques have been recently developed that aim to overcome this challenge. Among autonomous navigation methods, vision-based systems have been growing in recent years due to rapid gains in computational power and the reliability of visual sensors. The primary focus of research into vision-based navigation is to allow a mobile robot to navigate in an unstructured environment without collision. In recent years, several researchers have looked at methods for setting up autonomous mobile robots for navigational tasks. Among these methods, stereovision-based navigation is a promising approach for reliable and efficient navigation. In this article, we create and develop a novel mapping system for a robust autonomous navigation system. The main contribution of this article is the fuse of the multi-baseline stereovision (narrow and wide baselines and laser-range reading data to enhance the accuracy of the point cloud, to reduce the ambiguity of correspondence matching, and to extend the field of view of the proposed mapping system to 180°. Another contribution is the pruning the region of interest of the three-dimensional point clouds to reduce the computational burden involved in the stereo process. Therefore, we called the proposed system multi-sensors multi-baseline mapping system. The experimental results illustrate the robustness and accuracy of the proposed system.

  18. Effect of dissolved organic matter derived from waste amendments on the mobility of inorganic arsenic (III) in the Egyptian alluvial soil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rashad, Mohamed [Land and Water Technologies Department, Arid Lands Cultivation Research Institute, City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), New Borg El-Arab, 21934 Alexandria (Egypt); Assaad, Faiz F. [Soils and Water Use Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo (Egypt); Shalaby, Elsayed A. [Environmental Studies Department, Institute of Graduate Studies and Research, Alexandria University (Egypt)

    2013-07-01

    Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one of the decisive factors affecting pollutants mobility in soils receiving waste amendments. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of DOM1 derived from agricultural solid waste (ASW) and DOM2 derived from municipal solid waste (MSW) on the mobility of inorganic arsenic (As) in two alluvial soils from the Nile River Delta. In column experiments, addition of DOM solutions significantly increased As concentration in the effluents. There was no significant difference between the two soils, the obtained results from soil2 columns revealed that DOM2 has stronger capability than DOM1 to facilitate As mobility. The pH of the studied soils is alkaline (8.1) which promoted the dissociation as well as deprotonation of DOM and as a consequence, humic substances in DOM become negatively charged organic anions, leading to their substantial competition with As for the adsorption sites on both soil surfaces. The results emphasized that in alkaline soils there is a risk of groundwater pollution in the long run by arsenic either naturally found in soil or originated at high soil pH when dissolved organic carbon (DOC) released from various organic amendments ASW and/or MSW and leached through soil profile.

  19. Developing Policy for Urban Autonomous Vehicles: Impact on Congestion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Metz

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available An important problem for surface transport is road traffic congestion, which is ubiquitous and difficult to mitigate. Accordingly, a question for policymakers is the possible impact on congestion of autonomous vehicles. It seems likely that the main impact of vehicle automation will not be seen until driverless vehicles are sufficiently safe for use amid general traffic on urban streets. Shared use driverless vehicles could reduce the cost of taxis and a wider range of public transport vehicles could be economic. Individually owned autonomous vehicles would have the ability to travel unoccupied and may need to be regulated where this might add to congestion. It is possible that autonomous vehicles could provide mobility services at lower cost and wider scope, such that private car use in urban areas could decline and congestion reduce. City authorities should be alert to these possibilities in developing transport policy.

  20. Efforts toward an autonomous wheelchair - biomed 2011.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrett, Steven; Streeter, Robert

    2011-01-01

    An autonomous wheelchair is in development to provide mobility to those with significant physical challenges. The overall goal of the project is to develop a wheelchair that is fully autonomous with the ability to navigate about an environment and negotiate obstacles. As a starting point for the project, we have reversed engineered the joystick control system of an off-the-shelf commercially available wheelchair. The joystick control has been replaced with a microcontroller based system. The microcontroller has the capability to interface with a number of subsystems currently under development including wheel odometers, obstacle avoidance sensors, and ultrasonic-based wall sensors. This paper will discuss the microcontroller based system and provide a detailed system description. Results of this study may be adapted to commercial or military robot control.

  1. Simple autonomous Mars walker

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larimer, Stanley J.; Lisec, Thomas R.; Spiessbach, Andrew J.

    1989-01-01

    Under a contract with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Martin Marietta has developed several alternative rover concepts for unmanned exploration of the planet Mars. One of those concepts, the 'Walking Beam', is the subject of this paper. This concept was developed with the goal of achieving many of the capabilities of more sophisticated articulated-leg walkers with a much simpler, more robust, less computationally demanding and more power efficient design. It consists of two large-base tripods nested one within the other which alternately translate with respect to each other along a 5-meter beam to propel the vehicle. The semiautonomous navigation system relies on terrain geometry sensors and tacticle feedback from each foot to autonomously select a path which avoids hazards along a route designated from earth. Both mobility and navigation features of this concept are discussed including a top-level description of the vehicle's physical characteristics, deployment strategy, mobility elements, sensor suite, theory of operation, navigation and control processes, and estimated performance.

  2. A Qualitative Approach to Mobile Robot Navigation Using RFID

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hossain, M; Rashid, M M; Bhuiyan, M M I; Ahmed, S; Akhtaruzzaman, M

    2013-01-01

    Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system allows automatic identification of items with RFID tags using radio-waves. As the RFID tag has its unique identification number, it is also possible to detect a specific region where the RFID tag lies in. Recently it is widely been used in mobile robot navigation, localization, and mapping both in indoor and outdoor environment. This paper represents a navigation strategy for autonomous mobile robot using passive RFID system. Conventional approaches, such as landmark or dead-reckoning with excessive number of sensors, have complexities in establishing the navigation and localization process. The proposed method satisfies less complexity in navigation strategy as well as estimation of not only the position but also the orientation of the autonomous robot. In this research, polar coordinate system is adopted on the navigation surface where RFID tags are places in a grid with constant displacements. This paper also presents the performance comparisons among various grid architectures through simulation to establish a better solution of the navigation system. In addition, some stationary obstacles are introduced in the navigation environment to satisfy the viability of the navigation process of the autonomous mobile robot

  3. Development and Characteristics of a Mobile, Semi-Autonomous Floating Platform for in situ Lake Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barry, D.; Lemmin, U.; Le Dantec, N.; Zulliger, L.; Rusterholz, M.; Bolay, M.; Rossier, J.; Kangur, K.

    2013-12-01

    In the development of sustainable management strategies of lakes more insight into their physical, chemical and ecological dynamics is needed. Field data obtained from various types of sensors with adequate spatial and temporal sampling rate are essential to understand better the processes that govern fluxes and pathways of water masses and transported compounds, whether for model validation or for monitoring purposes. One advantage of unmanned platforms is that they limit the disturbances typically affecting the quality of data collected on small vessels, including perturbations caused by movements of onboard crew. We have developed a mobile, semi-autonomous floating platform with 8 h power autonomy using a 5 m long by 2.5 m wide catamaran. Our approach focused on modularity and high payload capacity in order to accommodate a large number of sensors both in terms of electronic (power and data) and mechanical constraints of integration. Software architecture and onboard electronics use National Instruments technology to simplify and standardize integration of sensors, actuators and communication. Piecewise-movable deck sections allow optimizing platform stability depending on the payload. The entire system is controlled by a remote computer located on an accompanying vessel and connected via a wireless link with a range of over 1 km. Real-time transmission of GPS-stamped measurements allows immediate modifications in the survey plan if needed. The displacement of the platform is semi-autonomous, with the options of either autopilot mode following a pre-planned course specified by waypoints or remote manual control from the accompanying vessel. Maintenance of permanent control over the platform displacement is required for safety reasons with respect to other users of the lake. Currently, the sensor payload comprises an array of fast temperature probes, a bottom-tracking ADCP and atmospheric sensors including a radiometer. A towed CTD with additional water quality

  4. Advanced Sensing and Control Techniques to Facilitate Semi-Autonomous Decommissioning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schalkoff, Robert J.

    1999-01-01

    This research is intended to advance the technology of semi-autonomous teleoperated robotics as applied to Decontamination and Decommissioning (D and D) tasks. Specifically, research leading to a prototype dual-manipulator mobile work cell is underway. This cell is supported and enhanced by computer vision, virtual reality and advanced robotics technology

  5. An Effective Method for Protecting the Integrity of Mobile Agent

    OpenAIRE

    YARAHMADI, H.; KAMANKESH, M.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract. A mobile agent is software which performs an action autonomously and independently as a person or organizations assistance. Mobile agents are used for searching information, retrieval information, filtering, intruder recognition in networks, and so on. One of the important issues of mobile agent is their security. It must consider different security issues in effective and secured usage of mobile agent. One of those issues is the integrity’s protection of mobile agents.In this paper...

  6. Mechatronics Design of an Autonomous Pipe-Inspection Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdellatif Mohamed

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Pipelines require periodical inspection to detect corrosion, deformation and congestion with obstacles in the network. Autonomous mobile robots are good solutions for this task. Visual information from the pipe interior associated with a location stamp is needed for inspection. In this paper, the previous designs of autonomous robots are reviewed and a new robot is developed to ensure simple design and smooth motion. Images are processed online to detect irregularity in pipe and then start capturing high resolution pictures to conserve the limited memory size. The new robot moves in pipes and provides video stream of pipe interior with location stamp. The visual information can later be processed offline to extract more information of pipeline condition to make maintenance decisions.

  7. Biologically based neural network for mobile robot navigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres Muniz, Raul E.

    1999-01-01

    The new tendency in mobile robots is to crete non-Cartesian system based on reactions to their environment. This emerging technology is known as Evolutionary Robotics, which is combined with the Biorobotic field. This new approach brings cost-effective solutions, flexibility, robustness, and dynamism into the design of mobile robots. It also provides fast reactions to the sensory inputs, and new interpretation of the environment or surroundings of the mobile robot. The Subsumption Architecture (SA) and the action selection dynamics developed by Brooks and Maes, respectively, have successfully obtained autonomous mobile robots initiating this new trend of the Evolutionary Robotics. Their design keeps the mobile robot control simple. This work present a biologically inspired modification of these schemes. The hippocampal-CA3-based neural network developed by Williams Levy is used to implement the SA, while the action selection dynamics emerge from iterations of the levels of competence implemented with the HCA3. This replacement by the HCA3 results in a closer biological model than the SA, combining the Behavior-based intelligence theory with neuroscience. The design is kept simple, and it is implemented in the Khepera Miniature Mobile Robot. The used control scheme obtains an autonomous mobile robot that can be used to execute a mail delivery system and surveillance task inside a building floor.

  8. CHAMP: A bespoke integrated system for mobile manipulation

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Van Eden, B

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available for Mobile Manipulation Beatrice van Eden, Benjamin Rosman, Daniel Withey, Terence Ratshidaho, Mogomotsi Keaikitse, Ditebogo Masha, Ashley Kleinhans, and Ahmed Shaik Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems Modelling and Digital Science Council for Scientific... as a rear caster. Each arm has 7 DoF, with an attached Barrett hand. UMAN [19], the UMass Mobile MANipulator also uses a 7 DoF Barrett WAM, with a three-fingered Barrett hand. The arm is mounted on modified Nomadic XR4000 mobile base having four caster...

  9. Mobile high-voltage switchboard. Variable and uncomplicated; Mobile Hochspannungsschaltanlage. Variabel und unkompliziert in der Anwendung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Albert, Andreas [Siemens AG, Erlangen (Germany). Sector Energy

    2009-07-13

    The mobile high-voltage switchboard ''REE-Movil 2'' for voltages up to 245 kV provides a complete and nearly autonomous switchboard in a container, a solution that has been available in the medium-voltage sector for some time already. It can be used whenever a quick replacement of a switchboard section or a temporary supplement to a switching substation is needed. The container is mounted on a trailer for maximum flexibility and mobility. (orig.)

  10. Mobile heat accumulators for lorry or train transport?; Mobile Waermespeicher fuer den LKW- oder Zugtransport?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goldenberg, Philipp

    2013-07-01

    Where heat grids cannot be laid for geographic reasons, mobile heat accumulators may be appropriate. The mobile heat accumulators are transported by lorry or train between the heat source and the heat sink. The waste heat can be decoupled from biogas plants, waste incineration plants or industrial sites. Existing road or rail networks can be used for transportation. Decisive factors to achieve low heat production costs are: free waste heat, large and continuous heat quantities as well as a short distance between the heat source and the heat sink. (orig.)

  11. Insect-Based Vision for Autonomous Vehicles: A Feasibility Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srinivasan, Mandyam V.

    1999-01-01

    The aims of the project were to use a high-speed digital video camera to pursue two questions: (1) To explore the influence of temporal imaging constraints on the performance of vision systems for autonomous mobile robots; (2) To study the fine structure of insect flight trajectories in order to better understand the characteristics of flight control, orientation and navigation.

  12. Embodied Computation: An Active-Learning Approach to Mobile Robotics Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riek, L. D.

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes a newly designed upper-level undergraduate and graduate course, Autonomous Mobile Robots. The course employs active, cooperative, problem-based learning and is grounded in the fundamental computational problems in mobile robotics defined by Dudek and Jenkin. Students receive a broad survey of robotics through lectures, weekly…

  13. Coastal zone environment measurements at Sakhalin Island using autonomous mobile robotic system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyugin, Dmitry; Kurkin, Andrey; Zaytsev, Andrey; Zeziulin, Denis; Makarov, Vladimir

    2017-04-01

    To perform continuous complex measurements of environment characteristics in coastal zones autonomous mobile robotic system was built. The main advantage of such system in comparison to manual measurements is an ability to quickly change location of the equipment and start measurements. AMRS allows to transport a set of sensors and appropriate power source for long distances. The equipment installed on the AMRS includes: a modern high-tech ship's radar «Micran» for sea waves measurements, multiparameter platform WXT 520 for weather monitoring, high precision GPS/GLONASS receiver OS-203 for georeferencing, laser scanner platform based on two Sick LMS-511 scanners which can provide 3D distance measurements in up to 80 meters on the AMRS route and rugged designed quad-core fanless computer Matrix MXE-5400 for data collecting and recording. The equipment is controlled by high performance modular software developed specially for the AMRS. During the summer 2016 the experiment was conducted. Measurements took place at the coastal zone of Sakhalin Island (Russia). The measuring system of AMRS was started in automatic mode controlled by the software. As result a lot of data was collected and processed to database. It consists of continuous measurements of the coastal zone including different weather conditions. The most interesting for investigation is a period of three-point storm detected on June, 2, 2016. Further work will relate to data processing of measured environment characteristics and numerical models verification based on the collected data. The presented results of research obtained by the support of the Russian president's scholarship for young scientists and graduate students №SP-193.2015.5

  14. Autonomous intelligent assembly systems LDRD 105746 final report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anderson, Robert J.

    2013-04-01

    This report documents a three-year to develop technology that enables mobile robots to perform autonomous assembly tasks in unstructured outdoor environments. This is a multi-tier problem that requires an integration of a large number of different software technologies including: command and control, estimation and localization, distributed communications, object recognition, pose estimation, real-time scanning, and scene interpretation. Although ultimately unsuccessful in achieving a target brick stacking task autonomously, numerous important component technologies were nevertheless developed. Such technologies include: a patent-pending polygon snake algorithm for robust feature tracking, a color grid algorithm for uniquely identification and calibration, a command and control framework for abstracting robot commands, a scanning capability that utilizes a compact robot portable scanner, and more. This report describes this project and these developed technologies.

  15. Effect of Mobile Phone Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields on ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    olayemitoyin

    Summary: Since cell phones emit radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs), this study tested the hypothesis that cell phones placed ... mobile phones on autonomic modulation of the heart. ..... Electrocardiogram and Its Technology. J. Am.

  16. Evaluation of scaling correlations for mobilization of double-shell tank waste

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shekarriz, A.; Hammad, K.J.; Powell, M.R.

    1997-09-01

    In this report, we have examined some of the fundamental mechanisms expected to be at work during mobilization of the waste within the double-shell tanks at Hanford. The motivation stems from the idea that in order to properly apply correlations derived from scaled tests, one would have to ensure that appropriate scaling laws are utilized. Further, in the process of delineating the controlling mechanisms during mobilization, the currently used computational codes are being validated and strengthened based on these findings. Experiments were performed at 1/50-scale, different from what had been performed in the previous fiscal years (i.e., 1/12- and 1/25-scale). It was anticipated that if the current empirical correlations are to work, they should be scale invariant. The current results showed that linear scaling between the 1/25-scale and 1/50-scale correlations do not work well. Several mechanisms were examined in the scaled tests which might have contributed to the discrepancies between the results at these two scales. No deficiencies in the experimental approach and the data were found. Cognizant of these results, it was concluded that the use of the current empirical correlations for ECR should be done cautiously taking into account the appropriate properties of the material for yielding.

  17. Evaluation of scaling correlations for mobilization of double-shell tank waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shekarriz, A.; Hammad, K.J.; Powell, M.R.

    1997-09-01

    In this report, we have examined some of the fundamental mechanisms expected to be at work during mobilization of the waste within the double-shell tanks at Hanford. The motivation stems from the idea that in order to properly apply correlations derived from scaled tests, one would have to ensure that appropriate scaling laws are utilized. Further, in the process of delineating the controlling mechanisms during mobilization, the currently used computational codes are being validated and strengthened based on these findings. Experiments were performed at 1/50-scale, different from what had been performed in the previous fiscal years (i.e., 1/12- and 1/25-scale). It was anticipated that if the current empirical correlations are to work, they should be scale invariant. The current results showed that linear scaling between the 1/25-scale and 1/50-scale correlations do not work well. Several mechanisms were examined in the scaled tests which might have contributed to the discrepancies between the results at these two scales. No deficiencies in the experimental approach and the data were found. Cognizant of these results, it was concluded that the use of the current empirical correlations for ECR should be done cautiously taking into account the appropriate properties of the material for yielding

  18. 13th International Conference Intelligent Autonomous Systems

    CERN Document Server

    Michael, Nathan; Berns, Karsten; Yamaguchi, Hiroaki

    2016-01-01

    This book describes the latest research accomplishments, innovations, and visions in the field of robotics as presented at the 13th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS), held in Padua in July 2014, by leading researchers, engineers, and practitioners from across the world. The contents amply confirm that robots, machines, and systems are rapidly achieving intelligence and autonomy, mastering more and more capabilities such as mobility and manipulation, sensing and perception, reasoning, and decision making. A wide range of research results and applications are covered, and particular attention is paid to the emerging role of autonomous robots and intelligent systems in industrial production, which reflects their maturity and robustness. The contributions have been selected through a rigorous peer-review process and contain many exciting and visionary ideas that will further galvanize the research community, spurring novel research directions. The series of biennial IAS conferences ...

  19. Estimation and Control for Autonomous Coring from a Rover Manipulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Nicolas; Backes, Paul; DiCicco, Matt; Bajracharya, Max

    2010-01-01

    A system consisting of a set of estimators and autonomous behaviors has been developed which allows robust coring from a low-mass rover platform, while accommodating for moderate rover slip. A redundant set of sensors, including a force-torque sensor, visual odometry, and accelerometers are used to monitor discrete critical and operational modes, as well as to estimate continuous drill parameters during the coring process. A set of critical failure modes pertinent to shallow coring from a mobile platform is defined, and autonomous behaviors associated with each critical mode are used to maintain nominal coring conditions. Autonomous shallow coring is demonstrated from a low-mass rover using a rotary-percussive coring tool mounted on a 5 degree-of-freedom (DOF) arm. A new architecture of using an arm-stabilized, rotary percussive tool with the robotic arm used to provide the drill z-axis linear feed is validated. Particular attention to hole start using this architecture is addressed. An end-to-end coring sequence is demonstrated, where the rover autonomously detects and then recovers from a series of slip events that exceeded 9 cm total displacement.

  20. Remote-controlled vision-guided mobile robot system

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    1997-09-01

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

  1. Three omni-directional wheels control on a mobile robot

    OpenAIRE

    Ribeiro, António Fernando; Moutinho, Ivo; Silva, Pedro; Fraga, Carlos; Pereira, Nino

    2004-01-01

    Traditional two wheels differential drive normally used on mobile robots have manoeuvrability limitations and take time to sort out. Most teams use two driving wheels (with one or two cast wheels), four driving wheels and even three driving wheels. A three wheel drive with omni-directional wheel has been tried with success, and was implemented on fast moving autonomous mobile robots. This paper deals with the mathematical kinematics description of such mobile platform, it describes the advant...

  2. Autonomous mobile robot for radiologic surveys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dudar, A.M.; Wagner, D.G.; Teese, G.D.

    1994-01-01

    An apparatus is described for conducting radiologic surveys. The apparatus comprises in the main a robot capable of following a preprogrammed path through an area, a radiation monitor adapted to receive input from a radiation detector assembly, ultrasonic transducers for navigation and collision avoidance, and an on-board computer system including an integrator for interfacing the radiation monitor and the robot. Front and rear bumpers are attached to the robot by bumper mounts. The robot may be equipped with memory boards for the collection and storage of radiation survey information. The on-board computer system is connected to a remote host computer via a UHF radio link. The apparatus is powered by a rechargeable 24-volt DC battery, and is stored at a docking station when not in use and/or for recharging. A remote host computer contains a stored database defining paths between points in the area where the robot is to operate, including but not limited to the locations of walls, doors, stationary furniture and equipment, and sonic markers if used. When a program consisting of a series of paths is downloaded to the on-board computer system, the robot conducts a floor survey autonomously at any preselected rate. When the radiation monitor detects contamination, the robot resurveys the area at reduced speed and resumes its preprogrammed path if the contamination is not confirmed. If the contamination is confirmed, the robot stops and sounds an alarm. 5 figures

  3. Mobile encapsulation and volume reduction system for wet low-level wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buelt, J.L.

    1985-08-01

    This report describes the results of the program entitled ''A Preconceptual Study for a Transportable Vitrification Process''. The objective of the study is to determine the feasibility of a Mobile Encapsulation and Volume Reduction System (MEVS). The report contains design criteria, a preconceptual design of the system, a comparison of disposal costs with other solidification technologies, and an assessment of utility interests in the transportable volume reduction service MEVS can provide. The MEVS design employs the use of a joule-heated glass melter to convert the wet low-level wastes into glass. The process is self-sufficient, requiring no direct facility services or reactor personnel. It is capable of servicing one waste type from a minimum of three reactors. The design was used to prepare capital and operating cost estimates. The capital cost for the MEVS is $4,680,000, which includes all labor necessary for design, engineering, inspection, and licensing. The operating cost of the system for servicing a minimum of three reactors is $1,530,000/y for resins or $2,280,000/y for concentrated liquids. The cost estimates compared favorably to the more common solidification process of cementation. Total MEVS operating costs which include processing, transportation and burial, are $191 to $218/ft 3 waste, whereas quoted costs for cementation and disposal from reactor operators range from $155 to $350/ft 3 . The report concludes with the requirements for additional development, which can be accomplished for less than one sixth of the capital costs. The report also presents the results of an assessment conducted with utility representatives to obtain their expressions of interest in a service of this type

  4. Autonomic and Apoptotic, Aeronautical and Aerospace Systems, and Controlling Scientific Data Generated Therefrom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sterritt, Roy (Inventor); Hinchey, Michael G. (Inventor)

    2015-01-01

    A self-managing system that uses autonomy and autonomicity is provided with the self-* property of autopoiesis (self-creation). In the event of an agent in the system self-destructing, autopoiesis auto-generates a replacement. A self-esteem reward scheme is also provided and can be used for autonomic agents, based on their performance and trust. Art agent with greater self-esteem may clone at a greater rate compared to the rate of an agent with lower self-esteem. A self-managing system is provided for a high volume of distributed autonomic/self-managing mobile agents, and autonomic adhesion is used to attract similar agents together or to repel dissimilar agents from an event horizon. An apoptotic system is also provided that accords an "expiry date" to data and digital objects, for example, that are available on the internet, which finds usefulness not only in general but also for controlling the loaning and use of space scientific data.

  5. Image processing algorithm design and implementation for real-time autonomous inspection of mixed waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schalkoff, R.J.; Shaaban, K.M.; Carver, A.E.

    1996-01-01

    The ARIES number-sign 1 (Autonomous Robotic Inspection Experimental System) vision system is used to acquire drum surface images under controlled conditions and subsequently perform autonomous visual inspection leading to a classification as 'acceptable' or 'suspect'. Specific topics described include vision system design methodology, algorithmic structure,hardware processing structure, and image acquisition hardware. Most of these capabilities were demonstrated at the ARIES Phase II Demo held on Nov. 30, 1995. Finally, Phase III efforts are briefly addressed

  6. Perancangan dan Implementasi Kontroler PID untuk Pengaturan Autonomous Car-Following Car

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Parluhutan Bonor Sinaga

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Pengiriman logistik ke daerah-daerah rawan bencana merupakan hal yang sangat sulit dilakukan, tentunya diperlukan pengetahuan mengenai kondisi medan jalan. Salah satu dampak yang utama adalah sulitnya melakukan manuver dalam pengendalian performansi  truk logistik yang pada umumnya berupa truk-truk gandeng. Untuk membantu pengemudi truk dalam berkendara pada kondisi tersebut, dirancang sebuah prototype mobil mandiri (Autonomous Car yang mampu melakukan manuver-manuver pergerakan secara sendirinya, salah satu manuver tersebut ialah Following Car.  Dalam Tugas Akhir ini perancangan sistem yang akan dilakukan dengan  memodelkan  dua buah kendaraan mobil RC (remote control yang bertindak sebagai  follower dan leader car. Pengoperasian dari  following car dilakukan dengan memodifikasi dari kendaraan RC-1, sedangkan RC-2 bertindak sebagai leader car yang dikondisikan secara manual. Dengan penerapan kontroler PID pada implementasi sistem didapatkan penurunan time settling menjadi 2,7 Detik dan peningkatan error steady state sebesar 2,44%. Pada implementasi diberikan kecepatan leader secara acak, dengan implementasi kontroler PID, kondisi jarak antara autonomous car dengan leader car masih dalam range keadaan ideal pada set point.

  7. Cyber Physical Autonomous Mobile Robot (CPAMR Framework in the Context of Industry 4.0

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lee Yoon Ket

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing creates intelligent object networking and independent process management through Internet of thing and data services. Cyber-Physical System (CPS communicates among humans, machines and products through Internet of Things (IoT. In this paper a cyber physical autonomous mobile robot (CPAMR IoT infrastructure system has been proposed. It is capable of performing human-machine interact by allowing users to place and manage orders using cloud platform. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP system processes the data and send the product's data to Radio-frequency identification (RFID tag system for storage and printout. Through Remote Telemetry Unit (RTU, the status of the product, CPAMR system and workstations or machineries are linked to the cloud platform. Initially, system identify the locations of CPAMR, product and the desired workstation. After gathering all the required information, Artificial Intelligence Algorithms (AIA performs real time route map planning according to the shortest distance between CPAMR and the destination. This route map planning will then be sent to the CPAMR’s micro-controller for operation. While the CPAMR is moving, it moves according to the planned route map with the assistance of the Obstacle Avoidance System until it reaches the destination and notifies cloud platform. Three individual projects representing three main functions of the proposed CPAMR have been carried out. Results show that the framework of the project is viable.

  8. A mobile autonomous robot for radiological surveys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dudar, A.M.; Wagner, D.G.; Teese, G.D.

    1992-01-01

    The Robotics Development Group at the Savannah River Site is developing an autonomous robot (SIMON) to perform radiological surveys of potentially contaminated floors. The robot scans floors at a speed of one-inch/second and stops, sounds an alarm, and flashes lights when contamination in a certain area is detected. The contamination of interest here is primarily alpha and beta-gamma. The robot, a Cybermotion K2A base, is radio controlled, uses dead reckoning to determine vehicle position, and docks with a charging station to replenish its batteries and calibrate its position. It uses an ultrasonic ranging system for collision avoidance. In addition, two safety bumpers located in the front and the back of the robot will stop the robots motion when they are depressed. Paths for the robot are preprogrammed and the robots motion can be monitored on a remote screen which shows a graphical map of the environment. The radiation instrument being used is an Eberline RM22A monitor. This monitor is microcomputer based with a serial I/0 interface for remote operation. Up to 30 detectors may be configured with the RM22A

  9. Search and Classification Using Multiple Autonomous Vehicles Decision-Making and Sensor Management

    CERN Document Server

    Wang, Yue

    2012-01-01

    Search and Classification Using Multiple Autonomous Vehicles provides a comprehensive study of decision-making strategies for domain search and object classification using multiple autonomous vehicles (MAV) under both deterministic and probabilistic frameworks. It serves as a first discussion of the problem of effective resource allocation using MAV with sensing limitations, i.e., for search and classification missions over large-scale domains, or when there are far more objects to be found and classified than there are autonomous vehicles available. Under such scenarios, search and classification compete for limited sensing resources. This is because search requires vehicle mobility while classification restricts the vehicles to the vicinity of any objects found. The authors develop decision-making strategies to choose between these competing tasks and vehicle-motion-control laws to achieve the proposed management scheme. Deterministic Lyapunov-based, probabilistic Bayesian-based, and risk-based decision-mak...

  10. Reconfigurable On-Board Vision Processing for Small Autonomous Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James K. Archibald

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the challenge of supporting real-time vision processing on-board small autonomous vehicles. Local vision gives increased autonomous capability, but it requires substantial computing power that is difficult to provide given the severe constraints of small size and battery-powered operation. We describe a custom FPGA-based circuit board designed to support research in the development of algorithms for image-directed navigation and control. We show that the FPGA approach supports real-time vision algorithms by describing the implementation of an algorithm to construct a three-dimensional (3D map of the environment surrounding a small mobile robot. We show that FPGAs are well suited for systems that must be flexible and deliver high levels of performance, especially in embedded settings where space and power are significant concerns.

  11. Reconfigurable On-Board Vision Processing for Small Autonomous Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fife WadeS

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the challenge of supporting real-time vision processing on-board small autonomous vehicles. Local vision gives increased autonomous capability, but it requires substantial computing power that is difficult to provide given the severe constraints of small size and battery-powered operation. We describe a custom FPGA-based circuit board designed to support research in the development of algorithms for image-directed navigation and control. We show that the FPGA approach supports real-time vision algorithms by describing the implementation of an algorithm to construct a three-dimensional (3D map of the environment surrounding a small mobile robot. We show that FPGAs are well suited for systems that must be flexible and deliver high levels of performance, especially in embedded settings where space and power are significant concerns.

  12. A Universal Communication Framework and Navigation Control Software for Mobile Prototyping Platforms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Mitschele-Thiel

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available In our contribution we would like to describe two new aspects of our low-cost mobile prototyping platform concept: a new hardware communication framework as well as new software features for navigation and control of our mobile platform. The paper is an extension of the ideas proposed in REV2009 [1] and is based on the therein used hardware platform and the monitoring and management software. This platform is based on the Quadrocopter concept – autonomous flying helicopter-style robots – and includes additional off-the-shelf parts. This leads to a universal mobile prototyping platform for communication tasks providing both mobile phone and WiFi access. However, the platform can provide these functions far more quickly than a technician on the ground might be able to. We will show that with our concept we can easily adapt the platform to the individual needs of the user, which leads to a very flexible and semi-autonomous system.

  13. Autonomous navigation and mobility for a planetary rover

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, David P.; Mishkin, Andrew H.; Lambert, Kenneth E.; Bickler, Donald; Bernard, Douglas E.

    1989-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of the onboard subsystems that will be used in guiding a planetary rover. Particular emphasis is placed on the planning and sensing systems and their associated costs, particularly in computation. Issues that will be used in evaluating trades between the navigation system and mobility system are also presented.

  14. An Autonomous Distributed Fault-Tolerant Local Positioning System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malekpour, Mahyar R.

    2017-01-01

    We describe a fault-tolerant, GPS-independent (Global Positioning System) distributed autonomous positioning system for static/mobile objects and present solutions for providing highly-accurate geo-location data for the static/mobile objects in dynamic environments. The reliability and accuracy of a positioning system fundamentally depends on two factors; its timeliness in broadcasting signals and the knowledge of its geometry, i.e., locations and distances of the beacons. Existing distributed positioning systems either synchronize to a common external source like GPS or establish their own time synchrony using a scheme similar to a master-slave by designating a particular beacon as the master and other beacons synchronize to it, resulting in a single point of failure. Another drawback of existing positioning systems is their lack of addressing various fault manifestations, in particular, communication link failures, which, as in wireless networks, are increasingly dominating the process failures and are typically transient and mobile, in the sense that they typically affect different messages to/from different processes over time.

  15. Data dissemination in the wild: A testbed for high-mobility MANETs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vingelmann, Peter; Pedersen, Morten Videbæk; Heide, Janus

    2012-01-01

    This paper investigates the problem of efficient data dissemination in Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs) with high mobility. A testbed is presented; which provides a high degree of mobility in experiments. The testbed consists of 10 autonomous robots with mobile phones mounted on them. The mobile...... information, and the goal is to convey that information to all devices. A strategy is proposed that uses UDP broadcast transmissions and random linear network coding to facilitate the efficient exchange of information in the network. An application is introduced that implements this strategy on Nokia phones...

  16. Waste management: products and services

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    A number of products and services related to radioactive waste management are described. These include: a portable cement solidification system for waste immobilization; spent fuel storage racks; storage and transport flasks; an on-site low-level waste storage facility; supercompactors; a mobile waste retrieval and encapsulation plant; underwater crushers; fuel assembly disposal; gaseous waste management; environmental restoration and waste management services; a waste treatment consultancy. (UK)

  17. Safety analysis of autonomous excavator functionality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seward, D.; Pace, C.; Morrey, R.; Sommerville, I.

    2000-01-01

    This paper presents an account of carrying out a hazard analysis to define the safety requirements for an autonomous robotic excavator. The work is also relevant to the growing generic class of heavy automated mobile machinery. An overview of the excavator design is provided and the concept of a safety manager is introduced. The safety manager is an autonomous module responsible for all aspects of system operational safety, and is central to the control system's architecture. Each stage of the hazard analysis is described, i.e. system model creation, hazard definition and hazard analysis. Analysis at an early stage of the design process, and on a system that interfaces directly to an unstructured environment, exposes certain issues relevant to the application of current hazard analysis methods. The approach taken in the analysis is described. Finally, it is explained how the results of the hazard analysis have influenced system design, in particular, safety manager specifications. Conclusions are then drawn about the applicability of hazard analysis of requirements in general, and suggestions are made as to how the approach can be taken further

  18. Mobile inspection and repackaging unit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whitney, G.A.; Roberts, R.J.

    1992-12-01

    Storage of large volumes of radioactive mixed waste (RMW) and transuranic waste generated over the past 20 years at the Hanford Site has resulted in various waste management challenges. Presently disposal capacity for this waste type does not exist. The waste wail be stored until processing facilities can be completed to provide treatment and final disposed. Because of the complexity of these wastes, special projects have been initiated to properly manage them. This paper addresses one such project. The goal of this project is to develop a mobile solid waste inspection and repackaging facility for solid RMW and transuranic waste

  19. Mobile sociology. 2000.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urry, John

    2010-01-01

    This article seeks to develop a manifesto for a sociology concerned with the diverse mobilities of peoples, objects, images, information, and wastes; and of the complex interdependencies between, and social consequences of, such diverse mobilities. A number of key concepts relevant for such a sociology are elaborated: 'gamekeeping', networks, fluids, scapes, flows, complexity and iteration. The article concludes by suggesting that a 'global civil society' might constitute the social base of a sociology of mobilities as we move into the twenty-first century.

  20. Mobile systems development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Ole; Kristiansen, Martin Lund; Kammersgaard, Marc N.

    2007-01-01

    in XP. In general, we find XP well-suited for mobile systems development projects. However, based on our experiences and an analytical comparison we propose the following modifications to XP: Make an essential design to avoid the worst time waste during refactoring. For faster development, reuse code......Development of mobile software is Surrounded by much uncertainty. Immature software platforms on mobile clients, a highly competitive market calling for innovation, efficiency and effectiveness in the development life cycle, and lacking end-user adoption are just some of the realities facing...... development teams in the mobile software industry. By taking a process view on development of mobile systems we seek to explore the strengths and limitations of eXtreme Programming (XP) in the context of mobile software development. Following an experimental approach a mobile systems development project...

  1. Integrated Control Strategies Supporting Autonomous Functionalities in Mobile Robots

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Sights, B; Everett, H. R; Pacis, E. B; Kogut, G; Thompson, M

    2005-01-01

    High-level intelligence allows a mobile robot to create and interpret complex world models, but without a precise control system, the accuracy of the world model and the robot's ability to interact...

  2. 14th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems

    CERN Document Server

    Hosoda, Koh; Menegatti, Emanuele; Shimizu, Masahiro; Wang, Hesheng

    2017-01-01

    This book describes the latest research advances, innovations, and visions in the field of robotics as presented by leading researchers, engineers, and practitioners from around the world at the 14th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS-14), held in Shanghai, China in July 2016. The contributions amply demonstrate that robots, machines and systems are rapidly achieving intelligence and autonomy, attaining more and more capabilities such as mobility and manipulation, sensing and perception, reasoning, and decision-making. They cover a wide range of research results and applications, and particular attention is paid to the emerging role of autonomous robots and intelligent systems in industrial production, which reflects their maturity and robustness. The contributions were selected by means of a rigorous peer-review process and highlight many exciting and visionary ideas that will further galvanize the research community and spur novel research directions. The series of biennial IAS ...

  3. Best Sale Mobile Application

    OpenAIRE

    Chittugnanamoorthy, Balakumar

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this thesis was to find a best way to advertise short-term sales and reduce paper waste. Another aim was to help the seller to identify a potential customer for a specific product, by means of providing a number of people accessing an advertisement. A mobile phone is one of the widely used electronic devices by many people. Modern mobile phones support a good internet connection. Also, people carry their mobile devices with them even outside their homes. So a mobile application ...

  4. Flow behavior and mobility of contaminated waste rock materials in the abandoned Imgi mine in Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, S. W.; Wu, Y.-H.; Cho, Y. C.; Ji, S. W.

    2018-01-01

    Incomplete mine reclamation can cause ecological and environmental impacts. This paper focuses on the geotechnical and rheological characteristics of waste rock materials, which are mainly composed of sand-size particles, potentially resulting in mass movement (e.g., slide or flow) and extensive acid mine drainage. To examine the potential for contaminant mobilization resulting from physicochemical processes in abandoned mines, a series of scenario-based debris flow simulations was conducted using Debris-2D to identify different hazard scenarios and volumes. The flow behavior of waste rock materials was examined using a ball-measuring rheometric apparatus, which can be adapted for large particle samples, such as debris flow. Bingham yield stresses determined in controlled shear rate mode were used as an input parameter in the debris flow modeling. The yield stresses ranged from 100 to 1000 Pa for shear rates ranging from 10- 5 to 102 s- 1. The results demonstrated that the lowest yield stress could result in high mobility of debris flow (e.g., runout distance > 700 m from the source area for 60 s); consequently, the material contaminants may easily reach the confluence of the Suyoung River through a mountain stream. When a fast slide or debris flow occurs at or near an abandoned mine area, it may result in extremely dynamic and destructive geomorphological changes. Even for the highest yield stress of debris flow simulation (i.e., τy = 2000 Pa), the released debris could flow into the mountain stream; therefore, people living near abandoned mines may become exposed to water pollution throughout the day. To maintain safety at and near abandoned mines, the physicochemical properties of waste materials should be monitored, and proper mitigation measures post-mining should be considered in terms of both their physical damage and chemical pollution potential.

  5. Distributed computing by oblivious mobile robots

    CERN Document Server

    Flocchini, Paola; Santoro, Nicola

    2012-01-01

    The study of what can be computed by a team of autonomous mobile robots, originally started in robotics and AI, has become increasingly popular in theoretical computer science (especially in distributed computing), where it is now an integral part of the investigations on computability by mobile entities. The robots are identical computational entities located and able to move in a spatial universe; they operate without explicit communication and are usually unable to remember the past; they are extremely simple, with limited resources, and individually quite weak. However, collectively the ro

  6. Analysis of material and energy consumption of mobile phones in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Jinglei; Williams, Eric; Ju Meiting

    2010-01-01

    Owing to booming mobile phone ownership and a short product innovation cycle, waste mobile phones are flooding China. In 2008, about 560 million mobile phones were produced and 634 million users subscribed to a mobile phone plan in China. These large numbers mean that the charging and disposal of mobile phones has the potential to have significant impacts on the environment. Thus the evaluation of material and energy consumption of mobile phones is an important task in the end-of-life management of electronic products. This paper uses material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) methods to estimate the life cycle impacts of mobile phones in China from manufacturing energy, use phase and generation of waste mobile phones. Results indicate over the mobile phone life cycle, manufacturing accounts for 50% of the total energy consumption, whereas the use phase accounts for only 20%. Mobile phones and supporting infrastructures account for a rapidly increasing 0.17% of Chinese energy use. In 2008, around 77 million units of waste mobile phones were generated in China. To manage this energy use and recover valuable materials recommendations are made to increase lifespan, improve energy efficiency during use and ensure recycling.

  7. Heterogeneous redox conditions, arsenic mobility, and groundwater flow in a fractured-rock aquifer near a waste repository site in New Hampshire, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anthropogenic sources of carbon from landfill or waste leachate can promote reductive dissolution of in situ arsenic (As) and enhance the mobility of As in groundwater. Groundwater from residential-supply wells in a fractured crystalline-rock aquifer adjacent to a Superfund site ...

  8. Benchmark Framework for Mobile Robots Navigation Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelson David Muñoz-Ceballos

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite the wide variety of studies and research on mobile robot systems, performance metrics are not often examined. This makes difficult to establish an objective comparison of achievements. In this paper, the navigation of an autonomous mobile robot is evaluated. Several metrics are described. These metrics, collectively, provide an indication of navigation quality, useful for comparing and analyzing navigation algorithms of mobile robots. This method is suggested as an educational tool, which allows the student to optimize the algorithms quality, relating to important aspectsof science, technology and engineering teaching, as energy consumption, optimization and design.

  9. Autonomic headache with autonomic seizures: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozge, Aynur; Kaleagasi, Hakan; Yalçin Tasmertek, Fazilet

    2006-10-01

    The aim of the report is to present a case of an autonomic headache associated with autonomic seizures. A 19-year-old male who had had complex partial seizures for 15 years was admitted with autonomic complaints and left hemicranial headache, independent from seizures, that he had had for 2 years and were provoked by watching television. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed right hippocampal sclerosis and electroencephalography revealed epileptic activity in right hemispheric areas. Treatment with valproic acid decreased the complaints. The headache did not fulfil the criteria for the diagnosis of trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, and was different from epileptic headache, which was defined as a pressing type pain felt over the forehead for several minutes to a few hours. Although epileptic headache responds to anti-epileptics and the complaints of the present case decreased with antiepileptics, it has been suggested that the headache could be a non-trigeminal autonomic headache instead of an epileptic headache.

  10. Integrated mobile robot control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amidi, Omead; Thorpe, Chuck E.

    1991-03-01

    This paper describes the strucwre implementation and operation of a real-time mobile robot controller which integrates capabilities such as: position estimation path specification and hacking human interfaces fast communication and multiple client support The benefits of such high-level capabilities in a low-level controller was shown by its implementation for the Naviab autonomous vehicle. In addition performance results from positioning and tracking systems are reported and analyzed.

  11. Vision Based Autonomous Robot Navigation Algorithms and Implementations

    CERN Document Server

    Chatterjee, Amitava; Nirmal Singh, N

    2013-01-01

    This book is devoted to the theory and development of autonomous navigation of mobile robots using computer vision based sensing mechanism. The conventional robot navigation systems, utilizing traditional sensors like ultrasonic, IR, GPS, laser sensors etc., suffer several drawbacks related to either the physical limitations of the sensor or incur high cost. Vision sensing has emerged as a popular alternative where cameras can be used to reduce the overall cost, maintaining high degree of intelligence, flexibility and robustness. This book includes a detailed description of several new approaches for real life vision based autonomous navigation algorithms and SLAM. It presents the concept of how subgoal based goal-driven navigation can be carried out using vision sensing. The development concept of vision based robots for path/line tracking using fuzzy logic is presented, as well as how a low-cost robot can be indigenously developed in the laboratory with microcontroller based sensor systems. The book descri...

  12. A 3-D Miniature LIDAR System for Mobile Robot Navigation, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Future lunar site operations will benefit from mobile robots, both autonomous and tele-operated, that complement or replace human extravehicular activity....

  13. Design and implementation of Ad-Hoc collaborative proxying scheme for reducing network energy waste

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafiullah Khan

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Network devices are equipped with low power states but they are rarely activated due to their inability of maintaining network connectivity. Recently, Network Connectivity Proxy (NCP concept has been proposed in literature as an effective mechanism to exploit full potential of low power features on network devices by impersonating their virtual presence. However, the NCP concept faces several open issues and challenges especially related to proxying of TCP connections and majority of daily used proprietary closed-source applications. This paper presents a new approach for reducing network energy waste through intelligent collaboration among daily used devices (e.g., desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. It guarantees to run applications on only and only one user device that is under active use at that specific moment. To reduce energy waste and allow idle devices to sleep, our approach also takes benefit from a light-weight home gateway proxy with very basic practically realizable functionalities. The proposed system not just reduces energy waste of fixed devices but also enables mobile devices to significantly improve their battery life. Our developed software prototypes allow devices to autonomously and seamlessly collaborate with each other without requiring any configuration or user input. Further, this paper also presents the basic performance evaluation of developed prototypes in real networking environments.

  14. Modeling Cd and Cu mobility in soils amended by long-term urban waste compost applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filipović, Vilim; Cambier, Philippe; Matijević, Lana; Coquet, Yves; Pot, Valérie; Houot, Sabine; Benoit, Pierre

    2016-04-01

    Urban waste compost application to soil is an effective way for organic waste disposal and at the same time may have a positive effect on various soil rhizosphere processes. However, long term applications of organic waste amendments may lead to a noteworthy accumulation of micropollutants in soil. The long-term field experiment QualiAgro, an INRA-Veolia partnership (https://www6.inra.fr/qualiagro_eng/), has been conducted since 1998 with the objectives to characterize the agronomic value of urban composts and the environmental impacts of their application. Numerical modeling was performed using HYDRUS-2D to estimate the movement of Cd and Cu from compost incroporation in the tilled layer. Experimental plots regularly amended with co-compost of sewage sludge and green wastes (SGW), or a municipal solid waste compost (MSW) have been compared to control plot without any organic amendment (CONT). Field site was equipped with wicks lysimeters, TDR probes and tensiometers in order to determine water balance and trace metal concentrations during a 6 years' time period (2004-2010). In the tilled layer different structures (Δ - compacted clods, Γ - macroporous zone, IF - interfurrows, PP - plough pan) corresponding to the tillage and compost incorporation were delimited and reproduced in a 2-D model. The increase of Cd and Cu concentrations due to each compost addition was assumed to be located in IFs for further modeling. Four compost additions were performed during 2004-2010 period which increased the Cd and Cu concentrations in the IF zones considerably. After successful model description of water flow in highly heterogeneous soil profiles, Cd and Cu were added into the model and their fate was simulated during the same time period. Two approaches were followed to estimate plausible trace metals sorption coefficients (Kd), both while assuming equilibrium between dissolved and EDTA-extractable metals. The first approach was based on Kd estimated from ratios between

  15. Autonomous mobile platform with simultaneous localisation and mapping system for patrolling purposes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitka, Łukasz; Buratowski, Tomasz

    2017-10-01

    This work describes an autonomous mobile platform for supervision and surveillance purposes. The system can be adapted for mounting on different types of vehicles. The platform is based on a SLAM navigation system which performs a localization task. Sensor fusion including laser scanners, inertial measurement unit (IMU), odometry and GPS lets the system determine its position in a certain and precise way. The platform is able to create a 3D model of a supervised area and export it as a point cloud. The system can operate both inside and outside as the navigation algorithm is resistant to typical localization errors caused by wheel slippage or temporal GPS signal loss. The system is equipped with a path-planning module which allows operating in two modes. The first mode is for periodical observation of points in a selected area. The second mode is turned on in case of an alarm. When it is called, the platform moves with the fastest route to the place of the alert. The path planning is always performed online with use of the most current scans, therefore the platform is able to adjust its trajectory to the environment changes or obstacles that are in the motion. The control algorithms are developed under the Robot Operating System (ROS) since it comes with drivers for many devices used in robotics. Such a solution allows for extending the system with any type of sensor in order to incorporate its data into a created area model. Proposed appliance can be ported to other existing robotic platforms or used to develop a new platform dedicated to a specific kind of surveillance. The platform use cases are to patrol an area, such as airport or metro station, in search for dangerous substances or suspicious objects and in case of detection instantly inform security forces. Second use case is a tele-operation in hazardous area for an inspection purposes.

  16. Ways to an energy autonomous sewage plant; Wege zur energieautarken Klaeranlage

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kunz, Reiner [Ministerium fuer Umwelt, Forsten und Verbraucherschutz Rheinland-Pfalz (Germany). Referat Kommunalabwasser

    2009-07-01

    Apart from the energy saving, the extensive utilization of energy sources in the waste water is of substantial significance according to the reduction of energy supply of a sewage plant. Projects in Rheinland-Pfalz (Federal Republic of Germany) have the goal to develop sewage plants in the next years to energy autonomous sewage plants. Energy autonomy only can be achieved by a consequent energy saving and complete utilization of energy sources. In addition, the utilization of waste heat in the drainage system, in the final clarification, with the blast air as well as plant spreading considerations according to the utilisation of energy belong to the utilization of sources of energy.

  17. An Experimental Platform for Autonomous Bus Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Héctor Montes

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, with highly developed instrumentation, sensing and actuation technologies, it is possible to foresee an important advance in the field of autonomous and/or semi-autonomous transportation systems. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS have been subjected to very active research for many years, and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT is one area of major interest. Among the most promising transport infrastructures, the articulated bus is an interesting, low cost, high occupancy capacity and friendly option. In this paper, an experimental platform for research on the automatic control of an articulated bus is presented. The aim of the platform is to allow full experimentation in real conditions for testing technological developments and control algorithms. The experimental platform consists of a mobile component (a commercial articulated bus fully instrumented and a ground test area composed of asphalt roads inside the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC premises. This paper focuses also on the development of a human machine interface to ease progress in control system evaluation. Some experimental results are presented in order to show the potential of the proposed platform.

  18. Who's Got the Bridge? - Towards Safe, Robust Autonomous Operations at NASA Langley's Autonomy Incubator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, B. Danette; Cross, Charles D.; Motter, Mark A.; Neilan, James H.; Qualls, Garry D.; Rothhaar, Paul M.; Tran, Loc; Trujillo, Anna C.; Crisp, Vicki K.

    2015-01-01

    NASA aeronautics research has made decades of contributions to aviation. Both aircraft and air traffic management (ATM) systems in use today contain NASA-developed and NASA sponsored technologies that improve safety and efficiency. Recent innovations in robotics and autonomy for automobiles and unmanned systems point to a future with increased personal mobility and access to transportation, including aviation. Automation and autonomous operations will transform the way we move people and goods. Achieving this mobility will require safe, robust, reliable operations for both the vehicle and the airspace and challenges to this inevitable future are being addressed now in government labs, universities, and industry. These challenges are the focus of NASA Langley Research Center's Autonomy Incubator whose R&D portfolio includes mission planning, trajectory and path planning, object detection and avoidance, object classification, sensor fusion, controls, machine learning, computer vision, human-machine teaming, geo-containment, open architecture design and development, as well as the test and evaluation environment that will be critical to prove system reliability and support certification. Safe autonomous operations will be enabled via onboard sensing and perception systems in both data-rich and data-deprived environments. Applied autonomy will enable safety, efficiency and unprecedented mobility as people and goods take to the skies tomorrow just as we do on the road today.

  19. Monte Carlo Registration and Its Application with Autonomous Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Rink

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This work focuses on Monte Carlo registration methods and their application with autonomous robots. A streaming and an offline variant are developed, both based on a particle filter. The streaming registration is performed in real-time during data acquisition with a laser striper allowing for on-the-fly pose estimation. Thus, the acquired data can be instantly utilized, for example, for object modeling or robot manipulation, and the laser scan can be aborted after convergence. Curvature features are calculated online and the estimated poses are optimized in the particle weighting step. For sampling the pose particles, uniform, normal, and Bingham distributions are compared. The methods are evaluated with a high-precision laser striper attached to an industrial robot and with a noisy Time-of-Flight camera attached to service robots. The shown applications range from robot assisted teleoperation, over autonomous object modeling, to mobile robot localization.

  20. Limited mobility of dioxins near San Jacinto super fund site (waste pit) in the Houston Ship Channel, Texas due to strong sediment sorption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Louchouarn, Patrick; Seward, Shaya M; Cornelissen, Gerard; Arp, Hans Peter H; Yeager, Kevin M; Brinkmeyer, Robin; Santschi, Peter H

    2018-02-20

    Sediments from a waste pit in Houston Ship Channel (HSC) were characterized using a number of molecular markers of natural organic matter fractions (e.g., pyrogenic carbon residues, PAHs, lignins), in addition to dioxins, in order to test the hypothesis that the dispersal and mobility of dioxins from the waste pit in the San Jacinto River is minimal. Station SG-6, sampled at the site of the submerged waste pit, had the highest dioxin/furan concentrations reported for the Houston Ship Channel/Galveston Bay (HSC/GB) system (10,000-46,000 pg/g), which translated into some of the highest reported World Health Organization Toxic Equivalents (TEQs: 2000-11,000 pg/g) in HSC sediments. Using a multi-tracer approach, this study confirmed our hypothesis that sludges from chlorinated pulps are a very likely source of dioxins/furans to this pit. However, this material also contained large quantities of additional hydrophobic organic contaminants (PAHs) and pyrogenic markers (soot-BC, levoglucosan), pointing to the co-occurrence of petroleum hydrocarbons and combustion byproducts. Comparison of dioxin/furan signatures in the waste pit with those from sediments of the HSC and a control site suggests that the remobilization of contaminated particles did not occur beyond the close vicinity of the pit itself. The dioxins/furans in sediments outside the waste pit within the HSC are rather from other diffuse inputs, entering the sedimentary environment through the air and water, and which are comprised of a mixture of industrial and municipal sources. Fingerprinting of waste pit dioxins indicates that their composition is typical of pulp and paper sources. Measured pore water concentrations were 1 order of magnitude lower than estimated values, calculated from a multiphase sorption model, indicating low mobility of dioxins within the waste pit. This is likely accomplished by co-occurring and strong sorbing pyrogenic and petrogenic residues in the waste pit, which tend to keep

  1. ROBERT autonomous navigation robot with artificial vision

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cipollini, A.; Meo, G.B.; Nanni, V.; Rossi, L.; Taraglio, S.; Ferjancic, C.

    1993-01-01

    This work, a joint research between ENEA (the Italian National Agency for Energy, New Technologies and the Environment) and DIGlTAL, presents the layout of the ROBERT project, ROBot with Environmental Recognizing Tools, under development in ENEA laboratories. This project aims at the development of an autonomous mobile vehicle able to navigate in a known indoor environment through the use of artificial vision. The general architecture of the robot is shown together with the data and control flow among the various subsystems. Also the inner structure of the latter complete with the functionalities are given in detail

  2. Secure, Mobile, Wireless Network Technology Designed, Developed, and Demonstrated

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivancic, William D.; Paulsen, Phillip E.

    2004-01-01

    The inability to seamlessly disseminate data securely over a high-integrity, wireless broadband network has been identified as a primary technical barrier to providing an order-of-magnitude increase in aviation capacity and safety. Secure, autonomous communications to and from aircraft will enable advanced, automated, data-intensive air traffic management concepts, increase National Air Space (NAS) capacity, and potentially reduce the overall cost of air travel operations. For the first time ever, secure, mobile, network technology was designed, developed, and demonstrated with state-ofthe- art protocols and applications by a diverse, cooperative Government-industry team led by the NASA Glenn Research Center. This revolutionary technology solution will make fundamentally new airplane system capabilities possible by enabling secure, seamless network connections from platforms in motion (e.g., cars, ships, aircraft, and satellites) to existing terrestrial systems without the need for manual reconfiguration. Called Mobile Router, the new technology autonomously connects and configures networks as they traverse from one operating theater to another. The Mobile Router demonstration aboard the Neah Bay, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel stationed in Cleveland, Ohio, accomplished secure, seamless interoperability of mobile network systems across multiple domains without manual system reconfiguration. The Neah Bay was chosen because of its low cost and communications mission similarity to low-Earth-orbiting satellite platforms. This technology was successfully advanced from technology readiness level (TRL) 2 (concept and/or application formation) to TRL 6 (system model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment). The secure, seamless interoperability offered by the Mobile Router and encryption device will enable several new, vehicle-specific and systemwide technologies to perform such things as remote, autonomous aircraft performance monitoring and early detection and

  3. Colloidal mobilization of arsenic from mining-affected soils by surface runoff.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomez-Gonzalez, Miguel Angel; Voegelin, Andreas; Garcia-Guinea, Javier; Bolea, Eduardo; Laborda, Francisco; Garrido, Fernando

    2016-02-01

    Scorodite-rich wastes left as a legacy of mining and smelting operations pose a threat to environmental health. Colloids formed by the weathering of processing wastes may control the release of arsenic (As) into surface waters. At a former mine site in Madrid (Spain), we investigated the mobilization of colloidal As by surface runoff from weathered processing wastes and from sediments in the bed of a draining creek and a downstream sedimentation-pond. Colloids mobilized by surface runoff during simulated rain events were characterized for their composition, structure and mode of As uptake using asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation coupled to inductively plasma mass spectrometry (AF4-ICP-MS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the As and Fe K-edges. Colloidal scorodite mobilized in surface runoff from the waste pile is acting as a mobile As carrier. In surface runoff from the river bed and the sedimentation pond, ferrihydrite was identified as the dominant As-bearing colloidal phase. The results from this study suggest that mobilization of As-bearing colloids by surface runoff may play an important role in the dispersion of As from metallurgical wastes deposited above ground and needs to be considered in risk assessment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Waste Inspection Tomography (WIT)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernardi, R.T.

    1995-01-01

    Waste Inspection Tomography (WIT) provides mobile semi-trailer mounted nondestructive examination (NDE) and assay (NDA) for nuclear waste drum characterization. WIT uses various computed tomography (CT) methods for both NDE and NDA of nuclear waste drums. Low level waste (LLW), transuranic (TRU), and mixed radioactive waste can be inspected and characterized without opening the drums. With externally transmitted x-ray NDE techniques, WIT has the ability to identify high density waste materials like heavy metals, define drum contents in two- and three-dimensional space, quantify free liquid volumes through density and x-ray attenuation coefficient discrimination, and measure drum wall thickness. With waste emitting gamma-ray NDA techniques, WIT can locate gamma emitting radioactive sources in two- and three-dimensional space, identify gamma emitting isotopic species, identify the external activity levels of emitting gamma-ray sources, correct for waste matrix attenuation, provide internal activity approximations, and provide the data needed for waste classification as LLW or TRU. The mobile feature of WIT allows inspection technologies to be brought to the nuclear waste drum storage site without the need to relocate drums for safe, rapid, and cost-effective characterization of regulated nuclear waste. The combination of these WIT characterization modalities provides the inspector with an unprecedented ability to non-invasively characterize the regulated contents of waste drums as large as 110 gallons, weighing up to 1,600 pounds. Any objects that fit within these size and weight restrictions can also be inspected on WIT, such as smaller waste bags and drums that are five and thirty-five gallons

  5. Autonomic Neuropathy

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... risk of autonomic neuropathy. Other diseases. Amyloidosis, porphyria, hypothyroidism and cancer (usually due to side effects from treatment) may also increase the risk of autonomic neuropathy. ...

  6. PIPEBOT: a mobile system for duct inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Estrada, Emanuel; Goncalves, Eder Mateus; Botelho, Silvia; Oliveira, Vinicius; Souto Junior, Humberto; Almeida, Renan de; Mello Junior, Claudio; Santos, Thiago [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG), RS (Brazil); Gulles, Roger [Universidade Tecnologica Federal do Parana (UTFPR), Curitiba, PR (Brazil)

    2009-07-01

    In this paper, it is presented the development of an innovative and low-cost robotic mobile system to be employed in inspection of pipes. The system is composed of a robot with different sensors which permit to move inside pipes and detect faults as well as incipient faults. The robot is a semiautonomous one, i.e. it can navigate by human tele operation or autonomously one. The autonomous mode uses computer vision techniques and signals from position sensor of the robot to navigating and localizing it. It is showed the mechanical structure of the robot, the overall architecture of the system and preliminary results. (author)

  7. Central Vehicle Dynamics Control of the Robotic Research Platform ROboMObil

    OpenAIRE

    Bünte, Tilman; Ho, Lok Man; Satzger, Clemens; Brembeck, Jonathan

    2014-01-01

    The ROboMObil is DLR’s space-robotics driven by-wire electro-mobile research platform for mechatronic actuators, vehicle dynamics control, human machine interfaces, and autonomous driving (DLR = German Aerospace Center). Due to its four highly integrated identical Wheel Robots it exhibits an extraordinary manoeuvrability even allowing for driving sideward or rotating on the spot. Topics related to vehicle dynamics control are addressed in this article.

  8. Mobile robots in research and development programs at the Savannah River Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, T.P.; Byrd, J.S.; Fisher, J.J.

    1987-01-01

    Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) is developing mobile robots for deployment in nuclear applications at the Savannah River Plant (SRP). Teleoperated mobile vehicles have been successfully used for several onsite applications. Development work using two research vehicles is underway to demonstrate semi-autonomous intelligent expert robot system operation in process areas. A description of the mechanical equipment, control systems, and operating modes of these vehicles is presented, including the integration of onboard sensors. A control hierarchy that uses modest computational methods is being developed at SRL to allow vehicles to autonomously navigate and perform tasks in known environments, without the need for large computer systems. Knowledge-based expert systems are being evaluated to simplify operator control, to assist in navigation functions, and to analyze sensory information

  9. Mobile robots in research and development programs at the Savannah River site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, T.P.; Byrd, J.S.; Fisher, J.J.

    1987-01-01

    Mobile robots for deployment in nuclear applications at the Savannah River Plant (SRP) have been developed. Teleoperated mobile vehicles have been successfully used for several onsite applications. Development work using two research vehicles is underway to demonstrate semi-autonomous intelligent expert robot system operation in process areas. A description of the mechanical equipment, control systems, and operating modes of these vehicles is presented, including the integration of onboard sensors. A control hierarchy that uses modest computational methods is being developed at SRL to allow vehicles to autonomously navigate and perform tasks in known environments, without the need for large computer systems. Knowledge-based expert systems are being evaluated to simplify operator control, to assist in navigation functions, and to analyze sensory information

  10. Grand Junction projects office mixed-waste treatment program, VAC*TRAX mobile treatment unit process hazards analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bloom, R.R.

    1996-04-01

    The objective of this report is to demonstrate that a thorough assessment of the risks associated with the operation of the Rust Geotech patented VAC*TRAX mobile treatment unit (MTU) has been performed and documented. The MTU was developed to treat mixed wastes at the US Department of Energy (DOE) Albuquerque Operations Office sites. The MTU uses an indirectly heated, batch vacuum dryer to thermally desorb organic compounds from mixed wastes. This process hazards analysis evaluated 102 potential hazards. The three significant hazards identified involved the inclusion of oxygen in a process that also included an ignition source and fuel. Changes to the design of the MTU were made concurrent with the hazard identification and analysis; all hazards with initial risk rankings of 1 or 2 were reduced to acceptable risk rankings of 3 or 4. The overall risk to any population group from operation of the MTU was determined to be very low; the MTU is classified as a Radiological Facility with low hazards

  11. Grand Junction projects office mixed-waste treatment program, VAC*TRAX mobile treatment unit process hazards analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bloom, R.R.

    1996-04-01

    The objective of this report is to demonstrate that a thorough assessment of the risks associated with the operation of the Rust Geotech patented VAC*TRAX mobile treatment unit (MTU) has been performed and documented. The MTU was developed to treat mixed wastes at the US Department of Energy (DOE) Albuquerque Operations Office sites. The MTU uses an indirectly heated, batch vacuum dryer to thermally desorb organic compounds from mixed wastes. This process hazards analysis evaluated 102 potential hazards. The three significant hazards identified involved the inclusion of oxygen in a process that also included an ignition source and fuel. Changes to the design of the MTU were made concurrent with the hazard identification and analysis; all hazards with initial risk rankings of 1 or 2 were reduced to acceptable risk rankings of 3 or 4. The overall risk to any population group from operation of the MTU was determined to be very low; the MTU is classified as a Radiological Facility with low hazards.

  12. Genetic autonomic disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Axelrod, Felicia B

    2013-03-01

    Genetic disorders affecting the autonomic nervous system can result in abnormal development of the nervous system or they can be caused by neurotransmitter imbalance, an ion-channel disturbance or by storage of deleterious material. The symptoms indicating autonomic dysfunction, however, will depend upon whether the genetic lesion has disrupted peripheral or central autonomic centers or both. Because the autonomic nervous system is pervasive and affects every organ system in the body, autonomic dysfunction will result in impaired homeostasis and symptoms will vary. The possibility of genetic confirmation by molecular testing for specific diagnosis is increasing but treatments tend to remain only supportive and directed toward particular symptoms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. The mobile agent rendezvous problem in the ring

    CERN Document Server

    Kranakis, Evangelos; Marcou, Euripides

    2010-01-01

    Mobile agent computing is being used in fields as diverse as artificial intelligence, computational economics and robotics. Agents' ability to adapt dynamically and execute asynchronously and autonomously brings potential advantages in terms of fault-tolerance, flexibility and simplicity. This monograph focuses on studying mobile agents as modelled in distributed systems research and in particular within the framework of research performed in the distributed algorithms community. It studies the fundamental question of how to achieve rendezvous, the gathering of two or more agents at the same n

  14. Improving mobile robot localization: grid-based approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Junchi

    2012-02-01

    Autonomous mobile robots have been widely studied not only as advanced facilities for industrial and daily life automation, but also as a testbed in robotics competitions for extending the frontier of current artificial intelligence. In many of such contests, the robot is supposed to navigate on the ground with a grid layout. Based on this observation, we present a localization error correction method by exploring the geometric feature of the tile patterns. On top of the classical inertia-based positioning, our approach employs three fiber-optic sensors that are assembled under the bottom of the robot, presenting an equilateral triangle layout. The sensor apparatus, together with the proposed supporting algorithm, are designed to detect a line's direction (vertical or horizontal) by monitoring the grid crossing events. As a result, the line coordinate information can be fused to rectify the cumulative localization deviation from inertia positioning. The proposed method is analyzed theoretically in terms of its error bound and also has been implemented and tested on a customary developed two-wheel autonomous mobile robot.

  15. Differences in the mobility of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn during composting of two types of household bio-waste collected in four seasons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanc, Ales; Szakova, Jirina; Ochecova, Pavla

    2014-09-01

    The objective of this study was to evaluate the mobility of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn during 3 different compost aeration rates of household bio-waste, originating in urban settlement (U-bio-waste) and family house buildings (F-bio-waste). The first two weeks, when the thermophilic composting phase became, the highest decline of exchangeable content was recorded. After 12 weeks of composting, lower exchangeable content was found in the case of U-bio-waste composts than F-bio-waste composts, despite higher loss of fresh mass. The order of fractions in both final composts was as follows: residual>oxidizable>reducible>exchangeable. The exchangeable portion of total content in final composts decreased in this order: Zn (17%), Cd (11%), Pb (4%) and Cu (3%). Regarding the low exchangeable content of heavy metals and high-quality organic matter, these types of composts could be used not only as fertilizer, but for remediation of metals contaminated land. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Autonomous Mission Operations for Sensor Webs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Underbrink, A.; Witt, K.; Stanley, J.; Mandl, D.

    2008-12-01

    We present interim results of a 2005 ROSES AIST project entitled, "Using Intelligent Agents to Form a Sensor Web for Autonomous Mission Operations", or SWAMO. The goal of the SWAMO project is to shift the control of spacecraft missions from a ground-based, centrally controlled architecture to a collaborative, distributed set of intelligent agents. The network of intelligent agents intends to reduce management requirements by utilizing model-based system prediction and autonomic model/agent collaboration. SWAMO agents are distributed throughout the Sensor Web environment, which may include multiple spacecraft, aircraft, ground systems, and ocean systems, as well as manned operations centers. The agents monitor and manage sensor platforms, Earth sensing systems, and Earth sensing models and processes. The SWAMO agents form a Sensor Web of agents via peer-to-peer coordination. Some of the intelligent agents are mobile and able to traverse between on-orbit and ground-based systems. Other agents in the network are responsible for encapsulating system models to perform prediction of future behavior of the modeled subsystems and components to which they are assigned. The software agents use semantic web technologies to enable improved information sharing among the operational entities of the Sensor Web. The semantics include ontological conceptualizations of the Sensor Web environment, plus conceptualizations of the SWAMO agents themselves. By conceptualizations of the agents, we mean knowledge of their state, operational capabilities, current operational capacities, Web Service search and discovery results, agent collaboration rules, etc. The need for ontological conceptualizations over the agents is to enable autonomous and autonomic operations of the Sensor Web. The SWAMO ontology enables automated decision making and responses to the dynamic Sensor Web environment and to end user science requests. The current ontology is compatible with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC

  17. Solid waste processing experience at Susquehanna Steam Electric Station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phillips, J.W.; Granus, M.W.

    1984-01-01

    This paper reviews the first year's operation at the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES) with respect to the Westinghouse Hittman Nuclear Incorporated (Hittman) mobile solidification system and the dry activated waste generation, handling and processing. Experiences pertinent to the mobile solidification system are reviewed with emphasis on the integration of the system into the plant, problems associated with unexpected waste properties and the myriad of operating procedures that had to be prepared. The processing history for 1983 is reviewed in terms of the volume of waste, including solidified wastes, dewatered wastes an DAW. Factors that must be considered in evaluating processing alternatives, i.e., dewatering vs. solidification; steel liners vs. HICs, are discussed. Actions taken by Hittman and SSES to maximize the processing economics are also discussed. Finally, recommendations are provided to the utility considering implementing mobile solification services to ensure a smooth and timely integration of services into the plant

  18. Patients With Fibromyalgia Have Significant Autonomic Symptoms But Modest Autonomic Dysfunction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincent, Ann; Whipple, Mary O; Low, Phillip A; Joyner, Michael; Hoskin, Tanya L

    2016-05-01

    Research suggests that disordered autonomic function may be one contributor to deconditioning reported in fibromyalgia; however, no study to date has assessed these variables simultaneously with comprehensive measures. To characterize physical fitness and autonomic function with the use of clinically validated measures and subjective questionnaires between patients with fibromyalgia and healthy controls. Cross-sectional, observational, controlled study. Community sample of patients with fibromyalgia and healthy controls. Thirty patients with fibromyalgia and 30 pain and fatigue-free controls. Participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires and physiological measures, including clinically validated measures of physical fitness and autonomic function. Six-Minute Walk Test total distance, maximal oxygen consumption as assessed by cardiopulmonary exercise testing, total steps using activity monitor, Composite Autonomic Scoring Scale as assessed by Autonomic Reflex Screen, total metabolic equivalents per week using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and self-reported autonomic symptoms via the 31-item Composite Autonomic Symptom Score questionnaire. Autonomic function, as assessed by self-report, was significantly different between patients and controls (P physical activity was not significantly different between patients and controls (P = .99), but levels of moderate and vigorous physical activity as measured by actigraphy were significantly lower in patients (P = .012 and P = .047, respectively). Exercise capacity (6-Minute Walk) was poorer in patients (P = .0006), but there was no significant difference in maximal volume of oxygen consumption (P = .07). Patients with fibromyalgia report more severe symptoms across all domains, including physical activity and autonomic symptoms, compared with controls, but the objective assessments only showed modest differences. Our results suggest that patients with widespread subjective impairment of

  19. Using Mobility to Enhance the Routing Process in the MIS System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elkoutbi Mohammed

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we introduce the original Mobile Intelligent System (MIS in embedded FPGA architecture. This node will allow the construction of autonomous mobile network units which can move in unknowns, inaccessible or hostile environnement for human being, in order to collect data by various sensors and transmits them by routing to a unit of distant process. In the sake of improving the performance of routing unit, we propose a measure of mobility. Each node measure its own mobility in the network, based on the change of the links state in his neighboring. This measure of mobility has no unit, and it is calculated by quantification in regular time intervals.

  20. Management of reactor waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baatz, H.

    1976-01-01

    The author discusses the type, production and amount of radioactive waste produced in a nuclear power station (LWR) as well as its conditioning and disposal. The mobile system developed by STEAG for the solidification of medium-activity waste and sludge is referred to in this connection. (HR) [de

  1. Economic Floating Waste Detectionfor Surface Cleaning Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumroengrit Jakkrit

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Removing waste out of water surface is a routine task and can be operated by using autonomous surface cleaning robots. This paper presents amethodoflaser-based floating waste detection for surface robot guidance when waste positions are unknown beforehand. Basing on concept of refraction and reflection of laser ray, the proposed laser-based technique is proven to be applicable on floating waste detection. The economic waste detector is constructed and mounted on the robot. Five DOF equations of motion are formulated for calculation of waste position incorporating distance measured by the laser and also the robot motion caused by external wind force as well as water surface tension. Experiments were conducted on a pond with calm water and results show that the presented economic waste detection successfully identify and locate position of plastic bottles floating on water surface within the range of 5 meters.

  2. Autonomous vehicles: from paradigms to technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ionita, Silviu

    2017-10-01

    Mobility is a basic necessity of contemporary society and it is a key factor in global economic development. The basic requirements for the transport of people and goods are: safety and duration of travel, but also a number of additional criteria are very important: energy saving, pollution, passenger comfort. Due to advances in hardware and software, automation has penetrated massively in transport systems both on infrastructure and on vehicles, but man is still the key element in vehicle driving. However, the classic concept of ‘human-in-the-loop’ in terms of ‘hands on’ in driving the cars is competing aside from the self-driving startups working towards so-called ‘Level 4 autonomy’, which is defined as “a self-driving system that does not requires human intervention in most scenarios”. In this paper, a conceptual synthesis of the autonomous vehicle issue is made in connection with the artificial intelligence paradigm. It presents a classification of the tasks that take place during the driving of the vehicle and its modeling from the perspective of traditional control engineering and artificial intelligence. The issue of autonomous vehicle management is addressed on three levels: navigation, movement in traffic, respectively effective maneuver and vehicle dynamics control. Each level is then described in terms of specific tasks, such as: route selection, planning and reconfiguration, recognition of traffic signs and reaction to signaling and traffic events, as well as control of effective speed, distance and direction. The approach will lead to a better understanding of the way technology is moving when talking about autonomous cars, smart/intelligent cars or intelligent transport systems. Keywords: self-driving vehicle, artificial intelligence, deep learning, intelligent transport systems.

  3. Semi-Autonomous Systems Laboratory

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — VisionThe Semi-Autonomous Systems Lab focuses on developing a comprehensive framework for semi-autonomous coordination of networked robotic systems. Semi-autonomous...

  4. Mobile real time radiography system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vigil, J.; Taggart, D.; Betts, S. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)] [and others

    1997-11-01

    A 450-keV Mobile Real Time Radiography (RTR) System was delivered to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in January 1996. It was purchased to inspect containers of radioactive waste produced at (LANL). Since its delivery it has been used to radiograph more than 600 drums of radioactive waste at various LANL sites. It has the capability of inspecting waste containers of various sizes from <1-gal. buckets up to standard waste boxes (SWB, dimensions 54.5 in. x 71 in. x 37 in.). It has three independent x-ray acquisition formats. The primary system used is a 12- in. image intensifier, the second is a 36-in. linear diode array (LDA) and the last is an open system. It is fully self contained with on board generator, HVAC, and a fire suppression system. It is on a 53-ft long x 8-ft. wide x 14-ft. high trailer that can be moved over any highway requiring only an easily obtainable overweight permit because it weights {approximately}38 tons. It was built to conform to industry standards for a cabinet system which does not require an exclusion zone. The fact that this unit is mobile has allowed us to operate where the waste is stored, rather than having to move the waste to a fixed facility.

  5. Mobile real time radiography system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vigil, J.; Taggart, D.; Betts, S.

    1997-01-01

    A 450-keV Mobile Real Time Radiography (RTR) System was delivered to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in January 1996. It was purchased to inspect containers of radioactive waste produced at (LANL). Since its delivery it has been used to radiograph more than 600 drums of radioactive waste at various LANL sites. It has the capability of inspecting waste containers of various sizes from <1-gal. buckets up to standard waste boxes (SWB, dimensions 54.5 in. x 71 in. x 37 in.). It has three independent x-ray acquisition formats. The primary system used is a 12- in. image intensifier, the second is a 36-in. linear diode array (LDA) and the last is an open system. It is fully self contained with on board generator, HVAC, and a fire suppression system. It is on a 53-ft long x 8-ft. wide x 14-ft. high trailer that can be moved over any highway requiring only an easily obtainable overweight permit because it weights ∼38 tons. It was built to conform to industry standards for a cabinet system which does not require an exclusion zone. The fact that this unit is mobile has allowed us to operate where the waste is stored, rather than having to move the waste to a fixed facility

  6. Enabling Autonomous Navigation for Affordable Scooters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Kaikai; Mulky, Rajathswaroop

    2018-06-05

    Despite the technical success of existing assistive technologies, for example, electric wheelchairs and scooters, they are still far from effective enough in helping those in need navigate to their destinations in a hassle-free manner. In this paper, we propose to improve the safety and autonomy of navigation by designing a cutting-edge autonomous scooter, thus allowing people with mobility challenges to ambulate independently and safely in possibly unfamiliar surroundings. We focus on indoor navigation scenarios for the autonomous scooter where the current location, maps, and nearby obstacles are unknown. To achieve semi-LiDAR functionality, we leverage the gyros-based pose data to compensate the laser motion in real time and create synthetic mapping of simple environments with regular shapes and deep hallways. Laser range finders are suitable for long ranges with limited resolution. Stereo vision, on the other hand, provides 3D structural data of nearby complex objects. To achieve simultaneous fine-grained resolution and long range coverage in the mapping of cluttered and complex environments, we dynamically fuse the measurements from the stereo vision camera system, the synthetic laser scanner, and the LiDAR. We propose solutions to self-correct errors in data fusion and create a hybrid map to assist the scooter in achieving collision-free navigation in an indoor environment.

  7. Mobilities, Futures & the City

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene; Kesselring, Sven

    2016-01-01

    significant attention to these shifts in societies’ discursive patterns and structures. For making up powerful and strong visions and policies for sustainable cities, ‘collaborative storytelling’ plays a key role. The theoretical outset for the research project ‘Mobilities, Futures & the City’, which grounds......The future of cities and regions will be strongly shaped by the mobilities of people, goods, modes of transport, waste and information. In many ways, the ‘why and ‘for what’ often get lost in discourses on planning and designing mobilities. The predominant planning paradigm still conceptualizes...... the future of cities and mobilities as a matter of rather more efficient technologies than of social cohesion, integration and connectivity. Sustainable mobility needs the mobilities of ideas and concepts and the reflexivity of policies. Communicative planning theory and the ‘argumentative turn’ have given...

  8. Visual guidance of mobile platforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blissett, Rodney J.

    1993-12-01

    Two systems are described and results presented demonstrating aspects of real-time visual guidance of autonomous mobile platforms. The first approach incorporates prior knowledge in the form of rigid geometrical models linking visual references within the environment. The second approach is based on a continuous synthesis of information extracted from image tokens to generate a coarse-grained world model, from which potential obstacles are inferred. The use of these techniques in workplace applications is discussed.

  9. Geochemical processes to mobilization of radionuclides from radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bragea, M.

    2005-01-01

    On time to alteration the waste by natural weather in isolated area of waste dumps we can notice chemical, biochemical and geochemical modification. Disposability and flow of water are two of the most important parameter which affect the waste chemistry and migration of contamination from wastes. The water behaves like a mechanism of transport for cationic and anionic components and influenced solubility and salt migration from dump. The salt migration towards residue surfaces is affected by short distance between water and surface. The salts are redissolving and moving through the capillary towards the surface when precipitate. The reactions inside of waste are influenced by geochemical point of view mainly by the amount of sulfated salts and chloride, by the disposability of water, pH and by the chemical mineral heterogeneous of waste. Obviously, if the process of alteration by atmospherically agents and those effects about waste can be minimized we could minimize even chemical modification in order to form the salts. This paper examines the mechanism by which 226 Ra and U nat can enter in groundwater and those, which control its concentration. (author)

  10. Autonomous mobile platform for monitoring air emissions from industrial and municipal wastewater ponds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Long; Huda, Quamrul; Yang, Zheng; Zhang, Lucas; Hashisho, Zaher

    2017-11-01

    Significant amounts of volatile organic compounds and greenhouse gases are generated from wastewater lagoons and tailings ponds in Alberta, Canada. Accurate measurements of these air pollutants and greenhouse gases are needed to support management and regulatory decisions. A mobile platform was developed to measure air emissions from tailings pond in the oil sands region of Alberta. The mobile platform was tested in 2015 in a municipal wastewater treatment lagoon. With a flux chamber and a CO 2 /CH 4 sensor on board, the mobile platform was able to measure CO 2 and CH 4 emissions over two days at two different locations in the pond. Flux emission rates of CO 2 and CH 4 that were measured over the study period suggest the presence of aerobic and anaerobic zones in the wastewater treatment lagoon. The study demonstrated the capabilities of the mobile platform in measuring fugitive air emissions and identified the potential for the applications in air and water quality monitoring programs. The Mobile Platform demonstrated in this study has the ability to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fugitive sources such as municipal wastewater lagoons. This technology can be used to measure emission fluxes from tailings ponds with better detection of spatial and temporal variations of fugitive emissions. Additional air and water sampling equipment could be added to the mobile platform for a broad range of air and water quality studies in the oil sands region of Alberta.

  11. Panorama 2018 - Intelligent transport system and mobility 3.0: definition, challenges and players

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hache, Emmanuel; Ternel, Cyprien; Aissaoui, Lyes

    2018-01-01

    Like many segments of the economy, for over a decade the transport and mobility sector has experienced fundamental organizational changes due to a two-fold revolution in technology (digitalization) and usage (new forms of transportation, autonomous vehicles, etc.). This shift has profound consequences for citizens' relationships with mobility, as well as the economic model used by traditional players (equipment manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, etc.). Looking ahead, and as in other fields, activist consumers could disrupt traditional ways of thinking about mobility. (authors)

  12. Cyprodinil retention on mixtures of soil and solid wastes from wineries. Effects of waste dose and ageing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rodriguez-Salgado, I.; Paradelo Pérez, Marcos; Pérez-Rodríguez, P.

    2014-01-01

    In spite of its wide-world economic relevance, wine production generates a huge amount of waste that threatens the environment. A batch experiment was designed to assess the effect of the amendment of an agricultural soil with two winery wastes (perlite and bentonite wastes) in the immobilization...... increased. The use of these winery wastes contributes to a more sustainable agriculture preventing fungicide mobilization to groundwater....

  13. Hazardous-environment problems: Mobile robots to the rescue

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meieran, H.B.

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents a rationale for employing a spectrum of similar mobile robots to conduct appropriate common missions for the following five hazardous-environment issues: (1) dismantlement of nuclear weapons; (2) environmental restoration and waste management of US Department of Energy weapons sites; (3) operations in nuclear power plants and other facilities; (4) waste chemical site remediation and cleanup activities; and (5) assistance in handling toxic chemical/radiation accidents. Mobile robots have been developed for several hazardous-environment industries, the most visible ones being construction/excavation/tunneling, explosive ordnance/bomb disposal (EOD), fire-fighting, military operations, mining, nuclear, and security. A summary of the range of functions that mobile robots are currently capable of conducting is presented

  14. Selenium and Other Trace Element Mobility in Waste Products and Weathered Sediments at Parys Mountain Copper Mine, Anglesey, UK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liam A. Bullock

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The Parys Mountain copper mining district (Anglesey, North Wales hosts exposed pyritic bedrock, solid mine waste spoil heaps, and acid drainage (ochre sediment deposits. Both natural and waste deposits show elevated trace element concentrations, including selenium (Se, at abundances of both economic and environmental consideration. Elevated concentrations of semi-metals such as Se in waste smelts highlight the potential for economic reserves in this and similar base metal mining sites. Selenium is sourced from the pyritic bedrock and concentrations are retained in red weathering smelt soils, but lost in bedrock-weathered soils and clays. Selenium correlates with Te, Au, Bi, Cd, Hg, Pb, S, and Sb across bedrock and weathered deposits. Man-made mine waste deposits show enrichment of As, Bi, Cu, Sb, and Te, with Fe oxide-rich smelt materials containing high Pb, up to 1.5 wt %, and Au contents, up to 1.2 ppm. The trace elements As, Co, Cu, and Pb are retained from bedrock to all sediments, including high Cu content in Fe oxide-rich ochre sediments. The high abundance and mobility of trace elements in sediments and waters should be considered as potential pollutants to the area, and also as a source for economic reserves of previously extracted and new strategic commodities.

  15. New mobility behaviours and their impact on creation of new business models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnieszka Szmelter

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Megatrends developing in the global economy are mainly connected with social determinants influencing customer demand. A new generation, Y generation, declares other priorities than previous ones, what will result in the emergence of new mobility behaviour patterns. This in turn will be a drive for creation of new business models in particular sectors, for example in the automotive industry. The article presents these changes as well as autonomous vehicles and Mobility as a Service (MaaS as concepts connected with future people mobility and new business models.

  16. Radioactive waste management in Belgium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Detilleux, E.

    1984-01-01

    The first part of this paper briefly describes the nuclear industry in Belgium and the problem of radioactive wastes with regard to their quality and quantity. The second part emphasizes the recent guidelines regarding the management of the nuclear industry in general and the radioactive wastes in particular. In this respect, important tasks are the reinforcement of administrative structures with regard to the supervision and the control of nuclear activities, the establishment of a mixed company entrusted with the covering of the needs of nuclear plants in the field of nuclear fuels and particularly the setting up of a public autonomous and specialized organization, the 'Public Organization for the Management of Radioactive Waste and Fissile Materials', in short 'O.N.D.R.A.F.'. This organization is in charge of the management of the transport, the conditioning, the storage and the disposal of radioactive wastes. (Auth.)

  17. Autonomous stair-climbing with miniature jumping robots.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoeter, Sascha A; Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos

    2005-04-01

    The problem of vision-guided control of miniature mobile robots is investigated. Untethered mobile robots with small physical dimensions of around 10 cm or less do not permit powerful onboard computers because of size and power constraints. These challenges have, in the past, reduced the functionality of such devices to that of a complex remote control vehicle with fancy sensors. With the help of a computationally more powerful entity such as a larger companion robot, the control loop can be closed. Using the miniature robot's video transmission or that of an observer to localize it in the world, control commands can be computed and relayed to the inept robot. The result is a system that exhibits autonomous capabilities. The framework presented here solves the problem of climbing stairs with the miniature Scout robot. The robot's unique locomotion mode, the jump, is employed to hop one step at a time. Methods for externally tracking the Scout are developed. A large number of real-world experiments are conducted and the results discussed.

  18. Sociable mobile robots through self-maintained energy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ngo, Trung Dung; Schiøler, Henrik

    2006-01-01

    society, collecting and sharing are experimentally recognized as the highest property. This paper issues an approach to sociable robots using self-maintained energy in robot society, which is naturally inspired from swarm behavior of honey-bee and ant. Typically, autonomous mobile robots are usually......Research of sociable robots has emphasized interaction and coordination of mobile robots with inspiration from natural behavior of birds, insects, and fish: flocking, foraging, collecting, sharing and so forth. However, the animal behaviors are looking for food towards survival. In an animal...... equipped with a finite energy, thus they can operate in a finite time. To overcome the limitation, we describe practical deployment of a group of mobile robot with the possibility of carrying and exchanging fuel, e.g. battery to other robots. Early implementation that includes modular hardware and control...

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pan Zhao

    2012-07-01

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

  20. Comparison of three-stage sequential extraction and toxicity characteristic leaching tests to evaluate metal mobility in mining wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Margui, E.; Salvado, V.; Queralt, I.; Hidalgo, M.

    2004-01-01

    Abandoned mining sites contain residues from ore processing operations that are characterised by high concentrations of heavy metals. The form in which a metal exists strongly influences its mobility and, thus, the effects on the environment. Operational methods of speciation analysis, such as the use of sequential extraction procedures, are commonly applied. In this work, the modified three-stage sequential extraction procedure proposed by the BCR (now the Standards, Measurements and Testing Programme) was applied for the fractionation of Ni, Zn, Pb and Cd in mining wastes from old Pb-Zn mining areas located in the Val d'Aran (NE Spain) and Cartagena (SE Spain). Analyses of the extracts were performed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The procedure was evaluated by using a certified reference material, BCR-701. The results of the partitioning study indicate that more easily mobilised forms (acid exchangeable) were predominant for Cd and Zn, particularly in the sample from Cartagena. In contrast, the largest amount of lead was associated with the iron and manganese oxide fractions. On the other hand, the applicability of lixiviation tests commonly used to evaluate the leaching of toxic species from landfill disposal (US-EPA Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure and DIN 38414-S4) to mining wastes was also investigated and the obtained results compared with the information on metal mobility derivable from the application of the three-stage sequential extraction procedure

  1. Value-driven behavior generation for an autonomous mobile ground robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balakirsky, Stephen B.; Lacaze, Alberto

    2002-07-01

    In this paper, we will describe a value-driven graph search technique that is capable of generating a rich variety of single and multiple vehicle behaviors. The generation of behaviors depends on cost and benefit computations that may involve terrain characteristics, line of sight to enemy positions, and cost, benefit, and risk of traveling on roads. Depending on mission priorities and cost values, real-time planners can autonomously build appropriate behaviors on the fly that include road following, cross-country movement, stealthily movement, formation keeping, and bounding overwatch. This system follows NIST's 4D/RCS architecture, and a discussion of the world model, value judgment, and behavior generation components is provided. In addition, techniques for collapsing a multidimensional model space into a cost space and planning graph constraints are discussed. The work described in this paper has been performed under the Army Research Laboratory's Robotics Demo III program.

  2. Mapping planetary caves with an autonomous, heterogeneous robot team

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husain, Ammar; Jones, Heather; Kannan, Balajee; Wong, Uland; Pimentel, Tiago; Tang, Sarah; Daftry, Shreyansh; Huber, Steven; Whittaker, William L.

    Caves on other planetary bodies offer sheltered habitat for future human explorers and numerous clues to a planet's past for scientists. While recent orbital imagery provides exciting new details about cave entrances on the Moon and Mars, the interiors of these caves are still unknown and not observable from orbit. Multi-robot teams offer unique solutions for exploration and modeling subsurface voids during precursor missions. Robot teams that are diverse in terms of size, mobility, sensing, and capability can provide great advantages, but this diversity, coupled with inherently distinct low-level behavior architectures, makes coordination a challenge. This paper presents a framework that consists of an autonomous frontier and capability-based task generator, a distributed market-based strategy for coordinating and allocating tasks to the different team members, and a communication paradigm for seamless interaction between the different robots in the system. Robots have different sensors, (in the representative robot team used for testing: 2D mapping sensors, 3D modeling sensors, or no exteroceptive sensors), and varying levels of mobility. Tasks are generated to explore, model, and take science samples. Based on an individual robot's capability and associated cost for executing a generated task, a robot is autonomously selected for task execution. The robots create coarse online maps and store collected data for high resolution offline modeling. The coordination approach has been field tested at a mock cave site with highly-unstructured natural terrain, as well as an outdoor patio area. Initial results are promising for applicability of the proposed multi-robot framework to exploration and modeling of planetary caves.

  3. Houdini trademark: Reconfigurable in-tank mobile robot. Final report, June 1995 - January 1997

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thompson, B.; Slifko, A.

    1998-01-01

    This report details the development of a reconfigurable in-tank robotic cleanup system called Houdini trademark. Driven by the general need to develop equipment for the removal of radioactive waste from hundreds of DOE waste storage tanks and the specific needs of DOE sites such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Fernald, Houdini trademark represents one of the possible tools that can be used to mobilize and retrieve this waste material for complete remediation. Houdini trademark is a hydraulically powered, track driven, mobile work vehicle with a collapsible frame designed to enter underground or above ground waste tanks through existing 24 inch riser openings. After the vehicle has entered the waste tank, it unfolds and lands on the waste surface or tank floor to become a remotely operated mini-bulldozer. Houdini trademark utilizes a vehicle mounted plow blade and 6-DOF manipulator to mobilize waste and carry other tooling such as sluicing pumps, excavation buckets, and hydraulic shears. The complete Houdini trademark system consists of the tracked vehicle and other support equipment (e.g., control console, deployment system, hydraulic power supply, and controller) necessary to deploy and remotely operate this system at any DOE site. Inside the storage tanks, the system is capable of performing heel removal, waste mobilization, waste size reduction, and other tank waste retrieval and decommissioning tasks. The first Houdini trademark system was delivered on September 24, 1996 to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The system acceptance test was successfully performed at a cold test facility at ORNL. After completion of the cold test program and the training of site personnel, ORNL will deploy the system for clean-up and remediation of the Gunite storage tanks

  4. Houdini{trademark}: Reconfigurable in-tank mobile robot. Final report, June 1995--January 1997

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thompson, B.; Slifko, A.

    1998-12-31

    This report details the development of a reconfigurable in-tank robotic cleanup system called Houdini{trademark}. Driven by the general need to develop equipment for the removal of radioactive waste from hundreds of DOE waste storage tanks and the specific needs of DOE sites such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Fernald, Houdini{trademark} represents one of the possible tools that can be used to mobilize and retrieve this waste material for complete remediation. Houdini{trademark} is a hydraulically powered, track driven, mobile work vehicle with a collapsible frame designed to enter underground or above ground waste tanks through existing 24 inch riser openings. After the vehicle has entered the waste tank, it unfolds and lands on the waste surface or tank floor to become a remotely operated mini-bulldozer. Houdini{trademark} utilizes a vehicle mounted plow blade and 6-DOF manipulator to mobilize waste and carry other tooling such as sluicing pumps, excavation buckets, and hydraulic shears. The complete Houdini{trademark} system consists of the tracked vehicle and other support equipment (e.g., control console, deployment system, hydraulic power supply, and controller) necessary to deploy and remotely operate this system at any DOE site. Inside the storage tanks, the system is capable of performing heel removal, waste mobilization, waste size reduction, and other tank waste retrieval and decommissioning tasks. The first Houdini{trademark} system was delivered on September 24, 1996 to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The system acceptance test was successfully performed at a cold test facility at ORNL. After completion of the cold test program and the training of site personnel, ORNL will deploy the system for clean-up and remediation of the Gunite storage tanks.

  5. TARDEC Overview: Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-04

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

  6. Nuclear waste management. Quarterly progress report, January-March 1980

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Platt, A.M.; Powell, J.A. (comps.)

    1980-06-01

    Reported are: high-level waste immobilization, alternative waste forms, nuclear waste materials characterization, TRU waste immobilization, TRU waste decontamination, krypton solidification, thermal outgassing, iodine-129 fixation, unsaturated zone transport, well-logging instrumentation development, mobile organic complexes of fission products, waste management system and safety studies, assessment of effectiveness of geologic isolation systems, waste/rock interactions, engineered barriers, criteria for defining waste isolation, and spent fuel and pool component integrity. (DLC)

  7. Overview of waste stabilization with cement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batchelor, B

    2006-01-01

    Cement can treat a variety of wastes by improving physical characteristics (solidification) and reducing the toxicity and mobility of contaminants (stabilization). Potentially adverse waste-binder interactions are an important consideration because they can limit solidification. Stabilization occurs when a contaminant is converted from the dissolved (mobile) phase to a solid (immobile) phase by reactions, such as precipitation, sorption, or substitution. These reactions are often strongly affected by pH, so the presence of components of the waste that control pH are critical to stabilization reactions. Evaluating environmental impacts can be accomplished in a tiered strategy in which simplest approach would be to measure the maximum amount of contaminant that could be released. Alternatively, the sequence of release can be determined, either by microcosm tests that attempt to simulate conditions in the disposal zone or by mechanistic models that attempt to predict behavior using fundamental characteristics of the treated waste.

  8. Cooperation Dynamics on Mobile Crowd Networks of Device-to-Device Communications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong Deng

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The explosive use of smart devices enabled the emergence of collective resource sharing among mobile individuals. Mobile users need to cooperate with each other to improve the whole network’s quality of service. By modeling the cooperative behaviors in a mobile crowd into an evolutionary Prisoner’s dilemma game, we investigate the relationships between cooperation rate and some main influence factors, including crowd density, communication range, temptation to defect, and mobility attributes. Using evolutionary game theory, our analysis on the cooperative behaviors of mobile takes a deep insight into the cooperation promotion in a dynamical network with selfish autonomous users. The experiment results show that mobile user’s features, including speed, moving probability, and reaction radius, have an obvious influence on the formation of a cooperative mobile social network. We also found some optimal status when the crowd’s cooperation rate reaches the best. These findings are important if we want to establish a mobile social network with a good performance.

  9. Efficient Kinect Sensor-Based Reactive Path Planning Method for Autonomous Mobile Robots in Dynamic Environments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tuvshinjargal, Doopalam; Lee, Deok Jin [Kunsan National University, Gunsan (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-06-15

    In this paper, an efficient dynamic reactive motion planning method for an autonomous vehicle in a dynamic environment is proposed. The purpose of the proposed method is to improve the robustness of autonomous robot motion planning capabilities within dynamic, uncertain environments by integrating a virtual plane-based reactive motion planning technique with a sensor fusion-based obstacle detection approach. The dynamic reactive motion planning method assumes a local observer in the virtual plane, which allows the effective transformation of complex dynamic planning problems into simple stationary ones proving the speed and orientation information between the robot and obstacles. In addition, the sensor fusion-based obstacle detection technique allows the pose estimation of moving obstacles using a Kinect sensor and sonar sensors, thus improving the accuracy and robustness of the reactive motion planning approach. The performance of the proposed method was demonstrated through not only simulation studies but also field experiments using multiple moving obstacles in hostile dynamic environments.

  10. Efficient Kinect Sensor-Based Reactive Path Planning Method for Autonomous Mobile Robots in Dynamic Environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tuvshinjargal, Doopalam; Lee, Deok Jin

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, an efficient dynamic reactive motion planning method for an autonomous vehicle in a dynamic environment is proposed. The purpose of the proposed method is to improve the robustness of autonomous robot motion planning capabilities within dynamic, uncertain environments by integrating a virtual plane-based reactive motion planning technique with a sensor fusion-based obstacle detection approach. The dynamic reactive motion planning method assumes a local observer in the virtual plane, which allows the effective transformation of complex dynamic planning problems into simple stationary ones proving the speed and orientation information between the robot and obstacles. In addition, the sensor fusion-based obstacle detection technique allows the pose estimation of moving obstacles using a Kinect sensor and sonar sensors, thus improving the accuracy and robustness of the reactive motion planning approach. The performance of the proposed method was demonstrated through not only simulation studies but also field experiments using multiple moving obstacles in hostile dynamic environments

  11. GEMMP - A Google Maps Enabled Mobile Mission Planning Tool for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steven Seeley

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Many applications for mobile robotics involve operations in remote, outdoor environments. In these environments, it can be difficult to plan missions dynamically due to the lack of portability of existing mission planning software. Mobile platforms allow access to the Web from nearly anywhere while other features, like touch interfaces, simplify user interaction, and GPS integration allows developers and users to take advantage to location-based services. In this paper, we describe a prototype AUV mission planner developed on the Android platform, created to aid and enhance the capability of an existing AUV mission planner, VectorMap, developed and maintained by OceanServer Technology, by taking advantage of the capabilities of existing mobile computing technology.

  12. The importance of mobile fission products for long-term safety in the case of disposal of vitrified high-level waste and spent fuel in a clay formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marivoet, J.; Weetjens, E.

    2009-01-01

    In Belgium, the possibility to dispose of high-level radioactive waste in clay formations is studied since 1976. In the PAGIS report, which was the first performance assessment of the disposal of vitrified high-level waste in a clay formation and which was published in 1988, the most important contributors to the total dose via a water well pathway were 237 Np, 135 Cs and 99 Tc. Since 1988, several elements that strongly influence the calculated doses have evolved:?the inventory of long-lived mobile fission and activation products in vitrified high-level waste has been improved; the half-life of 79 Se has been re-estimated; substantial progress has been made in the determination of migration parameters of the main fission and activation products and actinides. In recent performance assessments, the actinides and 135 Cs do not significantly contribute to the total dose, as they remain confined in the host clay formation during several millions of years due to sorption on clay minerals. Consequently, the total dose resulting from the disposal of vitrified high-level waste or spent fuel is essentially due to releases of mobile fission and activation products. On the basis of recent waste inventory data and parameter values, the most important contributors to the total dose via a water well are: in the case of disposal of spent fuel: 79 Se, 129 I, 126 Sn, 36 Cl, and 99 Tc; in the case of disposal of vitrified HLW: 79 Se, 126 Sn, 36 Cl, 129 I, and 99 Tc. Important remaining uncertainties are the transfer factors of volatile fission and activation products into the vitrified waste during reprocessing and migration parameters of Se. (author)

  13. An engineering and economic analysis: Inductively coupled plasma mobile treatment of hazardous waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Detering, B.A.; McLlwain, M.E.

    1997-10-01

    This analysis considers the engineering and economic viability of an rf-plasma, mobile treatment process for remediation of hazardous waste located at remote sites in Alaska. A simple engineering process flowsheet is used to define the elements associated with the process and to identify major pieces of equipment. The proposed flowsheet and equipment are used to estimate capital and operational costs for four separate processing cases. These cases explore various operational situations, including moving equipment to a remote site, transporting wastes to a base site, and varying operational periods. Some cases consider variations in fuel costs known to exist across Alaska. Operational costs, capital equipment costs, and revenues are used to calculate pro-forma income statements. These income statements are used to predict economic viability. Based on the economic viability, the analysis suggests that processing of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils is more profitable when performed at remote sites as compared to at a home base. Processing of poly-chloro-biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated oil at a stationary site is more profitable as compared to remote treatment due to the cost of transporting the equipment. Over the range of fuel prices considered, higher fuel costs increase the per unit treatment price by ten percent. Based on the results of this analysis, an rf-plasma based process appears to be economically viable for remote treatment of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil, but less viable for treatment of PCB-contaminated oil

  14. Strategy for investigation of fluid migration in evaporites (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant - WIPP)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lambert, S.J.; Shefelbine, H.C.

    1980-03-01

    The proposed strategy for WIPP project investigations of fluid migration in evaporites focuses upon a quantitative evaluation of each of several processes. Potential short- and long-term problems arising from fluid migration are complication of waste retrieval and mobilization of waste nuclides. The strategy will attempt to determine the degree to which these potentials are realized with respect to five hypothetical types of waste-rock interactions: movement of waste containers, migration of nuclides, formation of radioactive brine pocket, radiolytic generation of gas, and degradation of waste container. Of eight identified processes whose combinations could lead to the five types of interactions, only five are to be quantitatively investigated by the studies of fluid migration per se: presence of fluids, fluid mobilization toward heat-producing and contact-handled waste, encounter of fluids with influence of waste form, reversal of direction of fluid mobilization, and entrainment of nuclides in fluids. Methods of investigation entail an iterative combination of laboratory experimentation and mathematical modeling

  15. New methodology for preventing pressure ulcers using actimetry and autonomous nervous system recording.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meffre, R; Gehin, C; Schmitt, P M; De Oliveira, F; Dittmar, A

    2006-01-01

    Pressure ulcers constitute an important health problem. They affect lots of people with mobility disorder and they are difficult to detect and prevent because the damage begins on the muscle. This paper proposes a new approach to study pressure ulcers. We aim at developing a methodology to analyse the probability for a patient to develop a pressure ulcer, and that can detect risky situation. The idea is to relate the mobility disorder to autonomic nervous system (ANS) trouble. More precisely, the evaluation of the consequence of the discomfort on the ANS (stress induced by discomfort) can be relevant for the early detection of the pressure ulcer. Mobility is evaluated through movement measurement. This evaluation, at the interface between soft living tissues and any support has to consider the specificity of the human environment. Soft living tissues have non-linear mechanical properties making conventional rigid sensors non suitable for interface parameters measurement. A new actimeter system has been designed in order to study movements of the human body whatever its support while seating. The device is based on elementary active cells. The number of pressure cells can be easily adapted to the application. The spatial resolution is about 4 cm(2). In this paper, we compare activity measurement of a seated subject with his autonomic nervous system activity, recorded by E.motion device. It has been developed in order to record six parameters: skin potential, skin resistance, skin temperature, skin blood rate, instantaneous cardiac frequency and instantaneous respiratory frequency. The design, instrumentation, and first results are presented.

  16. Autonomic Wireless Sensor Networks: A Systematic Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesús M. T. Portocarrero

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Autonomic computing (AC is a promising approach to meet basic requirements in the design of wireless sensor networks (WSNs, and its principles can be applied to efficiently manage nodes operation and optimize network resources. Middleware for WSNs supports the implementation and basic operation of such networks. In this systematic literature review (SLR we aim to provide an overview of existing WSN middleware systems that address autonomic properties. The main goal is to identify which development approaches of AC are used for designing WSN middleware system, which allow the self-management of WSN. Another goal is finding out which interactions and behavior can be automated in WSN components. We drew the following main conclusions from the SLR results: (i the selected studies address WSN concerns according to the self-* properties of AC, namely, self-configuration, self-healing, self-optimization, and self-protection; (ii the selected studies use different approaches for managing the dynamic behavior of middleware systems for WSN, such as policy-based reasoning, context-based reasoning, feedback control loops, mobile agents, model transformations, and code generation. Finally, we identified a lack of comprehensive system architecture designs that support the autonomy of sensor networking.

  17. Enabling Autonomous Navigation for Affordable Scooters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaikai Liu

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Despite the technical success of existing assistive technologies, for example, electric wheelchairs and scooters, they are still far from effective enough in helping those in need navigate to their destinations in a hassle-free manner. In this paper, we propose to improve the safety and autonomy of navigation by designing a cutting-edge autonomous scooter, thus allowing people with mobility challenges to ambulate independently and safely in possibly unfamiliar surroundings. We focus on indoor navigation scenarios for the autonomous scooter where the current location, maps, and nearby obstacles are unknown. To achieve semi-LiDAR functionality, we leverage the gyros-based pose data to compensate the laser motion in real time and create synthetic mapping of simple environments with regular shapes and deep hallways. Laser range finders are suitable for long ranges with limited resolution. Stereo vision, on the other hand, provides 3D structural data of nearby complex objects. To achieve simultaneous fine-grained resolution and long range coverage in the mapping of cluttered and complex environments, we dynamically fuse the measurements from the stereo vision camera system, the synthetic laser scanner, and the LiDAR. We propose solutions to self-correct errors in data fusion and create a hybrid map to assist the scooter in achieving collision-free navigation in an indoor environment.

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

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

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

  19. Wireless Handheld Scanners Integrated with Waste Tracking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, Robert Stephen

    2000-01-01

    The US Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) has embraced mobile wireless technology to help the disposition of hazardous and mixed radiological waste. The following paper describes one application the INEEL developed to increase the data accuracy and near-real time reporting requirements for waste management. With the continuous operational demands at the ''site'', it was difficult to sustain an accurate, up-to-date database required for regulatory compliance audits and reporting. Incorporating wireless mobile technology, the INEEL was able to increase the accuracy while reducing the data delay times previously encountered. Installation issues prolonged the project along with obstacles encountered with operations personnel. However, the success of this project was found in persistence and management support as well as the technology itself. Future wireless, mobile computing will continue at the INEEL for years to come based on a successful project that was able to integrate new technology to an existing waste management system with proven, increased data accuracy

  20. Design, manufacturing and commissioning of mobile unit for EDF (Dow Chemical process)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cangini, D.; Cordier, J.P.; PEC Engineering, Osny, France)

    1985-01-01

    To process their spent ion exchange resins and the liquid wastes, EDF has ordered from PEC a mobile unit using the DOW CHEMICAL binder. This paper presents the EDF's design requirements as well as the new French regulation for waste embedding. The mobile unit was started in January 1983 and commissioned successfully in January 1985 in the TRICASTIN EDF's power plant

  1. A Social Potential Fields Approach for Self-Deployment and Self-Healing in Hierarchical Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González-Parada, Eva; Cano-García, Jose; Aguilera, Francisco; Sandoval, Francisco; Urdiales, Cristina

    2017-01-09

    Autonomous mobile nodes in mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSN) allow self-deployment and self-healing. In both cases, the goals are: (i) to achieve adequate coverage; and (ii) to extend network life. In dynamic environments, nodes may use reactive algorithms so that each node locally decides when and where to move. This paper presents a behavior-based deployment and self-healing algorithm based on the social potential fields algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, nodes are attached to low cost robots to autonomously navigate in the coverage area. The proposed algorithm has been tested in environments with and without obstacles. Our study also analyzes the differences between non-hierarchical and hierarchical routing configurations in terms of network life and coverage.

  2. Mobility of potentially harmful metals in latosols impacted by the municipal solid waste deposit of Londrina, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Souza Teixeira, Raquel; Cambier, Philippe; Davison Dias, Regina; Peccinini Pinese, Jose Paulo; Jaulin-Soubelet, Anne

    2010-01-01

    The contamination of soils by metals issuing from municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in tropical environments has hardly been studied with regard to the particular problems associated with them, i.e., generally a high permeability of soils despite the abundance of clay, and the role of reactive Fe compounds. From a previous geotechnical and chemical survey, three latosol profiles differently affected by MSW leachates in the region of Londrina (Parana, Brazil) were selected. The aims were to evaluate the extent of their contamination, to better understand the fate of potentially harmful metals in tropical soils and rank the determining factors. Samples between 0.5 and 7 m depth were analyzed for their physical, mineralogical and chemical properties, and their micro-morphology was described by optical and transmission electron microscopy. Two steps of a sequential extraction procedure helped to assess the mobility of elements and to better discriminate between metals originating from pedogenesis and issued from MSW. These combined approaches showed that exposed soil profiles have been impacted at various depths, down to 7 m, through increased metal content, especially enhanced mobility of Zn, Co, Mn, Cu and Fe, and through increased salinity and organic matter. The mobility of potentially harmful metals should decrease with pH, which significantly increased in some impacted horizons, but other factors can reverse this trend.

  3. Testing for autonomic neuropathy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hilsted, J

    1984-01-01

    Autonomic neuropathy is a common complication in long-term diabetes, about 30% of the patients showing measurable signs of autonomic dysfunction after 10 years duration of disease. The diagnosis is often difficult to establish because clinical symptoms generally occur late in the course of the di......Autonomic neuropathy is a common complication in long-term diabetes, about 30% of the patients showing measurable signs of autonomic dysfunction after 10 years duration of disease. The diagnosis is often difficult to establish because clinical symptoms generally occur late in the course...

  4. Section 10: Ground Water - Waste Characteristics & Targets

    Science.gov (United States)

    HRS Training. The waste characteristics factor category in the ground water pathway is made up of two components: the toxicity/mobility of the most hazardous substance associated with the site and the hazardous waste quantity at the site.

  5. Effects of short-term W-CDMA mobile phone base station exposure on women with or without mobile phone related symptoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furubayashi, Toshiaki; Ushiyama, Akira; Terao, Yasuo; Mizuno, Yoko; Shirasawa, Kei; Pongpaibool, Pornanong; Simba, Ally Y; Wake, Kanako; Nishikawa, Masami; Miyawaki, Kaori; Yasuda, Asako; Uchiyama, Mitsunori; Yamashita, Hitomi Kobayashi; Masuda, Hiroshi; Hirota, Shogo; Takahashi, Miyuki; Okano, Tomoko; Inomata-Terada, Satomi; Sokejima, Shigeru; Maruyama, Eiji; Watanabe, Soichi; Taki, Masao; Ohkubo, Chiyoji; Ugawa, Yoshikazu

    2009-02-01

    To investigate possible health effects of mobile phone use, we conducted a double-blind, cross-over provocation study to confirm whether subjects with mobile phone related symptoms (MPRS) are more susceptible than control subjects to the effect of electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted from base stations. We sent questionnaires to 5,000 women and obtained 2,472 valid responses from possible candidates; from these, we recruited 11 subjects with MPRS and 43 controls. There were four EMF exposure conditions, each of which lasted 30 min: continuous, intermittent, and sham exposure with and without noise. Subjects were exposed to EMF of 2.14 GHz, 10 V/m (W-CDMA), in a shielded room to simulate whole-body exposure to EMF from base stations, although the exposure strength we used was higher than that commonly received from base stations. We measured several psychological and cognitive parameters pre- and post-exposure, and monitored autonomic functions. Subjects were asked to report on their perception of EMF and level of discomfort during the experiment. The MPRS group did not differ from the controls in their ability to detect exposure to EMF; nevertheless they consistently experienced more discomfort, regardless of whether or not they were actually exposed to EMF, and despite the lack of significant changes in their autonomic functions. Thus, the two groups did not differ in their responses to real or sham EMF exposure according to any psychological, cognitive or autonomic assessment. In conclusion, we found no evidence of any causal link between hypersensitivity symptoms and exposure to EMF from base stations. Copyright 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  6. Consolidated PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyls] improves waste control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, E.

    1991-01-01

    Consolidation of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) wastes is recommended for improving ownership control of wastes, eliminating PCB storage sites, and increasing cost-effectiveness of waste management. In Ontario, sites receiving the waste must be owned by the waste generator and registered as a PCB site. All PCBs must be removed from a site with no contaminated materials or wastes left behind, which requires a thorough site assessment to identify wastes prior to removal, a sampling and analytical scheme if necessary, and an approved plan for site cleanup. If large volumes of PCB-contaminated oil are involved, it may be cost-effective to put oil from several sites into bulk tanks and thus avoid the need to handle and decontaminate a large number of drums. With low volumes of oil, it may be possible to move the waste to another site where mobile PCB destruction is taking place. It also may be possible to get approval to blend high-level PCB liquids with mineral oil to reduce the PCB concentration to a level where chemical decontamination is allowed. For large volumes of high-level PCB wastes, consolidation will be necessary simply because of the high costs of mobilizing an incinerator and the requirement for public hearings for each incineration project. To make such a project cost-effective, PCB wastes will have to be concentrated from a large geographic area. 1 fig

  7. Implementation of a Mobile Robot Platform Navigating in Dynamic Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belaidi Hadjira

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Currently, problems of autonomous wheeled mobile robots in unknown environments are great challenge. Obstacle avoidance and path planning are the back bone of autonomous control as it makes robot able to reach its destination without collision. Dodging obstacles in dynamic and uncertain environment is the most complex part of obstacle avoidance and path planning tasks. This work deals with the implementation of an easy approach of static and dynamic obstacles avoidance. The robot starts by executing a free optimal path loaded into its controller; then, it uses its sensors to avoid the unexpected obstacles which may occur in that path during navigation.

  8. Autonomous booster device of a safety valve

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Namand, H.

    1983-01-01

    The invention concerns an autonomous booster device of a protection safety valve of a pressure vessel. The valve comprises a hollow structure, a seat connected with a mobile flap forming one piece with a stem and a calibration spring bearing on the stem and on the valve structure to maintain the flap bearing on the seat. The stem of the flap is prolongated in a box forming one piece with the valve structure and receives an added push of a spring. The box acts as a pressure device of which the piston can exercise on the stem a push opposite to and larger than the spring one. The feeding device of the pressure box is finally described in detail [fr

  9. Waste inspection tomography (WIT)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bernardi, R.T. [Bio-Imaging Research, Inc., Lincolnshire, IL (United States)

    1995-10-01

    Waste Inspection Tomography (WIT) provides mobile semi-trailer mounted nondestructive examination (NDE) and assay (NDA) for nuclear waste drum characterization. WIT uses various computed tomography (CT) methods for both NDE and NDA of nuclear waste drums. Low level waste (LLW), transuranic (TRU), and mixed radioactive waste can be inspected and characterized without opening the drums. With externally transmitted x-ray NDE techniques, WIT has the ability to identify high density waste materials like heavy metals, define drum contents in two- and three-dimensional space, quantify free liquid volumes through density and x-ray attenuation coefficient discrimination, and measure drum wall thickness. With waste emitting gamma-ray NDA techniques, WIT can locate gamma emitting radioactive sources in two- and three-dimensional space, identify gamma emitting, isotopic species, identify the external activity levels of emitting gamma-ray sources, correct for waste matrix attenuation, provide internal activity approximations, and provide the data needed for waste classification as LLW or TRU.

  10. Waste inspection tomography (WIT)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernardi, R.T.

    1995-01-01

    Waste Inspection Tomography (WIT) provides mobile semi-trailer mounted nondestructive examination (NDE) and assay (NDA) for nuclear waste drum characterization. WIT uses various computed tomography (CT) methods for both NDE and NDA of nuclear waste drums. Low level waste (LLW), transuranic (TRU), and mixed radioactive waste can be inspected and characterized without opening the drums. With externally transmitted x-ray NDE techniques, WIT has the ability to identify high density waste materials like heavy metals, define drum contents in two- and three-dimensional space, quantify free liquid volumes through density and x-ray attenuation coefficient discrimination, and measure drum wall thickness. With waste emitting gamma-ray NDA techniques, WIT can locate gamma emitting radioactive sources in two- and three-dimensional space, identify gamma emitting, isotopic species, identify the external activity levels of emitting gamma-ray sources, correct for waste matrix attenuation, provide internal activity approximations, and provide the data needed for waste classification as LLW or TRU

  11. HUMAN FOLLOWING ON ROS FRAMEWORK A MOBILE ROBOT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gigih Priyandoko

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Service mobile robot is playing a more critical role in today's society as more people such as a disabled person or the elderly are in need of mobile robot assistance. An autonomous person following ability shows great importance to the overall role of service mobile robot in assisting human. The objective of this paper focuses on developing a robot follow a person. The robot is equipped with the necessary sensors such as a Microsoft Kinect sensor and a Hokuyo laser sensor. Four suitable tracking methods are introduced in this project which is implemented and tested on the person following algorithm. The tracking methods implemented are face detection, leg detection, color detection and person blob detection. All of the algorithms implementations in this project is performed using Robot Operating System (ROS. The result showed that the mobile robot could track and follow the target person based on the person movement.

  12. Overview of the Autonomic Nervous System

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... be reversible or progressive. Anatomy of the autonomic nervous system The autonomic nervous system is the part of ... organs they connect with. Function of the autonomic nervous system The autonomic nervous system controls internal body processes ...

  13. Target Trailing With Safe Navigation for Maritime Autonomous Surface Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Michael; Kuwata, Yoshiaki; Zarzhitsky, Dimitri V.

    2013-01-01

    This software implements a motion-planning module for a maritime autonomous surface vehicle (ASV). The module trails a given target while also avoiding static and dynamic surface hazards. When surface hazards are other moving boats, the motion planner must apply International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea (COLREGS). A key subset of these rules has been implemented in the software. In case contact with the target is lost, the software can receive and follow a "reacquisition route," provided by a complementary system, until the target is reacquired. The programmatic intention is that the trailed target is a submarine, although any mobile naval platform could serve as the target. The algorithmic approach to combining motion with a (possibly moving) goal location, while avoiding local hazards, may be applicable to robotic rovers, automated landing systems, and autonomous airships. The software operates in JPL s CARACaS (Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing) software architecture and relies on other modules for environmental perception data and information on the predicted detectability of the target, as well as the low-level interface to the boat controls.

  14. Nuclear waste management. Quarterly progress report, October-December 1979

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Platt, A.M.; Powell, J.A. (comps.)

    1980-04-01

    Progress and activities are reported on the following: high-level waste immobilization, alternative waste forms, nuclear waste materials characterization, TRU waste immobilization programs, TRU waste decontamination, krypton solidification, thermal outgassing, iodine-129 fixation, monitoring of unsaturated zone transport, well-logging instrumentation development, mobile organic complexes of fission products, waste management system and safety studies, assessment of effectiveness of geologic isolation systems, waste/rock interactions technology, spent fuel and fuel pool integrity program, and engineered barriers. (DLC)

  15. Waste management bibliography 1979-1981

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oakley, D.T.

    1981-10-01

    The Los Alamos National Laboratory is conducting a variety of research and development to ensure the safety of storing and treating all types of radioactive wastes. These activities include the assay and sorting of waste, the interaction of waste with the earth, and the treatment of waste to reduce the volume and mobility of radionuclides in waste. The practical lessons learned from safely storing waste at Los Alamos since the mid-1940s are an ingredient in determining the direction of our research. National waste management programs are structured according to categories of waste, for example, high level, low level, mill tailings, and transuranic. In this bibliography publications are listed since 1979 according to the following disciplines to show the relevance of work to more than one category of waste: summary and overview; material science; environmental studies; geochemistry and geology; waste assay; soil/waste interactions shallow land burial; volume reduction and technology development; and nonradioactive wastes

  16. GEMMP - A Google Maps Enabled Mobile Mission Planning Tool for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

    OpenAIRE

    Steven Seeley; Ramprasad Balasubramanian

    2012-01-01

    Many applications for mobile robotics involve operations in remote, outdoor environments. In these environments, it can be difficult to plan missions dynamically due to the lack of portability of existing mission planning software. Mobile platforms allow access to the Web from nearly anywhere while other features, like touch interfaces, simplify user interaction, and GPS integration allows developers and users to take advantage to location-based services. In this paper, we describe a prototype...

  17. Influence of a mobile robot on the spatial behaviour of quail chicks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Margerie, E; Lumineau, S; Houdelier, C; Richard Yris, M-A, E-mail: emmanuel.demargerie@univ-rennes1.fr [CNRS UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Universite Rennes 1, Rennes (France)

    2011-09-15

    Quail chicks encountered an autonomous mobile robot during their early development. The robot incorporated a heat source that stimulated following of chicks. The spatial behaviour of grown-up chicks was tested in an exploration test and a detour test. Chicks that grew with the mobile robot exhibited better spatial abilities than chicks grown with a static heat source. We discuss these results in the perspective of animal-robot interaction and of the role of early spatial experience on the behavioural development. (communication)

  18. Influence of a mobile robot on the spatial behaviour of quail chicks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Margerie, E; Lumineau, S; Houdelier, C; Richard Yris, M-A

    2011-01-01

    Quail chicks encountered an autonomous mobile robot during their early development. The robot incorporated a heat source that stimulated following of chicks. The spatial behaviour of grown-up chicks was tested in an exploration test and a detour test. Chicks that grew with the mobile robot exhibited better spatial abilities than chicks grown with a static heat source. We discuss these results in the perspective of animal-robot interaction and of the role of early spatial experience on the behavioural development. (communication)

  19. Anaerobic microbial transformations of radioactive wastes in subsurface environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Francis, A.J.

    1984-01-01

    Radioactive wastes disposed of in subsurface environments contain a variety of radionuclides and organic compounds. Microorganisms play a major role in the transformation of organic and inorganic constituents of the waste and are partly responsible for the problems encountered at the waste disposal sites. These include microbial degradation of waste forms resulting in trench cover subsidence, migration of radionuclides, and production of radioactive gases such as 14 CO 2 , 14 CH 4 , HT, and CH 3 T. Microbial processes involved in solubilization, mobilization, and immobilization of toxic metals under aerobic and anaerobic conditions are reviewed. Complexing agents and several organic acids produced by microbial action affect mobilization of radionuclides and heavy metals from the wastes. Microorganisms play a significant role in the transformation and cycling of tritium in the environment by (i) oxidation of tritium and tritiated methane under aerobic conditions and (ii) production of tritium and tritiated methane from wastes containing tritiated water and organic compounds under anaerobic conditions. 23 references, 2 figures, 2 tables

  20. 2D navigation and pilotage of an autonomous mobile robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Favre, Patrick

    1989-01-01

    The contribution of this thesis deals with the navigation and the piloting of an autonomous robot, in a known or weakly known environment of dimension two without constraints. This leads to generate an optimal path to a given goal and then to compute the commands to follow this path. Several constraints are taken into account (obstacles, geometry and kinematic of the robot, dynamic effects). The first part defines the problem and presents the state of the art. The three following parts present a set of complementary solutions according to the knowledge level of the environment and to the space constraints: - Case of a known environment: generation and following of a trajectory with respect to given path points. - Case of a weakly known environment: coupling of a command module interacting with the environment perception, and a path planner. This allows a fast motion of the robot. - Case of a constrained environment: planner enabling the taking into account of many constraints as the robot's shape, turning radius limitation, backward motion and orientation. (author) [fr

  1. A comparative study on per capita waste generation according to a waste collecting system in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Jung Hwan; Lee, Eui-Jong; Oh, Jeong Ik; Kim, Jong-Oh; Jang, Am

    2016-04-01

    As cities are becoming increasingly aware of problems related to conventional mobile collection systems, automated pipeline-based vacuum collection (AVAC) systems have been introduced in some densely populated urban areas. The reasons are that in addition to cost savings, AVAC systems can be efficient, hygienic, and environmentally friendly. Despite difficulties in making direct comparisons of municipal waste between a conventional mobile collection system and an AVAC system, it is meaningful to measure the quantities in each of these collection methods either in total or on a per capita generation of waste (PCGW, g/(day*capita)) basis. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the difference in per capita generation of household waste according to the different waste collection methods in Korea. Observations on household waste show that there were considerable differences according to waste collection methods. The value of per capita generation of food waste (PCGF) indicates that a person in a city using AVAC produces 60 % of PCGF (109.58 g/(day*capita)), on average, compared with that of a truck system (173.10 g/(day*capita)) as well as 23 %p less moisture component than that with trucks. The value of per capita generation of general waste (PCGG) in a city with an AVAC system showed 147.73 g/(day*capita), which is 20 % less than that with trucks delivered (185 g/(day*capita)). However, general waste sampled from AVAC showed a 35 %p increased moisture content versus truck delivery.

  2. Catecholamines and diabetic autonomic neuropathy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hilsted, J

    1995-01-01

    In diabetic patients with autonomic neuropathy plasma noradrenaline concentration, used as an index of sympathetic nervous activity, is low. This decrease is, however, only found in patients with a long duration of diabetes with clinically severe autonomic neuropathy. This apparent insensitivity...... of plasma catecholamine measurements is not due to changes in the clearance of catecholamines in diabetic autonomic neuropathy. The physiological responses to infused adrenaline and to noradrenaline are enhanced, for noradrenaline mainly cardiovascular responses. Adrenoceptors (alpha and beta adrenoceptors......) are not altered in circulating blood cells in diabetic autonomic neuropathy. Thus, a generalized up-regulation of adrenoceptors does not occur in diabetic autonomic neuropathy....

  3. Gathering asychronous mobile robots with inaccurate compasses

    OpenAIRE

    Souissi, Samia; Defago, Xavier; Yamashita, Masafumi

    2006-01-01

    This paper considers a system of asynchronous autonomous mobile robots that can move freely in a twodimensional plane with no agreement on a common coordinate system. Starting from any initial configuration, the robots are required to eventually gather at a single point, not fixed in advance (gathering problem). Prior work has shown that gathering oblivious (i.e., stateless) robots cannot be achieved deterministically without additional assumptions. In particular, if robots can detect multipl...

  4. A Social Potential Fields Approach for Self-Deployment and Self-Healing in Hierarchical Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva González-Parada

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Autonomous mobile nodes in mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSN allow self-deployment and self-healing. In both cases, the goals are: (i to achieve adequate coverage; and (ii to extend network life. In dynamic environments, nodes may use reactive algorithms so that each node locally decides when and where to move. This paper presents a behavior-based deployment and self-healing algorithm based on the social potential fields algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, nodes are attached to low cost robots to autonomously navigate in the coverage area. The proposed algorithm has been tested in environments with and without obstacles. Our study also analyzes the differences between non-hierarchical and hierarchical routing configurations in terms of network life and coverage.

  5. Advanced technology mobile robotics vehicle fleet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGovern, D.E.

    1987-03-01

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

  6. Adaptive training of neural networks for control of autonomous mobile robots

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Steur, E.; Vromen, T.; Nijmeijer, H.; Fossen, T.I.; Nijmeijer, H.; Pettersen, K.Y.

    2017-01-01

    We present an adaptive training procedure for a spiking neural network, which is used for control of a mobile robot. Because of manufacturing tolerances, any hardware implementation of a spiking neural network has non-identical nodes, which limit the performance of the controller. The adaptive

  7. Material flows of mobile phones and accessories in Nigeria: Environmental implications and sound end-of-life management options

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osibanjo, Oladele; Nnorom, Innocent Chidi

    2008-01-01

    Presently, Nigeria is one of the fastest growing Telecom markets in the world. The country's teledensity increased from a mere 0.4 in 1999 to 10 in 2005 following the liberalization of the Telecom sector in 2001. More than 25 million new digital mobile lines have been connected by June 2006. Large quantities of mobile phones and accessories including secondhand and remanufactured products are being imported to meet the pent-up demand. This improvement in mobile telecom services resulted in the preference of mobile telecom services to fixed lines. Consequently, the contribution of fixed lines decreased from about 95% in year 2000 to less than 10% in March 2005. This phenomenal progress in information technology has resulted in the generation of large quantities of electronic waste (e-waste) in the country. Abandoned fixed line telephone sets estimated at 120,000 units are either disposed or stockpiled. Increasing quantities of waste mobile phones estimated at 8 million units by 2007, and accessories will be generated. With no material recovery facility for e-waste and/or appropriate solid waste management infrastructure in place, these waste materials end up in open dumps and unlined landfills. These practices create the potential for the release of toxic metals and halocarbons from batteries, printed wiring boards, liquid crystal display and plastic housing units. This paper presents an overview of the developments in the Nigerian Telecom sector, the material in-flow of mobile phones, and the implications of the management practices for wastes from the Telecom sector in the country

  8. Kinematic Analysis of Mobile Manipulator for Measurement and Maintenance in Dangerous Environment

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    CUI Genqun; LI Chunshu; ZHANG Minglu

    2006-01-01

    This paper studies the kinematic modeling of a mobile manipulator that consists of 5-DOF manipulator and an autonomous wheeled mobile platform. Then an artificial neural network to realize the coordination motion between manipulator and mobile platform is developed. On the basis of the task specifications, the algorithm determines the appropriate control variables to respond to the well tracking trajectory. The control strategy employed for either subsystem is achieved by using a robust supervised controller. A learning paradigm is used to produce the required reference variables for an overall cooperative behavior of the system. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of this approach.

  9. Autonomic cardiac innervation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasan, Wohaib

    2013-01-01

    Autonomic cardiac neurons have a common origin in the neural crest but undergo distinct developmental differentiation as they mature toward their adult phenotype. Progenitor cells respond to repulsive cues during migration, followed by differentiation cues from paracrine sources that promote neurochemistry and differentiation. When autonomic axons start to innervate cardiac tissue, neurotrophic factors from vascular tissue are essential for maintenance of neurons before they reach their targets, upon which target-derived trophic factors take over final maturation, synaptic strength and postnatal survival. Although target-derived neurotrophins have a central role to play in development, alternative sources of neurotrophins may also modulate innervation. Both developing and adult sympathetic neurons express proNGF, and adult parasympathetic cardiac ganglion neurons also synthesize and release NGF. The physiological function of these “non-classical” cardiac sources of neurotrophins remains to be determined, especially in relation to autocrine/paracrine sustenance during development.   Cardiac autonomic nerves are closely spatially associated in cardiac plexuses, ganglia and pacemaker regions and so are sensitive to release of neurotransmitter, neuropeptides and trophic factors from adjacent nerves. As such, in many cardiac pathologies, it is an imbalance within the two arms of the autonomic system that is critical for disease progression. Although this crosstalk between sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves has been well established for adult nerves, it is unclear whether a degree of paracrine regulation occurs across the autonomic limbs during development. Aberrant nerve remodeling is a common occurrence in many adult cardiovascular pathologies, and the mechanisms regulating outgrowth or denervation are disparate. However, autonomic neurons display considerable plasticity in this regard with neurotrophins and inflammatory cytokines having a central regulatory

  10. Kinodynamic Motion Planning for Autonomous Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiwung Choi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes a computationally effective motion planning algorithm for autonomous ground vehicles operating in a semi-structured environment with a mission specified by waypoints, corridor widths and obstacles. The algorithm switches between two kinds of planners, (i static planners and (ii moving obstacle avoidance manoeuvre planners, depending on the mobility of any detected obstacles. While the first is broken down into a path planner and a controller, the second generates a sequence of controls without global path planning. Each subsystem is implemented as follows. The path planner produces an optimal piecewise linear path by applying a variant of cell decomposition and dynamic programming. The piecewise linear path is smoothed by Bézier curves such that the maximum curvatures of the curves are minimized. The controller calculates the highest allowable velocity profile along the path, consistent with the limits on both tangential and radial acceleration and the steering command for the vehicle to track the trajectory using a pure pursuit method. The moving obstacle avoidance manoeuvre produces a sequence of time-optimal local velocities, by minimizing the cost as determined by the safety of the current velocity against obstacles in the velocity obstacle paradigm and the deviation of the current velocity relative to the desired velocity, to satisfy the waypoint constraint. The algorithms are shown to be robust and computationally efficient, and to demonstrate a viable methodology for autonomous vehicle control in the presence of unknown obstacles.

  11. Heavy metals in municipal solid waste deposits

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Flyhammar, P.

    1997-12-01

    Extensive use of heavy metals in modern society influences routes followed by fluxes on the surface of the Earth. The changed flow paths may be harmful for the balance of biological systems at different levels, micro-organisms, human beings and whole ecosystems, since the toxicity of heavy metals is determined by their concentrations and chemical forms. Despite the low mobility of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Ni and Cd) in municipal landfills, it was found that extensive transformations of the binding forms of heavy metal take place within the waste mass during the degradation of the waste. These changes appear to be closely related to the development of early diagenetic solid phases, i.e. new secondary solid phases formed in the waste. The heavy metals often constitute a minor part of these phases and the bindings include several forms such as adsorption, complexation, coprecipitation, precipitation, etc. It was also found that the associations between heavy metals and solid phases are dominated by several binding forms to one specific substrate rather than bindings to various solid phases. The mobility of iron and manganese seems to increase during the processes involved in waste degradation due to the solution of oxide/hydroxide phases, while the heavy metals appear to become less mobile due to their binding to organic compounds and sulphides. However, one exception in this case may be nickel. Another aspect of the transformation of heavy metals is the accumulation of pools of heavy metals which can become susceptible to environmental changes, such as oxidation or acidification. However, the risk of increased mobilization caused by lower pH values seem to be limited since municipal solid waste has a large buffer capacity. 66 refs, 9 figs, 3 tabs 66 refs, 9 figs, 3 tabs

  12. CityMobil : Human factor issues regarding highly automated vehicles on eLane

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Toffetti, A.; Wilschut, E.S.; Martens, M.H.; Schieben, A.; Rambaldini, A.; Merat, N.; Flemisch, F.

    2009-01-01

    There are several human factor concerns with highly autonomous or semiautonomous driving, such as transition of control, loss of skill, and dealing with automated system errors. Four CityMobil experiments studied the eLane concept for dual-mode cars, and the results of one are described. The open

  13. ENEA`s mobile treatment units for specific waters; Impianti mobili ENEA di trattamento / smaltimento rifiuti

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beone, G.; Barni, E.; Coronidi, M. [ENEA, Centro Ricerche Casaccia, Rome (Italy). Dipt. Ambiente; Bortone, G.; Gambaro, L.; Zanetti, P. [ENEA, Centro Ricerche `Ezio Clementel, Bologna (Italy). Dipt. Ambiente; Liccione, G. [ENEA, Centro Ricerche Trisaia, Matera (Italy). Dipt. Ambiente; Zanin, E.

    1997-11-01

    Solid waste production in turistic places is characterized by a large increase, up to 80 % for few months during the year. Generally a waste treatment plant is designed for a mean production and can support increases that non exceed 10 %. Treatment plants with higher capacity are not economically convenient and the excedent production is landfilled. An answer to this problem are mobile treatment units that could be used to support resident plants when higher treatment capacity is requested. Mobile units are very useful for other uses like as treatment of specific wastes (agricultural plastic bags and sheets contaminated by antiparasitics and herbicides) infective wastes from hospital and laboratories and leaches from landfills. Mobile units flexibility is also important for environmental protection actions, either scheduled on in an emergency, like as reclamation of contaminated soils, asbestos contaminated site and every time when waste transport is characterized by high cost or safety and sanitary problems.

  14. Radioactive wastes and their disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neumann, L.

    1984-01-01

    The classification of radioactive wastes is given and the achievements evaluated in the disposal of radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants. An experimental pilot unit was installed at the Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power plant for the bituminization of liquid radioactive wastes. UJV has developed a mobile automated high-output unit for cementation. In 1985 the unit will be tested at the Jaslovske Bohunice and the Dukovany nuclear power plants. A prototype press for processing solid wastes was manufactured which is in operation at the Jaslovske Bohunice plant. A solidification process for atypical wastes from long-term storage of spent fuel elements has been developed to be used for the period of nuclear power plant decommissioning. (E.S.)

  15. Autonomous Vehicles for Smart and Sustainable Cities: An In-Depth Exploration of Privacy and Cybersecurity Implications

    OpenAIRE

    Hazel Si Min Lim; Araz Taeihagh

    2018-01-01

    Amidst rapid urban development, sustainable transportation solutions are required to meet the increasing demands for mobility whilst mitigating the potentially negative social, economic, and environmental impacts. This study analyses autonomous vehicles (AVs) as a potential transportation solution for smart and sustainable development. We identified privacy and cybersecurity risks of AVs as crucial to the development of smart and sustainable cities and examined the steps taken by governments ...

  16. State-of-the-Art Mobile Intelligence: Enabling Robots to Move Like Humans by Estimating Mobility with Artificial Intelligence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xue-Bo Jin

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Mobility is a significant robotic task. It is the most important function when robotics is applied to domains such as autonomous cars, home service robots, and autonomous underwater vehicles. Despite extensive research on this topic, robots still suffer from difficulties when moving in complex environments, especially in practical applications. Therefore, the ability to have enough intelligence while moving is a key issue for the success of robots. Researchers have proposed a variety of methods and algorithms, including navigation and tracking. To help readers swiftly understand the recent advances in methodology and algorithms for robot movement, we present this survey, which provides a detailed review of the existing methods of navigation and tracking. In particular, this survey features a relation-based architecture that enables readers to easily grasp the key points of mobile intelligence. We first outline the key problems in robot systems and point out the relationship among robotics, navigation, and tracking. We then illustrate navigation using different sensors and the fusion methods and detail the state estimation and tracking models for target maneuvering. Finally, we address several issues of deep learning as well as the mobile intelligence of robots as suggested future research topics. The contributions of this survey are threefold. First, we review the literature of navigation according to the applied sensors and fusion method. Second, we detail the models for target maneuvering and the existing tracking based on estimation, such as the Kalman filter and its series developed form, according to their model-construction mechanisms: linear, nonlinear, and non-Gaussian white noise. Third, we illustrate the artificial intelligence approach—especially deep learning methods—and discuss its combination with the estimation method.

  17. Robotics in hazardous waste management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahalingam, R.J.; Jayaraman, K.M.; Cunningham, A.J.; Meieran, H.B.; Zafrir, H.; Kroitoru, L.

    1994-01-01

    This paper addresses the advent of mobile robotic systems into the earth sciences and environmental studies. It presents issues surrounding the rationale for employing stationary and mobile robots to assist in waste chemical site remediation and cleanup activities, missions that could be conducted, and the current availability status for these devices. This rationale is an extension of that being promoted by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to assist in resolving environmental restoration and waste management (ER and WM) issues associated with several DOE national laboratories, facilities, and other sites. DOE has also committed to restore the environment surrounding the existing storage facilities and sites to a safe state. Technologies that are expected to play a major role in these activities are stationary and mobile robotic devices, and in particular, mobile robots. Specific topics discussed in this article include: introduction to robotics: motivations for considering robots in HWM: incorporation of robotics into HWM methods--this subsection includes a rationale for performing a ''screening test'' to determine the advantages of using a robot; safety and performance factors; illustrations for robots in action and current and future trends

  18. SWAMI II technology transfer plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ward, C.R.; Peterson, K.D.; Harpring, L.J.; Immel, D.M.; Jones, J.D.; Mallet, W.R.

    1995-01-01

    Thousands of drums of radioactive/hazardous/mixed waste are currently stored at DOE sites throughout US; they are stored in warehouse facilities on an interim basis, pending final disposition. Recent emphasis on anticipated decommissioning of facilities indicates that many more drums of waste will be generated, requiring additional storage. Federal and state regulations dictate that hazardous waste covered by RCRA be inspected periodically for container degradation and to verify inventories. All known DOE waste storage facilities are currently inspected manually. A system to perform robotic inspection of waste drums is under development by the SRTC Robotics Group of WSRC; it is called the Stored Waste Autonomous Mobile Inspector (SWAMI). The first version, SWAMI I, was developed by the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) as a proof of principle system for autonomous inspection of drums in a warehouse. SWAMI I was based on the Transitions Research Corporation (TRC) HelpMate mobile robot. TRC modified the Helpmate to navigate in aisles of drums. SRTC added subsystems to SWAMI I to determine its position in open areas, read bar code labels on the drums up to three levels high, capture images of the drums and perform a radiation survey of the floor in the aisles. The radiation survey was based on SRTC patented technology first implemented on the Semi-Intelligent Mobile Observing Navigator (SIMON). The radiation survey is not essential for the inspection of drums, but is an option that can increase the utility and effectiveness of SWAMI in warehouses with radioactive and/or mixed waste. All the sensors on SWAMI I were fixed on the vehicle. From the success of SWAMI I, a second version, SWAMI II, was developed; it will be evaluated at Fernald and tested with two other mobile robots. Intent is to transfer the technology developed for SWAMI I and II to industry so that it can supply additional units for purchase for drum inspection

  19. Evaluation of Redox Conditions and Enhanced Arsenic Mobility from Waste Disposal in a Complex Fractured Crystalline-Rock Aquifer, Raymond, New Hampshire, USA (Note: article rewritten under new title)

    Science.gov (United States)

    (Note: This entry is no longer valid; the paper was rewritten and submitted to a different journal.) This paper highlights some methods that can be used at a local scale to assess whether waste disposal activities are responsible for enhanced arsenic mobility through redox-contro...

  20. A Secure, Scalable and Elastic Autonomic Computing Systems Paradigm: Supporting Dynamic Adaptation of Self-* Services from an Autonomic Cloud

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdul Jaleel

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Autonomic computing embeds self-management features in software systems using external feedback control loops, i.e., autonomic managers. In existing models of autonomic computing, adaptive behaviors are defined at the design time, autonomic managers are statically configured, and the running system has a fixed set of self-* capabilities. An autonomic computing design should accommodate autonomic capability growth by allowing the dynamic configuration of self-* services, but this causes security and integrity issues. A secure, scalable and elastic autonomic computing system (SSE-ACS paradigm is proposed to address the runtime inclusion of autonomic managers, ensuring secure communication between autonomic managers and managed resources. Applying the SSE-ACS concept, a layered approach for the dynamic adaptation of self-* services is presented with an online ‘Autonomic_Cloud’ working as the middleware between Autonomic Managers (offering the self-* services and Autonomic Computing System (requiring the self-* services. A stock trading and forecasting system is used for simulation purposes. The security impact of the SSE-ACS paradigm is verified by testing possible attack cases over the autonomic computing system with single and multiple autonomic managers running on the same and different machines. The common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS metric shows a decrease in the vulnerability severity score from high (8.8 for existing ACS to low (3.9 for SSE-ACS. Autonomic managers are introduced into the system at runtime from the Autonomic_Cloud to test the scalability and elasticity. With elastic AMs, the system optimizes the Central Processing Unit (CPU share resulting in an improved execution time for business logic. For computing systems requiring the continuous support of self-management services, the proposed system achieves a significant improvement in security, scalability, elasticity, autonomic efficiency, and issue resolving time

  1. Mobile technologies in progress of teaching and learning: teaching mobility?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Osmar Hélio Alves Araújo

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The article is a survey of basic education teachers in the municipality of Iguatu/CE and aimed to verify if teachers use mobile technology in the classroom as an educational resource, as well as investigate to what extent the professional qualifications of these professionals drives an authentic, autonomous teaching action before the harvest of mobile technologies. The subjects are teachers who work in elementary school. Methodologically, constitutes in a field research, with retaining the qualitative approach, aiming to enhance the school in contemporary times is addressed by changes brought to the company by the technological revolution, especially the proliferation of mobile technologies, which are driving changes in processes teaching and learning. We used semi structured and reflective interview as a technique for data collection. They have as the theoretical studies of Alarcão (2001, Freire (1987, 1992, 2001, Libâneo (2001, 2002, 2005, 2011, Nóvoa (2009, Tardif (2001 UNESCO (2013, Veen and Vrakking (2009. The results of the research showed that teachers, for the most part, do not use the apparatus of mobile technologies in pedagogical practice, and point to the picture of insufficient professional qualification for a teaching practice in the context of safe and educationally effectively technologies. However, this split ends, so in need of a continuous training process that deepens also in reality and knowledge that teachers have. As regard as pillars the changes that the current social context has experienced, among which we highlight the technological changes that proliferate dramatically.

  2. Solid waste characterization and recycling potential for a university campus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Armijo de Vega, Carolina; Ojeda Benitez, Sara; Ramirez Barreto, Ma. Elizabeth

    2008-01-01

    Integrated waste management systems are one of the greatest challenges for sustainable development. For these systems to be successful, the first step is to carry out waste characterization studies. In this paper are reported the results of a waste characterization study performed in the Campus Mexicali I of the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC). The aim of this study was to set the basis for implementation of a recovery, reduction and recycling waste management program at the campus. It was found that the campus Mexicali I produces 1 ton of solid wastes per day; more than 65% of these wastes are recyclable or potentially recyclable. These results showed that a program for segregation and recycling is feasible on a University Campus. The study also showed that the local market for recyclable waste, under present conditions - number of recycling companies and amounts of recyclables accepted - can absorb all of these wastes. Some alternatives for the potentially recyclables wastes are discussed. Finally some strategies that could be used to reduce waste at the source are discussed as well

  3. A Mobile Sensor Network System for Monitoring of Unfriendly Environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Guangming; Zhou, Yaoxin; Ding, Fei; Song, Aiguo

    2008-11-14

    Observing microclimate changes is one of the most popular applications of wireless sensor networks. However, some target environments are often too dangerous or inaccessible to humans or large robots and there are many challenges for deploying and maintaining wireless sensor networks in those unfriendly environments. This paper presents a mobile sensor network system for solving this problem. The system architecture, the mobile node design, the basic behaviors and advanced network capabilities have been investigated respectively. A wheel-based robotic node architecture is proposed here that can add controlled mobility to wireless sensor networks. A testbed including some prototype nodes has also been created for validating the basic functions of the proposed mobile sensor network system. Motion performance tests have been done to get the positioning errors and power consumption model of the mobile nodes. Results of the autonomous deployment experiment show that the mobile nodes can be distributed evenly into the previously unknown environments. It provides powerful support for network deployment and maintenance and can ensure that the sensor network will work properly in unfriendly environments.

  4. Efficient and compact mobile equipment based on the new RADEON-NWM technology to process liquid radioactive wastes resulted from the accidents of the nuclear installations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martoyan, Gagik; Nalbandyan, Garik; Gagiyan, Lavrenti; Karamyan, Gagik; Brutyan, Gagik

    2013-01-01

    During the operation of nuclear reactors important volume of liquid and solid radioactive wastes are generated, which, in normal conditions, becomes processed by stationary equipment by different methods to minimize their volume and then sent to specially constructed storages. The cases of accidents of Chernobyl and Fukushima showed that the localization of rejected big quantity of radioactive wastes is a prior problem for their further processing by stationary equipment. In this regard it is very important the processing of radioactive wastes on the contaminated areas to localize them by mobile equipment based on the efficient technologies. RADEONNWM new technology allows resolving this problem. This technology is compact, completely automated, which makes possible to assemble it on a standard 40-ft by 7-ft trailer driven by heavy-duty truck. The new technology is fully elaborated, the necessary tests are conducted. (authors)

  5. Community mobilization and household level waste management for dengue vector control in Gampaha district of Sri Lanka; an intervention study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abeyewickreme, W; Wickremasinghe, A R; Karunatilake, K; Sommerfeld, J; Axel, Kroeger

    2012-12-01

    Waste management through community mobilization to reduce breeding places at household level could be an effective and sustainable dengue vector control strategy in areas where vector breeding takes place in small discarded water containers. The objective of this study was to assess the validity of this assumption. An intervention study was conducted from February 2009 to February 2010 in the populous Gampaha District of Sri Lanka. Eight neighborhoods (clusters) with roughly 200 houses each were selected randomly from high and low dengue endemic areas; 4 of them were allocated to the intervention arm (2 in the high and 2 in the low endemicity areas) and in the same way 4 clusters to the control arm. A baseline household survey was conducted and entomological and sociological surveys were carried out simultaneously at baseline, at 3 months, at 9 months and at 15 months after the start of the intervention. The intervention programme in the treatment clusters consisted of building partnerships of local stakeholders, waste management at household level, the promotion of composting biodegradable household waste, raising awareness on the importance of solid waste management in dengue control and improving garbage collection with the assistance of local government authorities. The intervention and control clusters were very similar and there were no significant differences in pupal and larval indices of Aedes mosquitoes. The establishment of partnerships among local authorities was well accepted and sustainable; the involvement of communities and households was successful. Waste management with the elimination of the most productive water container types (bowls, tins, bottles) led to a significant reduction of pupal indices as a proxy for adult vector densities. The coordination of local authorities along with increased household responsibility for targeted vector interventions (in our case solid waste management due to the type of preferred vector breeding places) is

  6. Exploration and Navigation for Mobile Robots With Perceptual Limitations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo Romero

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available To learn a map of an environment a mobile robot has to explore its workspace using its sensors. Sensors are noisy and have perceptual limitations that must be considered while learning a map. This paper considers a mobile robot with sensor perceptual limitations and introduces a new method for exploring and navigating autonomously in indoor environments. To minimize the risk of collisions as well as to not exceed the range of sensors, we introduce the concept of a travel space as a way to associate costs to grid cells of the map, based on distances to obstacles. During exploration the mobile robot minimizes its movements, including rotations, to reach the nearest unexplored region of the environment, using a dynamic programming algorithm. Once the exploration ends, the travel space is used to form a roadmap, a net of safe roads that the mobile robot can use for navigation. These exploration and navigation method are tested using a simulated and a real mobile robot with promising results.

  7. Exploration and Navigation for Mobile Robots With Perceptual Limitations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo F. Morales

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available To learn a map of an environment a mobile robot has to explore its workspace using its sensors. Sensors are noisy and have perceptual limitations that must be considered while learning a map. This paper considers a mobile robot with sensor perceptual limitations and introduces a new method for exploring and navigating autonomously in indoor environments. To minimize the risk of collisions as well as to not exceed the range of sensors, we introduce the concept of a travel space as a way to associate costs to grid cells of the map, based on distances to obstacles. During exploration the mobile robot minimizes its movements, including rotations, to reach the nearest unexplored region of the environment, using a dynamic programming algorithm. Once the exploration ends, the travel space is used to form a roadmap, a net of safe roads that the mobile robot can use for navigation. These exploration and navigation method are tested using a simulated and a real mobile robot with promising results.

  8. Fuzzy System of Distribution of Braking Forces on the Engines of a Mobile Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bobyr Maxim

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article presents a fuzzy system of distribution of braking forces on the engines of a mobile robot during its lifting and going down.The block diagram of the system of distribution of braking forces and location of sensors on a mobile robot is given in the paper. Also, fuzzy mathematical model of redistribution of braking forces depending on the conditions of the movement a mobile robot is shown in the article. The result of the simulation of control parameters are presented in the article. The control system of a mobile robot is demonstrated on the example of an autonomous mini-robot on platform Pirate under the control of microprocessor Arduino Mega 2560.

  9. Hanford Site annual waste reduction report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nichols, D.H.

    1992-03-01

    The US Department of Energy (DOE), Richland Field Office (RL) has developed and implemented a Hanford Site Waste Minimization and Pollution Prevention Awareness Plan that provides overall guidance and direction on waste minimization and pollution prevention awareness to the four contractors who manage and operate the Hanford Site for the RL. Waste reduction at the RL will be accomplished by following a hierarchy of environmental protection practices. First, waste generation will be eliminated or minimized through source reduction. Second, potential waste materials that cannot be eliminated or minimized will be recycled (i.e., used, reused, or reclaimed). Third, all waste that is nevertheless generated will be treated to reduce volume, toxicity, or mobility before storage or disposal. The scope of this waste reduction program will include nonhazardous, hazardous, radioactive mixed, and radioactive wastes

  10. Autonomic computing enabled cooperative networked design

    CERN Document Server

    Wodczak, Michal

    2014-01-01

    This book introduces the concept of autonomic computing driven cooperative networked system design from an architectural perspective. As such it leverages and capitalises on the relevant advancements in both the realms of autonomic computing and networking by welding them closely together. In particular, a multi-faceted Autonomic Cooperative System Architectural Model is defined which incorporates the notion of Autonomic Cooperative Behaviour being orchestrated by the Autonomic Cooperative Networking Protocol of a cross-layer nature. The overall proposed solution not only advocates for the inc

  11. Public Space, Public Waste, and the Right to the City.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chikarmane, Poornima

    2016-08-01

    I draw on my experiences as an organizer with a waste-pickers collective, Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat in Pune, India, to reflect on the power dynamics in control of public space. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), a public body, has used public resources to facilitate and enable accumulation by private companies, who have not been able to produce what they had committed to in the processing of waste. The waste pickers, in alliance with affected village-based land agitation committees, have mobilized against the dumping that is ruining their way of life, environments, and health, and are fighting for their own integration into waste value chains. The article uses the frame of David Harvey's(1) "right to the city"; a key part of the mobilizing work with waste pickers has been Freirean conscientization methods to spread awareness of the economic importance, to the city and to the planet, of waste recycling. © The Author(s) 2016.

  12. Performance validation of commercially available mobile waste-assay systems: Preliminary report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schanfein, M.; Bonner, C.; Maez, R.

    1997-01-01

    Prior to disposal, nuclear waste must be accurately characterized to identify and quantify the radioactive content to reduce the radioactive hazard to the public. Validation of the waste-assay systems' performance is critical for establishing the credibility of the assay results for storage and disposal purposes. Canberra Nuclear has evaluated regulations worldwide and identified standard, modular, neutron- and gamma-waste-assay systems that can be used to characterize a large portion of existing and newly generated transuranic (TRU) and low-level waste. Before making claims of guaranteeing any system's performance for specific waste types, the standardized systems' performance be evaluated. 7 figs., 11 tabs

  13. Performance validation of commercially available mobile waste-assay systems: Preliminary report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schanfein, M.; Bonner, C.; Maez, R. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)] [and others

    1997-11-01

    Prior to disposal, nuclear waste must be accurately characterized to identify and quantify the radioactive content to reduce the radioactive hazard to the public. Validation of the waste-assay systems` performance is critical for establishing the credibility of the assay results for storage and disposal purposes. Canberra Nuclear has evaluated regulations worldwide and identified standard, modular, neutron- and gamma-waste-assay systems that can be used to characterize a large portion of existing and newly generated transuranic (TRU) and low-level waste. Before making claims of guaranteeing any system`s performance for specific waste types, the standardized systems` performance be evaluated. 7 figs., 11 tabs.

  14. Evaluating driver reactions to new vehicle technologies intended to increase safety and mobility across the lifespan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-01

    Personal vehicle manufactures are introducing a wide range of new technologies that are : intended to increase the safety, comfort, and mobility of drivers of all ages. Examples range from : semi-autonomous technologies such as adaptive cruise contro...

  15. Decision analysis for mobilizing and retrieving sludge from double-shell tanks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brothers, A.J.; Williams, N.C.; Dukelow, J.S.; Hansen, R.I.

    1997-09-01

    This decision analysis evaluates alternative technologies for the initial mobilization and retrieval of sludges in double-shell tanks (DSTs). The analysis is from the perspective of the need to move sludges from one DST to another for interim retrieval. It supports the more general decision of which technologies to use to retreive various types of DST waste. The initial analysis is from the perspective of a typical DST with 2 ft of sludge to mobilize. During the course of the analysis, it became clear that it was important to also consider sludge mobilization in support of the high-level waste (HLW) vitrification demonstration plant, and in particular the risks associated with failing to meeting the minimum order requirements for the vendor, as well as the cost of mobilization and retrieval from the HLW vitrification source tanks

  16. Integrated Control Strategies Supporting Autonomous Functionalities in Mobile Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brandon Sights

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available High-level intelligence allows a mobile robot to create and interpret complex world models, but without a precise control system, the accuracy of the world model and the robot's ability to interact with its surroundings are greatly diminished. This problem is amplified when the environment is hostile, such as in a battlefield situation where an error in movement or a slow response may lead to destruction of the robot. As the presence of robots on the battlefield continues to escalate and the trend toward relieving the human of the low-level control burden advances, the ability to combine the functionalities of several critical control systems on a single platform becomes imperative.

  17. Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGovern, D.E.

    1987-07-01

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

  18. Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mc Govern, D.E.

    1987-01-01

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

  19. Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGovern, D.E.

    1987-06-01

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

  20. Overview of the waste/barrier/rock interactions program of the basalt waste isolation project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salter, P.F.; Burnell, J.R.; Lane, D.L.

    1986-01-01

    The waste package waste/barrier/rock interactions testing program of the Basalt Waste Isolation Project is designed to assess the interactions between nuclear waste forms, other waste package components, and the environment in order to evaluate long-term waste package isolation (radionuclide release) behavior. The program involves reacting fully radioactive waste forms with combinations of steel or copper container material and basalt/bentonite packing material in site-specific ground water under anticipated repository conditions to obtain the steady state radionuclide concentrations required to predictively model waste package radionuclide concentrations required to predictively model waste package radionuclide releases. Both static and flow-through autoclaves are being used in the test program to determine radionuclide concentrations as a function of time and groundwater flow rate, and to evaluate the solid phase and water chemistry changes that control those concentrations. This test program, when combined with project hydrologic and geochemical testing and modeling efforts, and natural analog studies, provides the information required to evaluate long-term radionuclide mobility within a waste package emplaced in a basalt repository

  1. Autonomous search and surveillance with small fixed wing aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGee, Timothy Garland

    Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the potential to act as low cost tools in a variety of both civilian and military applications including traffic monitoring, border patrol, and search and rescue. While most current operational UAV systems require human operators, advances in autonomy will allow these systems to reach their full potential as sensor platforms. This dissertation specifically focuses on developing advanced control, path planning, search, and image processing techniques that allow small fixed wing aircraft to autonomously collect data. The problems explored were motivated by experience with the development and experimental flight testing of a fleet of small autonomous fixed wing aircraft. These issues, which have not been fully addressed in past work done on ground vehicles or autonomous helicopters, include the influence of wind and turning rate constraints, the non-negligible velocity of ground targets relative to the aircraft velocity, and limitations on sensor size and processing power on small vehicles. Several contributions for the autonomous operation of small fixed wing aircraft are presented. Several sliding surface controllers are designed which extend previous techniques to include variable sliding surface coefficients and the use of spatial vehicle dynamics. These advances eliminate potential singularities in the control laws to follow spatially defined paths and allow smooth transition between controllers. The optimal solution for the problem of path planning through an ordered set of points for an aircraft with a bounded turning rate in the presence of a constant wind is then discussed. Path planning strategies are also explored to guarantee that a searcher will travel within sensing distance of a mobile ground target. This work assumes only a maximum velocity of the target and is designed to succeed for any possible path of the target. Closed-loop approximations of both the path planning and search techniques, using the sliding

  2. Los Alamos National Laboratory's Mobile Real Time Radiography System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vigil, J.; Taggart, D.; Betts, S.; Mendez, J.; Rael, C.; Martinez, F.

    1997-01-01

    A 450-KeV Mobile Real Time Radiography (RTR) System was delivered to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in January 1996. It was purchased to inspect containers of radioactive waste produced at (LANL). Since its delivery it has been used to radiograph greater than 600 drums of radioactive waste at various LANL sites. It has the capability of inspecting waste containers of various sizes. It has three independent X-Ray acquisition formats. The primary system used is a 12 in. image intensifier, the second is a 36 in. linear diode array (LDA) and the last is an open system. It is fully self contained with on board generator, HVAC and a fire suppression system. It is on a 53 ft long X 8 ft. wide X 14 ft. high trailer that can be moved over any highway requiring only a easily obtainable overweight permit because it weighs approximately 38 tons. It was built to conform to industry standards for a cabinet system which does not require an exclusion zone. The fact that this unit is mobile has allowed us to operate where the waste is stored, rather than having to move the waste to a fixed facility

  3. Improved Mobility Performance in LTE Co-Channel HetNets Through Speed Differentiated Enhancements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barbera, Simone; Michaelsen, Per Henrik; Säily, Mikko

    2012-01-01

    , requiring minimum assistance and signaling from the network. Extensive system level simulations are used to quantify the benefits. Results confirm that the proposed solutions offer improvements in several mobility key performance indicators such as radio link failure, number of handovers, offload to pico......This paper analyzes the mobility performance of LTE (Long Term Evolution) co-channel heterogeneous networks (HetNet) with macro and pico cells. Improved methods for differentiating offload and mobility robustness as a function of the UE (User Equipment) mobility are proposed. The suggested solution...... comprises two key elements, namely enhanced UE MSE (Mobility State Estimation), as well as optimized methods such that high speed users are primarily kept at the macro layer, while the offload to pico cells for low speed users is maximized. The proposed methods are designed as UE autonomous solutions...

  4. Insights into the background of autonomic medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laranjo, Sérgio; Geraldes, Vera; Oliveira, Mário; Rocha, Isabel

    2017-10-01

    Knowledge of the physiology underlying the autonomic nervous system is pivotal for understanding autonomic dysfunction in clinical practice. Autonomic dysfunction may result from primary modifications of the autonomic nervous system or be secondary to a wide range of diseases that cause severe morbidity and mortality. Together with a detailed history and physical examination, laboratory assessment of autonomic function is essential for the analysis of various clinical conditions and the establishment of effective, personalized and precise therapeutic schemes. This review summarizes the main aspects of autonomic medicine that constitute the background of cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction. Copyright © 2017 Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  5. A traffic priority language for collision-free navigation of autonomous mobile robots in dynamic environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourbakis, N G

    1997-01-01

    This paper presents a generic traffic priority language, called KYKLOFORTA, used by autonomous robots for collision-free navigation in a dynamic unknown or known navigation space. In a previous work by X. Grossmman (1988), a set of traffic control rules was developed for the navigation of the robots on the lines of a two-dimensional (2-D) grid and a control center coordinated and synchronized their movements. In this work, the robots are considered autonomous: they are moving anywhere and in any direction inside the free space, and there is no need of a central control to coordinate and synchronize them. The requirements for each robot are i) visual perception, ii) range sensors, and iii) the ability of each robot to detect other moving objects in the same free navigation space, define the other objects perceived size, their velocity and their directions. Based on these assumptions, a traffic priority language is needed for each robot, making it able to decide during the navigation and avoid possible collision with other moving objects. The traffic priority language proposed here is based on a set of primitive traffic priority alphabet and rules which compose pattern of corridors for the application of the traffic priority rules.

  6. Autonomic Nervous System Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Your autonomic nervous system is the part of your nervous system that controls involuntary actions, such as the beating of your heart ... breathing and swallowing Erectile dysfunction in men Autonomic nervous system disorders can occur alone or as the result ...

  7. Power Sources for Micro-Autonomous Vehicles- Challenges and Prospects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narayan, S. R.; Kisor, A.; Valdez, T. I.; Manohara, H.

    2009-01-01

    Micro-autonomous vehicle systems are expected to have expanded role in military missions by providing full spectrum intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support on the battlefield, suppression of enemy defenses, and enabling co-operative (swarm-like) configurations. Of the numerous demanding requirements of autonomy, sensing, navigation, mobility, etc., meeting the requirement of mission duration or endurance is a very challenging one. This requirement is demanding because of the constraints of mass and volume that limit the quantity of energy that can be stored on-board. Energy is required for mobility, payload operation, information processing, and communication. Mobility requirements typically place an extraordinary demand on the specific energy (Wh/kg) and specific power (W/kg) of the power source; the actual distribution of the energy between mobility and other system functions could vary substantially with the mission type. The power requirements for continuous mobility can vary from 100-1000 W/kg depending on the terrain, ground speed and flight speed. Even with the power source accounting for 30% of the mass of the vehicle, the best of rechargeable batteries can provide only up to 1-2 hours of run-time for a continuous power demand at 100W/kg. In the case of micro-aerial vehicles with flight speed requirements in the range of 5-15 m s-1, the mission times rarely exceed 20 minutes [2]. Further, the power required during take-off and hover can be twice or thrice that needed for steady level flight, and thus the number and sequence of such events is also limited by the mass and size of the power source. For operations such as "perch and stare" or "silent watch" the power demand is often only a tenth of that required during continuous flight. Thus, variation in power demand during various phases of the mission importantly affects the power source selection.

  8. Autonomous authority in relation to the staff regulations of autonomous parliaments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael Cano Silva

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The statutes of Autonomous Parliaments are parliamentary administrative norms approved by each legislative chamber by virtue of their parliamentary autonomy. However, the parliamentary autonomy of each autonomous parliament does not have the same normative aspect for these purposes. It is studied in this article as despite having the Constitution as a common element, it is essential the special attribution that each autonomous chamber has and that the jurisprudence, both of the Constitutional Court, and that of the Supreme Court, has put in value, question that is included in the section related to the jurisprudence. In conclusion, the bureaucratic organization, in what refers to personal media, may be substantially different in each one of the legislative assemblies, as analyzed in the conclusions of this study.

  9. Automated system for handling tritiated mixed waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dennison, D.K.; Merrill, R.D.; Reitz, T.C.

    1995-03-01

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is developing a semi system for handling, characterizing, processing, sorting, and repackaging hazardous wastes containing tritium. The system combines an IBM-developed gantry robot with a special glove box enclosure designed to protect operators and minimize the potential release of tritium to the atmosphere. All hazardous waste handling and processing will be performed remotely, using the robot in a teleoperational mode for one-of-a-kind functions and in an autonomous mode for repetitive operations. Initially, this system will be used in conjunction with a portable gas system designed to capture any gaseous-phase tritium released into the glove box. This paper presents the objectives of this development program, provides background related to LLNL's robotics and waste handling program, describes the major system components, outlines system operation, and discusses current status and plans

  10. Packaged low-level waste verification system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tuite, K.; Winberg, M.R.; McIsaac, C.V. [Idaho National Engineering Lab., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

    1995-12-31

    The Department of Energy through the National Low-Level Waste Management Program and WMG Inc. have entered into a joint development effort to design, build, and demonstrate the Packaged Low-Level Waste Verification System. Currently, states and low-level radioactive waste disposal site operators have no method to independently verify the radionuclide content of packaged low-level waste that arrives at disposal sites for disposition. At this time, the disposal site relies on the low-level waste generator shipping manifests and accompanying records to ensure that low-level waste received meets the site`s waste acceptance criteria. The subject invention provides the equipment, software, and methods to enable the independent verification of low-level waste shipping records to ensure that the site`s waste acceptance criteria are being met. The objective of the prototype system is to demonstrate a mobile system capable of independently verifying the content of packaged low-level waste.

  11. Radioactive wastes in Oklo

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balcazar, M.; Flores R, J.H.; Pena, P.; Lopez, A.

    2006-01-01

    The acceptance of the Nuclear Energy as electric power supply implies to give answer to the population on the two main challenges to conquer in the public opinion: the nuclear accidents and the radioactive wastes. Several of the questions that are made on the radioactive wastes, its are the mobility migration of them, the geologic stability of the place where its are deposited and the possible migration toward the aquifer mantels. Since the half lives of the radioactive waste of a Nuclear Reactor are of several hundred of thousands of years, the technical explanations to the previous questions little convince to the public in general. In this work summary the results of the radioactive waste generated in a natural reactor, denominated Oklo effect that took place in Gabon, Africa, it makes several thousands of millions of years, a lot before the man appeared in the Earth. The identification of at least 17 reactors in Oklo it was carried out thanks to the difference in the concentrations of Uranium 235 and 238 prospective, and to the analysis of the non-mobility of the radioactive waste in the site. It was able by this way to determine that the reactors with sizes of hardly some decimeter and powers of around 100 kilowatts were operating in intermittent and spontaneous form for space of 150,000 years, with operation cycles of around 30 minutes. Recent studies have contributed information valuable on the natural confinement of the radioactive waste of the Oklo reactors in matrixes of minerals of aluminum phosphate that caught and immobilized them for thousands of millions of years. This extracted information from the nature contributes guides and it allows 'to verify' the validity of the current proposals on the immobilization of radioactive wastes of a nuclear reactor. This work presents in clear and accessible form to the public in general on the secure 'design', operation, 'decommissioning' and 'storage' of the radioactive waste of the reactors that the nature put

  12. A leptin-regulated circuit controls glucose mobilization during noxious stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flak, Jonathan N; Arble, Deanna; Pan, Warren; Patterson, Christa; Lanigan, Thomas; Goforth, Paulette B; Sacksner, Jamie; Joosten, Maja; Morgan, Donald A; Allison, Margaret B; Hayes, John; Feldman, Eva; Seeley, Randy J; Olson, David P; Rahmouni, Kamal; Myers, Martin G

    2017-08-01

    Adipocytes secrete the hormone leptin to signal the sufficiency of energy stores. Reductions in circulating leptin concentrations reflect a negative energy balance, which augments sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation in response to metabolically demanding emergencies. This process ensures adequate glucose mobilization despite low energy stores. We report that leptin receptor-expressing neurons (LepRb neurons) in the periaqueductal gray (PAG), the largest population of LepRb neurons in the brain stem, mediate this process. Application of noxious stimuli, which often signal the need to mobilize glucose to support an appropriate response, activated PAG LepRb neurons, which project to and activate parabrachial nucleus (PBN) neurons that control SNS activation and glucose mobilization. Furthermore, activating PAG LepRb neurons increased SNS activity and blood glucose concentrations, while ablating LepRb in PAG neurons augmented glucose mobilization in response to noxious stimuli. Thus, decreased leptin action on PAG LepRb neurons augments the autonomic response to noxious stimuli, ensuring sufficient glucose mobilization during periods of acute demand in the face of diminished energy stores.

  13. Management of Conventional Wastes (Non Radioactive) in Spanish Landfills

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carreras, N.; Pena, J. M.; Ramos, J. L.; Millan, R.

    2011-01-01

    This report is the result of a collaboration agreement between CIEMAT and ENRESA. The goal of the report is to analyze the existing legislation on solid conventional waste, according to the European Community, the Spanish State and its Autonomous Communities, focusing on the latest regulation applicable to the final management in controlled landfills. In addition, information about the legal frame, production, composition and characteristics of conventional waste (i.e. urban, inert, dangerous industrial and non dangerous industrial) is given. Also, the final management that is carried out nowadays in Spain for each of the waste is analyzed and evaluated. Finally, the fulfilment of the in force regulation by the different types of Spanish controlled landfills is evaluated. (Author) 52 refs.

  14. Formal Verification of Autonomous Vehicle Platooning

    OpenAIRE

    Kamali, Maryam; Dennis, Louise A.; McAree, Owen; Fisher, Michael; Veres, Sandor M.

    2016-01-01

    The coordination of multiple autonomous vehicles into convoys or platoons is expected on our highways in the near future. However, before such platoons can be deployed, the new autonomous behaviors of the vehicles in these platoons must be certified. An appropriate representation for vehicle platooning is as a multi-agent system in which each agent captures the "autonomous decisions" carried out by each vehicle. In order to ensure that these autonomous decision-making agents in vehicle platoo...

  15. Mobile incineration services at Commonwealth Edison's nuclear stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, K.R.

    1985-01-01

    As the costs for low-level waste disposal escalate, and as the January 1, 1986 date draws nearer, utilities throughout the United States are formulating and implementing plans to reduce the volumes of the low-level radioactive waste being generated at their nuclear power stations. Techniques being used to accomplish this goal range from sorting of dry active waste to complete volume reduction systems, like the Aerojet VR Systems being installed at Commonwealth Edison's Byron and Braidwood Stations. In between these extremes are partial solutions to the problem, including compaction, shredding and compaction, super-compaction, resin dewatering, liquid drying, and now, mobile incineration. In June, 1983, Commonwealth Edison Company (CECO) of Chicago, Illinois, contracted Aerojet Energy Conversion Company (AECC) of Sacramento, California, to supply mobile VR services to the Dresden, La Salle, Quad Cities, and Zion Nuclear Stations. Per the contract, AECC is responsible for the design, fabrication, delivery, operation, and maintenance of a Mobile Volume Reduction System (MVRS) capable of processing combustible dry active waste and contaminated oil generated at these Com-Ed facilities. Initial commercial operation of the MVRS is planned for the Dresden Nuclear Power Station in May, 1985. This paper is intended to summarize some of the key elements resulting from the design, fabrication, and testing of the MVRS. In addition, it is intended to identify the tasks a potential user of the MVRS service must complete in order to receive permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate the MVRS at their site

  16. Autonomous Landing on Moving Platforms

    KAUST Repository

    Mendoza Chavez, Gilberto

    2016-08-01

    This thesis investigates autonomous landing of a micro air vehicle (MAV) on a nonstationary ground platform. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and micro air vehicles (MAVs) are becoming every day more ubiquitous. Nonetheless, many applications still require specialized human pilots or supervisors. Current research is focusing on augmenting the scope of tasks that these vehicles are able to accomplish autonomously. Precise autonomous landing on moving platforms is essential for self-deployment and recovery of MAVs, but it remains a challenging task for both autonomous and piloted vehicles. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a widely used and effective scheme to control constrained systems. One of its variants, output-feedback tube-based MPC, ensures robust stability for systems with bounded disturbances under system state reconstruction. This thesis proposes a MAV control strategy based on this variant of MPC to perform rapid and precise autonomous landing on moving targets whose nominal (uncommitted) trajectory and velocity are slowly varying. The proposed approach is demonstrated on an experimental setup.

  17. A Sensor Based Navigation Algorithm for a Mobile Robot using the DVFF Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. OUALID DJEKOUNE

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Often autonomous mobile robots operate in environment for which prior maps are incomplete or inaccurate. They require the safe execution for a collision free motion to a goal position. This paper addresses a complete navigation method for a mobile robot that moves in unknown environment. Thus, a novel method called DVFF combining the Virtual Force Field (VFF obstacle avoidance approach and global path planning based on D* algorithm is proposed. While D* generates global path information towards a goal position, the VFF local controller generates the admissible trajectories that ensure safe robot motion. Results and analysis from a battery of experiments with this new method implemented on a ATRV2 mobile robot are shown.

  18. The development of mobile robot for security application and nuclear facilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, B. S.; Lee, Y. B.; Choi, Y. S.; Seo, Y. C.; Park, Y. M

    1999-12-01

    The use of a mobile robot system in nuclear radioactive environments has the advantage of watching and inspecting the NPP safety-related equipment systematically and repairing damaged parts efficiently, thereby enhancing the safe operations of NPPs as well as reducing significantly personnel's dose rate to radioactive environment. Key technology achieved through the development of such robotic system can be used for security application and can offer new approaches to many of the tasks faced to the industry as well. The mobile robot system was composed of a mobile subsystem, a manipulator subsystem, a control subsystem, and a sensor subsystem to use in security application and nuclear radioactive environments. The mobile subsystem was adopted to synchro-drive method to improve the mobility of it. And the manipulator subsystem was developed to minimize the weight and easy to control at remote site. Finally, we developed the USB-based robot control system considering the expandability and modularity. The developed mobile robot for inspection and security was experimented for the collision avoidance and autonomous algorithm, and then it was confirmed that the mobile robot was very effective to the security application and inspection of nuclear facilities. (author)

  19. The development of mobile robot for security application and nuclear facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, B. S.; Lee, Y. B.; Choi, Y. S.; Seo, Y. C.; Park, Y. M.

    1999-12-01

    The use of a mobile robot system in nuclear radioactive environments has the advantage of watching and inspecting the NPP safety-related equipment systematically and repairing damaged parts efficiently, thereby enhancing the safe operations of NPPs as well as reducing significantly personnel's dose rate to radioactive environment. Key technology achieved through the development of such robotic system can be used for security application and can offer new approaches to many of the tasks faced to the industry as well. The mobile robot system was composed of a mobile subsystem, a manipulator subsystem, a control subsystem, and a sensor subsystem to use in security application and nuclear radioactive environments. The mobile subsystem was adopted to synchro-drive method to improve the mobility of it. And the manipulator subsystem was developed to minimize the weight and easy to control at remote site. Finally, we developed the USB-based robot control system considering the expandability and modularity. The developed mobile robot for inspection and security was experimented for the collision avoidance and autonomous algorithm, and then it was confirmed that the mobile robot was very effective to the security application and inspection of nuclear facilities. (author)

  20. Approaches to probabilistic model learning for mobile manipulation robots

    CERN Document Server

    Sturm, Jürgen

    2013-01-01

    Mobile manipulation robots are envisioned to provide many useful services both in domestic environments as well as in the industrial context. Examples include domestic service robots that implement large parts of the housework, and versatile industrial assistants that provide automation, transportation, inspection, and monitoring services. The challenge in these applications is that the robots have to function under changing, real-world conditions, be able to deal with considerable amounts of noise and uncertainty, and operate without the supervision of an expert. This book presents novel learning techniques that enable mobile manipulation robots, i.e., mobile platforms with one or more robotic manipulators, to autonomously adapt to new or changing situations. The approaches presented in this book cover the following topics: (1) learning the robot's kinematic structure and properties using actuation and visual feedback, (2) learning about articulated objects in the environment in which the robot is operating,...

  1. Two-Armed, Mobile, Sensate Research Robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engelberger, J. F.; Roberts, W. Nelson; Ryan, David J.; Silverthorne, Andrew

    2004-01-01

    The Anthropomorphic Robotic Testbed (ART) is an experimental prototype of a partly anthropomorphic, humanoid-size, mobile robot. The basic ART design concept provides for a combination of two-armed coordination, tactility, stereoscopic vision, mobility with navigation and avoidance of obstacles, and natural-language communication, so that the ART could emulate humans in many activities. The ART could be developed into a variety of highly capable robotic assistants for general or specific applications. There is especially great potential for the development of ART-based robots as substitutes for live-in health-care aides for home-bound persons who are aged, infirm, or physically handicapped; these robots could greatly reduce the cost of home health care and extend the term of independent living. The ART is a fully autonomous and untethered system. It includes a mobile base on which is mounted an extensible torso topped by a head, shoulders, and two arms. All subsystems of the ART are powered by a rechargeable, removable battery pack. The mobile base is a differentially- driven, nonholonomic vehicle capable of a speed >1 m/s and can handle a payload >100 kg. The base can be controlled manually, in forward/backward and/or simultaneous rotational motion, by use of a joystick. Alternatively, the motion of the base can be controlled autonomously by an onboard navigational computer. By retraction or extension of the torso, the head height of the ART can be adjusted from 5 ft (1.5 m) to 6 1/2 ft (2 m), so that the arms can reach either the floor or high shelves, or some ceilings. The arms are symmetrical. Each arm (including the wrist) has a total of six rotary axes like those of the human shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. The arms are actuated by electric motors in combination with brakes and gas-spring assists on the shoulder and elbow joints. The arms are operated under closed-loop digital control. A receptacle for an end effector is mounted on the tip of the wrist and

  2. Autonomic Neuropathy in Diabetes Mellitus

    OpenAIRE

    Verrotti, Alberto; Prezioso, Giovanni; Scattoni, Raffaella; Chiarelli, Francesco

    2014-01-01

    Diabetic autonomic neuropathy (DAN) is a serious and common complication of diabetes, often overlooked and misdiagnosed. It is a systemic-wide disorder that may be asymptomatic in the early stages. The most studied and clinically important form of DAN is cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy defined as the impairment of autonomic control of the cardiovascular system in patients with diabetes after exclusion of other causes. The reported prevalence of DAN varies widely depending on inconsistent ...

  3. 76 FR 36129 - Underground Injection Control Program; Hazardous Waste Injection Restrictions; Petition for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-21

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9321-3] Underground Injection Control Program; Hazardous Waste Injection Restrictions; Petition for Exemption--Class I Hazardous Waste Injection; ExxonMobil... disposal Restrictions, under the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to the Resource Conservation and...

  4. Nuclear waste management. Quarterly progress report, April-June 1980

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Platt, A.M.; Powell, J.A. (comps.)

    1980-09-01

    The status of the following programs is reported: high-level waste immobilization; alternative waste forms; Nuclear Waste Materials Characterization Center; TRU waste immobilization; TRU waste decontamination; krypton solidification; thermal outgassing; iodine-129 fixation; monitoring and physical characterization of unsaturated zone transport; well-logging instrumentation development; mobility of organic complexes of fission products in soils; waste management system studies; waste management safety studies; assessment of effectiveness of geologic isolation systems; waste/rock interactions technology; systems study on engineered barriers; criteria for defining waste isolation; spent fuel and fuel pool component integrity program; analysis of spent fuel policy implementation; asphalt emulsion sealing of uranium tailings; application of long-term chemical biobarriers for uranium tailings; and development of backfill material.

  5. Correlation between radwaste processing and hazardous waste treatment processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Block, O.U.J.; Tulipano, F.J.

    1988-01-01

    The basic framework under SARA has established that preferred remedies are those which permanently and significantly reduce toxicity, mobility or volume of wastes. In the 1970's radwaste process designs at power plants received pressure to satisfy essentially the same criteria when increased emphasis was placed on limited disposal sites which resulted in rapidly escalating disposal costs. This paper provides a historical perspective of radwaste experience and discusses valuable insight to hazardous waste treatment technologies. The radwaste system experience is discussed in terms of providing a source of proven and reliable technologies. Discussion is presented on specific radwaste processes which are applicable technologies for hazardous waste treatment. The technologies presented include (a) Solidification, (b) Evaporation, and (c) Incineration. Experience is presented which establishes assurance that the treatment technologies will provide a permanent remedy to hazardous waste treatment. This paper describes typical radwaste solidification, evaporation and incineration processes at power plants. The design requirements and implementation of radwaste equipment is correlated to design requirement of hazardous waste equipment. Specific discussion is provided on how the available process equipment can reduce toxicity, mobility, and volume of waste. Discussion is presented on how the standard off the shelf processing equipment needs to be modified for radwaste and hazardous waste applications

  6. The cytoskeleton in cell-autonomous immunity: structural determinants of host defence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mostowy, Serge; Shenoy, Avinash R.

    2016-01-01

    Host cells use antimicrobial proteins, pathogen-restrictive compartmentalization and cell death in their defence against intracellular pathogens. Recent work has revealed that four components of the cytoskeleton — actin, microtubules, intermediate filaments and septins, which are well known for their roles in cell division, shape and movement — have important functions in innate immunity and cellular self-defence. Investigations using cellular and animal models have shown that these cytoskeletal proteins are crucial for sensing bacteria and for mobilizing effector mechanisms to eliminate them. In this Review, we highlight the emerging roles of the cytoskeleton as a structural determinant of cell-autonomous host defence. PMID:26292640

  7. Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation (AIMM) - Maturation, Exploitation and Implementation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bøgh, Simon

    ) "Little Helper" is introduced, a manufacturing assistant inspired by the Walt Disney character. The main rationale of the AIMM concept is a compromise between traditional automation (efficiency) and manual labor (flexibility), which contributes to realizing transformable manufacturing systems. From...... a state-of-the-art review, it is observed that implementations of mobile manipulators in industry have been limited although the needs for flexible automation are present. The second topic is “Identifying skills for AIMM robots” and is dedicated to defining a unifying terminology for task......-level programming by means of skills with focus on the identification of skills for AIMM robots. The terminology is built as a hierarchy similar to that of human action modeling (e.g. actions and activities) or human language (e.g. words and sentences). Two approaches are applied for identifying relevant skills...

  8. Discerning non-autonomous dynamics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clemson, Philip T.; Stefanovska, Aneta, E-mail: aneta@lancaster.ac.uk

    2014-09-30

    Structure and function go hand in hand. However, while a complex structure can be relatively safely broken down into the minutest parts, and technology is now delving into nanoscales, the function of complex systems requires a completely different approach. Here the complexity clearly arises from nonlinear interactions, which prevents us from obtaining a realistic description of a system by dissecting it into its structural component parts. At best, the result of such investigations does not substantially add to our understanding or at worst it can even be misleading. Not surprisingly, the dynamics of complex systems, facilitated by increasing computational efficiency, is now readily tackled in the case of measured time series. Moreover, time series can now be collected in practically every branch of science and in any structural scale—from protein dynamics in a living cell to data collected in astrophysics or even via social networks. In searching for deterministic patterns in such data we are limited by the fact that no complex system in the real world is autonomous. Hence, as an alternative to the stochastic approach that is predominantly applied to data from inherently non-autonomous complex systems, theory and methods specifically tailored to non-autonomous systems are needed. Indeed, in the last decade we have faced a huge advance in mathematical methods, including the introduction of pullback attractors, as well as time series methods that cope with the most important characteristic of non-autonomous systems—their time-dependent behaviour. Here we review current methods for the analysis of non-autonomous dynamics including those for extracting properties of interactions and the direction of couplings. We illustrate each method by applying it to three sets of systems typical for chaotic, stochastic and non-autonomous behaviour. For the chaotic class we select the Lorenz system, for the stochastic the noise-forced Duffing system and for the non-autonomous

  9. Discerning non-autonomous dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clemson, Philip T.; Stefanovska, Aneta

    2014-01-01

    Structure and function go hand in hand. However, while a complex structure can be relatively safely broken down into the minutest parts, and technology is now delving into nanoscales, the function of complex systems requires a completely different approach. Here the complexity clearly arises from nonlinear interactions, which prevents us from obtaining a realistic description of a system by dissecting it into its structural component parts. At best, the result of such investigations does not substantially add to our understanding or at worst it can even be misleading. Not surprisingly, the dynamics of complex systems, facilitated by increasing computational efficiency, is now readily tackled in the case of measured time series. Moreover, time series can now be collected in practically every branch of science and in any structural scale—from protein dynamics in a living cell to data collected in astrophysics or even via social networks. In searching for deterministic patterns in such data we are limited by the fact that no complex system in the real world is autonomous. Hence, as an alternative to the stochastic approach that is predominantly applied to data from inherently non-autonomous complex systems, theory and methods specifically tailored to non-autonomous systems are needed. Indeed, in the last decade we have faced a huge advance in mathematical methods, including the introduction of pullback attractors, as well as time series methods that cope with the most important characteristic of non-autonomous systems—their time-dependent behaviour. Here we review current methods for the analysis of non-autonomous dynamics including those for extracting properties of interactions and the direction of couplings. We illustrate each method by applying it to three sets of systems typical for chaotic, stochastic and non-autonomous behaviour. For the chaotic class we select the Lorenz system, for the stochastic the noise-forced Duffing system and for the non-autonomous

  10. Descriptive models for single-jet sluicing of sludge waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Erian, F.F.; Mahoney, L.A.; Terrones, G.

    1997-12-01

    Mobilization of sludge waste stored in underground storage tanks can be achieved safely and reliably by sluicing. In the project discussed in this report, the waste in Hanford single-shell Tank 241-C-106 will be mobilized by sluicing, retrieved by a slurry retrieval pump, and transferred via an 1800-ft slurry pipeline to Tank 241-AY-102. A sluicing strategy must be developed that ensures efficient use of the deployed configuration of the sluicing system: the nozzle(s) and the retrieval pump(s). Given a sluicing system configuration in a particular tank, it is desirable to prescribe the sequential locations at which the sludge will be mobilized and retrieved and the rate at which these mobilization and retrieval processes take place. In addition, it is necessary to know whether the retrieved waste slurry meets the requirements for cross-site slurry transport. Some of the physical phenomena that take place during mobilization and retrieval and certain aspects of the sluicing process are described in this report. First, a mathematical model gives (1) an idealized geometrical representation of where, within the confines of a storage tank containing a certain amount of settled waste, sludge can be removed and mobilized; and (2) a quantitative measure of the amount of sludge that can be removed during a sluicing campaign. A model describing an idealized water jet issuing from a circular nozzle located at a given height above a flat surface is also presented in this report. This dynamic water-jet model provides the basis for improving the geometrical sluicing model presented next. In this model the authors assume that the water jet follows a straight trajectory toward a target point on a flat surface. However, the water jet does not follow a straight line in the actual tank, and using the true trajectory will allow a more accurate estimate of the amount of disturbed material. Also, the authors hope that developing accurate force and pressure fields will lead to a better

  11. Structural Discrimination and Autonomous Vehicles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Hin-Yan

    2016-01-01

    This paper examines the potential for structural discrimination to be woven into the fabric of autonomous vehicle developments, which remain underexplored and undiscussed. The prospect for structural discrimination arises as a result of the coordinated modes of autonomous vehicle behaviour...... individual identity, and potentially relative worth, to autonomous vehicles engaging in a crash damage calculus. At the risk of introducing these ideas into the development of autonomous vehicles, this paper hopes to spark a debate to foreclose these eventualities....... that is prescribed by its code. This leads to the potential for individuated outcomes to be networked and thereby multiplied consistently to any number of vehicles implementing such a code. The aggregated effects of such algorithmic policy preferences will thus cumulate in the reallocation of benefits and burdens...

  12. Virtual Simulator for Autonomous Mobile Robots Navigation System Using Concepts of Control Rapid Prototyping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonimer Flavio de Melo

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available This work presents the proposal of virtual environment implementation for project simulation and conception of supervision and control systems for mobile robots, that are capable to operate and adapting in different environments and conditions. This virtual system has as purpose to facilitate the development of embedded architecture systems, emphasizing the implementation of tools that allow the simulation of the kinematic conditions, dynamic and control, with real time monitoring of all important system points. For this, open control architecture is proposal, integrating the two main techniques of robotic control implementation in the hardware level: systems microprocessors and reconfigurable hardware devices. The implemented simulator system is composed of a trajectory generating module, a kinematic and dynamic simulator module and of a analysis module of results and errors. The kinematic and dynamic simulator module makes all simulation of the mobile robot following the pre-determined trajectory of the trajectory generator. All the kinematic and dynamic results shown during the simulation can be evaluated and visualized in graphs and tables formats, in the results analysis module, allowing an improvement in the system, minimizing the errors with the necessary adjustments optimization. For controller implementation in the embedded system, it uses the rapid prototyping, which is the technology that allows, in set with the virtual simulation environment, the development of a controller project for mobile robots. The validation and tests had been accomplishing with nonholonomics mobile robots models with differential transmission.

  13. Supporting Information Access in a Hospital Ward by a Context-Aware Mobile Electronic Patient Record

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skov, Mikael B.; Høegh, Rune Thaarup

    2006-01-01

    Context-awareness holds promise for improving the utility of software products. Context-aware mobile systems encompass the ability to automatically discover and react to changes in an environment. Most contemporary context-aware mobile systems aim to support users in private situations, for example......Ward is to support nurses in conducting morning procedures in a hospital ward. MobileWard is context-aware as it is able to discover and react autonomously according to changes in the environment and since it integrates the ability to provide information and services to the user where the relevancy depends....... Implications and limitations of the proposed solution are further discussed....

  14. Carbon abatement via treating the solid waste from the Australian olive industry in mobile pyrolysis units: LCA with uncertainty analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Hanandeh, Ali

    2013-04-01

    The olive oil industry in Australia has been growing at a rapid rate over the past decade. It is forecast to continue growing due to the steady increase in demand for olive oil and olive products in the local and regional market. However, the olive oil extraction process generates large amounts of solid waste called olive husk which is currently underutilized. This paper uses life-cycle methodology to analyse the carbon emission reduction potential of utilizing olive husk as a feedstock in a mobile pyrolysis unit. Four scenarios, based on different combinations of pyrolysis technologies (slow versus fast) and end-use of products (land application versus energy utilization), are constructed. The performance of each scenario under conditions of uncertainty was also investigated. The results show that all scenarios result in significant carbon emission abatement. Processing olive husk in mobile fast pyrolysis units and the utilization of bio-oil and biochar as substitutes for heavy fuel oil and coal is likely to realize a carbon offset greater than 32.3 Gg CO2-eq annually in 90% of the time. Likewise, more than 3.2 Gg-C (11.8 Gg CO2-eq) per year could be sequestered in the soil in the form of fixed carbon if slow mobile pyrolysis units were used to produce biochar.

  15. Decentralized Control of Autonomous Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    2003-01-01

    Autonomous Vehicles by John S. Baras, Xiaobo Tan, Pedram Hovareshti CSHCN TR 2003-8 (ISR TR 2003-14) Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704...AND SUBTITLE Decentralized Control of Autonomous Vehicles 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT...Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 Decentralized Control of Autonomous Vehicles ∗ John S. Baras, Xiaobo Tan, and Pedram

  16. Waste prevention and management in territories, Report of contributions - Composting and/or methanization: which project for your territory?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mazaud, Denis; Michel, Julia; Gaillard, Nathalie; Monteux, Fabienne; Tardy, Marc; Nathanael, Frere; Onno, Jean Marc; Thauvin, Philippe; Menou, Jean-Yves; Grappe, Denis; Winkelmuller, Serge; Tronc, Jean-Sebastien; Micone, Philippe; Zdanevitch, Isabelle; Couturier, Christian; Joly, Yves; Thevenin, Nicolas; Cheverry, Marc; Labeyrie, Pierre; Meunier, Melaine; Pouech, Philippe; Proix, Roger; Ramos, Richard

    2011-06-01

    Contributions of this colloquium addressed the following topics related to composting and methanization practices: proximity management (experiments in collective housing and in specific premises, autonomous effluent methanization for heat production, farm-based methanization) centralised management (experiments of waste processing, pollutions and working conditions), sector economy and quality, and how to choose solutions for organic waste management on a territory. The document also proposes a set of opinions published by the ADEME on mechanical-biological processing of domestic wastes, on the methanization of domestic and industrial wastes, and on agricultural methanization

  17. Public Health, Ethics, and Autonomous Vehicles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleetwood, Janet

    2017-04-01

    With the potential to save nearly 30 000 lives per year in the United States, autonomous vehicles portend the most significant advance in auto safety history by shifting the focus from minimization of postcrash injury to collision prevention. I have delineated the important public health implications of autonomous vehicles and provided a brief analysis of a critically important ethical issue inherent in autonomous vehicle design. The broad expertise, ethical principles, and values of public health should be brought to bear on a wide range of issues pertaining to autonomous vehicles.

  18. Autonomous sensors 2010. Microsensors without external power supply and with remote signal processing. Proceedings; Energieautarke Sensorik 2010. Mikrosensorik mit autarker Energieversorgung und drahtloser Signaluebertragung. Vortraege

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2010-07-01

    Within the meeting 'Energy autonomous sensor technology 2010' at 26th to 27th October, 2010 in Hamburg (Federal Republic of Germany) the following lectures were held: (1) Application of thermoelectrics in energy autonomous sensors (K. Bartholoma); (2) Optimisation of micro fuel cells for power generation of energy autonomous sensors (M. Weiland); (3) Thin, flexible primary and secondary batteries produced by the screen printing process (M. Wendler); (4) Energy transformation in the surface area by means of piezoelectric PVDF converter modules (E. Bischur); (5) Energy sources of the human body (P. Husar); (6) Binary Zero Power Sensor - An alternative solution for energy autonomous sensor systems (T. Frank); (7) Energy autonomous Tilger sensor modules (T. Bein); (8) Energy autonomous pressure sensor for automobiles by vibration (M. Kurth); (9) Passive microwaves RFID with integrated and external sensor technology (N. Gay); (10) Energy autonomous Microsystems as an enabling technology (J. Rittner); (11) Energy supply of microelectronic sensor modules via radio communication (G. v. Boegle); (12) System design of a MST based piezoelectric power supply module for energy autonomous applications (A. Frey); (13) Miniaturized energy autonomous components with reliable wireless communication for the automation (MIKOA) (H. Haase); (14) Mobile tagging in logistics, automation and sensor technology (R. Assfalg); (15) Energy autonomous sensor systems for the condition-oriented maintenance and logistics (R. Thomasius); (16) Energy autonomous systems for aeronautic applications (M. Kluge); (17) Energy autonomous sensor technology in automobiles (I. Kuehne); (18) The wireless Retina implantate in clinical test (A. Harscher); (19) Sensoric protective clothing for the forestry work with chainsaws (M. Rupp); (20) A systematic selection of concepts for energy transformation for the use in machine tools (B. Denkena); (21) Monitoring of risk patients by means of a portable

  19. Nuclear waste management. Quarterly progress report, April-June 1981

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chikalla, T.D.; Powell, J.A.

    1981-09-01

    Reports and summaries are presented for the following: high-level waste process development; alternative waste forms; TMI zeolite vitrification demonstration program; nuclear waste materials characterization center; TRU waste immobilization; TRU waste decontamination; krypton implantation; thermal outgassing; iodine-129 fixation; NWVP off-gas analysis; monitoring and physical characterization of unsaturated zone transport; well-logging instrumentation development; verification instrument development; mobility of organic complexes of radionuclides in soils; handbook of methods to decrease the generation of low-level waste; waste management system studies; waste management safety studies; assessment of effectiveness of geologic isolation systems; waste/rock interactions technology program; high-level waste form preparation; development of backfill materials; development of structural engineered barriers; disposal charge analysis; and analysis of spent fuel policy implementation.

  20. The COMRADE System for Multirobot Autonomous Landmine Detection in Postconflict Regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prithviraj Dasgupta

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider the problem of autonomous landmine detection using a team of mobile robots. Previous research on robotic landmine detection mostly employs a single robot equipped with a landmine detection sensor to detect landmines. We envisage that the quality of landmine detection can be significantly improved if multiple robots are coordinated to detect landmines in a cooperative manner by incrementally fusing the landmine-related sensor information they collect and then use that information to visit locations of potential landmines. Towards this objective, we describe a multirobot system called COMRADES to address different aspects of the autonomous landmine detection problem including distributed area coverage to detect and locate landmines, information aggregation to fuse the sensor information obtained by different robots, and multirobot task allocation (MRTA to enable different robots to determine a suitable sequence to visit locations of potential landmines while reducing the time required and battery expended. We have used commercially available all-terrain robots called Coroware Explorer that are customized with a metal detector to detect metallic objects including landmines, as well as indoor Corobot robots, both in simulation and in physical experiments, to test the different techniques in COMRADES.

  1. A Mechanism to Avoid Collusion Attacks Based on Code Passing in Mobile Agent Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaimez, Marc; Esparza, Oscar; Muñoz, Jose L.; Alins-Delgado, Juan J.; Mata-Díaz, Jorge

    Mobile agents are software entities consisting of code, data, state and itinerary that can migrate autonomously from host to host executing their code. Despite its benefits, security issues strongly restrict the use of code mobility. The protection of mobile agents against the attacks of malicious hosts is considered the most difficult security problem to solve in mobile agent systems. In particular, collusion attacks have been barely studied in the literature. This paper presents a mechanism that avoids collusion attacks based on code passing. Our proposal is based on a Multi-Code agent, which contains a different variant of the code for each host. A Trusted Third Party is responsible for providing the information to extract its own variant to the hosts, and for taking trusted timestamps that will be used to verify time coherence.

  2. Thermoelectric energy harvesting for a solid waste processing toilet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stokes, C. David; Baldasaro, Nicholas G.; Bulman, Gary E.; Stoner, Brian R.

    2014-06-01

    Over 2.5 billion people do not have access to safe and effective sanitation. Without a sanitary sewer infrastructure, self-contained modular systems can provide solutions for these people in the developing world and remote areas. Our team is building a better toilet that processes human waste into burnable fuel and disinfects the liquid waste. The toilet employs energy harvesting to produce electricity and does not require external electrical power or consumable materials. RTI has partnered with Colorado State University, Duke University, and Roca Sanitario under a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Reinvent the Toilet Challenge (RTTC) grant to develop an advanced stand-alone, self-sufficient toilet to effectively process solid and liquid waste. The system operates through the following steps: 1) Solid-liquid separation, 2) Solid waste drying and sizing, 3) Solid waste combustion, and 4) Liquid waste disinfection. Thermoelectric energy harvesting is a key component to the system and provides the electric power for autonomous operation. A portion of the exhaust heat is captured through finned heat-sinks and converted to electricity by thermoelectric (TE) devices to provide power for the electrochemical treatment of the liquid waste, pumps, blowers, combustion ignition, and controls.

  3. Resource Optimization of Mobile Intelligent System with heart MPLS network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Elkoutbi

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we introduce the original Mobile Intelligent System (MIS in embeded FPGA architecture. This node will allow the construction of autonomous mobile network units which can move in unknowns, inaccessible or hostile environnement for human being, in order to collect data by various sensors and transmits them by routing to a unit of distant process. In the sake of improving the performance of transmission, we propose a global schema of QoS management using DiffServ/MPLS backbones. We provide an evaluation of several scenarios for combining QoS IP networks with MIS access network. We conclude with a study on interoperability between QoS patterns in access and backbone networks.

  4. Advanced robotics handling and controls applied to Mixed Waste characterization, segregation and treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grasz, E.; Huber, L.; Horvath, J.; Roberson, P.; Wilhelmsen, K.; Ryon, R.

    1994-11-01

    At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under the Mixed Waste Operations program of the Department of Energy Robotic Technology Development Program (RTDP), a key emphasis is developing a total solution to the problem of characterizing, handling and treating complex and potentially unknown mixed waste objects. LLNL has been successful at looking at the problem from a system perspective and addressing some of the key issues including non-destructive evaluation of the waste stream prior to the materials entering the handling workcell, the level of automated material handling required for effective processing of the waste stream objects (both autonomous and tele-operational), and the required intelligent robotic control to carry out the characterization, segregation, and waste treating processes. These technologies were integrated and demonstrated in a prototypical surface decontamination workcell this past year

  5. Mobility of organic carbon from incineration residues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ecke, Holger; Svensson, Malin

    2008-01-01

    Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) may affect the transport of pollutants from incineration residues when landfilled or used in geotechnical construction. The leaching of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash and air pollution control residue (APC) from the incineration of waste wood was investigated. Factors affecting the mobility of DOC were studied in a reduced 2 6-1 experimental design. Controlled factors were treatment with ultrasonic radiation, full carbonation (addition of CO 2 until the pH was stable for 2.5 h), liquid-to-solid (L/S) ratio, pH, leaching temperature and time. Full carbonation, pH and the L/S ratio were the main factors controlling the mobility of DOC in the bottom ash. Approximately 60 weight-% of the total organic carbon (TOC) in the bottom ash was available for leaching in aqueous solutions. The L/S ratio and pH mainly controlled the mobilization of DOC from the APC residue. About 93 weight-% of TOC in the APC residue was, however, not mobilized at all, which might be due to a high content of elemental carbon. Using the European standard EN 13 137 for determination of total organic carbon (TOC) in MSWI residues is inappropriate. The results might be biased due to elemental carbon. It is recommended to develop a TOC method distinguishing between organic and elemental carbon

  6. AD HOC Networks for the Autonomous Car

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ron, Davidescu; Negrus, Eugen

    2017-10-01

    The future of the vehicle is made of cars, roads and infrastructures connected in a two way automated communication in a holistic system. It is a mandatory to use Encryption to maintain Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability in an ad hoc vehicle network. Vehicle to Vehicle communication, requires multichannel interaction between mobile, moving and changing parties to insure the full benefit from data sharing and real time decision making, a network of such users referred as mobile ad hoc network (MANET), however as ad hoc networks were not implemented in such a scale, it is not clear what is the best method and protocol to apply. Furthermore the visibility of secure preferred asymmetric encrypted ad hoc networks in a real time environment of dense moving autonomous vehicles has to be demonstrated, In order to evaluate the performance of Ad Hoc networks in changing conditions a simulation of multiple protocols was performed on large number of mobile nodes. The following common routing protocols were tested, DSDV is a proactive protocol, every mobile station maintains a routing table with all available destinations, DSR is a reactive routing protocol which allows nodes in the MANET to dynamically discover a source route across multiple network hops, AODV is a reactive routing protocol Instead of being proactive. It minimizes the number of broadcasts by creating routes based on demand, SAODV is a secure version of AODV, requires heavyweight asymmetric cryptographic, ARIANDE is a routing protocol that relies on highly efficient symmetric cryptography the concept is primarily based on DSR. A methodical evolution was performed in a various density of transportation, based on known communication bench mark parameters including, Throughput Vs. time, Routing Load per packets and bytes. Out of the none encrypted protocols, It is clear that in terms of performance of throughput and routing load DSR protocol has a clear advantage the high node number mode. The encrypted

  7. Fiscal year 1994 1/25-scale sludge mobilization testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Powell, M.R.; Gates, C.M.; Hymas, C.R.; Sprecher, M.A.; Morter, N.J.

    1995-07-01

    There are 28 one-million-gallon double-shell radioactive waste tanks on the Hanford Reservation in southeastern Washington State. The waste in these tanks was generated during processing of nuclear materials. Solids-laden slurries were placed into many of the tanks. Over time, the waste solids have settled to form a layer of sludge in the bottom of these tanks. The sludge layer thickness varies from tank to tank with some having only a few centimeters or no sludge up to some tanks which have about 4.5 m (15 ft) of sludge. It is planned that the waste will be removed from these tanks as part of the overall Hanford site cleanup efforts. Jet mixer pumps are to be placed into the tanks to stir up (mobilize) the sludge and form a uniform slurry suitable for pumping to downstream processing facilities. These mixer pumps use powerful jets of tank fluid directed horizontally out of two, diametrically opposed nozzles near the tank bottom. These fluid jets impinge upon the sludge and stir it up. The amount of sludge mobilized by the mixer pump jets depends not only on the jet properties, but also on the ability of the sludge to resist the jets. It is the goal of the work described in this document to develop the ability to predict how much sludge will be mobilized by the mixer pumps based on the size and velocity of the mixer pump jets and the physical and chemical properties of the tank sludge

  8. Current challenges in autonomous vehicle development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connelly, J.; Hong, W. S.; Mahoney, R. B., Jr.; Sparrow, D. A.

    2006-05-01

    The field of autonomous vehicles is a rapidly growing one, with significant interest from both government and industry sectors. Autonomous vehicles represent the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, combining decision-making with real-time control. Autonomous vehicles are desired for use in search and rescue, urban reconnaissance, mine detonation, supply convoys, and more. The general adage is to use robots for anything dull, dirty, dangerous or dumb. While a great deal of research has been done on autonomous systems, there are only a handful of fielded examples incorporating machine autonomy beyond the level of teleoperation, especially in outdoor/complex environments. In an attempt to assess and understand the current state of the art in autonomous vehicle development, a few areas where unsolved problems remain became clear. This paper outlines those areas and provides suggestions for the focus of science and technology research. The first step in evaluating the current state of autonomous vehicle development was to develop a definition of autonomy. A number of autonomy level classification systems were reviewed. The resulting working definitions and classification schemes used by the authors are summarized in the opening sections of the paper. The remainder of the report discusses current approaches and challenges in decision-making and real-time control for autonomous vehicles. Suggested research focus areas for near-, mid-, and long-term development are also presented.

  9. Mobile Variable Depth Sampling System Design Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    BOGER, R.M.

    2000-01-01

    A design study is presented for a mobile, variable depth sampling system (MVDSS) that will support the treatment and immobilization of Hanford LAW and HLW. The sampler can be deployed in a 4-inch tank riser and has a design that is based on requirements identified in the Level 2 Specification (latest revision). The waste feed sequence for the MVDSS is based on Phase 1, Case 3S6 waste feed sequence. Technical information is also presented that supports the design study

  10. Mobile Variable Depth Sampling System Design Study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    BOGER, R.M.

    2000-08-25

    A design study is presented for a mobile, variable depth sampling system (MVDSS) that will support the treatment and immobilization of Hanford LAW and HLW. The sampler can be deployed in a 4-inch tank riser and has a design that is based on requirements identified in the Level 2 Specification (latest revision). The waste feed sequence for the MVDSS is based on Phase 1, Case 3S6 waste feed sequence. Technical information is also presented that supports the design study.

  11. The study of heavy metals leaching from waste foundry sands using a one-step extraction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bożym, Marta

    2017-10-01

    There are a number of leaching test which are used to evaluate the effect of foundry waste disposal on the environment (TCLP, SPLP, ASTM at al.). Because the spent foundry sand are usually deposited at the ground level and they have a similar structure to the soil, survey mobility of metals using the same methods seems appropriate. One-step extraction allows for the evaluation of the mobility and bioavailability of metals in soil and waste. Waste foundry sands have been successfully used as a component in manufactured soils in U.S., but concern over metal contamination must be eliminated before considering this direction of use. The study evaluated the leaching of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni) from deposited waste foundry sands. The overall, as well as heavy metals were extracted by different type of extractants: H2O, CH3COOH, HCl, EDTA, MgCl2 and NaCOOH. These extractants are most commonly used to study the mobility and bioavailability of metals in soil and waste. In the present study applicable standards and methodology described in the literature in analysis were used. The results allowed to evaluate the bioavailability of metals leached from those wastes.

  12. Compact autonomous navigation system (CANS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Y. C.; Ying, L.; Xiong, K.; Cheng, H. Y.; Qiao, G. D.

    2017-11-01

    Autonomous navigation of Satellite and constellation has series of benefits, such as to reduce operation cost and ground station workload, to avoid the event of crises of war and natural disaster, to increase spacecraft autonomy, and so on. Autonomous navigation satellite is independent of ground station support. Many systems are developed for autonomous navigation of satellite in the past 20 years. Along them American MANS (Microcosm Autonomous Navigation System) [1] of Microcosm Inc. and ERADS [2] [3] (Earth Reference Attitude Determination System) of Honeywell Inc. are well known. The systems anticipate a series of good features of autonomous navigation and aim low cost, integrated structure, low power consumption and compact layout. The ERADS is an integrated small 3-axis attitude sensor system with low cost and small volume. It has the Earth center measurement accuracy higher than the common IR sensor because the detected ultraviolet radiation zone of the atmosphere has a brightness gradient larger than that of the IR zone. But the ERADS is still a complex system because it has to eliminate many problems such as making of the sapphire sphere lens, birefringence effect of sapphire, high precision image transfer optical fiber flattener, ultraviolet intensifier noise, and so on. The marginal sphere FOV of the sphere lens of the ERADS is used to star imaging that may be bring some disadvantages., i.e. , the image energy and attitude measurements accuracy may be reduced due to the tilt image acceptance end of the fiber flattener in the FOV. Besides Japan, Germany and Russia developed visible earth sensor for GEO [4] [5]. Do we have a way to develop a cheaper/easier and more accurate autonomous navigation system that can be used to all LEO spacecraft, especially, to LEO small and micro satellites? To return this problem we provide a new type of the system—CANS (Compact Autonomous Navigation System) [6].

  13. Nuclear waste management. Quarterly progress report, April-June 1979

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Platt, A.M.; Powell, J.A. (comps.)

    1979-09-01

    Progress is reported on: decontamination and densification of chop-leach cladding residues; monitoring methods for particulate and gaseous effluents from waste solidification process; TRU waste immobilization; krypton solidification; /sup 14/C and /sup 129/I fixation; waste management system and safety studies; waste isolation safety assessment; well logging instrumentation development for shallow land burial; monitoring and physical characterization of unsaturated zone transport; detection and characterization of mobile organic complexes of fission products; and electropolishing for surface decontamination of metals. 9 figures, 14 tables. (DLC)

  14. New Design of Mobile Robot Path Planning with Randomly Moving Obstacles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. A. Salih

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The navigation of a mobile robot in an unknown environment has always been a very challenging task. In order to achieve safe and autonomous navigation, the mobile robot needs to sense the surrounding environment and plans a collision-free path. This paper focuses on designing and implementing a mobile robot which has the ability of navigating smoothly in an unknown environment, avoiding collisions, without having to stop in front of obstacles, detecting leakage of combustible gases and transmitting a message of detection results to the civil defense unit automatically through the Internet to the E-mail. This design uses the implementation of artificial neural network (ANN on a new technology represented by Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA for controlling the motion of the robot. The robot with the proposed controller is tested and has completed the required objective successfully.

  15. Characterization of low and intermediate level cemented waste forms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koester, R.; Vejmelka, P.; Brunner, H.; Ganser, B.

    1985-01-01

    The main objective of the characterization work was to establish source term formulations for the cemented waste forms as input for safety analysis. For the operation phase of a repository radionuclide mobilization from the waste packages via the gas phase, caused by mechanical or thermal impact has to be considered. For this reason, besides laboratory tests, experiments with inactive full scale samples were performed to determine quantitatively the activity release from the waste packages under defined thermal and mechanical stresses. In order to evaluate source terms for the mobilization of relevant radionuclides via the liquid phase as a function of time due to leaching and corrosion, detailed experimental work with simulated inactive and dopted laboratory samples and with inactive full scale samples was performed. The experimental work was accompanied by theoretical investigations to establish an improved basis for long term predictions. (orig./PW)

  16. The VIPER project (Visualization Integration Platform for Exploration Research): a biologically inspired autonomous reconfigurable robotic platform for diverse unstructured environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schubert, Oliver J.; Tolle, Charles R.

    2004-09-01

    Over the last decade the world has seen numerous autonomous vehicle programs. Wheels and track designs are the basis for many of these vehicles. This is primarily due to four main reasons: a vast preexisting knowledge base for these designs, energy efficiency of power sources, scalability of actuators, and the lack of control systems technologies for handling alternate highly complex distributed systems. Though large efforts seek to improve the mobility of these vehicles, many limitations still exist for these systems within unstructured environments, e.g. limited mobility within industrial and nuclear accident sites where existing plant configurations have been extensively changed. These unstructured operational environments include missions for exploration, reconnaissance, and emergency recovery of objects within reconfigured or collapsed structures, e.g. bombed buildings. More importantly, these environments present a clear and present danger for direct human interactions during the initial phases of recovery operations. Clearly, the current classes of autonomous vehicles are incapable of performing in these environments. Thus the next generation of designs must include highly reconfigurable and flexible autonomous robotic platforms. This new breed of autonomous vehicles will be both highly flexible and environmentally adaptable. Presented in this paper is one of the most successful designs from nature, the snake-eel-worm (SEW). This design implements shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators which allow for scaling of the robotic SEW designs from sub-micron scale to heavy industrial implementations without major conceptual redesigns as required in traditional hydraulic, pneumatic, or motor driven systems. Autonomous vehicles based on the SEW design posses the ability to easily move between air based environments and fluid based environments with limited or no reconfiguration. Under a SEW designed vehicle, one not only achieves vastly improved maneuverability within a

  17. Human Supervision of Multiple Autonomous Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-22

    AFRL-RH-WP-TR-2013-0143 HUMAN SUPERVISION OF MULTIPLE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES Heath A. Ruff Ball...REPORT TYPE Interim 3. DATES COVERED (From – To) 09-16-08 – 03-22-13 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE HUMAN SUPERVISION OF MULTIPLE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES 5a...Supervision of Multiple Autonomous Vehicles To support the vision of a system that enables a single operator to control multiple next-generation

  18. Waste dislodging and conveyance testing summary and conclusions to date

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rinker, M.W.; Hatchell, B.K.; Mullen, O.D.

    1994-09-01

    This document summarizes recent work performed by the Waste Dislodging and Conveyance technology development program to provide assistance with the retrieval of wastes from the Hanford single-shell tanks (SSTs). This work is sponsored by the Underground Storage Tank-Integrated Demonstration (UST-ID) Office with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Development. A baseline technology of high-pressure water-jet dislodging and pneumatic conveyance integrated as a scarifier is proposed as a means of retrieval. The tests and studies described were performed to demonstrate that at least one robust technology exists that could be effectively used with low water-addition arm-based systems. These results are preliminary and do not represent an optimized baseline. The Waste Dislodging and Conveyance work thus far has demonstrated that waterjet mobilization and air conveyance can mobilize and convey SST waste simulants at the target rates while operating within the space envelope and the dynamic loading constraints of deployment devices. The recommended technologies are well proven in industrial applications and are quite robust, yet lightweight and relatively benign to the retrieval environment. The baseline approach has versatility to continuously dislodge and convey a broad range of waste forms, from hard wastes to soft sludge wastes. The approach also has the major advantage of being noncontact with the waste surface under normal operation

  19. Audit, Control and Monitoring Design Patterns (ACMDP for Autonomous Robust Systems (ARS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Trad

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes the Audit, Control and Monitoring Design Patterns (ACMDP for building Autonomous and Robust Systems (ARS such as Mobile Robot Systems (MRS. These patterns are also applicable to other Mission Critical and Complex Systems (MCCS. This paper presents a proposal which will help ARS project managers and engineers design, build and estimate the probability that an ARS will succeed or fail. Furthermore, this proposal offers the possibility to ARS problems with the help of audit, monitoring and controlling components, adjust the project management pathways, and define the problem sources as well as their possible solutions, in order to deliver an ARS or an MRS.

  20. Autonomous Trans-Antartic expeditions: an initiative for advancing planetary mobility system technology while addressing Earth science objectives in Antartica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carsey, F.; Schenker, P.; Blamont, J.

    2001-01-01

    A workshop on Antartic Autonomous Scientific Vehicles and Traverses met at the National Geographic Society in February to discuss scientific objectives and benefits of the use of rovers such as are being developed for use in planetary exploration.

  1. A Priori User Acceptance and the Perceived Driving Pleasure in Semi-autonomous and Autonomous Vehicles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bjørner, Thomas

    The aim of this minor pilot study is, from a sociological user perspective, to explore a priori user acceptance and the perceived driving pleasure in semi- autonomous and autonomous vehicles. The methods used were 13 in-depth interviews while having participants watch video examples within four...... different scenarios. After each scenario, two different numerical rating scales were used. There was a tendency toward positive attitudes regarding semi- autonomous driving systems, especially the use of a parking assistant and while driving in city traffic congestion. However, there were also major...

  2. Thermal decomposition of electronic wastes: Mobile phone case and other parts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Molto, Julia; Egea, Silvia; Conesa, Juan Antonio; Font, Rafael

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Pyrolysis and combustion of different parts of mobile phones produce important quantities of CO and CO 2 . → Naphthalene is the most abundant PAH obtained in the thermal treatment of mobile phones. → Higher combustion temperature increases the chlorinated species evolved. - Abstract: Pyrolysis and combustion runs at 850 o C in a horizontal laboratory furnace were carried out on different parts of a mobile phone (printed circuit board, mobile case and a mixture of both materials). The analyses of the carbon oxides, light hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and dioxin-like PCBs are shown. Regarding semivolatile compounds, phenol, styrene, and its derivatives had the highest yields. In nearly all the runs the same PAHs were identified, naphthalene being the most common component obtained. Combustion of the printed circuit board produced the highest emission factor of PCDD/Fs, possibly due to the high copper content.

  3. Characterization of the solid low level mixed waste inventory for the solid waste thermal treatment activity - III

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Place, B.G., Westinghouse Hanford

    1996-09-24

    The existing thermally treatable, radioactive mixed waste inventory is characterized to support implementation of the commercial, 1214 thermal treatment contract. The existing thermally treatable waste inventory has been identified using a decision matrix developed by Josephson et al. (1996). Similar to earlier waste characterization reports (Place 1993 and 1994), hazardous materials, radionuclides, physical properties, and waste container data are statistically analyzed. In addition, the waste inventory data is analyzed to correlate waste constituent data that are important to the implementation of the commercial thermal treatment contract for obtaining permits and for process design. The specific waste parameters, which were analyzed, include the following: ``dose equivalent`` curie content, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) content, identification of containers with PA-related mobile radionuclides (14C, 12 79Se, 99Tc, and U isotopes), tritium content, debris and non-debris content, container free liquid content, fissile isotope content, identification of dangerous waste codes, asbestos containers, high mercury containers, beryllium dust containers, lead containers, overall waste quantities, analysis of container types, and an estimate of the waste compositional split based on the thermal treatment contractor`s proposed process. A qualitative description of the thermally treatable mixed waste inventory is also provided.

  4. Radioactive waste integrated management system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, D. Y.; Choi, S. S.; Han, B. S.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper, we present an integrated management system for radioactive waste, which can keep watch on the whole transporting process of each drum from nuclear power plant temporary storage house to radioactive waste storage house remotely. Our approach use RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) system, which can recognize the data information without touch, GSP system, which can calculate the current position precisely using the accurate time and distance measured from satellites, and the spread spectrum technology CDMA, which is widely used in the area of mobile communication

  5. Radioactive waste integrated management system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Song, D Y; Choi, S S; Han, B S [Atomic Creative Technology, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    2003-10-01

    In this paper, we present an integrated management system for radioactive waste, which can keep watch on the whole transporting process of each drum from nuclear power plant temporary storage house to radioactive waste storage house remotely. Our approach use RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) system, which can recognize the data information without touch, GSP system, which can calculate the current position precisely using the accurate time and distance measured from satellites, and the spread spectrum technology CDMA, which is widely used in the area of mobile communication.

  6. Intelligent autonomous systems 12. Vol. 2. Proceedings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Sukhan [Sungkyunkwan Univ., Gyeonggi-Do (Korea, Republic of). College of Information and Communication Engineering; Yoon, Kwang-Joon [Konkuk Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Hyungsuck [Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jangmyung (eds.) [Pusan National Univ. (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Electronics Engineering

    2013-02-01

    Recent research in Intelligent and Autonomous Systems. Volume 2 of the proceedings of the 12th International Conference IAS-12, held June 26-29, 2012, jeju Island, Korea. Written by leading experts in the field. Intelligent autonomous systems are emerged as a key enabler for the creation of a new paradigm of services to humankind, as seen by the recent advancement of autonomous cars licensed for driving in our streets, of unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles carrying out hazardous tasks on-site, and of space robots engaged in scientific as well as operational missions, to list only a few. This book aims at serving the researchers and practitioners in related fields with a timely dissemination of the recent progress on intelligent autonomous systems, based on a collection of papers presented at the 12th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems, held in Jeju, Korea, June 26-29, 2012. With the theme of ''Intelligence and Autonomy for the Service to Humankind, the conference has covered such diverse areas as autonomous ground, aerial, and underwater vehicles, intelligent transportation systems, personal/domestic service robots, professional service robots for surgery/rehabilitation, rescue/security and space applications, and intelligent autonomous systems for manufacturing and healthcare. This volume 2 includes contributions devoted to Service Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction and Autonomous Multi-Agent Systems and Life Engineering.

  7. Development and testing of a mobile incinerator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eggett, D.R.

    1986-01-01

    The development and testing of a mobile incinerator for processing of combustible dry active waste (DAW) and contaminated oil generated at Nuclear Power Plants is presented. Topics of discussion include initial thoughts on incineration as applied to nuclear waste; DOE's Aerojet's, and CECo's role in the Project; design engineering concepts; site engineering support; licensability; generation of test data; required reports of the NRC and Illinois and California EPA's; present project schedule for incinerating DAW at Dresden and other CECo Stations; and lessons learned from the project

  8. Autonomous Star Tracker Algorithms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Betto, Maurizio; Jørgensen, John Leif; Kilsgaard, Søren

    1998-01-01

    Proposal, in response to an ESA R.f.P., to design algorithms for autonomous star tracker operations.The proposal also included the development of a star tracker breadboard to test the algorithms performances.......Proposal, in response to an ESA R.f.P., to design algorithms for autonomous star tracker operations.The proposal also included the development of a star tracker breadboard to test the algorithms performances....

  9. Sensor Interfaces for Private Home Automation: From Analog to Digital, Wireless and Autonomous

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erich Leder

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a flexible and reliable system for smart home automation is presented. It is based on standardized hardware and open source communication protocols. Firstly, a special sensor interface has been developed, which allows the measurement of (slow analog signals to be determined by inexpensive digital PLC input terminals. Right now, up to eleven different modules have been implemented and the system is being tested in several configurations. In a second step, the communication is digitized. With the digitalization of the sensor modules, based on the implementation of a PIC Microcontroller, more intelligence is provided to the module, which increases the power and flexibility of the whole system. Thirdly, a wireless sensor-system consisting of a base station and of a mobile measuring unit is developed. The autonomous mobile unit is realized by using solar powering, gold cap energy storage, low-power circuits and a radio communication interface.

  10. Effect of Sleep/Wake Cycle on Autonomic Regulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jabeen, S.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate the association between irregular sleep/wake cycle in shift workers and autonomic regulation. Study Design: Cross-sectional, analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: Dow University Hospital, Karachi, from August to November 2013. Methodology: All health care providers working in rotating shifts making a total (n=104) were included. Instrument was an integrated questionnaire applied to assess autonomic regulation, taken from Kroz et al. on scoring criteria, ranging from 18 - 54, where higher rating signifies strong autonomic regulation, indicating a stable Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and vice versa. Participants were interviewed and their response was recorded by the investigator. Influence of sleep misalignment was measured quantitatively to extract index of autonomic activity. Results: There was a reduced trend in autonomic strength amongst shift workers. The mean score obtained on the Autonomic Scale was 37.8 ± 5.9. Conclusion: Circadian misalignment has an injurious influence on ANS which might be valuable in controlling autonomic dysfunction that leads to fatal triggers in rotating shift workers. (author)

  11. Application of glove box robotics to hazardous waste management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dennison, D.K.; Hurd, R.L.; Merrill, R.D.; Reitz, T.C.

    1995-02-01

    Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLNL) is developing a semi-automated system for handling, characterizing, processing, sorting, and repackaging hazardous wastes containing tritium. The system combines an IBM developed gantry robot with a special glove box enclosure designed to protect the operators and minimize the potential release of tritium to the atmosphere. All hazardous waste handling and processing will be performed remotely using the robot in a telerobotic mode for one-of-a-kind functions and in an autonomous mode for repetitive type operations. The system will initially be used in conjunction with a portable gas system designed to capture any gaseous phase tritium released into the glove box. This paper presents the objectives of this program, provides background related to LLNL's robotics and waste handling program, describes the major system components, outlines system operation, and discusses current status and plans

  12. A fuzzy logic based navigation for mobile robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adel Ali S Al-Jumaily; Shamsudin M Amin; Mohamed Khalil

    1998-01-01

    The main issue of intelligent robot is how to reach its goal safely in real time when it moves in unknown environment. The navigational planning is becoming the central issue in development of real-time autonomous mobile robots. Behaviour based robots have been successful in reacting with dynamic environment but still there are some complexity and challenging problems. Fuzzy based behaviours present as powerful method to solve the real time reactive navigation problems in unknown environment. We shall classify the navigation generation methods, five some characteristics of these methods, explain why fuzzy logic is suitable for the navigation of mobile robot and automated guided vehicle, and describe a reactive navigation that is flexible to react through their behaviours to the change of the environment. Some simulation results will be presented to show the navigation of the robot. (Author)

  13. DISTRIBUTED CONTROL ARCHITECTURE OF AN OMNI-DIRECTIONAL AUTONOMOUS GUIDED VEHICLE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N.S. Tlale

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available

    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Omni-directionality is the ability of a mobile robot to move instantaneously in any direction. This paper describes the wheel and controller designs of a Mecanumwheeled, autonomous guided vehicle (AGV for reconfigurable manufacturing systems. Mecanum wheels use slip developed between rollers and surface, surface and ground, to achieve omni-directionality. An advantage of omni-directional robotic platforms is that they are capable of performing tasks in congested environments such as those found in factory workshops, narrow aisles, warehouses, etc. Controller Area Network (CAN is implemented as a distributed controller to control motion and navigation tasks of the developed robot. The design of the distributed controller is described and its performance analyzed. This increases the reliability and functionality of the mobile robot.

    AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die artikel beskryf wiel - en beheerontwerpe van ‘n veelrigting mobiele robot. Die robot is ‘n selfstandigbeheerde voertuig vir gebruik by vervaardigingstelsels met veranderbare konfigurasie. Die ontwerp van die robot en bypassende beheerstelsel word beskryf en ontleed teen die agterground van bewegings – en navigeertake. Die betroubaarheid en funksionering van die sisteem word beoordeel.

  14. Indonesia municiple solid waste life cycle and environmental monitoring: current situation, before and future challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Susmono

    2017-03-01

    Indonesia is a big country with circa 250 million population, with more than 500 Local Governments and they are going to improve their municiple solid waste dumping method from Open Dumping to Sanitary Landfill (SLF) and to promote Reduce-Reuse-Recycling (3R) since many years ago, and it is strengthened by issuing of Solid Waste Management Act No.18/2008, MSW Government Regulation No.12/2012 and other regulations which are issued by Central Government and Local Governments. During “Water and Sanitation Decade 1980-1990” through “Integrated Urban Infrastructures Development Program” some pilot project such as 30 units of 3R station were developed in the urban areas, and modified or simplification of SLF call Controlled Landfill (CLF) were implemented. In the year of 2002 about 45 units of composting pilot projects were developed under “Western Java Environmental Management Project”, and the result was notified that some of them are not sustain because many aspects. At the beginning of 2007 until now, some pilot projects of 3R were continued in some cities and since 2011 some Waste Banks are growing fast. In the year of 2014 was recorded that of 70 % of 3Rs in Java Island well developed (2014, Directorate of Environment Sanitation Report), and in the year of 2012 was recorded that development of Communal Waste Banks were growing fast during two months from 400 units to 800 units (2012, Ministry of Environment report), now more Communal Waste Banks all ready exist. After the last overview monitoring activity by Ministry of Environment and JICA (2008), because of lack of data is very difficult to give current accurate information of Municiple Solid Waste Handling in Indonesia. Nevertheless some innovation are developed because of impact of many pilot projects, Adipura City Cleanest Competition among Local Governments and growing of the spirit of autonomous policy of Local Governments, but some Local Governments still dependence on Central Government support

  15. The research of autonomous obstacle avoidance of mobile robot based on multi-sensor integration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Ming; Han, Baoling

    2016-11-01

    The object of this study is the bionic quadruped mobile robot. The study has proposed a system design plan for mobile robot obstacle avoidance with the binocular stereo visual sensor and the self-control 3D Lidar integrated with modified ant colony optimization path planning to realize the reconstruction of the environmental map. Because the working condition of a mobile robot is complex, the result of the 3D reconstruction with a single binocular sensor is undesirable when feature points are few and the light condition is poor. Therefore, this system integrates the stereo vision sensor blumblebee2 and the Lidar sensor together to detect the cloud information of 3D points of environmental obstacles. This paper proposes the sensor information fusion technology to rebuild the environment map. Firstly, according to the Lidar data and visual data on obstacle detection respectively, and then consider two methods respectively to detect the distribution of obstacles. Finally fusing the data to get the more complete, more accurate distribution of obstacles in the scene. Then the thesis introduces ant colony algorithm. It has analyzed advantages and disadvantages of the ant colony optimization and its formation cause deeply, and then improved the system with the help of the ant colony optimization to increase the rate of convergence and precision of the algorithm in robot path planning. Such improvements and integrations overcome the shortcomings of the ant colony optimization like involving into the local optimal solution easily, slow search speed and poor search results. This experiment deals with images and programs the motor drive under the compiling environment of Matlab and Visual Studio and establishes the visual 2.5D grid map. Finally it plans a global path for the mobile robot according to the ant colony algorithm. The feasibility and effectiveness of the system are confirmed by ROS and simulation platform of Linux.

  16. Modelling and Scheduling Autonomous Mobile Robot for a Real-World Industrial Application

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dang, Vinh Quang; Nielsen, Izabela Ewa; Bøgh, Simon

    2013-01-01

    proposes an approach composing of: a mobile robot system design (“Little Helper”), an appropriate and comprehensive industrial application (multiple-part feeding tasks), an implementation concept for industrial environments (the bartender concept), and a real-time heuristics integrated into Mission...... from the real-time heuristics. The results also demonstrated that the proposed real-time heuristics has capability of finding the best schedule in online production mode....

  17. Navigation Architecture for a Space Mobile Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdez, Jennifer E.; Ashman, Benjamin; Gramling, Cheryl; Heckler, Gregory W.; Carpenter, Russell

    2016-01-01

    The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Augmentation Service for Satellites (TASS) is a proposed beacon service to provide a global, space based GPS augmentation service based on the NASA Global Differential GPS (GDGPS) System. The TASS signal will be tied to the GPS time system and usable as an additional ranging and Doppler radiometric source. Additionally, it will provide data vital to autonomous navigation in the near Earth regime, including space weather information, TDRS ephemerides, Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP), and forward commanding capability. TASS benefits include enhancing situational awareness, enabling increased autonomy, and providing near real-time command access for user platforms. As NASA Headquarters' Space Communication and Navigation Office (SCaN) begins to move away from a centralized network architecture and towards a Space Mobile Network (SMN) that allows for user initiated services, autonomous navigation will be a key part of such a system. This paper explores how a TASS beacon service enables the Space Mobile Networking paradigm, what a typical user platform would require, and provides an in-depth analysis of several navigation scenarios and operations concepts. This paper provides an overview of the TASS beacon and its role within the SMN and user community. Supporting navigation analysis is presented for two user mission scenarios: an Earth observing spacecraft in low earth orbit (LEO), and a highly elliptical spacecraft in a lunar resonance orbit. These diverse flight scenarios indicate the breadth of applicability of the TASS beacon for upcoming users within the current network architecture and in the SMN.

  18. Mobile agent location in distributed environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fountoukis, S. G.; Argyropoulos, I. P.

    2012-12-01

    An agent is a small program acting on behalf of a user or an application which plays the role of a user. Artificial intelligence can be encapsulated in agents so that they can be capable of both behaving autonomously and showing an elementary decision ability regarding movement and some specific actions. Therefore they are often called autonomous mobile agents. In a distributed system, they can move themselves from one processing node to another through the interconnecting network infrastructure. Their purpose is to collect useful information and to carry it back to their user. Also, agents are used to start, monitor and stop processes running on the individual interconnected processing nodes of computer cluster systems. An agent has a unique id to discriminate itself from other agents and a current position. The position can be expressed as the address of the processing node which currently hosts the agent. Very often, it is necessary for a user, a processing node or another agent to know the current position of an agent in a distributed system. Several procedures and algorithms have been proposed for the purpose of position location of mobile agents. The most basic of all employs a fixed computing node, which acts as agent position repository, receiving messages from all the moving agents and keeping records of their current positions. The fixed node, responds to position queries and informs users, other nodes and other agents about the position of an agent. Herein, a model is proposed that considers pairs and triples of agents instead of single ones. A location method, which is investigated in this paper, attempts to exploit this model.

  19. From cooperative to autonomous vehicles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Sande, T.P.J.; Nijmeijer, H.; Fossen, T.I.; Pettersen, K.Y.; Nijmeijer, H.

    2017-01-01

    What defines an autonomous vehicle? In this chapter the authors will try to answer this question and formulate the limitations of driver assistance systems as well as for—conditionally—autonomous vehicles . First a short summary of the levels of automation as provided by the society of automotive

  20. Legal and Regulatory Frameworks for Decommissioning and Waste Management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leech, Jonathan

    2016-01-01

    Safe and efficient decommissioning and waste management requires clear structures for allocating responsibility and funding. Organisation of decommissioning and waste management activities and the regulatory environment within which those activities are undertaken should also allow the supply chain to prosper and, wherever possible, reduce barriers to international availability of resources and waste facilities. Radioactive waste treatment and disposal in particular raises both legal and political challenges to effective international co-operation, yet options for decommissioning and waste management are maximised where international barriers can be minimised. Added to this, international nuclear liabilities issues must be managed so as to avoid unnecessary deterrents to international mobility of capability within the decommissioning market. Contractual terms and insurance arrangements for international shipments of nuclear waste and materials will also need to take into account imminent changes to liabilities conventions, ensuring compliance and management of compliance costs (of both insurance and management time). This paper explores legal and commercial structures intended to support effective decommissioning and waste management and examines regulatory and commercial factors affecting the ability of facility operators to utilise internationally available capability. It focusses on: - strategic approaches developed in the UK to address decommissioning and waste management liabilities associated with the UK's first and second generation civil nuclear sites and comparison of those approaches with other jurisdictions with significant decommissioning liabilities; - liability and compliance risks associated with navigating international nuclear liabilities regimes in context of both mobility of decommissioning capability and international waste shipment; and - regulatory issues affecting international availability of waste treatment facilities, including

  1. Hanford Tank Waste - Near Source Treatment of Low Activity Waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramsey, William Gene

    2013-01-01

    Abstract only. Treatment and disposition of Hanford Site waste as currently planned consists of 100+ waste retrievals, waste delivery through up to 8+ miles of dedicated, in-ground piping, centralized mixing and blending operations- all leading to pre-treatment combination and separation processes followed by vitrification at the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The sequential nature of Tank Farm and WTP operations requires nominally 15-20 years of continuous operations before all waste can be retrieved from many Single Shell Tanks (SSTs). Also, the infrastructure necessary to mobilize and deliver the waste requires significant investment beyond that required for the WTP. Treating waste as closely as possible to individual tanks or groups- as allowed by the waste characteristics- is being investigated to determine the potential to 1) defer, reduce, and/or eliminate infrastructure requirements, and 2) significantly mitigate project risk by reducing the potential and impact of single point failures. The inventory of Hanford waste slated for processing and disposition as LAW is currently managed as high-level waste (HLW), i.e., the separation of fission products and other radionuclides has not commenced. A significant inventory of this waste (over 20M gallons) is in the form of precipitated saltcake maintained in single shell tanks, many of which are identified as potential leaking tanks. Retrieval and transport (as a liquid) must be staged within the waste feed delivery capability established by site infrastructure and WTP. Near Source treatment, if employed, would provide for the separation and stabilization processing necessary for waste located in remote farms (wherein most of the leaking tanks reside) significantly earlier than currently projected. Near Source treatment is intended to address the currently accepted site risk and also provides means to mitigate future issues likely to be faced over the coming decades. This paper

  2. Study on Mobile Augmented Reality Adoption for Mayo Language Learning

    OpenAIRE

    Miranda Bojórquez, Erasmo; Vergara Villegas, Osslan Osiris; Cruz Sánchez, Vianey Guadalupe; García-Alcaraz, Jorge Luis; Favela Vara, Jesús

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents the results of a study applied to undergraduates in order to know how the cultural dimensions affect their perceptions of the acceptance and use of new technologies in a student-centered learning environment. A total of 85 undergraduate students from the Autonomous Indigenous University of Mexico (UAIM) participated in the study. Each student was asked to use a mobile augmented reality (MAR) application designed to learn Mayo language (language spoken in Northwestern Mexic...

  3. Field test results for radioactive waste drum characterization with Waste Inspection Tomography (WIT)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bernardi, R.T. [Bio-Imaging Research, Inc., Lincolnshire, IL (United States)

    1997-11-01

    This paper summarizes the design, fabrication, factory testing, evaluation and demonstration of waste inspection tomography (WIT). WIT consists of a self-sufficient, mobile semi-trailer for Non-Destructive Evaluation and Non-Destructive Assay (NDE/NDA) characterization of nuclear waste drums using X-ray and gamma-ray tomographic techniques. The 23-month WIT Phase I initial test results include 2 MeV Digital Radiography (DR), Computed Tomography (CT), Anger camera imaging, Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy, Collimated Gamma Scanning (CGS), and Active and Passive Computed Tomography (A&PCT) using a 1.4 mCi source of {sup 166}Ho. These techniques were initially demonstrated on a 55-gallon phantom drum with three simulated waste matrices of combustibles, heterogeneous metals, and cement using check sources of gamma active isotopes. Waste matrix identification, isotopic identification, and attenuation-corrected gamma activity determination were all demonstrated nondestructively and noninvasively. Preliminary field tests results with nuclear waste drums are summarized. WIT has inspected drums with 0 to 20 grams plutonium 239. The minimum measured was 0.131 gram plutonium 239 in cement. 8 figs.

  4. The Design and Development of an Omni-Directional Mobile Robot Oriented to an Intelligent Manufacturing System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qian, Jun; Zi, Bin; Wang, Daoming; Ma, Yangang; Zhang, Dan

    2017-09-10

    In order to transport materials flexibly and smoothly in a tight plant environment, an omni-directional mobile robot based on four Mecanum wheels was designed. The mechanical system of the mobile robot is made up of three separable layers so as to simplify its combination and reorganization. Each modularized wheel was installed on a vertical suspension mechanism, which ensures the moving stability and keeps the distances of four wheels invariable. The control system consists of two-level controllers that implement motion control and multi-sensor data processing, respectively. In order to make the mobile robot navigate in an unknown semi-structured indoor environment, the data from a Kinect visual sensor and four wheel encoders were fused to localize the mobile robot using an extended Kalman filter with specific processing. Finally, the mobile robot was integrated in an intelligent manufacturing system for material conveying. Experimental results show that the omni-directional mobile robot can move stably and autonomously in an indoor environment and in industrial fields.

  5. The study of heavy metals leaching from waste foundry sands using a one-step extraction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bożym Marta

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available There are a number of leaching test which are used to evaluate the effect of foundry waste disposal on the environment (TCLP, SPLP, ASTM at al.. Because the spent foundry sand are usually deposited at the ground level and they have a similar structure to the soil, survey mobility of metals using the same methods seems appropriate. One-step extraction allows for the evaluation of the mobility and bioavailability of metals in soil and waste. Waste foundry sands have been successfully used as a component in manufactured soils in U.S., but concern over metal contamination must be eliminated before considering this direction of use. The study evaluated the leaching of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni from deposited waste foundry sands. The overall, as well as heavy metals were extracted by different type of extractants: H2O, CH3COOH, HCl, EDTA, MgCl2 and NaCOOH. These extractants are most commonly used to study the mobility and bioavailability of metals in soil and waste. In the present study applicable standards and methodology described in the literature in analysis were used. The results allowed to evaluate the bioavailability of metals leached from those wastes.

  6. Autonomous Learner Model Resource Book

    Science.gov (United States)

    Betts, George T.; Carey, Robin J.; Kapushion, Blanche M.

    2016-01-01

    "Autonomous Learner Model Resource Book" includes activities and strategies to support the development of autonomous learners. More than 40 activities are included, all geared to the emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development of students. Teachers may use these activities and strategies with the entire class, small groups, or…

  7. Hydrogen isotopes mobility and trapping in V-Cr-Ti alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Budylkin, N.; Voloschin, L.; Mironova, E.; Riazantseva, N.; Tebus, V.

    1996-01-01

    In the last years the V-Ti-Cr alloys were considered as candidate materials for different structures of fusion reactors (blanket, first wall, divertor and so on) due to their advantages over other structure materials. Mobility and trapping parameters of hydrogen are essential characteristics for an assessment of using the V-Ti-Cr alloys in FR. In this paper: hydrogen problems for V-Ti-Cr alloys are formulated; V-H system data base is analyzed; study results of the hydrogen mobility and trapping in V-4Ti-4Cr and V-10Ti-5Cr alloys are given; the classification of V-alloys as radioactive waste according to the Russian Federation waste management rules is developed taking into account the residual amount of tritium ('inventory'). (orig.)

  8. French processes for waste embedding. The use of epoxy resin for waste containment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Augustin, X.; Gauthey, J.C.

    1993-01-01

    The low- and medium-level wastes generated by nuclear facilities when operating as well as during their decommissioning (dismantling, decontamination, etc.) are embedded for the purpose of obtaining a product suitable for disposal. Due to the varieties of waste produced, it was necessary to resort to multi-purpose techniques to solve problems relating to their embedding. The process for waste embedding in thermosetting polymer (polyester, epoxy) developed by the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and its subsidiary TECHNICATOME is easy to operate and yields excellent results having regard to volume reduction and containment of radioisotopes (particularly caesium). The industrial development of this process has led to the design of small, flexible, fixed or mobile, embedding stations. Examples illustrating the increasing use of this process during facility dismantling are described

  9. Cybersecurity for aerospace autonomous systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Straub, Jeremy

    2015-05-01

    High profile breaches have occurred across numerous information systems. One area where attacks are particularly problematic is autonomous control systems. This paper considers the aerospace information system, focusing on elements that interact with autonomous control systems (e.g., onboard UAVs). It discusses the trust placed in the autonomous systems and supporting systems (e.g., navigational aids) and how this trust can be validated. Approaches to remotely detect the UAV compromise, without relying on the onboard software (on a potentially compromised system) as part of the process are discussed. How different levels of autonomy (task-based, goal-based, mission-based) impact this remote characterization is considered.

  10. Plasma Mass Filters For Nuclear Waste Reprocessing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fetterman, Abraham J.; Fisch, Nathaniel J.

    2011-01-01

    Practical disposal of nuclear waste requires high-throughput separation techniques. The most dangerous part of nuclear waste is the fission product, which contains the most active and mobile radioisotopes and produces most of the heat. We suggest that the fission products could be separated as a group from nuclear waste using plasma mass filters. Plasmabased processes are well suited to separating nuclear waste, because mass rather than chemical properties are used for separation. A single plasma stage can replace several stages of chemical separation, producing separate streams of bulk elements, fission products, and actinoids. The plasma mass filters may have lower cost and produce less auxiliary waste than chemical processing plants. Three rotating plasma configurations are considered that act as mass filters: the plasma centrifuge, the Ohkawa filter, and the asymmetric centrifugal trap.

  11. The Human Element and Autonomous Ships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sauli Ahvenjärvi

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The autonomous ship technology has become a “hot” topic in the discussion about more efficient, environmentally friendly and safer sea transportation solutions. The time is becoming mature for the introduction of commercially sensible solutions for unmanned and fully autonomous cargo and passenger ships. Safety will be the most interesting and important aspect in this development. The utilization of the autonomous ship technology will have many effects on the safety, both positive and negative. It has been announced that the goal is to make the safety of an unmanned ship better that the safety of a manned ship. However, it must be understood that the human element will still be present when fully unmanned ships are being used. The shore-based control of a ship contains new safety aspects and an interesting question will be the interaction of manned and unmanned ships in the same traffic area. The autonomous ship technology should therefore be taken into account on the training of seafarers. Also it should not be forgotten that every single control algorithm and rule of the internal decision making logic of the autonomously navigating ship has been designed and coded by a human software engineer. Thus the human element is present also in this point of the lifetime navigation system of the autonomous ship.

  12. Battery collection in municipal waste management in Japan: Challenges for hazardous substance control and safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Terazono, Atsushi; Oguchi, Masahiro; Iino, Shigenori; Mogi, Satoshi

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Consumers need to pay attention to the specific collection rules for each type of battery in each municipality in Japan. • 6–10% of zinc carbon and alkaline batteries discarded in Japan currently could be regarded as containing mercury. • Despite announcements by producers and municipalities, only 2.0% of discarded cylindrical dry batteries were insulated. • Batteries made up an average of 4.6% of the total collected small WEEE under the small WEEE recycling scheme in Japan. • Exchangeable batteries were used in almost all of mobile phones, but the removal rate was as low as 22% for mobile phones. - Abstract: To clarify current collection rules of waste batteries in municipal waste management in Japan and to examine future challenges for hazardous substance control and safety, we reviewed collection rules of waste batteries in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. We also conducted a field survey of waste batteries collected at various battery and small waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) collection sites in Tokyo. The different types of batteries are not collected in a uniform way in the Tokyo area, so consumers need to pay attention to the specific collection rules for each type of battery in each municipality. In areas where small WEEE recycling schemes are being operated after the enforcement of the Act on Promotion of Recycling of Small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Japan in 2013, consumers may be confused about the need for separating batteries from small WEEE (especially mobile phones). Our field survey of collected waste batteries indicated that 6–10% of zinc carbon and alkaline batteries discarded in Japan currently could be regarded as containing mercury. More than 26% of zinc carbon dry batteries currently being discarded may have a lead content above the labelling threshold of the EU Batteries Directive (2006/66/EC). In terms of safety, despite announcements by producers and municipalities about using

  13. Battery collection in municipal waste management in Japan: Challenges for hazardous substance control and safety

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Terazono, Atsushi, E-mail: terazono@nies.go.jp [National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506 (Japan); Oguchi, Masahiro [National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506 (Japan); Iino, Shigenori [Tokyo Metropolitan Research Institute for Environmental Protection, 1-7-5 Shinsuna, Koto-ku, Tokyo 136-0075 (Japan); Mogi, Satoshi [Bureau of Environment, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 2-8-1 Nishi-shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-8001 (Japan)

    2015-05-15

    Highlights: • Consumers need to pay attention to the specific collection rules for each type of battery in each municipality in Japan. • 6–10% of zinc carbon and alkaline batteries discarded in Japan currently could be regarded as containing mercury. • Despite announcements by producers and municipalities, only 2.0% of discarded cylindrical dry batteries were insulated. • Batteries made up an average of 4.6% of the total collected small WEEE under the small WEEE recycling scheme in Japan. • Exchangeable batteries were used in almost all of mobile phones, but the removal rate was as low as 22% for mobile phones. - Abstract: To clarify current collection rules of waste batteries in municipal waste management in Japan and to examine future challenges for hazardous substance control and safety, we reviewed collection rules of waste batteries in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. We also conducted a field survey of waste batteries collected at various battery and small waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) collection sites in Tokyo. The different types of batteries are not collected in a uniform way in the Tokyo area, so consumers need to pay attention to the specific collection rules for each type of battery in each municipality. In areas where small WEEE recycling schemes are being operated after the enforcement of the Act on Promotion of Recycling of Small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Japan in 2013, consumers may be confused about the need for separating batteries from small WEEE (especially mobile phones). Our field survey of collected waste batteries indicated that 6–10% of zinc carbon and alkaline batteries discarded in Japan currently could be regarded as containing mercury. More than 26% of zinc carbon dry batteries currently being discarded may have a lead content above the labelling threshold of the EU Batteries Directive (2006/66/EC). In terms of safety, despite announcements by producers and municipalities about using

  14. Morphologic Changes in Autonomic Nerves in Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heung Yong Jin

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Diabetic neuropathy is one of the major complications of diabetes, and it increases morbidity and mortality in patients with both type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM. Because the autonomic nervous system, for example, parasympathetic axons, has a diffuse and wide distribution, we do not know the morphological changes that occur in autonomic neural control and their exact mechanisms in diabetic patients with diabetic autonomic neuropathy (DAN. Although the prevalence of sympathetic and parasympathetic neuropathy is similar in T1DM versus T2DM patients, sympathetic nerve function correlates with parasympathetic neuropathy only in T1DM patients. The explanation for these discrepancies might be that parasympathetic nerve function was more severely affected among T2DM patients. As parasympathetic nerve damage seems to be more advanced than sympathetic nerve damage, it might be that parasympathetic neuropathy precedes sympathetic neuropathy in T2DM, which was Ewing's concept. This could be explained by the intrinsic morphologic difference. Therefore, the morphological changes in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves of involved organs in T1DM and T2DM patients who have DAN should be evaluated. In this review, evaluation methods for morphological changes in the epidermal nerves of skin, and the intrinsic nerves of the stomach will be discussed.

  15. Battery collection in municipal waste management in Japan: challenges for hazardous substance control and safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terazono, Atsushi; Oguchi, Masahiro; Iino, Shigenori; Mogi, Satoshi

    2015-05-01

    To clarify current collection rules of waste batteries in municipal waste management in Japan and to examine future challenges for hazardous substance control and safety, we reviewed collection rules of waste batteries in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. We also conducted a field survey of waste batteries collected at various battery and small waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) collection sites in Tokyo. The different types of batteries are not collected in a uniform way in the Tokyo area, so consumers need to pay attention to the specific collection rules for each type of battery in each municipality. In areas where small WEEE recycling schemes are being operated after the enforcement of the Act on Promotion of Recycling of Small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Japan in 2013, consumers may be confused about the need for separating batteries from small WEEE (especially mobile phones). Our field survey of collected waste batteries indicated that 6-10% of zinc carbon and alkaline batteries discarded in Japan currently could be regarded as containing mercury. More than 26% of zinc carbon dry batteries currently being discarded may have a lead content above the labelling threshold of the EU Batteries Directive (2006/66/EC). In terms of safety, despite announcements by producers and municipalities about using insulation (tape) on waste batteries to prevent fires, only 2.0% of discarded cylindrical dry batteries were insulated. Our field study of small WEEE showed that batteries made up an average of 4.6% of the total collected small WEEE on a weight basis. Exchangeable batteries were used in almost all of mobile phones, digital cameras, radios, and remote controls, but the removal rate was as low as 22% for mobile phones. Given the safety issues and the rapid changes occurring with mobile phones or other types of small WEEE, discussion is needed among stakeholders to determine how to safely collect and recycle WEEE and waste batteries. Copyright

  16. Connected and autonomous vehicles 2040 vision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-07-01

    The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) commissioned a one-year project, Connected and Autonomous : Vehicles 2040 Vision, with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to assess the implications of connected and : autonomous ve...

  17. Packaged low-level waste verification system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tuite, K.T.; Winberg, M.; Flores, A.Y.; Killian, E.W.; McIsaac, C.V.

    1996-01-01

    Currently, states and low-level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal site operators have no method of independently verifying the radionuclide content of packaged LLW that arrive at disposal sites for disposal. At this time, disposal sites rely on LLW generator shipping manifests and accompanying records to insure that LLW received meets the waste acceptance criteria. An independent verification system would provide a method of checking generator LLW characterization methods and help ensure that LLW disposed of at disposal facilities meets requirements. The Mobile Low-Level Waste Verification System (MLLWVS) provides the equipment, software, and methods to enable the independent verification of LLW shipping records to insure that disposal site waste acceptance criteria are being met. The MLLWVS system was developed under a cost share subcontract between WMG, Inc., and Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies through the Department of Energy's National Low-Level Waste Management Program at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL)

  18. Greater confinement disposal of radioactive wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trevorrow, L.E.; Gilbert, T.L.; Luner, C.; Merry-Libby, P.A.; Meshkov, N.K.; Yu, C.

    1985-01-01

    Low-level radioactive waste (LLW) includes a broad spectrum of different radionuclide concentrations, half-lives, and hazards. Standard shallow-land burial practice can provide adequate protection of public health and safety for most LLW. A small volume fraction (approx. 1%) containing most of the activity inventory (approx. 90%) requires specific measures known as greater-confinement disposal (GCD). Different site characteristics and different waste characteristics - such as high radionuclide concentrations, long radionuclide half-lives, high radionuclide mobility, and physical or chemical characteristics that present exceptional hazards - lead to different GCD facility design requirements. Facility design alternatives considered for GCD include the augered shaft, deep trench, engineered structure, hydrofracture, improved waste form, and high-integrity container. Selection of an appropriate design must also consider the interplay between basic risk limits for protection of public health and safety, performance characteristics and objectives, costs, waste-acceptance criteria, waste characteristics, and site characteristics

  19. Estimation of retired mobile phones generation in China: A comparative study on methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Bo; Yang, Jianxin; Lu, Bin; Song, Xiaolong

    2015-01-01

    Due to the rapid development of economy and technology, China has the biggest production and possession of mobile phones around the world. In general, mobile phones have relatively short life time because the majority of users replace their mobile phones frequently. Retired mobile phones represent the most valuable electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) in the main waste stream because of such characteristics as large quantity, high reuse/recovery value and fast replacement frequency. Consequently, the huge amount of retired mobile phones in China calls for a sustainable management system. The generation estimation can provide fundamental information to construct the sustainable management system of retired mobile phones and other waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). However, the reliable estimation result is difficult to get and verify. The priority aim of this paper is to provide proper estimation approach for the generation of retired mobile phones in China, by comparing some relevant methods. The results show that the sales&new method is in the highest priority in estimation of the retired mobile phones. The result of sales&new method shows that there are 47.92 million mobile phones retired in 2002, and it reached to 739.98 million in China in 2012. It presents an increasing tendency with some fluctuations clearly. Furthermore, some discussions on methodology, such as the selection of improper approach and error in the input data, are also conducted in order to improve generation estimation of retired mobile phones and other WEEE. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Earthquake-induced response and potential for gas mobilization in Hanford waste tanks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reid, H.C.; Deibler, J.E.

    1997-09-01

    Seismic events postulated to occur at Hanford are predicted to cause yielding of the various waste materials in double- and single-shell tanks such that some or most of the waste is driven to completely plastic behavior. The seismic analyses documented in this report evaluated waste response to a 1,000-year design basis earthquake (DBE) event. The three-dimensional finite element computational structural analysis models were used with an assumed nonlinear elastic-plastic material definition

  1. Autonomous Operations System: Development and Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toro Medina, Jaime A.; Wilkins, Kim N.; Walker, Mark; Stahl, Gerald M.

    2016-01-01

    Autonomous control systems provides the ability of self-governance beyond the conventional control system. As the complexity of mechanical and electrical systems increases, there develops a natural drive for developing robust control systems to manage complicated operations. By closing the bridge between conventional automated systems to knowledge based self-awareness systems, nominal control of operations can evolve into relying on safe critical mitigation processes to support any off-nominal behavior. Current research and development efforts lead by the Autonomous Propellant Loading (APL) group at NASA Kennedy Space Center aims to improve cryogenic propellant transfer operations by developing an automated control and health monitoring system. As an integrated systems, the center aims to produce an Autonomous Operations System (AOS) capable of integrating health management operations with automated control to produce a fully autonomous system.

  2. Design of mobile receiving and treatment equipment for radioactive liquid waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kong Jinsong; Guo Weiqun; Lu Jingbin

    2012-01-01

    The advantage and disadvantage of radioactive liquid waste treatment technology are analyzed in this paper. The experimental disposal equipment for radioactive liquid waste with complicated sources is designed by combining the far infrared calcification technology with evaporation technology. It has advantages of low energy consuming and high decontamination efficiency. The frothy and dirt appear rarely in this equipment. (authors)

  3. ROV90 - A prototype autonomous inspection vehicle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roedseth, Oe.J.; Hallset, J.O.

    1991-04-01

    Simple autonomous inspection vehicles are suitable for operations where the cost, danger to humans, or area of operation prohibits the use of conventional underwater technology. Autonomous vehicles are, however, in their infancy and few such vehicles are available. There are still some problems to be overcome before this technology becomes useful in commercial applications. We have built ROV90 to investigate these problems. It is a test bed for experimenting with the different parts of an autonomous underwater vehicle. ROV90 will be able to autonomously follow prominent features in the real world, man made or natural. Examples are pipelines or walls in tunnels. ROV90 is tethered, but we are planning to use experience and results from ROV90 to develop av ''real'' autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) called PISCIS. 11 refs., 8 figs.

  4. Teaching and implementing autonomous robotic lab walkthroughs in a biotech laboratory through model-based visual tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wojtczyk, Martin; Panin, Giorgio; Röder, Thorsten; Lenz, Claus; Nair, Suraj; Heidemann, Rüdiger; Goudar, Chetan; Knoll, Alois

    2010-01-01

    After utilizing robots for more than 30 years for classic industrial automation applications, service robots form a constantly increasing market, although the big breakthrough is still awaited. Our approach to service robots was driven by the idea of supporting lab personnel in a biotechnology laboratory. After initial development in Germany, a mobile robot platform extended with an industrial manipulator and the necessary sensors for indoor localization and object manipulation, has been shipped to Bayer HealthCare in Berkeley, CA, USA, a global player in the sector of biopharmaceutical products, located in the San Francisco bay area. The determined goal of the mobile manipulator is to support the off-shift staff to carry out completely autonomous or guided, remote controlled lab walkthroughs, which we implement utilizing a recent development of our computer vision group: OpenTL - an integrated framework for model-based visual tracking.

  5. Surrounding Moving Obstacle Detection for Autonomous Driving Using Stereo Vision

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Sun

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Detection and tracking surrounding moving obstacles such as vehicles and pedestrians are crucial for the safety of mobile robotics and autonomous vehicles. This is especially the case in urban driving scenarios. This paper presents a novel framework for surrounding moving obstacles detection using binocular stereo vision. The contributions of our work are threefold. Firstly, a multiview feature matching scheme is presented for simultaneous stereo correspondence and motion correspondence searching. Secondly, the multiview geometry constraint derived from the relative camera positions in pairs of consecutive stereo views is exploited for surrounding moving obstacles detection. Thirdly, an adaptive particle filter is proposed for tracking of multiple moving obstacles in surrounding areas. Experimental results from real-world driving sequences demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed framework.

  6. Autonomous Cryogenic Load Operations: KSC Autonomous Test Engineer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrading, Nicholas J.

    2012-01-01

    The KSC Autonomous Test Engineer (KATE) program has a long history at KSC. Now a part of the Autonomous Cryogenic Load Operations (ACLO) mission, this software system has been sporadically developed over the past 20+ years. Originally designed to provide health and status monitoring for a simple water-based fluid system, it was proven to be a capable autonomous test engineer for determining sources of failure in. the system, As part.of a new goal to provide this same anomaly-detection capability for a complicated cryogenic fluid system, software engineers, physicists, interns and KATE experts are working to upgrade the software capabilities and graphical user interface. Much progress was made during this effort to improve KATE. A display ofthe entire cryogenic system's graph, with nodes for components and edges for their connections, was added to the KATE software. A searching functionality was added to the new graph display, so that users could easily center their screen on specific components. The GUI was also modified so that it displayed information relevant to the new project goals. In addition, work began on adding new pneumatic and electronic subsystems into the KATE knowledgebase, so that it could provide health and status monitoring for those systems. Finally, many fixes for bugs, memory leaks, and memory errors were implemented and the system was moved into a state in which it could be presented to stakeholders. Overall, the KATE system was improved and necessary additional features were added so that a presentation of the program and its functionality in the next few months would be a success.

  7. Geochemical Processes Controlling Migration of High Level Wastes in Hanford's Vadose Zone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zachara, John M.; Serne, R. Jeffrey; Freshley, Mark D.; Mann, Frederick M.; Anderson, Frank J.; Wood, Marcus I.; Jones, Thomas E.; Myers, David A.

    2007-01-01

    High level nuclear wastes (HLW) from Hanford's plutonium reprocessing are stored in massive, buried, single-shell tanks in eighteen tank farms. The wastes were initially hot because of radioactive decay, and many exhibited extreme chemical character in terms of pH, salinity, and radionuclide concentration. At present, 67 of the 149 single shell tanks are suspected to have released over 1.9 million L of tank waste to the vadose zone, with most leak events occurring between 1950 and 1975. Boreholes have been placed through the largest vadose zone plumes to define the extent of contaminant migration, and to develop conceptual models of processes governing the transformation, retardation, and overall transport of tank waste residuals. Laboratory studies with sediments so collected have shown that ion exchange, precipitation and dissolution, and surface complexation reactions have occurred between the HLW and subsurface sediments moderating their chemical character, and retarding the migration of select contaminants. Processes suspected to facilitate the far-field migration of immobile radionuclides including stable aqueous complex formation and mobile colloids were found to be potentially operative, but unlikely to occur in the field, with the exception of cyanide-facilitated migration of 60Co. Fission product oxyanions are the most mobile of tank waste constituents because their adsorption is suppressed by large concentrations of waste anions; the vadose zone clay fraction is negative in surface charge; and, unlike Cr, their reduced forms are unstable in oxidizing environments. Reaction/process-based transport modeling is beginning to be used for predictions of future contaminant mobility and plume evolution

  8. Collection of low-grade waste heat for enhanced energy harvesting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dede, Ercan M., E-mail: eric.dede@tema.toyota.com; Schmalenberg, Paul; Wang, Chi-Ming; Zhou, Feng [Toyota Research Institute, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 (United States); Nomura, Tsuyoshi [Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, Inc., Nagakute 480-1192 (Japan)

    2016-05-15

    Enhanced energy harvesting through the collection of low-grade waste heat is experimentally demonstrated. A structural optimization technique is exploited in the design of a thermal-composite substrate to guide and gather the heat emanating from multiple sources to a predetermined location. A thermoelectric generator is then applied at the selected focusing region to convert the resulting low-grade waste heat to electrical power. The thermal characteristics of the device are experimentally verified by direct temperature measurements of the system and numerically validated via heat conduction simulations. Electrical performance under natural and forced convection is measured, and in both cases, the device with optimized heat flow control plus energy harvesting demonstrates increased power generation when compared with a baseline waste heat recovery system. Electronics applications include energy scavenging for autonomously powered sensor networks or self-actuated devices.

  9. Collection of low-grade waste heat for enhanced energy harvesting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dede, Ercan M.; Schmalenberg, Paul; Wang, Chi-Ming; Zhou, Feng; Nomura, Tsuyoshi

    2016-01-01

    Enhanced energy harvesting through the collection of low-grade waste heat is experimentally demonstrated. A structural optimization technique is exploited in the design of a thermal-composite substrate to guide and gather the heat emanating from multiple sources to a predetermined location. A thermoelectric generator is then applied at the selected focusing region to convert the resulting low-grade waste heat to electrical power. The thermal characteristics of the device are experimentally verified by direct temperature measurements of the system and numerically validated via heat conduction simulations. Electrical performance under natural and forced convection is measured, and in both cases, the device with optimized heat flow control plus energy harvesting demonstrates increased power generation when compared with a baseline waste heat recovery system. Electronics applications include energy scavenging for autonomously powered sensor networks or self-actuated devices.

  10. Fuzzy Logic Supervised Teleoperation Control for Mobile Robot

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2008-01-01

    The supervised teleoperation control is presented for a mobile robot to implement the tasks by using fuzzy logic. The teleoperation control system includes joystick based user interaction mechanism, the high level instruction set and fuzzy logic behaviors integrated in a supervised autonomy teleoperation control system for indoor navigation. These behaviors include left wall following, right wall following, turn left, turn right, left obstacle avoidance, right obstacle avoidance and corridor following based on ultrasonic range finders data. The robot compares the instructive high level command from the operator and relays back a suggestive signal back to the operator in case of mismatch between environment and instructive command. This strategy relieves the operator's cognitive burden, handle unforeseen situations and uncertainties of environment autonomously. The effectiveness of the proposed method for navigation in an unstructured environment is verified by experiments conducted on a mobile robot equipped with only ultrasonic range finders for environment sensing.

  11. The effects of long-term microgravity on autonomic regulation of blood circulation in crewmembers of the international space station

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roman М. Baevsky

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the results of space experiment “Pneumocard”. The investigation involved all 25 Russian members of the ISS crew. The total of 226 sessions were made including 130 aboard the ISS, 50 prior to launch and 46 on return from mission. The objective was to study effects of the spaceflight factors on autonomic regulation of blood circulation, respiration and cardiac contractility during long-duration mission. The purpose was to secure new research data that would clarify our present view of adaptation mechanisms. Registered were the following signals: electrocardiogram, impedance cardiogram, seismic cardiogram, pneumotachogram, finger photoplethysmogram. A set of hard- and software was used. Autonomic regulation of blood circulation by HRV analysis was investigated. It was shown that at the onset of a space mission parasympathetic involvement in regulation increases typically with subsequent mobilization of additional functional reserve. It guided the development of a functional states mathematical model incorporating the established types of autonomic regulation. Our data evidence that the combination of HRV analysis, pre-nosology diagnosis and probabilistic estimate of the pathology risk can reinforce the medical care program in space missions.

  12. The 2008 North Atlantic Spring Bloom Experiment II: Autonomous Platforms and Mixed Layer Evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, C. M.; D'Asaro, E. A.; Perry, M.; Fennel, K.; Gray, A.; Rehm, E.; Briggs, N.; Sackmann, B. S.; Gudmundsson, K.

    2008-12-01

    The 2008 North Atlantic Spring Bloom Experiment (NAB08) employed a system of drifting floats, mobile gliders and ship-based measurements to resolve patch-scale physical and biological variability over the 3- month course of an entire bloom. Although both autonomous and ship-based elements were essential to achieving NAB08 goals, the autonomous system provided a novel perspective by employing long-range gliders to repeatedly survey the volume surrounding a drifting Lagrangian float, thus characterizing patch- scale bloom evolution. Integration of physical and biogeochemical sensors (temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll and CDOM fluorescence, light transmission, optical backscatter, spectral light, and nitrate) and development of in situ calibration techniques were required to support this new autonomous approach. Energetic, small-scale eddy activity at the experiment site (southeast of Iceland, near the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study and Marine Light Mixed Layer sites) produced a swift, heterogeneous velocity field that challenged the gliders" operational abilities and drove refinements to the piloting techniques used to maintain float-following surveys. Although intentionally deployed outside of energetic eddies, floats and gliders were rapidly entrained into these features. Floats circulated within eddies near the start and end of the experiment, drifting generally northwest, across the basin, in-between. An eddy sampled late in the deployment provided particularly interesting signatures, with elevated biological signals manifest consistently in one quadrant. As measurements were collected in a parcel-following Lagrangian frame, this suggests energetic small-scale exchange process (such as vertical or lateral mixing) paired with fast-acting biological processes capable of modifying the newly entrained water as it navigates its path around the eddy. Despite this energetic kilometer-scale heterogeneity, broadly distributed platforms appeared to

  13. Autonomous power networks based power system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jokic, A.; Van den Bosch, P.P.J.

    2006-01-01

    This paper presented the concept of autonomous networks to cope with this increased complexity in power systems while enhancing market-based operation. The operation of future power systems will be more challenging and demanding than present systems because of increased uncertainties, less inertia in the system, replacement of centralized coordinating activities by decentralized parties and the reliance on dynamic markets for both power balancing and system reliability. An autonomous network includes the aggregation of networked producers and consumers in a relatively small area with respect to the overall system. The operation of an autonomous network is coordinated and controlled with one central unit acting as an interface between internal producers/consumers and the rest of the power system. In this study, the power balance problem and system reliability through provision of ancillary services was formulated as an optimization problem for the overall autonomous networks based power system. This paper described the simulation of an optimal autonomous network dispatching in day ahead markets, based on predicted spot prices for real power, and two ancillary services. It was concluded that large changes occur in a power systems structure and operation, most of them adding to the uncertainty and complexity of the system. The introduced concept of an autonomous power network-based power system was shown to be a realistic and consistent approach to formulate and operate a market-based dispatch of both power and ancillary services. 9 refs., 4 figs

  14. Advancing Autonomous Operations for Deep Space Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haddock, Angie T.; Stetson, Howard K.

    2014-01-01

    Starting in Jan 2012, the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Autonomous Mission Operations (AMO) Project began to investigate the ability to create and execute "single button" crew initiated autonomous activities [1]. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) designed and built a fluid transfer hardware test-bed to use as a sub-system target for the investigations of intelligent procedures that would command and control a fluid transfer test-bed, would perform self-monitoring during fluid transfers, detect anomalies and faults, isolate the fault and recover the procedures function that was being executed, all without operator intervention. In addition to the development of intelligent procedures, the team is also exploring various methods for autonomous activity execution where a planned timeline of activities are executed autonomously and also the initial analysis of crew procedure development. This paper will detail the development of intelligent procedures for the NASA MSFC Autonomous Fluid Transfer System (AFTS) as well as the autonomous plan execution capabilities being investigated. Manned deep space missions, with extreme communication delays with Earth based assets, presents significant challenges for what the on-board procedure content will encompass as well as the planned execution of the procedures.

  15. INEL test plan for evaluating waste assay systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mandler, J.W.; Becker, G.K.; Harker, Y.D.; Menkhaus, D.E.; Clements, T.L. Jr.

    1996-09-01

    A test bed is being established at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC). These tests are currently focused on mobile or portable radioassay systems. Prior to disposal of TRU waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), radioassay measurements must meet the quality assurance objectives of the TRU Waste Characterization Quality Assurance Program Plan. This test plan provides technology holders with the opportunity to assess radioassay system performance through a three-tiered test program that consists of: (a) evaluations using non-interfering matrices, (b) surrogate drums with contents that resemble the attributes of INEL-specific waste forms, and (c) real waste tests. Qualified sources containing a known mixture and range of radionuclides will be used for the non-interfering and surrogate waste tests. The results of these tests will provide technology holders with information concerning radioassay system performance and provide the INEL with data useful for making decisions concerning alternative or improved radioassay systems that could support disposal of waste at WIPP

  16. INEL test plan for evaluating waste assay systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mandler, J.W.; Becker, G.K.; Harker, Y.D.; Menkhaus, D.E.; Clements, T.L. Jr.

    1996-09-01

    A test bed is being established at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC). These tests are currently focused on mobile or portable radioassay systems. Prior to disposal of TRU waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), radioassay measurements must meet the quality assurance objectives of the TRU Waste Characterization Quality Assurance Program Plan. This test plan provides technology holders with the opportunity to assess radioassay system performance through a three-tiered test program that consists of: (a) evaluations using non-interfering matrices, (b) surrogate drums with contents that resemble the attributes of INEL-specific waste forms, and (c) real waste tests. Qualified sources containing a known mixture and range of radionuclides will be used for the non-interfering and surrogate waste tests. The results of these tests will provide technology holders with information concerning radioassay system performance and provide the INEL with data useful for making decisions concerning alternative or improved radioassay systems that could support disposal of waste at WIPP.

  17. Control of an automated mobile manipulator using artificial immune system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deepak, B. B. V. L.; Parhi, Dayal R.

    2016-03-01

    This paper addresses the coordination and control of a wheeled mobile manipulator (WMM) using artificial immune system. The aim of the developed methodology is to navigate the system autonomously and transport jobs and tools in manufacturing environments. This study integrates the kinematic structures of a four-axis manipulator and a differential wheeled mobile platform. The motion of the developed WMM is controlled by the complete system of parametric equation in terms of joint velocities and makes the robot to follow desired trajectories by the manipulator and platform within its workspace. The developed robot system performs its action intelligently according to the sensed environmental criteria within its search space. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed immune-based motion planner for WMM, simulations as well as experimental results are presented in various unknown environments.

  18. Chemical associations and mobilization of heavy metals in fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weibel, Gisela; Eggenberger, Urs; Schlumberger, Stefan; Mäder, Urs K

    2017-04-01

    This study focusses on chemical and mineralogical characterization of fly ash and leached filter cake and on the determination of parameters influencing metal mobilization by leaching. Three different leaching processes of fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) plants in Switzerland comprise neutral, acidic and optimized acidic (+ oxidizing agent) fly ash leaching have been investigated. Fly ash is characterized by refractory particles (Al-foil, unburnt carbon, quartz, feldspar) and newly formed high-temperature phases (glass, gehlenite, wollastonite) surrounded by characteristic dust rims. Metals are carried along with the flue gas (Fe-oxides, brass) and are enriched in mineral aggregates (quartz, feldspar, wollastonite, glass) or vaporized and condensed as chlorides or sulphates. Parameters controlling the mobilization of neutral and acidic fly ash leaching are pH and redox conditions, liquid to solid ratio, extraction time and temperature. Almost no depletion for Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd is achieved by performing neutral leaching. Acidic fly ash leaching results in depletion factors of 40% for Zn, 53% for Cd, 8% for Pb and 6% for Cu. The extraction of Pb and Cu are mainly limited due to a cementation process and the formation of a PbCu 0 -alloy-phase and to a minor degree due to secondary precipitation (PbCl 2 ). The addition of hydrogen peroxide during acidic fly ash leaching (optimized acidic leaching) prevents this reduction through oxidation of metallic components and thus significantly higher depletion factors for Pb (57%), Cu (30%) and Cd (92%) are achieved. The elevated metal depletion using acidic leaching in combination with hydrogen peroxide justifies the extra effort not only by reduced metal loads to the environment but also by reduced deposition costs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. SYSTEME MULTISENSEUR DE PERCEPTION 3D POUR LE ROBOT MOBILE HILARE

    OpenAIRE

    Ferrer , Michel

    1982-01-01

    L'ETUDE PRESENTEE S'INSERE DANS LE VASTE DOMAINE DE LA VISION ARTIFICIELLE. ELLE CONCERNE PLUS PARTICULIEREMENT L'INTEGRATION DU SYSTEME DE PERCEPTION TROIS DIMENSIONS (3D) DU ROBOT MOBILE AUTONOME HILARE. CE SYSTEME EST COMPOSE D'UNE CAMERA MATRICIELLE A SEMICONDUCTEURS, D'UN TELEMETRE LASER ET D'UNE STRUCTURE MECANIQUE ASSURANT LA DEFLEXION DU FAISCEAU LASER. DANS CE MEMOIRE SONT DECRITS: LA CONCEPTION DE LA STRUCTURE DEFLECTRICE; LE LOGICIEL DE TRAITEMENT DES IMAGES VIDEO MULTINIVEAUX BASE...

  20. Interface control document between PUREX/UO3 Plant Transition and Solid Waste Disposal Division

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duncan, D.R.

    1994-01-01

    This interface control document (ICD) between PUREX/UO 3 Plant Transition (PPT) and Solid Waste Disposal Division (SWD) establishes at a top level the functional responsibilities of each division where interfaces exist between the two divisions. Since the PUREX Transition and Solid Waste Disposal divisions operate autonomously, it is important that each division has a clear understanding of the other division's expectations regarding these interfaces. This ICD primarily deals with solid wastes generated by the PPT. In addition to delineating functional responsibilities, the ICD includes a baseline description of those wastes that will require management as part of the interface between the divisions. The baseline description of wastes includes waste volumes and timing for use in planning the proper waste management capabilities: the primary purpose of this ICD is to ensure defensibility of expected waste stream volumes and Characteristics for future waste management facilities. Waste descriptions must be as complete as-possible to ensure adequate treatment, storage, and disposal capability will exist. The ICD also facilitates integration of existing or planned waste management capabilities of the PUREX. Transition and Solid Waste Disposal divisions. The ICD does not impact or affect the existing processes or procedures for shipping, packaging, or approval for shipping wastes by generators to the Solid Waste Division