Data Acquisition Control Research Articles

An Open Sample Measurement System for Soft Magnetic Material AC Characterization

A highly sensitive open sample measurement system for soft magnetic strips, ribbons and films is described. It is a system built on a PXI platform combining PXI modules for control signal generation and data acquisition. The physical signals are digitized and the respective data streams are processed, presented and recorded in LabVIEW 7.0.

Monitor Design of Hydraulic Experimental System for Electric Submersible Pump

A hydraulic experimental monitor system for electric submersible pump (ESP) was designed, which contains data acquisition and monitor interface. Data acquisition applied Advantech Data Acquisition and Siemens Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Monitor interface applied Monitor and Control Generated System (MCGS). The results prove that the system can control the speed of ESP and display and record many signals, such as flow-rate, pressure, torque, rotation speed, liquid level, etc. The ways of converting analog signals, processing pulse signal and controlling speed are introduced.

Study of Remote Monitor System for Simulation Elevator Based on EPA

The design and implementation of the Remote Monitor System for Simulation Elevator Based on EPA were appeared. The Remote Monitor System consists of the device layer, control layer, the server layer and client layer, the monitoring software, configuration software and so on, which implements to the simulated elevator data acquisition and intelligent control of output and remote monitoring.

Design of Plunger Limit Switch Testing System Based on Virtual Instrument Technology

This paper introduces a plunger limit switch testing system based on Virtual Instrument Technology with servo control module and data acquisition module. The proposed system is designed for measuring contact resistance, force-displacement curve and voltage-displacement curve. And the product qualification is automatically judged according to the measured result. Field experiment shows that the parameter testing system has a stable and reliable performance with high precision.

Research on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System Based on Stacker

This paper aims at the current field of industrial control of stacker networking and intelligence, presents a supervisory control and data acquisition system. In VC++.NET environment, transfer Mitsubishi MX component by Mitsubishi FX3U Ethernet module implements the computer and Mitsubishi FX3U series PLC communication, to reach the remote real-time data acquisition and supervisory control ,to provide a visual interface for the user.

Applying received signal strength based methods for indoor positioning and tracking in construction applications

Effective positioning and tracking of critical construction resources is crucial to fulfilling project objectives in terms of time, cost, and safety. Received signal strength (RSS) based localization methods increasingly become a popular choice in construction applications, especially for indoor scenarios, potentially automating field data acquisition and construction process control. However, the fluctuating nature of collected RSS data due to multipath propagation effects, along with the unavailability of radio signals at certain site locations, hampers effective application of such localization techniques in challenging and dynamic indoor applications. This research evaluates the feasibilities of two RSS-based location tracking techniques, namely, the ranging-based method and the profiling-based method. To verify the positioning accuracy of the two methods, a wireless sensor network system was prototyped for conducting positioning experiments in an indoor carpark, which mimics an enclosed construction ...

Spark Ignition Feedback Control by Means of Combustion Phase Indicators on Steady and Transient Operation

In order to reduce fuel cost and CO2 emissions, modern spark ignition (SI) engines need to lower as much as possible fuel consumption. A crucial factor for efficiency improvement is represented by the combustion phase, which in an SI engine is controlled acting on the spark advance. This fundamental engine parameter is currently controlled in an open-loop by means of maps stored in the electronic control unit (ECU) memory: such kind of control, however, does not allow running the engine always at its best performance, since optimal combustion phase depends on many variables, like ambient conditions, fuel quality, engine aging, and wear, etc. A better choice would be represented by a closed-loop spark timing control, which may be pursued by means of combustion phase indicators, i.e., parameters mostly derived from in-cylinder pressure analysis that assume fixed reference values when the combustion phase is optimal. As documented in literature (Pestana, 1989, “Engine Control Methods Using Combustion Pressure Feedback,” SAE Paper No. 890758; BERU Pressure Sensor Glow Plug (PSG) for Diesel Engines, http://beru.federalmogul.com; Sensata CPOS SERIES—Cylinder Pressure Only Sensors, http://www.sensata.com/download/cpos.pdf; Malaczynski et al., 2013, “Ion-Sense-Based Real-Time Combustion Sensing for Closed-Loop Engine Control,” SAE Int. J. Eng., 6(1), pp. 267–277; Yoshihisa et al., 1988, “MBT Control Through Individual Cylinder Pressure Detection,” SAE Paper 881779; Powell, 1993, “Engine Control Using Cylinder Pressure: Past, Present, and Future,” J. Dyn. Syst., Meas. Control, 115, pp. 343–350; Muller et al., 2000, “Combustion Pressure Based Engine Management System,” SAE Paper 2000-01-0928; Yoon et al., 2000, “Closed-Loop Control of Spark Advance and Air-Fuel Ratio in SI Engines Using Cylinder Pressure,” SAE Paper 2000-01-0933; Eriksson, 1999, “Spark Advance Modeling and Control,” Dissertation N° 580, Linkoping Studies in Science and Technology, Linköping, Sweden; Samir et al., 2011, “Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic-Based Spark Advance Control of SI Engines,” Expert Syst. Appl., 38, pp. 6916–6925; Cook et al., 1947, “Spark-Timing Control Based on Correlation of Maximum-Economy Spark Timing, Flame-Front Travel, and Cylinder Pressure Rise,” NACA Technical Note 1217; Bargende, 1995, “Most Optimal Location of 50% Mass Fraction Burned and Automatic Knock Detection,” MTZ, 10(56), pp. 632–638.), the use of combustion phase indicators allows the determination of the best spark advance, apart from any variable or boundary condition. The implementation of a feedback spark timing control, based on the use of these combustion phase indicators, would ensure the minimum fuel consumption in every possible condition. Despite the presence of many literature references on the use combustion phase indicators, there is no evidence of any experimental comparison on the performance obtainable, in terms of both control accuracy and transient response, by the use of such indicators in a spark timing feedback control. The author, hence, carried out a proper experimental campaign comparing the performances of a proportional-integral spark timing control based on the use of five different in-cylinder pressure derived indicators. The experiments were carried out on a bench test, equipped with a series production four cylinder spark ignition engine and an eddy current dynamometer, using two data acquisition (DAQ) systems for data acquisition and spark timing control. Pressure sampling was performed by means of a flush mounted piezoelectric pressure transducer with the resolution of one crank angle degree. The feedback control was compared to the conventional map based control in terms of response time, control stability, and control accuracy in three different kinds of tests: steady-state, step response, and transient operation. All the combustion phase indicators proved to be suitable for proportional-integral feedback spark advance control, allowing fast and reliable control even in transient operations.

The SCADA system applications in management of Yuvacik Dam and Reservoir

The industrial control systems, which include supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed control systems, and other smaller control system configurations such as skid-mounted programmable logic controllers are often used in the industrial control sectors. The SCADA systems are generally used to control dispersed assets using centralized data acquisition and supervisory control. The SCADA systems are also distributed systems that are used to control geographically dispersed assets, which are often scattered over thousands of square kilometers, where centralized data acquisition and control are critical for system operation. They are commonly used in distribution systems such as water distribution and wastewater collection systems, oil and gas pipelines, electrical power grids, and railway transportation systems. In this article, the SCADA system used in the Yuvacik Dam and Reservoir operation, which is located in Kocaeli province of Turkey is reported and the problems associated with the system operation and their solutions are discussed.

The H.E.S.S. data acquisition system

The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is an array of five Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes located in the Khomas Highland in Namibia. It measures cosmic gamma-rays with very high energies (> 100 GeV) using the Earth's atmosphere as a calorimeter. The H.E.S.S. experiment has entered Phase II in September 2012 with the inauguration of a fifth telescope that is larger and more complex than the other four. The very large mirror area of 600 m2 in comparison to the 100 m2 of the smaller telescopes results in a lower energy threshold as well as an increased overall sensitivity of the system. Moreover, the huge effective area, due to the large mirror size, is crucial in the detection of short time scale low energy transient events. This paper will give a brief overview of the design principles of the current H.E.S.S. data acquisition and array control system. Particular emphasis is given to the new Target of Opportunity alert system that has recently been introduced to the array and allows the instrument to react to such an alert within 60 s.

Automating the CMS DAQ

We present the automation mechanisms that have been added to the Data Acquisition and Run Control systems of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment during Run 1 of the LHC, ranging from the automation of routine tasks to automatic error recovery and context-sensitive guidance to the operator. These mechanisms helped CMS to maintain a data taking efficiency above 90% and to even improve it to 95% towards the end of Run 1, despite an increase in the occurrence of single-event upsets in sub-detector electronics at high LHC luminosity.

A flexible user-interface for audiovisual presentation and interactive control in neurobehavioral experiments

A major problem facing behavioral neuroscientists is a lack of unified, vendor-distributed data acquisition systems that allow stimulus presentation and behavioral monitoring while recording neural activity. Numerous systems perform one of these tasks well independently, but to our knowledge, a useful package with a straightforward user interface does not exist. Here we describe the development of a flexible, script-based user interface that enables customization for real-time stimulus presentation, behavioral monitoring and data acquisition. The experimental design can also incorporate neural microstimulation paradigms. We used this interface to deliver multimodal, auditory and visual (images or video) stimuli to a nonhuman primate and acquire single-unit data. Our design is cost-effective and works well with commercially available hardware and software. Our design incorporates a script, providing high-level control of data acquisition via a sequencer running on a digital signal processor to enable behaviorally triggered control of the presentation of visual and auditory stimuli. Our experiments were conducted in combination with eye-tracking hardware. The script, however, is designed to be broadly useful to neuroscientists who may want to deliver stimuli of different modalities using any animal model.

Development and Testing of a Multimodal Acquisition Platform for Human-Robot Interaction Affective Studies

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) studies have recently received increasing attention in various fields, from academic communities to engineering firms and the media. Many researchers have been focusing on the development of tools to evaluate the performance of robotic systems and studying how to extend the range of robot interaction modalities and contexts. Because people are emotionally engaged when interacting with computers and robots, researchers have been focusing attention on the study of affective human-robot interaction. This new field of study requires the integration of various approaches typical of different research backgrounds, such as psychology and engineering, to gain more insight into the human-robot affective interaction.In this paper, we report the development of a multimodal acquisition platform called HIPOP (Human Interaction Pervasive Observation Platform). HIPOP is a modular data-gathering platform based on various hardware and software units that can be easily used to create a custom acquisition setup for HRI studies. The platform uses modules for physiological signals, eye gaze, video and audio acquisition to perform an integrated affective and behavioral analysis. It is also possible to include new hardware devices into the platform. The open-source hardware and software revolution has made many high-quality commercial and open-source products freely available for HRI and HCI research. These devices are currently most often used for data acquisition and robot control, and they can be easily included in HIPOP.Technical tests demonstrated the ability of HIPOP to reliably acquire a large set of data in terms of failure management and data synchronization. The platform was able to automatically recover from errors and faults without affecting the entire system, and the misalignment observed in the acquired data was not significant and did not affect the multimodal analysis. HIPOP was also tested in the context of the FACET (FACE Therapy) project, in which a humanoid robot called FACE (Facial Automaton for Conveying Emotions) was used to convey affective stimuli to children with autism. In the FACET project, psychologists without technical skills were able to use HIPOP to collect the data needed for their experiments without dealing with hardware issues, data integration challenges, or synchronization problems. The FACET case study highlighted the real core feature of the HIPOP platform (i.e., multimodal data integration and fusion). This analytical approach allowed psychologists to study both behavioral and psychophysiological reactions to obtain a more complete view of the subjects' state during interaction with the robot.These results indicate that HIPOP could become an innovative tool for HRI affective studies aimed at inferring a more detailed view of a subject's feelings and behavior during interaction with affective and empathic robots.

Electron impact fragmentation of thymine: partial ionization cross sections for positive fragments

We have measured mass spectra for positive ions for low-energy electron impact on thymine using a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Using computer controlled data acquisition, mass spectra have been acquired for electron impact energies up to 100 eV in steps of 0.5 eV. Ion yield curves for most of the fragment ions have been determined by fitting groups of adjacent peaks in the mass spectra with sequences of normalized Gaussians. The ion yield curves have been normalized by comparing the sum of the ion yields to the average of calculated total ionization cross sections. Appearance energies have been determined. The nearly equal appearance energies of 83 u and 55 u observed in the present work strongly indicate that near threshold the 55 u ion is formed directly by the breakage of two bonds in the ring, rather than from a successive loss of HNCO and CO from the parent ion. Likewise 54 u is not formed by CO loss from 82 u. The appearance energies are in a number of cases consistent with the loss of one or more hydrogen atoms from a heavier fragment, but 70 u is not formed by hydrogen loss from 71 u.

Development of an Eight-Channel Data Acquisition System and Control for Industrial Application

The subject of this paper is the Development of an Eight Channel Data Acquisition System using off-the-shelf components for Industrial Application. The system is typically configured to acquire data like voltage, current, temperature, pressure, flow etc, in an industrial environment. To achieve the objective the LPT1 of a PC served to connect the various sensors through the interface circuit that was designed and constructed. Visual C++ was used in developing the program that controls the system. The system offers great economic advantage as the cost is just about 28% of the commercially available data acquisition cards. The accuracy of the system for acquisition was found to be high when used to measure signals from transducers.

Design and Realization of the Process Tracking System for Plate Plant

The purpose of this paper is to improve the process tracking system, in order to meet the factory MES system requirements. Through the research process control systems and single process control system used in iron and steel enterprises in home and abroad, the integrated process control system, tracking control system and data acquisition system were established, and applied to the heat treatment lines of JISCO. In this system, the store procedure was used to complete the transaction processing in the database for improve the flexibility of the system. Practical applications validate the security and stability of performance system.

Continuous Long-Term Observation of Suspended Sediment Transport between Two Pumped-Storage Reservoirs

Transport of suspended sediment between the two reservoirs of a pumped-storage plant in Switzerland was monitored over an 8-month period. A turbidity probe was installed on the upstream end of the pressure shaft, in which real-time monitoring was ensured by automatic data acquisition and remote control. The suspended sediment concentration in the reservoirs varies considerably over the course of a year, with low particle loads in the winter, when the reservoirs are covered by ice and the catchment area is entirely covered by snow. In late spring, when snowmelt starts, the suspended sediment concentration increases and remains high until summer. The short-term evolution of the suspended sediment concentration was found to be correlated to the pumped-storage sequences, especially when the reservoir levels are low. Higher concentrations during pumping mode were observed for low levels in the lower reservoir, and low levels in the upper reservoir corresponded to higher sediment concentrations in turbine mode. Concentration ratios between pumping and turbine mode between 0.93 and 1.16 were observed. Periods with higher particle load were observed more frequently during pumping mode. Nevertheless, the suspended sediment balance due to pumped-storage operations is equilibrated, which indicates a high degree of correlation between the transported sediment volume and hydropower operation. Connecting the applied monitoring system in an existing plant control and management system would allow the plant operator to detect increased suspended sediment loads in the pressure shaft and to adapt the operation mode to actively manage reservoir sedimentation or to estimate and predict the long-term sediment balance.

Experiential Learning of Digital Communication Using LabVIEW

This paper discusses the design and implementation of laboratories and course projects using LabVIEW in an instrumentation course. The pedagogical challenge is to enhance students' learning of digital communication using LabVIEW. LabVIEW was extensively used in the laboratory sessions, which better prepared students for the course projects. Two course projects were designed to familiarize the students with virtual instrumentation, data acquisition, Modbus communication, and simple closed-loop control. One project involved the instrumentation and control of a brushed dc permanent magnet motor; the other involved the instrumentation and control of a small-scale temperature chamber. Students used one computer, functioning as a Modbus slave, to measure the motor speed or temperature inside the chamber and to turn the motor or lightbulbs on and off. Another computer, functioning as a Modbus master, reads the measurements using Modbus communication protocol via RS-485 wires, compared the measurements to the set points, made control decisions, and sent the commands to the Modbus slave for actuation. The effectiveness of student learning is analyzed using student survey data.

Autopilot: An Online Data Acquisition Control System for the Enhanced High-Throughput Characterization of Intact Proteins

The ability to study organisms by direct analysis of their proteomes without digestion via mass spectrometry has benefited greatly from recent advances in separation techniques, instrumentation, and bioinformatics. However, improvements to data acquisition logic have lagged in comparison. Past workflows for Top Down Proteomics (TDPs) have focused on high throughput at the expense of maximal protein coverage and characterization. This mode of data acquisition has led to enormous overlap in the identification of highly abundant proteins in subsequent LC-MS injections. Furthermore, a wealth of data is left underutilized by analyzing each newly targeted species as unique, rather than as part of a collection of fragmentation events on a distinct proteoform. Here, we present a major advance in software for acquisition of TDP data that incorporates a fully automated workflow able to detect intact masses, guide fragmentation to achieve maximal identification and characterization of intact protein species, and perform database search online to yield real-time protein identifications. On Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the software combines fragmentation events of the same precursor with previously obtained fragments to achieve improved characterization of the target form by an average of 42 orders of magnitude in confidence. When HCD fragmentation optimization was applied to intact proteins ions, there was an 18.5 order of magnitude gain in confidence. These improved metrics set the stage for increased proteome coverage and characterization of higher order organisms in the future for sharply improved control over MS instruments in a project- and lab-wide context.

Control system design of test auxiliary cold box for qualification testing of ITER cold circulating pumps

Cold circulating pumps (CCP) in ITER-Cryodistribution system has been evaluated as the most technology critical component. Test Auxiliary Cold Box (TACB) is a valve box to perform the pre-series test of CCPs of ITER. The operating conditions of the CCPs installed in TACB during the test demands for detailed design of instrumentation and control system including physical and functional interfaces with subsystems of the test facility. Control system of TACB consists of a programmable logic controller (PLC) at the system level and two dedicated controllers for CCPs at component level, integrated together using various control and handshaking signals. Local Controllers at component level are capable of standalone local operation of respective CCPs. This paper describes the control system design using system level PLC, local controllers, associated network system, interface definition controller programming and data acquisition considering all the operating scenarios of the TACB during the pre-series test.

Computerized J-H loop tracer for soft magnetic thick films in the audio frequency range

1 . 1 NCSR Demokritos, Institute of Advanced Materials, Physicochemical Processes, Nanotechnology and Microsystems, Athens, 15310, Greece. Abstract. A computerized J-H loop tracer for soft magnetic thick films in the audio frequency range is described. It is a system built on a PXI platform combining PXI modules for control signal generation and data acquisition. The physiscal signals are digitized and the respective data strems are processed, presented and recorded in LabVIEW 7.0.