Department Of Industrial Engineering Research Articles

Note from the editor

As reported in February’s editorial, we are in a process of renewing our journal. The biggest change has been to quicken our review process. If you scroll through this month’s journal articles, you will notice some articles where the review process took only 4 months. The biggest challenge remains our reviewers’ turnaround time – the review process is often a low priority item in busy academic careers. But we had made good progress with working down the queue, clearing our old dormant journal articles. Making the management process also faster. We are also managing as planned to move the first 2 editions of the year a month earlier – the second edition in the past appeared at the end of August, but now it is end of July. As reported in the previous edition, we are testing a new version of our web based software. The SAIIE Annual Awards nominations closed recently, and as reported earlier, this award is now limited to journal articles published in this journal. We are looking forward to congratulate the 2022 winner in the next edition! Due to changes in the previous Technical Editor’s personal circumstances, it was not possible for her to continue as Technical Editor. I am thus pleased to introduce Mr Eldon Burger, who took over this role recently. Eldon is a lecturer at the Department of Industrial Engineering at Stellenbosch, he did his undergraduate studies at North-West University, then a BTech in Industrial Engineering at Unisa, a Masters in Computer Science / Data Science at University of Debrecen, Hungary, and is now busy with his PhD with a focus on Data Science. Welcome Eldon! Our next edition will be the special edition, where we take the best submissions from related conferences in South Africa, and publish it in the journal. That review process is already underway, and we are looking forward to showcase the research and new thinking from those conferences. This edition has a total of 12 articles, with seven articles from authors with South African connections and the balance from international authors. The publication date is 29 July, which is a month earlier than 2021. If you have suggestions on how we can take this journal forward, please let me know.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

“Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.” - Elizabeth Edwards As mentioned at the end of 2017, it is now customary to evaluate how the journal is performing. Scopus (www.scopus.com) measures impact with a “CiteScore” and the graph in Figure 1 (extracted from Scopus on 13 December 2022) shows the progress made over the last five years. The CiteScore for a year is calculated as the Citation Count for the year / number of documents published in the previous three years. The Citescore for 2020 was 1.3 (measured May 2021), and the Citescore for 2021 is slightly lower at 1.2. Our ranking with respect to the Percentile in the category, is currently stable as a Q3 journal. Another important source for journal standing, is Scimago Journal and Country Rank (www.scimagojr.com), where the journal is also listed as a Q3 journal in the “Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering” subject area. It is very encouraging to observe how the number of citations had been growing (Figure 2). (For figures, refer to the online PDF) This edition has a total of 12 articles, with 8 from authors with South African connections and the balance from international authors. In time for the 3rd (special) edition, we appointed a new Technical Editor, Mr Eldon Burger. Eldon was thrown into the deep end, doing the technical editing on the 3rd and final edition of the year at a very busy time. Well done Eldon! We also appointed a new Section Editor, who will be managing the editorial process for Operations Research, and other Quantitative Management, and Data Science related articles. She is Dr Wilna Bean, from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. If you have suggestions on how we can take this journal forward, please let me know. Corne Schutte Editor

A course scheduling model based on academic title-based preferences and deviations- a case study of industrial engineering department

A course scheduling model based on academic title-based preferences and deviations- a case study of industrial engineering department

VIRTUAL LABORATORY FOR SUPPORTING COURSE OF INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

Fast developments in industrial revolution 4.0 have necessities in a shifting of education. Lecturers in the industrial engineering department of Swiss German University are expected to bring technology-based innovation to achieve success in learning. Since the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, where all activities are restricted by health protocol, the need for physical laboratory transformation into a virtual concept has increased. This research aims to analyse a virtual laboratory especially for supporting the learning activity of industrial automation. The virtual machine duplicates the real machine running in a simulated environment. Open-source software such as OpenPLC and Node-RED are used as tools for students to study and learn about industrial automation. A group of students did the final project by utilizing this virtual laboratory and then the final evaluation of course performance was carried out based on the students’ responses from the lecture assessment on the course of industrial automation. In addition, based on the user acceptance test of Node-RED training modules, 44.4% of participants consider good enough, another 44,4% consider great, and 11,1% of participants consider excellent. As a result, the virtual laboratory may effectively and efficiently support the knowledge transfer to the students.

The CORE-CARE laboratory to investigate the indoor environmental quality in buildings

In this work, the climatic chamber CORE-CARE is presented. The laboratory was built at the Industrial Engineering Department of the University of Padova, in order to further investigate issues related to indoor environmental quality, the comfort perceived by people in confined spaces and thermal performance of radiant systems. CORE-CARE is equipped with radiant panels in each surface, which can be controlled separately. The room presents two real windows on the East side, equipped with shading systems. Furthermore, the mechanic controlled ventilation system installed in the room can act as integration of sensible or latent heat both in heating and in cooling conditions. The climatic chamber is provided with a data acquisition system, consisting of 38 sensors, that allow the evaluation of the surface temperatures in different positions, the air temperature at different heights, the mean radiant temperature, relative humidity and CO2 concentration. The CORE-CARE chamber is thermally characterized using a detailed model developed at the Industrial Engineering Department of the University of Padova and the simulations results are compared with test measurements. Moreover, the impact of radiant asymmetry is investigated.

Developing a Model for the University Course Timetabling Problem: A Case Study

Over recent years, timetable programming in academic settings has become particularly challenging due to such factors as the growing number of students, the variety of lectures, the inadequacy of educational facilities in some areas, and the incorporation of teachers and students’ preferences into the schedule. Many researchers, therefore, have been formulating the problem of timetabling lectures using different methods. In this research, a multiobjective mixed-integer programming model was developed to provide a timetable for the postgraduate courses at the Industrial Engineering Department of Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch (IAUN). The proposed model minimized the violation of the lecturers and educational priorities, the student travel time between classes, and the classes’ surplus capacity. To convert the multiobjective model into a single one, the ε-constraint method was adopted, and the model’s accuracy and feasibility were examined through a real example solved by the CPLEX solver of GAMS software. The results approved the efficiency of this model in preparing a timetable for university lectures.

Preface

Dear colleaguesI am glad to announce the release of the Efficient Waste Treatment conference proceedings (EWT-2021)!Despite the pandemic conditions, we managed to successfully hold an online (zoom) conference and discuss possible solutions for waste management in terms of energy, environmental and economic factors. A competent approach allowed us not to postpone the event, which took place on June 21, 2021.Conference model: Plenary session with keynotes (40 minutes for each keynote speech) + participants’ presentations (20 minutes for each presentation).There were two keynote speakers at the conference with extensive presentations:✓ Svetlana Zueva, dr. eng., research scientists at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Information and Economy, University of L’Aquila (Italy).✓ Natalia Politaeva, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor at the Graduate School of Hydraulic and Power Engineering Construction, Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (Russia).Topics discussed were: Waste treatment in various regions and countries; Economic issues of waste management; Municipal solid waste; Water treatment and sewage sludge utilization; Industrial, construction and medical wastes; Mathematical modeling of ecological processes; Sustainable mining and processing of minerals; Agriculture & farming; Adaptive landscape farming systems; Environmental and construction engineering; Ecotourism.Within the framework of the conference, a scientific committee worked, which included:Michael Butusov, Professor, The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, AustriaAleksander Fedyukhin, Associate Professor, Moscow Power Engineering Institute, Moscow, RussiaChristoph Pfeifer, Professor, The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, AustriaNatalia Politaeva, Professor, Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg, RussiaKerstin Kuchta, Professor, Hamburg University of Technology, GermanyIryna Atamaniuk, Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn., Hamburg University of Technology, GermanyRafat Al Afif, Senior Scientist and lecturer, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, AustriaJulia Smyatskaya, Associate Professor, Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg, RussiaSvetlana Zueva, dr. eng., research scientists, Department of Industrial Engineering, Information and Economy, University of L’Aquila, ItalyIda de Michelis, dr.eng., Department of Industrial Engineering, Information and Economy, University of L’Aquila, ItalyThe best articles of the conference participants, which passed the peer review, were accepted for publication. We have done a great job and would like to share with you the main results.We hope you find this article collection interesting and useful. Enjoy reading!Prof. Politaeva NataliaChairman of the EWT scientific committee

Note from the Editor

Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again - Nelson Mandela At the end of 2020, I noted that the journal had a good year despite COVID. It is disappointing that we are still living with the effects of COVID, now with Omicron that is yet again disrupting December holiday plans! But, we as Industrial Engineers are resilient, and new ways of doing business and making good things happen, are still part of our DNA. As initiated the end of 2017, it is now customary to evaluate how the journal is performing. Scopus (www.scopus.com) measures impact with a “CiteScore” and the graph in Fig 1 (see the PDF) (extracted from Scopus on 10 December 2021) shows the progress made over the last few years. The CiteScore for a year is calculated as Citation Count for the year divided by the number of documents the previous 3 years. The Citescore for 2019 was 1.4 (Measured May 2020), and the Citescore for 2020 is slightly lower at 1.3. Our ranking with regard to the Percentile in the category, is currently stable as a Q3 journal. Another important source for journal standing, is Scimago Journal and Country Rank (www.scimagojr.com), where the journal is also listed as a Q3 journal in the “Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering” subject area. It is very encouraging to observe how the number of citations has been growing (See Figure 2 in PDF). This edition has a total of 10 articles, with 8 from authors with South African connections and the balance from international authors. On a sad note, our Technical Editor, Dr Herman Hamersma, has resigned. Herman has been involved in the journal for eight years, and the professional layout and final editing has been the result of his hard work and dedication. He is being replaced by Mia Mangaroo-Pillay. She is a lecturer at the Department of Industrial Engineering at North-West University. We are glad to have you on-board, Mia! If you have suggestions on how we can take this journal forward, please let me know. Corne Schutte Editor

Polyketone Functionalization: New Ways to Anion Conducting Polymers

Ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) are at the core of many energy storage and conversion devices, such as fuel cells and redox flow batteries, being responsible for the migration of ionic species, separating the fuel stocks, and providing support to the electrode assemblies. For practical applications they are required to possess not only high ionic conductivity, but also specificity, thermal stability, long lifetime, and electrical insulation. The preparation of polymeric materials with such high-performance properties is still challenging and can lead to high prices, hindering their widespread use in energy conversion technologies. This is even more arduous when considering polymers to be used in anion conducting membranes, due to the need for the extra chemical stability and ability to withstand alkaline conditions at high temperatures for long periods of time [1].Polyketones are known to be high performance thermoplastic polymers with applications ranging from fire-retardants film coatings, packaging, and fibers, resulting from their high thermal and chemical stability. They can be obtained in high yields by copolymerization of inexpensive and readily available feedstocks such as ethylene and carbon monoxide. Our group proved that polyketones with alternating 1,4-dicarbonyl repeating units constitute an ideal starting point to access a wide class of modified polymers by simple Paal-Knorr cyclization, to gain pyrrole-N-bound functional groups stemming from the aliphatic backbone [2].This is a new account on our research on the ion conducting polymeric materials derived from polyketone, obtained by reaction with variously functionalized amines, and their easy conversion to anion exchange materials. The effect of reaction conditions on their thermal properties and chemical stability in alkaline media has been studied, and their conductivity in a wide range of frequencies assessed by broadband electric spectroscopy to shed light on the conduction mechanisms.The proposed conducting polymers combine the thermal stability of the aliphatic polyketone structure with the chemical flexibility given by the groups derived from functionalized amines branching out, proving to be highly tailorable, with possible applications in current energy conversion technologies. Acknowledgements: The authors wish to thank the Research Projects of Relevant National Interest (PRIN 2017) of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research “Novel Multilayered and Micro-Machined Electrode Nano-Architectures for Electrocatalytic Applications (Fuel Cells and Electrolyzers)” (Prot. 2017YH9MRK) and the SID2020 Project of the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova “A New frontier in Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Membranes for Energy Conversion and Storage Devices” (Prot. BIRD201244) for funding.

Marine Robotics for Recurrent Morphological Investigations of Micro-Tidal Marine-Coastal Environments. A Point of View

Coastal zones are subjected to a wide range of phenomena acting on very different temporal and spatial scales: from decades to days and from hundreds of kilometers to tens of meters. Planning the management of such areas, thus, requires an accurate and updated knowledge of the ongoing processes. While standard monitoring activities are functional for the medium-long time scale and medium-large spatial scale, they struggle to provide adequate information concerning the short period (i.e., days) and small range (i.e., few meters). In addition, such operations are affected by high costs and logistic complexity since they generally involve the deployment of specific aircraft or maritime vehicles. On the contrary, the employment of robotic devices can represent a solution to these issues. Their proper use can allow for frequent surveys and enhance the coverage of the acquired data due to optimized mission strategies. Marine robotics has the potential to arise as an efficient complementary tool to standard monitoring techniques. Nevertheless, the use of marine robots is still limited and should be improved. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current state of robotic technology, identifying both the benefits and shortcomings of its use for micro-tidal marine-coastal monitoring. The discussion will be supported by actual results, taken as an example, achieved using FeelHippo AUV, the compact Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) developed by the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Florence, Italy.

Toward carbon-neutral electricity and mobility: Is the grid infrastructure ready?

Toward carbon-neutral electricity and mobility: Is the grid infrastructure ready?

The efficiency of modeling and simulation of manufacturing systems using Petri nets

The paper is a partial synthesis of the work that a team within the Faculty of Managerial and Technological Engineering has in the field of modeling and simulation of systems with Petri nets. The paper deals with three issues. The first part is Modeling and simulation of manufacturing systems with timed Petri nets. The first part presents the way in which the performances of some manufacturing systems are evaluated using timed Petri nets. The first example is a manufacturing system specific to the textile industry. The system has three production lines. In this case, the modeling with timed Petri nets allows the analysis of the operation of the flow lines and highlights the bottleneck. Another modeled manufacturing system is specific to a series production, more precisely it refers to the manufacture of gas cookers within a company from Oradea. The model with Petri nets also describes the supply sequences of the stocks of parts and subassemblies. The next modeled system is an automated manufacturing system for the packaging of detergents. The complexity of the Detergent Packing System and the high level of automation, require the use of efficient modeling and simulation methods to verify the validity of the solutions adopted. In this chapter is present the model of a robotic welding cell. The second part of the paper, the transition from timed Petri nets to hierarchical colored Petri nets, shows how Petri nets were developed for a robotic cell for metallographic analysis. The third part is dedicated to modeling with colored Petri nets timed with complex colors of the flexible manufacturing cell A007 within the Department of Industrial Engineering.

A Max-Min Ant System for Research Topic Selction in Academia

University professors all over the world are facing an increasing challenges to publish more and more high-quality papers, get funds, and improve their citation indices. In many scientific disciplines, like engineering and computer science, research topics keep changing and professors’ research agendas need to change as well. In this paper, we develop a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) to model a university professor problem of selecting research topics. The problem aims to increase the professor’s number of citations subject to time constraint and publication probability constraint. We also solve the suggested MILP using a max-min ant system. A case study for a professor in an industrial engineering department is also presented.

3D Interactive Learning Environment as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer and Retention

The article deals with the design of virtual reality (VR) interactive training as a teaching method and its effect on knowledge transfer and retention of students. The first part presents the methodology of the VR interactive training design. The second part utilizes the created interactive training for a case study to evaluate its effect on the teaching process and to examine the potential of VR interactive training as a sustainable teaching method. The study took place at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Žilina. Volunteers were divided into two groups. The first group used VR interactive training as a teaching method, while the second group used the conventional method. Both groups then underwent tests. The main goal was to evaluate the effect of the VR interactive training on the teaching process in comparison to the conventional method while trying to identify the key elements of the VR interactive training design and its influence on knowledge transfer and retention in a sustainable learning environment. At the start of the case study, four hypotheses were formed, questioning the effect of interactive training on knowledge transfer and retention in the long and short term, and its overall influence on the teaching process. Obtained data were then used to evaluate these hypotheses.

A Pilot Study for Evaluating Economic and Societal Impact of Engineering Research

Quantitative estimation of research societal and economic impact remains an ongoing issue. This is due to the difficulty to attribute specific economic or societal impact to particular research activity. Nevertheless, evaluating research impact is necessary to justify research spending especially for engineering research studies, as they are generally more costly than humanities or social studies for example. This work considered research impact evaluation in NSF (The National Science Foundation in the USA), EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the UK), and TRC (The Research Council in Oman) to propose a low-cost survey-based approach to evaluate the engineering research impact. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to all faculty staff at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) to assess their recent research impact in the years 2016 and 2017. The evaluation was carried at three levels; knowledge, societal, and economic impact. The results of the study were compared with an independent study produced by an international consultancy group. This study offers an important contribution to ‎the subject of evaluating impact factors of engineering research in Oman.
 Keywords: SQU; societal impact; socioeconomic impact; NSF; EPSRC; RAND; TRC; knowledge impact; Oman

Metaheuristic approach proposal for the solution of the bi-objective course scheduling problem

Timetabling problems are among the commonly encountered problems in real life, from education institutions to airline companies. It is generally difficult to obtain optimal solutions for the timetabling problems that vary in terms of structures of constraints and objective functions, and these problems are considered being in NP-hard category, which cannot be solved in polynomial time in real life. In this study, a bi-objective mathematical model is proposed for a course scheduling problem in Kutahya Dumlupinar University Department of Industrial Engineering. While it is aimed in the first objective function to maximize the sum of the preferences of instructors determined by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process Method, it is aimed to minimize the students’ course overlap in the other. Conic scalarization method is used to combine the objective functions. Due to NP-hard nature of the problem, the Tabu Search Algorithm, one of metaheuristic approaches is used to solve it. Using the obtained data, the Tabu Search Algorithm by considering the proposed bi-objective mathematical model is designed for the problem and a software is developed in Excel Visual Basic program. The experimental results are evaluated with Analysis of Variance by using Minitab Program, comparing the results, satisfactory solutions are obtained.

Peningkatan Produktivitas Melalui Penerapan 5S di IKM Kulit di Sleman, Yogyakarta

Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) called MARS Genuine Leather is one of the SMEs under the guidance of the Department of Industry and Trade (Disperindag) in the Sleman region, Yogyakarta. In 2018, MARS and 10 other SMEs in Sleman and Bantul Regency have involved in research with the Department of Industrial Engineering at the Islamic University of Indonesia regarding supply chain performance analysis using the Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) Model. The results showed that MARS had the lowest supply chain value among the 5 SMEs in the Sleman region. Continuing the results of the research, improvements were made through Community Service activities regarding the implementation of 5S in MARS. the Department of Industry and Trade (Disperindag) of Sleman has provided several pieces of training on the implementation of 5S for SME owners. However, this training has not been applied directly to each IKM. Therefore, this service activity aims to provide hands-on training on the implementation of 5S at IKM MARS as well as one of the improvements that can be made to the results of previous supply chain performance analysis research. The results of this service are in the form of direct training guidance at IKM, videos of the first 3S implementation (Seiri, Seiso, Seiton), and a checklist form that can be used by IKM as an internal audit. The 5S knowledge and skills that have been applied in MARS are expected to help the enterprise to reduce waste as well as increase productivity in the future.

Assessment of Characterization Procedures for the Implementation of Anaerobic Digestion Model No.1

In this paper, comparison were made among the characterization processes, designed for influent characterization in Anaerobic Digestion Model No.1 (ADM1) to choose one of the best available. The two procedures chosen are elemental analysis and conversion of Activated sludge Model (ASM) output to ADM1 input variables (ASM2ADM interface) given by John B. Copp, 2003. The Matlab code for elemental analysis was developed to facilitate computation and a c-file of the ASM2ADM interface was provided by the department of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation, Lund University Sweden. Both of these methods have been used in the collection of wastewater data from various locations and the demand for chemical oxygen (COD) after separation compared to experimental results. In almost all cases total fractionated COD from ASM2ADM interface was approximately equal to experimental COD. While as fractionation by elemental analysis shows variation from experimental value. Linear curve fitting was done between experimental COD and fractionated COD to check their equivalency. The elemental analysis method has lower value of coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.5468) than ASM2ADM interface (R2 = 0.9453). Based on the model requirements, it was concluded that ASM2ADM interface is the best option for influent characterization. Apart from obtaining good correlation with experimental COD, it provides all input variables for implementation of ADM1. While elemental analysis provide fewer fractionation and hence assumption of other input variables is must leading to deviation from actual model features. Features of both methods are also discussed in the paper.

Expectativas de la planeación financiera para el retiro de padres de familia

La transición demográfica por la que está atravesando México le impondrá a esta nación grandes desafíos, ya que se proyecta que el número de adultos mayores aumentará significativamente en las próximas décadas. La seguridad económica de ese grupo etario es uno de esos desafíos que podría ser enfrentado a través de la planeación financiera que las personas hayan realizado en momentos oportunos a lo largo de su vida. Método: Esta investigación es cuantitativa, transversal y correlacional. Mediante cuatro modelos de regresión lineal múltiple se analizó la relación entre las expectativas de la planeación financiera para el retiro, el conocimiento financiero autopercibido para la etapa de retiro, claridad de las metas financieras en la etapa de retiro, la perspectiva del futuro y la influencia de los padres. Para ello se empleó el cuestionario diseñado por Koposko, Bojórquez, Pérez y Hershey el cual consta de cinco variables latentes medidas a través de 16 ítems con una escala Likert de siete puntos y que se validó anteriormente en el contexto en el que se realizó esta investigación. El cuestionario se aplicó a una muestra no probabilística de padres de familia de estudiantes universitarios de nuevo ingreso de los departamentos de Ingeniería Industrial y Ciencias Económico-Administrativas del Tecnológico Nacional de México en Celaya. Resultados: Las expectativas de la planeación financiera para el retiro dependen del conocimiento financiero autopercibido y este, a su vez, de la claridad de las metas financieras en la etapa de retiro. Por otro lado, la perspectiva del futuro determina la claridad de las metas financieras en la etapa de retiro. La influencia de los padres de los participantes de esta investigación, por su parte, impacta de forma positiva en la perspectiva del futuro. Discusión: Algunos de los hallazgos de esta investigación coinciden con la literatura existente, sin embargo, es necesario profundizar en el estudio de este modelo en diferentes contextos y con otros grupos etarios de manera que sea posible contribuir en el fomento de la planeación financiera para el retiro, considerando la influencia que en ese aspecto ejercen los padres y madres de familia ya que de esa manera se podría impulsar la seguridad económica en la vejez.

Dynamic Maneuverability Analysis: A Preliminary Application on an Autonomous Underwater Reconfigurable Vehicle

Since the development of the first autonomous underwater vehicles, the demanded tasks for subsea operations have become more and more challenging as, for instance, intervention, maintenance and repair of seabed installations, in addition to surveys. As a result, the development of autonomous underwater reconfigurable vehicles (AURVs) with the capability of interacting with the surrounding environment and autonomously changing the configuration, according to the task at hand, can represent a real breakthrough in underwater system technologies. Driven by these considerations, an innovative AURV has been designed by the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Florence (named as UNIFI DIEF AURV), capable of efficiently reconfiguring its shape according to the task at hand. In particular, the UNIFI DIEF AURV has been provided with two extreme configurations: a slender (“survey”) configuration for long navigation tasks, and a stocky (“hovering”) configuration designed for challenging goals as intervention operations. In order to observe the several dynamic features for the two different configurations, a novel formulation for the dynamic maneuverability analysis (DMA) of an AURV, adapting Yoshikawa’s well-known manipulability theory for robotic arms, is proposed in this work. More specifically, we introduce a novel analysis which relates the vehicle body-fixed accelerations with the rotational speed of each thruster, taking into account also the AURV dynamic model for each configuration and the propulsion system.