Long-range Positioning Research Articles

An automated framework for long-range acoustic positioning of autonomous underwater vehicles

An automated method was developed to align underwater acoustic receptions at various depths and ranges to a single reference prediction of long range acoustic arrival structure as it evolves with range in order to determine source-receiver range. Acoustic receptions collected by four autonomous underwater vehicles deployed in the Philippine Sea as part of an ocean acoustic propagation experiment were used to demonstrate the method. The arrivals were measured in the upper 1000 m of the ocean at ranges up to 700 km from five moored, low frequency broadband acoustic tomography sources. Acoustic arrival time structure for pulse compressed signals at long ranges is relatively stable, yet real ocean variability presents challenges in acoustic arrival matching. The automated method takes advantage of simple projections of the measured structure onto the model space that represents all possible pairings of measured peaks to predicted eigenrays and minimizes the average travel-time offset across selected pairings. Compared to ranging results obtained by manual acoustic arrival matching, 93% of the automatically-obtained range estimates were within 75 m of the manually-obtained range estimates. Least squares residuals from positioning estimates using the automatically-obtained ranges with a fault detection scheme were 55 m root-mean-square.

Solution to Long-Range Continuous and Precise Positioning in Deep Ocean for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Using Acoustic Range Estimation and Inertial Sensor Measurements

Solution to Long-Range Continuous and Precise Positioning in Deep Ocean for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Using Acoustic Range Estimation and Inertial Sensor Measurements

Improving the Stochastic Model of Ionospheric Delays for BDS Long-Range Real-Time Kinematic Positioning

Although ionosphere-free (IF) combination is usually employed in long-range precise positioning, in order to employ the knowledge of the spatiotemporal ionospheric delays variations and avoid the difficulty in choosing the IF combinations in case of triple-frequency data processing, using uncombined observations with proper ionospheric constraints is more beneficial. Yet, determining the appropriate power spectral density (PSD) of ionospheric delays is one of the most important issues in the uncombined processing, as the empirical methods cannot consider the actual ionosphere activities. The ionospheric delays derived from actual dual-frequency phase observations contain not only the real-time ionospheric delays variations, but also the observation noise which could be much larger than ionospheric delays changes over a very short time interval, so that the statistics of the ionospheric delays cannot be retrieved properly. Fortunately, the ionospheric delays variations and the observation noise behave in different ways, i.e., can be represented by random-walk and white noise process, respectively, so that they can be separated statistically. In this paper, we proposed an approach to determine the PSD of ionospheric delays for each satellite in real-time by denoising the ionospheric delay observations. Based on the relationship between the PSD, observation noise and the ionospheric observations, several aspects impacting the PSD calculation are investigated numerically and the optimal values are suggested. The proposed approach with the suggested optimal parameters is applied to the processing of three long-range baselines of 103 km, 175 km and 200 km with triple-frequency BDS data in both static and kinematic mode. The improvement in the first ambiguity fixing time (FAFT), the positioning accuracy and the estimated ionospheric delays are analysed and compared with that using empirical PSD. The results show that the FAFT can be shortened by at least 8% compared with using a unique empirical PSD for all satellites although it is even fine-tuned according to the actual observations and improved by 34% compared with that using PSD derived from ionospheric delay observations without denoising. Finally, the positioning performance of BDS three-frequency observations shows that the averaged FAFT is 226 s and 270 s, and the positioning accuracies after ambiguity fixing are 1 cm, 1 cm and 3 cm in the East, North and Up directions for static and 3 cm, 3 cm and 6 cm for kinematic mode, respectively.

Analysis and experimental comparison of range-based control for dual-stage nanopositioners

In this paper, a novel range-based control algorithm for dual-stage nanopositioners is studied. Dual-stage nanopositioning systems have the powerful ability to achieve high-speed and long-range positioning by coupling a short-range, high-speed actuator with a long-range, low-speed actuator. One of the drawbacks of currently implemented control algorithms is that they tend to determine control allocation to the individual actuators based on the frequency of the desired motion. This can result in reduced positioning resolution and increased energy use, thus motivating this work on a control algorithm that considers range. The range-based algorithm allows the user to allocate control efforts to the individual actuators based on their range capabilities. This paper discusses the analysis, design, and implementation of the range-based control algorithm and highlights its benefits by experimentally comparing it to four other widely used dual-stage positioner control algorithms. Experimental results show that the method effectively splits control effort between the actuators based on range and results in reduced tracking error.

Bringing real-time traceability to high-speed atomic force microscopy

In recent years, there has been growth in the development of high-speed AFMs, which offer the possibility of video rate scanning and long-range scanning over several hundred micrometres. However, until recently these instruments have been lacking full traceable metrology. In this paper traceable metrology, using optical interferometry, has been added to an open-loop contact-mode high-speed AFM to provide traceability both for short-range video rate images and large-area scans made using a combination of a high-speed dual-axis scanner and long-range positioning system. Using optical interferometry to determine stages’ positions and cantilever displacement enables the direct formation of images, obviating the need for complex post-processing corrections to compensate for lateral stage error. The application of metrology increases the spatial accuracy and linearisation of the high-speed AFM measurements, enabling the generation of very large traceable composite images.

Multi-time Scale Control of Dual-Stage Nanopositioning Systems

In this paper, a novel multi-time scale control technique is applied to a serial dual-stage nanopositioning system. Dual-stage nanopositioning systems combine a high-speed, short-range actuator and a low-speed, long-range actuator to achieve long-range and high-speed positioning. This results in a system that has relatively complicated dynamics due to the physical interaction between the two actuators and their different time-scales. In addition, models of these actuators can be ill-conditioned, which can lead to issues with numerical simulations and controller design. These issues make dual-stage nanopositioning systems well suited to multi-time scale control algorithms. In the proposed algorithm, the system is split (decoupled) into a set of subsystems, where each subsystem has an individual time scale and is independently controlled via state feedback. This alleviates the issues associated with ill-conditioning and simplifies controller design. This paper introduces the novel multi-time scale control design concept and its application to single-axis dual-stage nanopositioners - although it can be easily expanded to more complex systems, e.g., multi-axes, nanopositioning devices. The proposed control technique is validated through simulations of an experimentally obtained serially coupled dual-stage nanopositioning model.

Means and Methods for Hydrological–Acoustic Support of High-Precision Long-Range Positioning of Underwater Objects

The article discusses the application of methods and means of general and satellite oceanology for the high-precision acoustic positioning of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) at distances of hundreds of kilometers from control stations. The authors present the results of analyzing their long-term acoustic ranging studies, which revealed the specific features of low-frequency pulsed signal propagation in different hydrological–acoustic conditions in which underwater sound channels (USCs) of different origin form. Special attention is devoted to the possibility and efficiency of using long-term oceanological observation databases to form the spatiotemporal characteristics of USCs in areas for long-range navigation support to AUVs. Additionally, the authors consider the possibilities of sea surface observation by means of satellites to provide the unit that computes the AUV coordinates with data on the integral (effective) sound speed in the near-surface sound channel (NSSC), which forms in winter. The experimental testing results on applying oceanographic technical tools in the Sea of Japan have shown that they improve the accuracy and reliability of AUV navigation support at distances of hundreds of kilometers from coastal control stations. It is been shown that in summer–autumn and winter hydrological conditions, it is possible to determine the AUV coordinates with errors not exceeding hundredths of a percent at distances of hundreds of kilometers.

Photometric Long-Range Positioning of LED Targets for Cooperative Navigation in UAVs

Autonomous flight with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) nowadays depends on the availability and reliability of Global Navigation Satellites Systems (GNSS). In cluttered outdoor scenarios, such as narrow gorges, or near tall artificial structures, such as bridges or dams, reduced sky visibility and multipath effects compromise the quality and the trustworthiness of the GNSS position fixes, making autonomous, or even manual, flight difficult and dangerous. To overcome this problem, cooperative navigation has been proposed: a second UAV flies away from any occluding objects and in line of sight from the first and provides the latter with positioning information, removing the need for full and reliable GNSS coverage in the area of interest. In this work we use high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to signalize the second drone and we present a computer vision pipeline that allows to track the second drone in real-time from a distance up to 100 m and to compute its relative position with decimeter accuracy. This is based on an extension to the classical iterative algorithm for the Perspective-n-Points problem in which the photometric error is minimized according to a image formation model. This extension allow to substantially increase the accuracy of point-feature measurements in image space (up to 0.05 pixels), which directly translates into higher positioning accuracy with respect to conventional methods.

A High Precision Capacitive Linear Displacement Sensor with Time-Grating that Provides Absolute Positioning Capability Based on a Vernier-Type Structure

Nanometer-scale measurement devices with high accuracy and absolute long-range positioning capability are increasingly demanded in the field of computer numerical control machining. To meet this demand, the present report proposes a capacitive absolute linear displacement sensor with time-grating that employs a vernier-type structure based on a previously proposed single-row capacitive sensing structure. The novel proposed vernier-type absolute time-grating (VATG) sensor employs two capacitor rows, each with an equivalent measurement range. The first capacitor row is designed with n periods to realize fine measurement, while the second capacitor row is designed with n − 1 periods, and the phase difference between the second row and the first row is employed to obtain absolute positioning information. A prototype VATG sensor with a total measurement range of 600 mm and n = 150 is fabricated using printed circuit board manufacturing technology, and its measurement performance is evaluated experimentally. Harmonic analysis demonstrates that the measurement error mainly consists of first-harmonic error, which is mostly caused by signal crosstalk. Accordingly, an optimized prototype VATG sensor is fabricated by adding a shielding layer between the two capacitor rows and designing a differential induction structure. Experimental results demonstrate that the measurement error of the optimized prototype sensor is ±1.25 μm over the full 600 mm range and ±0.25 μm over a single 4 mm period.

Robust GPS/BDS/INS tightly coupled integration with atmospheric constraints for long-range kinematic positioning

The combination of new global navigation satellite system (GNSS) has brought great benefits to reliable positioning and ambiguity resolution (AR), especially in restricted environments. However, kinematic positioning over long ranges is still a challenge due to the presence of significant atmospheric uncertainties, which contaminates the AR process. We present a tightly coupled strategy to integrate GNSS and inertial navigation system (INS) by adding ionospheric and tropospheric delay parameters and extending the stepwise AR by applying the partial ambiguity resolution (PAR) strategy. With the aid of INS predictions, the instantaneous AR can be achieved with the proposed atmospheric prediction model, along with a dual-frequency constraint ambiguity validation test. To remove the faults in both dynamic model and measurement model, a robust innovation filtering algorithm is proposed. A field vehicular test was conducted to validate the positioning performance of the proposed algorithm over long ranges. The results show that a reliable positioning solution is obtainable for the global positioning system (GPS)/BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS)/INS integration system with baseline larger than 130 km. The average number of fixable ambiguities reaches 14.43 by applying PAR. In addition, the fixing ratio of having fixed more than three ambiguities reaches 98.57%. The results also indicate that the robust innovation filtering can efficiently detect the discrepancies in the filter.

Assessment of GPS + Galileo and multi-frequency Galileo single-epoch precise positioning with network corrections

Several processing strategies that use dual-frequency GPS-only solution, multi-frequency Galileo-only solution, and finally tightly combined dual-frequency GPS + Galileo solution were tested and analyzed for their applicability to single-epoch long-range precise positioning. In particular, a multi-system GPS + Galileo solution was compared to GPS double-frequency solution as well as to Galileo double-, triple-, and quadruple-frequency solutions. Also, the performance of the strategies was analyzed under clear-sky and obstructed satellite visibility in both single-baseline and multi-baseline modes. The results indicate that tightly combined GPS + Galileo instantaneous positioning has a clear advantage over single-system solutions and provides an accurate and reliable solution. It was also confirmed that application of multi-frequency observations in case of Galileo system has an advantage over a dual-frequency solution.

LED IT 기반의 두 가지 하이브리드 측위 시스템 설계 기법

Two design techniques for more accurate and more convenient hybrid positioning system with visible light communication (VLC) and ad-hoc wireless network infrastructure are proposed, in order to overcome the problems of high estimation error, high cost, and limited service range of the conventional positioning techniques. First method is based on a non-carrier VLC based hybrid positioning technique for applications involving of low data rate optical sensing and narrow-range visible light reception from transmitter, and long-range positioning. The second method uses a 4 MHz carrier VLC-based hybrid positioning technique for a high data rate optical sensing and wide-range visible light receiving from transmitter, and mid-range positioning applications. In indoor environments with obstacles where there are long-range 7731.4cm and mid-range 2368cm distances between an observer and a target respectively, the hybrid positioning developed with two design techniques are tested, and the proposed system is verified and analyzed in this paper.

Two hybrid positioning system design techniques with lighting LEDs and ad-hoc wireless network

Two design techniques for more accurate and more convenient hybrid positioning system with visible light communication (VLC) and ad-hoc wireless network infrastructure are proposed, in order to overcome the problems of high estimation error, high cost, and limited service range of the conventional positioning techniques. First method is based on a non-carrier VLC based hybrid positioning technique for applications involving of low data rate optical sensing and narrow-range visible light reception from transmitter, and long-range positioning. The second method uses a 4 MHz carrier VLC-based hybrid positioning technique for a high data rate optical sensing and wide-range visible light receiving from transmitter, and midrange positioning applications. In indoor environments with obstacles where there are longrange 77.314m and mid-range 23.68m distances between an observer and a target respectively, the hybrid positioning systems developed with two design techniques are tested, and measured results are analyzed and presented in this paper.

Promise of a Better Position

Industrial automation today is an essential technology underlying our modern society. Advanced positioning and sensor feedback tasks in automation processes often require distance displacement detection, e.g., to measure and track the movement of robots. Furthermore, the detection of mechanical stress in complex industrial machinery through an accurate vibration analysis is often a task of major interest. Therefore, high-resolution distance measurements with short- and long-range positioning are important for a large number of sensing applications and can also be used as a precondition for vibrometer applications. Several automation technologies rely on high precision positioning sensors to track linear as well as rotational movements of various machinery.

중·장기선 GPS L1 상대측위에서 격자형 지역 전리층 모델 적용에 따른 측위 정확도 영향 평가

The ionospheric delay is the largest error source in GPS positioning after the SA effect has been turned off. The ionospheric error can be easily removed by using ionospheric-free combinations but it is only restricted for dual-frequency receivers. Therefore, in this study, the regional ionospheric grid model was developed for single-frequency receivers. The developed model was compared with GIM to validate its accuracy. As a result, it yielded RMSE of 3.8 TECU for 10 days. And L1 medium- and long-range relative positioning was performed to evaluate positioning accuracy improvements. The positioning accuracy was improved by 46.7% compared with that without any correction of ionosphere and troposphere and was improved by 14.5% compared with that only tropospheric correction.

Genomic Organization of Evolutionarily Correlated Genes in Bacteria: Limits and Strategies

The need for efficient molecular interplay in time and space within a cell imposes strong constraints that could be partially relaxed if relative gene positions along chromosomes were appropriate. Comparative genomics studies have demonstrated the short-scale conservation of gene proximity along bacterial chromosomes. Additionally, the long-range periodic positioning of evolutionarily correlated genes within Escherichia coli has recently been highlighted. To gain further insight into these different genetic organizations, we examined the compromise between chromosomal proximity and periodicity for all available eubacterial genomes by evaluating groups of evolutionarily correlated genes from a benchmark data set.In enterobacteria, strict chromosomal proximity is found to be limited to groups under 20 genes, whereas periodicity is significant in all groups over 50. The E. coli K12 genome bears 511 periodic genes (12% of the genome), whose orthologs are found to be periodic in all eubacterial phyla. These periodic genes predominantly function in macromolecular synthesis and spatial organization of cellular components. They are enriched in essential and housekeeping genes and tend to often be constitutively expressed.On this basis, it is argued that chromosomal proximity and periodicity are ubiquitous complementary genomic strategies that favor the build-up of local concentrations of co-functional molecules. In particular, the periodic layout may facilitate chromosome folding to spatially organize the construction of major cell components. The transition at 20 genes is reminiscent of the size of the longest operons and of topological microdomains. The range for which DNA neighborhood optimizes biochemical interactions might therefore be defined by DNA topology.

Active Vibration Suppression Based on Intelligent Control for a Long-Range Ultra-Precise Positioning System

Vibration is a significant factor that influences the performance of the long-range ultra-precise positioning system. Due to the intense nonlinearity and parameter uncertainties, it is difficult to eliminate the vibration by using a conventional PID controller. In this paper, the intelligent PID controller based on BP neural network with the ability of self-learning and strong robustness is introduced into the positioning system. Simulation and experiment are conducted and the results show that the vibration is effectively suppressed and the positioning accuracy has reached within 5.8nm.

Modeling of Piezoelectric-Driven Stick–Slip Actuators

Piezoelectric-driven stick-slip actuators have been drawing extensive attention in various applications of long-range and ultraprecision positioning. In such an actuator, the dynamics of the end-effector displacement is of importance for its design and control, yet challenging to be modeled due to the complexity involved. By taking into account the linear dynamics and hysteretic behavior of the piezoelectric actuator (PEA), as well as the presliding friction on the end-effector, a model representative of the end-effector displacement is presented in this paper. The effectiveness of the developed model is illustrated by the experiments on the piezoelectric-driven stick-slip actuator prototyped in the authors' laboratory.

The Characteristics of Variable Speed Inchworm Stage Using Lever Mechanism by Different Materials

Currently, piezoelectric actuators which have attractive features such as high output force, high positioning resolution, high stiffness and quick response have been used in many ultra precision stages. But their positioning ranges are very small. This very limited displacement severely restricts the actuator's immediate implementation for long-range positioning. This paper shows a variable speed inchworm type stage with hinge structures as lever mechanism for nanometer resolution with large dynamic range and studies on characteristics of it. The inchworm stage has hinge structure levers which can shift their pivot position. And it can amplify/reduce output displacement using mechanical advantage with a lever. Especially we suggest guide-line of design according this work that was performed using different materials of stages (Aluminium and Stainless Steel). As the results of simulations, the larger lever ratio is, the smaller stiffness of lever portion is. As the results of experiments, when we input voltage into the inchworm stage, output displacement of each lever is different according to material. Hysteresis of stage could also present that grow according as lever rate rises and stiffness of material. In the case of feeding speed, Aluminium with less hardness showed excellent responsiveness, hence excellent feed performance results.

Multi-scale ordering of self-assembled InAs/GaAs(001) quantum dots

Ordering phenomena related to the self-assembly of InAs quantum dots (QD) grown on GaAs(001) substrates are experimentally investigated on different length scales. On the shortest length-scale studied here, we examine the QD morphology and observe two types of QD shapes, i.e., pyramids and domes. Pyramids are elongated along the [1-10] directions and are bounded by {137} facets, while domes have a multi-facetted shape. By changing the growth rates, we are able to control the size and size homogeneity of freestanding QDs. QDs grown by using low growth rate are characterized by larger sizes and a narrower size distribution. The homogeneity of buried QDs is measured by photoluminescence spectroscopy and can be improved by low temperature overgrowth. The overgrowth induces the formation of nanostructures on the surface. The fabrication of self-assembled nanoholes, which are used as a template to induce short-range positioning of QDs, is also investigated. The growth of closely spaced QDs (QD molecules) containing 2–6 QDs per QD molecule is discussed. Finally, the long-range positioning of self-assembled QDs, which can be achieved by the growth on patterned substrates, is demonstrated. Lateral QD replication observed during growth of three-dimensional QD crystals is reported.