Proprietary Software Packages Research Articles

Parallel Robots with Adaptronic Components

Performance in high-speed mechanisms can be increased by means of a lightweight design. But, quite often, the resulting structures have the drawback of being susceptible to vibrations. This can be overcome by applying a smart-structures technology. In this work, an application to parallel mechanisms is presented, in which undesired vibrations are reduced by integrated piezoceramic (PZT) actuators and sensors, which are driven by a proper control system. As a basis for the development of suitable control laws, a proper simulation approach is to be used which is capable to model the mechanism’s dynamic behavior correctly, taking into account large motions. The multibody approach fulfills these requisites. The paper deals with the development of a fast C++-coded S-function in MATLAB/SIMULINK for a “five revolute joint” mechanism chosen as a test platform. This routine incorporates a multibody model with changing states. The flexibility of the bodies is taken into account in a modal form. The corresponding parameters are read from data files which can be generated by suitable preprocessors of proprietary multibody software packages like SIMPACK. The created model is compared with an equivalent SIMPACK-model and an interpolation-based control strategy is discussed.

Integration of Microsoft Windows applications with MDSplus data acquisition on the National Spherical Torus Experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Data acquisition on the National Spherical Torus Experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has increasingly involved the use of Personal Computers and specially developed ‘turn-key’ hardware and software systems to control diagnostics. Interaction with these proprietary software packages is accomplished through use of Visual Basic, or Visual C++ and Component Object Model ( com) technology. com is a software architecture that allows the components made by different software vendors to be combined into a variety of applications. This technology is particularly well suited to these systems because of its programming language independence, standards for function calling between components, and ability to transparently reference remote processes. com objects make possible the creation of acquisition software that can control the experimental parameters of both the hardware and software. Synchronization of these applications for diagnostics, such as charged couple device cameras and residual gas analyzers, with the rest of the experiment event cycle at PPPL has been made possible by utilization of the MDSplus libraries for Windows. Instead of transferring large data files to remote disk space, Windows MDSplus events and I/O functions allow us to put raw data into MDSplus directly from interactive data language for Windows and Visual Basic. The combination of com technology and the MDSplus libraries for Windows provide the tools for many new possibilities in versatile acquisition applications and future diagnostics.

The development of a railway dynamics modelling and simulation package to cater for current industrial trends

A number of proprietary software packages, focusing on predicting the dynamic behaviour of railway vehicles, have been developed over the last 30 years. These packages have gained wide acceptance within the industry, since they shorten the design cycle and avoid the need for extensive field testing. The current trend within the industry to move towards to the development of vehicles with mechatronic systems and non-standard vehicles, has highlighted the shortcomings of many of these packages. Parallel developments in the software industry have led to the adoption of object-oriented and knowledge-based techniques. These techniques aid the human thought process; it is convenient to think of a railway vehicle as an assembly of many objects: bogies, axles, etc. This paper describes the development of a new software tool, based upon these techniques, which is intended to highlight many of these advantages.

AN APPRAISAL OF EMPIRICAL MODELING AND PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE DATABASES FOR PERFORMANCE PREDICTION OF MACHINING OPERATIONS

In this paper the importance of quantitatively reliable technological machining performance measures and their influence on the economic performance of machining operations has been demonstrated. It has been shown that since F.W. Taylor's time these technological performance measures were required to select cutting conditions which optimise the economic performance of machining operations and that the trend to use ‘recommended’ rather than economic ‘optimal’ cutting conditions can result in significant economic penalties which need to be eliminated. The ‘empirical’ approach and equations developed since Taylor's seminal paper are reviewed as are some computerised technological machining performance databases incorporated in modem proprietary software packages. The various strategies used to minimise the amount of testing required to establish the comprehensive sets of ‘empirical’ equations in manuals and handbooks published in the U.S.A., China and Russia are described and the penalties in the quantitative reliability of the predictions discussed. Two computerised machining performance databases are explored, the ‘short cuts’ identified and the plausibility of the predictions discussed. While the mathematical form of the ‘empirical’ equations in those databases could be considered plausible the values of the exponents and constants in the equations, which greatly affect the quantitative reliability of the performance predictions, can be considered dubious for the drilling databases. It is shown that a ‘large gap’ exists between the development of reliable technological machining performance databases and the selection of cutting conditions which optimize the economic performance of machining operations advocated by Taylor since 1907.

Engineering and Survey-Exchange Standard Engineering Data Format: Standard Engineering Data Format

Data exchange, sharing, and archiving are universal problems for departments of transportation (DOTs) and the consulting industry. Unlike computer-aided design, for which translators have been in place for years, engineering data lack universal standards to enable electronic exchange. The lack of standards means that the civil and transportation engineering data are proprietary. Thus, in most cases, manual transcribing is required to share data from division to division or from department to consultant. In addition, archiving this information puts the DOT at risk of not being able to use this information in the future. A consortium of DOTs, consultants, and vendors was formed in June 1998 to define, document, prototype, and disseminate standard engineering data formats. This nonproprietary file format, Engineering and Survey-Exchange (EAS-E), will enable vendors to provide importing and exporting engines within their proprietary software products that will survive the test of time. EAS-E will foster a more efficient project work flow by DOTs, surveyors, design consultants, owner’s construction staff, and construction contractors. The data of primary interest are horizontal alignments, vertical alignments, coordinate geometry, cross sections, and surface data. Suggested formats for these data are presented.

Trends in surface roughness

The recent past of roughness measurement and characterisation is briefly reviewed and some interesting unresolved problems are discussed.Gaps in the present instrumental coverage of range-resolution space are identified.Progress of in-process and inspection techniques is reviewed, and it is noted that existing measurement techniques are restricted to single-valued surfaces.The lack of compatibility of proprietary software packages is deplored and timely development of soft gauges is advocated. Support is expressed for current proposals for a consolidated 3D parameter set. Finally two remaining problem areas of 3D characterisation are identified as the description of lay and the connectedness of surface features.

Using 3-D Earth Modeling Technology to Revitalize Development in the Gulf of Mexico's West Delta 117 Field : ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT The West Delta 117 field is an intensely faulted graben structure with numerous stacked pay sands trapped against east-west trending faults. In early 1995, the production from this field was in steep decline and the field was projected to become uneconomic by 1997. In an attempt to identify new drill opportunities and reverse the production decline, a 6-month project was undertaken to reinterpret ten horizons within a 914.4 m (3000 ft.) interval in the deeper lower Pliocene section using a more efficient workflow, including 3-dimensional (3-D) earth modeling technology. Interpretation of the complexly faulted structure was aided by combining a number of vendor and proprietary software packages into an improved integrated workflow. Using this workflow, a detailed geologic model that incorporated fault-to-fault relationships and fault-horizon intersections was developed. This model, based on 3-D seismic interpretation and validated by visualization software, was used as the framework to build detailed computer generated structure maps, isopachs, and cross sections. The interpretation was used to design a strategic delineation well which was drilled in 1996 targeting multiple objectives. The well not only proved up new reserves, but also defined a new geologic feature into which three additional wells are planned to be drilled. The use of 3-D modeling technology has played a critical role in revitalizing this 35 year-old field.

Staff Usage of Information Technology in a Faculty of Higher Education: a Survey and Case Study

Although information technology (IT) is playing an increasing role in education, little research has been done on its use by academics in higher education. A questionnaire was sent to 125 members of a university faculty of education and community studies concerning their use of IT. The number of replies received totalled 71, 58 of them from IT users. Respondents made use of IT for a variety of teaching, research and administrative purposes. Many had purchased machines of their own and used a wide range of proprietary software packages, though very few did any original programming. Attitudes to IT were generally utilitarian and pragmatic.

Software

Lucas Datalab has just announced the introduction of additional software packages which, the company says, means that they can now help to establish almost any size of test facility, from small PC-based systems to powerful mainframe-driven projects. The latest additions to the software range are the ‘Medusa’ and ‘Spiders’ packages. ‘Medusa’ has been designed to provide a ‘complete solution’ for high-speed data acquisition and analysis within a personal computer environment. A typical Datalab PC-based, multichannel waveform capture system comprises the Multitrap DL6000 modular high-speed data acquisition subsystem, a GPIB interface for data transfer, an IBM PC or compatible, and the Medusa III applications software. Medusa IIP will also control the stand-alone DL1200 high-resolution multichannel recorder series. Mouse driven, the new package provides up to 12 separate viewing windows for waveform data, dual cursors for on-screen measurement, waveform arithmetic FFT analysis and outputs for a plotter and printer. In addition Medusa's Export file allows data files to be converted into formats acceptable to other proprietary software packages such as DADiSP and ASYST. Pafec ‘Spiders’ is a suite of software packages that will operate on a variety of leading UNIX workstations, such as Sun, HP-Apollo, IBM and DEC, which Datalab claims will satisfy the most demanding performance criteria. ‘Spiders’ provides powerful analysis features for advanced time and spectral processing and is suitable for both general purpose and specific digital signal processing. The software package offers analysis capabilities, including digital filtering, FFT, transfer function computation, integration and differentiation as well as report-quality data plotting and output routines. ‘Spiders’ can also be extended to include a rotating machinery package, providing the means to investigate mass imbalance behaviour, bearing and gear wear and a modal analysis and F E correlation package which can be used for the analysis of structural dynamic behaviour.

An Integrated Approach to Control Analysis and Design

The last few years have seen an increasing trend in the use of computer-based technology for automation and process-control problems. Modern computer-based control systems must be user-friendly, flexible and easily configurable. The use of mass-storage devices with this technology permits the storage of copious quantities of historical plant data. This facility presents the control engineer with an ideal mechanism for performing process-analysis, simulation and control system design. This paper outlines an integrated system which permits an inexperienced user to engineer a computer-based process-control system within a few man days, while at the same time providing the control engineer with access to a set of sophisticated analysis and design tools. The computer system comprises a real-time database, software for communication with front-end input/output equipment, a configurable man-machine interface and a comprehensive logging subsystem for the long-term storage of plant data. A remote access facility allows networking to foreign intelligent devices such as IBM PC's and provides secure access to the real-time database and historical logfiles. Formatted transfer of logfile data to the foreign computers allows the use of proprietary software packages for process study, modelling, system identification and multivariable control system design. This networking facility reduces the necessity for higher level control functions such as optimisation to be implemented in the central process computer.

Approximation methods for networks of queues with priorities

Queuing network models are commonly used to analyze the performance of computer system. Unfortunately, the class of queuing network models which can be exactly analyzed excludes CPU priority scheduling disciplines, conspicuously present in most computer systems. A popular approximation technique which we denote the reduced occupancy approximation, is often used to analyze such priority service disciplines because of its simplicity and intuitive appeal. However, despite its widespread use, questions about its accuracy and applicability have received very little attention. Further compounding this situation, is the existence of proprietary software packages which purport to analyze such priority disciplines, but which in fact exhibit behavior remarkably similar to the roa. In this paper we show where, and more importantly why, the roa fails. This understanding leads to a significantly improved approximation technique which sacrifices neither simplicity nor applicability. Although our primary focus is on a two class preemptive priority closed network structure, the basic idea is quite general and extensions to multiclass and nonpreemptive priority structures are indicated.