Reference Generator Research Articles

Commissioning and first results of an x-band LLRF system for TEX test facility at LNF-INFN

In the framework of LATINO project (Laboratory in Advanced Technologies for INnOvation) funded by Lazio regional government, the commissioning of the TEst stand for X-band (TEX) facility has started in 2021 at Frascati National Laboratories of INFN. Born as a collaboration with CERN to test high gradient accelerating structures, during 2022 TEX aims at feeding the first EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB X-band structure prototype. During 2021 the commissioning has been successfully carried out up to 48 MW. The power unit is driven by an X-band low level RF system, that employs a commercial S-band (2.856 GHz) Libera digital LLRF (manufactured by Instrumentation Technologies), with an up/down conversion stage and a reference generation and distribution system able to produce coherent frequencies for the American S-band and European X-band (11.994 GHz), both designed and realized at LNF. The performance of the system, with a particular focus on amplitude and phase resolution, together with klystron and driver amplifier jitter measurements, will be reviewed in this paper. Moreover, considerations on its suitability and main limitations in view of EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB project will be discussed.

A customized control and readout device for vector magnetometers based on nitrogen-vacancy centers.

A customized control and readout device, which is developed to perform real-time measurement for vector magnetometers based on nitrogen-vacancy centers, is presented in this paper. A dual-channel analog-to-digital-converter chip, which has a 25 MSa/s sampling rate and a 16 bits amplitude resolution, is integrated for analog signal acquisition. The data processing and the system control are realized using a Xilinx Kirtex-7 field-programmable-gate-array chip. Eight independent lock-in modules, a four-channel proportional-integral-derivative controller, a reference generator, and a vector field reconstruction module are integrated with the Kirtex-7 device in order to perform the real-time vector magnetic field measurement. The device has a bright future to be applied in practical applications.

Using A. I. for the generation of visual references in digital audio games from the perspective of sound design

The aim of this article is to examine the application of artificial intelligence in producing visual references during the development of a digital game. These references are a standard inclusion in Game Design Documents or Art Design Documents and are typically displayed as mood boards. In this article, we will discuss sound design and how artificial intelligence, mainly Bing utilizing Dall-E and Midjourney, can produce images that cater to the requirements of a particular game. One of the primary issues we will explore is the efficiency of using artificial intelligence in this creative process in terms of speed, accuracy, efficacy, creativity and how the resulting content compares with human-generated content. One objective is to examine how artificial intelligence can produce visual references that exemplify more detailed sound groups, such as ambiences or interactive sounds linked with specific in-game activities. These visual references will undergo testing within a digital game presently under development, thus achieving validation through real-world application. The game’s genre is an audio game with no standard graphics or interface, tailored to the needs of players with visual impairments. For that reason, generating visual references remains the sole approach to comprehending the actual game environment.

The “southeastern Europe” lineage of the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus (sensu lato) identified as Rhipicephalus rutilus Koch, 1844: Comparison with holotype and generation of mitogenome reference from Israel

The brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus (sensu lato) in the southeastern Mediterranean region and the Middle East is difficult to identify due to the presence of multiple mitochondrial DNA haplogroup lineages. The purpose of this study was to clarify the identity of the “southeastern Europe” lineage of this tick species complex. Our research shows that female ticks of the “southeastern Europe” lineage correspond to the morphology of R. rutilus Koch, 1844 as found in type-material at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in Germany. We characterised the complete mitogenomes of R. rutilus, R. turanicus Pomerantsev, 1940 and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) in order to improve our understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among species within the R. sanguineus (sensu lato) complex. The material associated with the morphology of R. rutilus was previously labelled as the “southeastern Europe” lineage and found in Israel and Egypt, including Lower Egypt and the Nile Delta, where the original type-material was collected. Based on the morphology, genetic identity, and geographical distribution of the species, we conclude that the name R. rutilus is correctly linked to the “southeastern Europe” lineage of R. sanguineus (sensu lato).

Third-Harmonic-Type Modulation Minimizing the DC-Link Energy Storage Requirement of Isolated Phase-Modular Three-Phase PFC Rectifier Systems

A three-phase ac/dc converter with high-frequency isolation can be realized as a monolithic three-phase or as a phase-modular system by combining three single-phase Power Factor Correction (PFC) rectifier modules with individual isolated dc-dc converters. Advantageously, for a phase-modular system the module configuration can be changed depending on the instantaneous input-output voltage ratio (i.e., a star-(Y)- or a delta-(Δ)-arrangement such that wide voltage ranges can be covered without a massive over-dimensioning of the main power components. However, the main disadvantage of a phase-modular converter realization is the fact that the input power of each PFC rectifier module pulsates at twice the mains frequency (which is inherent to single-phase power conversion) such that large dc-link capacitors are required. Recent literature predicts a substantial power pulsation reduction enabled by means of third-(3 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rd</sup> )-harmonic injection modulation which is applicable for the Y-connection (where a common-mode (CM) / zero-sequence (ZS) voltage is injected), and for the Δ-connection of the three single-phase PFC rectifier modules (where a CM / ZS current is injected). This changes the distribution of the power flow in the three-phase system and the power pulsation is shifted to higher frequencies. This paper experimentally verifies and extends the dc-link energy storage requirement reduction of the 3 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rd</sup> -harmonic injection modulation concept: In a first step, the derivation of the harmonic injection concept is recapitulated and suitable control methods are discussed for both CM voltage (Y-arrangement) and CM current (Δ-arrangement) injection. Further, an alternative CM voltage injection strategy with simplified reference generation based only on the instantaneous grid voltage measurements is presented and compared to the pure 3 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rd</sup> -harmonic injection modulation. Measurement results obtained from a 6 kW prototype reveal a dc-link voltage variation and/or energy buffering reduction by up to 38.6 % enabled by the harmonic injection modulation compared to conventional operation without 3 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rd</sup> -harmonic injection modulation.

Experimental Assessment of Generalised Super-Twisting Control for Optimal Reference Tracking in Wave Energy Systems

Maximising wave energy extraction is essential for the successful operation of wave energy converters, and appropriate control strategies play a vital role in achieving this objective. This paper presents a control scheme for an experimental wave energy converter setup. The strategy combines an optimal moment-based reference generation technique with a higher-order sliding mode tracking controller, which provides robust tracking of the associated reference, regardless of the uncertainty present in the experimental operation. The device is tested with two different irregular sea states, and results show that the control structure effectively deals with the system's underlying uncertainty, achieving excellent tracking performance while guiding the system to the corresponding surface following the theoretical phase plot convergence. Furthermore, the comparison with a PID tracking control structure indicates that a proper modification of the tracking element of the loop can improve energy extraction. Finally, consistent tracking error and phase plot evolution behaviour are observed for both sea states.

Distributed Adaptive Leader-Following Consensus for Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Actuator Failures Under Directed Switching Graphs.

This article studies the distributed adaptive failures compensation output-feedback consensus for a class of nonlinear multiagent systems (MASs) with multiactuator failures allowing unmatched redundancy under directed switching graphs. With estimated information of neighbors, a novel distributed reference generator is designed. To compensate the unmeasured state variables of each agent, a reduced-order dynamic gain filter is constructed. Based on the generator and filter, and using the recursive design method, a distributed adaptive protocol is designed, where the adaptive technique is used to compensate the actuator failures. The proposed scheme can significantly relax conditions on the communication graph, which allows the graph to be disconnected at any time instant. The number of introduced variables in the filter and its dimension is greatly reduced and, thus, reduces the numerical challenge. The output-feedback consensus for nonlinear MASs with actuator failures and possible unmatched actuator redundancy is addressed for the first time. The consensus error can converge to an arbitrarily small set not affected by actuator failures, and the resulting closed-loop system is semiglobally stable. Finally, simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Pacejka-Like Curve-Based Speed Reference Generators for Electric Vehicles Powered by in-Wheel Motors

Recently, motor speed reference generators have been designed for the cruise control of electric vehicles with either centralized electric motors (straight manoeuvres) or in-wheel motors (bend manoeuvres with sufficiently small constant steering angles). Steady-state operation at a safe (though conservative) tire longitudinal slip can be achieved, with no a priori knowledge regarding the occurrence of a specific external condition. Here, an innovative solution is presented. It is based on an ingenious use of Pacejka-like curves – representing the torque current-slip characteristics of the vehicle – to design a new contraction-mapping-based automatic tuning procedure for the longitudinal velocity of the vehicle. Such an innovative procedure overcomes the highly conservative nature of the previous approach in terms of unduly small longitudinal velocities (and yaw rates) under relatively favourable external conditions while guaranteeing a safe operating condition close to the maximum of the torque-slip characteristics with no knowledge of the tire-road adhesion coefficient. Comparative CarSim simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, in the presence of uncertain parameters and complex vehicle dynamics that are neglected at the control design stage.

PLL-Less Active/Reactive Power Control of Photovoltaic Energy Source with Applying pq-Theory in Single-Phase Grid System

Converter systems are applied to manage active/reactive power control of photovoltaic (PV) source during integration with the electric grid system. The control algorithm of the conventional converter system consists of a reference generation unit, a dc-link voltage control loop, two power control loops and a phase lock loop (PLL) system. PLL unit is used to lock in phase angle of the electric grid, and to perform the coordinate transformation for calculations of the active/reactive powers. However, the control algorithm has a slow dynamic response because of utilisation of a PLL structure. In addition, additional complex mathematical computations are required with the use of a PLL algorithm. Furthermore, the interaction of the PLL and the power control loops may lead power oscillation problems under weak grid, and also result in instability of the PV system. In this study, to avoid the aforementioned issues and to enhance the power flow capability of the grid-connected PV panels, a PLL-less control algorithm in pq-theory is studied for the active/reactive power management and the grid synchronization. In addition, the mathematical formulations of the current control algorithm are presented in detail. To show the effectiveness of the PLL-less controller, a PV system model with using real PV panel groups is designed and constructed in a simulation environment. The proposed control method is tested under various operation cases such as dynamic environmental conditions, reactive power support and voltage variations. The proposed method shows efficient performance under applications of the different operation situations.

A Transformerless Railway Power Quality Compensator Based on Cascaded H-Bridge Featuring Reduced Branch Capacity Requirement

Featuring high modularity, scalability and transformerless structure, cascaded H-bridge (CHB) based power quality compensator (PQC) is a promising power quality solution for railway power system (RPS). Firstly, branch rating requirements of the conventional CHB based PQCs for co-phase RPS are analyzed under two typical traction transformer schemes, i.e., the V-v scheme and the Scott scheme. Then, a novel CHB based PQC with a special wiring connection style of the Scott transformer is proposed, which achieves reduced total submodule quantity and total branch capacity compared with the conventional solution in V-v and Scott schemes. In addition, a branch current reference generation method is introduced for both branch energy balancing and power quality regulation, which avoids the complicated zero-sequence circulating current injection issue and thus facilitates controller implementation in practice. The effectiveness of the proposed CHB based PQC and the corresponding control strategy is verified by both simulations and experiments.

Comparison of decision tree based ensemble methods for prediction of photovoltaic maximum current

• Irradiance can be used as a direct reference generator to avoid tracking oscillations. • Extracting the parasitic resistances in Single Diode Model can assess aging. • Solar panel maximum current is directly proportional to irradiance variations. • AdaBoost is sensitive to noisy datasets and extreme outliers. The intermittent nature of the output power of photovoltaic (PV) systems, in addition to the fast-varying solar irradiance, has prompted the development of fast, accurate, and reliable forecasting techniques. This paper presents a comparative study of five ensemble machine learning methods based on bootstrap aggregating and gradient boosting for PV applications, namely AdaBoost, LightGBM, XGBoost, Random Forest, and CatBoost. A dataset of fast-varying environmental conditions was collected, and the terminal current of the experimental setup was augmented by applying a mathematical model, along with an evolutionary algorithm to extract the parasitic resistances found in the Single Diode Model (SDM) to accommodate for the aging effect. The mathematical model was evaluated for several irradiance and temperature levels against manufacturer Standard Test Conditions (STC), and then variations of environmental conditions were adjusted based on the manufacturer datasheet. CatBoost showed the lowest overall absolute error distribution (with respect to the mean and standard deviation) of all methods, and the best performance in terms of the absolute error (0.25%) and its standard deviation (0.85%) relative to the mathematical model. The AdaBoost method had the highest absolute error (34.5%) and a standard deviation of (15.8%). After hyperparameters tuning, CatBoost still outperformed other methods and showed consistency of high accuracy above 99% in performance with respect to a testing dataset, in addition, to having the largest area under the curve using the trapezoidal rule. Therefore, the CatBoost prediction method is expected to be an effective technique for maximum power point tracking schemes under fast-varying environmental conditions.

Reference Generator for a System of Multiple Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper deals with the references generation for a team of unmanned aerial vehicles tethered to a ground station for inspection applications. In order to deploy the team of vehicles in a suitable location to cover the largest area, each vehicle is commanded to securely navigate in an area of interest while it is tethered to another vehicle or to a ground station. To generate the corresponding reference for each vehicle, we used a model predictive controller, which optimizes the desired trajectory based on the mission-defined constraints. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy, we conducted a simulation and experimental tests with a team of consumer unmanned aerial vehicles tethered to a ground station.

EGM: An Efficient Generative Model for Unrestricted Adversarial Examples

Unrestricted adversarial examples allow the attacker to start attacks without given clean samples, which are quite aggressive and threatening. However, existing works for generating unrestricted adversary examples are quite inefficient and cannot achieve a high success rate. In this article, we explore an end-to-end and effective solution for unrestricted adversary example generation. To stabilize the training process and make our generative model converge to satisfactory results, we design a novel decoupled two-step efficient generative model (EGM), which contains a conditional reference generator and a conditional adversarial transformer. The former is responsible for generating reference samples from noises and source classes. The latter is responsible for converting the reference sample into adversarial examples corresponding to target classes. To improve the success rate, we design a new strategy, augmentation of adversarial labels to produce dynamic target labels and enhance the exploration ability of EGM. Such a strategy can be also applied to existing attacks to improve their attack success rates, which is of independent interest. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate our proposed model and demonstrate the necessity of decoupling the generation process in EGM. Experimental results show our EGM is much faster and achieves a higher success rate than the state-of-the-art attacks.

Vehicle Teleoperation: Human in the Loop Performance Comparison of Smith Predictor with Novel Successive Reference-Pose Tracking Approach

Vehicle teleoperation has the ability to bridge the gap between completely automated driving and manual driving by remotely monitoring and operating autonomous vehicles when their automation fails. Among many challenges related to vehicle teleoperation, the considered ones in this work are variable time delay, saturation of actuators installed in vehicle, and environmental disturbance, which together limit the teleoperation performance. State-of-the-art predictive techniques estimate vehicle states to compensate for the delays, but the predictive states do not account for sudden disturbances that the vehicle observes, which makes the human-picked steer inadequate. This inadequacy of steer deteriorates the path-tracking performance of vehicle teleoperation. In the proposed successive reference-pose-tracking (SRPT) approach, instead of transmitting steering commands, the reference trajectory, in the form of successive reference poses, is transmitted to the vehicle. This paper introduces a method of generation of successive reference poses with a joystick steering wheel and compares the human-in-loop path-tracking performance of the Smith predictor and SRPT approach. Human-in-loop experiments (with 18 different drivers) are conducted using a simulation environment that consists of the integration of a real-time 14-DOF Simulink vehicle model and Unity game engine in the presence of bidirectional variable delays. Scenarios for performance comparison are low adhesion ground, strong lateral wind, tight corners, and sudden obstacle avoidance. Result shows significant improvement in reference tracking and in reducing human effort in all scenarios using the SRPT approach.

A Pitch-Matched Transceiver ASIC With Shared Hybrid Beamforming ADC for High-Frame-Rate 3-D Intracardiac Echocardiography

In this article, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for 3-D, high-frame-rate ultrasound imaging probes is presented. The design is the first to combine element-level, high-voltage (HV) transmitters and analog front-ends, subarray beamforming, and in-probe digitization in a scalable fashion for catheter-based probes. The integration challenge is met by a hybrid analog-to-digital converter (ADC), combining an efficient charge-sharing successive approximation register (SAR) first stage and a compact single-slope (SS) second stage. Application in large ultrasound imaging arrays is facilitated by directly interfacing the ADC with a charge-domain subarray beamformer, locally calibrating interstage gain errors and generating the SAR reference using a power-efficient local reference generator. Additional hardware-sharing between neighboring channels ultimately leads to the lowest reported area and power consumption across miniature ultrasound probe ADCs. A pitch-matched design is further enabled by an efficient split between the core circuitry and a periphery block, the latter including a datalink performing clock data recovery (CDR) and time-division multiplexing (TDM), which leads to a 12-fold total channel count reduction. A prototype of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$8{\times }9$ </tex-math></inline-formula> elements was fabricated in a TSMC 0.18- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> HV BCD technology and a 2-D PZT transducer matrix with a pitch of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$160 \mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , and a center frequency of 6 MHz was manufactured on the chip. The imaging device operates at up to 1000 volumes/s, generates 65-V transmit pulses, and has a receive power consumption of only 1.23 mW/element. The functionality has been demonstrated electrically as well as in acoustic and imaging experiments.

Quantized Fuzzy Cooperative Output Regulation for Heterogeneous Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Directed Fixed/Switching Topologies.

This article investigates the cooperative output regulation problem for heterogeneous nonlinear multiagent systems subject to disturbances and quantization. The agent dynamics are modeled by the well-known Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems. Distributed reference generators are first devised to estimate the state of the exosystem under directed fixed and switching communication graphs, respectively. Then, distributed fuzzy cooperative controllers are designed for individual agents. Via the Lyapunov technique, sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee the output synchronization of the resulting closed-loop multiagent system. Finally, the viability of proposed design approaches is demonstrated by an example of multiple single-link robot arms.

Order Statistics Based Low-Power Flash ADC with On-Chip Comparator Selection

High-speed flash ADCs are useful in high-speed applications such as communication receivers. Due to offset voltage variation in the sub-micron processes, the power consumption and the area increase significantly to suppress variation. As an alternative to suppressing the variation, we have developed a flash ADC architecture that selects the comparators based on offset voltage ranking for reference generation. Specifically, with the order statistics as a basis, our method selects the minimum number of comparators to obtain equally spaced reference values. Because the proposed ADC utilizes offset voltages as references, no resistor ladder is required. We also developed a time-domain sorting mechanism for the offset voltages to achieve on-chip comparator selection. We first perform a detailed analysis of the order statistics based selection method and then design a 4-bit ADC in a commercial 65-nm process and perform transistor-level simulation. When using 127 comparators, INLs of 20 virtual chips are in the range of -0.34LSB/+0.29LSB to -0.83LSB/+0.74LSB, and DNLs are in the range of -0.33LSB/+0.24LSB to -0.77LSB/+1.18LSB at 1-GS/s operation. Our ADC achieves the SNDR of 20.9dB at Nyquist-frequency input and the power consumption of 0.84mW.

Deep Learning-Based Long-Horizon MPC: Robust, High Performing, and Computationally Efficient Control for PMSM Drives

This article presents a computationally efficient and high performing approximate long-horizon model predictive control (MPC) for permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). Two continuous control set MPC (CCS-MPC) formulations are considered: the classical current tracking delta MPC (Del-MPC) and the torque tracking economic MPC (EMPC). To achieve offset-free torque tracking under model uncertainties and in all regions of operation, a disturbance observer and a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">dq</i> -current reference generator are used. To enable real-time implementation of the long-horizon CCS-MPC, the development of a real-time capable solver is not required, since MPC approximation based on deep neural networks (DNNs) is considered and utilized for controller’s evaluation at run time. The approximation is done by training the DNN to learn the MPC functionality based on offline-generated training data and in an open-loop manner. The robust and offset-free tracking performance of the proposed DNN-based approximate long-horizon Del-MPC and EMPC has been validated through simulation and real-time implementation at test bench and compared to the state-of-the-art field oriented control (FOC) using internal model controller with field-weakening (FW) part and to the exact short-horizon MPC based on the fast gradient method (FGM-MPC). Results show that the long-horizon MPC can achieve significantly faster torque transient responses in comparison with the short-horizon FGM-MPC and the conventional FOC, especially in FW region.

Improving the ride comfort of full car model with a decoupling intelligent model free controller

A new technique of active control is presented for enhancing the dynamic responses of full car systems with bias to ride comfort performance. A seven degrees of freedom full car model is used, and its performance is evaluated on a bump road and random road. The proposed scheme is a combination between traditional controller design methods with an algebraic estimator of perturbations that will be eliminated online. From the inputs and the outputs signals, the unmodeled phenomenon can be estimated and be subtracted for ensuring the proper functioning of the system. The precise mathematical model of the system is not required for the implementation of the control scheme and is replaced by ultra-local models. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the algebraic estimator of road profile is introduced for applying the excitation sources of the reference generator. The road profiles in front of the vehicle are estimated separately from the rear road profiles. The ride comfort is improved progressively with the novel controller configuration by 83% from the passive case. Further, pitching and rolling fluctuations are reduced by 80% and 85% respectively. The numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness and the robustness against vehicle body mass deviation and nonlinear actuator saturation of the proposed control method compared to passive and Active Disturbance Rejection Controller based on Input Decoupling Transformation.

A broadband intermodulation reference generator based on artificial nonlinear dipole

AbstractAccurate passive intermodulation (IM) test calls for precise IM reference for verifying and evaluating the test error from the tester, which makes the IM calibrator source with a wide working band and dynamic range important. This letter reports on a low‐cost and broadband IM generator with a compact area of 5 × 5 cm2. The broadband IM source is designed and demonstrated on the coplanar waveguide structure, where an artificial nonlinear dipole is used to generate IM reference. In special, the dipole is constructed by a diode (HSMS 2822) and two independent copper islands with optimized size. By controlling the bias voltage across the diode, the IM magnitude level can be changed accordingly. The IM tunable dynamic range is over 47.5 dB that covers GSM 800 MHz, GSM 900 MHz, DCS 1800 MHz, and TD‐LTE band. Meanwhile, the obtained IM has an improved IM‐bias flat response.