Wide Range Of Operating Scenarios Research Articles

Impact-Angle Constraint Guidance and Control Strategies Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

In this study, two different impact-angle-constrained guidance and control strategies using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) are proposed. The proposed strategies are based on the dual-loop and integrated guidance and control types. To address comprehensive flying object dynamics and the control mechanism, a Markov decision process is used to solve the guidance and control problem, and a real-time impact-angle error in the state vector is used to improve the model applicability. In addition, a reasonable reward mechanism is designed based on the state component which reduces both the miss distance and the impact-angle error and solves the problem of sparse rewards in DRL. Further, to overcome the negative effects of unbounded distributions on bounded action spaces, a Beta distribution is used instead of a Gaussian distribution in the proximal policy optimization algorithm for policy sampling. The state initialization is then realized using a sampling method adjusted to engineering backgrounds, and the control strategy is adapted to a wide range of operational scenarios with different impact angles. Simulation and Monte Carlo experiments in various scenarios show that, compared with other methods mentioned in the experiment in this paper, the proposed DRL strategy has smaller impact-angle errors and miss distance, which demonstrates the method’s effectiveness, applicability, and robustness.

Thermal Characteristics and Safety Aspects of Lithium-Ion Batteries: An In-Depth Review

This paper provides an overview of the significance of precise thermal analysis in the context of lithium-ion battery systems. It underscores the requirement for additional research to create efficient methodologies for modeling and controlling thermal properties, with the ultimate goal of enhancing both the safety and performance of Li-ion batteries. The interaction between temperature regulation and lithium-ion batteries is pivotal due to the intrinsic heat generation within these energy storage systems. A profound understanding of the thermal behaviors exhibited by lithium-ion batteries, along with the implementation of advanced temperature control strategies for battery packs, remains a critical pursuit. Utilizing tailored models to dissect the thermal dynamics of lithium-ion batteries significantly enhances our comprehension of their thermal management across a wide range of operational scenarios. This comprehensive review systematically explores diverse research endeavors that employ simulations and models to unravel intricate thermal characteristics, behavioral nuances, and potential runaway incidents associated with lithium-ion batteries. The primary objective of this review is to underscore the effectiveness of employed characterization methodologies and emphasize the pivotal roles that key parameters—specifically, current rate and temperature—play in shaping thermal dynamics. Notably, the enhancement of thermal design systems is often more feasible than direct alterations to the lithium-ion battery designs themselves. As a result, this thermal review primarily focuses on the realm of thermal systems. The synthesized insights offer a panoramic overview of research findings, with a deeper understanding requiring consultation of specific published studies and their corresponding modeling endeavors.

The Impact of Trisodium Phosphate on Chloride-Driven Under Deposit Corrosion in Steam Generators

Carbon or low alloy steel tubes in steam generators (or boilers) are potentially vulnerable to under deposit corrosion (UDC), arising from the formation of porous magnetite deposits on the waterside heat-transfer surfaces. Beneath these deposits, “wick-boiling” causes a concentration of contaminants (such as chlorides), which eventually leads to rapid corrosion. In this work, the corrosion of carbon steel has been investigated in hot acid chloride solutions that simulate the concentrated local environments formed during UDC. Trisodium phosphate (TSP) is sometimes dosed into boilers for pH control. This work has shown that TSP addition such that the phosphate concentration equals the chloride concentration dramatically reduces the corrosion rate in these simulated environments from >20 mm/y to <0.1 mm/y. Additionally, a model of wick-boiling beneath deposits has been used to analyze the concentration of chlorides and phosphates during the initiation stages of UDC, suggesting that dosing of only 100 ppb of TSP into bulk boiler water should be sufficient to increase the critical deposit thickness (required for UDC) by >100 µm across a wide range of operational scenarios.

Velocity nonuniformity and wall heat loss coupling effect on supersonic mixing layer flames

With urgent demand for reliable flame stabilization in air-breathing high-speed aircrafts' combustors under a wide range of operational scenarios, understanding flame characteristics under various inflow and wall thermal conditions is crucial for mixing layer-stabilized flames. In this paper, the effect of inflow velocity nonuniformity, wall heat loss and their coupling on flame structures, flame lift-off and stabilization mechanisms in the supersonic mixing layer are analyzed. An approach based on the Beta distribution model is innovatively proposed to generate the pseudo nonuniform inflow velocity profiles. Different flame modes, the regime diagram and key controlling parameters are quantitatively analyzed via the active subspace method. The results show that the coupling of velocity nonuniformity and wall heat loss can lead to three flame modes, i.e., the heat loss-dominant flame, the intermediate flame, and the nonuniformity-dominant flame, as the flame stabilizes from upstream to downstream regions with the normalized flame lift-off length Lnorm in the range of [0,0.50], (0.50,0.58], and (0.58,1.0], respectively. This finding is consistent with the autoignition flame stabilization mechanism. In addition, the fuel burnt-out ratio of the flame is found to be nonlinearly correlated with flame lift-off length and peaks approximately with Lnorm=0.8, owing to the subtle interactions of mixing and chemical reactions in the mixing layer. The viscous heating in the boundary layer may have a pronounced impact on the flame lift-off depending on the level of wall heat loss, and the predicted Lnorm variation could be approximately 26 percent of the combustor length with/without viscous effect under the isothermal wall condition.

Optimization of a coupled launching process considering hydrodynamic interaction effects

Crane-assisted launching and recovering of small boats from a large vessel is common in a wide range of operational scenarios and may be required during research missions or in emergency situations for rescue boats. As the mothership moves in natural irregular seas, the resulting accelerations and motions of the small boat can lead to dangerous situations, such as a collision between the mothership and the small boat or a slamming of the small boat onto the free water surface can occur, posing a great danger to the people involved. In the paper, the development of a coupled simulation method for the motions of the mothership and the small boat during the launching in the time-domain is described. The developed simulation method is based on the impulse response function. The implementation of the suspension on a crane is realised by a holonomic constraint and a Lagrange’s equation. The parameter influencing the launching operation include the current sea state, the stationary wave field induced by the motherships forward speed, at which the small boat is launched and the initial position of the small boat relative to the water surface. By varying the above mentioned parameters, the process can be optimised for different sea states in terms of forces and accelerations. In considering the forward speed of the mother boat during the launching process, it can be observed that in many cases the small boat is operated at high Froude numbers of greater than 0.4. This leads to an exceedance of the operational limits of the programmes used in this paper.

A Comprehensive Multibody Model of a Collaborative Robot to Support Model-Based Health Management

Digital models of industrial and collaborative manipulators are widely used for several applications, such as power-efficient trajectory definition, human–robot cooperation safety improvement, and prognostics and health management (PHM) algorithm development. Currently, models with simplified joints present in the literature have been used to evaluate robot macroscopic behavior. However, they are not suitable for the in-depth analyses required by those activities, such as PHM, which demand a punctual description of each subcomponent. This paper aims to fill this gap by presenting a high-fidelity multibody model of a UR5 collaborative robot, containing an accurate description of its full dynamics, electric motors, and gearboxes. Harmonic reducers were described through a translational equivalent lumped parameter model, allowing each constitutive element of the reducer to have its decoupled dynamics and mating forces through non-linear penalty contact models. To conclude, both the mathematical model and the real robot on a test rig were tested with a set of different trajectories. The experimental results highlight the ability of the proposed model to accurately replicate joint angular rotation, speed and torques in a wide range of operational scenarios. This research provides the basis for the development of a model-based PHM-oriented framework to carry out detailed and advanced analyses on the effects of manipulator degradations.

Modeling and evaluation of enhanced reception techniques for ADS-B signals in high interference environments

The RTCA (Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics) DO-260B document has stimulated in latest years the adoption of novel algorithms to improve the ability of receivers to detect and decode ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) signals, with particular emphasis on preamble detection, declaration of bit state and confidence level, detection and correction of errors. Motivated by an industry-driven research project, this paper reports on performance analysis of a set of enhanced techniques that we have implemented for detection and decoding of ADS-B signals transmitted at 1090 MHz carrier frequency also in high interference conditions. An extensive set of results has been derived through a specifically developed simulation environment, able to closely model a wide range of operational scenarios by generating ADS-B frames and Mode A/C interfering signals. The simulation environment also includes an implementation of two RF (Radio Frequency) receiver chains that refer to a linear amplifier and a logarithmic amplifier, respectively. The investigations are mainly focused on evaluating the impact of the interference generated by Mode A/C replies on preamble detection and data decoding for ADS-B signals. In this regard, the ability of enhanced reception techniques to improve detection performance is assessed. Numerical results obtained from extensive simulation runs are reported and commented. They actually demonstrate that enhanced techniques are essential to guarantee adequate detection performance in the harsh environments envisaged by increased intensity of air traffic and the extensive use of ADS-B for traffic control.

Real-time freeform surface and path tracking for force controlled robotic tooling applications

Abstract Modern force controlled robotic manipulators in combination with additional sensor configurations allow a wide range of operational scenarios for flexible production processes. This paper considers a sensor-based geometric approach for tracking curved freeform surfaces with the focus on robotic tooling applications such as polishing and grinding. A local approximation of the surface geometry is created from sparse distance measurements between the robotic tool and the workpiece maintaining a desired distance and orientation relative to the surface. The approach only relies on current sensor data and does not require any a priori model of the geometry from CAD data or previous 3D scans of the workpiece. The considered surface tracking controller allows the additional tracking of a planned path. The presented control is extended by a force controller to achieve a desired interaction force between the manipulator and the workpiece at a specified angle. To provide a flexible automation solution for the tooling of freeform surfaces, a path planning method is presented to cover a larger area based on the teaching of the area’s boundary. The considered approaches are realized on an experimental setup with the robotic manipulator KUKA LBR iiwa 14, where the surface tracking capabilities, as well as the performance of the force controller, are evaluated. The surface tracking and force controller are implemented directly on the robot controller while the sensor data processing is performed on a PLC which is connected to the robot controller via EtherCAT. The setup uses the position-based control interface for the integration of the surface tracking and the force control which introduces some limits on the performance of the applied control schemes but preserves the safety features and the collaborative behavior of the robotic manipulator.

Experimental Study and Identification of Linear Model with Parameter Variation for Drum Type Laboratory Scale Boiler

Water-drum boilers (i.e., steam generators) are commonly used in power plants and other related industries. In the coming years, these boilers are expected to be operated over a broad range of operational scenarios, such as when the steam-to-boiler load changes due to variations in the electrical power as a result of renewable integration. The boiler system is multivariable in nature, and its behaviour changes considerably over a wide range of operational scenarios. However, exploring advanced control solutions to improve boiler operability is challenging due to the lack of experiments conducted on industrial boilers. Hence, a lab-scale experimental boiler is designed for control system research and education. This setup has a multivariable structure and exhibits a similar dynamic to the industrial boiler. Moreover, it is relatively simple to experiment on, in comparison with the real-world boiler. Thus, students and researchers are able to connect theory with practice and develop control solutions for practice. This paper presents the results of the experiments conducted on the lab boiler to develop a linear transfer function matrix model with parameter variations targeting robust control research.

A Model-Based Design Approach for Stability Assessment, Control Tuning and Verification in Off-Grid Hybrid Power Plants

This paper proposes detailed and practical guidance on applying model-based design (MBD) for voltage and frequency stability assessments, control tuning and verification of off-grid hybrid power plants (HPPs) comprising both grid-forming and grid-feeding inverter units and synchronous generation. First, the requirement specifications are defined by means of system, functional and model requirements. Secondly, a modular approach for state-space modelling of the distributed energy resources (DERs) is presented. Flexible merging of subsystems by properly defining input and output vectors is highlighted to describe the dynamics of the HPP during various operating states. Eigenvalue (EV) and participation factor (PF) analyses demonstrate the necessity of assessing small-signal stability over a wide range of operational scenarios. A sensitivity analysis shows the impact of relevant system parameters on critical EVs and enables one to finally design and tune the central HPP controller (HPPC). The rapid control prototyping and control verification stages are accomplished by means of discrete-time domain models being used in both off-line simulation studies and real-time hardware-in-the-loop (RT-HIL) testing. The outcome of this paper is targeted at off-grid HPP operators seeking to achieve a proof-of-concept on stable voltage and frequency regulation. Nonetheless, the overall methodology is applicable to on-grid HPPs, too.

Short-Range Cooperation of Mobile Devices for Energy-Efficient Vertical Handovers

The availability of multiple collocated wireless networks using heterogeneous technologies and the multiaccess support of contemporary mobile devices have allowed wireless connectivity optimization, enabled through vertical handover (VHO) operations. However, this comes at high energy consumption on the mobile device due to the inherently expensive nature of some of the involved operations. This work proposes exploiting short-range cooperation among collocated mobile devices to improve the energy efficiency of vertical handover operations. The proactive exchange of handover-related information through low-energy short-range communication technologies, like Bluetooth, can help in eliminating expensive signaling steps when the need for a VHO arises. A model is developed for capturing the mean energy expenditure of such an optimized VHO scheme in terms of relevant factors by means of closed-form expressions. The descriptive power of the model is demonstrated by investigating various typical usage scenarios and is validated through simulations. It is shown that the proposed scheme has superior performance in several realistic usage scenarios considering important relevant factors, including network availability, the local density of mobile devices, and the range of the cooperation technology. Finally, the paper explores cost/benefit trade-offs associated with the short-range cooperation protocol. It is demonstrated that the protocol may be parametrized so that the trade-off becomes nearly optimized and the cost is maintained affordable for a wide range of operational scenarios.

Fault Tree Analysis for Safety/Security Verification in Aviation Software

The Next Generation Air Traffic Management system (NextGen) is a blueprint of the future National Airspace System. Supporting NextGen is a nation-wide Aviation Simulation Network (ASN), which allows integration of a variety of real-time simulations to facilitate development and validation of the NextGen software by simulating a wide range of operational scenarios. The ASN system is an environment, including both simulated and human-in-the-loop real-life components (pilots and air traffic controllers). Real Time Distributed Simulation (RTDS) developed at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, a suite of applications providing low and medium fidelity en-route simulation capabilities, is one of the simulations contributing to the ASN. To support the interconnectivity with the ASN, we designed and implemented a dedicated gateway acting as an intermediary, providing logic for two-way communication and transfer messages between RTDS and ASN and storage for the exchanged data. It has been necessary to develop and analyze safety/security requirements for the gateway software based on analysis of system assets, hazards, threats and attacks related to ultimate real-life future implementation. Due to the nature of the system, the focus was placed on communication security and the related safety of the impacted aircraft in the simulation scenario. To support development of safety/security requirements, a well-established fault tree analysis technique was used. This fault tree model-based analysis, supported by a commercial tool, was a foundation to propose mitigations assuring the gateway system safety and security.

A Multiagent Service-oriented Modeling of E-Government Initiatives

The recent technological developments have led to the emergence of a wide range of operational scenarios and significantly affected the formulation and implementation of e-government initiatives. While the failure of many e-government initiatives is attributed to many factors (organizational, institutional, technological and structural), the lack of consistent e-government modeling frameworks and universal architectures threatens the capacity of such initiatives to meet their objectives. Because of the complexities experienced in addressing e-government implementation issues, the use of multiple techniques can improve the likelihood of developing and implementing successful e-government initiatives. This article builds on previous work to advocate a “coupled” multiagent service oriented model for the implementation of the e-government initiative in Sudan. The use of service oriented measures and concepts of agency are considered to be necessary for improving overall consistency, integration, promptness and information sharing. Despite its potential benefits, the capacity of the proposed “coupled model” is contingent, among others, upon technological maturity and institutional flexibility.