Wireless Control Research Articles

Multifunctional Droplets Formed by Interfacially Self-Assembled Fluorinated Magnetic Nanoparticles for Biocompatible Single Cell Culture and Magnet-Driven Manipulation.

The ability to encapsulate and manipulate droplets with a picoliter volume of samples and reagents shows great potential for practical applications in chemistry, biology, and materials science. Magnetic control is a promising approach for droplet manipulation due to its ability for wireless control and its ease of implementation. However, it is challenged by the poor biocompatibility of magnetic materials in aqueous droplets. Moreover, current droplet technology is problematic because of the molecule leakage between droplets. In the paper, we propose multifunctional droplets with the surface coated by a layer of fluorinated magnetic nanoparticles for magnetically actuated droplet manipulation. Multifunctional droplets show excellent biocompatibility for cell culture, nonleakage of molecules, and high response to a magnetic field. We developed a strategy of coating the F-MNP@SiO2 on the outer surface of droplets instead of adding magnetic material into droplets to enable droplets with a highly magnetic response. The encapsulated bacteria and cells in droplets did not need to directly contact with the magnetic materials at the outer surface, showing high biocompatibility with living cells. These droplets can be precisely manipulated based on magnet distance, the time duration of the magnetic field, the droplet size, and the MNP composition, which well match with theoretical analysis. The precise magnetically actuated droplet manipulation shows great potential for accurate and sensitive droplet-based bioassays like single cell analysis.

Fuzzy logic based active vibration control using novel photostrictive composites

Although conventional actuators like piezoelectric and electrostrictive are efficient, but they required hard wiring, which contaminates the control signal and adds to the weight of the structure. The current study presents a wireless control strategy using photostrictive actuators. Owing to the fortunate combination of photovoltaic effect and converse piezoelectric effect, a photostrictive actuator can generate mechanical strain, when irradiated with light intensity. Limited choices of photostrictive material with high electromechanical coupling coefficient give the motivation to design photostrictive composites. The finite element-based formulation incorporating fuzzy logic controller is employed to study the active vibration control response of cantilever structure when equipped with photostrictive composite actuator. A parametric study has been carried out to study the influence of inclusion’s volume fraction on wireless active vibration control of the structure. Control merits have been defined to compare the control performance of different composites. It is found that particulate composites are the better choice for lightweight structure and fiber composites are better if there is no weight constraint.

The Fifth Bioelectronic Medicine Summit Hosted by the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research (Manhasset, NY) and Columbia Engineering (NY, NY) at The Garden City Hotel, Garden City, NY 11530 on October 11-12th, 2022- Bioelectronic Medicine: Today’s Tools, Tomorrow’s Therapies

The Fifth Bioelectronic Medicine Summit Hosted by the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research (Manhasset, NY) and Columbia Engineering (NY, NY) at The Garden City Hotel, Garden City, NY 11530 on October 11-12th, 2022- Bioelectronic Medicine: Today’s Tools, Tomorrow’s Therapies

Smart Plug 2.0: A Solid-State Smart Plug Device Preventing Fire and Shock Hazards

Electrical faults cause fire or shock hazards in homes and offices. Flexible power cords are particularly susceptible to metal or insulation degradation that may lead to a variety of electrical faults. This article introduces a new Smart Plug 2.0 device which offers all-in-one protection against short-circuit, overload, arc, and ground faults in addition to the wireless power control and monitor function of conventional smart plug devices. It offers microsecond-scale time resolution to detect and respond to a fault condition, and significantly reduces the electrothermal stress on household electrical wires and loads. A new arc fault detection method is developed using machine learning models based on load current <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">di/dt</i> events. Comparing to other solid-state circuit breaker designs which typically respond to overcurrent conditions only, Smart Plug 2.0 integrates additional protective functions into the same hardware structure with minimal cost penalty. A 120 V/10 A solid-state Smart Plug 2.0 prototype using power <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">moseft</small> s is designed and tested. It has experimentally demonstrated the comprehensive protection features against all types of electrical faults.

Study and Application of Remote Control Crawler Drilling Car for Mine Roadway

With the rapid development of mining technology in coal mines, the technical requirements for safe production in coal mines are constantly improving. In addition, it is affected by the geological conditions of the coal mine, the section of the roadway and the manpower reduction. There is an increasing demand for automatic and intelligent equipment for coal mine. A crawler-type double-arm rock drilling car which can be operated by wireless remote control is developed. It can be operated by remote control and adjusted manually. It can not only drill small diameter ordinary boreholes, but also drill large boreholes with diameter of 100-120 mm. It can effectively solve the problem of larger free surface in straight-hole cutting blasting. It is safe in operation and high in excavation efficiency.

2-Layer Interference Coordination Framework Based on Graph Coloring Algorithm for a Cellular System With Distributed MU-MIMO

In this study, a cellular system with a large-scale distributed multi-user multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) is considered, in which a large number of distributed antennas are deployed spatially over each base station coverage area (cell) and user clusters are formed in each cell to perform cluster-wise distributed MU-MIMO in parallel. In such a cellular system, the intercell and intracell interferences coexist and limit the link capacity. In this study, a 2-layer interference coordination (IC) framework that can effectively mitigate the two types of interferences simultaneously is proposed. In the 1 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">st</sup> layer, the intercell IC is performed in a centralized manner by the non-real-time (non-RT) radio access network intelligent controller (RIC), and then in the 2 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">nd</sup> layer, under the condition of the results in the 1 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">st</sup> layer, intracell IC is done by each near-RT RICs in a decentralized manner. Furthermore, a restricted conditional graph coloring algorithm (RCGCA) suitable for this 2-layer IC framework is proposed. The proposed RCGCA is designed to be applied on a partial pre-colored graph, such that when it is applied in the 2-layer IC framework, it satisfies the requirement that the 2 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">nd</sup> layer coloring must be applied under the condition of the pre-coloring results of the 1 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">st</sup> layer. In addition, by restricting the total number of colors, the RCGCA can tradeoff between improving the capacity due to interference mitigation and degrading the capacity due to bandwidth partition, thereby maximizing the link capacity. We compare the link capacity achievable by the proposed 2-layer IC framework based on RCGCA with that achievable by the well-known fractional frequency reuse (FFR) scheme, no interference coordination case, fully centralized framework, and fully decentralized framework. Computer simulations confirm that our proposed 2-layer IC framework based on RCGCA can significantly improve the link capacity.

Design and Development of a Low-cost Wireless Control Kit for Field Sprayers

In recent years, agricultural machinery for precision agriculture has made extensive use of information and communication technologies. An Android-based module was developed in this study to allow the nozzles on the field sprayer booms to be opened and closed as a group. The developed module was tested on a 24 m working width field sprayer, controlling 48 pairs of nozzles in 4-8 groups based on GPS position data. For control, an electronic control unit and an application developed in the Android operating system were used. Wireless communication between the electronic control card and the developed software is provided via Bluetooth. The module, which was created through laboratory and field trials, was successfully tested.

Development of a microwave resonant waveguide slot antenna with in-phase slot excitation

The object of research in the work is the process of radiation of electromagnetic waves of a resonant waveguide-slot antenna with in-phase excitation of slots. The subject of research is the wave parameters and directional properties of a resonant slotted waveguide antenna with in-phase slot excitation. The existing problem is that it is necessary to ensure highly directional properties of the antenna with electrical control of its wave parameters at high transmitter power. This problem is due to the fact that to solve the problem of developing equipment for radio control, and radar of aircraft, highly directional antennas of small sizes are required. To solve this problem, the paper proposes the design of a simple and cheap version of a microwave resonant waveguide-slot antenna with in-phase slot excitation.&#x0D; As a basis for developing a resonant slotted waveguide antenna, the authors chose a standard R48 rectangular waveguide, which is a classic in the theory of directional systems in the microwave range. This is due to the fact that in order to calculate and study a microwave resonant waveguide-slot antenna with in-phase excitation of slots, the authors used well-known elements of the theory of aperture antennas. The design of a resonant slotted waveguide antenna consists of a rectangular waveguide, an exciter, and a feeder. The radiation surface of the antenna is a wide wall of a standard R48 rectangular waveguide along the central axis, of which slots are symmetrically cut in a checkerboard pattern. The exciter is made in the form of a metal pin inside a rectangular waveguide near the short-circuited wall. This pin acts as an asymmetric vertical vibrator that excites electromagnetic waves in a rectangular waveguide. The antenna is tuned to the maximum radiation power mechanically by moving the short-circuited wall of the rectangular waveguide. The pin feeds a feeder based on a coaxial cable with a characteristic impedance of 75 ohms.&#x0D; The developed resonant waveguide-slot antenna with in-phase excitation of slots operates in the frequency range of 4.0–6.0 GHz. In the frequency range of 4.0–5.45 GHz, the value of Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) varies from 1.08 to 2.1. In the frequency range of 5.45–6.0 GHz, the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) value varies from 2.1 to 6.55. The directivity of the antenna in the operating frequency range is not less than 90. The width of the main lobe of the antenna pattern in the horizontal plane is not more than 3.1°. The antenna gain in the operating frequency band is at least 100. The efficiency is at least 90 % with a maximum generator signal power of 10 kW.

Battery-Less Industrial Wireless Monitoring and Control System for Improved Operational Efficiency

An industrial wireless monitoring and control system, capable of supporting energy-harvesting devices through smart sensing and network management, designed for improving electro-refinery performance by applying predictive maintenance, is presented. The system is self-powered from bus bars, and features wireless communication and easy-to-access information and alarms. With cell voltage and electrolyte temperature measurements, the system enables real-time cell performance discovery and early reaction to critical production or quality disturbances such as short-circuiting, flow blockages, or electrolyte temperature excursions. Field validation shows an increase in operational performance of 30% (reaching 97%) in the detection of short circuits, which, thanks to a neural network deployed, are detected, on average, 10.5 h earlier compared to the traditional methodology. The developed system is a sustainable IoT solution, being easy to maintain after its deployment, and providing benefits of improved control and operation, increased current efficiency, and decreased maintenance costs.

Realization of Wireless Remote Control Intelligent Street Lamp by Single Chip Microcomputer

In order to better solve the huge power consumption of street lamps, it is not conducive to environmental protection and saving resources, and it is also to save manpower and financial resources. In this article, an infrared remote control LED light is designed, using the infrared control module and the single-chip control module, and also mainly used the characteristics of PWM combined with LED to save electricity. The designed LED light can be combined with the app on the mobile phone to realize the combination of software and hardware, and the control of the street light can be realized on the mobile phone. This article also propose to convert solar energy into electricity for street lighting, which is the direction of subsequent research and development.

Power Autonomy and Agility Control of an Untethered Insect-Scale Soft Robot.

It is still challenging to achieve agility and trajectory control for untethered soft robots on an insect scale given their low mechanical impedance and compact structures. In this study, fast translational movements and swift turning motions are demonstrated on a power autonomous soft robot with a piezoelectric-thin-film-actuated body and electrostatic turning footpads. A high relative running speed of 2.5 body length per second compared with existing untethered robots is realized on a 24-mm-long untethered prototype integrated with power source, control, and wireless communication modules. An arc-shaped leg structure is adopted to self-regulate the frication forces on different footpads during turning by an inclination-induced redistribution of the payload gravity on legs and footpads. The trajectory maneuverability is demonstrated by navigating a 380 mg robot prototype with an 1810 mg payload to pass through a 58-cm-long S-shaped path with wireless control in 43.4 s. Due to the flexibility of the all-polymer body structure, the robustness of the untethered robot to large strain is demonstrated when compressed by 91 times the weight of the robot. A maximum travel distance of 58.6 m is achieved for the robot equipped with a 40 mA·h lithium battery, corresponding to the cost of transport of 261. This work provides a feasible solution to achieve high agility and advance the practicability of untethered soft robots on an insect scale.

A Preliminary Study and Implementing Algorithm Using Finite State Automaton for Remote Identification of Drones

Electronic remote identification (ER-ID) is a new radio frequency (RF) technology that is initiated by the Federal Aviation Authorities (FAA). For security reasons, traffic control, and so on, ER-ID has been applied for drones by the FAA to enable them to transmit their unique identification and location so that unauthorized drones can be identified. The current limitation of the existing ER-ID algorithms is that the application is limited to the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless controllers, which results in a maximum range of 10–20 m for Bluetooth and 50–100 m for Wi-Fi. In this study, a mathematical computing technique based on finite state automaton (FSA) is introduced to expand the range of the ER-ID RF system and reduce the energy required by the drone to use the technology. A finite number of states have been designed to include a larger range of wireless network techniques, enabling the drones to be recognized while they are further away and in remote areas. This is achieved by including other means of RF channels, such as 4G/5G, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), long range Internet of things (IoT), and satellite communications, in the suggested ER-ID algorithm of this study. The introduced algorithm is tested via a case study. The results showed the ability to detect drones using all types of available radio frequency communication systems (RF-CS) while also minimizing the consumed energy. Hence, the authorities can control the licensed drones by using available RF-CS devices, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, which are already widely used for mobile phones, as an example.

Soft Wireless Headband Bioelectronics and Electrooculography for Persistent Human-Machine Interfaces.

Recent advances in wearable technologies have enabled ways for people to interact with external devices, known as human-machine interfaces (HMIs). Among them, electrooculography (EOG), measured by wearable devices, is used for eye movement-enabled HMI. Most prior studies have utilized conventional gel electrodes for EOG recording. However, the gel is problematic due to skin irritation, while separate bulky electronics cause motion artifacts. Here, we introduce a low-profile, headband-type, soft wearable electronic system with embedded stretchable electrodes, and a flexible wireless circuit to detect EOG signals for persistent HMIs. The headband with dry electrodes is printed with flexible thermoplastic polyurethane. Nanomembrane electrodes are prepared by thin-film deposition and laser cutting techniques. A set of signal processing data from dry electrodes demonstrate successful real-time classification of eye motions, including blink, up, down, left, and right. Our study shows that the convolutional neural network performs exceptionally well compared to other machine learning methods, showing 98.3% accuracy with six classes: the highest performance till date in EOG classification with only four electrodes. Collectively, the real-time demonstration of continuous wireless control of a two-wheeled radio-controlled car captures the potential of the bioelectronic system and the algorithm for targeting various HMI and virtual reality applications.

Radio-Controlled Intelligent UGV as a Spy Robot with Laser Targeting for Military Purposes

The main objective of this unmanned ground vehicle is to deal with the security issues like terrorist activities across the border and in various remote combat missions by reducing the involvement of soldiers. This unmanned ground robot comprises a wireless high-definition camera that can transfer live streams from the robot to headquarters using Wi-Fi. The robot’s movement can be controlled with two modes; one of them is a radio controller working on 2.4 GHz frequency with seven independent channels. Secondly, its movement can also be controlled using a Python-based GUI application. Nowadays, different techniques have been used for face recognition; in our remotely piloted robot, we have used Haar-cascade classifiers in combination with the LBPH algorithm to implement real-time facial recognition. The robot uses a rack and pinion driving mechanism and an ATMEL Cortex-M3 CPU as a controller with 32-bit/s processing speed. In addition, a laser is installed on the turret to shoot the targets down, which can be used in an autonomous mode based on facial recognition results, or it can be used manually either through an RF controller or Python-based GUI. The turret moves in 2-DOF with the help of metallic geared servo motors. Both servo motors can rotate up to 180°. The driving mechanism of the robotic tank is just like DDR, with one difference, the two DC gear motors of the robot are connected diagonally.

Design of Cyber Bio-analytical Physical Systems: Formal methods, architectures, and multi-system interaction strategies

Integration of the Cyber–Physical System (CPS) concept with bio-analytical devices is highly desirable to enable device automation as well as to improve diagnostic and analytical capabilities. However, the modeling must account for entity interactions, system dynamics, and non-functional aspects required for proper device functionality.This paper presents a model-based system architecture that builds upon an extended timed automata-based formal technique. In contrast to prior works that utilized SysML or UML-based models, this allows for the wireless control of bio-analytical instruments. Using this formal method, the UPPAAL tool is used to model and test a case study called “A droplet flow cytometer for testing bacteria’s susceptibility to antibiotics”. The study shows the implications of formal techniques for the design and verification of wireless automation of high-throughput laboratory setups in Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE). Moreover, the paper extends the above aspects by adding the possibility to model multi-system interaction. This is used to analyze the trade-off between centralized and decentralized information flow strategies for better system performance under delay and bandwidth constraints. UPPAAL Stratego is used to analyze strategies for achieving specific delays and bandwidth consumption while avoiding packet losses in the event of network congestion. The results show that under strict delay constraints and high traffic, the use-case system selects the decentralized strategy over the centralized strategy. In low-traffic scenarios, the centralized strategy is more effective at ensuring the reliable operation of systems.

Effects of Jamming Attacks on Wireless Networked Control Systems Under Disturbance

Jamming attacks on wireless networked control systems are investigated for the scenarios where the system dynamics face exogenous disturbance. In particular, the control input packets are assumed to be transmitted from a controller to a remotely located linear plant over an insecure wireless communication channel that is subject to jamming attacks. The time-varying likelihood of transmission failures on this channel depends on the power of the jamming interference signal emitted by an attacker. We show that jamming attacks can prevent stability when the system faces disturbance, even if the attacked system without disturbance is stable. We also show that stability under jamming and disturbance can be achieved if the average jamming interference power is restricted in a certain way that we characterize in this article. We illustrate our results on an example networked control system with a fading wireless channel, where the outage probability is affected by jamming attacks.

Energy Harvesting Modulation for Integrated Control State and Energy Transfer in Industrial IoT

With the development of wireless communications, the technology of industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has been considered as a candidate for the next generation of mobile communications, which could provide automatic services for the smart factory. Massive low-power devices are swarming into the scenario for providing network intelligence. These energy-thirsty devices all require efficient control state delivery. In this letter, an energy harvesting modulation (EHM) scheme is proposed for integrated control state and energy transfer (ICSET) towards these low-power devices. The performance of wireless energy transfer (WET) and wireless control state transfer (WCST) are also analysed theoretically. The ICSET performance is optimized by ensuring the control reliability. Simulation results validate the theoretical analysis. They also demonstrate that an appropriate time slot number within a period should be selected to increase the effective control rate, while ensuring the energy harvesting performance and the control reliability of IIoT.

Design and Construction of Air Compressed Vehicle with Integration of Radio Control

Abstract: Air compressed vehicle as it is popularly known has caught the attention of researchers worldwide and is ideal for city driving conditions. Motor development international (MDI) is a French company thatholds international patent for compressed air operated vehicles. Even though it seems to be an eco-friendly solution, one must consider its well to wheel efficiency. While computing the overall efficiency of an air compressed vehicle, the electricity requirement for compressing air has to be considered. Nevertheless, the compressed air vehicle will contribute to reducing air pollution in longer run.

Skin-integrated systems for power efficient, programmable thermal sensations across large body areas

Thermal sensations contribute to our ability to perceive and explore the physical world. Reproducing these sensations in a spatiotemporally programmable manner through wireless computer control could enhance virtual experiences beyond those supported by video, audio and, increasingly, haptic inputs. Flexible, lightweight and thin devices that deliver patterns of thermal stimulation across large areas of the skin at any location of the body are of great interest in this context. Applications range from those in gaming and remote socioemotional communications, to medical therapies and physical rehabilitation. Here, we present a set of ideas that form the foundations of a skin-integrated technology for power-efficient generation of thermal sensations across the skin, with real-time, closed-loop control. The systems exploit passive cooling mechanisms, actively switchable thermal barrier interfaces, thin resistive heaters and flexible electronics configured in a pixelated layout with wireless interfaces to portable devices, the internet and cloud data infrastructure. Systematic experimental studies and simulation results explore the essential mechanisms and guide the selection of optimized choices in design. Demonstration examples with human subjects feature active thermoregulation, virtual social interactions, and sensory expansion.

Automated Fire Extinguishing System Using a Deep Learning Based Framework

Fire accidents occur in every part of the world and cause a large number of casualties because of the risks involved in manually extinguishing the fire. In most cases, humans cannot detect and extinguish fire manually. Fire extinguishing robots with sophisticated functionalities are being rapidly developed nowadays, and most of these systems use fire sensors and detectors. However, they lack mechanisms for the early detection of fire, in case of casualties. To detect and prevent such fire accidents in its early stages, a deep learning-based automatic fire extinguishing mechanism was introduced in this work. Fire detection and human presence in fire locations were carried out using convolution neural networks (CNNs), configured to operate on the chosen fire dataset. For fire detection, a custom learning network was formed by tweaking the layer parameters of CNN for detecting fires with better accuracy. For human detection, Alex-net architecture was employed to detect the presence of humans in the fire accident zone. We experimented and analyzed the proposed model using various optimizers, activation functions, and learning rates, based on the accuracy and loss metrics generated for the chosen fire dataset. The best combination of neural network parameters was evaluated from the model configured with an Adam optimizer and softmax activation, driven with a learning rate of 0.001, providing better accuracy for the learning model. Finally, the experiments were tested using a mobile robotic system by configuring them in automatic and wireless control modes. In automatic mode, the robot was made to patrol around and monitor for fire casualties and fire accidents. It automatically extinguished the fire using the learned features triggered through the developed model.