ICINCO 2005 Abstracts


Area 1 - Intelligent Control Systems and Optimization

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 68
Title:

MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL FOR DISTRIBUTED PARAMETER SYSTEMS USING RBF NEURAL NETWORKS

Authors:

Eleni Aggelogiannaki and Haralambos Sarimveis

Abstract: A new approach for the identification and control of distributed parameter systems is presented in this paper. A radial basis neural network is used to model the distribution of the system output variables over space and time. The neural network model is then used for synthesizing a non linear model predictive control configuration. The resulting framework is particular useful for control problems that pose constraints on the controlled variables over space. The proposed scheme is demonstrated through a tubular reactor, where the concentration and the temperature distributions are controlled using the wall temperature as the manipulated variable. The results illustrate the efficiency of the proposed methodology.
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Paper Nr: 69
Title:

ROBUST FUZZY CONTROLLER DESIGN FOR UNCERTAIN DESCRIPTOR MARKOVIAN JUMP SYSTEMS

Authors:

Wudhichai Assawinchaichote and Sing Kiong Nguang

Abstract: This paper examines the problem of designing a robust H∞ state-feedback controller for a class of uncertain nonlinear descriptor Markovian jump systems described by a Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy model with Markovian jumps. Based on a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach, LMI-based sufficient conditions for the uncertain nonlinear descriptor Markovian jump systems to have an H∞ performance are derived. The proposed approach does not involve the separation of states into slow and fast ones and it can be applied not only to standard, but also to nonstandard nonlinear descriptor systems. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the design developed in this paper.
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Paper Nr: 135
Title:

A NOVEL REPRESENTATION AND ALGORITHMS FOR (QUASI) STABLE MARRIAGES

Authors:

Bertrand Zavidovique, Nikom Suvonvorn and Guna S. Seetharaman

Abstract: In this paper, we propose ”stable marriages” algorithms based on a novel representation called marriage table. After explaining how properties as global satisfaction, sex equality and stability show in the representation, we define 3 algorithms corresponding to 3 different scans of the marriage table to meet progressively all constraints. The performance is evaluated in front of the population size for 200 instances in each case. That supports qualitative statistic analysis. Two matching examples in image processing are displayed for illustration.
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Paper Nr: 145
Title:

A FAST TABU SEARCH ALGORITHM FOR FLOW SHOP PROBLEM WITH BLOCKING

Authors:

Jozef Grabowski and Jaroslaw Pempera

Abstract: This paper develops a fast tabu search algorithm to minimize makespan in a flow shop problem with blocking. We present a fast heuristic algorithm based on tabu search approach. In the algorithm the multimoves are used that consist in performing several moves simultaneously in a single iteration of algorithm and guide the search process to more promising areas of the solutions space, where good solutions can be found. It allow us to accelerate the convergence of the algorithm. Besides, in the algorithm a dynamic tabu list is used that assists additionally to avoid being trapped at a local optimum. The proposed algorithm is empirically evaluated and found to be relatively more effective in finding better solutions in a much shorter time.
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Paper Nr: 148
Title:

FUZZY DIAGNOSIS MODULE BASED ON INTERVAL FUZZY LOGIC: OIL ANALYSIS APPLICATION

Authors:

Antonio Sala, Bernardo Tormos, Vicente Macián and Emilio Royo

Abstract: This paper presents the basic characteristics of a prototype fuzzy expert system for condition monitoring applications, in particular, oil analysis in Diesel engines. The system allows for reasoning under absent or imprecise measurements, providing with an interval-valued diagnostic of the suspected severity of a particular fault. A set of so-called metarules complements the basic fault dictionary for fine tuning, allowing extra functionality.
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Paper Nr: 169
Title:

DERIVING BEHAVIOR FROM GOAL STRUCTURE FOR THE INTELLIGENT CONTROL OF PHYSICAL SYSTEMS

Authors:

Richard Dapoigny, Patrick Barlatier, Eric Benoit and Laurent Foulloy

Abstract: Given a physical system described by a structural decomposition together with additional constraints, a major task in Artificial Intelligence concerns the automatic identification of the system behavior. We will show in the present paper how concepts and techniques from different AI disciplines help solve this task in the case of the intelligent control of engineering systems. Following generative approaches grounded in Qualitative Physics, we derive behavioral specifications from structural and equational information input by the user in the context of the intelligent control of physical systems. The behavioral specifications stem from a teleological representation based on goal structures which are composed of three primitive concepts, i.e. physical entities, physical roles and actions. An ontological representation of goals extracted from user inputs facilitates both local and distributed reasoning. The causal reasoning process generates inferences of possible behaviors from the ontological representation of intended goals. This process relies on an Event Calculus approach. An application example focussing on the control of an irrigation channel illustrates the behavioral identification process.
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Paper Nr: 273
Title:

A SCHEDULING TECHNIQUE OF PLANS WITH PROBABILITY AND TEMPORAL CONSTRAINTS

Authors:

Bassam Baki and Maroua Bouzid

Abstract: In this paper, we address the problem of scheduling plans with probability and temporal constraints. We illustrate our problem with an AND/OR graph, where we try to find a plan of tasks that satisfies all temporal constraints and precedence relations between tasks, has a high probability of execution, a minimal cost and a reduced time. Each task has a set of temporal constraints, a set of probabilities and a set of constant costs. Our planner uses the temporal constraint propagation technique to simplify the resolution of a given problem.^ We describe one approach to deal with a problem that has paid a little attention of planing community. This problem is to combine temporal and probabilistic planning.
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Paper Nr: 328
Title:

EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION FOR DISCRETE AND CONTINUOUS TIME OPTIMAL CONTROL PROBLEMS

Authors:

Yechiel Crispin

Abstract: Nonlinear discrete time and continuous time optimal control problems with terminal constraints are solved using a new evolutionary approach which seeks the control history directly by evolutionary computation. Unlike methods that use the first order necessary conditions to determine the optimum, the main advantage of the present method is that it does not require the development of a Hamiltonian formulation and consequently, it eliminates the requirement to solve the adjoint problem which usually leads to a difficult two-point boundary value problem. The method is verified on two benchmark problems. The first problem is the discrete time velocity direction programming problem with the effects of gravity, thrust and drag and a terminal constraint on the final vertical position. The second problem is a continuous time optimal control problem in rocket dynamics, the Goddard’s problem. The solutions of both problems compared favorably with published results based on gradient methods.
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Paper Nr: 335
Title:

USE OF THE COG REPRESENTATION TO CONTROL A ROBOT WITH ACCELERATION FEEDBACK

Authors:

Frédéric Colas, Eric Dumetz, Pierre-Jean Barre and Jean-Yves Dieulot

Abstract: A controller using acceleration feedback has been applied to a flexible robot for which the position and velocity of the load are not measured. It is shown by using the Causal Ordering Graph (COG), that the motor can be controlled by using acceleration feedback and that it allows an exact tracking of the motor position, irrespective of the non-linear flexibilities of the axis and of the measurement disturbances. This easy-to-tune algorithm, in which main control parameters are the modal masses of the motor and load part and only consists of a positive acceleration feedback plus a PD controller, has been validated on an industrial 3-axis robot.
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Paper Nr: 345
Title:

CONTRIBUTORS TO A SIGNAL FROM AN ARTIFICIAL CONTRAST

Authors:

Jing Hu, George Runger and Eugene Tuv

Abstract: Data from a process or system is often monitored in order to detect unusual events and this task is required in many disciplines. A decision rule can be learned to detect anomalies from the normal operating environment when neither the normal operations nor the anomalies to be detected are pre-specified. This is accomplished through artificial data that transforms the problem to one of supervised learning. However, when a large collection of variables are monitored, not all react to the anomaly detected by the decision rule. It is important to interrogate a signal to determine the variables that are most relevant to or most contribute to the signal in order to improve and facilitate the actions to signal. Metrics are presented that can be used determine contributors to a signal developed through an artificial contrast that are conceptually simple. The metrics are shown to be related to traditional tools for normally distributed data and their efficacy is shown on simulated and actual data.
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Paper Nr: 443
Title:

REAL-TIME TIME-OPTIMAL CONTROL FOR A NONLINEAR CONTAINER CRANE USING A NEURAL NETWORK

Authors:

Ton J. Van Den Boom, J. B. Klaassens and R. Meiland

Abstract: This paper considers time-optimal control for a container crane based on a Model Predictive Control approach. The model we use is nonlinear and it is planar, i.e. we only consider the swing (not the skew) and we take constraints on the input signal into consideration. Since the time required for the optimization makes time-optimal not suitable for fast systems and/or complex systems, such as the crane system we consider, we propose an off-line computation of the control law by using a neural network. After the neural network has been trained off-line, it can then be used in an on-line mode as a feedback control strategy.
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Paper Nr: 540
Title:

ON TEMPORAL DIFFERENCE ALGORITHMS FOR CONTINUOUS SYSTEMS

Authors:

Alexandre Donzé

Abstract: This article proposes a general, intuitive and rigorous framework for designing temporal differences algorithms to solve optimal control problems in continuous time and space. Within this framework, we derive a version of the classical TD(λ) algorithm as well as a new TD algorithm which is similar, but designed to be more accurate and to converge as fast as TD(λ) for the best values of λ without the burden of finding these values.
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Paper Nr: 560
Title:

SELF-LEARNING DISTURBANCE COMPENSATION FOR ACTIVE SUSPENSION SYSTEMS

Authors:

Eckehard Münch, Henner Vöcking and Thorsten Hestermeyer

Abstract: Ride comfort and safety of vehicles can be increased by active suspension systems. A problem is the detection of disturbances which can generally not be measured until they impact the chassis. Provided guidance and disturbance are known in advance, a controller can use this information to achieve considerably improved behavior. This paper presents an approach in which railway vehicles coupled in a network, in repeated runs over the same track section, learn a disturbance compensation that can almost entirely compensate for stationary disturbances, i.e., disturbances that occur at the same spot in equal measure. Here information on the respective track section is sampled, stored locally at the track, and retrieved by the succeeding vehicle which will use them for an improved compensation for the occurring disturbances and again store information there. This iterative procedure results in an optimal compensation. The algorithm is described and criteria for its design are derived from digital control theory. The procedure was implemented on a testbed for a semi-vehicle with three degrees of freedom. The results of the measurements are displayed and evaluated in this paper.
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Paper Nr: 585
Title:

MODELLING HYBRID CONTROL SYSTEMS WITH BEHAVIOUR NETWORKS

Authors:

Pierangelo Dell'acqua, Anna Lombardi and Luís M. Pereira

Abstract: We present an approach to model adaptive, dynamic hybrid control systems based on behaviour networks. We extend and modify the approach to behaviour networks with integrity constraints, non-ground rules, internal actions, and modules to make it self-adaptive and dynamic. The proposed approach is general, reconfigurable, robust, and suitable for environments that are dynamic and too complex to be entirely predictable, the controlling system having limited computational and time resources.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 76
Title:

JAVA BASED TOOLBOX FOR LINEAR REPETITIVE PROCESSES

Authors:

Jaroslaw Gramacki, A. Gramacki, Krzysztof Galkowski and Eric Rogers

Abstract: In the paper a Java based toolbox has been presented. It is used in teaching of a special case of nD systems - Linear Repetitive Processes (LRP). Its predecessor has been developed in the Matlab environment so to use it a Matlab licence is necessary. This restriction has been removed after making it available in the Internet as a Java based program. Now a student, browsing a web page, may define a model together with initial / boundary conditions, then simulate a process as a continuous or discrete case, analyze the results in graphical or numerical form, modify visualization parameters of the plots and finally print the results. In the paper an overview of the tool has been given.
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Paper Nr: 95
Title:

DISCRETE–TIME FREE AND FIXED END-POINT OPTIMAL CONTROL PROBLEM

Authors:

Corneliu Botan and Florin Ostafi

Abstract: A comparison between the fixed and free end-point discrete time linear quadratic optimal problem is performed. Symmetrical algorithms for both problems are proposed. These algorithms can be easier implemented by comparison with classical procedures. Simulation results are presented.
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Paper Nr: 126
Title:

A CONTROL SYSTEM USING BEHAVIOUR HIERARCHIES AND NEURO-FUZZY APPROACH

Authors:

Dilek Arslan and Ferda N. Alpaslan

Abstract: In agent-based systems, especially in autonomous mobile robots, modelling the environment and its changes is a source of problems. It is not always possible to effectively model the uncertainty and the dynamic changes in complex, real-world domains. Control systems must be robust to changes and must be able to handle the uncertainties to overcome this problem. In this study, a reactive behaviour based agent control system is modelled and implemented. The control system is tested in a navigation task using an environment, which has randomly placed obstacles and a goal position to simulate an environment similar to an autonomous robot’s indoor environment. Then the control system was extended to control an agent in a multi-agent environment. The main motivation of this study is to design a control system, which is robust to errors and is easy to modify. Behaviour based approach with the advantages of fuzzy reasoning systems is used in the system.
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Paper Nr: 181
Title:

A NEW METHOD FOR WEIGHT UPDATING IN FUZZY COGNITIVE MAPS USING SYSTEM FEEDBACK

Authors:

Theodore L. Kottas, Yiannis Boutalis and Manolis A. Christodoulou

Abstract: Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) have found many applications in social -financial -political problems. In this paper we propose a method of FCM operation, which can be used to represent and control any real system, including traditional electro-mechanical systems. In the proposed approach the FCM reaches its equilibrium point using direct feedback from the node values of the real system and the limitations imposed by the control objectives for the node values of the system. The experts’ knowledge, which is represented in the weights of the nodes’ interconnections, undergoes a continuous on-line adaptation based on feedback from the real system. An algorithm for weight updating is proposed, which is based on system feedback and which includes specially designed matrices that lead the FCM and consequently the real system associated with it in a balanced equilibrium state. The proposed methodology is tested by simulating the operation of a hydro-electric plant.
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Paper Nr: 199
Title:

ONTOLOGY FOR INTEGRATING HETEROGENEOUS TOOLS FOR SUPERVISION, FAULT DETECTION AND DIAGNOSIS

Authors:

Beatriz Lopez, Joaquim Melendez and Silvia A. Suárez Barón

Abstract: The Distributed Supervision Systems that have been used extensively for the last fifteen years in the process industry are now evolving towards higher level solutions based on better connections between applications and processes that assure that data flows from the process to manage boards. Knowledge sharing seems to be a key issue in integrating these heterogeneous systems. In this paper we present an ontology as a first step to achieving semantic interoperability. The ontology has been conceived within the context of a complex integration problem, in which heterogeneous toolboxes cooperate to deal with several supervision, fault detection and diagnostic tasks for chemical processes. Regarding the current trends in ontology research, our proposal is consistent with top-level ontologies, as these kinds of ontologies seem to overcome the ontology integration problem. We describe a preliminary version of the ontology. The conceptualisation of control variables, system behaviour, supervision tasks, models and system properties is given. All attributes and relationships between each concept has been deployed. The ontology has been developed using Protete2000.
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Paper Nr: 334
Title:

GA BASED DATA FUSION APPROACH IN AN INTELLIGENT INTEGRATED GPS/INS SYSTEM

Authors:

Ali Asadian, Behzad Moshiri, Ali K. Sedigh and Caso Lucas

Abstract: A new concept regarding to the GPS/INS integration, based on artificial intelligence here is presented. Most integrated inertial navigation systems (INS) and global positioning systems (GPS) have been implemented using the Kalman filtering technique with its drawbacks related to the need for predefined INS error model and observability of at least four satellites. Most recently, an INS/GPS integration method using a hybrid-adaptive network based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) has been proposed in literature. During the availability of GPS signal, the ANFIS is trained to map the error between the GPS and the INS. Then it will be used to predict the error of the INS position components during GPS signal blockage. As ANFIS will be employed in real time applications, the change in the system parameters (e.g., the number of membership functions, the step size, and step increase and decrease rates) to achieve the minimum training error during each time period is automated. This paper introduces a genetic optimization algorithm that is used to update the ANFIS parameters with the INS/GPS error function used as the objective function to be minimized. The results demonstrate the advantages of the genetically optimized ANFIS for INS/GPS Integration in comparison with conventional ANFIS specially in the cases when facing satellites’ outages. Coping with this problem plays an important role in assessment of the fusion approach in land navigation.
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Paper Nr: 342
Title:

ROBUST ILC DESIGN USING MÖBIUS TRANSFORMATIONS

Authors:

Christopher Freeman, P. L. Lewin and E. Rogers

Abstract: In this paper a general ILC algorithm is examined and it is found that the filters involved can be selected to satisfy frequency-wise uncertainty limits on the plant model. The probability of the plant model being at a given point in the uncertainty space is specified, and the filters are then chosen to maximise the convergence rate that can be expected in practice. The magnitude of the change in input over successive trials and the residual error have also been incorporated into the cost function. Experimental results are presented using a non-minimum phase test facility to show the effectiveness of the design method.
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Paper Nr: 343
Title:

FUZZY ADAPTIVE CONTROLLER FOR A SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE

Authors:

Gregorio Drayer and Miguel Strefezza

Abstract: This paper presents the comparison of applying an adaptive fuzzy controller with and without a variable structure controller (VSC) for a synchronous machine. A simplified linear model of the synchronous machine connected to an infinite bus with constant impedance is used. The multivariable system was previously decoupled to make easier the application of the control schemes. To control the system, an adaptive Fuzzy PD controller is proposed and it acts both on the load variable and on the voltage variable. Then, a Fuzzy Adaptive System is designed to act over the Fuzzy controller. After this, the VSC theory is applied to the Adaptive Controller to compare both strategies. Simulation results using these two control schemes are presented. With these proposed actions, the results show a better transitory response of the system when compared with the system response using classical control.
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Paper Nr: 350
Title:

LOOKING FOR MASCONTROL: A MULTIAGENT SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL

Authors:

Evelio González, Alberto Hamilton, L. Moreno, R. L. Marichal, J. A. Méndez and Vanessa Muñoz

Abstract: In this paper, MASCONTROL, a multiagent system (MAS) for system identification and process control, is presented. This MAS implements a self-tuning regulator (STR) scheme. In this work, an Ontology Agent (OA) is included, using DAML+OIL as ontology language. From their experience, the authors consider this architecture highly useful for identification and control processes.
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Paper Nr: 363
Title:

A HIERARCHICAL FUZZY-NEURAL MULTI-MODEL - An application for a mechanical system with friccion identification and control

Authors:

Ieroham Baruch, Jose L. Olivares and Federico Thomas

Abstract: A Recurrent Trainable Neural Network (RTNN) with a two layer canonical architecture and a dynamic Backpropagation learning method are applied for identification and control of complex nonlinear mechanical plants. The paper uses a Fuzzy-Neural Hierarchical Multi-Model (FNHMM), which merge the fuzzy model flexibility with the learning abilities of the RNNs. The paper proposed the application of two control schemes, which are: a trajectory tracking control by an inverse FNHMM and a direct adaptive control, using the states issued by the identification FNHMM. The proposed control methods are applied for a mechanical plant with friction system control, where the obtained comparative results show that the control using FNHMM outperforms the fuzzy and the neural single control.
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Paper Nr: 377
Title:

OPTIMIZATION IN RAILWAY SCHEDULING

Authors:

Miguel A. Salido, Montserrat Abril, Federico Barber, Laura Ingolotti, A. Lova and P. Tormos

Abstract: Train scheduling has been a significant issue in the railway industry. Over the last few years, numerous approaches and tools have been developed to aid in the management of railway infrastructure. In this paper, we describe some techniques, which was developed in a project in collaboration with the Spanish Railway Infractructure Manager (ADIF). We formulate train scheduling as constraint optimization problems and present two filtering techniques for these problem types. These filtering techniques are developed to speed up and direct the search towards suboptimal solutions in periodic train scheduling problems. The feasibility of our problem-oriented techniques are confirmed with experimentation using real-life data. The results show that these techniques enables MIP solvers such as LINGO and ILOG Concert Technology (CPLEX©) to terminate earlier with good solutions.
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Paper Nr: 424
Title:

COOPERATIVE SELF-ORGANIZATION TO DESIGN ROBUST AND ADAPTIVE COLLECTIVES

Authors:

Gauthier Picard and Marie-Pierre Gleizes

Abstract: This paper highlights the benefits of using cooperation as the engine of adaptation and robustness for multi-agent systems. Our work is based on the AMAS (Adaptive Multi-Agent System) approach which considers co-operation as a self-organization mechanism to obtain adequate emergent global behaviors for systems coupled with complex and dynamic environments. A multi-robot resource transportation task illustrates the instantiation of a cooperative agent model equipped with both reactive and anticipative cooperation rules. Various experiments underline the relevance of this approach in difficult static or dynamic environments.
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Paper Nr: 515
Title:

D3G2A: A DYNAMIC DISTRIBUTED DOUBLE GUIDED GENETIC ALGORITHM FOR THE CASE OF THE PROCESSORS CONFIGURATION PROBLEM

Authors:

BOUAMAMA Sadok and Khaled Ghédira

Abstract: Within the framework of Constraint satisfaction and optimization problem (CSOP), we introduce a new optimization distributed method based on Genetic Algorithms (GA). This method consists of agents dynamically created and cooperating in order to solve the problem. Each agent performs its own GA on its own sub-population. This GA is sometimes random and sometimes guided by both the template concept and by the Min-conflict-heuristic. In addition with guidance, our approach is based on NEO-DARWINISM theory and on the nature laws. In fact, by reference to their specificity the new algorithm will let the agents able to count their own GA parameters. In order to show D3G2A advantages, experimental comparison with GGA is provided by their application on the large processors configuration problem.
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Paper Nr: 534
Title:

STATIONARY FULLY PROBABILISTIC CONTROL DESIGN

Authors:

Tatiana V. Guy and Miroslav Karny

Abstract: Stochastic control design chooses the controller that makes the closed-loop behavior as close as possible to the desired one. The fully probabilistic design describes both the closed-loop and its desired behavior in probabilistic terms and uses the Kullback-Leibler divergence as their proximity measure. Such a design provides explicit minimizer, which opens a way for a simpler approximations of analytically infeasible cases. The current formulations are oriented towards finite-horizon design. Consequently, the optimal strategy is non-stationary one. This paper provides infinite-horizon problem formulation and solution. It leads to a stationary strategy whose approximation is much easier.
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Paper Nr: 537
Title:

BIOPRODUCTS DRYING OPTIMAL CONTROL IN OSCILLATING REGIMES

Authors:

Renat Sadykov, Dmitry Antropov and Rauf Kafiatullin

Abstract: On the basis of the developed approaches and mathematical model (MM) of the bioactive products drying block is carried out the optimization problem of the equipment choice and its operation modes in view of deleted binary mixture an ethanol - water composition changes. The analysis of the problem with engaging of the Pontryagin’s maximum principle has revealed optimal control structure. There is developed the automated control system of drying installation with firmware, based on modern microprocessor technique. The guidelines on an drying processes intensification, worked out on the basis of the internal and external interconnected heatmasstransfer research, and the process optimal control considerably raise productivity of drying aggregates, reduce fuel and power expenditures.
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Paper Nr: 547
Title:

OPTIMIZED FUZZY SCHEDULING OF MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

Authors:

Nikos Tsourveloudis, Lefteris Doitsidis and Stratos Ioannidis

Abstract: An Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) strategy for the optimization of generic Work-In-Process (WIP) scheduling fuzzy controllers is presented. The EA is used to tune a set of fuzzy control modules which are used for distributed and supervisory WIP scheduling. The distributed controllers objective is to control the rate in each production stage so that satisfies the demand for final products while reducing WIP within the system. The EA identifies the parameters for which the fuzzy controller performs optimal with respect to WIP and backlog minimization. The proposed strategy is compared to known heuristically tuned fuzzy control approaches. Simulation results show that the EA strategy improves system’s performance.
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Paper Nr: 553
Title:

MULTIOBJECTIVE OPTIMAL DESIGN OF STRUCTURE AND CONTROL OF A CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION

Authors:

Jaime A. Gallegos, Carlos A. Cruz-villar and Edgar A. Portilla-flores

Abstract: An approach to solve the mechatronic design problem is to formulate the problem as a multiobjective dynamic optimization problem (MDOP), where kinematic and dynamic models of the mechanical structure and the dynamic model of the controller are considered besides a set of constraints and a performance criteria. This design methodology can provide a set of optimal mechanical and controller parameters so that the desired dynamic behavior and the performance criteria are satisfied. In this paper a MDOP is proposed and applied to a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Performance criteria are the mechanical efficiency and the minimal controller energy. The goal attainment method and a sequential approach are used to solve the MDOP.
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Paper Nr: 566
Title:

KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION APPROACH TO CLOSED LOOP CONTROL SYSTEM - A TANK SYSTEM CASE-STUDY

Authors:

Luis Rato, Irene Pimenta Rodrigues and Rui Gomes

Abstract: Control engineering problems are dealt within a plethora of methods and approaches depending on the a priori knowledge, the description of the process to control, and the main control goal. Classical control theory is mainly based on properties of numerical models. This paper presents an approach that applies to a class of processes described by numerical and logical relations using inference and a knowledge base system. To attain this goal an ontology for control systems is constructed. The work presented in this paper is based in a three tank system benchmark.
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Paper Nr: 583
Title:

INTEGRATED FEED-FORWARD ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS SYSTEM FOR MACHINES TOOLS SELECTION

Authors:

Romdhane Ben Khalifa, Ben Y. Noureddine and Ali Zghal

Abstract: The choice of the machine tools is one of the considerations of manufacturing companies which depend primarily on machining process, by deciding how a finished product will be manufactured. The activity of tools choice is established in geometry of machining features, but it also has a direct impact on workability and execution of machine-tool. We propose in this paper an integration module of the automatic choice of machine tools in the environment of systems CAD/CAM, which consisted in the two neuronal systems NN1 and NN2; NN1 allows the automatic machining machines choice. NN2 makes it possible to choose cutting tools for machining features. In this work, we have worked two complementary parts for the integration of the automatic choice of machine tools. Firstly we developed a neuronal system for selection of machine tools classes. Secondly, we have created an interface of neuronal system integration which exploits machining features geometrical data to be carried out by Visual Basic programming.
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Paper Nr: 603
Title:

APPLICATION OF DE STRATEGY AND NEURAL NETWORK - In position control of a flexible servohydraulic system

Authors:

Hassan Yousefi and Heikki Handroos

Abstract: One of the most promising novel evolutionary algorithms is the Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm for solving global optimization problems with continuous parameters. In this article the Differential Evolution algorithm is proposed for handling nonlinear constraint functions to find the best initial weights of neural networks. The highly non-linear behaviour of servo-hydraulic systems makes them idea subjects for applying different types of sophisticated controllers. The aim of this paper is position control of a flexible servo-hydraulic system by using back propagation algorithm. The poor performance of initial training of back propagation motivated to apply the DE algorithm to find the initial weights with global minimum. This study is concerned with a second order model reference adaptive position control of a servo-hydraulic system using two artificial neural networks. One neural network as an acceleration feedback and another one as a gain scheduling of a proportional controller are proposed. The results suggest that if the numbers of hidden layers and neurons as well as the initial weights of neural networks are chosen well, they improve all performance evaluation criteria in hydraulic systems.
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Paper Nr: 610
Title:

ELECTRONIC AUTOMOTIVE REQUIREMENT DESIGN SPACE - A Bird’s Eye View of a Strategic Requirement Design Space Exploration

Authors:

Liliana Diaz-olavarrieta and J.m David Báez-lópez

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to make a holistic compilation of many different types of requirements for an automotive electronic communications / control network (though the framework is in itself more generally applicable), and organize them into an easily reusable framework. Requirements have to be correct, consistent and complete. The issue of correctness of the specification should be dealt with formal validation models. The issue of consistency can be handled through domain expert specification reviews. The completeness issue can be dealt with by comparison with a reference, and this paper proposes a metamodel to help with the completeness and strategic consistency issues in the requirement specification process. The requirements framework proposed in this paper aims to answer the question: “What is the requirements design space for an automotive electronic communications network?”, and help in the completeness of the requirements specification through a holistic, multi-perspective, Bird’s Eye View. The main perspectives that will be examined in this requirements design space exploration are four: a) The “Nature of the User” perspective, b) The “Nature of the Application” perspective: Distributed, Real time, Safety-Critical applications, and Resource Constraints requirements, c) The “Nature of the Process Development” perspective, in particular, the component based development (CBD) process of Electronic Subsystem Design within Automotive Companies: component architecting, component assembly and component provisioning, and d) The “Nature of the Industry” is given by the competitive environment: Suppliers, Substitute Products, Substitute Technologies, Competitors, Potential Industy Entrants, the Company and its Clients.
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Paper Nr: 12
Title:

SETTLING-TIME IMPROVEMENT IN GLOBAL CONVERGENCE LAGRANGIAN NETWORKS

Authors:

Leonardo Acho

Abstract: In this brief, a modification of Lagrangian networks given in (Xia Y., 2003) is presented. This modification improves the settling time of the convergence of Lagrangian networks to a stationary point; which is the optimal solution to the nonlinear convex programming problem with linear equality constraints. This is important because, in many real-time applications where Lagrangian networks are used to find an optimal solution, such as in signal and image processing, this settling time is interpreted as the processing time. Simulation results applied to a quadratic optimization problem show that settling time is improved from about to 2000 to 20 seconds. Lyapunov theory was used to obtain our main result.
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Paper Nr: 48
Title:

SPATIAL APPROACH IN RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT USING DECISION MAKING STRATEGIES

Authors:

Christian Menard

Abstract: The information needed for River Basin Management covers a wide range of hydrological and environmental data and methods. Since all measurement data are spatial and time related, spatial services fulfill the requirements in a decision making process best. In this work an open data structure for storing spatial temporal related data is proposed. Based on the data structure the modeling process can be performed directly in a GIS environment by using visualization and spatial analysis techniques. This concept incorporates the functions available in a GIS environment with the modeling concepts used in River Basin Management. The paper concludes with experimental results and gives a short outlook to future work.
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Paper Nr: 50
Title:

DEFECTIVE METAL END DETECTION WITH A FUZZY SYSTEM

Authors:

Perfecto Mariño, Vicente Pastoriza, Miguel Santamaría and Emilio Martínez

Abstract: The authors have been involved in developing an automated inspection system, based on machine vision, to improve the repair coating quality control (RCQ control) in can ends of metal containers for fish food. The RCQ of each end is assesed estimating its average repair coating quality (ARCQ). In this work we present a fuzzy model building to make the acceptance/rejection decision for each can end from the information obtained by the vision system. In addition it is interesting to note that such model could be interpreted and supplemented by process operators. In order to achieve such aims, we use a fuzzy model due to its ability to favour the interpretability for many applications. Firstly, the easy open can end manufacturing process, and the current, conventional method for quality control of easy open can end repair coating, are described. Then, we show the machine vision system operations. After that, the fuzzy modeling, results obtained and their discussion are presented. Finally, concluding remarks are stated.
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Paper Nr: 65
Title:

LQG CONTROL UNDER AMPLITUDE AND VARIANCE CONSTRAINTS

Authors:

Andrzej Krolikowski, D. Horla and T. Kubiak

Abstract: In this paper, the amplitude and variance-constrained LQG control is considered for a plant given by discretetime ARMAX model. The minimization of constrained quadratic cost is approached by Kalman filter, approximation of the probability density function (pdf) of the state by the Gaussian one and by by tuning of the Lagrange multiplier. The obtained optimization algorithm is simulated for second-order stable plant model and different constraints.
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Paper Nr: 163
Title:

AN EXPLORATION MEASURE OF THE DIVERSITY

Authors:

George Papakostas, Yiannis Boutalis, Dimitrios Karras and Vassilios Mertzios

Abstract: In this paper, a novel measure of the population diversity of a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is presented. Chromosomes diversity plays a major role for the successfully operation of a GA, since it describes the number of the different candidate solutions that the algorithm evaluates, in order to find the optimal one, in respect to a performance index, called objective function. In a well defined algorithm, the diversity of the current population should be measurable, in order to estimate the performance of the algorithm. The resulted observation, that is, the measuring of the diversity, can then be used to real-time adjust the factors that determine the chromosomes variety (Pc, Pm), during the execution of the GA. It is shown, that a simple chromosomes clustering into the search space, by using the well known k-means algorithm, can give a useful picture of the population’s distribution. Thus, by translating the problem of finding the best solution to a GA-based problem into an iterative clustering process, and by using the scatter matrices (Sw, Sb), which describe completely the candidate’s solutions topology, one could define a novel formula that gives the population diversity of the algorithm.
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Paper Nr: 166
Title:

EFFICIENT LINEAR APPROXIMATIONS TO STOCHASTIC VEHICULAR COLLISION-AVOIDANCE PROBLEMS

Authors:

Dmitri Dolgov and Ken Laberteaux

Abstract: The key components of an intelligent vehicular collision-avoidance system are sensing, evaluation, and decision making. We focus on the latter task of finding (approximately) optimal collision-avoidance control policies, a problem naturally modeled as a Markov decision process. However, standard MDP models scale exponentially with the number of state features, rendering them inept for large-scale domains. To address this, factored MDP representations and approximation methods have been proposed. We approximate collisionavoidance factored MDP using a composite approximate linear programming approach that symmetrically approximates objective functions and feasible regions of the LP. We show empirically that, combined with a novel basis-selection method, this produces high-quality approximations at very low computational cost.
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Paper Nr: 186
Title:

ADAPTIVE FUZZY SLIDING MODE CONTROLLER FOR THE SNORKEL UNDERWATER VEHICLE

Authors:

Eduardo Sebastian and Miguel A. Sotelo

Abstract: This paper describes a control system for the kinematic variables of an underwater vehicle. Control of underwater vehicles is not simple, mainlys due to the nonlinear, coupled and unknown character of system equations and dynamics. The proposed methodology makes use of a pioneering algorithm implemented for the first time in an underwater vehicle, and it is based on the fusion of a sliding mode controller and an adaptive fuzzy system, including advantages of both systems and relaxing the required knowledge of vehicle model.
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Paper Nr: 227
Title:

CONTROL FOR ELECTRICAL NEUROMUSCULAR STIMULATOR USING FUZZY LOGIC - Trainning gait in paraplegics

Authors:

Leonardo Rodrigues da Silva and Percy Nohama

Abstract: This article presents a personal computer-based control system for an electrical stimulator using fuzzy logic. The input signal comes from a goniometer and the output is the stimulation level to be applied in the muscle of the patient. By this way, that control system is made for the therapist that just specifies the desired jointangle. The movement that the patient will execute can be imitated from a person with normal movements, storing his or her joint’s angles during the execution of some task, and later reproducing it in the person without the voluntary movements. Such movements will be more proper of a human than a planned execution of a computational system, which the movement is structuralized by means of vectors, angles and times placed of supposed form.
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Paper Nr: 261
Title:

EMBEDDED ROBOTIC CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN AUTOMATED PROGRAMMERS

Authors:

Ganwen Zeng and Kelly Hirsch

Abstract: The paper presents a synthesis of the problematic and actual solutions to the implementation of robotic programmer control functionality using DSP controllers. Considerable technology shift occurred during the recently decade in device programming industry. The advent of high performance DSP motion controllers opens new possibilities for the development of high performance distributed intelligence deviceprogramming automation systems. The idea of implementing a unique, flexible robotic motion control structure can significantly improve controllability of the robotic programming systems. High-level motion command languages are used to setup and to control the robotic motors. A Fuzzy control algorithm has been introduced to guarantee the motion control performance in an automated programmer.
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Paper Nr: 264
Title:

MICROSILICON LUMINOUS FLUX SWITCH CONTROLLED BY MEANS OF MAGNETIC FIELD

Authors:

Jacek Golebiowski and T. Prohuń

Abstract: The construction of a silicon beam which is used as a optical switch was presented. The investigated beam consists of three layers: on the silicon base the iron layer is put and it is followed by the aluminium layer. The change of the external magnetic field intensity causes the beam end displacement as well as the change of the luminous flux reflection angle. The influence of the magnetic transducer parameters as well as the field intensity on the luminous flux reflection angle are analysed. The optical system which is steered by the magnetic field was described.
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Paper Nr: 269
Title:

MILITARY VEHICLE TYPE CLASSIFICATION - Intelligent Control Systems and Optimization

Authors:

Jerzy Jackowski

Abstract: This work presents the results of the measurement of the noise generated by vehicles differentiated in respect of the vehicle weight and structure. The analysis of registered acoustic signals was carried out on the basis of their frequency representation. Based on the Student difference test, a series of parameters of determined spectral signal power densities were examined for their usefulness for a differentiating feature vector. A process of qualifying a registered signal of a detected object to a proper class can be realized by various methods. Most often it is carried out on the basis of the object feature vector position against surfaces separating it from the vectors of other objects in the multidimensional space of features. Meeting the requirement of maximum classifier structure simplification, searching for the best separating plane was limited to the neuron network method based on the Rosenblatt perceptron education. Specification of measurement results indicates that there is a high probability of correct recognition of acoustic signals generated by the wheel and caterpillar vehicle motion.
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Paper Nr: 358
Title:

FEASIBLE CONTROL OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS USING AUTOMATIC LEARNING

Authors:

Alejandro Agostini and Enric Celaya

Abstract: Robotic applications often involve dealing with complex dynamic systems. In these cases coping with control requirements with conventional techniques is hard to achieve and a big effort has to be done in the design and tuning of the control system. An alternative to conventional control techniques is the use of automatic learning systems that could learn control policies automatically, by means of the experience. But the amount of experience required in complex problems is intractable unless some generalization is performed. Many learning techniques have been proposed to deal with this challenge but the applicability of them in a complex control task is still difficult because of their bad learning convergence or insufficient generalization. In this work a new learning technique, that exploits a kind of generalization called categorization, is used in a complex control task. The results obtained show that it is possible to learn, in short time and with good convergence, a control policy that outperforms a classical PID control tuned for the specific task of controlling a manipulator with high inertia and variable load.
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Paper Nr: 432
Title:

STABLE REPETITIVE CONTROL BY FREQUENCY ALIASING

Authors:

James Ratcliffe, Paul L. Lewin, Eric Rogers, Jari Hatonen, Thomas J. Harte and David H. Owens

Abstract: A filtering technique based on frequency aliasing which was initially developed for Iterative Learning Control is modified so that it can be implemented in real-time and is suitable for Repetitive Control. The aliasing technique is experimentally verified on a gantry robot facility, which manipulates payloads from a dispenser onto a constant velocity conveyor. A parallel arrangement consisting of a three-term feedback controller and a simple structure repetitive controller is used to control the robot. Without the aliasing technique, the combined control system becomes unstable very rapidly. In contrast, when the aliasing technique is applied, 1000 repetitions are successfully completed and no indications of impending instability can be seen.
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Paper Nr: 512
Title:

METHOD TO IMPROVE THE TRANSPARENCY OF NEUROFUZZY SYSTEMS

Authors:

Jorge A. Dominguez-Lopez

Abstract: Neurofuzzy systems have been widely applied to a diverse range of applications because their robust operation and network transparency. A neurofuzzy system is specified by a set of rules with confidences. However, as knowledge base systems, neurofuzzy systems suffer from the curse of dimensionality i.e., exponential increase in the demand of resources and in the number of rules. So, the interpretability of the final model can be lost. Thus, it is desired to have a simple rule-base to ensure transparency and implementation efficiency. After training, a rule can have several non-zero confidences. The more number of non-zero confidences, the less transparent the final model becomes. Therefore, it is elemental to reduce the number of non-zero confidences. To achieve this, the proposed algorithm search for (a maximum of) two non-zero confidences which give the same result. Thus, the system can keep its complexity with a better transparency. The proposed methodology is tested in a practical control problem to illustrate its effectiveness.
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Paper Nr: 517
Title:

GENETIC AND ELLIPSOID ALGORITHMS FOR NONLINEAR PREDICTIVE CONTROL

Authors:

Kaouther Laabidi, Faouzi Bouani and Mekki KSOURI

Abstract: This paper deals with the constrained predictive control of nonlinear systems. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are used as a process model. The control law is derived by minimizing a non convex criterion. The optimization problem is solved using Ellipsoid and genetic algorithms. The structure and operators of the combining two algorithms have been specifically developed for control design problem. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the performances of the proposed predictive controller.
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Paper Nr: 518
Title:

A HYBRID DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM - The joint use of Simulation, Coloured Petri Nets and Expert System

Authors:

Fabiano A. Hennemann, Ricardo J. Rabelo, José R. Cury, José V. Canto Dos Santos and Arthur Tórgo Gómez

Abstract: This works aim to propose a Hybrid Decision Support System (HDSS), based in Simulation and Coloured Petri Nets as modelling techniques of manufacture processes, and an Expert System to assist in its use. The HDSS provides a friendly interface for the user that, after selecting input parameters, gets a series of data about the manufacturing process that will assist in the evaluation of its performance as answer. To validate the proposal, some particular scenes have been tested, with the objective of elaborate a set of proposals for improving the performance of productive systems, evaluating the impacts from the change on model parameters and providing a better understanding about the systems considered. The HDSS makes possible for managers, without knowledge of modelling techniques, manipulate data and interact with the models. The developed prototype is generic for applying on general manufacturing processes, making it possible to use it for any industrial plant, since that the input parameters of the model are adequately fitted.
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Paper Nr: 588
Title:

REMOTE CONTROL FACILITIES OF WEB-BASED SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC POWER APPLIANCE AND NETWORK CAMERA

Authors:

Yoshiro Imai, Yuichi Sugiue, Akira Andatsu, Daisuke Yamane, Hirofumi Kuwajima and Shin’ich Masuda

Abstract: We have been improving our monitoring system, which had been organized with network cameras, an integrated web/mail server, web-based clients and remote control devices. Several kinds of devices can be used as our clients including, for example, high-performance cellular phone, which are equipped with Java virtual machine and web-browsing facilities. Our integrated server is designed to play intensive roles of web and e-mail services. It can obtain JPEG images from network cameras, process them, accumulate them into its database. It can also receive some types of requests from clients, analyze them and perform registered services for monitoring and/or controlling. Almost all software of our monitoring system have been written in Java programming language, because of easy andpowerful description of GUI as well as network programming.
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Area 2 - Robotics and Automation

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 46
Title:

IMAGE-BASED AND INTRINSIC-FREE VISUAL NAVIGATION OF A MOBILE ROBOT DEFINED AS A GLOBAL VISUAL SERVOING TASK

Authors:

C. Pérez, Nicolas Garcia Aracil, J. M. Azorín, J. M. Sabater, L. Navarro Universidad Miguel Hernández and R. Saltarén

Abstract: The new contribution of this paper is the definition of the visual navigation as a global visual control task which implies continuity problems produced by the changes of visibility of image features during the navigation. A new smooth task function is proposed and a continuous control law is obtained by imposing the exponential decrease of this task function to zero. Finally, the visual servoing techniques used to carry out the navigation are the image-based and the intrinsic-free approaches. Both are independent of calibration errors which is very useful since it is so difficult to get a good calibration in this kind of systems. Also, the second technique allows us to control the camera in spite of the variation of its intrinsic parameters. So, it is possible to modify the zoom of the camera, for instance to get more details, and drive the camera to its reference position at the same time. An exhaustive number of experiments using virtual reality worlds to simulate a typical indoor environment have been carried out.
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Paper Nr: 52
Title:

PREDICTIVE CONTROL FOR MODERN INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS - Algorithms and their applications

Authors:

Kvetoslav Belda, Josef Böhm and Pavel Pisa

Abstract: Industrial robots comprise substantial parts of machine tools and manipulators in production lines. Their present development stagnates in their control. Traditional approaches, e.g. NC (numerical control) systems combined with PID/PSD structures, provide control of the tool drives as separate units only, but not solve the control from view of the whole machine system. On the other hand, in control theory, there are a lot of approaches, in which the information on tool dynamics and kinematic relations can be involved. The main contribution of this paper is to introduce various utilization and modifications (not only control tasks) of one such approach – model-base predictive control. The control is being developed for modern industrial robots based on parallel configurations. The modifications of predictive algorithm are substantiated by real laboratory experiments. The paper concerns with basic control design and its possibilities to remove positional steady-state error. Quadraticaly-optimal trajectory planning is outlined in it.
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Paper Nr: 82
Title:

TRACKING-CONTROL INVESTIGATION OF TWO X4-FLYERS

Authors:

Zemalache M. Kadda, L. Beji and Hichem Maaref

Abstract: Two models of mini-flying robots with four rotors called X4-flyer presented and studied for the stabilization. Both cases with and without motion planning are proposed in this paper. The first is called inertial model with axes orientation and the second is called the inertial model without axes orientation. The control algorithm of the X4-flyer is based on the Lyapunov method and obtained using the backstepping techniques. This enabled to stabilize the engine in hovering and to generate its trajectory. The system behavior using the proposed control law is described through numerical simulations.
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Paper Nr: 164
Title:

EXAMINATION OF BALL TRACKING AND CATCHING TASK USING A MONOCULAR VISION-BASED MOBILE ROBOT

Authors:

Fumio Miyazaki, Fumio Miyazaki and Ryosuke MORI

Abstract: This paper presents an implementation of a ball catching task using a monocular vision-based mobile robot. We have proposed a motion strategy for catching a ball flying in three-dimensional space. This strategy has its roots in the field of experimental psychology but is more powerful and concentrated on a robot. A practical trajectory control law is derived for a non-holonomic mobile robot to track and catch a ball. This control law educes the full potential of the motion strategy: we experimentally demonstrate that a monocular vision-based mobile robot, coping with the problem due to its non-holonomic constraint, successfully catches a ball.
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Paper Nr: 191
Title:

SYNTHESIZING DETERMINISTIC CONTROLLERS IN SUPERVISORY CONTROL

Authors:

Andreas Morgenstern and Klaus Schneider

Abstract: Supervisory control theory for discrete event systems is based on finite state automata whose inputs are partitioned into controllable and uncontrollable events. Well-known algorithms used in the Ramadge-Wonham framework disable or enable controllable events such that it is finally possible to reach designated final states from every reachable state. However, as these algorithms compute the least restriction on controllable events, their result is usually a nondeterministic automaton that can not be directly implemented. For this reason, one distinguishes between supervisors (directly generated by supervisory control) and controllers that are further restrictions of supervisors to achieve determinism. Unfortunately, controllers that are generated from a supervisor may be blocking, even if the underlying discrete event system is nonblocking. In this paper, we give a modification of a supervisor synthesis algorithm that enables us to derive deterministic controllers. Moreover, we show that the algorithm is both correct and complete, i.e., that it generates a deterministic controller whenever one exists.
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Paper Nr: 192
Title:

INFORMATION-BASED INVERSE KINEMATCS MODELING FOR ANIMATION AND ROBOTICS

Authors:

Mikyung Kim and Mahmoud Tarokh

Abstract: The paper proposes a novel method for extremely fast inverse kinematics computation suitable for animation of anthropomorphic limbs, and fast moving lightweight manipulators. In the information intensive preprocessing phase, the workspace of the robot is decomposed into small cells, and joint angle vectors (configurations) and end-effector position/ orientation (posture) data sets are generated randomly in each cell using the forward kinematics. Due to the existence of multiple solutions for a desired posture, the generated configurations form clusters in the joint space which are classified. After the classification, the data belonging to each solution is used to determine the parameters of simple polynomial or neural network models that closely approximates the inverse kinematics within a cell. These parameters are stored in a lookup file. During the online phase, given the desired posture, the index of the appropriate cell is found, the model parameters are retrieved, and the joint angles are computed. The advantages of the proposed method over the existing approaches are discussed in the paper. In particular, the method is complete (provides all solutions), and is extremely fast. Statistical analyses for an industrial manipulator and an anthropomorphic arm are provided using both polynomial and neural network inverse kinematics models, which demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.
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Paper Nr: 266
Title:

OBSTACLE DETECTION BY STEREO VISION, INTRODUCING THE PQ METHOD

Authors:

Hans Jørgen Andersen, K. Kirk, T. L. Dideriksen, C. Madsen, M. B. Holte and Thomas Bak

Abstract: Safe, robust operation of an autonomous vehicle in cross-country environments relies on sensing of the surroundings. Thanks to the reduced cost of vision hardware, and increasing computational power, computer vision has become an attractive alternative for this task. This paper concentrates on the use of stereo vision for obstacles detection in cross-country environments where the ground surface can not be modeled as ramps, i.e. linear patches. Given a 3D reconstruction of the surrounding environment, obstacles are detected using the concept of compatible points. The concept classify points as obstacles if they fall within the volume of cone located with its apex at the point being evaluated. The cone may be adjusted adjusted according the physical parameters of the vehicle. The paper introduces a novel Projection and Quantification method that based on vehicle orientation rotates the 3D information onto an intuitive two dimensional surface plot and quantifies the information into bins adjusted to the specific application. In this way the search space for compatible points is significantly reduced. The new method is evaluated for a specific robotic application and the results are compared to previous results on a number of typical scenarios. Combined with an intuitive representation of obstacles in a two dimensional surface plot, the results indicate a significant reduction in the computational complexity for relevant scenarios.
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Paper Nr: 270
Title:

ADAPTIVE VISUAL-FORCE CONTROL IN UNKNOWN WORKSPACES

Authors:

Jorge Pomares, Fernando Torres and Laura Paya

Abstract: This paper proposes the definition of a new adaptive system that combines visual and force information. At each moment, the proportion of information used from each sensor is variable depending on the adequacy of each sensor to control the task. The sensorial information obtained is processed to allow the use of both sensors for controlling the robot and avoiding situations in which the control actions are contradictory. Although the visual servoing systems have certain robustness with respect to calibration errors, when the image-based control systems are combined with force control we must accurately know the intrinsic parameters. For this purpose an adaptive approach is proposed which updates the intrinsic parameters during the task.
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Paper Nr: 271
Title:

HIGHLY ACCURATE INTEGRATION OF TRACK MOTIONS

Authors:

Michael Kleinkes, Angela Lilienthal and Werner Neddermeyer

Abstract: According to the largeness of the workpieces in several industrial environments, a great number of industrial robots is placed on external track motions, so called 7th axes, as for automotive or aircraft industries. Flexible automation today requires absolute high accuracy. For example modern robotics deals with offline programming, copying programs between similar working cells, reflecting programs or image processing for 3D-pose estimation. All these tasks need absolute high accuracy and in fact, there have been many investigations for increasing the accuracy of single robots in the past few years. In contrast to that the use of track motions will dramatically increase the position error and badly influence the static behaviour of the robot system. The main reasons for these additional errors are the incorrect identification of the main track direction and furthermore, very crucial, the non-linearities of the TCP (Tool Center Point) during the robots motion on the track. This article will introduce a new method of identification and mathematical integration of linear tracks. At first we present the method for measuring and generating profiles of single tracks by making use of the discrete fourier transformation (DFT) and cubic spline interpolation. Then a method for recalculating offline generated programs for real environments is presented, followed by a method for copying programs taking two profiles of track motions into consideration. Finally some measurement results are shown.
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Paper Nr: 278
Title:

MULTIPLE VIEW GEOMETRY ESTIMATION BASED ON FINITE-MULTIPLE EVOLUTIONARY AGENTS FOR MEDICAL IMAGES

Authors:

Mingxing Hu, Karen McMenemy, Stuart Ferguson, Gordon Dodds and Baozong Yuan

Abstract: In this paper we present a new method for the robust estimation of the trifocal tensor, from a series of medical images, using finite-multiple evolutionary agents. Each agent denotes a subset of matching points for parameter estimation, and the dataset of correspondences is considered as the environment in which the agents inhabit, evolve and execute some evolutionary behavior. Survival-of-finite-fitness rule is employed to keep the dramatic increase of new agents within limits, and reduce the chance of reproducing unfit ones. Experiments show that our approach performs better than the typical methods in terms of accuracy and speed, and is robust to noise and outliers even when a large number of outliers are involved.
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Paper Nr: 327
Title:

A STRATEGY FOR BUILDING TOPOLOGICAL MAPS THROUGH SCENE OBSERVATION

Authors:

Roger Freitas, Mario Sarcinelli-Filho, Teodiano Bastos-filho and José Santos-Victor

Abstract: Mobile robots remain idle during significant amounts of time in many applications, while a new task is not assigned to it. In this paper, we propose a framework to use such periods of inactivity to observe the surrounding environment and learn information that can be used later on during navigation. Events like someone entering or leaving a room, someone approaching a printer to pick a document up, etc., convey important information about the observed space and the role played by the objects therein. Information implicitly present in the motion patterns people describe in a certain workspace is then explored, to allow the robot to infer a “meaningful” spatial description. Such spatial representation is not driven by abstract geometrical considerations but, rather, by the role or function associated to locations or objects (affordances) and learnt by observing people’s behaviour. Map building is thus bottom-up driven by the observation of human activity, and not simply a top-down oriented geometric construction.
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Paper Nr: 351
Title:

TRACKING OF A UNICYCLE-TYPE MOBILE ROBOT USING INTEGRAL SLIDING MODE CONTROL

Authors:

Michael Defoort, Thierry Floquet, Wilfrid Perruquetti and Annemarie Kokosy

Abstract: This paper deals with the tracking control for a dynamic model of a wheeled mobile robot in the presence of some perturbations. The control strategy is based on integral sliding mode. Simulations illustrate the results on the studied mobile robot.
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Paper Nr: 351
Title:

TRACKING OF A UNICYCLE-TYPE MOBILE ROBOT USING INTEGRAL SLIDING MODE CONTROL

Authors:

Michael Defoort, Thierry Floquet, Wilfrid Perruquetti and Annemarie Kokosy

Abstract: This paper deals with the tracking control for a dynamic model of a wheeled mobile robot in the presence of some perturbations. The control strategy is based on integral sliding mode. Simulations illustrate the results on the studied mobile robot.
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Paper Nr: 352
Title:

A SWITCHING ALGORITHM FOR TRACKING EXTENDED TARGETS

Authors:

Andreas Kraeussling, Frank E. Schneider and Andreas Kraeussling

Abstract: Tracking extended objects like humans in crowded environments is one of the challenges in mobile robotics. Several characteristics must be taken into consideration when evaluating the performance of such a tracking algorithm — e.g. accuracy, the need for computation time and the ability to deal with complex situations like crossing targets. In this paper two different algorithms for tracking extended targets are examined and compared by means of these criterions. One result is that none of the algorithms alone is a sufficient solution to the criterias. Therefore, a switching approach using both algorithms is introduced and tested on real data.
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Paper Nr: 353
Title:

VISUAL SCENE AUGMENTATION FOR ENHANCED HUMAN PERCEPTION

Authors:

Daniel Hahn, Frederik Beutler and Uwe D. Hanebeck

Abstract: In this paper we present an assistive system for hearing-impaired people that consists of a wearable microphone array and an Augmented Reality (AR) system. This system helps the user in communication situations, where many speakers or sources of background noise are present. In order to restore the “cocktail party” effect multiple microphones are used to estimate the position of individual sound sources. In order to allow the user to interact in complex situations with many speakers, an algorithm for estimating the user’s attention is developed. This algorithm determines the sound sources, which are in the user’s focus of attention. It allows the system to discard irrelevant information and enables the user to focus on certain aspects of the surroundings. Based on the user’s hearing impairment, the perception of the speaker in the focus of attention can be enhanced, e.g. by amplification or using a speech-to-text conversion. A prototype has been built for evaluating this approach. Currently the prototype is able to locate sound beacons in three-dimensional space, to perform a simple focus estimation, and to present floating captions in the Augmented Reality. The prototype uses an intentionally simple user interface, in order to minimize distractions.
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Paper Nr: 356
Title:

A NEW ART GALLERY ALGORITHM FOR SENSOR LOCATION

Authors:

Andrea Bottino and Aldo Laurentini

Abstract: Locating sensors in2D can be often modeled as an Art Gallery problem. Unfortunately, this problem is NP-hard, and no finite algorithm, even exponential, is known for its solution. Algorithms able to closely approximate the optimal solution and computationally feasible in the worst case are unlikely to exist. However this is an important problem and algorithms with “good” performance in practical cases are sorely needed. After reviewing the available algorithms, we propose a new sensors location incremental technique. The technique converges toward the optimal solution. It locally refines a starting approximation provided by an integer covering algorithm, where each edge is observed entirely by at least one sensor. A lower bound for the number of sensor, specific of the polygon considered, is used for halting the algorithm, and a set of rules are provided to simplify the problem.
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Paper Nr: 371
Title:

EXTENSION VERSUS BENDING FOR CONTINUUM ROBOTS

Authors:

Robin McDonnell, George Grimes, Ian Walker and Carlos Carreras

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the capabilities of a novel class of continuous-backbone (“continuum”) robots. These robots are inspired by biological “trunks, and tentacles”. However, the capabilities of established continuum robot designs, which feature controlled bending but not extension, fall short of those of their biological counterparts. In this paper, we argue that the addition of controlled extension provides dual and complementary functionality, and correspondingly enhanced performance, in continuum robots. We present an interval-based analysis to show how the inclusion of controllable extension significantly enhances the workspace and capabilities of continuum robots.
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Paper Nr: 371
Title:

EXTENSION VERSUS BENDING FOR CONTINUUM ROBOTS

Authors:

Robin McDonnell, George Grimes, Ian Walker and Carlos Carreras

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the capabilities of a novel class of continuous-backbone (“continuum”) robots. These robots are inspired by biological “trunks, and tentacles”. However, the capabilities of established continuum robot designs, which feature controlled bending but not extension, fall short of those of their biological counterparts. In this paper, we argue that the addition of controlled extension provides dual and complementary functionality, and correspondingly enhanced performance, in continuum robots. We present an interval-based analysis to show how the inclusion of controllable extension significantly enhances the workspace and capabilities of continuum robots.
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Paper Nr: 420
Title:

MODELLING AND LQ-BACKSTEPPING CONTROL FOR A QUADROTOR

Authors:

Sébastien Belin, Mathieu Carton and Fabien Macaire

Abstract: Thanks to significant advances during the last decades in the miniaturized robotic area, many Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) projects were launched. Among them, the QuadriXflyer is an UAV quadrotor designed to evolve autonomously between waypoints given by an operator before flight. In this paper, we propose a modelling and a new hybrid control approach for the QuadriXflyer; a controller integrating the advantages of a Linear Quadratic (LQ) and those of a backstepping approach allowing to compensate the nonlinearities of the system. With this new approach, the gravity will be compensated directly without time delay. Robustness of the controller is then studied to ensure the stability of the quadrotor to exogenous (wind for example) and internal (noise on measurements, uncertainties on the inertia for example) perturbations.
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Paper Nr: 420
Title:

MODELLING AND LQ-BACKSTEPPING CONTROL FOR A QUADROTOR

Authors:

Sébastien Belin, Mathieu Carton and Fabien Macaire

Abstract: Thanks to significant advances during the last decades in the miniaturized robotic area, many Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) projects were launched. Among them, the QuadriXflyer is an UAV quadrotor designed to evolve autonomously between waypoints given by an operator before flight. In this paper, we propose a modelling and a new hybrid control approach for the QuadriXflyer; a controller integrating the advantages of a Linear Quadratic (LQ) and those of a backstepping approach allowing to compensate the nonlinearities of the system. With this new approach, the gravity will be compensated directly without time delay. Robustness of the controller is then studied to ensure the stability of the quadrotor to exogenous (wind for example) and internal (noise on measurements, uncertainties on the inertia for example) perturbations.
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Paper Nr: 420
Title:

MODELLING AND LQ-BACKSTEPPING CONTROL FOR A QUADROTOR

Authors:

Sébastien Belin, Mathieu Carton and Fabien Macaire

Abstract: Thanks to significant advances during the last decades in the miniaturized robotic area, many Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) projects were launched. Among them, the QuadriXflyer is an UAV quadrotor designed to evolve autonomously between waypoints given by an operator before flight. In this paper, we propose a modelling and a new hybrid control approach for the QuadriXflyer; a controller integrating the advantages of a Linear Quadratic (LQ) and those of a backstepping approach allowing to compensate the nonlinearities of the system. With this new approach, the gravity will be compensated directly without time delay. Robustness of the controller is then studied to ensure the stability of the quadrotor to exogenous (wind for example) and internal (noise on measurements, uncertainties on the inertia for example) perturbations.
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Paper Nr: 426
Title:

COMBINING TWO METHODS TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE DENSE DISPARITY MAPS

Authors:

Agustin Salgado and Javier Sánchez

Abstract: The aim of this work is to put together two methods in order to improve the solutions for the problem of 3D geometry reconstruction from a stereoscopic pair of images. We use a method that we have developed in recent works which is based on an energy minimisation technique. This energy yields a partial differential equation (PDE) and is well suited for accurately estimating the disparity maps. One of the problems of this kind of techniques is that it depends strongly on the initial approximation. For this reason we have used a method based on graph–cuts which has demonstrated to obtain good initial guess.
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Paper Nr: 428
Title:

ON-LINE SUPERVISED ADJUSTMENT OF THE CORRECTING GAINS OF FRACTIONAL ORDER HOLDS

Authors:

A. Bilbao-Guillerna, M. De la Sen and S. Alonso-Quesada

Abstract: A discrete control using different possible discretization models of a continuous plant is presented. The different models of the scheme are obtained from a set of different discretizations of a continuous transfer function under a fractional-order-hold of correcting gain β ϵ [-1,1] (β-FROH). The objective is to design a supervisory scheme which is able to find the most appropriate value for the gain β in an intelligent design framework. A tracking performance index evaluates each possible discretization and the scheme chooses the one with the lowest value. Two different methods of adjusting this value are presented and discussed. The first one selects it among a fixed set of possible values, while in the second one the value of β can be updated by adding or subtracting a small quantity. Simulations are presented to show the usefulness of the scheme.
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Paper Nr: 431
Title:

AN OPTIMAL CONTROL SCHEME FOR A DRIVING SIMULATOR

Authors:

Hatem Elloumi, Marc Bordier and Nadia Mäızi

Abstract: Within the framework of driving simulation, control is a key issue to providing the driver realistic motion cues. Visual stimulus (virtual reality scene) and inertial stimulus (platform motion) induce a self-motion illusion. The challenge is to provide the driver with the sensations he would feel in real car maneuvering. This is an original control problem. Indeed, the first goal is not classical path tracking but fooling the driver awareness. Constrained workspace is the second issue classically addressed by motion cueing algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to extend the works of Telban and Cardullo on the optimal motion cueing algorithm. A nonlinear dynamical model of the robot is brought in. The actuator forces are directly included in the optimal control scheme. Consequently a better (global) optimization and an advanced parametrization of the control are achieved.
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Paper Nr: 435
Title:

TOPOLOGICALLY ROBUST RECONSTRUCTION OF A 3D OBJECT WITH ORGANIZED MESHING

Authors:

Junta Doi and Junta Doi

Abstract: This paper proposes a practical, topologically robust and ranging error resistive shape modeling procedure that approximates a real 3D object with the matrix-formatted organized meshing for the 3D shape processing. A geometric model with desired meshing, not limited to triangular one, but also quadrilateral, hexagonal or n-gonal mesh, is directly reconstructed based on a solid modeling approach. The radial distance of each scanning point from the axis of the cylindrical coordinates is measured by laser triangulation. The angular and vertical positions of the laser beam are two other coordinate values of the scanning. A face array listing (topology), which defines the vertex (sampling point) connectivity and the shape of the mesh, is assigned to meet the desired meshing. Stable meshing, and hence, an accurate approximation, free from the shape ambiguity unavoidable in the widely used ICP (Iterative Closest Point) modeling, is then accomplished. This proposal allows a practical and versatile reconstruction and the successive 3D shape modification.
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Paper Nr: 446
Title:

SOLVING AN INVERSE KINEMATICS PROBLEM FOR A HUMANOID ROBOT’S IMITATION OF HUMAN MOTIONS USING OPTIMIZATION

Authors:

Changhwan Kim, Doik Kim and Yonghwan Oh

Abstract: Interactions of a humanoid with a human are important, when the humanoid is requested to provide people with human-friendly services in unknown or uncertain environment. Such interactions may require more complicated and human-like behaviors from the humanoid. In this work the arm motion of a human is discussed as the early stage of human motion imitation by a humanoid. A motion capture system is used to obtain human-friendly arm motions as references for the humanoid. However the captured motions may not be applied directly to the humanoid, since the differences in geometric or dynamics aspects as length, degrees of freedom, and kinematics and dynamics capabilities exist between the humanoid and the human. To overcome this difficulty a method to adapt captured motions to a humanoid is developed. The geometric difference in the arm length is resolved by scaling the arm length of the humanoid with a constant based on a length ratio. Using the scaled geometry of the humanoid the imitation of actor’s arm motion is realized by solving an inverse kinematics problem that is formulated as an optimization problem. The errors between the captured trajectories of actor arms and the approximated trajectories of humanoid arms are minimized. Such dynamics capabilities of the joint motors as limits of joint position, velocity and acceleration are also imposed on the optimization problem. Two motions of one hand waving and performing a statement in sign language are imitated by a humanoid in dynamics simulation.
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Paper Nr: 447
Title:

PRECISE DEAD-RECKONING FOR MOBILE ROBOTS USING MULTIPLE OPTICAL MOUSE SENSORS

Authors:

Daisuke Sekimori and Fumio Miyazaki

Abstract: In this paper, in order to develop an accurate localization for mobile robots, we propose a dead-reckoning system based on increments of the robot movements read directly from the floor using optical mouse sensors. The movements of two axes are measurable with an optical mouse sensor. Therefore, in order to calculate a robot’s deviation of position and orientation, it is necessary to attach two optical mouse sensors in the robot. However, it is also assumed that a sensor cannot read the movements correctly due to the condition of the floor, the shaking of the robot, etc. To solve this problem, we arrange multiple optical mouse sensors around the robot and compare sensor values. By selecting reliable sensor values, accurate dead-reckoning is realized. Finally, we verify the effectiveness of this algorithm through several experiments with an actual robot.
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Paper Nr: 448
Title:

GRASP FEASIBILITY COMPUTATION BASED ON CASCADING FILTERS. APPLICATION TO A THREE FINGERED GRIPPER

Authors:

César Fernández Peris, M. Asunción Vicente, Oscar Reinoso, Luis Paya and Rafael Puerto

Abstract: A simple, yet effective approach to grasp feasibility analysis is presented. The goal is to reduce the computational complexity of such process, whose complexity makes the detection of all feasible grasps for a certain object unavoidable in most occasions. The approach is based on cascading filters of increasing complexity. First, trivial filters are applied to all the grasp examples, thus rejecting all clearly unfeasible grasps with a small computational effort. Then, more complex filters are applied to a reduced number of grasps and, at the end, the full kinematics and collision detection analysis is only performed with a small subset of the grasps. An example application is presented, where the goal is to detect all the possible 2D grasps of a certain object with an articulated three-fingered hand attached to a scara robot. The vertical axis is decoupled, thus resulting in a highly redundant 7 DOF planar device. Simulation results are presented, where the reduction in computational complexity is evaluated in terms of the number of floating point operations required. Such reduction can be as high as 97% of the original computation time. An experimental setup has also been developed, with an industrial scara robot and a specifically designed articulated three-fingered gripper. The gripper has pneumatically actuated opening and closing of the fingers and electrically actuated abduction of the articulated fingers. In such experimental setup, the cascading filters approach shows a good behavior. Besides, the proposed system can be easily adapted to different robot arms and hands.
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Paper Nr: 525
Title:

IMAGE BINARISATION USING THE EXTENDED KALMAN FILTER

Authors:

Alexandra Bartolo, Tracey Cassar, Keneth Camilleri, Simon G. Fabri, Johnatan C and Borg

Abstract: Form design is frequently carried out through paper sketches of the designer’s mental model of an object. To improve the time it takes from solution concept to production it would therefore be beneficial if paper-based sketches can be automatically interpreted for importation into three-dimensional geometric computer aided design (CAD) systems. This however requires image pre-processing before initiating the automated interpretation of the drawing. This paper proposes a novel application of the Extended Kalman Filter to guide the binarisation process, thus achieving suitable and automatic classification between image foreground and background.
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Paper Nr: 543
Title:

MOBILE ROBOT PREDICTIVE TRAJECTORY TRACKING

Authors:

Martin Seyr and Stefan Jakubek

Abstract: For a two-wheeled differentially driven mobile robot a trajectory tracking concept is developed. A trajectory is a time-indexed path in the plane, i.e. in the three-dimensional configuration space consisting of position and orientation. Due to the nonholonomic nature of a rolling wheel, the system cannot be stabilized by a continuous time-invariant feedback or by feedback linearization. A novel approach taken in this paper to solve the nonholonomic control problem consists of nonlinear predictive control in conjunction with linear state space control with integration of the control error. Based on a Gauss-Newton algorithm, predicted future position errors are minimized by numerical computation of an optimal sequence of control inputs using prespecified shape functions.
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Paper Nr: 543
Title:

MOBILE ROBOT PREDICTIVE TRAJECTORY TRACKING

Authors:

Martin Seyr and Stefan Jakubek

Abstract: For a two-wheeled differentially driven mobile robot a trajectory tracking concept is developed. A trajectory is a time-indexed path in the plane, i.e. in the three-dimensional configuration space consisting of position and orientation. Due to the nonholonomic nature of a rolling wheel, the system cannot be stabilized by a continuous time-invariant feedback or by feedback linearization. A novel approach taken in this paper to solve the nonholonomic control problem consists of nonlinear predictive control in conjunction with linear state space control with integration of the control error. Based on a Gauss-Newton algorithm, predicted future position errors are minimized by numerical computation of an optimal sequence of control inputs using prespecified shape functions.
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Paper Nr: 558
Title:

LOWER LIMB PROSTHESIS: FINAL PROTOTYPE RELEASE AND CONTROL SETTING METHODOLOGIES

Authors:

Federico Vicentini, Marita Canina and Alberto Rovetta

Abstract: The current research activity on prostheses project at the Robotics Laboratory (Mechanics Department, Politecnico di Milano) is carried on in cooperation with Centro Protesi INAIL and STMicroelectronics. The team is both innovative and interesting, owing to the fact that it not only involves a range of specialists but also gives rise to interdisciplinary aspects. They are absolutely essential in project dealing with such complex issues. This Mechanic-Leg project, called Hermes, is an original solution in the field of prosthesis. Main aim of this research is the prototyping of a new kind of mechanical lower limb with an electronic control. The device, resorting to innovatory mechanical and electronic solutions, allows the controller to modify the type of step, passing from a slow to a fast walk, in an easy and intuitive way, taking care of patient’s requirements. The Hermes M-Leg cost is comparable to the actual commercial non electronic controlled artificial knees. The distinguishing features of Hermes M-Leg project are an higher awareness in innovative aspects related to medical/biological/engineering research. Then, a pervasive use of cutting-edge technology (electronics, IT, material-related technologies, etc.). The controller architecture is built upon a low memory processing features. The hard analysis and test activity help to model the algorithm for step control. The adaptive behaviour is mostly due to an effective experience in testing and software tuning in cooperation with patients and clinical staff.
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Paper Nr: 576
Title:

ACTIVE STEREO VISION-BASED MOBILE ROBOT NAVIGATION FOR PERSON TRACKING

Authors:

Valentin Enescu, G. De Cubber, K. Cauwerts, S. A. Berrabah, H. Sahli and M. Nuttin

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a mobile robot architecture for person tracking, consisting of an active stereo vision module (ASVM) and a navigation module (NM). The first tracks the person in stereo images and controls the pan/tilt unit to keep the target in the visual field. Its output, i.e. the 3D position of the person, is fed to the NM, which drives the robot towards the target while avoiding obstacles. As a peculiarity of the system, there is no feedback from the NM or the robot motion controller (RMC) to the ASVM. While this imparts flexibility in combining the ASVM with a wide range of robot platforms, it puts considerable strain on the ASVM. Indeed, besides the changes in the target dynamics, it has to cope with the robot motion during obstacle avoidance. These disturbances are accommodated by generating target location hypotheses in an efficient manner. Robustness against outliers and occlusions is achieved by employing a multi-hypothesis tracking method - the particle filter - based on a color model of the target. Moreover, to deal with illumination changes, the system adaptively updates the color model of the target. The main contributions of this paper lie in (1) devising a stereo, color-based target tracking method using the stereo geometry constraint and (2) integrating it with a robotic agent in a loosely coupled manner.
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Paper Nr: 578
Title:

MOTION-EMBEDDED COG JACOBIAN FOR A REAL-TIME HUMANOID MOTION GENERATION

Authors:

Doik Kim, Youngjin Choi and Changhwan Kim

Abstract: For a legged robot such as a humanoid, balancing its body during a given motion is natural but the most important problem. Recently, a motion given to a humanoid is more and more complicated, and thus the balancing problem becomes much more critical. This paper suggests a real-time motion generation algorithm that guarantees a humanoid to be balanced during implementing a given motion. A desired motion of each arm and/or leg is planned by the conventional motion planning method without considering the balancing problem. In order to balance a humanoid, all the given motions are embedded into the COG Jacobian. The COG Jacobian is modified to include the desired motions and, as a result, dimension of the COG Jacobian is drastically reduced. With the motion-embedded COG Jacobian, balancing and performing a task is completed simultaneously, without changing any other parameters related to the control or planning. Validity and efficiency of the proposed motion-embedded COG Jacobian is simulated in the paper.
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Paper Nr: 587
Title:

CONTROL OF AN ASYMMETRICAL OMNI DIRECTIONAL MOBILE ROBOT

Authors:

Seyed M. Safavi, Mohammad Ajoodanian and Ahmad Movahedian

Abstract: This paper describes how to control an asymmetric wheeled mobile robot with omnidirectional wheels, considering the sample of a robot with three wheels. When flexible motion capabilities are required this robot must be designed to meet the related requirements, namely fast and agile motions as well as robust navigation. This paper provides an overview for the design of kinematics and dynamics of the robot, as well as the motion and velocities equations. In addition to the above, a control method to obtain a proper control model is explained. Simulation example is presented to demonstrate the ability of this control method. The implementation and test of the controller on the real robot gives the results compatible with the simulation. It was learned that the discontinuities between omnidirectional wheels’ rollers play an important role in decreasing the accuracy of motion.
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Paper Nr: 587
Title:

CONTROL OF AN ASYMMETRICAL OMNI DIRECTIONAL MOBILE ROBOT

Authors:

Seyed M. Safavi, Mohammad Ajoodanian and Ahmad Movahedian

Abstract: This paper describes how to control an asymmetric wheeled mobile robot with omnidirectional wheels, considering the sample of a robot with three wheels. When flexible motion capabilities are required this robot must be designed to meet the related requirements, namely fast and agile motions as well as robust navigation. This paper provides an overview for the design of kinematics and dynamics of the robot, as well as the motion and velocities equations. In addition to the above, a control method to obtain a proper control model is explained. Simulation example is presented to demonstrate the ability of this control method. The implementation and test of the controller on the real robot gives the results compatible with the simulation. It was learned that the discontinuities between omnidirectional wheels’ rollers play an important role in decreasing the accuracy of motion.
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Paper Nr: 589
Title:

DIRECT GRADIENT-BASED REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR ROBOT BEHAVIOR LEARNING

Authors:

Andres El-Fakdi, Marc Carreras and Pere Ridao

Abstract: Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) represent a challenging control problem with complex, noisy, dynamics. Nowadays, not only the continuous scientific advances in underwater robotics but the increasing number of sub sea missions and its complexity ask for an automatization of submarine processes. This paper proposes a high-level control system for solving the action selection problem of an autonomous robot. The system is characterized by the use of Reinforcement Learning Direct Policy Search methods (RLDPS) for learning the internal state/action mapping of some behaviors. We demonstrate its feasibility with simulated experiments using the model of our underwater robot URIS in a target following task.
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Paper Nr: 590
Title:

EVOLUTIONARY LEARNING OF FUZZY RULES IN A MODIFIED CLASSIFIER SYSTEM FOR MOBILE AGENTS CONTROL

Authors:

Eric Vallejo and Ginés Benet

Abstract: In this work we present the creation of a platform, along with an algorithm to evolve the learning of FLCs, especially aiming to the development of fuzzy controllers for mobile robot navigation. The structure has been proven on a Kephera robot. The conceptual aspects that sustain the work include topics such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), control advanced techniques, sensorial systems and mechatronics. Topics related with the control and automatic navigation of robotic systems especially with learning are approached, based on the Fuzzy Logic theory and evolutionary computing. We can say that our structure corresponds basically to a Classifier System, with appropriate modifications for the objective of generating controllers for mobile robot trajectories. The more stress is made on genetic profile than in the characteristics of the individuals and on the other, the strategy of distribution of the reinforcement is emphasized, fundamental aspects on which the work seeks to contribute.
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Paper Nr: 599
Title:

KINEMATIC MODELING OF STEWART-GOUGH PLATFORMS

Authors:

Pedro Cruz, Ricardo Ferreira and João Sequeira

Abstract: This paper describes a method to solve the direct kinematics of a generic Stewart-Gough manipulators. The method is formulated in terms of a search in the space of rigid body transformations. The underlying idea is that the solutions of the direct kinematics can be obtained by moving the end-effector body according rotations and translations and accounting for the rigidity conditions. The paper presents simulation results for a 6-3 Stewart-Gough robot.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 23
Title:

DISTRIBUTED GRADIENT FOR MULTI-ROBOT MOTION PLANNING

Authors:

Gerasimos Rigatos

Abstract: Distributed stochastic search is proposed for cooperative behavior in multi-robot systems. Distributed gradient is examined. This method consists of multiple stochastic search algorithms that start from different points in the solutions space and interact to each other while moving towards the goal position. Distributed gradient is shown to be efficient when the motion of the robots towards the goal position is described by a quadratic cost function. The algorithm’s performance is evaluated through simulation tests.
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Paper Nr: 70
Title:

BROKEN BAR DETECTION IN INDUCTION MOTORS - Using non intrusive torque estimation techniques

Authors:

Mario Eltabach and Charara Ali

Abstract: One of the most important issues when implementing control and fault diagnosis systems for induction motor drives is obtaining accurate information about the state of certain motor electromagnetic signals such as stator flux and electromagnetic torque. This paper examines the detection of rotor imperfections through spectral analysis of the electromagnetic torque, computed by three stator flux estimators, and using only non-invasive sensors such as current and voltage sensors. The variable structure observer, the extended Luenberger observer (ELO) and extended Kalman filter (EKF) are used to estimate flux components without resorting to the use of intrusive speed sensors. The aim of this paper is to make a comparison and a classification between these approaches. Experimental results demonstrate the significant potential of these methods in detecting these types of faults.
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Paper Nr: 96
Title:

A MODEL BASED CONTROL OF COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS INJECTION SYSTEMS

Authors:

Bruno Maione, Paolo Lino and Alessandro Rizzo

Abstract: Low fuel consumption and low emissions are key issues in modern internal combustion engines design. For this reason, an effective on-line control of the injection process requires the mathematical equations describing the system dynamics. The inherent nonlinearities make the modeling of the fuel-injection system hard to accomplish. Moreover, it is necessary to trade off between accuracy in representing the dynamical behavior of the most significant variables and the need of reducing complexity to simplify the controller design process. In this paper we present a second order lumped parameters model of a Compressed Natural Gas injection system for control system synthesis and analysis. Based on the proposed model, we propose a generalized predictive controller to regulate the injection pressure, which guarantees good performances and robustness to modeling errors.
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Paper Nr: 143
Title:

PARAMETRIC OPTIMIZATION FOR OPTIMAL SYNTHESIS - of robotic systems’ motions

Authors:

Taha Chettibi, Moussa Haddad and Samir Hanchi

Abstract: This paper presents how a problem of optimal trajectory planning, that is an optimal control problem, can be transformed into a parametric optimization problem and in consequence be tackled using efficient deterministic or stochastic parametric optimization techniques. The transformation is done thanks to discretizing some or all continuous system’s variables and forming their time-histories by interpolation. We will discuss three different methods where, in addition to transfer time T, considered optimization parameters are: 1) independent state and control parameters, 2) control parameters and 3) independent position parameters. The simplicity and the efficiency of the third mode allow us to use it to solve the problem of optimal trajectory planning in complex situations, in particular for holonomic and non-holonomic systems.
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Paper Nr: 146
Title:

FIELD GEOLOGY WITH A WEARABLE COMPUTER: FIRST RESULTS OF THE CYBORG ASTROBIOLOGIST SYSTEM

Authors:

Patrick Mcguire, Javier Gómez-Elvira, José Antonio Rodríguez-Manfredi, Eduardo Sebastián-Martínez, Jens Ormö, Enrique Díaz-Martínez, Markus Oesker, Robert Haschke, Jörg Ontrup and Helge Ritter

Abstract: We present results from the first geological field tests of the ‘Cyborg Astrobiologist’, which is a wearable computer and video camcorder system that we are using to test and train a computer-vision system towards having some of the autonomous decision-making capabilities of a field-geologist. The Cyborg Astrobiologist platform has thus far been used for testing and development of these algorithms and systems: robotic acquisition of quasi-mosaics of images, real-time image segmentation, and real-time determination of interesting points in the image mosaics. This work is more of a test of the whole system, rather than of any one part of the system. However, beyond the concept of the system itself, the uncommon map (despite its simplicity) is the main innovative part of the system. The uncommon map helps to determine interest-points in a context-free manner. Overall, the hardware and software systems function reliably, and the computer-vision algorithms are adequate for the first field tests. In addition to the proof-of-concept aspect of these field tests, the main result of these field tests is the enumeration of those issues that we can improve in the future, including: dealing with structural shadow and microtexture, and also, controlling the camera’s zoom lens in an intelligent manner. Nonetheless, despite these and other technical inadequacies, this Cyborg Astrobiologist system, consisting of a camera-equipped wearable-computer and its computer-vision algorithms, has demonstrated its ability of finding genuinely interesting points in real-time in the geological scenery, and then gathering more information about these interest points in an automated manner. We use these capabilities for autonomous guidance towards geological points-of-interest.
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Paper Nr: 161
Title:

CONTROL OF DISCRETE LINEAR REPETITIVE PROCESSES WITH VARIABLE PARAMETER UNCERTAINTY

Authors:

Blazej Cichy, K. Gałkowski, Anton Kummert and Eric Rogers

Abstract: This paper is devoted to solving the problem of stabilising an uncertain discrete linear repetitive process, where the model uncertainty is a result of the variable along the pass uncertainty of the parameters. The analysis is applied to the engineering example of the material rolling process, which can be modelled as a repetitive process (Rogers and Owens, 1992; Gałkowski et al., 2003b). Due to its analytical simplicity and due to computational effectiveness, the LMI based approach to design a robust state controller for 2D systems has been used here.
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Paper Nr: 174
Title:

PRIMOS – A NOVEL CONCEPT TO PROGRAM COMPLEX ASSEMBLY PROCESSES

Authors:

Markus Ehrmann, Jochen Schlick, Marc Seckner and Detlef Zuehlke

Abstract: Over the past years requirements and size of robot programs have continuously increased. Especially assembly processes increasingly integrate sensors and sensor-based positioning methods to ensure safe processes. Until now programming is realized in manufacturer-dependent text-oriented or graphic-supported simulation systems. If such complex processes have to be realized, both methods result in various disadvantages: Text-oriented programs loose their overview and simulation systems are in need of entire environment models. Due to these reasons, a new concept has been developed in order to improve and simplify the programming of complex sensor based assembly processes. The main objectives of the concept are reducing complexity of robot programs, facilitating clearness for users, supporting diagnostics and handling of trouble during programming. Therefore the technique of visual programming is used and the program is described in an abstract manner by linking graphical symbols. They represent movement of robots and positions of endeffectors. To execute various tasks, so called actions are assigned to the program flow. Further on a concept for handling occurring troubles is integrated. So called exceptions are user-defined and consist of various types of troubles. If an exception is triggered, the program flow will be interrupted and reactions take place. For validation, the concept has been successfully implemented in a tool, named PRIMOS (Programming Robots with an Interference Handling Motion Orientated System). It has been positively evaluated by programming a sensor based assembly process of flanges on optical fibres.
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Paper Nr: 197
Title:

A REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE FOR MANAGING VARIABILITY AMONG TELEOPERATED SERVICE ROBOTS

Authors:

Francisco Ortiz, Juan Ángel Pastor, Diego Alonso, Fernando Losilla and Esther De Jódar

Abstract: Teleoperated robots are used to perform hazardous tasks that human operators cannot carry out. The purpose of this paper is to present a new architecture (ACROSET) for the development of these systems that takes into account the current advances in robotic architectures while adopting the component-oriented approach. ACROSET provides a common framework for developing this kind of robotized systems and for integrating intelligent components. The architecture is currently being used, tested and improved in the development of a family of robots, teleoperated cranes and vehicles which perform environmentally friendly cleaning of ship-hull surfaces (the EFTCoR project).
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Paper Nr: 205
Title:

CALCULATION OF OPTIMAL PATHS IN THE CONFIGURATION SPACE USING ARTIFICIAL POTENTIAL FIELDS AND A* AND D* ALGORITHMS FOR AN ARTICULATED ROBOT. COMPARISON OF TECHNIQUES

Authors:

Miguel Á. Gutiérrez García, Alejandro Morales Sánchez, Vidal Moreno Rodilla and Belén Curto Diego

Abstract: In this paper, we use a calculation path technique based on the configuration space in the case of an articulated robot of two degrees of freedom. We propose the use of artificial potential fields to represent the configuration space and the use of techniques of artificial intelligence like A* and D* to search a free collision path into the configuration space. This combination of techniques can be used in static and dynamic environments with more than three dimensions without considering the geometry of the obstacles. The results for this combination of techniques are presented, choosing in each case the best option for each one of the techniques for the combination.
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Paper Nr: 206
Title:

A FRAMEWORK FOR TELEPRESENT GAME-PLAY IN LARGE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS

Authors:

Patrick Rößler, Frederik Beutler and Uwe D. Hanebeck

Abstract: In this paper we present a framework that provides a novel interface to avatar control in immersive computer games. The user’s motion is tracked and transferred to to the game environment. This motion data is used as control input for the avatar. The game graphics are rendered according to the avatar’s motion and presented to the user on a head-mounted display. As a result, the user immerses into the game environment and identifies with the avatar. However, without further processing of the motion data, the virtual environment would be limited to the size of the user’s real environment, which is not desirable. By using Motion Compression, the framework allows exploring an arbitrarily large virtual environment while the user is actually moving in an environment of limited size. Based on the proposed framework, two game applications were implemented, a modification of a commercially available game and a custom designed game. These two applications prove, that a telepresence system using Motion Compression is a highly intuitive interface to game control.
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Paper Nr: 222
Title:

INTELLIGENT ROBOTIC PERSON FOLLOWING IN UNSTRUCTURED ENVIRONMENTS

Authors:

Mahmoud Tarokh and John Kuo

Abstract: The paper describes a scheme based on image identification and fuzzy logic control for following a person by a mobile robot in previously unknown and rough environments. The mobile robot is equipped with a pan-tilt-zoom camera and sonar range sensors. The person detection system uses color and shape of the person to be followed, and provides key characteristics of the person’s image to a fuzzy control scheme. These characteristics are used by fuzzy controllers to determine the actuation signals for the camera pan and tilt, and the robot speed and steering. Experimental results are reported for both indoor locations consisting of tours of labs and hallway, and outdoor environments involving traversal over hills and rough terrain.
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Paper Nr: 223
Title:

A GLOVE INTERFACE WITH TACTILE FEELING DISPLAY FOR HUMANOID ROBOTICS AND VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEMS

Authors:

Michele Folgheraiter, Giuseppina Gini and Dario Luigi Vercesi

Abstract: This paper focuses on the study and the experimentation of a glove interface for robotics and virtual reality applications. The system can acquire the phalanxes position and force of an operator during the execution of a grasp. We show how it is possible to use and integrate this data in order to permit the user to interact with a synthetic world. In particular the system we designed can reproduce tactile and force sensation. Electrodes and actuators are activated according to the information coming from the real world (position and force of the user’s finger) and from a physical model that represents the virtual object. We also report some psychophysical experiments we conducted on five subjects, in this case only the electro-tactile stimulator was used in order to generate a touch sensation.
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Paper Nr: 228
Title:

A SMOOTHING STRATEGY FOR PRM PATHS - Application to 6-axes MOTOMAN manipulator

Authors:

Reda Guernane and Mahmoud Belhocine

Abstract: This paper describes the use of the probabilistic motion planning technique SBL “Single-Query Bidirectional Probabilistic Algorithm with Lazy Collision Checking” or in motion planning for robot manipulators. We present a novel strategy to remedy the PRM “Probabilistic Roadmap” paths which are both excessively long and velocity discontinuous. The optimization of the path will be done first through Coarse optimal lazy A* optimization and then through a Fine cutting-triangles-edge one, the edges discontinuities are smoothed with cubic polynomials taking the robot’s specific Dynamic and Cinematic constraints. The whole strategy is applied to the 6 axes robot Manipulator MOTOMAN SV3X.
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Paper Nr: 257
Title:

SIMULATING TELEROBOTICS BY CELLULAR TELEPHONY

Authors:

Rodrigo Montufar-chaveznava, Crisóforo Paisano and José María Cañas

Abstract: In this work we present a simulation system to control a mobile robot using a cell phone. We exploit the cellular telephony technology to communicate and command a robot provided with a modem in a simulation environment. The system considers telerobotics can be performed using phone tones or sending text messages via SMS. Due the cellular telephony is expensive, the simulation system give us the possibility to experiment infinitely this novel way of telerobotics without expending a lot of economical resources. We design all components required for a basic cellular telephony system and we employ a robotics simulator for the Pioneer mobile robot, expecting to translate the system primitives to real systems in a near future. The idea comes up due that cellular telephony has an enormous covering, and taking advantage of such situation, telerobotics could be performed in places where wireless networking and power sources are not available at all such as the country.
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Paper Nr: 265
Title:

A GRAPHICAL INTERFACE BASED ON GRAFCET FOR PROGRAMMING INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS OFF-LINE

Authors:

Gustavo Arnold, Pedro Rangel Henriques and Jaime Fonseca

Abstract: This paper presents the current development stage of our approach to industrial robot programming, that is the graphical interface for our environment, that is based on the well-known Grafcet. Our approach focus on the modelling of the system, rather than on the robot. So, it will improve the programming and maintenance tasks, allowing the reuse of source code.
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Paper Nr: 272
Title:

STATE TRANSFORMATION FOR EULER-LAGRANGE SYSTEMS

Authors:

M. Mabrouk and J.c. Vivalda

Abstract: The transformation of an Euler-Lagrange system into a state affine system in order to solve some interesting problem as the design of observer, the output tracking control, is considered in this paper. A necessary and a sufficient condition is given as well as a method to compute this transformation.
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Paper Nr: 274
Title:

A NEW APPROACH TO AVOID OBSTACLES IN MOBILE ROBOT NAVIGATION: TANGENTIAL ESCAPE

Authors:

Andre Ferreira, Mario Sarcinelli-Filho and Teodiano Bastos-filho

Abstract: This paper proposes a new strategy for obstacle deviation when a mobile robot is navigating in a semi-structured environment. The proposed control architecture is based on a reactive approach, thus demanding low computational effort. It allows the robot to navigate from a starting point to a destination point without colliding to any obstacle in its path. The deviation from an obstacle is performed according to an escape angle calculated so that the new robot orientation is tangent to the obstacle. It is shown that such strategy generates more efficient trajectories, in the sense that the destination point is reached in less time while saving energy and reducing the demand on the robot motors. Another meaningful feature of the proposed strategy is that it also allows to implement the behaviors Wall Following and Corridor Following with no additional computation.
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Paper Nr: 322
Title:

AN IMAGE PROCESSING ALGORITHM - Saving valuable time in a sequence of frames analysis

Authors:

Stratos Karvelas, D. Doussis and K. Hrissagis

Abstract: This paper describes a new algorithm to detect moving objects in a dynamic scene based on statistical analysis of the greyscale variations on a sequence of frames which have been taken in a time period. The main goal of the algorithm is to identify changes (e.g. motion) while coping with variations on environmental changing conditions without being necessary to perform a prior training procedure. In this way, we use a pixel level comparison of subsequent frames in order to deal with temporal stability and fast changes. In addition, this method computes the temporal changes in the video sequence by incorporating statistical results and it is less sensitive to noise. The algorithm’s goal is not to detect motion but rather to filter out similar frames in a sequence of frames, thus making it a valuable tool for those who would like to evaluate and analyze visual information obtained from a captured video frames. Finally, experimental results and a performance measure establishing the confidence of the method are presented.
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Paper Nr: 340
Title:

DEVELOPMENT OF POWER ASSIST ON OMNI-DIRECTIONAL MOBILE WHEELCHAIR CONSIDERING OPERATIONALITY AND COMFORT

Authors:

Juan Urbano, Kazuhiko Terashima, Takahiro Nishigaki, Takanori Miyoshi and Hideo Kitagawa

Abstract: In this paper, a power assist system of Omni-directional Mobile Wheelchair(OMW) for attendants aiming at the reduction of incidence by operation of attendants is presented. The OMW presented in this paper, has 3 degrees of freedom, so it is important to consider operationality. The control system must be developed considering both operationality and comfort. A Power assist controller using fuzzy reasoning is proposed to estimate the navigation direction for the force given by the attendant, and the necessity of parameter tuning in the membership functions is described according to the individual characteristics. Further, the second order lag controller which transforms the force given by the attendant into the velocity of OMW, is presented to develop the rider’s comfort.
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Paper Nr: 359
Title:

VISUALLY SERVOING A GOUGH-STEWART PARALLEL ROBOT ALLOWS FOR REDUCED AND LINEAR KINEMATIC CALIBRATION

Authors:

Nicolas Andreff and Philippe MARTINET

Abstract: This paper focuses on the benefits of using computer vision to control a Gough-Stewart parallel robot. Namely, it is recalled that observing the legs of such a mechanism with a calibrated camera, thus following the redundant metrology paradigm, simplifies the control law. Then, we prove in this paper that such a control law depends on a reduced set of kinematic parameters (only those attached to the geometry of the robot base) and that these parameters can be obtained by solving a linear system. Moreover, we show that the camera can be calibrated without much experimental effort, simply using images of the robot itself. All this means that setting up the control system consists only in placing the camera in front of the robot.
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Paper Nr: 372
Title:

ROBUST CONTROL OF INDUCTION MOTOR USING FAST OUTPUT SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Authors:

Alemayehu G. Abera, Bijnan Bandyopadhyay, Janardhanan Sivaramakrishnan and Vivek Agrawal

Abstract: In this paper a design method based on robust fast output sampling technique is presented for the speed control of induction motor. The nonlinear model of induction motor model is linearized around various operating points to obtain the linear models. The input of the induction motor is the stator voltages and only the speed is considered as the output of the systems. A single controller is designed for these linear models. The nonlinear model of the induction motor is simulated with the proposed controller at these operating points. This method does not require the state of the system for feedback and is easily implementable.
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Paper Nr: 376
Title:

TERRAIN CLASSIFICATION FOR OUTDOOR AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS USING SINGLE 2D LASER SCANS - Robot perception for dirt road navigation

Authors:

Morten R. Blas, Søren Riisgaard, Ole Ravn, Nils A. Andersen, Mogens Blanke and Jens C. Andersen

Abstract: Interpreting laser data to allow autonomous robot navigation on paved as well as dirt roads using a fixed angle 2D laser scanner is a daunting task. This paper introduces an algorithm for terrain classification that fuses four distinctly different classifiers: raw height, step size, slope, and roughness. Input is a single 2D laser scan and output is a classification of each laser scan range reading. The range readings are classified as either returning from an obstacle (not traversable) or from traversable ground. Experimental results are shown and discussed from the implementation done with a department developed Medium Mobile Robot and tests conducted in a national park environment.
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Paper Nr: 414
Title:

LOCALIZATION FOR A CAR-LIKE MOBILE ROBOT USING NONLINEAR DYNAMIC MODEL

Authors:

Niramon Ruangpayoongsak, Hubert Roth and Robert Mayr

Abstract: The problem of localization is well known in mobile robotics. A solution is to use a model-based technique such as a kalman filter with multi sensor data fusion. For a car-like mobile robot, the nonlinear dynamic model is suitable for robot movement representation. This work presents the discrete extended kalman filter including a nonlinear dynamic model for the mobile robot localization. As inputs for the kalman filtering, gyroscope and compass sensors provide the relative and absolute yaw angles. The experiments are performed on several path types and the averages of the final position errors and the final heading errors are proposed.
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Paper Nr: 415
Title:

CENTRALIZED AND DECENTRALIZED OPTIMISATION TECHNIQUES FOR THE FLEXIBLE JOB SHOP SCHEDULING PROBLEM

Authors:

Meriem Ennigrou and Khaled Ghédira

Abstract: This paper proposes two Multi-agent approaches based on a tabu search method for solving the flexible Job Shop scheduling problem. The characteristic of the latter problem is that one or several machines can process one operation so that its processing time depends on the machine used. Such a generalization of the classical problem makes it more and more difficult to solve. The objective is to minimize the makespan or the total duration of the schedule. The proposed models are composed of three classes of agents: Job agents and Resource agents and an Interface agent. According to the location of the tabu search core, two versions have been proposed. The first one places the optimisation method only on the Interface agent whereas the second associates to each Resource agent its own optimisation process.
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Paper Nr: 417
Title:

AFFORDABLE DEEP OCEAN EXPLORATION WITH A HOVERING AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE - Odyssey IV: a 6000 meter rated, cruising and hovering AUV

Authors:

V. Polidoro, S. Desset, C. Chryssostomidis, F. Hover, J. Morash and R. Damus

Abstract: The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Laboratory (AUV Lab) at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is currently building and testing a new, general purpose and inexpensive 6000 meter capable Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (HAUV), the ‘ODYSSEY IV class’. The vehicle is intended for rapid deployments, potentially with minimal navigation, thus supporting episodic dives for exploratory missions. For that, the vehicle is capable of fast dive times, short survey on bottom and simple navigation. This vehicle has both high speed cruising and zero speed hovering capabilities, enabling it to perform both broad area search missions and high resolution inspection missions with the same platform.
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Paper Nr: 421
Title:

AN OPEN OBJECT ORIENTED PATH PLANNING SYSTEM

Authors:

Eleonora Fantini, Monica Reggiani and Stefano Caselli

Abstract: The paper describes the ongoing development of a motion planning system whose aim is to ease the study and development of new planning strategies as well as the benchmarking and comparison of existing ones. The system is implemented using open technologies and exploiting advanced object-oriented programming concepts. It efficiently integrates multiple planning strategies and collision detection algorithms and provides support for diverse geometric formats.
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Paper Nr: 422
Title:

RECONFIGURABLE INTERACTIVITY OF PET-TYPE ROBOT REHABILITATION SYSTEM

Authors:

Toshiyuki Maeda

Abstract: This paper addresses a pet-type robot rehabilitation system for aged people. The robot offers interactivity, which can communicate autonomously and communicate with others using Internet-connectivity, for being a partner. To avoid being satiated with conversation, we propose reconfigurable interactivity, especially focused conversation contents. In order to watch over aged people through the Net, we have furthermore developed auto-detection alert system for aged people by checking user logs, which is also reconfigurable.
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Paper Nr: 425
Title:

AN INTELLIGENT VEHICLE APPROACH TO MOBILE VEHICULAR AD HOC NETWORKS - Clustering Optimisation in Dynamic Traffic Networks

Authors:

James Haran, Peng Fan, Peter Nelson and John Dillenburg

Abstract: The application of Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) technologies to Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) in the service of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) has brought new challenges in maintaining communication clusters of network members for long time durations. Stable clustering methods reduce the overhead of communication relay in MANETs and provide for a more efficient hierarchical network topology. During creation of VANET clusters, each vehicle chooses a head vehicle to follow. Cluster stability in these simulations is measured by the average number of cluster head changes per vehicle during the simulation. In this paper we analyse the effects of six different clustering methods in a simulated highway environment to determine which method provides optimum stability over the simulation timeline.
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Paper Nr: 427
Title:

POSE ESTIMATION OF MOBILE MICROROBOTS IN A SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE - A cross-correlation based approach using ROI´s

Authors:

Torsten Sievers and Sergej Fatikow

Abstract: In this paper, current research towards an automated micro/nano handling station using mobile microrobots is presented. Mobile microrobots with piezo slip-stick actuation and more than one degree of freedom mostly don't have internal pose sensors; therefore a global sensor is needed. This paper focuses on the pose estimation of the mobile microrobots. One possibility for fast pose estimation is the application of video cameras as global sensors. For pose estimation with accuracy even in the nanometer range high resolution sensors are necessary. In consideration of resolution, image acquisition time and depth of focus a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is a powerful sensor for high resolution pose estimation. But the use of a SEM makes high demands on the image processing. High update rates of the pose data for the robot control enforce a short image acquisition time of the SEM images. Hence the image noise increases, because frame averaging or averaging of the detector signal is time consuming. This paper presents a method to calculate the x,y position and the orientation of a micro object in a strongly noised SEM image stream with cross-correlation in real-time. To make real-time pose estimation possible, only a region-of-interest (ROI) is correlated with the target pattern. The SEM is almost predestined to work with ROI’s, because the scan area of the electron beam can be chosen arbitrarily.
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Paper Nr: 434
Title:

COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS FOR REGULARITY, LIVENESS AND BOUNDEDNESS

Authors:

Li Jiao

Abstract: By the linear algebraic representation of Petri nets, Desel introduced regularity property (Desel, 1992). Regularity implies a sufficient condition for a Petri net to be live and bounded. All the conditions checking the regularity of a Petri net are decidable in polynomial time in the size of a net (Desel and Esparza, 1995). This paper proves that regularity, liveness and boundedness can be preserved after applying many compositional operations to Petri nets. This means that, by applying these compositional operations, a designer can construct complex nets satisfying regularity, liveness and boundedness properties from simpler ones without forward analysis.
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Paper Nr: 442
Title:

PEDESTRIAN RECOGNITION FOR INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

Authors:

David Fernández Llorca, Ignacio Parra Alonso, Miguel Á. Sotelo Vázquez, Luis Miguel Bergasa, Pedro Revenga De Toro, Jesús Nuevo Chiquero and Manuel Ocaña Miguel

Abstract: This paper describes a binocular vision-based pedestrian recognition System. The basic components of pedestrians are first located in the image and then combined with a SVM-based classifier. This poses the problem of pedestrian detection and recognition in real, cluttered road images. Candidate pedestrians are located using a subtractive clustering attention mechanism. A distributed learning approach is proposed in order to better deal with pedestrians variability, illumination conditions, partial occlusions and rotations. The performance of the pedestrian recognition system is enhanced by a multiframe validation process. By doing so, the detection rate is largely increased. A database containing hundreds of pedestrian examples extracted from real traffic images has been created for learning purposes. We present and discuss the results achieved up to date.
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Paper Nr: 449
Title:

REVERSIBILITY ENFORCEMENT FOR UNBOUNDED PETRI NETS

Authors:

Hanife A. Özkan and Aydın Aybar

Abstract: In this paper, partially reversibility property and reversibility enforcement are studied for unbounded Petri nets. A method which tests partial reversibility, and also finds a bound vector guaranting reversibility for unbounded Petri nets is developed and an algorithm of the method is generated. Furthermore a controller design approach which enforces reversibility for unbounded Petri nets is introduced.
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Paper Nr: 524
Title:

INCREMENTAL LEARNING IN HIERARCHICAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR OBJECT RECOGNITION

Authors:

Rebecca Fay, Friedhelm Schwenker and Günther Palm

Abstract: Robots that perform non-trivial tasks in real-world environments are likely to encounter objects they have not seen before. Thus the ability to learn new objects is an essential skill for advanced mobile service robots. The model presented in this paper has the ability to learn new objects it is shown during run time. This improves the adaptability of the approach and thus enables the robot to adjust to new situations. The intention is to verify whether and how well hierarchical neural networks are suited for this purpose. The experiments conducted to answer this question showed that the proposed incremental learning approach is applicable for hierarchical neural networks and provides satisfactory classification results.
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Paper Nr: 526
Title:

MULTILAYER PERCEPTRON FUNCTIONAL ADAPTIVE CONTROL FOR TRAJECTORY TRACKING OF WHEELED MOBILE ROBOTS

Authors:

Marvin K. Bugeja and Simon G. Fabri

Abstract: Sigmoidal multilayer perceptron neural networks are proposed to effect functional adaptive control for handling the trajectory tracking problem in a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot. The scheme is developed in discrete time and the multilayer perceptron neural networks are used for the estimation of the robot’s nonlinear kinematic functions, which are assumed to be unknown. On-line weight tuning is achieved by employing the extended Kalman filter algorithm based on a specifically formulated multiple-input, multiple-output, stochastic model for the trajectory error dynamics of the mobile base. The estimated functions are then used on a certainty equivalence basis in the control law proposed in (Corradini et al., 2003) for trajectory tracking. The performance of the system is analyzed and compared by simulation.
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Paper Nr: 536
Title:

AUTONOMOUS MOBILE ROBOT ASSISTED HERDING

Authors:

Pinky Thakkar and Leonard Wesley

Abstract: In this paper, we describe work that begins to address some of the issues related to developing an autonomous mobile robotic capability to assist humans with herding animals. A novel aspect of this work is the development of a capability to convey instructions to the robot via movements of a “toy human.” In this work, no other explicit form of communication from the human to the robot is required. Furthermore, the robot is able detect if the human is absent or is unable to herd, and to herd the animal autonomously if required. We developed a herding framework that is based on low stress herding techniques. The robot uses a pan-tilt-zoom camera and a laser ranging sensor to track the human and interpret the human’s movements. We conduct two sets of experiments that demonstrate autonomous and co-operative herding behaviour of the robot. We conclude by presenting experimental results that suggest our approach to developing a service robot with assistive herding capabilities holds promise for scaling to more complex and sophisticated tasks.
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Paper Nr: 538
Title:

MOTION SEGMENTATION IN SEQUENTIAL IMAGES BASED ON THE DIFFERENTIAL OPTICAL FLOW

Authors:

Flavio de Barros Vidal and Victor Hugo Casanova Alcalde

Abstract: This work deals with motion detection from image sequences. An algorithm to estimate the optical flow using differential techniques is presented. Noise effects affecting motion detection were taken into account and provisions to minimize it were implemented. The algorithm was developed within the Matlab environment using mex-files to speed up calculations and it was applied to surveillance and urban traffic images. For the considered cases, the results were quite satisfactory.
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Paper Nr: 542
Title:

VISION-INERTIAL SYSTEM CALIBRATION FOR TRACKING IN AUGMENTED REALITY

Authors:

Madjid Maidi, Fakhr-Eddine Ababsa and Malik Mallem

Abstract: High accuracy registration between real and virtual environments is crucial in Augmented Reality (AR) systems. However, when a vision/inertial hybrid tracker is used,such accuracy depends mostly on the calibration procedure to determine transformations between the sensors frames. This calibration allows to project all data in a single reference frame. In this paper, we describe a new calibration method for a hybrid tracking system. It consists on rigidly assembling the hybrid tracker to a 6DOF robot in order to simulate the users head motion while tracking targets in AR environment. Our approach exploits the robot positioning to obtain a high accuracy for the tracker calibration. Experimental results and accuracy analyses are presented and demonstrate our approach effectiveness.
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Paper Nr: 546
Title:

TELE-ROBOTS WITH SHARED AUTONOMY: TELE-PRESENCE FOR HIGH LEVEL OPERABILITY

Authors:

Thomas Geerinck, Valentin Enescu, Alexandru Salomie, Sid Ahmed Berrabah, Kenny Cauwerts and Hichem Sahli

Abstract: The aim is to improve the operability of an advanced demonstration platform incorporating reflexive tele-operated control concepts developed on a mobile robot system. The robot is capable of autonomously navigating in semi-structured environments. Reflexive tele-operation mode employs the robot extensive onboard sensor suite to prevent collisions with obstacles when the human operator assumes control and remotely drives the robot to investigate a situation of interest. For the shared autonomy aspect, four levels of autonomy have been implemented: tele-operation, safe mode, shared autonomy and autonomous mode. The operability level is enhanced by improving significantly the situational awareness of the operator by using an inertial tracker in combination with a head mounted display creating a certain feeling of presence. As such, the system permits precision observation and pinpoint data collection without subjecting the user to a possibly hazardous remote environment.
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Paper Nr: 548
Title:

A REACTIVE MOTION PLANNER ARCHITECTURE FOR GENERIC MOBILE ROBOTS BASED ON MULTILAYERED CELLULAR AUTOMATA

Authors:

Fabio M. Marchese

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to describe the architecture of a Path Planner for Mobile Robots based on the paradigm of Cellular Automata. The environment representation is distributed, as the robot shape; both and the robot kinematics are parameters for the planner. Hence, it results to be very flexible, handling robots with quite different kinematics (omnidirectional, car-like, asymmetrical, etc.), with generic shapes (even with concavities and holes) and with generic cinematic center positions. Because of these characteristics, it is applicable for the assembly planning in the manufacturing industry, as in the Piano Mover’s problems, or in vehicles trajectories generation. It can be applied to flat (Euclidean) Work Space and to natural variable terrains. Considering robots moving with smoothed trajectories, the underlying algorithm is based on a Potential Fields Method, using an anisotropic propagation of potentials on a non-Euclidean manifold. The collision-free trajectories are found following the minimum valley of the potential hypersurface embedded in a 4D space. Thanks to the Multilayered Cellular Automata architecture, it turns out to be very fast, complete and optimal, allowing to react to the wold dynamics (reactive planning), generating new optimal solutions every time the obstacles positions changes.
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Paper Nr: 549
Title:

REMOTE CONTROL OF MOBILE ROBOTS IN LOW BANDWIDTH ENVIRONMENTS

Authors:

Markus Sauer, Florian Zeiger, Frauke Driewer and Klaus Schilling

Abstract: Tele-learning experiments with hardware require information about the working environment and the equipment status as a base. Scenarios with limited bandwidth are of interest for mobile devices as well as for users in areas with a poor telecommunication infrastructure. While camera images provide a realistic view on the remote scene, they need a high bandwidth for quality pictures. In this context an approach to replace transmission of video images is presented. At the example application of tele-learning experiments with mobile robots, data about vehicle position and orientation are essential. This input is to be determined by external tracking systems. The preprocessed sensor information can be sent via internet link even under very low bandwidth conditions. On the students side the robot is visualized in its work space in two- or three-dimensional virtual environments depending on the performance of the used computer. The paper describes the external tracking as well as the remote interface enabling access to the experiments under different conditions and reports about experiences in using this infrastructure.
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Paper Nr: 555
Title:

REAL TIME SIMULATION OF DEFORMABLE OBJECTS WITH FORCE FEEDBACK - Application to surgery simulation

Authors:

Ghembaza B. El Khalil, Karim Djouani and Yacine Amirat

Abstract: This paper presents some issues in the simulation of deformable objects with force feedback. It presents an overview of our approach for the conception of a virtual reality medical simulator. We describe a new base finite element method (Extended Tensor-Mass Model) suitable for soft tissue simulation under real time constraints. Our approach allows fast computation of non-linear and viscoelastic mechanical deformations and forces. As far as real-time interactions are concerned, we present our work on collision detection and haptic interaction. Thus, for contact management, a continuous collision detection method based on cubic spline parametric approximation is proposed. Finally, interactive endovascular simulator is described.
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Paper Nr: 556
Title:

KINEMATIC AND SINGULARITY ANALYSIS OF THE HYDRAULIC SHOULDER - A 3-DOF Redundant Parallel Manipulator

Authors:

Houman Sadjadian and H. D. Taghirad

Abstract: In this paper, kinematic modeling and singularity analysis of a three DOF redundant parallel manipulator has been elaborated in detail. It is known, that on the contrary to series manipulators, the forward kinematic map of parallel manipulators involves highly coupled nonlinear equations, whose closed-form solution derivation is a real challenge. This issue is of great importance noting that the forward kinematics solution is a key element in closed loop position control of parallel manipulators. Using the novel idea of kinematic chains recently developed for parallel manipulators, both inverse and forward kinematics of our parallel manipulator are fully developed, and a closed-form solution for the forward kinematic map of the parallel manipulator is derived. The closed form solution is also obtained in detail for the Jacobian of the mechanism and singularity analysis of the manipulator is performed based on the computed Jacobian.
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Paper Nr: 557
Title:

PARTIAL MOTION PLANNING FRAMEWORK FOR REACTIVE PLANNING WITHIN DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS

Authors:

Stephane Petti and Thierry Fraichard

Abstract: This paper addresses the problem of motion planning in dynamic environments. As dynamic environments impose a real-time constraint, the planner has a limited time only to compute a motion. Given the intrinsic complexity of motion planning, computing a complete motion to the goal within the time available is, in many real-life situations, impossible to achieve. Partial Motion Planning (PMP) is the answer proposed in this paper to this problem. PMP calculates a motion until the time available is over. At each iteration step, PMP returns the best partial motion to the goal computed so far. Like reactive decision scheme, PMP faces a safety issue: what guarantee is there that the system will never end up in a critical situations yielding an inevitable collision? In this paper the safety issue relies upon the concept of Inevitable Collision States that account for both the system dynamics and the moving obstacles. By computing ICS-free partial motion, the system safety can be guaranteed. Application of PMP to the case of a car-like system in a dynamic environment is presented.
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Paper Nr: 565
Title:

ROBOT LEARNING BY DEMONSTRATION USING FORWARD MODELS OF SCHEMA-BASED BEHAVIORS

Authors:

Adam Olenderski, Monica Nicolescu and Sushil Louis

Abstract: A significant challenge in designing robot systems that learn from a teacher’s demonstration is the ability to map the perceived behavior of the trainer to an existing set of primitive behaviors. A main difficulty is that the observed actions may constitute a combination of individual behaviors’ outcomes, which would require a decomposition of the observation onto multiple primitive behaviors. This paper presents an approach to robot learning by demonstration that uses a potential-field behavioral representation to learn tasks composed by superposition of behaviors. The method allows a robot to infer essential aspects of the demonstrated tasks, which could not be captured if combinations of behaviors would not have been considered. We validate our approach in a simulated environment with a Pioneer 3DX mobile robot.
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Paper Nr: 567
Title:

A FUZZY CONTROLLER FOR A SPECIAL GLOVE TO A HAND WITH DISABILITIES

Authors:

Viorel Stoian, Mircea Ivanescu, Elena Stoian and Ionela Iancu

Abstract: This paper presents a control method for a medical glove with intelligent actuators for a hand with disabilities. The medical glove has got on outer superior face, an intelligent actuator to every finger, which helps it to bend and to grasp different objects and on outer inferior face a force distributed sensor system. The dynamic model of the outer superior face finger is determined and an approximate model is proposed. The two-level hierarchical control is adopted. The upper level coordinator gathers all the necessary information to resolve the distribution force. Then, the lower-level local control problem is treated as an open-chain hyper-redundant structure control problem. The fuzzy rules are established and a fuzzy controller is proposed.
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Paper Nr: 568
Title:

ADAPTIVE STRATEGY SELECTION FOR MULTI-ROBOT SEARCH BASED ON LOCAL COMMUNICATION AND SENSING

Authors:

Damien Bright

Abstract: This paper presents a simulation model for experimenting with locally adaptive movement strategies for robots involved in collective robotic search tasks in rapidly changing and uncertain environments. The model assumes that the nature of the environment restricts inter-robot communication and uses a form of stigmergy based local communication which has been widely applied in collective robots. The model is based on a biased random walk where the degree of bias is linked to a local control variable which can change depending on the evaluation of local adaption strategies. The local adaption strategies use an approach based on activation functions to control the choice of which candidate paths should be inhibited or have increased preference over random motion. Experiments aim to test the effectiveness of this approach for optimal collective search in various test domains. A series of initial experiments is presented demontrating aspects of the model.
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Paper Nr: 570
Title:

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR LOCALISED ELF MAGNETIC FIELD STIMULATION OF THE HUMAN BRAIN

Authors:

Dean Cvetkovic and Irena Cosic

Abstract: The automated system was designed and developed for accurate and fast localisation of extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure to any particular brain region and therefore record for any changes in the EEG activity before and after stimulation. The automated system consisted of a general user interface (GUI) where the users had the ability to precisely control and move an EMF source (coil) via robotic arm to any EEG electrode position or region. The 3-D movements of the robotic arm were controlled via a serial linked motor driver board that controlled two motors. The software was able to initially store the estimated 3-D EEG electrode positions and therefore identify the areas where ELF EMF exposure from the coil could be applied. The testing and final measurements of this system revealed the robotic arm precision of 0.1mm and maximum speed of 0.211 cm/sec (x-axis) and 0.827 cm/sec (y-axis).
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Paper Nr: 592
Title:

ONLINE ESTIMATION OF SHIP STEERING DYNAMICS AND ITS APPICATIONS IN DESIGNING AN OPTIMAL AUTOPILOT

Authors:

Minh-Duc Le and Hai-Nam Nguyen

Abstract: Recursive Least Square (RLS) Algorithm applied to a Multivariate Auto-Regressive (MAR) process is used to estimate ship steering dynamics online. The estimation method is then linked to the Linear Quadratic (LQ) Algorithm to design an optimal autopilot for steering ships. The estimation method was applied to several ships and model ships and in all the cases the estimated parameters converged well. The design algorithm was used to construct a tracking system for course keeping and course changing maneuvers. Simulation results for the ships show the robustness of the estimation method and prove that the autopilot has very good performance.
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Paper Nr: 597
Title:

WHEN SHOULD THE NON LINEAR CAMERA CALIBRATION BE CONSIDERED?

Authors:

Carlos Ricolfe-Viala and Antonio-José Sánchez-Salmerón

Abstract: In 3D modelling reconstruction of points, lines, planes or conics are done in the virtual 3D space. Their situations in the 3D virtual scene are defined by the situation of the recognized features in one or several images. Estimation of a parameter vector which models the object is carried out starting with recognized features in the image. Since positions of recognized features in the image are contaminated with noise the solution for the parameter vector is not exact. In order to obtain “the best” solution, optimization algorithms which reduce a residual error are used. They can be classified into linear and non linear ones.The aim of this paper is to determine the quality of estimated parameters if no linear estimation process is utilized. It is shown that in some cases non linear optimization algorithms diverges and worst parameters are computed using non linear methods. In order to obtain experimental results, camera parameters have been estimated under different conditions.
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Paper Nr: 605
Title:

STABILITY ANALYSIS OF A THREE-TIME SCALE SINGULAR PERTURBATION CONTROL FOR A RADIO-CONTROL HELICOPTER ON A PLATFORM

Authors:

Sergio Esteban, Francisco Gordillo and Javier Aracil

Abstract: A stability analysis is conducted on the proposed three-time scale singular perturbation control that is applied to a Radio/Control helicopter on a platform to regulate its vertical position. The control law proposed allows to achieve the desired altitude by either selecting a desired collective pitch angle or a desired angular velocity of the blades.
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Paper Nr: 606
Title:

COOPERATIVE MULTI-ROBOT LOCALIZATION: USING COMMUNICATION TO REDUCE LOCALIZATION ERROR

Authors:

Valguima Odakura and Anna R. Costa

Abstract: This paper presents a statistical algorithm for cooperative multi-robot localization based on a propagating detection model. The problem of multi-robot localization consists of localizing each robot in a group within the same environment, when robots share information to improve localization accuracy. Our approach is based on a well-known probabilistic localization approach, the Markov localization, that was originally designed to a single robot. A detection model can be incorporated in order to accommodate multi-robot cooperation in Markov localization. In this model, two robots exchange their pose beliefs whenever one robot detects another. We propose a novel detection model in that all robots in the group can benefit from a meeting of two robots through detection propagation. The technique has been implemented and tested in simulated environments. Experiments illustrate improvements in localization accuracy when compared with a previous multi-robot localization approach.
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Paper Nr: 607
Title:

HUMAN COGNITIVE SIMULATION FOR EVALUATION OF HUMAN-ROBOT INTERFACE - A trade-off between flexibility in robot control and mental workload

Authors:

Hiroshi Furukawa

Abstract: Adaptable automation is a scheme that human operators can modify function allocations among human and machines (or robots) dynamically depending on situations. The concept is that operators should be able to delegate tasks to autonomous agents at times of their own choosing. Playbook is an example of a delegation architecture based on a team’s book of approved plays that provides a “common language” for efficient and effective communication between human operators and agents. The author attended an empirical study examined the efficacy of Playbook interface using the Roboflag simulation platform. The results confirmed the benefits, compared to less flexible interfaces which are susceptible to negative effects due to suboptimal automation or unexpected events. This benefit was somewhat reduced, however, when the number of robots was increased. At this higher load, the benefit may have been reduced due to the greater workload demand imposed by full flexibility. This paper described a probabilistic simulation method to estimate behaviors of human operators as a tool for evaluating human-robot interfaces for operation of multiple robots. Through its application to the multiple robots simulation, advantages and costs of different design alternatives has been investigated in terms of cognitive workload indexes of the human operators. The results may suggest the validity of the hypothesis that there is a trade-off between flexibility in operational alternatives and operator’s mental workload.
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Paper Nr: 613
Title:

COORDINATION OF A PROTOTYPED MANIPULATOR BASED ON AN EXPERIMENTAL VISUO-MOTOR MODEL

Authors:

Renato S. Dâmaso, Mario Sarcinelli-Filho, Teodiano Bastos-filho and Tarcisio Campos

Abstract: This paper presents a strategy to build an experimental visuo-motor model for a manipulator coupled to a binocular vision system, which discards any previous algebraic model and any calibration of either the manipulator or the vision system. The space spanned by a set of selected image features is divided in regions, and the estimated visuo-motor model is represented by a matrix of constant elements associated to each one of such regions. Such matrices are obtained in an incremental way, starting from commands of movement and using the measurements of the variations they cause in the set of image features. Even when partially filled in, the visuo-motor model can be used for coordinating the manipulator in order to get its end-effector closer to an object and to grasp it. Preliminary results got from the implementation of the proposed strategy in a prototyped manipulator coupled to a binocular vision system are also presented.
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Paper Nr: 35
Title:

APPLICABILITY OF FACIAL EMG IN HCI AND VOICELESS COMMUNICATION

Authors:

Sanjay Kumar, Dinesh Kant Kumar and Melaku Alemu

Abstract: This paper discusses the speech related information in the facial EMG for applications such as human computer interface. The primary objective of this work is to investigate the use of facial EMG as a voiceless communication medium or to drive computer based equipment by people who are unable to speak. Subjects were asked to pronounce the five English vowels with no acoustic output (voiceless). Three independent EMG signals were acquired from three facial muscles as ‘voiceless’ EMG activations. In order to classify and recognize each vowels based on EMG, RMS of the recorded signals were estimated and used as parametric/feature inputs to a neural network.
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Paper Nr: 67
Title:

AUTONOMOUS MONITORING AND REACTION TO FAILURES IN A TOPOLOGICAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM

Authors:

Veronica Egido, Ramon Barber, Maria Jesus Lopez Boada and Miguel Angel Salichs

Abstract: In this paper a system for simultaneous navigation and monitoring with autonomous reaction to failures is going to be presented. This system is part of a complete navigation system called AURON (Autonomous Robot Navigation). The AURON System autonomy is based on the interaction of four main components: the autonomous generation of an environment representation, the planning of a sequence of actions and perceptions which guide the robot from an initial event to a final one, the navigation that converts sequences in real movements and supervises all the process, and the relocalization that allows to place the robot again in the representation. This system has been implemented in a mobile robot control architecture called AD. AD is a two level architecture: deliberative and automatic. The paper is focused in one deliberative skill, the navigation skill.
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Paper Nr: 129
Title:

COMPARATIVE OF HAPTIC INTERFACES FOR ROBOT-ASSISTED SURGERY

Authors:

Jose M. Azorin, Jose M. Sabater, N. García, F. J. Martínez, L. Navarro Universidad Miguel Hernández and R. Saltarén

Abstract: This paper presents a comparative of different non-specific haptic interfaces that could be used for robot-assisted surgery. The purpose of this analysis is to determine which master interface has the best performance for a specific task in which the master-slave scale factor is less than one. Three haptic interfaces have been considered: two commercial masters, one with serial configuration, the PHANToM 1.5 prototype master, and one with spherical setup, the Microsoft Force Feedback 2 Sidewinder; and other one non commercial with a parallel architecture designed in our laboratory, the Magister-P. Two experiments performed to measure the fidelity of the haptic interfaces have been described and the results obtained have been discussed on this paper.
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Paper Nr: 165
Title:

COMBINING MANUAL HAPTIC PATH PLANNING OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS WITH AUTOMATIC PATH SMOOTHING

Authors:

Heinz Wörn, Björn Hein, Detlef Mages, Berend Denkena, Rene Apitz, Pawel Kowalski and Niels Reimer

Abstract: Nowadays, industrial robots are preferably programmed offline, i.e. without interference with the real cell and running production processes. Usually a simulation tool is used to manually define individual locations and to check the created raw path for possible collisions. Within this paper an approach is presented, that combines a haptic input device by means of automated path smoothing. The quality of the generated path can be significantly improved by subsequent automatic filtering. Removing redundant locations or modifying intermediate ones increases the smoothness of the path. The semi-automatic programming paradigm with haptic interaction is expected to lead to an improved workflow for robot offline programming.
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Paper Nr: 195
Title:

A UNIVERSAL MODULAR AUTONOMOUS ROBOT ARCHITECTURE

Authors:

Wolfgang Ertel, Joachim Fessler and Nico Hochgeschwender

Abstract: We present a universal modular robot architecture. A robot consists of the following intelligent modules: central control unit (CCU), drive, actuators, a vision unit and sensor input unit. Software and hardware of the robot fit into this structure. We define generic interface protocols between these units. If the robot has to solve a new application and is equipped with a different drive, new actuators and different sensors, only the program for the new application has to be loaded into the CCU. The interfaces to the drive, the vision unit and the other sensors are plug-and-play interfaces. The only constraint for the CCU-program is the set of commands for the actuators.
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Paper Nr: 210
Title:

MOMENT BASED FEATURES FOR CONTENT BASED IMAGE RETRIEVAL

Authors:

Ryszard S. Choras

Abstract: Content based information retrieval is now a widely investigated issue that aims at allowing users of multimedia information systems to retrieve images coherent with a sample image. A way to achieve this goal is the automatic computation of features such as color, texture, shape, and position of objects within images, and the use of the features as query terms. In this paper we describe some results of a study on similarity evaluation in image retrieval using shape, texture, color and object orientation and relative position as content features. Images are retrieval based on similarity of features where features of the query specification are compared with features of the image database to determine which images match similar with the given features. Feature extraction is a crucial part for any of such retrieval systems.
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Paper Nr: 217
Title:

COMPONENT RUNTIME SELF-ADAPTATION IN ROBOTICS

Authors:

Daniel Hernández-Sosa, Antonio Dominguez, Oscar Deniz and Jorge Cabrera

Abstract: Mobile robotic applications have to deal with limited resources and variable execution conditions that must be appropriately managed in order to keep an acceptable system behavior. This requires the implementation of runtime adaptation mechanisms that monitor continuously system state and module the resulting performance as a function of the available resources. As we consider that these adaptation mechanisms should be offered as a facility to robotic application programmers, we have integrated them inside CoolBOT, a component oriented framework for programming robotic systems. CoolBOT contributes to reduce the programming effort, promoting code reuse, while the adaptation scheme allows for more robust applications with an extended range of operation. In this paper we also present a demonstrator that outlines the benefits of using the proposed approach in the development of real robotic applications.
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Paper Nr: 226
Title:

LOCAL PATH PLANNING IN UNKNOWN ENVIRONMENT BY LOCAL 3D ELEVATION MAP CONSTRUCTION

Authors:

Andrea Usai and Paolo Di Giamberardino

Abstract: The paper deals with the problem of computing a path for an autonomous mobile robot, provided by a stere-ovosion camera, trough obstacles in an unknown environment with rough ground. The planner makes use of a 3D map reporting the presence and the highness of obstacles together with the shape of the ground and its discontinuities, under the hypothesis of stationarity. A local solution, with an expanding algorithm, is proposed. Some experimental results are reported to validate the proposed technique.
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Paper Nr: 339
Title:

MASSAGE CONTROL TO ADAPT HUMAN SKIN MUSCLE CONDITION BY USING MULTIFINGERED ROBOT HAND

Authors:

Kazuhiko Terashima, Taku Kondo, Panya Minyong, Takanori Miyoshi and Hideo Kitagawa

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to propose the adaptive expert masssage robot using a multi-fingered robot. Towards this goal, the present paper gives a modeling of human skin muscle through robot perception of impedance, and control strategy using impedance control to implement adaptive control system, even if human condition is changed. The model validity is demonstrated via many experiments by using multi-fingered robot hand and human body. Based on robot perception of human muscle impedance, impedance control is proposed.
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Paper Nr: 341
Title:

THERMAL SPRAYING ROBOT KINEMATICS AND LASER PATTERN CONTROL

Authors:

Dermot Breen, E. Coyle and D. M.Kennedy

Abstract: The thermal spraying surface engineering industry relies on manual spraying and standard pre-programmed robotic systems. This research presents the completed geometric forward and inverse kinematics solution for a non standard articulated robotic manipulator which includes continuous 3600 axis rotation for waist, shoulder and elbow joints with a commercially available joint for tilt and pitch. The research also details the use of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) electroless nickel slip rings and brushes for providing delivery of power and data through the continuous rotation joints. The automatic analysis of distance and orientation measurement via a pattern producing laser and camera system is being researched for suitability in the thermal spraying process for automatic feedback and control of the robotic arm manipulator. The competed technical and simulation design will provide for the automatic application of advanced surface coatings to enhance wear, low friction and corrosion resistance properties to substrates via a thermal spraying process.
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Paper Nr: 360
Title:

SUS A NEW GENERATION THINKING ROBOTS - The Visual Intelligence Tests

Authors:

Zbigniew Les and Magdalena Les

Abstract: In this paper understanding abilities of the shape understanding system (SUS) are tested based on the methods used in the intelligence tests. These tests are formulated as tasks given to the system and performance is compared with the human performance of these tasks. The tests were based on the progressive matrices test which requires the good visual problem solving abilities of the human subject. SUS solves these tests by transforming the visual form into the string form. The proposed string form makes it possible to perform complex visual reasoning. The experiment proved that the proposed method, which is part of the SUS visual understanding abilities, can solve the test that is very difficult for human subject.
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Paper Nr: 412
Title:

SELF-KNOWLEDGE BASED ON THE ATOMIC CAPABILITIES CONCEPT - A Perspective to Achieve Sure Commitments among Physical Agents

Authors:

Christian G. Quintero Monroy, Josep Lluís De La Rosa and Josep Vehí

Abstract: This paper presents a perspective based on the atomic capabilities concept (AC2) to include control-oriented knowledge in the decision making structure of physical agents (e.g. mobile robots). These agents operate in a real environment managing physical objects (e.g. their physical bodies) in coordinated tasks. AC2 guarantees an appropriate agent-oriented representation about the specifications of automatic controllers installed within the physical agents. This approach allows to each agent a reliable self-knowledge which concludes in achieving sure commitments and intelligent control in a cooperative system. Examples and conclusions are presented, emphasising the advantages of our proposal in a coordinated control scenario.
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Paper Nr: 430
Title:

REMOTE LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS ADDRESSING PATH PLANNING FOR MOBILE ROBOTS

Authors:

Grzegorz Zyśko, Florian Zeiger, Klaus Schilling and Markus Sauer

Abstract: This paper describes an educational remote experiment for path planning with mobile robot hardware which is accessible via the internet. The experiment uses a nonholonomic car-like mobile robot with an Ackerman-steering and demonstrates the problems of the inverse kinematics of this kind of mobile robot. It emphasizes the educational aspects, shows how to combine primitive manoeuvres in order to solve the inverse kinematics problem, and gives a detailed description of these manoeuvres.
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Paper Nr: 441
Title:

MULTI-ROBOT SOFTWARE PLATFORM BASED ON ROBOTIC DEVICE SERVER PLAYER

Authors:

Alejandro Morales Sánchez, Miguel Á. Gutiérrez García, Jose A. Vicente, Vidal Moreno Rodilla and Belén Curto Diego

Abstract: This article describes a software platform that allows to control multiple robots of any type, through wireless connections and without needing to modify its code to control each particular robot. It is a platform with an architecture in three layers, that uses the robotics device server Player as intermediate layer. The most abstract layer of the architecture is composed by the applications of control elaborated in any language that has socket support. These applications use the interfaces that Player offers to the control of the devices, so that the access to it is transparent. A server application is the most specialized layer that runs on the robot, and it manages the sensors and actuators devices of the robot at Player’s requests. The platform presents two interesting aspects, the first is that allows to control any robot, without having to develop specific drivers in Player that allow to control their devices. That is to say, it is not necessary to modify the code of the platform to integrate a new robot, simply it is necessary to adapt a model of server application, which accedes to the devices, to the robot that is wanted to integrate. The second one, is the possibility of controlling multiples robots simultaneously through wireless connections (also it admits serial connections). Also, it allows to create valid control programs for any robot, without needing to know its operation and architecture. By these reasons, it constitutes a very valid enviroment to work with multi-robot distributed systems.
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Paper Nr: 513
Title:

PATH FOLLOWING IN UNKNOWN ENVIRONMENT FOR A CAR-LIKE MOBILE ROBOT

Authors:

Niramon Ruangpayoongsak and Hubert Roth

Abstract: The path following is the automatic control of the mobile robot along the specified path without human interference. The proposed path following applies for the robot navigation in unknown environments, where the robot has no preliminary information about obstacles. This paper presents an innovative idea for the path following control that is to integrate the basic path following control with the obstacle avoidance and the trajectory generation. The robot performs the basic path following control with obstacle detection using on ultrasonic and infrared sensors. The obstacle avoidance is developed by wall following technique and the fuzzy logic controller. The trajectory generation is to generate the fittest trajectory to the desired final position and heading. These algorithms base on the car manoeuvring characteristics.
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Paper Nr: 530
Title:

FILLED - Video data based fill level detection of agricultural bulk freight

Authors:

Fabian Graefe, Walter Schumacher, Raul Feitosa and Diogo Menezes Duarte

Abstract: For automation of a continuous overloading process between two vehicles in motion, two information are essential. On the one hand there is the relative position between the vehicles to be known. On the other hand the loading point within the load space of the transport car has to be determined. Often a non optimal usage of the transport capacity is obtained without moving the overload swivel. In order to optimize the filling process by moving load point the distribution of the freight with in the load space has to be measured during the overload process. In this article the Institut fu¨ r Regelungstechnik of the Technische Universität in Braunschweig introduces the system FILLED for video data based fill level detection of agricultural bulk freight such as chaffed corn or grass.
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Paper Nr: 545
Title:

CONTINUOUS NAVIGATION OF A MOBILE ROBOT WITH AN APPEARANCE-BASED APPROACH

Authors:

Luis Payá, M. Asunción Vicente, Laura Navarro, Oscar Reinoso, César Fernández and Arturo Gil

Abstract: Appearance-based approaches have become a feasible technique applied to robot navigation. They are based on the direct comparison of images without any feature extraction. This approach presents several advantages comparing to model-based methods, such as their application to non-structured environments and the relative simplicity of the control they offer. This work presents the continuous navigation of a mobile robot, using an appearance-based method. The objective is the following of pre-recorded routes, using just visual information acquired with a couple of parallel cameras. In this approach, low-resolution frontal images along the route to follow are stored. This is done in an automated way, what allows optimizing the database size. Several control schemas have been tested to improve the accuracy in the navigation, such as P, PD and PD with variable parameters, whose experimental results are presented.
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Paper Nr: 551
Title:

STEREO IMAGE BASED COLLISION PREVENTION USING THE CENSUS TRANSFORM AND THE SNOW CLASSIFIER

Authors:

Christian Küblbeck, Roland Ach and Andreas Ernst

Abstract: In this paper we present an approach for a mobile robot to avoid obstacles by using a stereo-camera system mounted on it. We use the “census transformation” to generate the features for the correspondence search. We train two SNoW (Spare Network of Winnovs)-classifiers, one for the decision wether to move straight forward or to evade and a second one for deciding whether to turn left or right when evading. For training we use a sample set collected by manually moving around with the robot platform. We evaluate the performance of the whole recognition chain (feature generation and classification) using ROC-curves. Real world experiments show the mobile robot to safely avoid obstacles. Problems still arise when approaching steps or low obstacles due to limitations in the camera setup. We propose to solve this problem using a stereo camera system capable of pan and tilt movements.
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Paper Nr: 559
Title:

HARDWARE INDEPENDENT ARCHITECTURE FOR AUTONOMOUS COLABORATIVE AGENTS

Authors:

Guillermo Glez. De Rivera, Ricardo Ribalda, Kostadin Koroutchev, José Colás and Guillermo Glez. De Rivera

Abstract: We describe a modular mobile robot test system. This architecture allows easy inclusion of user hardware and communication modules. A client-server, XML/RPC based approach makes the system easy to program and neutral in respect to the operating system and the programming language used. The hardware modules are included using a hardware independent protocol. This feature of the system makes it very flexible and easy to use and reconfigure. The architecture by itself has support for many different communication modalities.
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Paper Nr: 580
Title:

PRODUCTION TIME MINIMIZATION STRATEGIES IN A FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT - A Tabu Search approach

Authors:

Antônio G. Rodriguez, Arthur Tórgo Gómez and José Vicente Canto do Santos

Abstract: In this paper is proposed a computational model (“Modelo de Seleção de Partes e Escalonamento” – MSPE) to generate a scheduling of parts in a Flexible Manufacturing System environment, considering due dates, production turns and machine tools with magazine constraints. The problems considered are the Part Selection Problem and the Scheduling Problem. The scheduling objectives are the minimization of switching tools time, stop instants total time and the parts tardiness. The optimization police are defined according to Objective Function’s weights values.
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Paper Nr: 581
Title:

A STUDY OF CLASSIFICATION TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO CBERS SATELLITE IMAGES

Authors:

Priscila R. Severino, Arthur Tórgo Gómez, Rossana B. Queiroz and Luiz Paulo Luna de Oliveira

Abstract: In this paper its presented classification methods for identify forests with araucaria angustifolia, using artificial intelligence and Fractal approach. Studies were made to perform experiments in which could be verified the suitable of ANNs for classification of CBERS satellite images. However, it was noticed in that classification a significant error exists. Then, it intends to continuity that study through the incorporation of new techniques of treatment of the images before the submission to Neural Networks training with the use of error minimization techniques. When applying the detection of borders in those images, it was noticed that those limits possesses, visibly, patterns that could be good as additional information for identification of a class. Therefore, it is supposed that those differences can be quantified by Fractal Dimension calculation, whose definition is going of encounter with the need of establishing patterns for those borders or limits. Fractal Dimension study verifies the adaptation of that technique to determine areas that the Neural Networks and the method Maximum Likelihood doesn’t get to distinguish.
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Paper Nr: 600
Title:

A SYSTEM FOR TRIDIMENSIONAL IMAGES FROM TWO DIMENSIONAL ONES USING A FOCUSING AND DEFOCUSING VISION SYSTEM

Authors:

Modesto G. Medina-Meléndrez, David Báez-López, Liliana Díaz-Olavarrieta, J. Rodríguez-Asomoza and L. Guerrero-Ojeda

Abstract: Machine vision has been made easier by the development of computer systems capable of processing information at high speeds and by inexpensive camera-computer systems. A Camera-Computer system called SIVEDI was developed based on the shape from focusing (SFF) and shape from defocusing (SFD) techniques. The SIVEDI system has as entries the images captured by the camera, the number of steps of the focusing mechanism, and user specifications. The focusing mechanism used is the internal one of the camera and a computer-camera interface was designed to control it. An equation is introduced to obtain the measure of relative defocusing among many images. A 3D image is produced as the result of the system. SIVEDI consist of a number of modules, each one implementing a step in the system model. The modules are independent of each other and could be easily modified to improve the system. As SIVEDI was developed in a MATLAB environment it can be used in any computer with this software installed on it. These characteristics allow users to access intermediate results and to control the system internal parameters. Results show that the 3D image reconstruction has an acceptable quality.
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Paper Nr: 609
Title:

INTELLIGENT MOBILE MULTI-ROBOTIC SYSTEMS: SOME CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Authors:

Flávio S. Corrêa da Silva, Renata Wassermann, Ana Cristina V. Melo, Leliane N. Barros and Marcelo Finger

Abstract: Intelligent mobile multi-robotic systems (IMMRSs) are coordinated systems of autonomous mobile robots endowed with reasoning capabilities. This sort of systems requires the integrated application of a variety of state-of-the-art techniques developed within the realm of Artificial Intelligence, as well as instigates the further development of different specialisations of Artificial Intelligence. In the present article we examine some of these techniques and specialisations, discuss some specific challenges proposed to the field of Artificial Intelligence by IMMRSs, and suggest possible solutions to these challenges. In order to make our presentation more concrete, we employ throughout the article a specific example of IMMRS application, namely security surveillance of an empty building by a team of robots.
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Paper Nr: 612
Title:

VERIFICATION OF TIMED CHI MODELS USING UPPAAL

Authors:

Elena Bortnik, Bert Beek, Van, Asia van de Mortel-Fronczak and J.e. Rooda

Abstract: Due to increasing system complexity and growing competition and costs, powerful techniques are needed to design and analyze manufacturing systems. One of the most popular techniques to do performance analysis is simulation. However, simulation-based analysis cannot guarantee the correctness of a system. Our research focuses on examining other methods to make performance analysis and functional analysis, and combining the two. One of the approaches is to translate a simulation model that is used for performance analysis to a model written in an input language of an existing verification tool. The process algebraic language χ is intended for modeling, simulation, verification and real-time control and has been used extensively to simulate large manufacturing systems. UPPAAL is an integrated tool environment for modeling, validation and verification of real-time systems and has been applied successfully in case studies ranging from communication protocols to multimedia applications. In this paper, we represent a translation scheme that is used to translate simulation models written in χ language to UPPAAL timed automata and show a small example of the translation. Future work includes defining an equivalence relation between χ and UPPAAL transition systems, implementing the translator as a part of the χ toolset, and applying it for verification of models of manufacturing systems.
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Area 3 - Signal Processing, Systems Modeling and Control

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 83
Title:

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF TIMED EVENT GRAPHS WITH MULTIPLIERS USING (Min, +) ALGEBRA

Authors:

Samir Hamaci, Jean-louis Boimond and Sébastien Lahaye

Abstract: We are interested in the performance evaluation of timed event graphs with multipliers. The dynamical equation modelling such graphs are nonlinear in (min,+) algebra. This nonlinearity is due to multipliers and prevents from applying usual performance analysis results. As an alternative, we propose a linearization method in (min,+) algebra of timed event graphs with multipliers. From the obtained linear model, we deduce the cycle time of these graphs. Lower and upper linear approximated models are proposed when linearization condition is not satisfied.
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Paper Nr: 141
Title:

MODELING OF MOTOR NEURONAL STRUCTURES VIA TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION

Authors:

Giuseppe d’Aloja, Paolo Lino, Bruno Maione and Alessandro Rizzo

Abstract: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) of human motor area can evoke different biological waves in the epidural space of patients. These waves can evoke different muscle responses according to different types and amplitudes of stimuli. In this paper we analyze the different types of epidural waves and we propose a neuronal model for the biological structures involved in the experiments.
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Paper Nr: 198
Title:

ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS OF DIGITAL STRUCTURE BY MATRIX METHOD

Authors:

Bohumil Psenicka, Rogelio B. Bello and M. A.Rodriguez

Abstract: This paper presents a general matrix algorithm for analysis and synthesis of digital filters. A useful method for computing the state-space matrix of a general digital network and a new technique for the design of digital filters are shown by means of examples. The method proposed in this paper allows the analysis of the digital filters and the construction of new equivalent structures of the canonic and non canonic digital filter forms. Equivalent filters with different structures can be found according to various matrix expansions. The procedure proposed in this paper is more efficient and economic than traditional methods because it permits to construct circuits with a minimum of shifting operations.
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Paper Nr: 202
Title:

SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO MODEL-BASED DATA SURVEY

Authors:

Ari Isokangas, Mika Ruusunen and Kauko Leiviskä

Abstract: A framework for surveying multivariate process data is presented. Systematic procedure utilises linear model candidates constructed in sliding data windows of varying length, to determine the usefulness of data segments for process identification. The discussed survey approach was applied to an industrial wood debarking data, enabling the study of process variables and conditions affecting the wood losses. In addition, main process interactions and delays were easily discovered from the structures of the interpretable linear model candidates. The analysis can thus provide valuable information also for process modelling and control.
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Paper Nr: 262
Title:

ANN-BASED MULTIPLE DIMENSION PREDICTOR FOR SHIP ROUTE PREDICTION

Authors:

Tianhao Tang and Tianzhen Wang

Abstract: This paper presents a new multiple dimension predictive model based on the diagonal recurrent neural networks (PDRNN) with a combined learning algorithm. This method can be used to predict not only values, but also some points in the multi-dimension space. And also its applications in data mining will be discussed in the paper. Some analysis results show the significant improvement to ship route prediction using the PDRNN model in database of geographic information system (GIS).
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Paper Nr: 370
Title:

IDENTIFICATION AND PREDICTION OF MULTIPLE SHORT RECORDS BY DYNAMIC BAYESIAN MIXTURES

Authors:

Pavel Ettler and Miroslav Karny

Abstract: A short data record is not suitable for proper identification of system model which is necessary for reliable data prediction. The idea consists in utilization of multiple similar short data records for identification of a dynamic Bayesian mixture. The mixture is used for prediction according to one of three methods described. Simulated and real data examples illustrate the methods.
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Paper Nr: 373
Title:

MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF REDUNDANCY IN REMOTE MONITORING AND CONTROL SYSTEMS VIA PETRI NETS

Authors:

Cheng Guo and Zheng Qin

Abstract: This paper presents techniques that enable the modeling and analysis of redundancy in remote monitoring and control systems. Hardware redundancy and software redundancy are both implemented in the proposed system organically. To model and analyze the redundancy, a formalism to derive Petri net (PN) model from state transition diagram is constructed and the monitor compatible condition is considered. Software redundancy mechanism in manager side is also modeled based on PN. This approach makes redundancy modeling and analysis possible in terms of well-developed concepts and methods in PN theory. By the analysis of the PN model, designers can obtain reliable and effective measures that would compare different schema in the early phases of design, and select the best one. Our approach is illustrated and validated on STPNPlay by an example.
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Paper Nr: 429
Title:

A PARAMETERIZED POLYHEDRA APPROACH FOR THE EXPLICIT ROBUST MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL

Authors:

Sorin Olaru and Didier Dumur

Abstract: The paper considers the discrete-time linear time-invariant systems affected by input disturbances. The goal is to construct the robust model predictive control (RMPC) law taking into account the constraints existence from the design stage. The explicit formulation of the controller is found by exploiting the fact that the optimum of a min-max multi-parametric program is placed on the parameterized vertices of a parameterized polyhedron. As these vertices have specific validity domains, the control law has the form of a piecewise linear function of the current state. Its evaluation replaces the time-consuming on-line optimization problems.
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Paper Nr: 438
Title:

WIND TURBINE ROTOR ACCELERATION: IDENTIFICATION USING GAUSSIAN REGRESSION

Authors:

W. E. Leithead, Yunong Zhang and Kian Seng Neo

Abstract: Gaussian processes prior model methods for data analysis are applied to wind turbine time series data to identify both rotor speed and rotor acceleration from a poor measurement of rotor speed. In so doing, two issues are addressed. Firstly, the rotor speed is extracted from a combined rotor speed and generator speed measurement. A novel adaptation of Gaussian process regression based on two independent processes rather than a single process is presented. Secondly, efficient algorithms for the manipulation of large matrices are required. The Toeplitz nature of the matrices is exploited to derive novel fast algorithms for the Gaussian process methodology that are memory efficient.
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Paper Nr: 523
Title:

IMPROVEMENT ON THE POLE-PLACEMENT CONTROL SCHEME BY USING GENERALIZED SAMPLED-DATA HOLD FUNCTIONS

Authors:

David J. Donaire, Rafael Bárcena and Koldo Basterretxea

Abstract: This paper studies the benefits the use of GSHF can afford to the pole-placement control scheme. The GSHF makes possible to locate the zeros of the discretized plant arbitrarily in the Z plane. This property can be taken advantage of to improve the performance of the pole-placement control. In this article a new design method is suggested and a simulations-based application example is carried out. In the application example the improvements this method involves with respect to the classical design method are noticed.
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Paper Nr: 531
Title:

A NEW HIERARCHICAL CONTROL SCHEME FOR A CLASS OF CYCLICALLY REPEATED DISCRETE-EVENT SYSTEMS

Authors:

Danjing Li, Eckart Mayer and Joerg Raisch

Abstract: We extend the hierarchical control method in (Li et al., 2004) to a more generic setting which involves cyclically repeated processes. A hierarchical architecture is presented to facilitate control synthesis. Specifically, a conservative max-plus model for cyclically repeated processes is introduced on the upper level which provides an optimal online plan list. An enhanced min-plus algebra based scheme on the lower level not only handles unexpected events but, more importantly, addresses cooperation issues between sub-plants and different cycles. A rail traffic example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
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Paper Nr: 532
Title:

PARAMETER ESTIMATION OF MOVING AVERAGE PROCESSES USING CUMULANTS AND NONLINEAR OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS

Authors:

Mohamed Boulouird, Moha M'Rabet Hassani and Gérard Favier

Abstract: In this paper nonlinear optimization algorithms, namely the Gradient descent and the Gauss-Newton algorithms, are proposed for blind identification of MA models. A relationship between third and fourth order cumulants of the noisy system output and the MA parameters is exploited to build a set of nonlinear equations that is solved by means of the two nonlinear optimization algorithms above cited. Simulation results are presented to compare the performance of the proposed algorithms.
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Paper Nr: 544
Title:

MODELING AND CONTROLLER DESIGN OF A MAGNETIC LEVITATION SYSTEM WITH FIVE DEGREES OF FREEDOM

Authors:

Ervin A. Sanchez, Jaime A. Gallegos and Rafael Castro-Linares

Abstract: In this paper, the nonlinear mathematical model with five DOFs (degrees-of-freedom) of a magnetic levitation system is developed and analyzed. Then a second order sliding mode controller is proposed to regulate the levitation to a desired position, stabilize the other 4 DOFs in the nonlinear system and compensate the unknown increments on the load. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.
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Paper Nr: 601
Title:

WAVELET TRANSFORM MOMENTS FOR FEATURE EXTRACTION FROM TEMPORAL SIGNALS

Authors:

Ignacio Rodríguez Carreño and Marko Vuskovic

Abstract: A new feature extraction method based on five moments applied to three wavelet transform sequences has been proposed and used in classification of prehensile surface EMG patterns. The new method has essentially extended the Englehart's discrete wavelet transform and wavelet packet transform by introducing more efficient feature reduction method that also offered better generalization. The approaches were empirically evaluated on the same set of signals recorded from two real subjects, and by using the same classifier, which was the Vapnik's support vector machine.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 60
Title:

DYNAMIC HYSTERESIS MODEL DERIVATED FROM LuGre MODEL

Authors:

Sinuhe Benitez, Leonardo Acho and Ricardo Guerra

Abstract: This paper presents a dynamic hysteresis model; which is a modification of the well known LuGre model. This model has been based on a modification to the LuGre model dynamic, which could be seen as a forward and backward displacement in the steady state solution of the dynamic LuGre model. The LuGre friction model is based on the average deflection of the bristles; implicitly, it is based on the relationship between stress and strain of the bristles under deformation. From the friction model point of view, this dynamic hysteresis model can capture the deformation behaviour between stress and strain beyond the elasticity region for the material (the bristles), a region where the relationship between stress and strain is no longer linear. So, our model can capture the friction phenomena of the original LuGre model and presents a new behaviour in the pre-sliding regime. Simulation results are presented to support our contribution.
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Paper Nr: 81
Title:

REAL TIME WEB AVAILABILITY OF STATISTICAL MODELS FOR WATER LEVELS ALONG THE TEXAS COASTLINE

Authors:

Alexey Sadovski, Carl Steidley, Philippe Tissot and G. Beate Zimmer

Abstract: Water level forecasts are essential to the success of trade and industry in the Gulf of Mexico, but present forecasting methodologies do not provide accurate predictions for the Gulf Coast region. Tide charts produced by harmonic analysis are the existing standard, but these charts only show the effect of astronomical forces acting upon the water. While this proves to be an accurate predictor for most of the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, water level changes along the Texas Coast are strongly effected by meteorological factors and thus require a modified prediction model, rather than harmonic analysis alone. A web-based tool was created that combines harmonic analysis with multivariate statistical modeling to predict water levels along the Texas Gulf Coast. The result is a substantial improvement on the current model with forecasts available via the World Wide Web.
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Paper Nr: 128
Title:

DECENTRALIZED SLIDING MODE CONTROL TECHNIQUE BASED POWER SYSTEM STABILIZER (PSS) FOR MULTIMACHINE POWER SYSTEM

Authors:

Vitthal Bandal, Bijnan Bandyopadhyay and Anil Kulkarni

Abstract: Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) are added to excitation system to enhance the damping of low frequency oscillations. In this paper, the design of PSS for multimachine power system (MMPS) using output feedback sliding mode control is proposed. The non-linear model of a multimachine power system is linearized about an operating point and the linearized model of the plant is obtained. The output feedback sliding mode controller is designed and is applied to non-linear plant model of the multimachine power system at that operating (equilibrium) point. This method does not require the complete states of the system for feedback and is easily implementable.
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Paper Nr: 132
Title:

REAL-TIME MODELLING OF WOOD DRYING SYSTEMS - Learning from Experiment and Theory

Authors:

Tarasiewicz Stanislaw and Belkacem Kada

Abstract: Predictive control in a wood drying systems is still at an early stage, because of the difficulties with the estimating a temporal moisture distribution for the whole dried lumber. Therefore, based on the dry and wet-bulb temperatures as the state variables the temporal moisture distribution in kiln-dried lumber is determined from numerical solutions of mathematical model for the wood drying systems. This computer model is represented by a set of several partial nonlinear differential equations coupled with the operating functions and a set of several calculating algorithms. The accuracy of the model solutions in a real-time calculation is evaluated by the on-line identification of the operating functions that represent both the system parameters (heat transfer coefficients, thermal conductivity, heat capacity etc) and selected state variables (air temperature, humidity, velocity etc).
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Paper Nr: 162
Title:

COLOR IMAGE SEGMENTATION BY GRAVITATIONAL CLUSTERING IN COLOR SPACE USING NEIGHBOR-RELATIONSHIP

Authors:

Hwang-Soo Kim and Hwajeong Lee

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a color image segmentation method based on gravitational clustering using neighbor relations in the spatial domain and distance information in RGB space among pixels. Most clustering-based segmentation algorithms use only color space distances after pixels are mapped from the spatial domain to color space, ignoring their neighbor relations; but we use both information. We use gravitational clustering, which imitates the Law of Gravity, and the gravitational force is applied only to neighboring clusters. The results show that the proposed method is effective in finding exact boundaries of regions.
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Paper Nr: 167
Title:

A GENERAL SOLUTION TO THE OUTPUT-ZEROING PROBLEM FOR DISCRETE-TIME MIMO LTI SYSTEMS - Signal Processing, Systems Modelling and Control

Authors:

Jerzy Tokarzewski, Lech Sokalski and Andrzej Muszyński

Abstract: The problem of zeroing the output in an arbitrary linear discrete-time system S(A,B,C,D) with a nonvanishing transfer-function matrix is discussed and necessary conditions for output-zeroing inputs are formulated. All possible real-valued inputs and real initial conditions which produce the identically zero system response are characterized. Strictly proper and proper systems are discussed separately.
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Paper Nr: 170
Title:

MODELING SYSTEM VARIATION

Authors:

Ken Krechmer

Abstract: This paper proposes that the mathematical relationship between an entropy distribution and its limit offers some new insight into system performance. This relationship can be used to quantify variation among the entities of a system, caused by tolerance, options, specification or implementation errors, independent of noise, impact communications system performance. Means to address these variations are offered.
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Paper Nr: 175
Title:

IMPROVED STABLE FEEDBACK ANC SYSTEM WITH DYNAMIC SECONDARY PATH MODELING

Authors:

Rogelio B. Bello, Héctor Pérez-Meana and Bohumil Psenicka

Abstract: This paper presents the development and DSP implementation of a stable ANC feedback system with on-line secondary path modelling, using the Normalized Filtered-X Least Mean Square with Noise Addition algorithm (NFXLMS-NA), for acoustic noise cancellation. In this paper, the feedforward and the feedback ANC systems are described briefly; the basic of the FXLMS algorithm and its structure is discussed and the new NFXLMS-NA algorithm is presented. The ANC system developed includes a conventional noise predictor, a primary adaptive filter, a subsystem for dynamic secondary path modelling and the addition of white noise signal in the FXLMS algorithm in a novel structure looking for stability into the system. The system was developed for cancelling quasi-periodic acoustic noise; some experimental results for narrowband signal are included in order to show the desirable feature (stability) of the system. Proposed system was implemented using a TMS320C30 evaluation module from TI. Finally, the paper includes the block diagram of the ANC system, the structure of the program used in the implementation and some photographs of the practical scheme and the equipment used in the tests.
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Paper Nr: 180
Title:

3D AUTOMATIC LOCATION DETECTION BASED ON SOUND LOCALIZATION

Authors:

Darun Kesrarat and Paitoon Porntrakoon

Abstract: Video conference systems have been widely used. A fix video camera shoots a scene is lacking in changes. There is a method that the computer-controlled camera shoots and finds the sound source. Microphone arrays and distributed microphone arrays are used to localize the sound source based on time delay of arrival (TDOA). In order to minimize the error rate of TDOA, a set of 4 microphone arrays can be used to determine the location of sound in 3D space. TDOA cannot determine the distance of the sound source if the start time of the sound is unknown. A method to determine the distance of the sound source is using a distributed moving-microphone array. In this paper, we propose a model of a set of 4 moving-micorphone array based on TDOA that can determine the angle direction and distance of the sound source toward the video camera at the center of the model in 3D space.
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Paper Nr: 189
Title:

CONTROL SYSTEM INTERFACE OF SCANNING SONAR FOR MOBILE ROBOTS

Authors:

Svetoslav Noykov and Ognyan B. Manolov

Abstract: In this work, a simple, low-cost and reliable electronic module for coupling of an ultrasonic range-finder with a mobile robot’s microprocessor system is presented. A software filter for correct reading of the ultrasonic data is presented as well. Due to the software filter, a shielding of robot and sonar’s electronic modules is not required. In this way compactness and low price of the device construction were achieved.
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Paper Nr: 196
Title:

DECOMPOSITIONS OF HIERARCHICAL STATE ESTIMATION STRUCTURES - Problems and Strategies

Authors:

Rogério Quirino and Celso Pascoli Bottura

Abstract: This study has three main objectives. First, to point and discuss the principal features, advantages, and limitations of distributed state estimators. Second, to analyze structures and methodologies related to the distributed state estimation problem, with emphasis on the heterarchical one. Finally, to delineate some prospects for future investigations.
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Paper Nr: 209
Title:

SUNSPOT SERIES PREDICTION USING ADAPTIVE IDENTIFICATION

Authors:

Juan A. Gómez-Pulido, Miguel A. Vega Rodríguez, José Mª Granado Criado and Juan M. Sánchez Pérez

Abstract: In this paper a parallel and adaptive methodology for optimizing the time series prediction using System Identification is shown. In order to validate this methodology, a set of time series based on the sun activity measured during the 20th century have been used. The prediction precision for short and long term improves with this technique when it is compared with the found results using System Identification with classical values for the main parameters.
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Paper Nr: 337
Title:

A FAULT-TOLERANT DISTRIBUTED DATA FLOW ARCHITECTURE FOR REAL-TIME DECENTRALIZED CONTROL

Authors:

Salvador Fallorina, Paul Thienphrapa, Rodrigo Luna, Vu Khuong, Helen Boussalis, Charles Liu, Jane Dong, Khosrow Rad and Wing Ho

Abstract: Complex control-oriented structures are inherently multiple input, multiple output systems whose complexities increase significantly with each additional parameter. When precision performance in both space and time is required, these types of applications can be described as real-time systems that demand substantial amounts of computational power in order to function properly. The failure of a subsystem can be viewed as the extreme case of a non-real-time response, so the ability of a system to recognize and recover from faults, and continue operating in at least some degraded mode, is of crucial importance. Furthermore, the issue of fault-tolerance naturally arises because real-time control systems are often placed in mission-critical contexts. Decentralized control techniques, in which multiple lower-order controllers replace a monolithic controller, provide a framework for embedded parallel computing to facilitate the fault-tolerance and high performance of a sophisticated control system. This paper introduces a fault-tolerant concept to the handling of data flows in multiprocessor environments that are reminiscent of control systems. The design is described in detail and compared against a typical master-slave configuration. A distributed data flow architecture embraces tolerance to processor failures while satisfying real-time constraints, justifying its use over conventional methods. Both master-slave and distributed data flow designs have been studied with regards to a physical control-intensive system; the conclusions indicate a sound design and encourage the further division of computational responsibilities in order to promote fault-tolerance in embedded control processing systems.
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Paper Nr: 344
Title:

ACOUSTIC NOISE SUPPRESSION: COMPROMISES IN IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL

Authors:

Ricardo Sánchez-peña, Miquel A. Cugueró, Albert Masip, Joseba Quevedo and Vicenç Puig

Abstract: The objective of this work is to explicitly point out the compromises in the identification and control stages in an acoustic noise suppression experiment, in terms of performance vs. controller order. The identification is a control–oriented robust procedure which takes into account both, parametric and non–parametric models, and is applied to the primary and secondary circuits of an acoustic tube. The control is designed via the H∞ optimal control theory, and the analysis of the closed loop system is performed via the structured singular value (µ).
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Paper Nr: 357
Title:

A NOVEL ENTROPY METHOD FOR CLASSIFICATION OF BIOSIGNALS

Authors:

Andrea Casanova, Valentina Savona and Sergio Vitulano

Abstract: The paper introduces entropy as a measure for 1D signals. We propose as entropy measure the relationship between the crest of the signal (i.e. its portion contained between the absolute minimum and maximum) and the energy of the signal. A linear transformation of 2D signals into 1D signals is also illustrated. The experimental results are compared to several fuzzy entropy measures and other well-known methods in literature. Experiments have been carried out on medical images from a large mammograms database; this choice is due to the high-degree of difficulty of this kind of images and the strong interest in the scientific community on medical images. The capability of the methods was tested in order to discriminate between benignant and malignant microcalcifications.
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Paper Nr: 361
Title:

MERGING OF DATA KNOWLEDGE IN BAYESIAN ESTIMATION

Authors:

Jan Kracik and Miroslav Karny

Abstract: Efficient multiple participant decision-making relies on cooperation of participants. Partially, it is reached by sharing knowledge. A specific but important case of this type is addressed here. Essentially, a participant passes to its partner distribution on common data and partner uses it for correcting its Bayesian parameter estimate.
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Paper Nr: 365
Title:

MULTI-BAND GPS SIGNAL TRACKING IN A HIGH DYNAMIC MANEUVERING SITUATION

Authors:

Stanislas Boutoille, Serge Reboul and Mohammed Benjelloun

Abstract: In a GPS receiver, the goal of the signal tracking is to synchronize local generated code and carrier with the received signal. After a step of acquisition, the receiver tracks the shifting of the local code provoked by the movements of the receiver and satellites. In the future evolution of the GPS, the system will have several carrier frequencies, then it will be possible to have several tracking systems working simultaneously for a same satellite. We present in this article a detection method for the tracking of the future multi-band GPS signal. This method is applied to the localization of a vehicle which makes high dynamic maneuver. We define a MAP detection criterion to fuse the shifts discriminator detection achieved on multi carrier frequencies. This criterion is defined in the case when shifts are not necessary simultaneous and when there is a lack of information on one frequency provoked by the unlocking of the code tracking on one of the carrier. Indeed, there is a difference between the instants of shifts on the different carrier frequencies. This difference is due to the effect of ionospheric propagation. The experimentations achieved on synthetic GPS signals show the advantages of the method compared to the classical algorithm.
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Paper Nr: 366
Title:

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT ESTIMATION FOR POLYPHONY USING AUTOCORRELATION FUNCTIONS

Authors:

Yoshiaki Tadokoro and Koji Tanishita

Abstract: This paper proposes a new musical instrument estimation of polyphony using autocorrelation functions. We notice that each musical instrument has each autocorrelation function. Polyphony can be separated into each monophony using comb filters ( H ( z) = 1 - z -N ). We can obtain the autocorrelation functions for the outputs of comb filters from the autocorrelation functions of the monophony. By the pattern patching between the autocorrelation functions for the output signals of the comb filters and ones calculated from monophony of each instrument, we can estimate the musical instruments for polyphony.
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Paper Nr: 374
Title:

A HYBRID CONTROLLER FOR A NONHOLONOMIC CAR-LIKE ROBOT

Authors:

Martin V. Mohrenschildt

Abstract: This paper presents the usage of hybrid systems to develop an adaptive recent horizon controller for a nonholonomic car-like robot. The system is modeled by a non-deterministic hybrid system in which transitions represent the discrete control actions, mode invariants the constraints and the transition relation encodes sequencing requirements. The control algorithm examines at runtime the possible traces into the future by determining at which time point to switch to which mode. Based on these predictions the next control move is performed. We demonstrate our approach by controlling a car-like robot though a maze without any pre-runtime path planing.
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Paper Nr: 378
Title:

DETECTABILITY AND DIAGNOSABILITY OF DISCRETE EVENT SYSTEMS - Application on manufacturing systems

Authors:

Moamar Sayed Mouchaweh, Alexandre Philippot and Véronique Carré-Ménétrier

Abstract: The diagnosis is defined as the process of detecting an abnormality in the system behavior and isolating its causes or sources. Not all the systems are diagnosable. Thus, before Appling a method to diagnose a system, we need to know if this system is diagnosable according to the set of failures required to be detected and isolated. This paper presents an algorithm to determine if a system is detectable or not, i.e., if we can know, at each instant, whether the system works under a normal or abnormal functioning state. In the case that the system is detectable, this algorithm determines if this system is diagnosable. This algorithm combines event and state based approaches in order to maximise the diagnosability power with a minimum number of sensors. In addition, the time is integrated and modelled with fuzzy intervals to enhance this diagnosabilty power and to take into account the imprecision of events occurrences instants. An example of manufacturing system is used to illustrate the functioning of this algorithm.
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Paper Nr: 386
Title:

WALSH TRANSFORM AS METHOD OF MIMO SYSTEMS IDENTIFICATION

Authors:

Andrzej Zak

Abstract: The paper presents method of MIMO system identification using Walsh transform. Paper includes description of mathematical basis of Walsh Transform. At the end of paper the results of research of identification for example multi input multi output object were presented.
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Paper Nr: 411
Title:

COLOURED PETRI NETS TO MODEL GEOGRAPHICAL INTERLOCKING FOR RAILWAY

Authors:

S. Ingram, Alamgir Hossain and S. Cox

Abstract: Petri nets have been widely applied in different aspects of railway modelling and analysis. This paper presents an insight into how coloured Petri nets can be used to model geographical interlocking. We start with a generalisation of coloured Petri nets and follow with an overview of interlocking. In the main body we present a generic unit model and demonstrate how it can be used to represent a simple junction, comprising of three fundamental components; namely track, signal and point units.
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Paper Nr: 411
Title:

COLOURED PETRI NETS TO MODEL GEOGRAPHICAL INTERLOCKING FOR RAILWAY

Authors:

S. Ingram, Alamgir Hossain and S. Cox

Abstract: Petri nets have been widely applied in different aspects of railway modelling and analysis. This paper presents an insight into how coloured Petri nets can be used to model geographical interlocking. We start with a generalisation of coloured Petri nets and follow with an overview of interlocking. In the main body we present a generic unit model and demonstrate how it can be used to represent a simple junction, comprising of three fundamental components; namely track, signal and point units.
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Paper Nr: 418
Title:

REMOTE MONITORING DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS - The new generation of control systems

Authors:

Victor Ruiz Valera, Mario De La Cruz Ortiz, Rafael Herradón Díez and Florentino Jiménez Muñoz

Abstract: Nowadays, it is increasingly necessary and interesting to measure and control the levels of some parameters. This research and project work has been developed with the aim of creating a data acquisition and monitoring distributed system that allows the users to monitor and control easily, powerfully and flexibly any parameter interesting enough to be studied for later monitoring in real time. At the same time, it is also intended to make the system accessible to the general public and citizens, by using the most implanted and widespread network: Internet and the TCP/IP networks. As a result we present an application offering a “measurement transport layer” providing several services that will work with any kind of parameter.
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Paper Nr: 423
Title:

EXTRAPOLATION WITH A SELF-ORGANISING LOCALLY INTERPOLATING MAP - Controlling nonlinear Processes with ambiguous inverse Behaviour

Authors:

Helge Hülsen and Sergej Fatikow

Abstract: Besides their typical classification task, Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) can be used to approximate input-output relations. They provide an economic way of storing the essence of past data into input/output support vector pairs. In this paper the SOLIM algorithm (Self-Organising Locally Interpolating Map) is reviewed and an extrapolation method is introduced. This framework allows finding one inverse of a nonlinear many-to-one mapping by exploiting the inherent neighbourhood criteria of the SOM part. Simulations show that the performance of the mapping including the extrapolation is comparable to other algorithms.
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Paper Nr: 433
Title:

TESTBED EVALUATION OF NETWORKED CONTROL SYSTEMS

Authors:

George Hassapis, Spyridon Geronatsios and Ioannis Grigoriadis

Abstract: This work addresses the issue of performance evaluation of advanced control algorithms which are going to be implemented on scalable industrial computer networks. The basic characteristic of these implementations is that information concerning measurements from sensors, commands to actuators and reference inputs is exchanged between the plant and the control system over a real-time communication network. The need to evaluate the performance of such algorithm implementations before commissioning them derives from the fact that the network-induced delay during the exchange of the sensor-to-controller and controller-to-actuator data and the possibility of loss of a data package during transmission may affect the algorithm performance. One way of assessing this performance is by emulating the operation of the algorithm on a test-bed. As test-bed is defined the facility that consists of a computer-based simulation of the plant which is linked to the real communication network and actual control devices on which the algorithm will be implemented. As there are many proprietary and open communication network protocols and standards, unavoidably the test-bed has to be constructed for a specific protocol and standard. In this work a test-bed based on the Profibus standard and its FMS protocol has been realized. The purpose is the evaluation of a control algorithm which will run on one or more controllers that will be inserted in an already operating networked control system. In order to demonstrate the way of using a test-bed for evaluating the performance of a control algorithm the study of the LQC control of a cement milling circuit is presented.
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Paper Nr: 437
Title:

INFORMATION SYSTEMS SUPPORT ON MOBILE DEVICE PLATFORM - Java SCADA Client/Server model and .NET localization enhancement

Authors:

Ondrej Krejcar and Jindřich Černohorský

Abstract: The paper deals with programming possibilities of mobile devices. It discusses the relationships with control systems and problems with solutions of possible situations arising from their design or their operation. It is focused mainly on Java language and use of created SCADA based application on wide scale of mobile devices without any changes of source code. The proliferation of mobile computing devices and local-area wireless networks has fostered a growing interest in location-aware systems and services. Another area of interest is in model of radio-frequency (RF) based system enhancement for locating and tracking users of our information system inside buildings. User location is used to data pre-buffering and pushing information from server to user’s PDA.
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Paper Nr: 520
Title:

MULTI-OBJECTIVE PREDICTIVE CONTROL: APPLICATION FOR AN UNCERTAIN PROCESS

Authors:

Anes Bedoui, Faouzi Bouani and Mekki Ksouri

Abstract: This paper deals with the application of the Multi Objective Generalized Predictive Control (MOGPC) to level control in a laboratory process. The major characteristic of the considered plant is that the manual draining vane can take many positions causing changes in plant dynamics and strong disturbances in the process. The controller is based on a set of Controlled Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (CARIMA) model. The Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm is used to estimate each model parameters. The control law is obtained by minimizing a multi objective optimization problem. The weighting sum approach is considered to formulate the control problem as a single criterion optimisation one. The real time control system implementation confirms the opportunity of using the MOGPC scheme to an uncertainty system.
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Paper Nr: 522
Title:

IDENTIFICATION OF A CAR-LIKE VEHICLE via MODULATING FUNCTIONS

Authors:

Davide Corsanini and Fabrizio Tocchini

Abstract: This paper describes an interesting application of the modulating functions technique to model identification of a car-like vehicle that has to face various types of surface. Several models have been obtained in different operating conditions. The construction of a ‘mean model’ will make possible the design of a robust control for unmanned guidance purposes. An alternative control strategy based on adaptive methods is also suggested by means of an online implementation of the technique.
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Paper Nr: 528
Title:

A COMPUTER ORIENTED ALGORITHM FOR ANALYZING LIMIT CYCLES IN DISCRETE CONTROL SYSTEMS

Authors:

Manuel Utrilla-Manso, R. Jiménez-Martínez, R. Mallol-Poyato, J. Sánchez-Golmayo and Francisco López-ferreras

Abstract: In this paper a new and fast algorithm for characterizing the behaviour of zero-input limit cycles that can appear in digital control systems when finite precision computer is used. This proposed algorithm suggests a practical approach to determine the impact of these parasitic oscillations against difficult theoretical solutions limited to simple systems and very conservatives in some cases. This algorithm is applicable to any kind of discrete system described by its difference equations and quantized by any quantization scheme and supply practical results in considerable less time that other exhaustive formulations. Some tables show the feasibility of the algorithm compared with exhaustive searches and theoretical calculations to characterize the limit cycles and its applicability for any kind of discrete system as different digital filters and digital control systems where different controllers are applied.
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Paper Nr: 535
Title:

HYBRID ALGORITHMS FOR THE PARAMETER ESTIMATE USING FAULT DETECTION, AND REACHING CAPACITIES

Authors:

Ryadh H. Mokhneche, Hichem Maaref and Vincent Vigneron

Abstract: The nonstationary systems parametric estimate requires the continuation of its parameters which vary abruptly at unknown random moments. These are the abrupt parametric variations which were considered in this work to be managed like ”faults”. The considered signals here are nonstationary and are characterized by time variable parameters. The estimate of these parameters requires the choice of an algorithm having the capacity to continue their evolution. The various hybrid adaptive estimate methods showed that these capacities can be reached by a compensation of a gain and its update in online. In this paper, a method of estimate is proposed, based on the fault detection. The general algorithm implemented gives place to several methods which will be detailed. Experimental tests of some methods on a second order autoregressive synthesis signal are carried out and then commented.
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Paper Nr: 561
Title:

PIECEWISE AFFINE SYSTEMS CONTROLLABILITY AND HYBRID OPTIMAL CONTROL

Authors:

Aude Rondepierre

Abstract: We consider a particular class of hybrid systems, defined by a piecewise affine dynamic over non-overlapping regions of the state space. We want to control their behaviors so that it reaches a target by minimizing a given cost. We provide a new numerical algorithm under-approximating the controllable domain under the given hybrid dynamic. Given an optimal sequence of states of the hybrid automaton, we are then able to traverse the automaton till the target, locally insuring optimality.
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Paper Nr: 582
Title:

ROBUST STABILITY ANALYSIS OF SINGULARLY PERTURBED MAGNETIC SUSPENSION SYSTEMS

Authors:

Nan-chyuan Tsai and Chien-Ting Chen

Abstract: For a singularly perturbed magnetic suspension system, two kinds of state feedback controllers are synthesized to account for the inherent instability of the open-loop plant with two-time-scale properties. Kharitonov polynomials, extremal vertex and uncertain Nyquist plot are employed to examine the maximum tolerance against system parameters uncertainties such that the stability of the closed-loop system is still retained. Experimental simulations are reported to illustrate the robustness of designed controllers both in stability and performance. At last, Interlacing Theorem is introduced to analyze the stability of uncertain suspension systems via the characteristic interval polynomials. It is found that identical results are obtained, in comparison with extremal vertex approach.
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Paper Nr: 2
Title:

APPLYING SIGNAL PROCESSING TECHNIQUES TO WATER LEVEL ANOMALY DETECTION

Authors:

Carl Steidley, Richard Rush, David Thomas, Phillipe Tissot, Alex Sadovski and Ray Bachnak

Abstract: The Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network (TCOON) consists of more than 50 data gathering stations located along the Texas Gulf coast from the Louisiana to Mexico borders. Data sampled at these stations include: precise water levels, wind speed and direction, atmospheric and water temperatures, barometric pressure, and water currents. The measurements collected at these stations are often used in legal proceedings such as littoral boundary determinations; therefore data are collected according to National Ocean Service standards. Some stations of TCOON collect parameters such as turbidity, salinity, and other water quality parameters. All data are transmitted back to Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (A&M-CC) at multiples of six minutes via line-of-sight packet radio, cellular phone, or GOES satellite, where they are then processed and stored in a real-time, web-enabled database. TCOON has been in operation since 1988. This paper describes a software project based upon signal processing techniques to be utilized with the TCOON meteorological database to detect spikes in water level. Water level readings are frequently victim to abnormal water levels caused by ship wakes, affected equipment scrambled by thunder, or corrupted by transmission errors. Since these water levels are the bases for a number of research calculations, such as, oil-spill response, navigation safety, environmental research, and recreation, it is essential to be able to make these water level data as correct and spike free as possible.
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Paper Nr: 34
Title:

A GRAPHICAL REVIEW OF NOISE-INSTABILITY CHARACTERIZATION IN ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

Authors:

Juan-Jose Gonzalez De La Rosa, Isidro Lloret Galiana, Carlos G. Puntonet and Victor Pallares Lopez

Abstract: A thorough study of the noise processes characterization is made with simulated data by means of our non-classical estimators. Individual and hybrid noise sequences, previously generated by seed functions, have been used to obtain a set of characterization graphs identifying the noise type by mean of the enveloping curve. It is also shown the case of a hidden noise. An real test situation is presented which involves a traceable characterization via a GPS receiver.
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Paper Nr: 88
Title:

HIGH TEMPERATURE DENSITY MEASUREMENT CELL WITH A PCMCIA-INTERFACE

Authors:

Bernd Eichberger and Anton Scheibelmasser

Abstract: One of the most precise and reliable measurement methods for density measurement of liquids and gases depends on the principles of a mechanical oscillator. With this method the density is determined by measuring the natural frequency of the oscillator. Measurement devices using this method can be categorized in two groups. The first type incorporates the mechanical oscillator in the housing of the device and is mainly used in laboratories. The second type of measurement devices could be defined as evaluation units, because the sensor e.g. mechanical oscillator is external and only connected by means of electrical connections. These types are used in the field of process data control or data acquisition. The reason for separating the sensor from the evaluation unit lies in the fact that such external cells are used on remote locations in the process or the sensor is exposed to extreme physical conditions (e.g. high pressure, high temperatures). The first part of this article gives an overview about the functionality of such a high temperature measurement cell. The second part of this paper is intended to introduce a sophisticated PCMCIA interface which acts as an interface between the external density measurement cell and several hosts like PCs, PDAs or modern density measurement devices.
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Paper Nr: 88
Title:

HIGH TEMPERATURE DENSITY MEASUREMENT CELL WITH A PCMCIA-INTERFACE

Authors:

Bernd Eichberger and Anton Scheibelmasser

Abstract: One of the most precise and reliable measurement methods for density measurement of liquids and gases depends on the principles of a mechanical oscillator. With this method the density is determined by measuring the natural frequency of the oscillator. Measurement devices using this method can be categorized in two groups. The first type incorporates the mechanical oscillator in the housing of the device and is mainly used in laboratories. The second type of measurement devices could be defined as evaluation units, because the sensor e.g. mechanical oscillator is external and only connected by means of electrical connections. These types are used in the field of process data control or data acquisition. The reason for separating the sensor from the evaluation unit lies in the fact that such external cells are used on remote locations in the process or the sensor is exposed to extreme physical conditions (e.g. high pressure, high temperatures). The first part of this article gives an overview about the functionality of such a high temperature measurement cell. The second part of this paper is intended to introduce a sophisticated PCMCIA interface which acts as an interface between the external density measurement cell and several hosts like PCs, PDAs or modern density measurement devices.
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Paper Nr: 123
Title:

EVALUATION OF TRACTION POWER CONSUMPTION CONTROL SYSTEM IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC - And its Basic Components

Authors:

Jindrich Sadil, Zuzana Belinova, Vaclav Vodrazka, Jindrich Krasa, Jakub Rajnoch and Petr Bouchner

Abstract: Our work should help to the higher effectiveness of traction power consumption. The traction power for railway comes from the regional distribution companies of the electric energy in the Czech Republic. The aim is to make cost connected with given criteria of power consumption lower. For example in the Czech Republic it is a cost connected with breach of conditions given by the “Price Decision of the Czech Energetic Regulation Office (ERU) no. 10/2004”. But the scale of our work should be much larger, because each state has its specific conditions of power consumption and the work can solve universal case. It could be done by means of the system, which would use the new knowledge of informatics, telematics and system engineering. This paper discusses the state at this time at this field nowadays and possible application in the territory of ex-district North Moravia and Silesia, which is a part of the Czech Republic. This area is an integrated part of the country, which electricity is separately accounted for.
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Paper Nr: 125
Title:

A DESIGN METHOD OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL LINEAR PHASE FIR FILTERS USING FRITZ JOHN’S THEOREM

Authors:

Yasunori Sugita and Naoyuki Aikawa

Abstract: This paper presents a design method of 2-dimensional (2-D) FIR filters by successive projection (SP) method using multiple extreme frequency points based on Fritz John’s theorem. The proposed method enables an update of coefficients using multiple extreme frequency points by Fritz John’s theorem. Moreover, we also present two methods as how to choose the extreme frequency point for the update coefficients. As a result, the solution converges less iteration number and computing time than the previous method.
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Paper Nr: 137
Title:

A MODEL BASED HYBRID NUMERICAL CONTROL ALGORITHM FOR THE CONTINUOUS DRYING OF A THICK WEB IN AN INFRARED DRYER

Authors:

Normand Thérien, Arthur D. Broadbent and Perez Sergio

Abstract: Experimental results from the transient drying of sheets of polyester in an infrared (IR) dryer were used to derive a performance model. Separate drying experiments were done using sheets of material of various densities and thicknesses. The formulations expressed the core temperature of the web to the surface temperature of the web as a function of the residency time in the dryer and the electric power used. Also, a relationship between the time duration required to achieve a given core temperature of the web as a function of the electric power was derived. These relationships were used to derive an hybrid numerical control algorithm using feed forward and feedback actions to control the core humidity of the web at the outlet of the dryer.
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Paper Nr: 139
Title:

ON THE LINEAR LEAST-SQUARE PREDICTION PROBLEM

Authors:

Rosa M. Fernandez-Alcala, J. Navarro-Moreno, J. C. Ruiz-Molina and María Dolores Estudillo-martínez

Abstract: An efficient algorithm is derived for the recursive computation of the filtering and all types of linear least-square prediction estimates (fixed-point, fixed-interval, and fixed-lead predictors) of a nonstationary signal vector. It is assumed that the signal is observed in the presence of an additive white noise which can be correlated with the signal. The methodology employed only requires that the covariance functions involved are factorizable kernels and then it is applicable without the assumption that the signal verifies a state-space model.
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Paper Nr: 178
Title:

METHOD FOR ALARM PREDICTION

Authors:

Luis S. Fernandez, Lazaro Gorostiaga Canepa and Oleksiy Pogrebnyak

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to show a predictive supervisory method for the trending of variables of technological processes and devices. The data obtained in real time for each variable are used to estimate the parameters of a mathematical model. This model is continuous and of first-order or second-order (critically damped, overdamped or underdamped), all of which show time delay. An optimization algorithm is used for estimating the parameters. Before performing the estimation, the most appropriate model is determined by means of a backpropagation neural network (NN) previously trained. Virtual Instrumentation was used for the method programming.
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Paper Nr: 183
Title:

CONFIDENCE BASED ESTIMATION AND DETERIORATION INDICATION OF ON-LINE MEASUREMENT

Authors:

Jari Näsi and Aki Sorsa

Abstract: In an industrial process, the accuracy and reliability of process creates basics for control system and ultimately to product uniformity. Measurement results, whether from fast on-line sensors or from sample-based laboratory analyses, is the key for selecting the method for process control and analysis. Intelligent and advanced control methods, exploiting measurements, are of no benefit if the measurements cannot be trusted. This paper presents an estimation method for combining real-time redundant signals, consisting of sensor data, and analytical measurements. The validation of on-line measurement uses less frequently updated but more accurate information to validate frequently updated but less accurate on-line measurements. An estimate of the measured variable is obtained as a weighted average of the on-line measurements and laboratory analyses. The weighting coefficients are recursively updated in real time when new analysis and measurement results are available. The calculation of optimal estimate can be used in several industrial applications for more precise process control. In addition, pre-processed data is used to calculate a “need for maintenance indicator” to warn the operator for sensor breakdowns, wearing or deterioration and detect calibration needs. The operator’s workload is reduced in problematic situations where measurement and validation signals are not convergent, by offering calculated best estimation.
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Paper Nr: 259
Title:

EXTRACTION OF OBJECTS AND PAGE SEGMENTATION OF COMPOSITE DOCUMENTS WITH NON-UNIFORM BACKGROUND

Authors:

Yasser Alginahi, Maher Sid-ahmed and Majid Ahmadi

Abstract: In designing page segmentation systems for documents with complex background and poor illumination, separating the background from the objects (text and images) is very crucial for the success of such system. The new local based neural binarization technique developed by the authors will be used to extract the objects from document images with complex backgrounds. This algorithm uses statistical and textural feature measures to obtain a feature vector for each pixel from a window of size (2n + 1) × (2n + 1) , where n ≥ 1 . These features provide a local understanding of pixels from their neighbourhoods making it easier to classify each pixel into its proper class. A Multi-Layer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP NN) is then used to classify each pixel in the image. The results of thresholding are then passed to a block segmentation stage. The block segmentation technique developed is a feature-based method that uses a Neural Network classifier to automatically segment and classify the image contents into text and halftone images. The results of page segmentation are then ready to be passed into an OCR system that will convert the text image into a format the can be stored and modified.
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Paper Nr: 282
Title:

GENERAL ENGINEERING DATA MODEL IN SPECIAL PURPOSE MACHINE ENGINEERING

Authors:

Zhiliang Qi, Christian Schäfer and Peter Klemm

Abstract: A main problem in todays engineering of special purpose machines is the reuse and the consistency of engineering data across the whole development process. This paper presents an approach how to manage and share data in the entire development process in the field of special purpose machine engineering. The first part gives a short overview of the current problems by using software tools in engineering and the engineering requirements. In the second part the current data models used in special purpose machine engineering are analyzed. The third part provides the General Engineering Data Model (GED) as a new concept to share and reuse the engineering data from each engineering phase and to improve the development activity. At the end this paper gives also an evaluation on benefits and contribution of this GED.
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Paper Nr: 375
Title:

IDENTIFICATION OF STRUCTURE IN NONDETERMINISTIC CYCLIC SOCIAL CONVENTIONS

Authors:

Hürevren Kiliç

Abstract: A polynomial-time algorithm for the identification of interaction and memory structures in discrete valued, nondeterministic, cyclic social behavior data is developed. The output of the probabilistic search algorithm is the strategy update function for each individual automaton agent in given population. For our modeling purpose, we used automata networks model and added “block-extended memory” property to its original definition. The approach can also be considered as a limit cycle construction technique for discrete dynamical systems.
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Paper Nr: 439
Title:

FREEZING ALARM SYSTEM BASED ON TIME SERIES ANALISYS

Authors:

Carmen Morato, M. T.Castellanos, A. M.Tarquis and Enriqueta G. Mouton

Abstract: The aim of this work is to design an alarm system that allows protecting and preventing crop-freezing damages taking decisions with enough time to react. A first step was to obtain a temperature forecast mode. In this line an hourly temperature series was analyzed with Box-Jenkins methodology ( ARIMA models). An alarm system is designed based on these forecast, at each 12 hours, in the air temperatures obtained each hour at real time and in the average errors between real and forecast each hour and each 12 hours. This system generates an index alarm that is related with the risk intensity that over a certain value will activate several sensors. This system is applicable to any area adjusting conveniently the parameters and the ARIMA model.
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Paper Nr: 439
Title:

FREEZING ALARM SYSTEM BASED ON TIME SERIES ANALISYS

Authors:

Carmen Morato, M. T.Castellanos, A. M.Tarquis and Enriqueta G. Mouton

Abstract: The aim of this work is to design an alarm system that allows protecting and preventing crop-freezing damages taking decisions with enough time to react. A first step was to obtain a temperature forecast mode. In this line an hourly temperature series was analyzed with Box-Jenkins methodology ( ARIMA models). An alarm system is designed based on these forecast, at each 12 hours, in the air temperatures obtained each hour at real time and in the average errors between real and forecast each hour and each 12 hours. This system generates an index alarm that is related with the risk intensity that over a certain value will activate several sensors. This system is applicable to any area adjusting conveniently the parameters and the ARIMA model.
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Paper Nr: 539
Title:

SYSTEM OF MEASURE AND REPRESENTATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC EMISSIONS

Authors:

Rafael Herradón Díez, Florentino Jiménez Muñoz, Julia Galiano and Juan Fernández-Corugedo

Abstract: Due to the vertiginous increase of the electromagnetic emissions of the modern communication systems and to the affected population's concern, it becomes necessary a more exhaustive control of this type of contamination. There are available different measure devices that make a characterization of the received emissions, but most does not discriminate between the contributions from different systems. Therefore, you cannot identify the systems responsible for the excessive measured levels. Of all the studied devices, the one that better it fulfils the expectations it is the spectrum analyzer, that it allows to characterize the received emissions, separating the different bands of the spectrum, and isolating the frequencies that don't perform the existent norm. To control the spectrum analyzer we have developed a software program that makes the measures according to the procedure exposed in the standard. Finally, another program processes and it represents the results of the measures. In addition, this application can calculate the theoretical level of radiation of different communication systems by simulation approximations and then, to compare with the measurement levels and with the reference level.
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Paper Nr: 550
Title:

OPTIMAL CONTROL APPLIED TO OPTIMIZATION OF MOBILE SWITCHING SURFACES PART II : APPLICATIONS

Authors:

Céline Quémard and Jean-claude Jolly

Abstract: To reinforce interest of a general optimization algorithm obtained in a previous paper (Jolly et al., 2005), we consider three applications : an original one about control of cycles for a thermostat with anticipative resistance, a classical one with a new resolution for a car with two gears and a last one about an obstacle-avoidance problem in robotics. For the first case, we optimize the adjustment of thermostat thresholds to control at best the room temperature. For the second case, we optimize the switching times to stop the car as near as possible of chosen points and this, in a minimum time . In the last example, we optimize parameters of the switching surfaces in order that the robot reaches a chosen target without meeting a mobile obstacle.
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Paper Nr: 552
Title:

OPTIMAL CONTROL APPLIED TO OPTIMIZATION OF MOBILE SWITCHING SURFACES PART I: ALGORITHM

Authors:

Jean-claude Jolly, Céline Quémard and Jean-Louis Ferrier

Abstract: Following (Boccadoro et al., 2004) and (Wardi et al., 2004), we consider hybrid dynamical systems with parameterized switching surfaces. The goal is to optimize the choice of parameters in relation with a criterion. In an optimal control framework we deepen and generalize results of these authors. We get that thanks a known algorithm, usually not totally explicit, that can be here specified up to obtain an efficient one. Ideas of some new or classical applications are given. They will be developped in a second paper, enforcing the theoric results expanded here.
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