The 747 primary flight control systems reliability and maintenance study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

The major operational characteristics of the 747 Primary Flight Control Systems (PFCS) are described. Results of reliability analysis for separate control functions are presented. The analysis makes use of a NASA computer program which calculates reliability of redundant systems. Costs for maintaining the 747 PFCS in airline service are assessed. The reliabilities and cost will provide a baseline for use in trade studies of future flight control system design.

Discrete-time Markovian-jump linear quadratic optimal control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chizeck, H. J.; Willsky, A. S.; Castanon, D.

1986-01-01

This paper is concerned with the optimal control of discrete-time linear systems that possess randomly jumping parameters described by finite-state Markov processes. For problems having quadratic costs and perfect observations, the optimal control laws and expected costs-to-go can be precomputed from a set of coupled Riccati-like matrix difference equations. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the existence of optimal constant control laws which stabilize the controlled system as the time horizon becomes infinite, with finite optimal expected cost.

Low-Cost Undergraduate Control Systems Experiments Using Microcontroller-Based Control of a DC Motor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunasekaran, M.; Potluri, R.

2012-01-01

This paper presents low-cost experiments for a control systems laboratory module that is worth one and a third credits. The experiments are organized around the microcontroller-based control of a permanent magnet dc motor. The experimental setups were built in-house. Except for the operating system, the software used is primarily freeware or free…

The promise--and peril--of integrated cost systems.

PubMed

Cooper, R; Kaplan, R S

1998-01-01

Recent advances in managerial accounting have helped executives get the information they need to make good strategic decisions. But today's enterprise resource planning systems promise even greater benefits--the chance to integrate activity-based costing, operational-control, and financial reporting systems. But managers need to approach integration very thoughtfully, or they could end up with a system that drives decision making in the wrong direction. Operational-control and ABC systems have fundamentally different purposes. Their requirements for accuracy, timeliness, and aggregation are so different that no single, fully integrated approach can be adequate for both purposes. If an integrated system used real-time cost data instead of standard rates in its ABC subsystem, for example, the result would be dangerously distorted messages about individual product profitability--and that's precisely the problem ABC systems were originally designed to address. Proper linkage and feedback between the two systems is possible, however. Through activity-based budgeting, the ABC system is linked directly to operations control: managers can determine the supply and practical capacity of resources in forthcoming periods. Linking operational control to ABC is also possible. The activity-based portion of an operational control system collects information that, while it mustn't be fed directly into the activity-based strategic cost system, can be extremely useful once it's been properly analyzed. Finally, ABC and operational control can be linked to financial reporting to generate cost of goods sold and inventory valuations--but again, with precautions.

A low cost LST pointing control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glaese, J. R.; Kennel, H. F.; Nurre, G. S.; Seltzer, S. M.; Shelton, H. L.

1975-01-01

Vigorous efforts to reduce costs, coupled with changes in LST guidelines, took place in the Fall of 1974. These events made a new design of the LST and its Pointing and Attitude Control System possible. The major design changes are summarized as: an annular Support Systems Module; removal of image motion compensation; reaction wheels instead of CMG's; a magnetic torquer system to also perform the emergency and backup functions, eliminating the previously required mass expulsion system. Preliminary analysis indicates the Low Cost LST concept can meet the newly defined requirements and results in a significantly reduced development cost.

Maximising profits for an EPQ model with unreliable machine and rework of random defective items

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pal, Brojeswar; Sankar Sana, Shib; Chaudhuri, Kripasindhu

2013-03-01

This article deals with an economic production quantity (EPQ) model in an imperfect production system. The production system may undergo in 'out-of-control' state from 'in-control' state, after a certain time that follows a probability density function. The density function varies with reliability of the machinery system that may be controlled by new technologies, investing more costs. The defective items produced in 'out-of-control' state are reworked at a cost just after the regular production time. Occurrence of the 'out-of-control' state during or after regular production-run time is analysed and also graphically illustrated separately. Finally, an expected profit function regarding the inventory cost, unit production cost and selling price is maximised analytically. Sensitivity analysis of the model with respect to key parameters of the system is carried out. Two numerical examples are considered to test the model and one of them is illustrated graphically.

Investigating the relationship between costs and outcomes for English mental health providers: a bi-variate multi-level regression analysis.

PubMed

Moran, Valerie; Jacobs, Rowena

2018-06-01

Provider payment systems for mental health care that incentivize cost control and quality improvement have been a policy focus in a number of countries. In England, a new prospective provider payment system is being introduced to mental health that should encourage providers to control costs and improve outcomes. The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between costs and outcomes to ascertain whether there is a trade-off between controlling costs and improving outcomes. The main data source is the Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS) for the years 2011/12 and 2012/13. Costs are calculated using NHS reference cost data while outcomes are measured using the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS). We estimate a bivariate multi-level model with costs and outcomes simultaneously. We calculate the correlation and plot the pairwise relationship between residual costs and outcomes at the provider level. After controlling for a range of demographic, need, social, and treatment variables, residual variation in costs and outcomes remains at the provider level. The correlation between residual costs and outcomes is negative, but very small, suggesting that cost-containment efforts by providers should not undermine outcome-improving efforts under the new payment system.

Cost-effectiveness and performance of overlay systems in Illinois, volume 2 : guidelines for interlayer system selection decision when used in HMA overlays.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-05-01

In an effort to control reflective cracking in hot-mix asphalt (HMA) overlays placed over Portland Cement : Concrete (PCC) pavements, several reflective crack control (RCC) systems, including interlayer systems, : have been used. However, the cost-ef...

Method for Controlling Space Transportation System Life Cycle Costs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McCleskey, Carey M.; Bartine, David E.

2006-01-01

A structured, disciplined methodology is required to control major cost-influencing metrics of space transportation systems during design and continuing through the test and operations phases. This paper proposes controlling key space system design metrics that specifically influence life cycle costs. These are inclusive of flight and ground operations, test, and manufacturing and infrastructure. The proposed technique builds on today's configuration and mass properties control techniques and takes on all the characteristics of a classical control system. While the paper does not lay out a complete math model, key elements of the proposed methodology are explored and explained with both historical and contemporary examples. Finally, the paper encourages modular design approaches and technology investments compatible with the proposed method.

Guaranteed cost control of polynomial fuzzy systems via a sum of squares approach.

PubMed

Tanaka, Kazuo; Ohtake, Hiroshi; Wang, Hua O

2009-04-01

This paper presents the guaranteed cost control of polynomial fuzzy systems via a sum of squares (SOS) approach. First, we present a polynomial fuzzy model and controller that are more general representations of the well-known Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model and controller, respectively. Second, we derive a guaranteed cost control design condition based on polynomial Lyapunov functions. Hence, the design approach discussed in this paper is more general than the existing LMI approaches (to T-S fuzzy control system designs) based on quadratic Lyapunov functions. The design condition realizes a guaranteed cost control by minimizing the upper bound of a given performance function. In addition, the design condition in the proposed approach can be represented in terms of SOS and is numerically (partially symbolically) solved via the recent developed SOSTOOLS. To illustrate the validity of the design approach, two design examples are provided. The first example deals with a complicated nonlinear system. The second example presents micro helicopter control. Both the examples show that our approach provides more extensive design results for the existing LMI approach.

Resilient guaranteed cost control of a power system.

PubMed

Soliman, Hisham M; Soliman, Mostafa H; Hassan, Mohammad F

2014-05-01

With the development of power system interconnection, the low-frequency oscillation is becoming more and more prominent which may cause system separation and loss of energy to consumers. This paper presents an innovative robust control for power systems in which the operating conditions are changing continuously due to load changes. However, practical implementation of robust control can be fragile due to controller inaccuracies (tolerance of resistors used with operational amplifiers). A new design of resilient (non-fragile) robust control is given that takes into consideration both model and controller uncertainties by an iterative solution of a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). Both uncertainties are cast into a norm-bounded structure. A sufficient condition is derived to achieve the desired settling time for damping power system oscillations in face of plant and controller uncertainties. Furthermore, an improved controller design, resilient guaranteed cost controller, is derived to achieve oscillations damping in a guaranteed cost manner. The effectiveness of the algorithm is shown for a single machine infinite bus system, and then, it is extended to multi-area power system.

Low cost attitude control system scanwheel development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bialke, William; Selby, Vaughn

1991-03-01

In order to satisfy a growing demand for low cost attitude control systems for small spacecraft, development of low cost scanning horizon sensor coupled to a low cost/low power consumption Reaction Wheel Assembly was initiated. This report addresses the details of the versatile design resulting from this effort. Tradeoff analyses for each of the major components are included, as well as test data from an engineering prototype of the hardware.

Low cost attitude control system scanwheel development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bialke, William; Selby, Vaughn

1991-01-01

In order to satisfy a growing demand for low cost attitude control systems for small spacecraft, development of low cost scanning horizon sensor coupled to a low cost/low power consumption Reaction Wheel Assembly was initiated. This report addresses the details of the versatile design resulting from this effort. Tradeoff analyses for each of the major components are included, as well as test data from an engineering prototype of the hardware.

A duality framework for stochastic optimal control of complex systems

DOE PAGES

Malikopoulos, Andreas A.

2016-01-01

In this study, we address the problem of minimizing the long-run expected average cost of a complex system consisting of interactive subsystems. We formulate a multiobjective optimization problem of the one-stage expected costs of the subsystems and provide a duality framework to prove that the control policy yielding the Pareto optimal solution minimizes the average cost criterion of the system. We provide the conditions of existence and a geometric interpretation of the solution. For practical situations having constraints consistent with those studied here, our results imply that the Pareto control policy may be of value when we seek to derivemore » online the optimal control policy in complex systems.« less

Performance-based maintenance of gas turbines for reliable control of degraded power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mo, Huadong; Sansavini, Giovanni; Xie, Min

2018-03-01

Maintenance actions are necessary for ensuring proper operations of control systems under component degradation. However, current condition-based maintenance (CBM) models based on component health indices are not suitable for degraded control systems. Indeed, failures of control systems are only determined by the controller outputs, and the feedback mechanism compensates the control performance loss caused by the component deterioration. Thus, control systems may still operate normally even if the component health indices exceed failure thresholds. This work investigates the CBM model of control systems and employs the reduced control performance as a direct degradation measure for deciding maintenance activities. The reduced control performance depends on the underlying component degradation modelled as a Wiener process and the feedback mechanism. To this aim, the controller features are quantified by developing a dynamic and stochastic control block diagram-based simulation model, consisting of the degraded components and the control mechanism. At each inspection, the system receives a maintenance action if the control performance deterioration exceeds its preventive-maintenance or failure thresholds. Inspired by realistic cases, the component degradation model considers random start time and unit-to-unit variability. The cost analysis of maintenance model is conducted via Monte Carlo simulation. Optimal maintenance strategies are investigated to minimize the expected maintenance costs, which is a direct consequence of the control performance. The proposed framework is able to design preventive maintenance actions on a gas power plant, to ensuring required load frequency control performance against a sudden load increase. The optimization results identify the trade-off between system downtime and maintenance costs as a function of preventive maintenance thresholds and inspection frequency. Finally, the control performance-based maintenance model can reduce maintenance costs as compared to CBM and pre-scheduled maintenance.

Planning, budgeting, and controlling--one look at the future: case-mix cost accounting.

PubMed Central

Thompson, J D; Averill, R F; Fetter, R B

1979-01-01

This paper outlines the system for cost accounting and managerial control which is an extension of the usually accepted departmental costing systems and takes as its units the 383 Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) considered to be the hospital's products. It is held that such an approach offers hospital managers a more powerful, analytic, budgeting, and cost-finding tool and offers the opportunity to involve the medical staff in the issues of how their practice patterns are affecting hospital costs. PMID:511578

Planning, budgeting, and controlling--one look at the future: case-mix cost accounting.

PubMed

Thompson, J D; Averill, R F; Fetter, R B

1979-01-01

This paper outlines the system for cost accounting and managerial control which is an extension of the usually accepted departmental costing systems and takes as its units the 383 Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) considered to be the hospital's products. It is held that such an approach offers hospital managers a more powerful, analytic, budgeting, and cost-finding tool and offers the opportunity to involve the medical staff in the issues of how their practice patterns are affecting hospital costs.

47 CFR 27.1164 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC filing costs... plant upgrade (if required); electrical grounding systems; Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) (if required); alternate transport equipment; and leased facilities. Increased recurring costs...

47 CFR 27.1164 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC filing costs... plant upgrade (if required); electrical grounding systems; Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) (if required); alternate transport equipment; and leased facilities. Increased recurring costs...

Economic analysis of linking operating room scheduling and hospital material management information systems for just-in-time inventory control.

PubMed

Epstein, R H; Dexter, F

2000-08-01

Operating room (OR) scheduling information systems can decrease perioperative labor costs. Material management information systems can decrease perioperative inventory costs. We used computer simulation to investigate whether using the OR schedule to trigger purchasing of perioperative supplies is likely to further decrease perioperative inventory costs, as compared with using sophisticated, stand-alone material management inventory control. Although we designed the simulations to favor financially linking the information systems, we found that this strategy would be expected to decrease inventory costs substantively only for items of high price ($1000 each) and volume (>1000 used each year). Because expensive items typically have different models and sizes, each of which is used by a hospital less often than this, for almost all items there will be no benefit to making daily adjustments to the order volume based on booked cases. We conclude that, in a hospital with a sophisticated material management information system, OR managers will probably achieve greater cost reductions from focusing on negotiating less expensive purchase prices for items than on trying to link the OR information system with the hospital's material management information system to achieve just-in-time inventory control. In a hospital with a sophisticated material management information system, operating room managers will probably achieve greater cost reductions from focusing on negotiating less expensive purchase prices for items than on trying to link the operating room information system with the hospital's material management information system to achieve just-in-time inventory control.

Cooperative Solutions in Multi-Person Quadratic Decision Problems: Finite-Horizon and State-Feedback Cost-Cumulant Control Paradigm

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

CONTRACT NUMBER Problems: Finite -Horizon and State-Feedback Cost-Cumulant Control Paradigm (PREPRINT) 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER...cooperative cost-cumulant control regime for the class of multi-person single-objective decision problems characterized by quadratic random costs and... finite -horizon integral quadratic cost associated with a linear stochastic system . Since this problem formation is parameterized by the number of cost

Electronics Controls Assessment for the PATRIOT Air Conditioner System. Revision

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-04-28

electronic controls in Army Air Conditioner Systems. This assessment used criteria which included: cost (initial and life cycle), efficiency, weight ...each of the twelve selected controllers as to cost and size Iqualifications was accomplished b) assigning reasonable weight factors according to the...following table:I COST SIZE5 WEIGHT FACTOR (Per Unit Price Range) (Volumetric Range) 1 Under $1000 Under 700 in 3 3 $1000 to $1500 700-1000 in 3 5 $1501

Cost decomposition of linear systems with application to model reduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skelton, R. E.

1980-01-01

A means is provided to assess the value or 'cst' of each component of a large scale system, when the total cost is a quadratic function. Such a 'cost decomposition' of the system has several important uses. When the components represent physical subsystems which can fail, the 'component cost' is useful in failure mode analysis. When the components represent mathematical equations which may be truncated, the 'component cost' becomes a criterion for model truncation. In this latter event component costs provide a mechanism by which the specific control objectives dictate which components should be retained in the model reduction process. This information can be valuable in model reduction and decentralized control problems.

Ground support system methodology and architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoen, P. D.

1991-01-01

A synergistic approach to systems test and support is explored. A building block architecture provides transportability of data, procedures, and knowledge. The synergistic approach also lowers cost and risk for life cycle of a program. The determination of design errors at the earliest phase reduces cost of vehicle ownership. Distributed scaleable architecture is based on industry standards maximizing transparency and maintainability. Autonomous control structure provides for distributed and segmented systems. Control of interfaces maximizes compatibility and reuse, reducing long term program cost. Intelligent data management architecture also reduces analysis time and cost (automation).

Program Manager: The Journal of the Defense Systems Management College. Volume 12, Number 4, July-August 1983.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-08-01

for the level of manage- 5AR ment reviewing it ., (40) The Cost Schedule Control Systems PROD R&D Criteria are not a...evolution and development of the Cost/Schedule Control Vice President, Contracts and Pricing Systems Criteria (C/SCSC), then analyze its cost impact...don’t come and ask for what we are going to war with-not He is taking the tough position to en- funding to cover it -find out what the new system

Hospital cost control in Norway: a decade's experience with prospective payment.

PubMed Central

Crane, T S

1985-01-01

Under Norway's prospective payment system, which was in existence from 1972 to 1980, hospital costs increased 15.8 percent annually, compared with 15.3 percent in the United States. In 1980 the Norwegian national government started paying for all institutional services according to a population-based, morbidity-adjusted formula. Norway's prospective payment system provides important insights into problems of controlling hospital costs despite significant differences, including ownership of medical facilities and payment and spending as a percent of GNP. Yet striking similarities exist. Annual real growth in health expenditures from 1972 to 1980 in Norway was 2.2 percent, compared with 2.4 percent in the United States. In both countries, public demands for cost control were accompanied by demands for more services. And problems of geographic dispersion of new technology and distribution of resources were similar. Norway's experience in the 1970s demonstrates that prospective payment is no panacea. The annual budget process created disincentives to hospitals to control costs. But Norway's changes in 1980 to a population-based methodology suggest a useful approach to achieve a more equitable distribution of resources. This method of payment provides incentives to control variations in both admissions and cost per case. In contrast, the Medicare approach based on Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs) is limited, and it does not affect variations in admissions and capital costs. Population-based methodologies can be used in adjusting DRG rates to control both problems. In addition, the DRG system only applies to Medicare payments; the Norwegian experience demonstrates that this system may result in significant shifting of costs onto other payors. PMID:3927385

47 CFR 24.243 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...; monitoring or control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC... control; power plant upgrade (if required); electrical grounding systems; Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) (if required); alternate transport equipment; and leased facilities. C also includes...

47 CFR 24.243 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

...; monitoring or control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC... control; power plant upgrade (if required); electrical grounding systems; Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) (if required); alternate transport equipment; and leased facilities. C also includes...

47 CFR 24.243 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

...; monitoring or control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC... control; power plant upgrade (if required); electrical grounding systems; Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) (if required); alternate transport equipment; and leased facilities. C also includes...

47 CFR 24.243 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

...; monitoring or control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC... control; power plant upgrade (if required); electrical grounding systems; Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) (if required); alternate transport equipment; and leased facilities. C also includes...

Developing Flexible Networked Lighting Control Systems

Science.gov Websites

, Bluetooth, ZigBee and others are increasingly used for building control purposes. Low-cost computation : Bundling digital intelligence at the sensors and lights adds virtually no incremental cost. Coupled with cost. Research Goals and Objectives This project "Developing Flexible, Networked Lighting Control

[A cost-benefit analysis of occupational disease reporting in China].

PubMed

Tang, X Z; Zeng, Q; Liu, D S

2017-03-20

Objective: To perform a cost-benefit analysis of the occupational disease reporting system in China, and to provide a basis for effective resource allocation. Methods: The data on the cost of occupational diseases were collected from China Health Statistics Yearbook 2013, the estimated benefit data were collected from published articles in China and foreign countries, and the probability data were collected from the occupational diseasereports published by health and family planning administrative departments. Adecision-making tree was used for the cost-benefit analysis. Results: The estimated cost of occupational disease reporting was about 102.47 million yuan/year, consisting of a cost of reporting in national medical institutions of 1.25 million yuan/year, a management cost of 30.35 million yuan/year, a management cost in local public health institutions of 69.80 million yuan/year, a management cost in national public health institutions of 370 thousand yuan/year, and a cost of construction and maintenance of reporting system of 700 thousand yuan/year. The results of the decision tree analysis showed that when an occupational disease monitoring system was established, the incremental input for occupational disease monitoring and prevention/control was 2.1 billion yuan/year, the output was 6.5 billion yuan/year, and the benefit of occupational disease reporting system was 4.4 billion yuan/year. Conclusion: The benefit of occupational disease reporting system depends on the cost-benefit of occupational disease prevention and control measures, and proper prevention and control measures are extremely important for improving the benefit of occupational disease reporting system.

An Advanced Microcosting System for Forecasting and Managing Radiology Expenses

PubMed Central

Arenson, Ronald; Viale, Richard; van der Voorde, Frans

1985-01-01

The new prospective payment system encourages hospital cost containment and necessitates understanding actual costs for radiology procedures. The automated microcosting system described here, utilizing data from the Radiology Information Management System, hospital expense reports, and payroll management reports, calculates an accurate unit cost for each procedure type. This data is very useful for cost control, enhancement of department efficiency, and planning.

Low cost attitude control system reaction wheel development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bialke, William

1991-03-01

In order to satisfy a growing demand for low cost attitude control systems for small spacecraft, development of a low power and low cost Reaction Wheel Assembly was initiated. The details of the versatile design resulting from this effort are addressed. Tradeoff analyses for each of the major components are included, as well as test data from an engineering prototype of the hardware.

Low cost attitude control system reaction wheel development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bialke, William

1991-01-01

In order to satisfy a growing demand for low cost attitude control systems for small spacecraft, development of a low power and low cost Reaction Wheel Assembly was initiated. The details of the versatile design resulting from this effort are addressed. Tradeoff analyses for each of the major components are included, as well as test data from an engineering prototype of the hardware.

Lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis prevention, treatment, and control costs across diverse settings: a systematic review.

PubMed

Keating, Joseph; Yukich, Joshua O; Mollenkopf, Sarah; Tediosi, Fabrizio

2014-07-01

The control and eventual elimination of neglected tropical disease (NTD) requires the expansion of interventions such as mass drug administration (MDA), vector control, diagnostic testing, and effective treatment. The purpose of this paper is to present the evidence base for decision-makers on the cost and cost-effectiveness of lymphatic filariasis (LF) and onchocerciasis prevention, treatment, and control. A systematic review of the published literature was conducted. All studies that contained primary or secondary data on costs or cost-effectiveness of prevention and control were considered. A total of 52 papers were included for LF and 24 papers were included for onchocerciasis. Large research gaps exist on the synergies and cost of integrating NTD prevention and control programs, as well as research on the role of health information systems, human resource systems, service delivery, and essential medicines and technology for elimination. The literature available on costs and cost-effectiveness of interventions is also generally older, extremely focal geographically and of limited usefulness for developing estimates of the global economic burden of these diseases and prioritizing among various intervention options. Up to date information on the costs and cost-effectiveness of interventions for LF and onchocerciasis prevention are needed given the vastly expanded funding base for the control and elimination of these diseases. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mission management, planning, and cost: PULSE Attitude And Control Systems (AACS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

The Pluto unmanned long-range scientific explorer (PULSE) is a probe that will do a flyby of Pluto. It is a low weight, relatively low costing vehicle which utilizes mostly off-the-shelf hardware, but not materials or techniques that will be available after 1999. A design, fabrication, and cost analysis is presented. PULSE will be launched within the first decade of the twenty-first century. The topics include: (1) scientific instrumentation; (2) mission management, planning, and costing; (3) power and propulsion systems; (4) structural subsystem; (5) command, control, and communication; and (6) attitude and articulation control.

Minimization of transmission cost in decentralized control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, S.-H.; Davison, E. J.

1978-01-01

This paper considers the problem of stabilizing a linear time-invariant multivariable system by using local feedback controllers and some limited information exchange among local stations. The problem of achieving a given degree of stability with minimum transmission cost is solved.

Upgrade of Compressed Air Control System Reduces Energy Costs at Michelin Tire Plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2002-01-01

This case study highlights the upgraded compressed air system at a Michelin tire manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The controls upgrade project enabled multiple compressor operation without blow-off, and significantly reduced energy costs.

47 CFR 27.1164 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC filing costs; site acquisition and civil works; zoning costs; training; disposal of old equipment; test equipment... a replacement system, such as equipment and engineering expenses. C may not exceed $250,000 per...

Adapting Wireless Technology to Lighting Control and Environmental Sensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dana Teasdale; Francis Rubinstein; David S. Watson

Although advanced lighting control systems offer significant energy savings, the high cost of retrofitting buildings with advanced lighting control systems is a barrier to adoption of this energy-saving technology. Wireless technology, however, offers a solution to mounting installation costs since it requires no additional wiring to implement. To demonstrate the feasibility of such a system, a prototype wirelessly-controlled advanced lighting system was designed and built. The system includes the following components: a wirelessly-controllable analog circuit module (ACM), a wirelessly-controllable electronic dimmable ballast, a T8 3-lamp fixture, an environmental multi-sensor, a current transducer, and control software. The ACM, dimmable ballast, multi-sensor,more » and current transducer were all integrated with SmartMesh{trademark} wireless mesh networking nodes, called motes, enabling wireless communication, sensor monitoring, and actuator control. Each mote-enabled device has a reliable communication path to the SmartMesh Manager, a single board computer that controls network functions and connects the wireless network to a PC running lighting control software. The ACM is capable of locally driving one or more standard 0-10 Volt electronic dimmable ballasts through relay control and a 0-10 Volt controllable output, in addition to 0-24 Volt and 0-10 Volt inputs. The mote-integrated electronic dimmable ballast is designed to drive a standard 3-lamp T8 light fixture. The environmental multisensor measures occupancy, light level and temperature. The current transducer is used to measure the power consumed by the fixture. Control software was developed to implement advanced lighting algorithms, including open and closed-loop daylight ramping, occupancy control, and demand response. Engineering prototypes of each component were fabricated and tested in a bench-scale system. Based on standard industry practices, a cost analysis was conducted. It is estimated that the installation cost of a wireless advanced lighting control system for a retrofit application is at least 20% lower than a comparable wired system for a typical 16,000 square-foot office building, with a payback period of less than 3 years. At 30% market penetration saturation, a cumulative 695 Billion kWh of energy could be saved through 2025, a cost savings of $52 Billion.« less

An Open Source Low-Cost Wireless Control System for a Forced Circulation Solar Plant

PubMed Central

Salamone, Francesco; Belussi, Lorenzo; Danza, Ludovico; Ghellere, Matteo; Meroni, Italo

2015-01-01

The article describes the design phase, development and practical application of a low-cost control system for a forced circulation solar plant in an outdoor test cell located near Milan. Such a system provides for the use of an electric pump for the circulation of heat transfer fluid connecting the solar thermal panel to the storage tank. The running plant temperatures are the fundamental parameter to evaluate the system performance such as proper operation, and the control and management system has to consider these parameters. A solar energy-powered wireless-based smart object was developed, able to monitor the running temperatures of a solar thermal system and aimed at moving beyond standard monitoring approaches to achieve a low-cost and customizable device, even in terms of installation in different environmental conditions. To this end, two types of communications were used: the first is a low-cost communication based on the ZigBee protocol used for control purposes, so that it can be customized according to specific needs, while the second is based on a Bluetooth protocol used for data display. PMID:26556356

An Open Source Low-Cost Wireless Control System for a Forced Circulation Solar Plant.

PubMed

Salamone, Francesco; Belussi, Lorenzo; Danza, Ludovico; Ghellere, Matteo; Meroni, Italo

2015-11-05

The article describes the design phase, development and practical application of a low-cost control system for a forced circulation solar plant in an outdoor test cell located near Milan. Such a system provides for the use of an electric pump for the circulation of heat transfer fluid connecting the solar thermal panel to the storage tank. The running plant temperatures are the fundamental parameter to evaluate the system performance such as proper operation, and the control and management system has to consider these parameters. A solar energy-powered wireless-based smart object was developed, able to monitor the running temperatures of a solar thermal system and aimed at moving beyond standard monitoring approaches to achieve a low-cost and customizable device, even in terms of installation in different environmental conditions. To this end, two types of communications were used: the first is a low-cost communication based on the ZigBee protocol used for control purposes, so that it can be customized according to specific needs, while the second is based on a Bluetooth protocol used for data display.

Rapid Deployment of Optimal Control for Building HVAC Systems using Innovative Software Tools and a Hybrid Heuristic/Model Based Control Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-21

Energy and Water Projects March 21, 2017 REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of...included reduced system energy use and cost as well as improved performance driven by autonomous commissioning and optimized system control. In the end...improve system performance and reduce energy use and cost. However, implementing these solutions into the extremely heterogeneous and often

Advanced electric propulsion system concept for electric vehicles. Addendum 1: Voltage considerations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raynard, A. E.; Forbes, F. E.

1980-01-01

The two electric vehicle propulsion systems that best met cost and performance goals were examined to assess the effect of battery pack voltage on system performance and cost. A voltage range of 54 to 540 V was considered for a typical battery pack capacity of 24 k W-hr. The highest battery specific energy (W-hr/kg) and the lowest cost ($/kW-hr) were obtained at the minimum voltage level. The flywheel system traction motor is a dc, mechanically commutated with shunt field control, and due to the flywheel the traction motor and the battery are not subject to extreme peaks of power demand. The basic system uses a permanent-magnet motor with electronic commutation supplied by an ac power control unit. In both systems battery cost were the major factor in system voltage selection, and a battery pack with the minimum voltage of 54 V produced the lowest life-cycle cost. The minimum life-cycle cost for the basic system with lead-acid batteries was $0.057/km and for the flywheel system was $0.037/km.

Training Costs with Reference to the Industrial Training Act.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garbutt, Douglas

Provisions and implications of the British Industrial Training Act of 1964 (including the system of training grants and levies) are set forth. Procedures for accounting and budgeting for training costs, routines for collecting training information, documents (budgets, cost sheets, control statements) for collecting and controlling costs, means of…

[Experiences in maintenance and repair cost control of medical equipments].

PubMed

Liu, Jin-chu; Wu, Yun-fang

2005-07-01

This paper introduces methods to control the cost of maintenance and repair for medical equipments through service team training, service contract control, system establishment and outside service resources, etc..

A cost-effective traffic data collection system based on the iDEN mobile telecommunication network.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-10-01

This report describes a cost-effective data collection system for Caltrans 170 traffic signal : controller. The data collection system is based on TCP/IP communication over existing : low-cost mobile communication networks and Motorola iDEN1 mobile...

The economics of malaria control and elimination: a systematic review.

PubMed

Shretta, Rima; Avanceña, Anton L V; Hatefi, Arian

2016-12-12

Declining donor funding and competing health priorities threaten the sustainability of malaria programmes. Elucidating the cost and benefits of continued investments in malaria could encourage sustained political and financial commitments. The evidence, although available, remains disparate. This paper reviews the existing literature on the economic and financial cost and return of malaria control, elimination and eradication. A review of articles that were published on or before September 2014 on the cost and benefits of malaria control and elimination was performed. Studies were classified based on their scope and were analysed according to two major categories: cost of malaria control and elimination to a health system, and cost-benefit studies. Only studies involving more than two control or elimination interventions were included. Outcomes of interest were total programmatic cost, cost per capita, and benefit-cost ratios (BCRs). All costs were converted to 2013 US$ for standardization. Of the 6425 articles identified, 54 studies were included in this review. Twenty-two were focused on elimination or eradication while 32 focused on intensive control. Forty-eight per cent of studies included in this review were published on or after 2000. Overall, the annual per capita cost of malaria control to a health system ranged from $0.11 to $39.06 (median: $2.21) while that for malaria elimination ranged from $0.18 to $27 (median: $3.00). BCRs of investing in malaria control and elimination ranged from 2.4 to over 145. Overall, investments needed for malaria control and elimination varied greatly amongst the various countries and contexts. In most cases, the cost of elimination was greater than the cost of control. At the same time, the benefits of investing in malaria greatly outweighed the costs. While the cost of elimination in most cases was greater than the cost of control, the benefits greatly outweighed the cost. Information from this review provides guidance to national malaria programmes on the cost and benefits of malaria elimination in the absence of data. Importantly, the review highlights the need for more robust economic analyses using standard inputs and methods to strengthen the evidence needed for sustained financing for malaria elimination.

Strain actuated aeroelastic control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lazarus, Kenneth B.

1992-01-01

Viewgraphs on strain actuated aeroelastic control are presented. Topics covered include: structural and aerodynamic modeling; control law design methodology; system block diagram; adaptive wing test article; bench-top experiments; bench-top disturbance rejection: open and closed loop response; bench-top disturbance rejection: state cost versus control cost; wind tunnel experiments; wind tunnel gust alleviation: open and closed loop response at 60 mph; wind tunnel gust alleviation: state cost versus control cost at 60 mph; wind tunnel command following: open and closed loop error at 60 mph; wind tunnel flutter suppression: open loop flutter speed; and wind tunnel flutter suppression: closed loop state cost curves.

Application of Output Predictive Algorithmic Control to a Terrain Following Aircraft System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-03-01

non-linear regime the results from an optimal control solution may be questionable. 15 -**—• - •*- "•—"".’" CHAPTER 3 Output Prpdirl- ivf ...strongly influenced by two other factors as well - the sample time T and the least-squares cost function Q. unlike the deadbeat control law of Ref...design of aircraft control systems since these methods offer tremendous insight into the dynamic behavior of the system at relatively low cost . However

Implementation of a low-cost, commercial orbit determination system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corrigan, Jim

1994-11-01

Traditional satellite and launch control systems have consisted of custom solutions requiring significant development and maintenance costs. These systems have typically been designed to support specific program requirements and are expensive to modify and augment after delivery. The expanding role of space in today's marketplace combined with the increased sophistication and capabilities of modern satellites has created a need for more efficient, lower cost solutions to complete command and control systems. Recent technical advances have resulted in commercial-off-the-shelf products which greatly reduce the complete life-cycle costs associated with satellite launch and control system procurements. System integrators and spacecraft operators have, however, been slow to integrate these commercial based solutions into a comprehensive command and control system. This is due, in part, to a resistance to change and the fact that many available products are unable to effectively communicate with other commercial products. The United States Air Force, responsible for the health and safety of over 84 satellites via its Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN), has embarked on an initiative to prove that commercial products can be used effectively to form a comprehensive command and control system. The initial version of this system is being installed at the Air Force's Center for Research Support (CERES) located at the National Test Facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The first stage of this initiative involved the identification of commercial products capable of satisfying each functional element of a command and control system. A significant requirement in this product selection criteria was flexibility and ability to integrate with other available commercial products. This paper discusses the functions and capabilities of the product selected to provide orbit determination functions for this comprehensive command and control system.

Implementation of a low-cost, commercial orbit determination system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corrigan, Jim

1994-01-01

Traditional satellite and launch control systems have consisted of custom solutions requiring significant development and maintenance costs. These systems have typically been designed to support specific program requirements and are expensive to modify and augment after delivery. The expanding role of space in today's marketplace combined with the increased sophistication and capabilities of modern satellites has created a need for more efficient, lower cost solutions to complete command and control systems. Recent technical advances have resulted in commercial-off-the-shelf products which greatly reduce the complete life-cycle costs associated with satellite launch and control system procurements. System integrators and spacecraft operators have, however, been slow to integrate these commercial based solutions into a comprehensive command and control system. This is due, in part, to a resistance to change and the fact that many available products are unable to effectively communicate with other commercial products. The United States Air Force, responsible for the health and safety of over 84 satellites via its Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN), has embarked on an initiative to prove that commercial products can be used effectively to form a comprehensive command and control system. The initial version of this system is being installed at the Air Force's Center for Research Support (CERES) located at the National Test Facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The first stage of this initiative involved the identification of commercial products capable of satisfying each functional element of a command and control system. A significant requirement in this product selection criteria was flexibility and ability to integrate with other available commercial products. This paper discusses the functions and capabilities of the product selected to provide orbit determination functions for this comprehensive command and control system.

A low-cost inertial smoothing system for landing approach guidance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Niessen, F. R.

1973-01-01

Accurate position and velocity information with low noise content for instrument approaches and landings is required for both control and display applications. In a current VTOL automatic instrument approach and landing research program, radar-derived landing guidance position reference signals, which are noisy, have been mixed with acceleration information derived from low-cost onboard sensors to provide high-quality position and velocity information. An in-flight comparison of signal quality and accuracy has shown good agreement between the low-cost inertial smoothing system and an aided inertial navigation system. Furthermore, the low-cost inertial smoothing system has been proven to be satisfactory in control and display system applications for both automatic and pilot-in-the-loop instrument approaches and landings.

New control design principles based on measured performance and energy analysis of HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning) systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hittle, D. C.; Johnson, D. L.

1985-01-01

This report is one of a series on the development of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control systems that are simple, efficient, reliable, maintainable, and well-documented. This report identifies major problems associated with three currently used HVAC control systems. It also describes the development of a retrofit control system applicable to military buildings that will allow easy identification of component failures, facilitate repair, and minimize system failures. Evaluation of currently used controls showed that pneumatic temperature control equipment requires a very clean source of supply air and is also not very accurate. Pneumatic, rather than electronic, actuators should be used because they are cheaper and require less maintenance. Thermistor temperature detectors should not be used for HVAC applications because they require frequent calibration. It was found that enthalpy economy cycles cannot be used for control because the humidity sensors required for their use are prone to rapid drift, inaccurate, and hard to calibrate in the field. Performance of control systems greatly affects HVAC operating costs. Significant savings can be achieved if proportional-plus-integral control schemes are used. Use of the retrofit prototype control panel developed in this study on variable-air-volume systems should provide significant energy cost savings, improve comfort and reliability, and reduce maintenance costs.

Satellite broadcasting system study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The study to develop a system model and computer program representative of broadcasting satellite systems employing community-type receiving terminals is reported. The program provides a user-oriented tool for evaluating performance/cost tradeoffs, synthesizing minimum cost systems for a given set of system requirements, and performing sensitivity analyses to identify critical parameters and technology. The performance/ costing philosophy and what is meant by a minimum cost system is shown graphically. Topics discussed include: main line control program, ground segment model, space segment model, cost models and launch vehicle selection. Several examples of minimum cost systems resulting from the computer program are presented. A listing of the computer program is also included.

Our Cost Control Program Is Real, and Good PR Too.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, James; And Others

The cost control program of the Beaverton School District (Oregon) is presented in three sections. Reviewing the role of the school board in cost control development, Jean Holt (a board member) outlines the fiscal management system, long-range financial strategies, energy conservation, and utilization of facilities. The programs have resulted in a…

Cost comparisons of raising a child from birth to 17 years among samples of abused, delinquent, violent, and homicidal youth using victimization and justice system estimates.

PubMed

Zagar, Agata Karolina; Zagar, Robert John; Bartikowski, Boris; Busch, Kenneth G

2009-02-01

Data from youth studied by Zagar and colleagues were randomly sampled to create groups of controls and abused, delinquent, violent, and homicidal youth (n=30 in each). Estimated costs of raising a nondelinquent youth from birth to 17 yr. were compared with the average costs incurred by other youth in each group. Estimates of living expenses, direct and indirect costs of victimization, and criminal justice system expenditures were summed. Groups differed significantly on total expenses, victimization costs, and criminal justice expenditures. Mean total costs for a homicidal youth were estimated at $3,935,433, while those for a control youth were $150,754. Abused, delinquent, and violent youth had average total expenses roughly double the total mean costs of controls. Prevention of dropout, alcoholism, addiction, career delinquency, or homicide justifies interception and empirical treatment on a cost-benefit basis, but also based on the severe personal costs to the victims and to the youth themselves.

Investigate Methods of Improving Production Throughput in a Shipyard (The National Shipbuilding Research Program)

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-09-01

New Global Competition” ...10 “New Systems for Process Control and Product Costing ” . . . 11 “Performance Measurement Systems for the Future”, should...Selected Highlights: Page 53-World Class - Definition and applicable discussions. “Its clear that yesterdays cost systems don’t work in todays...Why conventional cost systems fail Indirect, No information about activities, Too late. Plant activities only, Inaccurate product costs , No customer

Event-Triggered Adaptive Dynamic Programming for Continuous-Time Systems With Control Constraints.

PubMed

Dong, Lu; Zhong, Xiangnan; Sun, Changyin; He, Haibo

2016-08-31

In this paper, an event-triggered near optimal control structure is developed for nonlinear continuous-time systems with control constraints. Due to the saturating actuators, a nonquadratic cost function is introduced and the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation for constrained nonlinear continuous-time systems is formulated. In order to solve the HJB equation, an actor-critic framework is presented. The critic network is used to approximate the cost function and the action network is used to estimate the optimal control law. In addition, in the proposed method, the control signal is transmitted in an aperiodic manner to reduce the computational and the transmission cost. Both the networks are only updated at the trigger instants decided by the event-triggered condition. Detailed Lyapunov analysis is provided to guarantee that the closed-loop event-triggered system is ultimately bounded. Three case studies are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Automatic control of electric thermal storage (heat) under real-time pricing. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Daryanian, B.; Tabors, R.D.; Bohn, R.E.

1995-01-01

Real-time pricing (RTP) can be used by electric utilities as a control signal for responsive demand-side management (DSM) programs. Electric thermal storage (ETS) systems in buildings provide the inherent flexibility needed to take advantage of variations in prices. Under RTP, optimal performance for ETS operations is achieved under market conditions where reductions in customers` costs coincide with the lowering of the cost of service for electric utilities. The RTP signal conveys the time-varying actual marginal cost of the electric service to customers. The RTP rate is a combination of various cost components, including marginal generation fuel and maintenance costs, marginalmore » costs of transmission and distribution losses, and marginal quality of supply and transmission costs. This report describes the results of an experiment in automatic control of heat storage systems under RTP during the winter seasons of 1989--90 and 1990--91.« less

Fuel-Burning Technology Alternatives for the Army.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-01-01

control 0.85 2,287,000 Flue gas desulfurization 0.68 3,410,000 Total 12,478,000 *Capital cost estimate...34......... . . Particulate and sulfur dioxide control are needed. A baghouse and flue gas desulfurization (FD) scrubber system must be installed. Each item’s cost in...direct cost) Contingency (20% of 1,253,000 direct and indirect costs) Subtotal 7,518,000 Particulate control 1,342,000 Flue gas desulfurization

Management Control Systems and Interdependencies: An Empirical Study.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-01

Information Systems," Accounting , Organizations and Society (Vol. 3, No. 2 1978) pp. 3-14. Horngren , C.T., Cost Accounting : A Managerial Emphasis (5th ed...following: details of accounts , cost of each account , comparison to previous years, credit sales ratio, delinquent accounts , uncollectable accounts , growth...that managers should be held accountable for aspects of performance, such as costs , over which they have control, does not apply in the case of

A low cost, high performance remotely controlled backhoe/excavator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rizzo, J.

1995-12-31

This paper addresses a state of the art, low cost, remotely controlled backhoe/excavator system for remediation use at hazardous waste sites. The all weather, all terrain, Remote Dig-It is based on a simple, proven construction platform and incorporates state of the art sensors, control, telemetry and other subsystems derived from advanced underwater remotely operated vehicle systems. The system can be towed to a site without the use of a trailer, manually operated by an on board operator or operated via a fiber optic or optional RF communications link by a remotely positioned operator. A proportional control system is piggy backedmore » onto the standard manual control system. The control system improves manual operation, allows rapid manual/remote mode selection and provides fine manual or remote control of all functions. The system incorporates up to 4 separate video links, acoustic obstacle proximity sensors, and stereo audio pickups and an optional differential GPS navigation. Video system options include electronic panning and tilting within a distortion-corrected wide angle field of view. The backhoe/excavator subsystem has a quick disconnect interface feature which allows its use as a manipulator with a wide variety of end effectors and tools. The Remote Dig-It was developed to respond to the need for a low-cost, effective remediation system for use at sites containing hazardous materials. The prototype system was independently evaluated for this purpose by the Army at the Jefferson Proving Ground where it surpassed all performance goals. At the time of this writing, the Remote Dig-It system is currently the only backhoe/excavator which met the Army`s goals for remediation systems for use at hazardous waste sites and it costs a fraction of any known competing offerings.« less

An alternative arrangement of metered dosing fluid using centrifugal pump

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Islam, Md. Arafat; Ehsan, Md.

2017-06-01

Positive displacement dosing pumps are extensively used in various types of process industries. They are widely used for metering small flow rates of a dosing fluid into a main flow. High head and low controllable flow rates make these pumps suitable for industrial flow metering applications. However their pulsating flow is not very suitable for proper mixing of fluids and they are relatively more expensive to buy and maintain. Considering such problems, alternative techniques to control the fluid flow from a low cost centrifugal pump is practiced. These include - throttling, variable speed drive, impeller geometry control and bypass control. Variable speed drive and impeller geometry control are comparatively costly and the flow control by throttling is not an energy efficient process. In this study an arrangement of metered dosing flow was developed using a typical low cost centrifugal pump using bypass flow technique. Using bypass flow control technique a wide range of metered dosing flows under a range of heads were attained using fixed pump geometry and drive speed. The bulk flow returning from the system into the main tank ensures better mixing which may eliminate the need of separate agitators. Comparative performance study was made between the bypass flow control arrangement of centrifugal pump and a diaphragm type dosing pump. Similar heads and flow rates were attainable using the bypass control system compared to the diaphragm dosing pump, but using relatively more energy. Geometrical optimization of the centrifugal pump impeller was further carried out to make the bypass flow arrangement more energy efficient. Although both the systems run at low overall efficiencies but the capital cost could be reduced by about 87% compared to the dosing pump. The savings in capital investment and lower maintenance cost very significantly exceeds the relatively higher energy cost of the bypass system. This technique can be used as a cost effective solution for industries in Bangladesh and have been implemented in two salt iodization plants at Narayangang.

47 CFR 27.1180 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... system with which it interferes is entitled to pro rata reimbursement based on the cost-sharing formula... system, and includes, but is not limited to, such items as: Radio terminal equipment (TX and/or RX...; monitoring or control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC...

Cost-Benefit Arbitration Between Multiple Reinforcement-Learning Systems.

PubMed

Kool, Wouter; Gershman, Samuel J; Cushman, Fiery A

2017-09-01

Human behavior is sometimes determined by habit and other times by goal-directed planning. Modern reinforcement-learning theories formalize this distinction as a competition between a computationally cheap but inaccurate model-free system that gives rise to habits and a computationally expensive but accurate model-based system that implements planning. It is unclear, however, how people choose to allocate control between these systems. Here, we propose that arbitration occurs by comparing each system's task-specific costs and benefits. To investigate this proposal, we conducted two experiments showing that people increase model-based control when it achieves greater accuracy than model-free control, and especially when the rewards of accurate performance are amplified. In contrast, they are insensitive to reward amplification when model-based and model-free control yield equivalent accuracy. This suggests that humans adaptively balance habitual and planned action through on-line cost-benefit analysis.

Design architecture for multi-zone HVAC control systems from existing single-zone systems using wireless sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redfern, Andrew; Koplow, Michael; Wright, Paul

2007-01-01

Most residential heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems utilize a single zone for conditioning air throughout the entire house. While inexpensive, these systems lead to wide temperature distributions and inefficient cooling due to the difference in thermal loads in different rooms. The end result is additional cost to the end user because the house is over conditioned. To reduce the total amount of energy used in a home and to increase occupant comfort there is a need for a better control system using multiple temperature zones. Typical multi-zone systems are costly and require extensive infrastructure to function. Recent advances in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have enabled a low cost drop-in wireless vent register control system. The register control system is controlled by a master controller unit, which collects sensor data from a distributed wireless sensor network. Each sensor node samples local settings (occupancy, light, humidity and temperature) and reports the data back to the master control unit. The master control unit compiles the incoming data and then actuates the vent resisters to control the airflow throughout the house. The control system also utilizes a smart thermostat with a movable set point to enable the user to define their given comfort levels. The new system can reduce the run time of the HVAC system and thus decreasing the amount of energy used and increasing the comfort of the home occupations.

Optimal subhourly electricity resource dispatch under multiple price signals with high renewable generation availability

DOE PAGES

Chassin, David P.; Behboodi, Sahand; Djilali, Ned

2018-01-28

This article proposes a system-wide optimal resource dispatch strategy that enables a shift from a primarily energy cost-based approach, to a strategy using simultaneous price signals for energy, power and ramping behavior. A formal method to compute the optimal sub-hourly power trajectory is derived for a system when the price of energy and ramping are both significant. Optimal control functions are obtained in both time and frequency domains, and a discrete-time solution suitable for periodic feedback control systems is presented. The method is applied to North America Western Interconnection for the planning year 2024, and it is shown that anmore » optimal dispatch strategy that simultaneously considers both the cost of energy and the cost of ramping leads to significant cost savings in systems with high levels of renewable generation: the savings exceed 25% of the total system operating cost for a 50% renewables scenario.« less

Optimal subhourly electricity resource dispatch under multiple price signals with high renewable generation availability

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chassin, David P.; Behboodi, Sahand; Djilali, Ned

This article proposes a system-wide optimal resource dispatch strategy that enables a shift from a primarily energy cost-based approach, to a strategy using simultaneous price signals for energy, power and ramping behavior. A formal method to compute the optimal sub-hourly power trajectory is derived for a system when the price of energy and ramping are both significant. Optimal control functions are obtained in both time and frequency domains, and a discrete-time solution suitable for periodic feedback control systems is presented. The method is applied to North America Western Interconnection for the planning year 2024, and it is shown that anmore » optimal dispatch strategy that simultaneously considers both the cost of energy and the cost of ramping leads to significant cost savings in systems with high levels of renewable generation: the savings exceed 25% of the total system operating cost for a 50% renewables scenario.« less

The effect of health payment reforms on cost containment in Taiwan hospitals: the agency theory perspective.

PubMed

Chang, Li

2011-01-01

This study aims to determine whether the Taiwanese government's implementation of new health care payment reforms (the National Health Insurance with fee-for-service (NHI-FFS) and global budget (NHI-GB)) has resulted in better cost containment. Also, the question arises under the agency theory whether the monitoring system is effective in reducing the risk of information asymmetry. This study uses panel data analysis with fixed effects model to investigate changes in cost containment at Taipei municipal hospitals before and after adopting reforms from 1989 to 2004. The results show that the monitoring system does not reduce information asymmetry to improve cost containment under the NHI-FFS. In addition, after adopting the NHI-GB system, health care costs are controlled based on an improved monitoring system in the policymaker's point of view. This may suggest that the NHI's fee-for-services system actually causes health care resource waste. The GB may solve the problems of controlling health care costs only on the macro side.

Guidance Manual for Integrating Hazardous Material Control and Management into System Acquisition Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-04-01

34 in the remainder of this "• IPS. Ensure that system safety, Section refer to the DoD format paragraph health hazards, and environmental for the...hazardous materials is controlled in the manner which protects human health and the environment at the least cost. Hazardous Material Control and Management...of hazardous materials is controlled in a manner which protects human health and the environment at the least cost. Hazardous Material Control and

Personal Computer Based Controller For Switched Reluctance Motor Drives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mang, X.; Krishnan, R.; Adkar, S.; Chandramouli, G.

1987-10-01

Th9, switched reluctance motor (SRM) has recently gained considerable attention in the variable speed drive market. Two important factors that have contributed to this are, the simplicity of construction and the possibility of developing low cost con-trollers with minimum number of switching devices in the drive circuits. This is mainly due to the state-of-art of the present digital circuits technology and the low cost of switching devices. The control of this motor drive is under research. Optimized performance of the SRM motor drive is very dependent on the integration of the controller, converter and the motor. This research on system integration involves considerable changes in the control algorithms and their implementation. A Personal computer (PC) based controller is very appropriate for this purpose. Accordingly, the present paper is concerned with the design of a PC based controller for a SRM. The PC allows for real-time microprocessor control with the possibility of on-line system parameter modifications. Software reconfiguration of this controller is easier than a hardware based controller. User friendliness is a natural consequence of such a system. Considering the low cost of PCs, this controller will offer an excellent cost-effective means of studying the control strategies for the SRM drive intop greater detail than in the past.

Low-Cost Servomotor Driver for PFM Control

PubMed Central

Aragon-Jurado, David

2017-01-01

Servomotors have already been around for some decades and they are extremely popular among roboticists due to their simple control technique, reliability and low-cost. They are usually controlled by using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and this paper aims to keep the idea of simplicity and low-cost, while introducing a new control technique: Pulse Frequency Modulation (PFM). The objective of this paper is to focus on our development of a low-cost servomotor controller which will allow the research community to use them with PFM. A low-cost commercial servomotor is used as the base system for the development: a small PCB that fits inside the case and allocates all the electronic components to control the motor has been designed to replace the original. The potentiometer is retained as the feedback sensor and a microcontroller is responsible for controlling the position of the motor. The paper compares the performance of a PWM and a PFM controlled servomotor. The comparison shows that the servomotor with our controller achieves a faster mechanism for switching targets and a lower latency. This controller can be used with neuromorphic systems to remove the conversion from events to PWM. PMID:29301221

Low-Cost Servomotor Driver for PFM Control.

PubMed

Aragon-Jurado, David; Morgado-Estevez, Arturo; Perez-Peña, Fernando

2017-12-31

Servomotors have already been around for some decades and they are extremely popular among roboticists due to their simple control technique, reliability and low-cost. They are usually controlled by using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and this paper aims to keep the idea of simplicity and low-cost, while introducing a new control technique: Pulse Frequency Modulation (PFM). The objective of this paper is to focus on our development of a low-cost servomotor controller which will allow the research community to use them with PFM. A low-cost commercial servomotor is used as the base system for the development: a small PCB that fits inside the case and allocates all the electronic components to control the motor has been designed to replace the original. The potentiometer is retained as the feedback sensor and a microcontroller is responsible for controlling the position of the motor. The paper compares the performance of a PWM and a PFM controlled servomotor. The comparison shows that the servomotor with our controller achieves a faster mechanism for switching targets and a lower latency. This controller can be used with neuromorphic systems to remove the conversion from events to PWM.

Management accounting for advanced technological environments.

PubMed

Kaplan, R S

1989-08-25

Management accounting systems designed decades ago no longer provide timely, relevant information for companies in today's highly competitive environment. New operational control and performance measurement systems are recognizing the importance of direct measurement of quality, manufacturing lead times, flexibility, and customer responsiveness, as well as more accurate measures of the actual costs of consumed resources. Activity-based cost systems can assign the costs of indirect and support resources to the specific products and activities that benefit from these resources. Both operational control and activity-based systems represent new opportunities for improved managerial information in complex, technologically advanced environments.

Guaranteed cost control with poles assignment for a flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hongyi; Si, Yulin; Wu, Ligang; Hu, Xiaoxiang; Gao, Huijun

2011-05-01

This article investigates the problem of guaranteed cost control for a flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle (FAHV). The FAHV includes intricate coupling between the engine and flight dynamics as well as complex interplay between flexible and rigid modes, which results in an intractable system for the control design. A longitudinal model is adopted for control design due to the complexity of the vehicle. First, for a highly nonlinear and coupled FAHV, a linearised model is established around the trim condition, which includes the state of altitude, velocity, angle of attack, pitch angle and pitch rate, etc. Secondly, by using the Lyapunov approach, performance analysis is carried out for the resulting closed-loop FAHV system, whose criterion with respect to guaranteed performance cost and poles assignment is expressed in the framework of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The established criterion exhibits a kind of decoupling between the Lyapunov positive-definite matrices to be determined and the FAHV system matrices, which is enabled by the introduction of additional slack matrix variables. Thirdly, a convex optimisation problem with LMI constraints is formulated for designing an admissible controller, which guarantees a prescribed performance cost with the simultaneous consideration of poles assignment for the resulting closed-loop system. Finally, some simulation results are provided to show that the guaranteed cost controller could assign the poles into the desired regional and achieve excellent reference altitude and velocity tracking performance.

Optimal estimation and scheduling in aquifer management using the rapid feedback control method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghorbanidehno, Hojat; Kokkinaki, Amalia; Kitanidis, Peter K.; Darve, Eric

2017-12-01

Management of water resources systems often involves a large number of parameters, as in the case of large, spatially heterogeneous aquifers, and a large number of "noisy" observations, as in the case of pressure observation in wells. Optimizing the operation of such systems requires both searching among many possible solutions and utilizing new information as it becomes available. However, the computational cost of this task increases rapidly with the size of the problem to the extent that textbook optimization methods are practically impossible to apply. In this paper, we present a new computationally efficient technique as a practical alternative for optimally operating large-scale dynamical systems. The proposed method, which we term Rapid Feedback Controller (RFC), provides a practical approach for combined monitoring, parameter estimation, uncertainty quantification, and optimal control for linear and nonlinear systems with a quadratic cost function. For illustration, we consider the case of a weakly nonlinear uncertain dynamical system with a quadratic objective function, specifically a two-dimensional heterogeneous aquifer management problem. To validate our method, we compare our results with the linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) method, which is the basic approach for feedback control. We show that the computational cost of the RFC scales only linearly with the number of unknowns, a great improvement compared to the basic LQG control with a computational cost that scales quadratically. We demonstrate that the RFC method can obtain the optimal control values at a greatly reduced computational cost compared to the conventional LQG algorithm with small and controllable losses in the accuracy of the state and parameter estimation.

Upgrade of Compressed Air Control System Reduces Energy Costs at Michelin Tire Plant. Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) BestPractices Project Case Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

2002-01-01

This case study highlights the upgraded compressed air system at a Michelin tire manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The controls upgrade project enabled multiple compressor operation without blow-off, and significantly reduced energy costs.

Cost-effectiveness of integrated analysis/design systems /IPAD/ An executive summary. II. [for aerospace vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, R. E., Jr.; Hansen, S. D.; Redhed, D. D.; Southall, J. W.; Kawaguchi, A. S.

1974-01-01

Evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of integrated analysis/design systems with particular attention to Integrated Program for Aerospace-Vehicle Design (IPAD) project. An analysis of all the ingredients of IPAD indicates the feasibility of a significant cost and flowtime reduction in the product design process involved. It is also concluded that an IPAD-supported design process will provide a framework for configuration control, whereby the engineering costs for design, analysis and testing can be controlled during the air vehicle development cycle.

47 CFR 27.1164 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

...); installation; systems testing; FCC filing costs; site acquisition and civil works; zoning costs; training... upgrades for interference control; power plant upgrade (if required); electrical grounding systems; Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) (if required); alternate transport equipment; and leased facilities...

Avionics performance analysis: A historical review and a current assessment of flight instrumentation and control systems in civil aviation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

The role of flight instrumentation and control systems in the advancement of civil aviation to the safest form of commercial transportation is discussed. Safety, cost reduction, and increased capabilities provided by recent developments are emphasized. Cost/performance considerations are considered in terms of determining the relative values of comparable systems or the absolute worth of a system.

Costs of dengue prevention and incremental cost of dengue outbreak control in Guantanamo, Cuba.

PubMed

Baly, Alberto; Toledo, Maria E; Rodriguez, Karina; Benitez, Juan R; Rodriguez, Maritza; Boelaert, Marleen; Vanlerberghe, Veerle; Van der Stuyft, Patrick

2012-01-01

To assess the economic cost of routine Aedes aegypti control in an at-risk environment without dengue endemicity and the incremental costs incurred during a sporadic outbreak. The study was conducted in 2006 in the city of Guantanamo, Cuba. We took a societal perspective to calculate costs in months without dengue transmission (January-July) and during an outbreak (August-December). Data sources were bookkeeping records, direct observations and interviews. The total economic cost per inhabitant (p.i.) per month. (p.m.) increased from 2.76 USD in months without dengue transmission to 6.05 USD during an outbreak. In months without transmission, the routine Aedes control programme cost 1.67 USD p.i. p.m. Incremental costs during the outbreak were mainly incurred by the population and the primary/secondary level of the healthcare system, hardly by the vector control programme (1.64, 1.44 and 0.21 UDS increment p.i. p.m., respectively). The total cost for managing a hospitalized suspected dengue case was 296.60 USD (62.0% direct medical, 9.0% direct non-medical and 29.0% indirect costs). In both periods, the main cost drivers for the Aedes control programme, the healthcare system and the community were the value of personnel and volunteer time or productivity losses. Intensive efforts to keep A. aegypti infestation low entail important economic costs for society. When a dengue outbreak does occur eventually, costs increase sharply. In-depth studies should assess which mix of activities and actors could maximize the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of routine Aedes control and dengue prevention. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Government Accounting

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-06-22

Commercial Industry • Financial Standards Accounting Board (GAAP) • Internal Revenue Service - Tax Accounting • DoD - Cost Accounting Standards...internal management control systems, managers shall focus on results, not process” Government Accounting • Intent EVM Accounting Criteria : – Record costs ...consistent with established budgets – Insure control of indirect costs – Insure disciplined accumulation of cost – Insure proper material accounting and

47 CFR 24.243 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...; monitoring or control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC filing costs; site acquisition and civil works; zoning costs; training; disposal of old equipment; test...

Using the pallet costing system to determine costs and stay competitive in the pallet industry

Treesearch

A. Jefferson Jr. Palmer; Bruce G. Hansen; Bruce G. Hansen

2002-01-01

In order to stay competitive and keep production costs at a minimum, wood pallet manufacturers must plan, monitor, and control their various production activities. Cost information on pallet manufacturing operations, must be gathered and analyzed so that the plant manager can determine whether certain activities are efficient and profitable. The Pallet Costing System (...

Active control of panel vibrations induced by boundary-layer flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chow, Pao-Liu

1991-01-01

Some problems in active control of panel vibration excited by a boundary layer flow over a flat plate are studied. In the first phase of the study, the optimal control problem of vibrating elastic panel induced by a fluid dynamical loading was studied. For a simply supported rectangular plate, the vibration control problem can be analyzed by a modal analysis. The control objective is to minimize the total cost functional, which is the sum of a vibrational energy and the control cost. By means of the modal expansion, the dynamical equation for the plate and the cost functional are reduced to a system of ordinary differential equations and the cost functions for the modes. For the linear elastic plate, the modes become uncoupled. The control of each modal amplitude reduces to the so-called linear regulator problem in control theory. Such problems can then be solved by the method of adjoint state. The optimality system of equations was solved numerically by a shooting method. The results are summarized.

Optimization of hybrid power system composed of SMES and flywheel MG for large pulsed load

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niiyama, K.; Yagai, T.; Tsuda, M.; Hamajima, T.

2008-09-01

A superconducting magnetic storage system (SMES) has some advantages such as rapid large power response and high storage efficiency which are superior to other energy storage systems. A flywheel motor generator (FWMG) has large scaled capacity and high reliability, and hence is broadly utilized for a large pulsed load, while it has comparatively low storage efficiency due to high mechanical loss compared with SMES. A fusion power plant such as International Thermo-Nuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) requires a large and long pulsed load which causes a frequency deviation in a utility power system. In order to keep the frequency within an allowable deviation, we propose a hybrid power system for the pulsed load, which equips the SMES and the FWMG with the utility power system. We evaluate installation cost and frequency control performance of three power systems combined with energy storage devices; (i) SMES with the utility power, (ii) FWMG with the utility power, (iii) both SMES and FWMG with the utility power. The first power system has excellent frequency power control performance but its installation cost is high. The second system has inferior frequency control performance but its installation cost is the lowest. The third system has good frequency control performance and its installation cost is attained lower than the first power system by adjusting the ratio between SMES and FWMG.

Optical Disk for Digital Storage and Retrieval Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Denis A.

1983-01-01

Availability of low-cost digital optical disks will revolutionize storage and retrieval systems over next decade. Three major factors will effect this change: availability of disks and controllers at low-cost and in plentiful supply; availability of low-cost and better output means for system users; and more flexible, less expensive communication…

Study of Thermal Control Systems for orbiting power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, H. R.

1981-01-01

Thermal control system designs were evaluated for the 25 kW power system. Factors considered include long operating life, high reliability, and meteoroid hazards to the space radiator. Based on a cost advantage, the bumpered pumped fluid radiator is recommended for the initial 25 kW power system and intermediate versions up to 50 kW. For advanced power systems with heat rejection rates above 50 kW the lower weight of the advanced heat pipe radiator offsets the higher cost and this design is recommended. The power system payloads heat rejection allocations studies show that a centralized heat rejection system is the most weight and cost effective approach. The thermal interface between the power system and the payloads was addressed and a concept for a contact heat exchanger that eliminates fluid transfer between the power system and the payloads was developed. Finally, a preliminary design of the thermal control system, with emphasis on the radiator and radiator deployment mechanism, is presented.

Cost-benefit analysis of craniocerebral surgical site infection control in tertiary hospitals in China.

PubMed

Zhou, Jiong; Ma, Xiaojun

2015-02-19

Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common postoperative complications. This study aimed to determine the cost of SSIs and to evaluate whether SSI control can reduce medical costs under the current medical payment system and wage rates in China. Prospective surveillance of craniocerebral surgery was conducted between July 2009 and June 2012. SSI patients and non-SSI patients were matched with a ratio of 1:2. Terms such as medical costs and length of hospital stay were compared between the two groups. Based on the economic loss of hospital infection, which causes additional expenditures and a reduction in the number of patients treated, the benefits of hospital infection control were estimated. The costs of human resources and materials of hospital infection surveillance and control were also estimated. Finally, the cost-benefit rates in different medical contexts and with different SSI-case ratios were calculated. The incidence of SSIs in this study was 4%. SSIs significantly prolonged hospital stay by 11.75 days (95% CI: 6.24-22.52), increased medical costs by US $3,412.48 (95% CI: $1,680.65-$5,879.89). The direct economic loss was $114,903 in a 40-bed ward. The cost of implementing infection control in such a unit was calculated to be approximately $5,555.47 CONCLUSIONS: Under the current fee-for-service healthcare model in China, the control of SSIs can hardly yield direct economic benefits, but can yield social benefits. With the implementation of a total medical cost pre-payment system, SSI control will present a remarkable benefit-cost ratio for hospitals.

Versatile, low-cost, computer-controlled, sample positioning system for vacuum applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vargas-Aburto, Carlos; Liff, Dale R.

1991-01-01

A versatile, low-cost, easy to implement, microprocessor-based motorized positioning system (MPS) suitable for accurate sample manipulation in a Second Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) system, and for other ultra-high vacuum (UHV) applications was designed and built at NASA LeRC. The system can be operated manually or under computer control. In the latter case, local, as well as remote operation is possible via the IEEE-488 bus. The position of the sample can be controlled in three linear orthogonal and one angular coordinates.

Costs and energy efficiency of a dual-mode system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heft, R. C.

1977-01-01

The life cycle costs of a dual mode system for both public and semiprivate ownership are examined, and the costs in terms of levelized required revenue per passenger mile are presented. The energy use of the dual mode vehicle is analyzed by means of a detailed vehicle simulation program for the control policy and guideway system. Several different propulsion systems are considered.

Adapting Wireless Technology to Lighting Control and Environmental Sensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dana Teasdale; Francis Rubinstein; Dave Watson

The high cost of retrofitting buildings with advanced lighting control systems is a barrier to adoption of this energy-saving technology. Wireless technology, however, offers a solution to mounting installation costs since it requires no additional wiring to implement. To demonstrate the feasibility of such a system, a prototype wirelessly-controlled advanced lighting system was designed and built. The system includes the following components: a wirelessly-controllable analog circuit module (ACM), a wirelessly-controllable electronic dimmable ballast, a T8 3-lamp fixture, an environmental multi-sensor, a current transducer, and control software. The ACM, dimmable ballast, multi-sensor, and current transducer were all integrated with SmartMesh{trademark} wirelessmore » mesh networking nodes, called motes, enabling wireless communication, sensor monitoring, and actuator control. Each mote-enabled device has a reliable communication path to the SmartMesh Manager, a single board computer that controls network functions and connects the wireless network to a PC running lighting control software. The ACM is capable of locally driving one or more standard 0-10 Volt electronic dimmable ballasts through relay control and a 0-10 Volt controllable output. The mote-integrated electronic dimmable ballast is designed to drive a standard 3-lamp T8 light fixture. The environmental multi-sensor measures occupancy, light level and temperature. The current transducer is used to measure the power consumed by the fixture. Control software was developed to implement advanced lighting algorithms, including daylight ramping, occupancy control, and demand response. Engineering prototypes of each component were fabricated and tested in a bench-scale system. Based on standard industry practices, a cost analysis was conducted. It is estimated that the installation cost of a wireless advanced lighting control system for a retrofit application is at least 30% lower than a comparable wired system for a typical 16,000 square-foot office building, with a payback period of less than 3 years.« less

Robust guaranteed cost tracking control of quadrotor UAV with uncertainties.

PubMed

Xu, Zhiwei; Nian, Xiaohong; Wang, Haibo; Chen, Yinsheng

2017-07-01

In this paper, a robust guaranteed cost controller (RGCC) is proposed for quadrotor UAV system with uncertainties to address set-point tracking problem. A sufficient condition of the existence for RGCC is derived by Lyapunov stability theorem. The designed RGCC not only guarantees the whole closed-loop system asymptotically stable but also makes the quadratic performance level built for the closed-loop system have an upper bound irrespective to all admissible parameter uncertainties. Then, an optimal robust guaranteed cost controller is developed to minimize the upper bound of performance level. Simulation results verify the presented control algorithms possess small overshoot and short setting time, with which the quadrotor has ability to perform set-point tracking task well. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

What Does it Really Cost? Allocating Indirect Costs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snyder, Herbert; Davenport, Elisabeth

1997-01-01

Better managerial control in terms of decision making and understanding the costs of a system/service result from allocating indirect costs. Allocation requires a three-step process: selecting cost objectives, pooling related overhead costs, and selecting costs bases to connect the objectives to the pooled costs. Argues that activity-based costing…

Controlling Costs: The 6-3-5 Method - Case Studies at NAVSEA and NATO

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-30

Catalyst Technologies Costing for the Future: Exploring Cost Estimation With Unmanned Autonomous Systems Ricardo Valerdi, Professor, University of... systems was a Hughes Aircraft spinoff company. The ATCSs being developed required the use of touchscreens (a new technology at the time) and had the...www.acquisitionresearch.net). ^Åèìáëáíáçå=oÉëÉ~êÅÜ=mêçÖê~ãW= `êÉ~íáåÖ=póåÉêÖó=Ñçê=fåÑçêãÉÇ=`Ü~åÖÉ= - 282 - Panel 18. Forecasting and Controlling Costs in Weapons Systems

An information system to improve financial management, resource allocation and activity planning: evaluation results.

PubMed

Ruland, C M; Ravn, I H

2001-01-01

An important strategy for improving resource management and cost containment in health care is to develop information systems that assist hospital managers in financial management, resource allocation, and activity planning. A crucial part of such development is a rigorous evaluation to assess whether the system accomplishes it's intended goals. To evaluate CLASSICA, a Decision Support System (DSS), that assists nurse managers in financial management, resource allocation, staffing, and activity planning. Using a pre-post test design with control units, CLASSICA was evaluated in four test units. Baseline data and simultaneous parallel measures were collected prior to system implementation at test sites and control units. Using expense reports, staffing and financial statistics, surveys, interviews with nurse managers, and logs as data sources, CLASSICA was evaluated on: cost reduction, quality of management information; usefulness as decision support for improved financial management and decision-making; user satisfaction; and ease of use. Evaluation results showed a 41% reduction in expenditures for overtime and extra hours as compared to a 1.8% reduction in control units during the same time period. Users reported a significant improvement in management information; nurse managers stated that they had gained control over costs. The system helped them analyze the relationships between patient activity staffing, and cost of care. Users reported high satisfaction with the system, the information and decision support it provided, and its ease of use. These results suggest that CLASSICA is a DSS that successfully assists nurse managers in cost effective management of their units.

Estimating the Life Cycle Cost of Space Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Harry W.

2015-01-01

A space system's Life Cycle Cost (LCC) includes design and development, launch and emplacement, and operations and maintenance. Each of these cost factors is usually estimated separately. NASA uses three different parametric models for the design and development cost of crewed space systems; the commercial PRICE-H space hardware cost model, the NASA-Air Force Cost Model (NAFCOM), and the Advanced Missions Cost Model (AMCM). System mass is an important parameter in all three models. System mass also determines the launch and emplacement cost, which directly depends on the cost per kilogram to launch mass to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The launch and emplacement cost is the cost to launch to LEO the system itself and also the rockets, propellant, and lander needed to emplace it. The ratio of the total launch mass to payload mass depends on the mission scenario and destination. The operations and maintenance costs include any material and spares provided, the ground control crew, and sustaining engineering. The Mission Operations Cost Model (MOCM) estimates these costs as a percentage of the system development cost per year.

Academic Building Systems. A Technique to Maximize Control of Construction Costs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Donald H.

1972-01-01

Academic Building Systems (ABS) is an architectural planning and design method which allows the construction owner to respond to the need for less expensive structures, economically adaptable to the changing conditions of the academic world, by providing the owner with the maximum controls over the variable cost factors in educational facility…

New simple and low-cost methods for periodic checks of Cyclone® Plus Storage Phosphor System.

PubMed

Edalucci, Elisabetta; Maffione, Anna Margherita; Fornasier, Maria Rosa; De Denaro, Mario; Scian, Giovanni; Dore, Franca; Rubello, Domenico

2017-01-01

The recent large use of the Cyclone® Plus Storage Phosphor System, especially in European countries, as imaging system for quantification of radiochemical purity of radiopharmaceuticals raised the problem of setting the periodic controls as required by European Legislation. We described simple, low-cost methods for Cyclone® Plus quality controls, which can be useful to evaluate the performance measurement of this imaging system.

Long life reaction control system design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fanciullo, Thomas J.; Judd, Craig

1993-02-01

Future single stage to orbit systems will utilize oxygen/hydrogen propellants in their main propulsion means due to the propellant's high energy content and environmental acceptability. Operational effectiveness studies and life cycle cost studies have indicated that minimizing the number of different commodities on a given vehicle not only reduces cost, but reduces the ground span times in both the pre- and postflight operations. Therefore, oxygen and hydrogen should be used for the reaction controls systems, eliminating the need to deal with toxic or corrosive fluids. When the hydrogen scramjet powered NASP design development began in 1985, new system design studies considered overall integration of subsystems; in the context of that approach, O2/H2 reaction controls system were more than competitive with storable propellant systems and had the additional benefits of lower life cycle cost, rapid turnaround times, and O2 and H2 commodities for use throughout the vehicle. Similar benefits were derived in rocket-powered SSTO vehicles.

Experimental Determination of Demand Response Control Models and Cost of Control for Ensembles of Window-Mount Air Conditioners

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Geller, Drew Adam; Backhaus, Scott N.

Control of consumer electrical devices for providing electrical grid services is expanding in both the scope and the diversity of loads that are engaged in control, but there are few experimentally-based models of these devices suitable for control designs and for assessing the cost of control. A laboratory-scale test system is developed to experimentally evaluate the use of a simple window-mount air conditioner for electrical grid regulation services. The experimental test bed is a single, isolated air conditioner embedded in a test system that both emulates the thermodynamics of an air conditioned room and also isolates the air conditioner frommore » the real-world external environmental and human variables that perturb the careful measurements required to capture a model that fully characterizes both the control response functions and the cost of control. The control response functions and cost of control are measured using harmonic perturbation of the temperature set point and a test protocol that further isolates the air conditioner from low frequency environmental variability.« less

Demand Response Advanced Controls Framework and Assessment of Enabling Technology Costs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Potter, Jennifer; Cappers, Peter

The Demand Response Advanced Controls Framework and Assessment of Enabling Technology Costs research describe a variety of DR opportunities and the various bulk power system services they can provide. The bulk power system services are mapped to a generalized taxonomy of DR “service types”, which allows us to discuss DR opportunities and bulk power system services in fewer yet broader categories that share similar technological requirements which mainly drive DR enablement costs. The research presents a framework for the costs to automate DR and provides descriptions of the various elements that drive enablement costs. The report introduces the various DRmore » enabling technologies and end-uses, identifies the various services that each can provide to the grid and provides the cost assessment for each enabling technology. In addition to a report, this research includes a Demand Response Advanced Controls Database and User Manual. They are intended to provide users with the data that underlies this research and instructions for how to use that database more effectively and efficiently.« less

Concepts for Distributed Engine Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Culley, Dennis E.; Thomas, Randy; Saus, Joseph

2007-01-01

Gas turbine engines for aero-propulsion systems are found to be highly optimized machines after over 70 years of development. Still, additional performance improvements are sought while reduction in the overall cost is increasingly a driving factor. Control systems play a vitally important part in these metrics but are severely constrained by the operating environment and the consequences of system failure. The considerable challenges facing future engine control system design have been investigated. A preliminary analysis has been conducted of the potential benefits of distributed control architecture when applied to aero-engines. In particular, reductions in size, weight, and cost of the control system are possible. NASA is conducting research to further explore these benefits, with emphasis on the particular benefits enabled by high temperature electronics and an open-systems approach to standardized communications interfaces.

Workstation-Based Simulation for Rapid Prototyping and Piloted Evaluation of Control System Designs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mansur, M. Hossein; Colbourne, Jason D.; Chang, Yu-Kuang; Aiken, Edwin W. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

The development and optimization of flight control systems for modem fixed- and rotary-. wing aircraft consume a significant portion of the overall time and cost of aircraft development. Substantial savings can be achieved if the time required to develop and flight test the control system, and the cost, is reduced. To bring about such reductions, software tools such as Matlab/Simulink are being used to readily implement block diagrams and rapidly evaluate the expected responses of the completed system. Moreover, tools such as CONDUIT (CONtrol Designer's Unified InTerface) have been developed that enable the controls engineers to optimize their control laws and ensure that all the relevant quantitative criteria are satisfied, all within a fully interactive, user friendly, unified software environment.

Controllable Grid Interface Test System | Energy Systems Integration

Science.gov Websites

Facility | NREL Controllable Grid Interface Test System Controllable Grid Interface Test System NREL's controllable grid interface (CGI) test system can reduce certification testing time and costs grid interface is the first test facility in the United States that has fault simulation capabilities

Consumer-choice health plan (first of two parts). Inflation and inequity in health care today: alternatives for cost control and an analysis of proposals for national health insurance.

PubMed

Enthoven, A C

1978-03-23

The financing system for medical costs in this country suffers from severe inflation and inequity. The tax-supported system of fee for service for doctors, third-party intermediaries and cost reimbursement for hospitals produces inflation by rewarding cost-increasing behavior and failing to provide incentives for economy. The system is inequitable because the government pays more on behalf of those who choose more costly systems of care, because tax benefits subsidize the health insurance of the well-to-do, while not helping many low-income people, and because employment health insurance does not guarantee continuity of coverage and is regressive in its financing. Analysis of previous proposals for national health insurance shows none to be capable of solving most of these problems. Direct economic regulation by government will not improve the situation. Cost controls through incentives and regulated competition in the private sector are most likely to be effective.

Space Transportation Systems Life Cycle Cost Assessment and Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, John W.; Rhodes, Russell E.; Zapata, Edgar; Levack, Daniel J. H.; Donahue, Benjaamin B.; Knuth, William

2008-01-01

Civil and military applications of space transportation have been pursued for just over 50 years and there has been, and still is, a need for safe, dependable, affordable, and sustainable space transportation systems. Fully expendable and partially reusable space transportation systems have been developed and put in operation that have not adequately achieved this need. Access to space is technically achievable, but presently very expensive and will remain so until there is a breakthrough in the way we do business. Since 1991 the national Space Propulsion Synergy Team (SPST) has reviewed and assessed the lessons learned from the major U.S. space programs of the past decades focusing on what has been learned from the assessment and control of Life Cycle Cost (LCC) from these systems. This paper presents the results of a selected number of studies and analyses that have been conducted by the SPST addressing the need, as well as the solutions, for improvement in LCC. The major emphasis of the SPST processes is on developing the space transportation system requirements first (up front). These requirements must include both the usual system flight performance requirements and also the system functional requirements, including the infrastructure on Earth's surface, in-space and on the Moon and Mars surfaces to determine LCC. This paper describes the development of specific innovative engineering and management approaches and processes. This includes a focus on flight hardware maturity for reliability, ground operations approaches, and business processes between contractor and government organizations. A major change in program/project cost control is being proposed by the SPST to achieve a sustainable space transportation system LCC - controlling cost as a program metric in addition to the existing practice of controlling performance and weight. Without a firm requirement and methodically structured cost control, it is unlikely that an affordable and sustainable space transportation system LCC will ever be achieved. '

Practical aspects of photovoltaic technology, applications and cost (revised)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenblum, L.

1985-01-01

The purpose of this text is to provide the reader with the background, understanding, and computational tools needed to master the practical aspects of photovoltaic (PV) technology, application, and cost. The focus is on stand-alone, silicon solar cell, flat-plate systems in the range of 1 to 25 kWh/day output. Technology topics covered include operation and performance of each of the major system components (e.g., modules, array, battery, regulators, controls, and instrumentation), safety, installation, operation and maintenance, and electrical loads. Application experience and trends are presented. Indices of electrical service performance - reliability, availability, and voltage control - are discussed, and the known service performance of central station electric grid, diesel-generator, and PV stand-alone systems are compared. PV system sizing methods are reviewed and compared, and a procedure for rapid sizing is described and illustrated by the use of several sample cases. The rapid sizing procedure yields an array and battery size that corresponds to a minimum cost system for a given load requirement, insulation condition, and desired level of service performance. PV system capital cost and levelized energy cost are derived as functions of service performance and insulation. Estimates of future trends in PV system costs are made.

Effects of a mobility monitoring system on the cost of care in relation to reimbursement at Swiss nursing homes: learnings from a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Stark, Mario; Tietz, Rigo; Gattinger, Heidrun; Hantikainen, Virpi; Ott, Stefan

2017-12-01

Nursing homes in Switzerland are under pressure to efficiently coordinate staff activities to cover their personnel costs under the care financing system. In this study, the use of a mobility monitoring system accompanied with case conferences was investigated in order to improve sleep quality and estimate the cost benefit of this intervention. In an open two-phase randomized controlled trial at three nursing homes, residents with cognitive impairment were randomly assigned to an intervention group and a control group. In the intervention group, a 10-week period of intensive use of the monitoring system and case conferences led by an advanced nurse practitioner (Phase I) was followed by 3 months of reduced use of the monitoring system and case conferences led by an internal registered nurse (Phase II). In the control group, the monitoring system was only used for data acquisition. Nurses reported the activities with a specifically developed tool. Based on the recorded activities, the cost of care was calculated. The correlating reimbursement per patient was calculated from the care levels in the Swiss reimbursement system. Data from 44 residents was included in the analysis with a linear mixed model. Although analysis revealed no statistically significant effects, results indicate that the use of a monitoring system can guide nurses in organizing their tasks to increase effectiveness. Information systems such as the mobility monitor can help to identify single outliers that do not correspond with the overall situation. In the health care system, problematic individual cases can account for a disproportionally high cost levels. It was shown that information systems can have a significant economic impact in the long run. The study is registered at the German Clinical Trials Register under the Nr. DRKS00006829 .

Electromechanical actuation for thrust vector control applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, Mary Ellen

1990-01-01

The advanced launch system (ALS), is a launch vehicle that is designed to be cost-effective, highly reliable, and operationally efficient with a goal of reducing the cost per pound to orbit. An electromechanical actuation (EMA) system is being developed as an attractive alternative to the hydraulic systems. The controller will integrate 20 kHz resonant link power management and distribution (PMAD) technology and pulse population modulation (PPM) techniques to implement field-oriented vector control (FOVC) of a new advanced induction motor. The driver and the FOVC will be microprocessor controlled. For increased system reliability, a built-in test (BITE) capability will be included. This involves introducing testability into the design of a system such that testing is calibrated and exercised during the design, manufacturing, maintenance, and prelaunch activities. An actuator will be integrated with the motor controller for performance testing of the EMA thrust vector control (TVC) system. The EMA system and work proposed for the future are discussed.

A technical, economic, and environmental assessment of amine-based CO2 capture technology for power plant greenhouse gas control.

PubMed

Rao, Anand B; Rubin, Edward S

2002-10-15

Capture and sequestration of CO2 from fossil fuel power plants is gaining widespread interest as a potential method of controlling greenhouse gas emissions. Performance and cost models of an amine (MEA)-based CO2 absorption system for postcombustion flue gas applications have been developed and integrated with an existing power plant modeling framework that includes multipollutant control technologies for other regulated emissions. The integrated model has been applied to study the feasibility and cost of carbon capture and sequestration at both new and existing coal-burning power plants. The cost of carbon avoidance was shown to depend strongly on assumptions about the reference plant design, details of the CO2 capture system design, interactions with other pollution control systems, and method of CO2 storage. The CO2 avoidance cost for retrofit systems was found to be generally higher than for new plants, mainly because of the higher energy penalty resulting from less efficient heat integration as well as site-specific difficulties typically encountered in retrofit applications. For all cases, a small reduction in CO2 capture cost was afforded by the SO2 emission trading credits generated by amine-based capture systems. Efforts are underway to model a broader suite of carbon capture and sequestration technologies for more comprehensive assessments in the context of multipollutant environmental management.

Integrated risk/cost planning models for the US Air Traffic system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulvey, J. M.; Zenios, S. A.

1985-01-01

A prototype network planning model for the U.S. Air Traffic control system is described. The model encompasses the dual objectives of managing collision risks and transportation costs where traffic flows can be related to these objectives. The underlying structure is a network graph with nonseparable convex costs; the model is solved efficiently by capitalizing on its intrinsic characteristics. Two specialized algorithms for solving the resulting problems are described: (1) truncated Newton, and (2) simplicial decomposition. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated using data collected from a control center in the Midwest. Computational results with different computer systems are presented, including a vector supercomputer (CRAY-XMP). The risk/cost model has two primary uses: (1) as a strategic planning tool using aggregate flight information, and (2) as an integrated operational system for forecasting congestion and monitoring (controlling) flow throughout the U.S. In the latter case, access to a supercomputer is required due to the model's enormous size.

Optimal control of switching time in switched stochastic systems with multi-switching times and different costs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiaomei; Li, Shengtao; Zhang, Kanjian

2017-08-01

In this paper, we solve an optimal control problem for a class of time-invariant switched stochastic systems with multi-switching times, where the objective is to minimise a cost functional with different costs defined on the states. In particular, we focus on problems in which a pre-specified sequence of active subsystems is given and the switching times are the only control variables. Based on the calculus of variation, we derive the gradient of the cost functional with respect to the switching times on an especially simple form, which can be directly used in gradient descent algorithms to locate the optimal switching instants. Finally, a numerical example is given, highlighting the validity of the proposed methodology.

Real-time control system for adaptive resonator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Flath, L; An, J; Brase, J

2000-07-24

Sustained operation of high average power solid-state lasers currently requires an adaptive resonator to produce the optimal beam quality. We describe the architecture of a real-time adaptive control system for correcting intra-cavity aberrations in a heat capacity laser. Image data collected from a wavefront sensor are processed and used to control phase with a high-spatial-resolution deformable mirror. Our controller takes advantage of recent developments in low-cost, high-performance processor technology. A desktop-based computational engine and object-oriented software architecture replaces the high-cost rack-mount embedded computers of previous systems.

Methanator Fueled Engines for Pollution Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cagliostro, D. E.; Winkler, E. L.

1973-01-01

A methanator fueled Otto-cycle engine is compared with other methods proposed to control pollution due to automobile exhaust emissions. The comparison is made with respect to state of development, emission factors, capital cost, operational and maintenance costs, performance, operational limitations, and impact on the automotive industries. The methanator fueled Otto-cycle engine is projected to meet 1975 emission standards and operate at a lower relative total cost compared to the catalytic muffler system and to have low impact. Additional study is required for system development.

Cost efficient command management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brandt, Theresa; Murphy, C. W.; Kuntz, Jon; Barlett, Tom

1996-01-01

The design and implementation of a command management system (CMS) for a NASA control center, is described. The technology innovations implemented in the CMS provide the infrastructure required for operations cost reduction and future development cost reduction through increased operational efficiency and reuse in future missions. The command management design facilitates error-free operations which enables the automation of the routine control center functions and allows for the distribution of scheduling responsibility to the instrument teams. The reusable system was developed using object oriented methodologies.

Need for Cost Optimization of Space Life Support Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Harry W.; Anderson, Grant

2017-01-01

As the nation plans manned missions that go far beyond Earth orbit to Mars, there is an urgent need for a robust, disciplined systems engineering methodology that can identify an optimized Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) architecture for long duration deep space missions. But unlike the previously used Equivalent System Mass (ESM), the method must be inclusive of all driving parameters and emphasize the economic analysis of life support system design. The key parameter for this analysis is Life Cycle Cost (LCC). LCC takes into account the cost for development and qualification of the system, launch costs, operational costs, maintenance costs and all other relevant and associated costs. Additionally, an effective methodology must consider system technical performance, safety, reliability, maintainability, crew time, and other factors that could affect the overall merit of the life support system.

The control of satellites with microgravity constraints: The COMET Control System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grossman, Walter; Freesland, Douglas

1994-05-01

The COMET attitude determination and control system, using inverse dynamics and a novel torque distribution/momentum management technique, has shown great flexibility, performance, and robustness. Three-axis control with two wheels is an inherent consequence of inverse dynamics control which allows for reduction in spacecraft weight and cost, or alternatively, provides a simple means of failure-redundancy for three-wheel spacecraft. The control system, without modification, has continued to perform well in spite of large changes in spacecraft mass properties and mission orbit altitude that have occurred during development. This flexibility has obviated imposition of early stringent ADACS design constraints and has greatly reduced commonly incurred ADACS modification costs and delay associated with program maturation.

The control of satellites with microgravity constraints: The COMET Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grossman, Walter; Freesland, Douglas

1994-01-01

The COMET attitude determination and control system, using inverse dynamics and a novel torque distribution/momentum management technique, has shown great flexibility, performance, and robustness. Three-axis control with two wheels is an inherent consequence of inverse dynamics control which allows for reduction in spacecraft weight and cost, or alternatively, provides a simple means of failure-redundancy for three-wheel spacecraft. The control system, without modification, has continued to perform well in spite of large changes in spacecraft mass properties and mission orbit altitude that have occurred during development. This flexibility has obviated imposition of early stringent ADACS design constraints and has greatly reduced commonly incurred ADACS modification costs and delay associated with program maturation.

A Low-Cost Computer-Controlled Arduino-Based Educational Laboratory System for Teaching the Fundamentals of Photovoltaic Cells

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zachariadou, K.; Yiasemides, K.; Trougkakos, N.

2012-01-01

We present a low-cost, fully computer-controlled, Arduino-based, educational laboratory (SolarInsight) to be used in undergraduate university courses concerned with electrical engineering and physics. The major goal of the system is to provide students with the necessary instrumentation, software tools and methodology in order to learn fundamental…

48 CFR 252.215-7002 - Cost estimating system requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Department of Defense to rely upon information produced by the system that is needed for management purposes... management systems; and (4) Is subject to applicable financial control systems. Estimating system means the... estimates of costs and other data included in proposals submitted to customers in the expectation of...

Laboratory cost control and financial management software.

PubMed

Mayer, M

1998-02-09

Economical constraints within the health care system advocate the introduction of tighter control of costs in clinical laboratories. Detailed cost information forms the basis for cost control and financial management. Based on the cost information, proper decisions regarding priorities, procedure choices, personnel policies and investments can be made. This presentation outlines some principles of cost analysis, describes common limitations of cost analysis, and exemplifies use of software to achieve optimized cost control. One commercially available cost analysis software, LabCost, is described in some detail. In addition to provision of cost information, LabCost also serves as a general management tool for resource handling, accounting, inventory management and billing. The application of LabCost in the selection process of a new high throughput analyzer for a large clinical chemistry service is taken as an example for decisions that can be assisted by cost evaluation. It is concluded that laboratory management that wisely utilizes cost analysis to support the decision-making process will undoubtedly have a clear advantage over those laboratories that fail to employ cost considerations to guide their actions.

Neural-Network-Based Robust Optimal Tracking Control for MIMO Discrete-Time Systems With Unknown Uncertainty Using Adaptive Critic Design.

PubMed

Liu, Lei; Wang, Zhanshan; Zhang, Huaguang

2018-04-01

This paper is concerned with the robust optimal tracking control strategy for a class of nonlinear multi-input multi-output discrete-time systems with unknown uncertainty via adaptive critic design (ACD) scheme. The main purpose is to establish an adaptive actor-critic control method, so that the cost function in the procedure of dealing with uncertainty is minimum and the closed-loop system is stable. Based on the neural network approximator, an action network is applied to generate the optimal control signal and a critic network is used to approximate the cost function, respectively. In contrast to the previous methods, the main features of this paper are: 1) the ACD scheme is integrated into the controllers to cope with the uncertainty and 2) a novel cost function, which is not in quadric form, is proposed so that the total cost in the design procedure is reduced. It is proved that the optimal control signals and the tracking errors are uniformly ultimately bounded even when the uncertainty exists. Finally, a numerical simulation is developed to show the effectiveness of the present approach.

Health Cost Containment, Wellness, and the 1990s.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stasica, Edward R.

Virtually every employer has it in their power to reduce their employee health care costs by 10-20 percent or more. The solution to the rising health care costs problem is a total health care system. Most cost savings potential will be centered in three areas: control of wasteful and often harmful use of the health care system; provider price…

Unit Testing for Command and Control Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexander, Joshua

2018-01-01

Unit tests were created to evaluate the functionality of a Data Generation and Publication tool for a command and control system. These unit tests are developed to constantly evaluate the tool and ensure it functions properly as the command and control system grows in size and scope. Unit tests are a crucial part of testing any software project and are especially instrumental in the development of a command and control system. They save resources, time and costs associated with testing, and catch issues before they become increasingly difficult and costly. The unit tests produced for the Data Generation and Publication tool to be used in a command and control system assure the users and stakeholders of its functionality and offer assurances which are vital in the launching of spacecraft safely.

Optimal control of nonlinear continuous-time systems in strict-feedback form.

PubMed

Zargarzadeh, Hassan; Dierks, Travis; Jagannathan, Sarangapani

2015-10-01

This paper proposes a novel optimal tracking control scheme for nonlinear continuous-time systems in strict-feedback form with uncertain dynamics. The optimal tracking problem is transformed into an equivalent optimal regulation problem through a feedforward adaptive control input that is generated by modifying the standard backstepping technique. Subsequently, a neural network-based optimal control scheme is introduced to estimate the cost, or value function, over an infinite horizon for the resulting nonlinear continuous-time systems in affine form when the internal dynamics are unknown. The estimated cost function is then used to obtain the optimal feedback control input; therefore, the overall optimal control input for the nonlinear continuous-time system in strict-feedback form includes the feedforward plus the optimal feedback terms. It is shown that the estimated cost function minimizes the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman estimation error in a forward-in-time manner without using any value or policy iterations. Finally, optimal output feedback control is introduced through the design of a suitable observer. Lyapunov theory is utilized to show the overall stability of the proposed schemes without requiring an initial admissible controller. Simulation examples are provided to validate the theoretical results.

Highlights of recent balance of system research and evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, M. G.; Stevens, J. W.

The cost of most photovoltaic (PV) systems is more a function of the balance of system (BOS) components than the collectors. The exception to this rule is the grid-tied system whose cost is related more directly to the collectors, and secondarily to the inverter/controls. In fact, recent procurements throughout the country document that collector costs for roof-mounted, utility-tied systems (Russell, PV Systems Workshop, 7/94) represent 60% to 70% of the system cost. This contrasts with the current market for packaged stand-alone all PV or PV-hybrid systems where collectors represent only 25% to 35% of the total. Not only are the BOS components the cost drivers in the current cost-effective PV system market place, they are also the least reliable components. This paper discusses the impact that BOS issues have on component performance, system performance, and system cost and reliability. We will also look at recent recommended changes in system design based upon performance evaluations of fielded PV systems.

Evaluating the effect of the new incentive system for high-risk pressure ulcer patients on wound healing and cost-effectiveness: a cohort study.

PubMed

Sanada, Hiromi; Nakagami, Gojiro; Mizokami, Yuko; Minami, Yukiko; Yamamoto, Aya; Oe, Makoto; Kaitani, Toshiko; Iizaka, Shinji

2010-03-01

To evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new incentive system for pressure ulcer management, which focused on skilled nurse staffing in terms of rate of healing and medical costs. A prospective cohort study included two types of groups: 39 institutions, which introduced the new incentive system, and 20 non-introduced groups (control). Sixty-seven patients suffering from severe pressure ulcers in the introduced group and 38 patients in the non-introduced group were included. Wound healing and medical costs were monitored weekly for three weeks by their skilled nurses in charge. Healing status and related medical costs. The introduced group showed significantly higher rate of healing compared with the control group at each weekly assessment. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the introduction of the new incentive system was independently associated with the faster healing rate (beta=3.44, P<.001). The budget impact analysis demonstrated that introducing this system could reduce cost of treating severe pressure ulcers by 1.776 billion yen per year. The new incentive system for the management of pressure ulcers, which focused on staffing with skilled nurses can improve healing rate with reduced medical cost. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance and cost improvements in the display control module for DVE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, J.; Lorimer, S.,

2009-05-01

The DCM for the Drivers Vision Enhancer system is the display part of a relatively low cost IR imaging system for land-vehicles. Recent changes to operational needs, associated with asymmetrical warfare have added daytime operations to the uses for this mature system. This paper will discuss cost/performance tradeoffs and provide thoughts for "DVE of the future" in light of these new operational needs for the system.

Policy interactions and underperforming emission trading markets in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Bing; Zhang, Hui; Liu, Beibei; Bi, Jun

2013-07-02

Emission trading is considered to be cost-effective environmental economic instrument for pollution control. However, the ex post analysis of emission trading program found that cost savings have been smaller and the trades fewer than might have been expected at the outset of the program. Besides policy design issues, pre-existing environmental regulations were considered to have a significant impact on the performance of the emission trading market in China. Taking the Jiangsu sulfur dioxide (SO2) market as a case study, this research examined the impact of policy interactions on the performance of the emission trading market. The results showed that cost savings associated with the Jiangsu SO2 emission trading market in the absence of any policy interactions were CNY 549 million or 12.5% of total pollution control costs. However, policy interactions generally had significant impacts on the emission trading system; the lone exception was current pollution levy system. When the model accounted for all four kinds of policy interactions, the total pollution control cost savings from the emission trading market fell to CNY 39.7 million or 1.36% of total pollution control costs. The impact of policy interactions would reduce 92.8% of cost savings brought by emission trading program.

Wireless sensing and vibration control with increased redundancy and robustness design.

PubMed

Li, Peng; Li, Luyu; Song, Gangbing; Yu, Yan

2014-11-01

Control systems with long distance sensor and actuator wiring have the problem of high system cost and increased sensor noise. Wireless sensor network (WSN)-based control systems are an alternative solution involving lower setup and maintenance costs and reduced sensor noise. However, WSN-based control systems also encounter problems such as possible data loss, irregular sampling periods (due to the uncertainty of the wireless channel), and the possibility of sensor breakdown (due to the increased complexity of the overall control system). In this paper, a wireless microcontroller-based control system is designed and implemented to wirelessly perform vibration control. The wireless microcontroller-based system is quite different from regular control systems due to its limited speed and computational power. Hardware, software, and control algorithm design are described in detail to demonstrate this prototype. Model and system state compensation is used in the wireless control system to solve the problems of data loss and sensor breakdown. A positive position feedback controller is used as the control law for the task of active vibration suppression. Both wired and wireless controllers are implemented. The results show that the WSN-based control system can be successfully used to suppress the vibration and produces resilient results in the presence of sensor failure.

Flight control electronics reliability/maintenance study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dade, W. W.; Edwards, R. H.; Katt, G. T.; Mcclellan, K. L.; Shomber, H. A.

1977-01-01

Collection and analysis of data are reported that concern the reliability and maintenance experience of flight control system electronics currently in use on passenger carrying jet aircraft. Two airlines B-747 airplane fleets were analyzed to assess the component reliability, system functional reliability, and achieved availability of the CAT II configuration flight control system. Also assessed were the costs generated by this system in the categories of spare equipment, schedule irregularity, and line and shop maintenance. The results indicate that although there is a marked difference in the geographic location and route pattern between the airlines studied, there is a close similarity in the reliability and the maintenance costs associated with the flight control electronics.

Smart-device environmental control systems: experiences of people with cervical spinal cord injuries.

PubMed

Hooper, Bethany; Verdonck, Michele; Amsters, Delena; Myburg, Michelle; Allan, Emily

2017-09-06

Environmental control systems (ECS) are devices that enable people with severe physical limitations to independently control household appliances. Recent advancements in the area of environmental control technology have led to the development of ECS that can be controlled through mainstream smart-devices. There is limited research on ECS within Australia and no known research addressing smart-device ECS. The current study sought to explore users' experiences with smart-device ECS within Australia. The study followed a single embedded case study method. Participants (n = 5) were existing ECS users with a cervical spinal cord injury. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with participants, reflexive journals and field notes. An inductive approach was used to analyze the data thematically. The experience of using a smart-device ECS presented both opportunities and costs to users. The opportunities included: independent control, choice, peace of mind, connection, effective resource use, and control over smart-phone functions and applications. The associated costs included: financial, time, frustration, and technical limitations. While findings are similar to previous research into traditional ECS this study indicates that smart-device ECS also offered a new opportunity for users to access mainstream smart-device functions and applications. Future research should investigate methods and resources that practitioners could utilize to better support new users of smart-device ECS. Implications for Rehabilitation As with traditional environmental control systems, users of smart environmental control systems report increased independence, choice and control. Smart-device environmental control systems provide users with access to mainstream smart-device functions and applications, which facilitate connection to family and the outside world. The costs to the user of smart-device environmental control systems include monetary and time investment, dealing with technical limitations and resulting frustration. Prescribers and installers must consider ways to mitigate these costs experienced by users.

Concept for a power system controller for large space electrical power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lollar, L. F.; Lanier, J. R., Jr.; Graves, J. R.

1981-01-01

The development of technology for a fail-operatonal power system controller (PSC) utilizing microprocessor technology for managing the distribution and power processor subsystems of a large multi-kW space electrical power system is discussed. The specific functions which must be performed by the PSC, the best microprocessor available to do the job, and the feasibility, cost savings, and applications of a PSC were determined. A limited function breadboard version of a PSC was developed to demonstrate the concept and potential cost savings.

Improving hospital cost accounting with activity-based costing.

PubMed

Chan, Y C

1993-01-01

In this article, activity-based costing, an approach that has proved to be an improvement over the conventional costing system in product costing, is introduced. By combining activity-based costing with standard costing, health care administrators can better plan and control the costs of health services provided while ensuring that the organization's bottom line is healthy.

Public Mistrust of the U.S. Health Care System's Profit Motives: Mixed-Methods Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Richmond, Jennifer; Powell, Wizdom; Maurer, Maureen; Mangrum, Rikki; Gold, Marthe R; Pathak-Sen, Ela; Yang, Manshu; Carman, Kristin L

2017-12-01

Decision makers are increasingly tasked with reducing health care costs, but the public may be mistrustful of these efforts. Public deliberation helps gather input on these types of issues by convening a group of diverse individuals to learn about and discuss values-based dilemmas. To explore public perceptions of health care costs and how they intersect with medical mistrust. This mixed-methods study analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial including four public deliberation groups (n = 96) and a control group (n = 348) comprising English-speaking adults aged 18 years and older. Data were collected in 2012 in four U.S. regions. We used data from four survey items to compare attitude shifts about costs among participants in deliberation groups to participants in the control group. We qualitatively analyzed deliberation transcripts to identify themes related to attitude shifts and to provide context for quantitative results about attitude shifts. Deliberation participants were significantly more likely than control group participants to agree that doctors and patients should consider cost when making treatment decisions (β = 0.59; p < 0.01) and that people should consider the effect on group premiums when making treatment decisions (β = 0.48; p < 0.01). Qualitatively, participants mistrusted the health care system's profit motives (e.g., that systems prioritize making money over patient needs); however, after grappling with patient/doctor autonomy and learning about and examining their own views related to costs during the process of deliberation, they largely concluded that payers have the right to set some boundaries to curb costs. Individuals who are informed about costs may be receptive to boundaries that reduce societal health care costs, despite their mistrust of the health care system's profit motives, especially if decision makers communicate their rationale in a transparent manner. Future work should aim to develop transparent policies and practices that earn public trust.

Direct manipulation of tool-like masters for controlling a master-slave surgical robotic system.

PubMed

Zhang, Linan; Zhou, Ningxin; Wang, Shuxin

2014-12-01

Robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery (MIS) can benefit both patients and surgeons. However, the learning curve for robotically assisted procedures can be long and the total system costs are high. Therefore, there is considerable interest in new methods and lower cost controllers for a surgical robotic system. In this study, a knife-master and a forceps-master, shaped similarly to a surgical knife and forceps, were developed as input devices for control of a master-slave surgical robotic system. In addition, a safety strategy was developed to eliminate the master-slave orientation difference and stabilize the surgical system. Master-slave tracking experiments and a ring-and-bar experiment showed that the safety tracking strategy could ensure that the robot system moved stably without any tremor in the tracking motion. Subjects could manipulate the surgical tool to achieve the master-slave operation with less training compared to a mechanical master. Direct manipulation of the small, light and low-cost surgical tools to control a robotic system is a possible operating mode. Surgeons can operate the robotic system in their own familiar way, without long training. The main potential safety issues can be solved by the proposed safety control strategy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cost-utility and cost-effectiveness studies of telemedicine, electronic, and mobile health systems in the literature: a systematic review.

PubMed

de la Torre-Díez, Isabel; López-Coronado, Miguel; Vaca, Cesar; Aguado, Jesús Saez; de Castro, Carlos

2015-02-01

A systematic review of cost-utility and cost-effectiveness research works of telemedicine, electronic health (e-health), and mobile health (m-health) systems in the literature is presented. Academic databases and systems such as PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore were searched, using different combinations of terms such as "cost-utility" OR "cost utility" AND "telemedicine," "cost-effectiveness" OR "cost effectiveness" AND "mobile health," etc. In the articles searched, there were no limitations in the publication date. The search identified 35 relevant works. Many of the articles were reviews of different studies. Seventy-nine percent concerned the cost-effectiveness of telemedicine systems in different specialties such as teleophthalmology, telecardiology, teledermatology, etc. More articles were found between 2000 and 2013. Cost-utility studies were done only for telemedicine systems. There are few cost-utility and cost-effectiveness studies for e-health and m-health systems in the literature. Some cost-effectiveness studies demonstrate that telemedicine can reduce the costs, but not all. Among the main limitations of the economic evaluations of telemedicine systems are the lack of randomized control trials, small sample sizes, and the absence of quality data and appropriate measures.

Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial: Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness of a System of Longer-Term Stroke Care.

PubMed

Forster, Anne; Young, John; Chapman, Katie; Nixon, Jane; Patel, Anita; Holloway, Ivana; Mellish, Kirste; Anwar, Shamaila; Breen, Rachel; Knapp, Martin; Murray, Jenni; Farrin, Amanda

2015-08-01

We developed a new postdischarge system of care comprising a structured assessment covering longer-term problems experienced by patients with stroke and their carers, linked to evidence-based treatment algorithms and reference guides (the longer-term stroke care system of care) to address the poor longer-term recovery experienced by many patients with stroke. A pragmatic, multicentre, cluster randomized controlled trial of this system of care. Eligible patients referred to community-based Stroke Care Coordinators were randomized to receive the new system of care or usual practice. The primary outcome was improved patient psychological well-being (General Health Questionnaire-12) at 6 months; secondary outcomes included functional outcomes for patients, carer outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. Follow-up was through self-completed postal questionnaires at 6 and 12 months. Thirty-two stroke services were randomized (29 participated); 800 patients (399 control; 401 intervention) and 208 carers (100 control; 108 intervention) were recruited. In intention to treat analysis, the adjusted difference in patient General Health Questionnaire-12 mean scores at 6 months was -0.6 points (95% confidence interval, -1.8 to 0.7; P=0.394) indicating no evidence of statistically significant difference between the groups. Costs of Stroke Care Coordinator inputs, total health and social care costs, and quality-adjusted life year gains at 6 months, 12 months, and over the year were similar between the groups. This robust trial demonstrated no benefit in clinical or cost-effectiveness outcomes associated with the new system of care compared with usual Stroke Care Coordinator practice. URL: http://www.controlled-trials.com. Unique identifier: ISRCTN 67932305. © 2015 Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Economic evaluation of the artificial liver support system MARS in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure

PubMed Central

Hessel, Franz P

2006-01-01

Background Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a life threatening acute decompensation of a pre-existing chronic liver disease. The artificial liver support system MARS is a new emerging therapeutic option possible to be implemented in routine care of these patients. The medical efficacy of MARS has been demonstrated in first clinical studies, but economic aspects have so far not been investigated. Objective of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of MARS. Methods In a clinical cohort trial with a prospective follow-up of 3 years 33 ACLF-patients treated with MARS were compared to 46 controls. Survival, health-related quality of life as well as direct medical costs for in- and outpatient treatment from a health care system perspective were determined. Based on the differences in outcome and indirect costs the cost-effectiveness of MARS expressed as incremental costs per life year gained and incremental costs per QALY gained was estimated. Results The average initial intervention costs for MARS were 14600 EUR per patient treated. Direct medical costs over 3 years follow up were overall 40000 EUR per patient treated with MARS respectively 12700 EUR in controls. The 3 year survival rate after MARS was 52% compared to 17% in controls. Kaplan-Meier analysis of cumulated survival probability showed a highly significant difference in favour of MARS. Incremental costs per life-year gained were 31400 EUR; incremental costs per QALY gained were 47200 EUR. Conclusion The results after 3 years follow-up of the first economic evaluation study of MARS based on empirical patient data are presented. Although high initial treatment costs for MARS occur the significantly better survival seen in this study led to reasonable costs per live year gained. Further randomized controlled trials investigating the medical efficacy and the cost-effectiveness are recommended. PMID:17022815

Twelve-month drug cost savings related to use of an electronic prescribing system with integrated decision support in primary care.

PubMed

McMullin, S Troy; Lonergan, Thomas P; Rynearson, Charles S

2005-05-01

We reported previously the results of a 6-month controlled trial in which the use of a commercially available electronic prescribing system with integrated clinical decision support and evidence-based message capability was associated with significantly lower primary care drug costs. The original study focused on new prescriptions, defined as claims for a medication that the patient had not received in the previous 12 months. The main objectives of this follow-up report were to (a) determine if the 6-month savings on new prescriptions were sustained during 12 months of follow-up, (b) evaluate the impact of the computerized decision support system (CDSS) on all pharmacy claims and per-member-per-month (PMPM) expenditures, and (c) evaluate the prescribing behaviors within 8 high-cost therapeutic categories that were frequently targeted by the electronic messages to prescribers to help verify that the drug cost savings were due to the recommendations in the electronic prescribing system. Two database queries were performed to identify additional pharmacy claims data for all Network Health Plan patients who were cared for by the 38 primary care clinicians (32 physicians, 4 nurse practitioners, and 2 physician assistants) included in our original 6-month study. This follow-up analysis (a) identified all new prescription claims for the 2 groups of clinicians throughout the 12-month follow-up period (June 2002 through May 2003) and (b) assessed all pharmacy claims during the same 12-month period to provide more complete savings estimates and to examine between-group differences in PMPM expenditures. During 12 months of follow-up, clinicians using the electronic prescribing system continued to have lower prescription costs than the controls. Clinicians using the electronic prescribing system had average costs for 26,674 new prescriptions that were dollar 4.12 lower (95% confidence interval, dollar 1.53-dollar 6.71; P=0.003) and PMPM expenditures that were dollar 0.57 lower than expected based on the changes observed for 24,507 new prescriptions written by clinicians in the control group. The average drug cost savings on new prescriptions were dollar 482 per prescriber per month (PPPM), based upon prescription cost and dollar 465 PPPM based upon PMPM analysis. When all pharmacy claims (156,429) were analyzed, the intervention group.s average prescription cost was dollar 2.57 lower and their PMPM expenditures were dollar 1.07 lower than expected based on the changes observed in the control group. The average drug cost savings on all pharmacy claims were dollar 863 PPPM based on average prescription cost and dollar 873 PPPM based on PMPM analysis. The proportion of prescriptions for highcost drugs that were the target of the CDSS messages to prescribers was a relative 17.5% lower among the intervention group (35.8%) compared with the control group (43.4%; P=0.03). An electronic prescribing system with integrated decision support shifted prescribing behavior away from high-cost therapies and significantly lowered prescription drug costs. The savings associated with altered prescribing behavior offset the monthly subscription cost of the system.

Fuzzy Adaptive Decentralized Optimal Control for Strict Feedback Nonlinear Large-Scale Systems.

PubMed

Sun, Kangkang; Sui, Shuai; Tong, Shaocheng

2018-04-01

This paper considers the optimal decentralized fuzzy adaptive control design problem for a class of interconnected large-scale nonlinear systems in strict feedback form and with unknown nonlinear functions. The fuzzy logic systems are introduced to learn the unknown dynamics and cost functions, respectively, and a state estimator is developed. By applying the state estimator and the backstepping recursive design algorithm, a decentralized feedforward controller is established. By using the backstepping decentralized feedforward control scheme, the considered interconnected large-scale nonlinear system in strict feedback form is changed into an equivalent affine large-scale nonlinear system. Subsequently, an optimal decentralized fuzzy adaptive control scheme is constructed. The whole optimal decentralized fuzzy adaptive controller is composed of a decentralized feedforward control and an optimal decentralized control. It is proved that the developed optimal decentralized controller can ensure that all the variables of the control system are uniformly ultimately bounded, and the cost functions are the smallest. Two simulation examples are provided to illustrate the validity of the developed optimal decentralized fuzzy adaptive control scheme.

An arduino based control system for a brackish water desalination plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caraballo, Ginna

Water scarcity for agriculture is one of the most important challenges to improve food security worldwide. In this thesis we study the potential to develop a low-cost controller for a small scale brackish desalination plant that consists of proven water treatment technologies, reverse osmosis, cation exchange, and nanofiltration to treat groundwater into two final products: drinking water and irrigation water. The plant is powered by a combination of wind and solar power systems. The low-cost controller uses Arduino Mega, and Arduino DUE, which consist of ATmega2560 and Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 CPU microcontrollers. These are widely used systems characterized for good performance and low cost. However, Arduino also requires drivers and interfaces to allow the control and monitoring of sensors and actuators. The thesis explains the process, as well as the hardware and software implemented.

Design of a Low-Cost Air Levitation System for Teaching Control Engineering.

PubMed

Chacon, Jesus; Saenz, Jacobo; Torre, Luis de la; Diaz, Jose Manuel; Esquembre, Francisco

2017-10-12

Air levitation is the process by which an object is lifted without mechanical support in a stable position, by providing an upward force that counteracts the gravitational force exerted on the object. This work presents a low-cost lab implementation of an air levitation system, based on open solutions. The rapid dynamics makes it especially suitable for a control remote lab. Due to the system's nature, the design can be optimized and, with some precision trade-off, kept affordable both in cost and construction effort. It was designed to be easily adopted to be used as both a remote lab and as a hands-on lab.

Cascaded Microinverter PV System for Reduced Cost

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bellus, Daniel R.; Ely, Jeffrey A.

2013-04-29

In this project, a team led by Delphi will develop and demonstrate a novel cascaded photovoltaic (PV) inverter architecture using advanced components. This approach will reduce the cost and improve the performance of medium and large-sized PV systems. The overall project objective is to develop, build, and test a modular 11-level cascaded three-phase inverter building block for photovoltaic applications and to develop and analyze the associated commercialization plan. The system will be designed to utilize photovoltaic panels and will supply power to the electric grid at 208 VAC, 60 Hz 3-phase. With the proposed topology, three inverters, each with anmore » embedded controller, will monitor and control each of the cascade sections, reducing costs associated with extra control boards. This report details the final disposition on this project.« less

Integrated Power and Attitude Control Systems for Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oglevie, R. E.; Eisenhaure, D. B.

1985-01-01

Integrated Power and Attitude Control Systems (IPACS) studies performed over a decade ago established the feasibility of simultaneously storing electrical energy in wheels and utilizing the resulting momentum for spacecraft attitude control. It was shown that such a system possessed many advantages over other contemporary energy storage and attitude control systems in many applications. More recent technology advances in composite rotors, magnetic bearings, and power control electronics have triggered new optimism regarding the feasibility and merits of such a system. The paper presents the results of a recent study whose focus was to define an advanced IPACS and to evaluate its merits for the Space Station application. A system and component design concept is developed to establish the system performance capability. A system level trade study, including life-cycle costing, is performed to define the merits of the system relative to two other candidate systems. It is concluded that an advanced IPACS concept is not only feasible, but offers substantial savings in mass, and life-cycle cost.

Minding our Ps and Qs? Financial incentives for efficient hospital behaviour.

PubMed

Donaldson, C; Gerard, K

1991-02-01

In this paper, the empirical evidence addressing the particular issue of how hospitals may be reimbursed is reviewed. Most forthcoming is the indeterminate effect of prospective payment systems using diagnosis-related groups as a means of controlling costs. Such systems, by controlling only the price of hospital care, remain vulnerable to compensatory increase in patient throughput, cost-shifting and patient-shifting despite hospital cost per case being reduced. Health maintenance organisations have been shown to reduce hospital costs, but their effects on patients selection and patient outcome are unclear. Selective contracting in California (similar to the U.K. Government's proposed internal market) has also been shown to reduce costs by affecting both the price and quantity of hospital care. But these effects have occurred only in areas with high concentrations of hospitals. Global and clinical budgeting (which control price times quantity) seem to offer the most potential for cost reduction whilst maintaining patient outcome. By monitoring both cost and outcome within clinical budgets it should be possible to reduce wasteful variations in health care and so establish more efficient hospital practice.

Getting the Mold Out.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odle, R. Duane; Bieghler, Kelley

2001-01-01

Discusses how primary air systems for school climate control can help reduce maintenance costs, possesses a lower initial cost, provides good indoor air quality, and can work for all schools undergoing renovation. Details of one community school's climate control renovation are highlighted. (GR)

A Low-Cost Electronic Solar Energy Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blade, Richard A.; Small, Charles T.

1978-01-01

Describes the design of a low-cost electronic circuit to serve as a differential thermostat, to control the operation of a solar heating system. It uses inexpensive diodes for sensoring temperature, and a mechanical relay for a switch. (GA)

VEHIOT: Design and Evaluation of an IoT Architecture Based on Low-Cost Devices to Be Embedded in Production Vehicles.

PubMed

Redondo, Jonatan Pajares; González, Lisardo Prieto; Guzman, Javier García; Boada, Beatriz L; Díaz, Vicente

2018-02-06

Nowadays, the current vehicles are incorporating control systems in order to improve their stability and handling. These control systems need to know the vehicle dynamics through the variables (lateral acceleration, roll rate, roll angle, sideslip angle, etc.) that are obtained or estimated from sensors. For this goal, it is necessary to mount on vehicles not only low-cost sensors, but also low-cost embedded systems, which allow acquiring data from sensors and executing the developed algorithms to estimate and to control with novel higher speed computing. All these devices have to be integrated in an adequate architecture with enough performance in terms of accuracy, reliability and processing time. In this article, an architecture to carry out the estimation and control of vehicle dynamics has been developed. This architecture was designed considering the basic principles of IoT and integrates low-cost sensors and embedded hardware for orchestrating the experiments. A comparison of two different low-cost systems in terms of accuracy, acquisition time and reliability has been done. Both devices have been compared with the VBOX device from Racelogic, which has been used as the ground truth. The comparison has been made from tests carried out in a real vehicle. The lateral acceleration and roll rate have been analyzed in order to quantify the error of these devices.

VEHIOT: Design and Evaluation of an IoT Architecture Based on Low-Cost Devices to Be Embedded in Production Vehicles

PubMed Central

Díaz, Vicente

2018-01-01

Nowadays, the current vehicles are incorporating control systems in order to improve their stability and handling. These control systems need to know the vehicle dynamics through the variables (lateral acceleration, roll rate, roll angle, sideslip angle, etc.) that are obtained or estimated from sensors. For this goal, it is necessary to mount on vehicles not only low-cost sensors, but also low-cost embedded systems, which allow acquiring data from sensors and executing the developed algorithms to estimate and to control with novel higher speed computing. All these devices have to be integrated in an adequate architecture with enough performance in terms of accuracy, reliability and processing time. In this article, an architecture to carry out the estimation and control of vehicle dynamics has been developed. This architecture was designed considering the basic principles of IoT and integrates low-cost sensors and embedded hardware for orchestrating the experiments. A comparison of two different low-cost systems in terms of accuracy, acquisition time and reliability has been done. Both devices have been compared with the VBOX device from Racelogic, which has been used as the ground truth. The comparison has been made from tests carried out in a real vehicle. The lateral acceleration and roll rate have been analyzed in order to quantify the error of these devices. PMID:29415507

Main control computer security model of closed network systems protection against cyber attacks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seymen, Bilal

2014-06-01

The model that brings the data input/output under control in closed network systems, that maintains the system securely, and that controls the flow of information through the Main Control Computer which also brings the network traffic under control against cyber-attacks. The network, which can be controlled single-handedly thanks to the system designed to enable the network users to make data entry into the system or to extract data from the system securely, intends to minimize the security gaps. Moreover, data input/output record can be kept by means of the user account assigned for each user, and it is also possible to carry out retroactive tracking, if requested. Because the measures that need to be taken for each computer on the network regarding cyber security, do require high cost; it has been intended to provide a cost-effective working environment with this model, only if the Main Control Computer has the updated hardware.

Cost of heat from a seasonal source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reilly, R. W.; Brown, D. R.; Huber, H. D.

Results are reported of an investigation to estimate the cost of aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) from a seasonal heat source. The cost of supplying energy (hot water) from an ATES system is estimated. Three types of loads are investigated: point demands, residential developments, and a multidistrict city. Several technical and economic factors are found to control the economic performance of an ATES system. Costs are found to be prohibitive for systems of small size, long transmission distances, and employing expensive purchased thermal energy. ATES is found to be cost-competitive with oil-fired and electric hot water delivery systems under a broad range of potential situations.

Impact of Balance Of System (BOS) costs on photovoltaic power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hein, G. F.; Cusick, J. P.; Poley, W. A.

1978-01-01

The Department of Energy has developed a program to effect a large reduction in the price of photovoltaic modules, with significant progress already achieved toward the 1986 goal of 50 cents/watt (1975 dollars). Remaining elements of a P/V power system (structure, battery storage, regulation, control, and wiring) are also significant cost items. The costs of these remaining elements are commonly referred to as Balance-of-System (BOS) costs. The BOS costs are less well defined and documented than module costs. The Lewis Research Center (LeRC) in 1976/77 and with two village power experiments that will be installed in 1978. The costs were divided into five categories and analyzed. A regression analysis was performed to determine correlations of BOS Costs per peak watt, with power size for these photovoltaic systems. The statistical relationship may be used for flat-plate, DC systems ranging from 100 to 4,000 peak watts. A survey of suppliers was conducted for comparison with the predicted BOS cost relationship.

STOL ride control feasibility study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, C. K.; Dodson, R. O.

1973-01-01

The feasibility of developing a ride-smoothing control system for a 20-passenger turboprop STOL transport was assessed. Five different ride-control system configurations with varying degrees of complexity, performance, and cost were investigated. Results indicate that a satisfactory ride-control system can be practically implemented on the aircraft with minimum flight performance degradation.

ATAD control goals through the analysis of process variables and evaluation of quality, production and cost.

PubMed

Nájera, S; Gil-Martínez, M; Zambrano, J A

2015-01-01

The aim of this paper is to establish and quantify different operational goals and control strategies in autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD). This technology appears as an alternative to conventional sludge digestion systems. During the batch-mode reaction, high temperatures promote sludge stabilization and pasteurization. The digester temperature is usually the only online, robust, measurable variable. The average temperature can be regulated by manipulating both the air injection and the sludge retention time. An improved performance of diverse biochemical variables can be achieved through proper manipulation of these inputs. However, a better quality of treated sludge usually implies major operating costs or a lower production rate. Thus, quality, production and cost indices are defined to quantify the outcomes of the treatment. Based on these, tradeoff control strategies are proposed and illustrated through some examples. This paper's results are relevant to guide plant operators, to design automatic control systems and to compare or evaluate the control performance on ATAD systems.

Cost-effectiveness of a complex workplace dietary intervention: an economic evaluation of the Food Choice at Work study

PubMed Central

Fitzgerald, Sarah; Murphy, Aileen; Kirby, Ann; Geaney, Fiona; Perry, Ivan J

2018-01-01

Objective To evaluate the costs, benefits and cost-effectiveness of complex workplace dietary interventions, involving nutrition education and system-level dietary modification, from the perspective of healthcare providers and employers. Design Single-study economic evaluation of a cluster-controlled trial (Food Choice at Work (FCW) study) with 1-year follow-up. Setting Four multinational manufacturing workplaces in Cork, Ireland. Participants 517 randomly selected employees (18–65 years) from four workplaces. Interventions Cost data were obtained from the FCW study. Nutrition education included individual nutrition consultations, nutrition information (traffic light menu labelling, posters, leaflets and emails) and presentations. System-level dietary modification included menu modification (restriction of fat, sugar and salt), increase in fibre, fruit discounts, strategic positioning of healthier alternatives and portion size control. The combined intervention included nutrition education and system-level dietary modification. No intervention was implemented in the control. Outcomes The primary outcome was an improvement in health-related quality of life, measured using the EuroQoL 5 Dimensions 5 Levels questionnaire. The secondary outcome measure was reduction in absenteeism, which is measured in monetary amounts. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis (Monte Carlo simulation) assessed parameter uncertainty. Results The system-level intervention dominated the education and combined interventions. When compared with the control, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (€101.37/quality-adjusted life-year) is less than the nationally accepted ceiling ratio, so the system-level intervention can be considered cost-effective. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curve indicates there is some decision uncertainty surrounding this, arising from uncertainty surrounding the differences in effectiveness. These results are reiterated when the secondary outcome measure is considered in a cost–benefit analysis, whereby the system-level intervention yields the highest net benefit (€56.56 per employee). Conclusions System-level dietary modification alone offers the most value per improving employee health-related quality of life and generating net benefit for employers by reducing absenteeism. While system-level dietary modification strategies are potentially sustainable obesity prevention interventions, future research should include long-term outcomes to determine if improvements in outcomes persist. Trial registration number ISRCTN35108237; Post-results. PMID:29502090

Marginal abatement cost curves for NOx that account for ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) traces out the relationship between the quantity of pollution abated and the marginal cost of abating each additional unit. In the context of air quality management, MACCs typically are developed by sorting end-of-pipe controls by their respective cost effectiveness. Alternative measures, such as renewable electricity, energy efficiency, and fuel switching (RE/EE/FS), are not considered as it is difficult to quantify their abatement potential. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of an energy system model to develop a MACC for nitrogen oxides (NOx) that incorporates both end-of-pipe controls and these alternative measures. We decompose the MACC by sector, and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of RE/EE/FS relative to end-of-pipe controls. RE/EE/FS are shown to produce considerable emission reductions after end-of-pipe controls have been exhausted. Furthermore, some RE/EE/FS are shown to be cost-competitive with end-of-pipe controls. Demonstrate how the MARKAL energy system model can be used to evaluate the potential role of renewable electricity, energy efficiency and fuel switching (RE/EE/FS) in achieving NOx reductions. For this particular analysis, we show that RE/EE/FSs are able to increase the quantity of NOx reductions available for a particular marginal cost (ranging from $5k per ton to $40k per ton) by approximately 50%.

Solar power satellite system definition study, phase 2. Volume 2: Reference system description

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

System descriptions and cost estimates for the reference system of the solar power satellite program are presented. The reference system is divided into five principal elements: the solar power satellites; space construction and support; space and ground transportation; ground receiving stations; and operations control. The program scenario and non-recurring costs are briefly described.

Gain optimization with non-linear controls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slater, G. L.; Kandadai, R. D.

1984-01-01

An algorithm has been developed for the analysis and design of controls for non-linear systems. The technical approach is to use statistical linearization to model the non-linear dynamics of a system by a quasi-Gaussian model. A covariance analysis is performed to determine the behavior of the dynamical system and a quadratic cost function. Expressions for the cost function and its derivatives are determined so that numerical optimization techniques can be applied to determine optimal feedback laws. The primary application for this paper is centered about the design of controls for nominally linear systems but where the controls are saturated or limited by fixed constraints. The analysis is general, however, and numerical computation requires only that the specific non-linearity be considered in the analysis.

76 FR 28855 - Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement; Business Systems-Definition and Administration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-18

... business systems and internal controls are the first line of defense against waste, fraud, and abuse. Weak control systems increase the risk of unallowable and unreasonable costs on Government contracts. To...'s accounting system rather than the adequacy of the contractor's control environment and overall...

Impact of air pollution control costs on the cost and spatial arrangement of cellulosic biofuel production in the U.S.

PubMed

Murphy, Colin W; Parker, Nathan C

2014-02-18

Air pollution emissions regulation can affect the location, size, and technology choice of potential biofuel production facilities. Difficulty in obtaining air pollutant emission permits and the cost of air pollution control devices have been cited by some fuel producers as barriers to development. This paper expands on the Geospatial Bioenergy Systems Model (GBSM) to evaluate the effect of air pollution control costs on the availability, cost, and distribution of U.S. biofuel production by subjecting potential facility locations within U.S. Clean Air Act nonattainment areas, which exceed thresholds for healthy air quality, to additional costs. This paper compares three scenarios: one with air quality costs included, one without air quality costs, and one in which conversion facilities were prohibited in Clean Air Act nonattainment areas. While air quality regulation may substantially affect local decisions regarding siting or technology choices, their effect on the system as a whole is small. Most biofuel facilities are expected to be sited near to feedstock supplies, which are seldom in nonattainment areas. The average cost per unit of produced energy is less than 1% higher in the scenarios with air quality compliance costs than in scenarios without such costs. When facility construction is prohibited in nonattainment areas, the costs increase by slightly over 1%, due to increases in the distance feedstock is transported to facilities in attainment areas.

Re-Engineering of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to Reduce Operational Costs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garvis, Michael; Dougherty, Andrew; Whittier, Wallace

1996-01-01

Satellite telemetry processing onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is carried out using dedicated software and hardware. The current ground system is expensive to operate and maintain. The mandate to reduce satellite ground system operations and maintenance costs by the year 2000 led NASA to upgrade the command and control systems in order to improve the data processing capabilities, reduce operator experience levels and increase system standardization. As a result, a command and control system product development team was formed to redesign and develop the HST ground system. The command and control system ground system development consists of six elements. The results of the prototyping phase carried out for the following of these elements are presented: the front end processor; middleware, and the graphical user interface.

Optimal Control of a Brownian Storage System

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-09-01

subject to the constraint that W(t) = X(t) + Y(t) - Z(t) > 0 for all t > 0 (almost surely). It is the hypothesized structure of costs and rewards that...or a bank account ) whose content evolves as the Brownian Motion X in the absence of any control In particular, X(O.) represents the initial content...however then the controller is obliged to inject material into the system so as to keep the net content positive, and he incurs a cost of k > I

Comparative Study Between Wind and Photovoltaic (PV) Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taha, Wesam

This paper reviews two renewable energy systems; wind and photovoltaic (PV) systems. The common debate between the two of them is to conclude which one is better, in terms of cost and efficiency. Therefore, comparative study, in terms of cost and efficiency, is attempted. Regarding total cost of both, wind and PV systems, many parameters must be taken into consideration such as availability of energy (either wind or solar), operation and maintenance, availability of costumers, political influence, and the components used in building the system. The main components and parameters that play major role in determining the overall efficiency of wind systems are the wind turbine generator (WTG), gearbox and control technologies such as power, and speed control. On the other hand, in grid-connected PV systems (GCPVS), converter architecture along with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm and inverter topologies are the issues that affects the efficiency significantly. Cost and efficiency analyses of both systems have been carried out based on the statistics available till today and would be useful in the progress of renewable energy penetration throughout the world.

Space shuttle main engine definition (phase B). Volume 2: Avionics. [for space shuttle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1971-01-01

The advent of the space shuttle engine with its requirements for high specific impulse, long life, and low cost have dictated a combustion cycle and a closed loop control system to allow the engine components to run close to operating limits. These performance requirements, combined with the necessity for low operational costs, have placed new demands on rocket engine control, system checkout, and diagnosis technology. Based on considerations of precision environment, and compatibility with vehicle interface commands, an electronic control, makes available many functions that logically provide the information required for engine system checkout and diagnosis.

Telescience Resource Kit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, Michelle; Lippincott, Jeff; Chubb, Steve; Whitaker, Jimmy; Rice, Jim; Gillis, Robert; Sims, Chris; Sellers, Donna; Bailey, Darrell (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a PC based ground control system. It can be used by a single individual or in a group environment to monitor and control spacecraft systems and payloads. Capabilities include data receipt, data processing, data storage, data management, and data transmission. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware and software have been employed to reduce development costs, operations and maintenance costs, and to effectively take advantage of new commercial products as they become available. The TReK system is currently being used to monitor and control payloads aboard the International Space Station. It is located at sites around the world.

Concept for a Differential Lock and Traction Control Model in Automobiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shukul, A. K.; Hansra, S. K.

2014-01-01

The automobile is a complex integration of electronics and mechanical components. One of the major components is the differential which is limited due to its shortcomings. The paper proposes a concept of a cost effective differential lock and traction for passenger cars to sports utility vehicles alike, employing a parallel braking mechanism coming into action based on the relative speeds of the wheels driven by the differential. The paper highlights the employment of minimum number of components unlike the already existing systems. The system was designed numerically for the traction control and differential lock for the world's cheapest car. The paper manages to come up with all the system parameters and component costing making it a cost effective system.

Cost-Effective Control Systems for Colleges and Universities: A New Paradigm.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hubbell, Loren Loomis; Dougherty, Jennifer Dowling

This report addresses the issue of maintaining adequate controls within a streamlined or restructured financial affairs environment at an institution of higher education. It presents a new paradigm for control structures designed to more effectively meet administrators' needs--both in terms of cost and risk management. The first section: (1)…

Optimal control of vancomycin-resistant enterococci using preventive care and treatment of infections.

PubMed

Lowden, Jonathan; Miller Neilan, Rachael; Yahdi, Mohammed

2014-03-01

The rising prevalence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) is a major health problem in intensive care units (ICU) because of its association with increased mortality and high health care costs. We present a mathematical framework for determining cost-effective strategies for prevention and treatment of VRE in the ICU. A system of five ordinary differential equations describes the movement of ICU patients in and out of five VRE-related states. Two control variables representing the prevention and treatment of VRE are incorporated into the system. The basic reproductive number is derived and calculated for different levels of the two controls. An optimal control problem is formulated to minimize VRE-related deaths and costs associated with prevention and treatment controls over a finite time period. Numerical solutions illustrate optimal single and dual allocations of the controls for various cost values. Results show that preventive care has the greatest impact in reducing the basic reproductive number, while treatment of VRE infections has the most impact on reducing VRE-related deaths. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voltage control in Z-source inverter using low cost microcontroller for undergraduate approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zulkifli, Shamsul Aizam; Sewang, Mohd Rizal; Salimin, Suriana; Shah, Noor Mazliza Badrul

2017-09-01

This paper is focussing on controlling the output voltage of Z-Source Inverter (ZSI) using a low cost microcontroller with MATLAB-Simulink that has been used for interfacing the voltage control at the output of ZSI. The key advantage of this system is the ability of a low cost microcontroller to process the voltage control blocks based on the mathematical equations created in MATLAB-Simulink. The Proportional Integral (PI) control equations are been applied and then, been downloaded to the microcontroller for observing the changes on the voltage output regarding to the changes on the reference on the PI. The system has been simulated in MATLAB and been verified with the hardware setup. As the results, the Raspberry Pi and Arduino that have been used in this work are able to respond well when there is a change of ZSI output. It proofed that, by applying/introducing this method to student in undergraduate level, it will help the student to understand more on the process of the power converter combine with a control feedback function that can be applied at low cost microcontroller.

Clinical process analysis and activity-based costing at a heart center.

PubMed

Ridderstolpe, Lisa; Johansson, Andreas; Skau, Tommy; Rutberg, Hans; Ahlfeldt, Hans

2002-08-01

Cost studies, productivity, efficiency, and quality of care measures, the links between resources and patient outcomes, are fundamental issues for hospital management today. This paper describes the implementation of a model for process analysis and activity-based costing (ABC)/management at a Heart Center in Sweden as a tool for administrative cost information, strategic decision-making, quality improvement, and cost reduction. A commercial software package (QPR) containing two interrelated parts, "ProcessGuide and CostControl," was used. All processes at the Heart Center were mapped and graphically outlined. Processes and activities such as health care procedures, research, and education were identified together with their causal relationship to costs and products/services. The construction of the ABC model in CostControl was time-consuming. However, after the ABC/management system was created, it opened the way for new possibilities including process and activity analysis, simulation, and price calculations. Cost analysis showed large variations in the cost obtained for individual patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. We conclude that a process-based costing system is applicable and has the potential to be useful in hospital management.

Complete low-cost implementation of a teleoperated control system for a humanoid robot.

PubMed

Cela, Andrés; Yebes, J Javier; Arroyo, Roberto; Bergasa, Luis M; Barea, Rafael; López, Elena

2013-01-24

Humanoid robotics is a field of a great research interest nowadays. This work implements a low-cost teleoperated system to control a humanoid robot, as a first step for further development and study of human motion and walking. A human suit is built, consisting of 8 sensors, 6 resistive linear potentiometers on the lower extremities and 2 digital accelerometers for the arms. The goal is to replicate the suit movements in a small humanoid robot. The data from the sensors is wirelessly transmitted via two ZigBee RF configurable modules installed on each device: the robot and the suit. Replicating the suit movements requires a robot stability control module to prevent falling down while executing different actions involving knees flexion. This is carried out via a feedback control system with an accelerometer placed on the robot's back. The measurement from this sensor is filtered using Kalman. In addition, a two input fuzzy algorithm controlling five servo motors regulates the robot balance. The humanoid robot is controlled by a medium capacity processor and a low computational cost is achieved for executing the different algorithms. Both hardware and software of the system are based on open platforms. The successful experiments carried out validate the implementation of the proposed teleoperated system.

Complete Low-Cost Implementation of a Teleoperated Control System for a Humanoid Robot

PubMed Central

Cela, Andrés; Yebes, J. Javier; Arroyo, Roberto; Bergasa, Luis M.; Barea, Rafael; López, Elena

2013-01-01

Humanoid robotics is a field of a great research interest nowadays. This work implements a low-cost teleoperated system to control a humanoid robot, as a first step for further development and study of human motion and walking. A human suit is built, consisting of 8 sensors, 6 resistive linear potentiometers on the lower extremities and 2 digital accelerometers for the arms. The goal is to replicate the suit movements in a small humanoid robot. The data from the sensors is wirelessly transmitted via two ZigBee RF configurable modules installed on each device: the robot and the suit. Replicating the suit movements requires a robot stability control module to prevent falling down while executing different actions involving knees flexion. This is carried out via a feedback control system with an accelerometer placed on the robot's back. The measurement from this sensor is filtered using Kalman. In addition, a two input fuzzy algorithm controlling five servo motors regulates the robot balance. The humanoid robot is controlled by a medium capacity processor and a low computational cost is achieved for executing the different algorithms. Both hardware and software of the system are based on open platforms. The successful experiments carried out validate the implementation of the proposed teleoperated system. PMID:23348029

Cost-Utility and Cost-Effectiveness Studies of Telemedicine, Electronic, and Mobile Health Systems in the Literature: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

López-Coronado, Miguel; Vaca, Cesar; Aguado, Jesús Saez; de Castro, Carlos

2015-01-01

Abstract Objective: A systematic review of cost-utility and cost-effectiveness research works of telemedicine, electronic health (e-health), and mobile health (m-health) systems in the literature is presented. Materials and Methods: Academic databases and systems such as PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore were searched, using different combinations of terms such as “cost-utility” OR “cost utility” AND “telemedicine,” “cost-effectiveness” OR “cost effectiveness” AND “mobile health,” etc. In the articles searched, there were no limitations in the publication date. Results: The search identified 35 relevant works. Many of the articles were reviews of different studies. Seventy-nine percent concerned the cost-effectiveness of telemedicine systems in different specialties such as teleophthalmology, telecardiology, teledermatology, etc. More articles were found between 2000 and 2013. Cost-utility studies were done only for telemedicine systems. Conclusions: There are few cost-utility and cost-effectiveness studies for e-health and m-health systems in the literature. Some cost-effectiveness studies demonstrate that telemedicine can reduce the costs, but not all. Among the main limitations of the economic evaluations of telemedicine systems are the lack of randomized control trials, small sample sizes, and the absence of quality data and appropriate measures. PMID:25474190

Welding technology transfer task/laser based weld joint tracking system for compressor girth welds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Looney, Alan

1991-01-01

Sensors to control and monitor welding operations are currently being developed at Marshall Space Flight Center. The laser based weld bead profiler/torch rotation sensor was modified to provide a weld joint tracking system for compressor girth welds. The tracking system features a precision laser based vision sensor, automated two-axis machine motion, and an industrial PC controller. The system benefits are elimination of weld repairs caused by joint tracking errors which reduces manufacturing costs and increases production output, simplification of tooling, and free costly manufacturing floor space.

Evaluation of Seismic Performance and Effectiveness of Multiple Slim-Type Damper System for Seismic Response Control of Building Structures

PubMed Central

Kim, David; Sung, Eun Hee; Park, Kwan-Soon; Park, Jaegyun

2014-01-01

This paper presents the evaluation of seismic performance and cost-effectiveness of a multiple slim-type damper system developed for the vibration control of earthquake excited buildings. The multiple slim-type damper (MSD) that consists of several small slim-type dampers and linkage units can control damping capacity easily by changing the number of small dampers. To evaluate the performance of the MSD, dynamic loading tests are performed with three slim-type dampers manufactured at a real scale. Numerical simulations are also carried out by nonlinear time history analysis with a ten-story earthquake excited building structure. The seismic performance and cost-effectiveness of the MSD system are investigated according to the various installation configurations of the MSD system. From the results of numerical simulation and cost-effectiveness evaluation, it is shown that combinations of the MSD systems can effectively improve the seismic performance of earthquake excited building structures. PMID:25301387

Control of solar energy systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sizov, Iu. M.; Zakhidov, R. A.; Baranov, V. G.

Two approaches to the control of large solar energy systems, i.e., programmed control and control systems relying on the use of orientation transducers and feedback, are briefly reviewed, with particular attention given to problems associated with these control systems. A new control system for large solar power plants is then proposed which is based on a combination of these approaches. The general design of the control system is shown and its principle of operation described. The efficiency and cost effectiveness of the approach proposed here are demonstrated.

Impact of Uncertainty from Load-Based Reserves and Renewables on Dispatch Costs and Emissions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Bowen; Maroukis, Spencer D.; Lin, Yashen

2016-11-21

Aggregations of controllable loads are considered to be a fast-responding, cost-efficient, and environmental-friendly candidate for power system ancillary services. Unlike conventional service providers, the potential capacity from the aggregation is highly affected by factors like ambient conditions and load usage patterns. Previous work modeled aggregations of controllable loads (such as air conditioners) as thermal batteries, which are capable of providing reserves but with uncertain capacity. A stochastic optimal power flow problem was formulated to manage this uncertainty, as well as uncertainty in renewable generation. In this paper, we explore how the types and levels of uncertainty, generation reserve costs, andmore » controllable load capacity affect the dispatch solution, operational costs, and CO2 emissions. We also compare the results of two methods for solving the stochastic optimization problem, namely the probabilistically robust method and analytical reformulation assuming Gaussian distributions. Case studies are conducted on a modified IEEE 9-bus system with renewables, controllable loads, and congestion. We find that different types and levels of uncertainty have significant impacts on dispatch and emissions. More controllable loads and less conservative solution methodologies lead to lower costs and emissions.« less

Controlling air pollution from passenger ferries: cost-effectiveness of seven technological options.

PubMed

Farrell, Alexander E; Corbett, James J; Winebrake, James J

2002-12-01

Continued interest in improving air quality in the United States along with renewed interest in the expansion of urban passenger ferry service has created concern about air pollution from ferry vessels. This paper presents a methodology for estimating the air pollution emissions from passenger ferries and the costs of emissions control strategies. The methodology is used to estimate the emissions and costs of retrofitting or re-powering ferries with seven technological options (combinations of propulsion and emission control systems) onto three vessels currently in service in San Francisco Bay. The technologies include improved engine design, cleaner fuels (including natural gas), and exhaust gas cleanup devices. The three vessels span a range of ages and technologies, from a 25-year-old monohull to a modern, high-speed catamaran built only four years ago. By looking at a range of technologies, vessel designs, and service conditions, a sense of the broader implications of controlling emissions from passenger ferries across a range of vessels and service profiles is provided. Tier 2-certified engines are the most cost-effective choice, but all options are cost-effective relative to other emission control strategies already in place in the transportation system.

Cost-effectiveness of a complex workplace dietary intervention: an economic evaluation of the Food Choice at Work study.

PubMed

Fitzgerald, Sarah; Murphy, Aileen; Kirby, Ann; Geaney, Fiona; Perry, Ivan J

2018-03-03

To evaluate the costs, benefits and cost-effectiveness of complex workplace dietary interventions, involving nutrition education and system-level dietary modification, from the perspective of healthcare providers and employers. Single-study economic evaluation of a cluster-controlled trial (Food Choice at Work (FCW) study) with 1-year follow-up. Four multinational manufacturing workplaces in Cork, Ireland. 517 randomly selected employees (18-65 years) from four workplaces. Cost data were obtained from the FCW study. Nutrition education included individual nutrition consultations, nutrition information (traffic light menu labelling, posters, leaflets and emails) and presentations. System-level dietary modification included menu modification (restriction of fat, sugar and salt), increase in fibre, fruit discounts, strategic positioning of healthier alternatives and portion size control. The combined intervention included nutrition education and system-level dietary modification. No intervention was implemented in the control. The primary outcome was an improvement in health-related quality of life, measured using the EuroQoL 5 Dimensions 5 Levels questionnaire. The secondary outcome measure was reduction in absenteeism, which is measured in monetary amounts. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis (Monte Carlo simulation) assessed parameter uncertainty. The system-level intervention dominated the education and combined interventions. When compared with the control, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (€101.37/quality-adjusted life-year) is less than the nationally accepted ceiling ratio, so the system-level intervention can be considered cost-effective. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curve indicates there is some decision uncertainty surrounding this, arising from uncertainty surrounding the differences in effectiveness. These results are reiterated when the secondary outcome measure is considered in a cost-benefit analysis, whereby the system-level intervention yields the highest net benefit (€56.56 per employee). System-level dietary modification alone offers the most value per improving employee health-related quality of life and generating net benefit for employers by reducing absenteeism. While system-level dietary modification strategies are potentially sustainable obesity prevention interventions, future research should include long-term outcomes to determine if improvements in outcomes persist. ISRCTN35108237; Post-results. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Probabilistic performance-based design for high performance control systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Micheli, Laura; Cao, Liang; Gong, Yongqiang; Cancelli, Alessandro; Laflamme, Simon; Alipour, Alice

2017-04-01

High performance control systems (HPCS) are advanced damping systems capable of high damping performance over a wide frequency bandwidth, ideal for mitigation of multi-hazards. They include active, semi-active, and hybrid damping systems. However, HPCS are more expensive than typical passive mitigation systems, rely on power and hardware (e.g., sensors, actuators) to operate, and require maintenance. In this paper, a life cycle cost analysis (LCA) approach is proposed to estimate the economic benefit these systems over the entire life of the structure. The novelty resides in the life cycle cost analysis in the performance based design (PBD) tailored to multi-level wind hazards. This yields a probabilistic performance-based design approach for HPCS. Numerical simulations are conducted on a building located in Boston, MA. LCA are conducted for passive control systems and HPCS, and the concept of controller robustness is demonstrated. Results highlight the promise of the proposed performance-based design procedure.

Advanced Wavefront Control Techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Olivier, S S; Brase, J M; Avicola, K

2001-02-21

Programs at LLNL that involve large laser systems--ranging from the National Ignition Facility to new tactical laser weapons--depend on the maintenance of laser beam quality through precise control of the optical wavefront. This can be accomplished using adaptive optics, which compensate for time-varying aberrations that are often caused by heating in a high-power laser system. Over the past two decades, LLNL has developed a broad capability in adaptive optics technology for both laser beam control and high-resolution imaging. This adaptive optics capability has been based on thin deformable glass mirrors with individual ceramic actuators bonded to the back. In themore » case of high-power lasers, these adaptive optics systems have successfully improved beam quality. However, as we continue to extend our applications requirements, the existing technology base for wavefront control cannot satisfy them. To address this issue, this project studied improved modeling tools to increase our detailed understanding of the performance of these systems, and evaluated novel approaches to low-order wavefront control that offer the possibility of reduced cost and complexity. We also investigated improved beam control technology for high-resolution wavefront control. Many high-power laser systems suffer from high-spatial-frequency aberrations that require control of hundreds or thousands of phase points to provide adequate correction. However, the cost and size of current deformable mirrors can become prohibitive for applications requiring more than a few tens of phase control points. New phase control technologies are becoming available which offer control of many phase points with small low-cost devices. The goal of this project was to expand our wavefront control capabilities with improved modeling tools, new devices that reduce system cost and complexity, and extensions to high spatial and temporal frequencies using new adaptive optics technologies. In FY 99, the second year of this project, work was performed in four areas (1) advanced modeling tools for deformable mirrors (2) low-order wavefront correctors with Alvarez lenses, (3) a direct phase measuring heterdyne wavefront sensor, and (4) high-spatial-frequency wavefront control using spatial light modulators.« less

A Micromechanical INS/GPS System for Small Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barbour, N.; Brand, T.; Haley, R.; Socha, M.; Stoll, J.; Ward, P.; Weinberg, M.

1995-01-01

The cost and complexity of large satellite space missions continue to escalate. To reduce costs, more attention is being directed toward small lightweight satellites where future demand is expected to grow dramatically. Specifically, micromechanical inertial systems and microstrip global positioning system (GPS) antennas incorporating flip-chip bonding, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) and MCM technologies will be required. Traditional microsatellite pointing systems do not employ active control. Many systems allow the satellite to point coarsely using gravity gradient, then attempt to maintain the image on the focal plane with fast-steering mirrors. Draper's approach is to actively control the line of sight pointing by utilizing on-board attitude determination with micromechanical inertial sensors and reaction wheel control actuators. Draper has developed commercial and tactical-grade micromechanical inertial sensors, The small size, low weight, and low cost of these gyroscopes and accelerometers enable systems previously impractical because of size and cost. Evolving micromechanical inertial sensors can be applied to closed-loop, active control of small satellites for micro-radian precision-pointing missions. An inertial reference feedback control loop can be used to determine attitude and line of sight jitter to provide error information to the controller for correction. At low frequencies, the error signal is provided by GPS. At higher frequencies, feedback is provided by the micromechanical gyros. This blending of sensors provides wide-band sensing from dc to operational frequencies. First order simulation has shown that the performance of existing micromechanical gyros, with integrated GPS, is feasible for a pointing mission of 10 micro-radians of jitter stability and approximately 1 milli-radian absolute error, for a satellite with 1 meter antenna separation. Improved performance micromechanical sensors currently under development will be suitable for a range of micro-nano-satellite applications.

Analog VLSI system for active drag reduction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gupta, B.; Goodman, R.; Jiang, F.

1996-10-01

In today`s cost-conscious air transportation industry, fuel costs are a substantial economic concern. Drag reduction is an important way to reduce costs. Even a 5% reduction in drag translates into estimated savings of millions of dollars in fuel costs. Drawing inspiration from the structure of shark skin, the authors are building a system to reduce drag along a surface. Our analog VLSI system interfaces with microfabricated, constant-temperature shear stress sensors. It detects regions of high shear stress and outputs a control signal to activate a microactuator. We are in the process of verifying the actual drag reduction by controlling microactuatorsmore » in wind tunnel experiments. We are encouraged that an approach similar to one that biology employs provides a very useful contribution to the problem of drag reduction. 9 refs., 21 figs.« less

Evaluation of a Tool for Producing and Presenting Interactive Videodisc Job Aids

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-03-01

and MacroMind Director, which lacks some authoring capablities (Macromedia Inc, approximate cost of Sinclude systems in Macintosh format such as...HyperCair (Claris Corp., approximate cost of $199) or SuperCmd (Aldus Corp., approximate cost of $299) and systems in Windows format such as Guide 3.1...scripting language to be used with a wide variety of hardware components. The ELVIS hypermedia system uses manufaturers ’ external commands to control

Administration: Cost Control, Hiring Practices, Cooperation, Disaster Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nation's Schools and Colleges, 1974

1974-01-01

Notes on various topics, such as how the Virginia Higher Education system can cut costs; the University of South Carolina's personnel recruitment system; a cooperative program between a college and a hospital; and preparations for tornadoes at an Indiana college. (JF)

INTEGRATED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL SYSTEM, VERSION 4.0 - VOLUME 1: USER'S GUIDE

EPA Science Inventory

The Integrated Air Pollution Control System (IAPCS) was developed for the U.S. EPA's Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory to estimate costs and performance for emission control systems applied to coal-fired utility boilers. The model can project a material balance, and ...

A Value Based Justification Process for Aerospace RDT and E Capability Investments

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

end of MS C by funding the five-year, $350 million T&E infrastructure investment proposed in the DoD plan. This expansion of the cost - benefit “control...expansion of the cost - benefit “control volume” to include projected system development savings, as described in Ref. [3], proved successful in justifying...Fig. 1 The Expanded Cost - Benefit Analysis Control Volume. It is also worth noting that this process has the greatest potential for success when the

Evaluation of active control technology for short haul aircraft. [cost effectiveness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Renshaw, J. H.; Bennett, J. A.; Harris, O. C.; Honrath, J. F.; Patterson, R. W.

1975-01-01

An evaluation of the economics of short-haul aircraft designed with active controls technology and low wing-loading to achieve short field performance with good ride quality is presented. Results indicate that for such a system incorporating gust load alleviation and augmented stability the direct operating cost is better than for aircraft without active controls.

Cyber-Physical Attacks With Control Objectives

DOE PAGES

Chen, Yuan; Kar, Soummya; Moura, Jose M. F.

2017-08-18

This study studies attackers with control objectives against cyber-physical systems (CPSs). The goal of the attacker is to counteract the CPS's controller and move the system to a target state while evading detection. We formulate a cost function that reflects the attacker's goals, and, using dynamic programming, we show that the optimal attack strategy reduces to a linear feedback of the attacker's state estimate. By changing the parameters of the cost function, we show how an attacker can design optimal attacks to balance the control objective and the detection avoidance objective. In conclusion, we provide a numerical illustration based onmore » a remotely controlled helicopter under attack.« less

Cyber-Physical Attacks With Control Objectives

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Yuan; Kar, Soummya; Moura, Jose M. F.

This study studies attackers with control objectives against cyber-physical systems (CPSs). The goal of the attacker is to counteract the CPS's controller and move the system to a target state while evading detection. We formulate a cost function that reflects the attacker's goals, and, using dynamic programming, we show that the optimal attack strategy reduces to a linear feedback of the attacker's state estimate. By changing the parameters of the cost function, we show how an attacker can design optimal attacks to balance the control objective and the detection avoidance objective. In conclusion, we provide a numerical illustration based onmore » a remotely controlled helicopter under attack.« less

Can managed care plans control health care costs?

PubMed

Zwanziger, J; Melnick, G A

1996-01-01

The health insurance sector has been transformed in the past fifteen years, with managed care replacing indemnity insurance as the norm. This transformation was intended to change the nature of competition in the health care system so that market forces could be used to control costs. Empirical studies have shown that this objective has been met, as areas with high managed care penetration have tended to have much lower rates of increase in their costs. Creating a more efficient health care system will require additional efforts to produce useful measures of quality and to maintain competitive markets.

Computer-Controlled HVAC -- at Low Cost

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American School and University, 1974

1974-01-01

By tying into a computerized building-automation network, Schaumburg High School, Illinois, slashed its energy consumption by one-third. The remotely connected computer controls the mechanical system for the high school as well as other buildings in the community, with the cost being shared by all. (Author)

47 CFR 27.1180 - The cost-sharing formula.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...); towers and/or modifications; back-up power equipment; monitoring or control equipment; engineering costs (design/path survey); installation; systems testing; FCC filing costs; site acquisition and civil works... as equipment and engineering expenses. There is no cap on the actual costs of relocation. (c) An AWS...

Cost/Benefit considerations for recent saltcedar control, Middle Pecos River, New Mexico.

PubMed

Barz, Dave; Watson, Richard P; Kanney, Joseph F; Roberts, Jesse D; Groeneveld, David P

2009-02-01

Major benefits were weighed against major costs associated with recent saltcedar control efforts along the Middle Pecos River, New Mexico. The area of study was restricted to both sides of the channel and excluded tributaries along the 370 km between Sumner and Brantley dams. Direct costs (helicopter spraying, dead tree removal, and revegetation) within the study area were estimated to be $2.2 million but possibly rising to $6.4 million with the adoption of an aggressive revegetation program. Indirect costs associated with increased potential for erosion and reservoir sedimentation would raise the costs due to increased evaporation from more extensive shallows in the Pecos River as it enters Brantley Reservoir. Actions such as dredging are unlikely given the conservative amount of sediment calculated (about 1% of the reservoir pool). The potential for water salvage was identified as the only tangible benefit likely to be realized under the current control strategy. Estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) using Landsat TM data allowed estimation of potential water salvage as the difference in ET before and after treatment, an amount totaling 7.41 million m(3) (6010 acre-ft) per year. Previous saltcedar control efforts of roughly the same magnitude found that salvaged ET recharged groundwater and no additional flows were realized within the river. Thus, the value of this recharge is probably less than the lowest value quoted for actual in-channel flow, and estimated to be <$63,000 per year. Though couched in terms of costs and benefits, this paper is focused on what can be considered the key trade-off under a complete eradication strategy: water salvage vs. erosion and sedimentation. It differs from previous efforts by focusing on evaluating the impacts of actual control efforts within a specific system. Total costs (direct plus potential indirect) far outweighed benefits in this simple comparison and are expected to be ongoing. Problems induced by saltcedar control may permanently reduce reservoir capacity and increase reservoir evaporation rates, which could further deplete supplies on this water short system. These potential negative consequences highlight that such costs and benefits need to be considered before initiating extensive saltcedar control programs on river systems of the western United States.

A reliable low cost integrated wireless sensor network for water quality monitoring and level control system in UAE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abou-Elnour, Ali; Khaleeq, Hyder; Abou-Elnour, Ahmad

2016-04-01

In the present work, wireless sensor network and real-time controlling and monitoring system are integrated for efficient water quality monitoring for environmental and domestic applications. The proposed system has three main components (i) the sensor circuits, (ii) the wireless communication system, and (iii) the monitoring and controlling unit. LabView software has been used in the implementation of the monitoring and controlling system. On the other hand, ZigBee and myRIO wireless modules have been used to implement the wireless system. The water quality parameters are accurately measured by the present computer based monitoring system and the measurement results are instantaneously transmitted and published with minimum infrastructure costs and maximum flexibility in term of distance or location. The mobility and durability of the proposed system are further enhanced by fully powering via a photovoltaic system. The reliability and effectiveness of the system are evaluated under realistic operating conditions.

Total systems design analysis of high performance structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verderaime, V.

1993-01-01

Designer-control parameters were identified at interdiscipline interfaces to optimize structural systems performance and downstream development and operations with reliability and least life-cycle cost. Interface tasks and iterations are tracked through a matrix of performance disciplines integration versus manufacturing, verification, and operations interactions for a total system design analysis. Performance integration tasks include shapes, sizes, environments, and materials. Integrity integrating tasks are reliability and recurring structural costs. Significant interface designer control parameters were noted as shapes, dimensions, probability range factors, and cost. Structural failure concept is presented, and first-order reliability and deterministic methods, benefits, and limitations are discussed. A deterministic reliability technique combining benefits of both is proposed for static structures which is also timely and economically verifiable. Though launch vehicle environments were primarily considered, the system design process is applicable to any surface system using its own unique filed environments.

The Architecture and Application of RAMSES, a CCSDS and ECSS PUS Compliant Test and Control System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battelino, Milan; Svard, Christian; Carlsson, Anna; Carlstedt-Duke, Theresa; Tornqvist, Marcus

2010-08-01

SSC, Swedish Space Corporation, has more than 30 years of experience in developing test and control systems for sounding rockets, experimental test modules and satellites. The increasing amount of ongoing projects made SSC to consider developing a test and control system conformant to CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) and ECSS (European Cooperation for Space Standardization), that with small effort and cost, could be reused between separate projects and products. The foreseen reduction in cost and development time for different future space-related projects made such a reusable control system desirable. This paper will describe the ideas behind the RAMSES (Rocket and Multi-Satellite EMCS Software) system, its architecture and how it has been and is being used in a variety of applications at SSC such as the multi-satellite mission PRISMA and sounding rocket project MAXUS-8.

A Case Study on the Application of a Structured Experimental Method for Optimal Parameter Design of a Complex Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Torres-Pomales, Wilfredo

2015-01-01

This report documents a case study on the application of Reliability Engineering techniques to achieve an optimal balance between performance and robustness by tuning the functional parameters of a complex non-linear control system. For complex systems with intricate and non-linear patterns of interaction between system components, analytical derivation of a mathematical model of system performance and robustness in terms of functional parameters may not be feasible or cost-effective. The demonstrated approach is simple, structured, effective, repeatable, and cost and time efficient. This general approach is suitable for a wide range of systems.

An Adaptable Power System with Software Control Algorithm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Castell, Karen; Bay, Mike; Hernandez-Pellerano, Amri; Ha, Kong

1998-01-01

A low cost, flexible and modular spacecraft power system design was developed in response to a call for an architecture that could accommodate multiple missions in the small to medium load range. Three upcoming satellites will use this design, with one launch date in 1999 and two in the year 2000. The design consists of modular hardware that can be scaled up or down, without additional cost, to suit missions in the 200 to 600 Watt orbital average load range. The design will be applied to satellite orbits that are circular, polar elliptical and a libration point orbit. Mission unique adaptations are accomplished in software and firmware. In designing this advanced, adaptable power system, the major goals were reduction in weight volume and cost. This power system design represents reductions in weight of 78 percent, volume of 86 percent and cost of 65 percent from previous comparable systems. The efforts to miniaturize the electronics without sacrificing performance has created streamlined power electronics with control functions residing in the system microprocessor. The power system design can handle any battery size up to 50 Amp-hour and any battery technology. The three current implementations will use both nickel cadmium and nickel hydrogen batteries ranging in size from 21 to 50 Amp-hours. Multiple batteries can be used by adding another battery module. Any solar cell technology can be used and various array layouts can be incorporated with no change in Power System Electronics (PSE) hardware. Other features of the design are the standardized interfaces between cards and subsystems and immunity to radiation effects up to 30 krad Total Ionizing Dose (TID) and 35 Mev/cm(exp 2)-kg for Single Event Effects (SEE). The control algorithm for the power system resides in a radiation-hardened microprocessor. A table driven software design allows for flexibility in mission specific requirements. By storing critical power system constants in memory, modifying the system code for other programs is simple. These constants can be altered also by ground command, or in response to an anomolous event. All critical power system functions have backup hardware functions to prevent a software or computer glitch from propagating. A number of battery charge control schemes can be implemented by selecting the proper control terms in the code. The architecture allows the design engineer to tune the system response to various system components and anticipated load profiles without costly alterations. A design trade was made with the size, weight and power dissipation of the electronics versus the performance of the power bus to load variations. Linear, fine control is maintained with a streamlined electronics design. This paper describes the hardware design as well as the software control algorithm. The challenges of closing the system control loop digitally is discussed. Control loop margin and power system performance is presented. Lab measurements are shown and compared to the system response of a hardware model running actual flight software.

Cost-Effective Mobile-Based Healthcare System for Managing Total Joint Arthroplasty Follow-Up.

PubMed

Bitsaki, Marina; Koutras, George; Heep, Hansjoerg; Koutras, Christos

2017-01-01

Long-term follow-up care after total joint arthroplasty is essential to evaluate hip and knee arthroplasty outcomes, to provide information to physicians and improve arthroplasty performance, and to improve patients' health condition. In this paper, we aim to improve the communication between arthroplasty patients and physicians and to reduce the cost of follow-up controls based on mobile application technologies and cloud computing. We propose a mobile-based healthcare system that provides cost-effective follow-up controls for primary arthroplasty patients through questions about symptoms in the replaced joint, questionnaires (WOMAC and SF-36v2) and the radiological examination of knee or hip joint. We also perform a cost analysis for a set of 423 patients that were treated in the University Clinic for Orthopedics in Essen-Werden. The estimation of healthcare costs shows significant cost savings (a reduction of 63.67% for readmission rate 5%) in both the University Clinic for Orthopedics in Essen-Werden and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia when the mobile-based healthcare system is applied. We propose a mHealth system to reduce the cost of follow-up assessments of arthroplasty patients through evaluation of diagnosis, self-monitoring, and regular review of their health status.

A Process Management System for Networked Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Tingting; Wang, Huifen; Liu, Linyan

With the development of computer, communication and network, networked manufacturing has become one of the main manufacturing paradigms in the 21st century. Under the networked manufacturing environment, there exist a large number of cooperative tasks susceptible to alterations, conflicts caused by resources and problems of cost and quality. This increases the complexity of administration. Process management is a technology used to design, enact, control, and analyze networked manufacturing processes. It supports efficient execution, effective management, conflict resolution, cost containment and quality control. In this paper we propose an integrated process management system for networked manufacturing. Requirements of process management are analyzed and architecture of the system is presented. And a process model considering process cost and quality is developed. Finally a case study is provided to explain how the system runs efficiently.

Neural network-based optimal adaptive output feedback control of a helicopter UAV.

PubMed

Nodland, David; Zargarzadeh, Hassan; Jagannathan, Sarangapani

2013-07-01

Helicopter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used for both military and civilian operations. Because the helicopter UAVs are underactuated nonlinear mechanical systems, high-performance controller design for them presents a challenge. This paper introduces an optimal controller design via an output feedback for trajectory tracking of a helicopter UAV, using a neural network (NN). The output-feedback control system utilizes the backstepping methodology, employing kinematic and dynamic controllers and an NN observer. The online approximator-based dynamic controller learns the infinite-horizon Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation in continuous time and calculates the corresponding optimal control input by minimizing a cost function, forward-in-time, without using the value and policy iterations. Optimal tracking is accomplished by using a single NN utilized for the cost function approximation. The overall closed-loop system stability is demonstrated using Lyapunov analysis. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control design for trajectory tracking.

Revisiting control establishments for emerging energy hubs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasirian, Vahidreza

Emerging small-scale energy systems, i.e., microgrids and smartgrids, rely on centralized controllers for voltage regulation, load sharing, and economic dispatch. However, the central controller is a single-point-of-failure in such a design as either the controller or attached communication links failure can render the entire system inoperable. This work seeks for alternative distributed control structures to improve system reliability and help to the scalability of the system. A cooperative distributed controller is proposed that uses a noise-resilient voltage estimator and handles global voltage regulation and load sharing across a DC microgrid. Distributed adaptive droop control is also investigated as an alternative solution. A droop-free distributed control is offered to handle voltage/frequency regulation and load sharing in AC systems. This solution does not require frequency measurement and, thus, features a fast frequency regulation. Distributed economic dispatch is also studied, where a distributed protocol is designed that controls generation units to merge their incremental costs into a consensus and, thus, push the entire system to generate with the minimum cost. Experimental verifications and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulations are used to study efficacy of the proposed control protocols.

Expert system decision support for low-cost launch vehicle operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szatkowski, G. P.; Levin, Barry E.

1991-01-01

Progress in assessing the feasibility, benefits, and risks associated with AI expert systems applied to low cost expendable launch vehicle systems is described. Part one identified potential application areas in vehicle operations and on-board functions, assessed measures of cost benefit, and identified key technologies to aid in the implementation of decision support systems in this environment. Part two of the program began the development of prototypes to demonstrate real-time vehicle checkout with controller and diagnostic/analysis intelligent systems and to gather true measures of cost savings vs. conventional software, verification and validation requirements, and maintainability improvement. The main objective of the expert advanced development projects was to provide a robust intelligent system for control/analysis that must be performed within a specified real-time window in order to meet the demands of the given application. The efforts to develop the two prototypes are described. Prime emphasis was on a controller expert system to show real-time performance in a cryogenic propellant loading application and safety validation implementation of this system experimentally, using commercial-off-the-shelf software tools and object oriented programming techniques. This smart ground support equipment prototype is based in C with imbedded expert system rules written in the CLIPS protocol. The relational database, ORACLE, provides non-real-time data support. The second demonstration develops the vehicle/ground intelligent automation concept, from phase one, to show cooperation between multiple expert systems. This automated test conductor (ATC) prototype utilizes a knowledge-bus approach for intelligent information processing by use of virtual sensors and blackboards to solve complex problems. It incorporates distributed processing of real-time data and object-oriented techniques for command, configuration control, and auto-code generation.

Removing Barriers for Effective Deployment of Intermittent Renewable Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arabali, Amirsaman

The stochastic nature of intermittent renewable resources is the main barrier to effective integration of renewable generation. This problem can be studied from feeder-scale and grid-scale perspectives. Two new stochastic methods are proposed to meet the feeder-scale controllable load with a hybrid renewable generation (including wind and PV) and energy storage system. For the first method, an optimization problem is developed whose objective function is the cost of the hybrid system including the cost of renewable generation and storage subject to constraints on energy storage and shifted load. A smart-grid strategy is developed to shift the load and match the renewable energy generation and controllable load. Minimizing the cost function guarantees minimum PV and wind generation installation, as well as storage capacity selection for supplying the controllable load. A confidence coefficient is allocated to each stochastic constraint which shows to what degree the constraint is satisfied. In the second method, a stochastic framework is developed for optimal sizing and reliability analysis of a hybrid power system including renewable resources (PV and wind) and energy storage system. The hybrid power system is optimally sized to satisfy the controllable load with a specified reliability level. A load-shifting strategy is added to provide more flexibility for the system and decrease the installation cost. Load shifting strategies and their potential impacts on the hybrid system reliability/cost analysis are evaluated trough different scenarios. Using a compromise-solution method, the best compromise between the reliability and cost will be realized for the hybrid system. For the second problem, a grid-scale stochastic framework is developed to examine the storage application and its optimal placement for the social cost and transmission congestion relief of wind integration. Storage systems are optimally placed and adequately sized to minimize the sum of operation and congestion costs over a scheduling period. A technical assessment framework is developed to enhance the efficiency of wind integration and evaluate the economics of storage technologies and conventional gas-fired alternatives. The proposed method is used to carry out a cost-benefit analysis for the IEEE 24-bus system and determine the most economical technology. In order to mitigate the financial and technical concerns of renewable energy integration into the power system, a stochastic framework is proposed for transmission grid reinforcement studies in a power system with wind generation. A multi-stage multi-objective transmission network expansion planning (TNEP) methodology is developed which considers the investment cost, absorption of private investment and reliability of the system as the objective functions. A Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA II) optimization approach is used in combination with a probabilistic optimal power flow (POPF) to determine the Pareto optimal solutions considering the power system uncertainties. Using a compromise-solution method, the best final plan is then realized based on the decision maker preferences. The proposed methodology is applied to the IEEE 24-bus Reliability Tests System (RTS) to evaluate the feasibility and practicality of the developed planning strategy.

INTEGRATED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL SYSTEM VERSION 5.0 - VOLUME 2: TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION

EPA Science Inventory

The three volume report and two diskettes document the Integrated Air Pollution Control System (IAPCS), developed for the U.S. EPA to estimate costs and performance for emission control systems applied to coal-fired utility boilers. The model can project a material balance, an eq...

INTEGRATED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL SYSTEM VERSION 5.0 - VOLUME 3: PROGRAMMER'S MAINTENANCE MANUAL

EPA Science Inventory

The three volume report and two diskettes document the Integrated Air Pollution Control System (IAPCS), developed for the U.S. EPA to estimate costs and performance for emission control systems applied to coal-fired utility boilers. The model can project a material balance, an eq...

INTEGRATED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL SYSTEM VERSION 5.0 - VOLUME 1: USER'S GUIDE

EPA Science Inventory

The three volume report and two diskettes document the Integrated Air Pollution Control System (IAPCS), developed for the U.S. EPA to estimate costs and performance for emission control systems applied to coal-fired utility boilers. The model can project a material balance, an eq...

INTEGRATED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL SYSTEM, VERSION 4.0 - VOLUME 3: PROGRAMMER'S MAINTENACE MANUAL

EPA Science Inventory

The Integrated Air Pollution Control System (IAPCS) was developed for the U.S. EPA's Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory to estimate costs and performance for emission control systems applied to coal-fired utility boilers. The model can project a material balance, and ...

INTEGRATED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL SYSTEM, VERSION 4.0 - VOLUME 2: TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION MANUAL

EPA Science Inventory

The Integrated Air Pollution Control System (IAPCS) was developed for the U.S. EPA's Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory to estimate costs and performance for emission control systems applied to coal-fired utility boilers. The model can project a material balance, and ...

User participation in the development of the human/computer interface for control centers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Broome, Richard; Quick-Campbell, Marlene; Creegan, James; Dutilly, Robert

1996-01-01

Technological advances coupled with the requirements to reduce operations staffing costs led to the demand for efficient, technologically-sophisticated mission operations control centers. The control center under development for the earth observing system (EOS) is considered. The users are involved in the development of a control center in order to ensure that it is cost-efficient and flexible. A number of measures were implemented in the EOS program in order to encourage user involvement in the area of human-computer interface development. The following user participation exercises carried out in relation to the system analysis and design are described: the shadow participation of the programmers during a day of operations; the flight operations personnel interviews; and the analysis of the flight operations team tasks. The user participation in the interface prototype development, the prototype evaluation, and the system implementation are reported on. The involvement of the users early in the development process enables the requirements to be better understood and the cost to be reduced.

Controlling the self-organizing dynamics in a sandpile model on complex networks by failure tolerance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Qi, Junjian; Pfenninger, Stefan

In this paper, we propose a strategy to control the self-organizing dynamics of the Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld (BTW) sandpile model on complex networks by allowing some degree of failure tolerance for the nodes and introducing additional active dissipation while taking the risk of possible node damage. We show that the probability for large cascades significantly increases or decreases respectively when the risk for node damage outweighs the active dissipation and when the active dissipation outweighs the risk for node damage. By considering the potential additional risk from node damage, a non-trivial optimal active dissipation control strategy which minimizes the total cost inmore » the system can be obtained. Under some conditions the introduced control strategy can decrease the total cost in the system compared to the uncontrolled model. Moreover, when the probability of damaging a node experiencing failure tolerance is greater than the critical value, then no matter how successful the active dissipation control is, the total cost of the system will have to increase. This critical damage probability can be used as an indicator of the robustness of a network or system. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2015« less

Dynamic Exergy Method for Evaluating the Control and Operation of Oxy-Combustion Boiler Island Systems.

PubMed

Jin, Bo; Zhao, Haibo; Zheng, Chuguang; Liang, Zhiwu

2017-01-03

Exergy-based methods are widely applied to assess the performance of energy conversion systems; however, these methods mainly focus on a certain steady-state and have limited applications for evaluating the control impacts on system operation. To dynamically obtain the thermodynamic behavior and reveal the influences of control structures, layers and loops, on system energy performance, a dynamic exergy method is developed, improved, and applied to a complex oxy-combustion boiler island system for the first time. The three most common operating scenarios are studied, and the results show that the flow rate change process leads to less energy consumption than oxygen purity and air in-leakage change processes. The variation of oxygen purity produces the largest impact on system operation, and the operating parameter sensitivity is not affected by the presence of process control. The control system saves energy during flow rate and oxygen purity change processes, while it consumes energy during the air in-leakage change process. More attention should be paid to the oxygen purity change because it requires the largest control cost. In the control system, the supervisory control layer requires the greatest energy consumption and the largest control cost to maintain operating targets, while the steam control loops cause the main energy consumption.

Accelerating Industrial Adoption of Metal Additive Manufacturing Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vartanian, Kenneth; McDonald, Tom

2016-03-01

While metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology has clear benefits, there are still factors preventing its adoption by industry. These factors include the high cost of metal AM systems, the difficulty for machinists to learn and operate metal AM machines, the long approval process for part qualification/certification, and the need for better process controls; however, the high AM system cost is the main barrier deterring adoption. In this paper, we will discuss an America Makes-funded program to reduce AM system cost by combining metal AM technology with conventional computerized numerical controlled (CNC) machine tools. Information will be provided on how an Optomec-led team retrofitted a legacy CNC vertical mill with laser engineered net shaping (LENS®—LENS is a registered trademark of Sandia National Labs) AM technology, dramatically lowering deployment cost. The upgraded system, dubbed LENS Hybrid Vertical Mill, enables metal additive and subtractive operations to be performed on the same machine tool and even on the same part. Information on the LENS Hybrid system architecture, learnings from initial system deployment and continuing development work will also be provided to help guide further development activities within the materials community.

Low-Cost Control System Built Upon Consumer-Based Electronics For Supervisory Control Of A Gas-Operated Heat Pump

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wetherington Jr, G Randall; Vineyard, Edward Allan; Mahderekal, Isaac

A preliminary evaluation of the performance of a consumer-based control system was conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Southwest Gas as part of a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) authorized by the Department of Energy (DOE) (Mahderekal et al. (2013). The goal of the research was to evaluate the low-cost approach as a solution for implementing a supervisory control system for a residential gas-operated heat pump. The design incorporated two consumer-based micro-controllers; the Arduino Mega-2650 and the BeagleBone (white). Ten five-ton heat pump systems were designed, fabricated, and operationally tested in the Las Vega NV region.more » A robust data set was produced that allowed detailed assessment of the reliability and the operational perfromance of the newly developed control system. Experiences gained from the test provided important points of improvement for subsequent evolution of the heat pump technology.« less

Experience with an integrated control and monitoring system at the El Segundo generating station

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Papilla, R.P.; McKinley, J.H.; Blanco, M.A.

1992-01-01

This paper describes the EPRI/Southern California Edison (SCE) El Segundo Integrated Control and Monitoring System (ICMS) project and relates key project experiences. The ICMS project is a cost-shared effort between EPRI and SCE designed to address the issues involved with integrating power plant diagnostic and condition monitoring with control. A digital distributed control system retrofit for SCE's El Segundo Units 3 and 4 provided the case study. although many utilities have retrofitted power plant units with distributed control systems (DCS's) and have applied diagnostics and monitoring programs to improve operations and performance, the approach taken in this project, that is,more » integrating the monitoring function with the control function, is profoundly new and unique. Over the life of the El Segundo ICMS, SCE expects to realize savings form life optimization, increased operating flexibility, improved heat rate, reduced NO{sub x} emissions, and lower maintenance costs. These savings are expected to be significant over the life of the system.« less

Data analytics and optimization of an ice-based energy storage system for commercial buildings

DOE PAGES

Luo, Na; Hong, Tianzhen; Li, Hui; ...

2017-07-25

Ice-based thermal energy storage (TES) systems can shift peak cooling demand and reduce operational energy costs (with time-of-use rates) in commercial buildings. The accurate prediction of the cooling load, and the optimal control strategy for managing the charging and discharging of a TES system, are two critical elements to improving system performance and achieving energy cost savings. This study utilizes data-driven analytics and modeling to holistically understand the operation of an ice–based TES system in a shopping mall, calculating the system’s performance using actual measured data from installed meters and sensors. Results show that there is significant savings potential whenmore » the current operating strategy is improved by appropriately scheduling the operation of each piece of equipment of the TES system, as well as by determining the amount of charging and discharging for each day. A novel optimal control strategy, determined by an optimization algorithm of Sequential Quadratic Programming, was developed to minimize the TES system’s operating costs. Three heuristic strategies were also investigated for comparison with our proposed strategy, and the results demonstrate the superiority of our method to the heuristic strategies in terms of total energy cost savings. Specifically, the optimal strategy yields energy costs of up to 11.3% per day and 9.3% per month compared with current operational strategies. A one-day-ahead hourly load prediction was also developed using machine learning algorithms, which facilitates the adoption of the developed data analytics and optimization of the control strategy in a real TES system operation.« less

Data analytics and optimization of an ice-based energy storage system for commercial buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Luo, Na; Hong, Tianzhen; Li, Hui

Ice-based thermal energy storage (TES) systems can shift peak cooling demand and reduce operational energy costs (with time-of-use rates) in commercial buildings. The accurate prediction of the cooling load, and the optimal control strategy for managing the charging and discharging of a TES system, are two critical elements to improving system performance and achieving energy cost savings. This study utilizes data-driven analytics and modeling to holistically understand the operation of an ice–based TES system in a shopping mall, calculating the system’s performance using actual measured data from installed meters and sensors. Results show that there is significant savings potential whenmore » the current operating strategy is improved by appropriately scheduling the operation of each piece of equipment of the TES system, as well as by determining the amount of charging and discharging for each day. A novel optimal control strategy, determined by an optimization algorithm of Sequential Quadratic Programming, was developed to minimize the TES system’s operating costs. Three heuristic strategies were also investigated for comparison with our proposed strategy, and the results demonstrate the superiority of our method to the heuristic strategies in terms of total energy cost savings. Specifically, the optimal strategy yields energy costs of up to 11.3% per day and 9.3% per month compared with current operational strategies. A one-day-ahead hourly load prediction was also developed using machine learning algorithms, which facilitates the adoption of the developed data analytics and optimization of the control strategy in a real TES system operation.« less

A decentralized approach to reducing the social costs of cascading failures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hines, Paul

Large cascading failures in electrical power networks come with enormous social costs. These can be direct financial costs, such as the loss of refrigerated foods in grocery stores, or more indirect social costs, such as the traffic congestion that results from the failure of traffic signals. While engineers and policy makers have made numerous technical and organizational changes to reduce the frequency and impact of large cascading failures, the existing data, as described in Chapter 2 of this work, indicate that the overall frequency and impact of large electrical blackouts in the United States are not decreasing. Motivated by the cascading failure problem, this thesis describes a new method for Distributed Model Predictive Control and a power systems application. The central goal of the method, when applied to power systems, is to reduce the social costs of cascading failures by making small, targeted reductions in load and generation and changes to generator voltage set points. Unlike some existing schemes that operate from centrally located control centers, the method is operated by software agents located at substations distributed throughout the power network. The resulting multi-agent control system is a new approach to decentralized control, combining Distributed Model Predictive Control and Reciprocal Altruism. Experimental results indicate that this scheme can in fact decrease the average size, and thus social costs, of cascading failures. Over 100 randomly generated disturbances to a model of the IEEE 300 bus test network, the method resulted in nearly an order of magnitude decrease in average event size (measured in cost) relative to cascading failure simulations without remedial control actions. Additionally, the communication requirements for the method are measured, and found to be within the bandwidth capabilities of current communications technology (on the order of 100kB/second). Experiments on several resistor networks with varying structures, including a random graph, a scale-free network and a power grid indicate that the effectiveness of decentralized control schemes, like the method proposed here, is a function of the structure of the network that is to be controlled.

Contracting by managed care systems for pharmaceutical products and services.

PubMed

Sharp, W T; Strandberg, L R

1990-11-01

The health care delivery system has received criticism because of its rapidly increasing costs. In an attempt to control costs, the administrators of managed care organizations are searching for cost control mechanisms. Thus, the administrators of managed care organizations appear to be searching carefully for any alternative method to lower the cost of delivering medical care to plan members. In this environment pharmacists must be extremely careful to study the cost of providing prescription services to managed care organizations, because they will be constrained by the obligations indicated in the contractual relationship. Any decisions to provide pharmaceutical services should be studied in detail after careful discussion with administrators of a managed care organization. Only after a careful analysis should a pharmacist make a decision to offer or not offer pharmaceutical services to a managed care organization.

Wheel configurations for combined energy storage and attitude control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oglevie, R. E.

1985-01-01

Integrated power and attitude control system (IPACS) studies performed over a decade ago established the feasibility of simultaneously storing electrical energy in wheels and utilizing the resulting momentum for spacecraft attitude control. It was shown that such a system possessed many advantages over other contemporary energy storage and attitude control systems in many applications. More recent technology advances in composite rotors, magnetic bearings, and power control electronics have triggered new optimism regarding the feasibility and merits of such a system. This paper presents the results of a recent study whose focus was to define an advanced IPACS and to evaluate its merits for the Space Station application. Emphasis is given to the selection of the wheel configuration to perform the combined functions. A component design concept is developed to establish the system performance capability. A system-level trade study, including life-cycle costing, is performed to define the merits of the system relative to two other candidate systems. It is concluded that an advanced IPACS concept is not only feasible but offers substantial savings in mass and life-cycle cost.

Deep Water Munitions Detection System

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE MAR 2010 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2010 to 00-00...water systems to deeper water depths would result in even greater costs. While some of the cost escalation may be unavoidable, it is desirable to...magnetometers, spaced 61 cm apart, on a towed sensor platform. The sensor platform has active control elements that allow its depth to be changed

Single-Lever Power Control for General Aviation Aircraft Promises Improved Efficiency and Simplified Pilot Controls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Musgrave, Jeffrey L.

1997-01-01

General aviation research is leading to major advances in internal combustion engine control systems for single-engine, single-pilot aircraft. These advances promise to increase engine performance and fuel efficiency while substantially reducing pilot workload and increasing flight safety. One such advance is a single-lever power control (SLPC) system, a welcome departure from older, less user-friendly, multilever engine control systems. The benefits of using single-lever power controls for general aviation aircraft are improved flight safety through advanced engine diagnostics, simplified powerplant operations, increased time between overhauls, and cost-effective technology (extends fuel burn and reduces overhaul costs). The single-lever concept has proven to be so effective in preliminary studies that general aviation manufacturers are making plans to retrofit current aircraft with the technology and are incorporating it in designs for future aircraft.

Sweat, Brain-Power, Horsepower, and Time - The Keys to Controlling Weeds

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Weed control in organic crop production is difficult and costly. Early studies on organic weed control in conservation tillage systems were disappointing. Research shifted to organic weed control in conventional tillage systems. Intense cultivation with a tine weeder was the most consistent metho...

Analyses of Blood Bank Efficiency, Cost-Effectiveness and Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lam, Hwai-Tai Chen

In view of the increasing costs of hospital care, it is essential to investigate methods to improve the labor efficiency and the cost-effectiveness of the hospital technical core in order to control costs while maintaining the quality of care. This study was conducted to develop indices to measure efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and the quality of blood banks; to identify factors associated with efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and quality; and to generate strategies to improve blood bank labor efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Indices developed in this study for labor efficiency and cost-effectiveness were not affected by patient case mix and illness severity. Factors that were associated with labor efficiency were identified as managerial styles, and organizational designs that balance workload and labor resources. Medical directors' managerial involvement was not associated with labor efficiency, but their continuing education and specialty in blood bank were found to reduce the performance of unnecessary tests. Surprisingly, performing unnecessary tests had no association with labor efficiency. This suggested the existence of labor slack in blood banks. Cost -effectiveness was associated with workers' benefits, wages, and the production of high-end transfusion products by hospital-based donor rooms. Quality indices used in this study included autologous transfusion rates, platelet transfusion rates, and the check points available in an error-control system. Because the autologous transfusion rate was related to patient case mix, severity of illness, and possible inappropriate transfusion, it was not recommended to be used for quality index. Platelet-pheresis transfusion rates were associated with the transfusion preferences of the blood bank medical directors. The total number of check points in an error -control system was negatively associated with government ownership and workers' experience. Recommendations for improving labor efficiency and cost-effectiveness were focused on an incentive system that encourages team effort, and the use of appropriate measurements for laboratory efficiency and operational system designs.

A design procedure and handling quality criteria for lateral directional flight control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stein, G.; Henke, A. H.

1972-01-01

A practical design procedure for aircraft augmentation systems is described based on quadratic optimal control technology and handling-quality-oriented cost functionals. The procedure is applied to the design of a lateral-directional control system for the F4C aircraft. The design criteria, design procedure, and final control system are validated with a program of formal pilot evaluation experiments.

MCCx C3I Control Center Interface Emulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mireles, James R.

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the project to develop and demonstrate alternate Information Technologies and systems for new Mission Control Centers that will reduce the cost of facility development, maintenance and operational costs and will enable more efficient cost and effective operations concepts for ground support operations. The development of a emulator for the Control Center capability will enable the facilities to conduct the simulation requiring interactivity with the Control Center when it is off line or unavailable, and it will support testing of C3I interfaces for both command and telemetry data exchange messages (DEMs).

Controlled ecological life support system: Transportation analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gustan, E.; Vinopal, T.

1982-01-01

This report discusses a study utilizing a systems analysis approach to determine which NASA missions would benefit from controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) technology. The study focuses on manned missions selected from NASA planning forecasts covering the next half century. Comparison of various life support scenarios for the selected missions and characteristics of projected transportation systems provided data for cost evaluations. This approach identified missions that derived benefits from a CELSS, showed the magnitude of the potential cost savings, and indicated which system or combination of systems would apply. This report outlines the analytical approach used in the evaluation, describes the missions and systems considered, and sets forth the benefits derived from CELSS when applicable.

C/SCSC overview: approach, implementation, use. [Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Turf, Larry

1979-01-01

An overview of the Cost/Schedule Control System Criteria, known as C/SCS or C/S Squared is pesented. In the mid-1960s, several DOD service agencies embarked on a new performance measurement concept to track cost and schedule performance on major DOD programs. The performance measurement concept of C/SCS has expanded from DOD use to the Department of Energy (PMS), NASA (533 reports), and private industry such as shipbuilding, utilities, and construction. This paper describes the C/SCSC with the events leading to the C/SCS requirement, how to approach the requirement, and discusses implementing and using the system. Many government publications, directives, and instructionsmore » on the subject are listed in the publication.« less

Phase 1 of the First Solar Small Power System Experiment (experimental System No. 1). Volume 3: Appendix E - N

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, T. B. (Editor)

1979-01-01

The design of a solar electric power plant for a small community is reported. Topics covered include: (1) control configurations and interface requirements for the baseline power system; (2) annual small power system output; (3) energy requirements for operation of the collectors and control building; (4) life cycle costs and reliability predictions; (5) thermal conductivities and costs of receiver insulation materials; (6) transient thermal modelling for the baseline receiver/thermal transport system under normal and inclement operating conditions; (7) high temperature use of sodium; (8) shading in a field of parabolic collectors; and (9) buffer storage materials.

A study of a space communication system for the control and monitoring of the electric distribution system. Volume 1: Summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaisnys, A.

1980-01-01

It is technically feasible to design a satellite communication system to serve the United States electric utility industry's needs relative to load management, real-time operations management, remote meter reading, and to determine the costs of various elements of the system. A definition of distribution control and monitoring functions is given. Associated communications traffic is quantified. A baseline conceptual design in terms of operating capability and equipment is described, important factors to be considered in designing a system are examined, and preliminary cost data are provided. Factors associated with implementation are discussed and conclusions and recommendations are listed.

A reliable algorithm for optimal control synthesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vansteenwyk, Brett; Ly, Uy-Loi

1992-01-01

In recent years, powerful design tools for linear time-invariant multivariable control systems have been developed based on direct parameter optimization. In this report, an algorithm for reliable optimal control synthesis using parameter optimization is presented. Specifically, a robust numerical algorithm is developed for the evaluation of the H(sup 2)-like cost functional and its gradients with respect to the controller design parameters. The method is specifically designed to handle defective degenerate systems and is based on the well-known Pade series approximation of the matrix exponential. Numerical test problems in control synthesis for simple mechanical systems and for a flexible structure with densely packed modes illustrate positively the reliability of this method when compared to a method based on diagonalization. Several types of cost functions have been considered: a cost function for robust control consisting of a linear combination of quadratic objectives for deterministic and random disturbances, and one representing an upper bound on the quadratic objective for worst case initial conditions. Finally, a framework for multivariable control synthesis has been developed combining the concept of closed-loop transfer recovery with numerical parameter optimization. The procedure enables designers to synthesize not only observer-based controllers but also controllers of arbitrary order and structure. Numerical design solutions rely heavily on the robust algorithm due to the high order of the synthesis model and the presence of near-overlapping modes. The design approach is successfully applied to the design of a high-bandwidth control system for a rotorcraft.

Information Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcum, Deanna; Boss, Richard

1982-01-01

Discusses four automated serials control systems which have been installed by at least six general libraries: OCLC's Serials Control Subsystem, Faxon's LINX, Ebsco's EBSCONET, and CLASS' CHECKMATE. Features of each system, accessibility, and costs are noted. (EJS)

Estimating Airline Operating Costs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maddalon, D. V.

1978-01-01

The factors affecting commercial aircraft operating and delay costs were used to develop an airline operating cost model which includes a method for estimating the labor and material costs of individual airframe maintenance systems. The model permits estimates of aircraft related costs, i.e., aircraft service, landing fees, flight attendants, and control fees. A method for estimating the costs of certain types of airline delay is also described.

COST-BENEFIT Analysis in Railway Noise Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

OERTLI, J.

2000-03-01

A method to calculate the network-wide costs of realizing different noise control possibilities and their benefits in terms of noise reduction for lineside inhabitants has been implemented in Switzerland. These studies have shown that an optimal cost distribution consists of spending 65% of the available finances on rolling stock improvement, 30% on noise control barriers and 5% on insulated windows. This mix protects 70% of the lineside population for 30% of the cost necessary to attain threshold levels for all inhabitants. This noise control strategy has been accepted by the federal traffic and environment agencies involved and will save billions of Swiss francs. The success of the calculation methodology has prompted development of a Europe-wide decision support system to the same effect. Along two freight freeways the relationship between rolling stock improvement, noise barriers, insulated windows, operational measures and track characteristics is being studied. The decision support system will allow determination of those combinations with the best cost-benefit ratios. The study is currently being undertaken as a joint venture by the railways of Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as the European Rail Research Institute. The results constitute part of the negotiating strategy of the railways with European and national legislators.

Qualitative Differences between Bilingual Language Control and Executive Control: Evidence from Task-Switching

PubMed Central

Calabria, Marco; Hernández, Mireia; Branzi, Francesca M.; Costa, Albert

2012-01-01

Previous research has shown that highly proficient bilinguals have comparable switch costs in both directions when they switch between languages (L1 and L2), the so-called “symmetrical switch cost” effect. Interestingly, the same symmetry is also present when they switch between L1 and a much weaker L3. These findings suggest that highly proficient bilinguals develop a language control system that seems to be insensitive to language proficiency. In the present study, we explore whether the pattern of symmetrical switch costs in language switching tasks generalizes to a non-linguistic switching task in the same group of highly proficient bilinguals. The end goal of this is to assess whether bilingual language control (bLC) can be considered as subsidiary to domain-general executive control (EC). We tested highly proficient Catalan–Spanish bilinguals both in a linguistic switching task and in a non-linguistic switching task. In the linguistic task, participants named pictures in L1 and L2 (Experiment 1) or L3 (Experiment 2) depending on a cue presented with the picture (a flag). In the non-linguistic task, the same participants had to switch between two card sorting rule-sets (color and shape). Overall, participants showed symmetrical switch costs in the linguistic switching task, but not in the non-linguistic switching task. In a further analysis, we observed that in the linguistic switching task the asymmetry of the switch costs changed across blocks, while in the non-linguistic switching task an asymmetrical switch cost was observed throughout the task. The observation of different patterns of switch costs in the linguistic and the non-linguistic switching tasks suggest that the bLC system is not completely subsidiary to the domain-general EC system. PMID:22275905

A cost-effective and customizable automated irrigation system for precise high-throughput phenotyping in drought stress studies

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

The development of high-yielding crops with drought tolerance is necessary to increase food, feed, fiber and fuel production. Methods that create similar environmental conditions for a large number of genotypes are essential to investigate plant responses to drought in gene discovery studies. Modern facilities that control water availability for each plant remain cost-prohibited to some sections of the research community. We present an alternative cost-effective automated irrigation system scalable for a high-throughput and controlled dry-down treatment of plants. This system was tested in sorghum using two experiments. First, four genotypes were subjected to ten days of dry-down to achieve three final Volumetric Water Content (VWC) levels: drought (0.10 and 0.20 m3 m-3) and control (0.30 m3 m-3). The final average VWC was 0.11, 0.22, and 0.31 m3 m-3, respectively, and significant differences in biomass accumulation were observed between control and drought treatments. Second, 42 diverse sorghum genotypes were subjected to a seven-day dry-down treatment for a final drought stress of 0.15 m3 m-3 VWC. The final average VWC was 0.17 m3 m-3, and plants presented significant differences in photosynthetic rate during the drought period. These results demonstrate that cost-effective automation systems can successfully control substrate water content for each plant, to accurately compare their phenotypic responses to drought, and be scaled up for high-throughput phenotyping studies. PMID:29870560

A cost-effective and customizable automated irrigation system for precise high-throughput phenotyping in drought stress studies.

PubMed

Ortiz, Diego; Litvin, Alexander G; Salas Fernandez, Maria G

2018-01-01

The development of high-yielding crops with drought tolerance is necessary to increase food, feed, fiber and fuel production. Methods that create similar environmental conditions for a large number of genotypes are essential to investigate plant responses to drought in gene discovery studies. Modern facilities that control water availability for each plant remain cost-prohibited to some sections of the research community. We present an alternative cost-effective automated irrigation system scalable for a high-throughput and controlled dry-down treatment of plants. This system was tested in sorghum using two experiments. First, four genotypes were subjected to ten days of dry-down to achieve three final Volumetric Water Content (VWC) levels: drought (0.10 and 0.20 m3 m-3) and control (0.30 m3 m-3). The final average VWC was 0.11, 0.22, and 0.31 m3 m-3, respectively, and significant differences in biomass accumulation were observed between control and drought treatments. Second, 42 diverse sorghum genotypes were subjected to a seven-day dry-down treatment for a final drought stress of 0.15 m3 m-3 VWC. The final average VWC was 0.17 m3 m-3, and plants presented significant differences in photosynthetic rate during the drought period. These results demonstrate that cost-effective automation systems can successfully control substrate water content for each plant, to accurately compare their phenotypic responses to drought, and be scaled up for high-throughput phenotyping studies.

Advanced Launch System (ALS) actuation and power systems impact operability and cost

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sundberg, Gale R.

1990-01-01

To obtain the Advanced Launch System (ALS) primary goals of reduced costs and improved operability, there must be significant reductions in the launch operations and servicing requirements relative to current vehicle designs and practices. One of the primary methods for achieving these goals is by using vehicle electrical power system and controls for all actuation and avionics requirements. A brief status review of the ALS and its associated Advanced Development Program is presented to demonstrate maturation of those technologies that will help meet the overall operability and cost goals. The electric power and actuation systems are highlighted as a specific technology ready not only to meet the stringent ALS goals (cryogenic field valves and thrust vector controls with peak power demands to 75 hp), but also those of other launch vehicles, military and civilian aircraft, lunar/Martian vehicles, and a multitude of commercial applications.

Advanced Launch System (ALS): Electrical actuation and power systems improve operability and cost picture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sundberg, Gale R.

1990-01-01

To obtain the Advanced Launch System (ALS) primary goals of reduced costs and improved operability, there must be significant reductions in the launch operations and servicing requirements relative to current vehicle designs and practices. One of the primary methods for achieving these goals is by using vehicle electrical power system and controls for all actuation and avionics requirements. A brief status review of the ALS and its associated Advanced Development Program is presented to demonstrate maturation of those technologies that will help meet the overall operability and cost goals. The electric power and actuation systems are highlighted as a specific technology ready not only to meet the stringent ALS goals (cryogenic field valves and thrust vector controls with peak power demands to 75 hp), but also those of other launch vehicles, military and civilian aircraft, lunar/Martian vehicles, and a multitude of commercial applications.

Advanced launch system (ALS) - Electrical actuation and power systems improve operability and cost picture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sundberg, Gale R.

1990-01-01

To obtain the Advanced Launch System (ALS) primary goals of reduced costs and improved operability, there must be significant reductions in the launch operations and servicing requirements relative to current vehicle designs and practices. One of the primary methods for achieving these goals is by using vehicle electrrical power system and controls for all aviation and avionics requirements. A brief status review of the ALS and its associated Advanced Development Program is presented to demonstrate maturation of those technologies that will help meet the overall operability and cost goals. The electric power and actuation systems are highlighted as a sdpecific technology ready not only to meet the stringent ALS goals (cryogenic field valves and thrust vector controls with peak power demands to 75 hp), but also those of other launch vehicles, military ans civilian aircraft, lunar/Martian vehicles, and a multitude of comercial applications.

Virtualization - A Key Cost Saver in NASA Multi-Mission Ground System Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swenson, Paul; Kreisler, Stephen; Sager, Jennifer A.; Smith, Dan

2014-01-01

With science team budgets being slashed, and a lack of adequate facilities for science payload teams to operate their instruments, there is a strong need for innovative new ground systems that are able to provide necessary levels of capability processing power, system availability and redundancy while maintaining a small footprint in terms of physical space, power utilization and cooling.The ground system architecture being presented is based off of heritage from several other projects currently in development or operations at Goddard, but was designed and built specifically to meet the needs of the Science and Planetary Operations Control Center (SPOCC) as a low-cost payload command, control, planning and analysis operations center. However, this SPOCC architecture was designed to be generic enough to be re-used partially or in whole by other labs and missions (since its inception that has already happened in several cases!)The SPOCC architecture leverages a highly available VMware-based virtualization cluster with shared SAS Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) to provide an extremely high-performing, low-power-utilization and small-footprint compute environment that provides Virtual Machine resources shared among the various tenant missions in the SPOCC. The storage is also expandable, allowing future missions to chain up to 7 additional 2U chassis of storage at an extremely competitive cost if they require additional archive or virtual machine storage space.The software architecture provides a fully-redundant GMSEC-based message bus architecture based on the ActiveMQ middleware to track all health and safety status within the SPOCC ground system. All virtual machines utilize the GMSEC system agents to report system host health over the GMSEC bus, and spacecraft payload health is monitored using the Hammers Integrated Test and Operations System (ITOS) Galaxy Telemetry and Command (TC) system, which performs near-real-time limit checking and data processing on the downlinked data stream and injects messages into the GMSEC bus that are monitored to automatically page the on-call operator or Systems Administrator (SA) when an off-nominal condition is detected. This architecture, like the LTSP thin clients, are shared across all tenant missions.Other required IT security controls are implemented at the ground system level, including physical access controls, logical system-level authentication authorization management, auditing and reporting, network management and a NIST 800-53 FISMA-Moderate IT Security plan Risk Assessment Contingency Plan, helping multiple missions share the cost of compliance with agency-mandated directives.The SPOCC architecture provides science payload control centers and backup mission operations centers with a cost-effective, standardized approach to virtualizing and monitoring resources that were traditionally multiple racks full of physical machines. The increased agility in deploying new virtual systems and thin client workstations can provide significant savings in personnel costs for maintaining the ground system. The cost savings in procurement, power, rack footprint and cooling as well as the shared multi-mission design greatly reduces upfront cost for missions moving into the facility. Overall, the authors hope that this architecture will become a model for how future NASA operations centers are constructed!

Marginal abatement cost curve for nitrogen oxides incorporating controls, renewable electricity, energy efficiency, and fuel switching.

PubMed

Loughlin, Daniel H; Macpherson, Alexander J; Kaufman, Katherine R; Keaveny, Brian N

2017-10-01

A marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) traces out the relationship between the quantity of pollution abated and the marginal cost of abating each additional unit. In the context of air quality management, MACCs are typically developed by sorting control technologies by their relative cost-effectiveness. Other potentially important abatement measures such as renewable electricity, energy efficiency, and fuel switching (RE/EE/FS) are often not incorporated into MACCs, as it is difficult to quantify their costs and abatement potential. In this paper, a U.S. energy system model is used to develop a MACC for nitrogen oxides (NO x ) that incorporates both traditional controls and these additional measures. The MACC is decomposed by sector, and the relative cost-effectiveness of RE/EE/FS and traditional controls are compared. RE/EE/FS are shown to have the potential to increase emission reductions beyond what is possible when applying traditional controls alone. Furthermore, a portion of RE/EE/FS appear to be cost-competitive with traditional controls. Renewable electricity, energy efficiency, and fuel switching can be cost-competitive with traditional air pollutant controls for abating air pollutant emissions. The application of renewable electricity, energy efficiency, and fuel switching is also shown to have the potential to increase emission reductions beyond what is possible when applying traditional controls alone.

Experimental study of low-cost fiber optic distributed temperature sensor system performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dashkov, Michael V.; Zharkov, Alexander D.

2016-03-01

The distributed control of temperature is an actual task for various application such as oil & gas fields, high-voltage power lines, fire alarm systems etc. The most perspective are optical fiber distributed temperature sensors (DTS). They have advantages on accuracy, resolution and range, but have a high cost. Nevertheless, for some application the accuracy of measurement and localization aren't so important as cost. The results of an experimental study of low-cost Raman based DTS based on standard OTDR are represented.

Impact of propulsion system R and D on electric vehicle performance and cost

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartz, H. J.; Gordan, A. L.

1980-01-01

The efficiency, weight, and manufacturing cost of the propulsion subsystem (motor, motor controller, transmission, and differential, but excluding the battery) are major factors in the purchase price and cost of ownership of a traffic-compatible electric vehicle. The relative impact of each was studied, and the conclusions reached are that propulsion system technology advances can result in a major reduction of the sticker price of an electric vehicle and a smaller, but significant, reduction in overall cost of ownership.

Use of Treated Municipal Wastewater as Power Plant Cooling System Makeup Water: Tertiary Treatment versus Expanded Chemical Regimen for Recirculating Water Quality Management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

David Dzombak; Radisav Vidic; Amy Landis

Treated municipal wastewater is a common, widely available alternative source of cooling water for thermoelectric power plants across the U.S. However, the biodegradable organic matter, ammonia-nitrogen, carbonate and phosphates in the treated wastewater pose challenges with respect to enhanced biofouling, corrosion, and scaling, respectively. The overall objective of this study was to evaluate the benefits and life cycle costs of implementing tertiary treatment of secondary treated municipal wastewater prior to use in recirculating cooling systems. The study comprised bench- and pilot-scale experimental studies with three different tertiary treated municipal wastewaters, and life cycle costing and environmental analyses of various tertiarymore » treatment schemes. Sustainability factors and metrics for reuse of treated wastewater in power plant cooling systems were also evaluated. The three tertiary treated wastewaters studied were: secondary treated municipal wastewater subjected to acid addition for pH control (MWW_pH); secondary treated municipal wastewater subjected to nitrification and sand filtration (MWW_NF); and secondary treated municipal wastewater subjected nitrification, sand filtration, and GAC adsorption (MWW_NFG). Tertiary treatment was determined to be essential to achieve appropriate corrosion, scaling, and biofouling control for use of secondary treated municipal wastewater in power plant cooling systems. The ability to control scaling, in particular, was found to be significantly enhanced with tertiary treated wastewater compared to secondary treated wastewater. MWW_pH treated water (adjustment to pH 7.8) was effective in reducing scale formation, but increased corrosion and the amount of biocide required to achieve appropriate biofouling control. Corrosion could be adequately controlled with tolytriazole addition (4-5 ppm TTA), however, which was the case for all of the tertiary treated waters. For MWW_NF treated water, the removal of ammonia by nitrification helped to reduce the corrosivity and biocide demand. Also, the lower pH and alkalinity resulting from nitrification reduced the scaling to an acceptable level, without the addition of anti-scalant chemicals. Additional GAC adsorption treatment, MWW_NFG, yielded no net benefit. Removal of organic matter resulted in pitting corrosion in copper and cupronickel alloys. Negligible improvement was observed in scaling control and biofouling control. For all of the tertiary treatments, biofouling control was achievable, and most effectively with pre-formed monochloramine (2-3 ppm) in comparison with NaOCl and ClO2. Life cycle cost (LCC) analyses were performed for the tertiary treatment systems studied experimentally and for several other treatment options. A public domain conceptual costing tool (LC3 model) was developed for this purpose. MWW_SF (lime softening and sand filtration) and MWW_NF were the most cost-effective treatment options among the tertiary treatment alternatives considered because of the higher effluent quality with moderate infrastructure costs and the relatively low doses of conditioning chemicals required. Life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis along with integration of external costs of emissions with direct costs was performed to evaluate relative emissions to the environment and external costs associated with construction and operation of tertiary treatment alternatives. Integrated LCI and LCC analysis indicated that three-tiered treatment alternatives such as MWW_NSF and MWW_NFG, with regular chemical addition for treatment and conditioning and/or regeneration, tend to increase the impact costs and in turn the overall costs of tertiary treatment. River water supply and MWW_F alternatives with a single step of tertiary treatment were associated with lower impact costs, but the contribution of impact costs to overall annual costs was higher than all other treatment alternatives. MWW_NF and MWW_SF alternatives exhibited moderate external impact costs with moderate infrastructure and chemical conditioner dosing, which makes them (especially MWW_NF) better treatment alternatives from the environmental sustainability perspective since they exhibited minimal contribution to environmental damage from emissions.« less

Costs to Automate Demand Response - Taxonomy and Results from Field Studies and Programs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Piette, Mary A.; Schetrit, Oren; Kiliccote, Sila

During the past decade, the technology to automate demand response (DR) in buildings and industrial facilities has advanced significantly. Automation allows rapid, repeatable, reliable operation. This study focuses on costs for DR automation in commercial buildings with some discussion on residential buildings and industrial facilities. DR automation technology relies on numerous components, including communication systems, hardware and software gateways, standards-based messaging protocols, controls and integration platforms, and measurement and telemetry systems. This report compares cost data from several DR automation programs and pilot projects, evaluates trends in the cost per unit of DR and kilowatts (kW) available from automated systems,more » and applies a standard naming convention and classification or taxonomy for system elements. Median costs for the 56 installed automated DR systems studied here are about $200/kW. The deviation around this median is large with costs in some cases being an order of magnitude great or less than the median. This wide range is a result of variations in system age, size of load reduction, sophistication, and type of equipment included in cost analysis. The costs to automate fast DR systems for ancillary services are not fully analyzed in this report because additional research is needed to determine the total cost to install, operate, and maintain these systems. However, recent research suggests that they could be developed at costs similar to those of existing hot-summer DR automation systems. This report considers installation and configuration costs and does include the costs of owning and operating DR automation systems. Future analysis of the latter costs should include the costs to the building or facility manager costs as well as utility or third party program manager cost.« less

Murchison project organization and control. [North Sea

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lauzen, P.K.; Hall, J.N.

This paper describes the project management organization and the management control systems used for Conoco's Murchison field development in the North Sea. These systems created for Murchison proved largely successful and have been enhanced for use during the Hutton field development. Management concepts are described in the context of the cost control system.

An evaluation of a micro programmable logic controller for oxygen monitoring and control in tanks of a recirculating aquaculture system

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Control of dissolved gases, especially oxygen is an essential component of recirculating aquaculture systems. The use of pure oxygen in a recirculating aquaculture system creates supersaturated concentrations of dissolved oxygen and can reduce fish production costs by supporting greater fish and fee...

TideGen LCOE Workbooks

DOE Data Explorer

Jarlath McEntee

2016-03-21

Workbooks showing Annualized Energy Production, Cost Breakdown Structure, Levelized Cost of Electricity for DOE Refernce Tidal Project 1) Baseline TidGen Power System 2) TidGen Power System with the application of Advanced Controls 3) Advanced TidGen Power System with several enhancements These files are provided as a zipped set. Files are linked together and must be viewed in the same folder.

The Effect of Government Actions on Environmental Technology Innovation: Applications to the Integrated Assessment of Carbon Sequestration Technologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rubin, E. S.; Hounshell, D. A.; Yeh, S.

2004-01-15

This project seeks to improve the ability of integrated assessment models (IA) to incorporate changes in technology, especially environmental technologies, cost and performance over time. In this report, we present results of research that examines past experience in controlling other major power plant emissions that might serve as a reasonable guide to future rates of technological progress in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) systems. In particular, we focus on U.S. and worldwide experience with sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) and nitrogen oxide (NO{sub x}) control technologies over the past 30 years, and derive empirical learning rates for these technologies. The patternsmore » of technology innovation are captured by our analysis of patent activities and trends of cost reduction over time. Overall, we found learning rates of 11% for the capital costs of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) system for SO{sub 2} control, and 13% for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for NO{sub x} control. We explore the key factors responsible for the observed trends, especially the development of regulatory policies for SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} control, and their implications for environmental control technology innovation.« less

Health management and controls for Earth-to-orbit propulsion systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bickford, R. L.

1995-03-01

Avionics and health management technologies increase the safety and reliability while decreasing the overall cost for Earth-to-orbit (ETO) propulsion systems. New ETO propulsion systems will depend on highly reliable fault tolerant flight avionics, advanced sensing systems and artificial intelligence aided software to ensure critical control, safety and maintenance requirements are met in a cost effective manner. Propulsion avionics consist of the engine controller, actuators, sensors, software and ground support elements. In addition to control and safety functions, these elements perform system monitoring for health management. Health management is enhanced by advanced sensing systems and algorithms which provide automated fault detection and enable adaptive control and/or maintenance approaches. Aerojet is developing advanced fault tolerant rocket engine controllers which provide very high levels of reliability. Smart sensors and software systems which significantly enhance fault coverage and enable automated operations are also under development. Smart sensing systems, such as flight capable plume spectrometers, have reached maturity in ground-based applications and are suitable for bridging to flight. Software to detect failed sensors has reached similar maturity. This paper will discuss fault detection and isolation for advanced rocket engine controllers as well as examples of advanced sensing systems and software which significantly improve component failure detection for engine system safety and health management.

Dynamic remedial action scheme using online transient stability analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrestha, Arun

Economic pressure and environmental factors have forced the modern power systems to operate closer to their stability limits. However, maintaining transient stability is a fundamental requirement for the operation of interconnected power systems. In North America, power systems are planned and operated to withstand the loss of any single or multiple elements without violating North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) system performance criteria. For a contingency resulting in the loss of multiple elements (Category C), emergency transient stability controls may be necessary to stabilize the power system. Emergency control is designed to sense abnormal conditions and subsequently take pre-determined remedial actions to prevent instability. Commonly known as either Remedial Action Schemes (RAS) or as Special/System Protection Schemes (SPS), these emergency control approaches have been extensively adopted by utilities. RAS are designed to address specific problems, e.g. to increase power transfer, to provide reactive support, to address generator instability, to limit thermal overloads, etc. Possible remedial actions include generator tripping, load shedding, capacitor and reactor switching, static VAR control, etc. Among various RAS types, generation shedding is the most effective and widely used emergency control means for maintaining system stability. In this dissertation, an optimal power flow (OPF)-based generation-shedding RAS is proposed. This scheme uses online transient stability calculation and generator cost function to determine appropriate remedial actions. For transient stability calculation, SIngle Machine Equivalent (SIME) technique is used, which reduces the multimachine power system model to a One-Machine Infinite Bus (OMIB) equivalent and identifies critical machines. Unlike conventional RAS, which are designed using offline simulations, online stability calculations make the proposed RAS dynamic and adapting to any power system configuration and operating state. The generation-shedding cost is calculated using pre-RAS and post-RAS OPF costs. The criteria for selecting generators to trip is based on the minimum cost rather than minimum amount of generation to shed. For an unstable Category C contingency, the RAS control action that results in stable system with minimum generation shedding cost is selected among possible candidate solutions. The RAS control actions update whenever there is a change in operating condition, system configuration, or cost functions. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is demonstrated by simulations on the IEEE 9-bus system, the IEEE 39-bus system, and IEEE 145-bus system. This dissertation also proposes an improved, yet relatively simple, technique for solving Transient Stability-Constrained Optimal Power Flow (TSC-OPF) problem. Using the SIME method, the sets of dynamic and transient stability constraints are reduced to a single stability constraint, decreasing the overall size of the optimization problem. The transient stability constraint is formulated using the critical machines' power at the initial time step, rather than using the machine rotor angles. This avoids the addition of machine steady state stator algebraic equations in the conventional OPF algorithm. A systematic approach to reach an optimal solution is developed by exploring the quasi-linear behavior of critical machine power and stability margin. The proposed method shifts critical machines active power based on generator costs using an OPF algorithm. Moreover, the transient stability limit is based on stability margin, and not on a heuristically set limit on OMIB rotor angle. As a result, the proposed TSC-OPF solution is more economical and transparent. The proposed technique enables the use of fast and robust commercial OPF tool and time-domain simulation software for solving large scale TSC-OPF problem, which makes the proposed method also suitable for real-time application.

Digital robust active control law synthesis for large order systems using constrained optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mukhopadhyay, Vivek

1987-01-01

This paper presents a direct digital control law synthesis procedure for a large order, sampled data, linear feedback system using constrained optimization techniques to meet multiple design requirements. A linear quadratic Gaussian type cost function is minimized while satisfying a set of constraints on the design loads and responses. General expressions for gradients of the cost function and constraints, with respect to the digital control law design variables are derived analytically and computed by solving a set of discrete Liapunov equations. The designer can choose the structure of the control law and the design variables, hence a stable classical control law as well as an estimator-based full or reduced order control law can be used as an initial starting point. Selected design responses can be treated as constraints instead of lumping them into the cost function. This feature can be used to modify a control law, to meet individual root mean square response limitations as well as minimum single value restrictions. Low order, robust digital control laws were synthesized for gust load alleviation of a flexible remotely piloted drone aircraft.

Cost Planning System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, Brian

1974-01-01

The third installment of a Building Cost File points out the necessity of providing a framework for overall cost control during design. A cost analysis (see EA 504 571) illustrates how the use of construction elements or subsystems provide a suitable means. Other related articles are EA 503 949, 950, 951, and EA 504 578-579. (MF)

Towards cheaper control centers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baize, Lionel

1994-01-01

Today, any approach to the design of new space systems must take into consideration an important constraint, namely costs. This approach is our guideline for new missions and also applies to the ground segment, and particularly to the control center. CNES has carried out a study on a recent control center for application satellites in order to take advantage of the experience gained. This analysis, the purpose of which is to determine, a posteriori, the costs of architecture needs and choices, takes hardware and software costs into account and makes a number of recommendations.

Risk assessment for Industrial Control Systems quantifying availability using mean failure cost (MFC)

DOE PAGES

Chen, Qian; Abercrombie, Robert K; Sheldon, Frederick T.

2015-09-23

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are commonly used in industries such as oil and natural gas, transportation, electric, water and wastewater, chemical, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, food and beverage, as well as discrete manufacturing (e.g., automotive, aerospace, and durable goods.) SCADA systems are generally used to control dispersed assets using centralized data acquisition and supervisory control.Originally, ICS implementations were susceptible primarily to local threats because most of their components were located in physically secure areas (i.e., ICS components were not connected to IT networks or systems). The trend toward integrating ICS systems with IT networks (e.g., efficiency and the Internet ofmore » Things) provides significantly less isolation for ICS from the outside world thus creating greater risk due to external threats. Albeit, the availability of ICS/SCADA systems is critical to assuring safety, security and profitability. Such systems form the backbone of our national cyber-physical infrastructure.Herein, we extend the concept of mean failure cost (MFC) to address quantifying availability to harmonize well with ICS security risk assessment. This new measure is based on the classic formulation of Availability combined with Mean Failure Cost (MFC). Finally, the metric offers a computational basis to estimate the availability of a system in terms of the loss that each stakeholder stands to sustain as a result of security violations or breakdowns (e.g., deliberate malicious failures).« less

Optimal inventories for overhaul of repairable redundant systems - A Markov decision model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schaefer, M. K.

1984-01-01

A Markovian decision model was developed to calculate the optimal inventory of repairable spare parts for an avionics control system for commercial aircraft. Total expected shortage costs, repair costs, and holding costs are minimized for a machine containing a single system of redundant parts. Transition probabilities are calculated for each repair state and repair rate, and optimal spare parts inventory and repair strategies are determined through linear programming. The linear programming solutions are given in a table.

Ahuachapan geothermal project: a technical and economic assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bloomster, C.H.; DiPippo; Kuwada, J.T.

Theeconomic and technical factors involved in using geothermal energy at Ahuachapan are examined. The experience at Ahuachapan is evaluated in relation to conditions prevailing in El Salvador and to conditions in the U.S. technical characteristics considered are: geological characteristics, well programs and gathering system, well productivity and geofluid characteristics, and energy conversion systems. Economic factors considered for El Salvador are: construction costs; environmental control costs; operating experience and costs; financing; taxes, subsidies, or incentives; marketing; and electrical system characteristics. (MHR)

A study of a space communication system for the control and monitoring of the electric distribution system. Volume 2: Supporting data and analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaisnys, A.

1980-01-01

It is technically feasible to design a satellite communication system to serve the United States electric utility industry's needs relative to load management, real-time operations management, remote meter reading and to determine the costs of various elements of the system. The functions associated with distribution automation and control and communication system requirements are defined. Factors related to formulating viable communication concepts, the relationship of various design factors to utility operating practices, and the results of the cost analysis are discussed The system concept and several ways in which the concept could be integrated into the utility industry are described.

PID Tuning Using Extremum Seeking

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Killingsworth, N; Krstic, M

2005-11-15

Although proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers are widely used in the process industry, their effectiveness is often limited due to poor tuning. Manual tuning of PID controllers, which requires optimization of three parameters, is a time-consuming task. To remedy this difficulty, much effort has been invested in developing systematic tuning methods. Many of these methods rely on knowledge of the plant model or require special experiments to identify a suitable plant model. Reviews of these methods are given in [1] and the survey paper [2]. However, in many situations a plant model is not known, and it is not desirable to openmore » the process loop for system identification. Thus a method for tuning PID parameters within a closed-loop setting is advantageous. In relay feedback tuning [3]-[5], the feedback controller is temporarily replaced by a relay. Relay feedback causes most systems to oscillate, thus determining one point on the Nyquist diagram. Based on the location of this point, PID parameters can be chosen to give the closed-loop system a desired phase and gain margin. An alternative tuning method, which does not require either a modification of the system or a system model, is unfalsified control [6], [7]. This method uses input-output data to determine whether a set of PID parameters meets performance specifications. An adaptive algorithm is used to update the PID controller based on whether or not the controller falsifies a given criterion. The method requires a finite set of candidate PID controllers that must be initially specified [6]. Unfalsified control for an infinite set of PID controllers has been developed in [7]; this approach requires a carefully chosen input signal [8]. Yet another model-free PID tuning method that does not require opening of the loop is iterative feedback tuning (IFT). IFT iteratively optimizes the controller parameters with respect to a cost function derived from the output signal of the closed-loop system, see [9]. This method is based on the performance of the closed-loop system during a step response experiment [10], [11]. In this article we present a method for optimizing the step response of a closed-loop system consisting of a PID controller and an unknown plant with a discrete version of extremum seeking (ES). Specifically, ES is used to minimize a cost function similar to that used in [10], [11], which quantifies the performance of the PID controller. ES, a non-model-based method, iteratively modifies the arguments (in this application the PID parameters) of a cost function so that the output of the cost function reaches a local minimum or local maximum. In the next section we apply ES to PID controller tuning. We illustrate this technique through simulations comparing the effectiveness of ES to other PID tuning methods. Next, we address the importance of the choice of cost function and consider the effect of controller saturation. Furthermore, we discuss the choice of ES tuning parameters. Finally, we offer some conclusions.« less

The costs and cost-effectiveness of an integrated sepsis treatment protocol.

PubMed

Talmor, Daniel; Greenberg, Dan; Howell, Michael D; Lisbon, Alan; Novack, Victor; Shapiro, Nathan

2008-04-01

Sepsis is associated with high mortality and treatment costs. International guidelines recommend the implementation of integrated sepsis protocols; however, the true cost and cost-effectiveness of these are unknown. To assess the cost-effectiveness of an integrated sepsis protocol, as compared with conventional care. Prospective cohort study of consecutive patients presenting with septic shock and enrolled in the institution's integrated sepsis protocol. Clinical and economic outcomes were compared with a historical control cohort. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Overall, 79 patients presenting to the emergency department with septic shock in the treatment cohort and 51 patients in the control group. An integrated sepsis treatment protocol incorporating empirical antibiotics, early goal-directed therapy, intensive insulin therapy, lung-protective ventilation, and consideration for drotrecogin alfa and steroid therapy. In-hospital treatment costs were collected using the hospital's detailed accounting system. The cost-effectiveness analysis was performed from the perspective of the healthcare system using a lifetime horizon. The primary end point for the cost-effectiveness analysis was the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year gained. Mortality in the treatment group was 20.3% vs. 29.4% in the control group (p = .23). Implementing an integrated sepsis protocol resulted in a mean increase in cost of approximately $8,800 per patient, largely driven by increased intensive care unit length of stay. Life expectancy and quality-adjusted life years were higher in the treatment group; 0.78 and 0.54, respectively. The protocol was associated with an incremental cost of $11,274 per life-year saved and a cost of $16,309 per quality-adjusted life year gained. In patients with septic shock, an integrated sepsis protocol, although not cost-saving, appears to be cost-effective and compares very favorably to other commonly delivered acute care interventions.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of an Automated Medication System Implemented in a Danish Hospital Setting.

PubMed

Risør, Bettina Wulff; Lisby, Marianne; Sørensen, Jan

To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an automated medication system (AMS) implemented in a Danish hospital setting. An economic evaluation was performed alongside a controlled before-and-after effectiveness study with one control ward and one intervention ward. The primary outcome measure was the number of errors in the medication administration process observed prospectively before and after implementation. To determine the difference in proportion of errors after implementation of the AMS, logistic regression was applied with the presence of error(s) as the dependent variable. Time, group, and interaction between time and group were the independent variables. The cost analysis used the hospital perspective with a short-term incremental costing approach. The total 6-month costs with and without the AMS were calculated as well as the incremental costs. The number of avoided administration errors was related to the incremental costs to obtain the cost-effectiveness ratio expressed as the cost per avoided administration error. The AMS resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the proportion of errors in the intervention ward compared with the control ward. The cost analysis showed that the AMS increased the ward's 6-month cost by €16,843. The cost-effectiveness ratio was estimated at €2.01 per avoided administration error, €2.91 per avoided procedural error, and €19.38 per avoided clinical error. The AMS was effective in reducing errors in the medication administration process at a higher overall cost. The cost-effectiveness analysis showed that the AMS was associated with affordable cost-effectiveness rates. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hierarchical Control Using Networks Trained with Higher-Level Forward Models

PubMed Central

Wayne, Greg; Abbott, L.F.

2015-01-01

We propose and develop a hierarchical approach to network control of complex tasks. In this approach, a low-level controller directs the activity of a “plant,” the system that performs the task. However, the low-level controller may only be able to solve fairly simple problems involving the plant. To accomplish more complex tasks, we introduce a higher-level controller that controls the lower-level controller. We use this system to direct an articulated truck to a specified location through an environment filled with static or moving obstacles. The final system consists of networks that have memorized associations between the sensory data they receive and the commands they issue. These networks are trained on a set of optimal associations that are generated by minimizing cost functions. Cost function minimization requires predicting the consequences of sequences of commands, which is achieved by constructing forward models, including a model of the lower-level controller. The forward models and cost minimization are only used during training, allowing the trained networks to respond rapidly. In general, the hierarchical approach can be extended to larger numbers of levels, dividing complex tasks into more manageable sub-tasks. The optimization procedure and the construction of the forward models and controllers can be performed in similar ways at each level of the hierarchy, which allows the system to be modified to perform other tasks, or to be extended for more complex tasks without retraining lower-levels. PMID:25058706

Reducing Barriers To The Use of High-Efficiency Lighting Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peter Morante

2005-12-31

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute completed the four-year research project, Reducing Barriers to the Use of High-Efficiency Lighting Systems. The initial objectives were: (1) identifying barriers to widespread penetration of lighting controls in commercial/industrial (C/I) applications that employ fluorescent lamp technologies, and (2) making recommendations to overcome these barriers. The addition of a fourth year expanded the original project objectives to include an examination of the impact on fluorescent lamps from dimming utilizing different lamp electrode heating and dimming ratios. The scope of the project was narrowedmore » to identify barriers to the penetration of lighting controls into commercial-industrial (C/I) applications that employ fluorescent lamp technologies, and to recommend means for overcoming these barriers. Working with lighting manufacturers, specifiers, and installers, the project identified technological and marketing barriers to the widespread use of lighting controls, specifically automatic-off controls, occupancy sensors, photosensors, dimming systems, communication protocols and load-shedding ballasts. The primary barriers identified include cost effectiveness of lighting controls to the building owner, lack of standard communication protocols to allow different part of the control system to communicate effectively, and installation and commissioning issues. Overcoming the identified barriers requires lighting control products on the market to achieve three main goals: (1) Achieve sufficient functionality to meet the key requirements of their main market. (2) Allow significant cost reduction compared to current market standard systems. Cost should consider: hardware capital cost including wiring, design time required by the specifier and the control system manufacturer, installation time required by the electrician, and commissioning time and remedial time required by the electrician and end user. (3) Minimize ongoing perceived overhead costs and inconvenience to the end user, or in other words, systems should be simple to understand and use. In addition, we believe that no lighting controls solution is effective or acceptable unless it contributes to, or does not compromise, the following goals: (1) Productivity--Planning, installation, commissioning, maintenance, and use of controls should not decrease business productivity; (2) Energy savings--Lighting controls should save significant amounts of energy and money in relation to the expense involved in using them (acceptable payback period); and/or (3) Reduced power demand--Society as a whole should benefit from the lowered demand for expensive power and for more natural resources. Discussions of technology barriers and developments are insufficient by themselves to achieve higher penetration of lighting controls in the market place. Technology transfer efforts must play a key role in gaining market acceptance. The LRC developed a technology transfer model to better understand what actions are required and by whom to move any technology toward full market acceptance.« less

Comparison of Actual Costs to Integrate Commercial Buildings with the Grid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Piette, Mary Ann; Black, Doug; Yin, Rongxin

During the past decade, the technology to automate demand response (DR) in buildings and industrial facilities has advanced significantly. Automation allows rapid, repeatable, reliable operation. This study focuses on costs for DR automation in commercial buildings with some discussion on residential buildings and industrial facilities. DR automation technology relies on numerous components, including communication systems, hardware and software gateways, standards-based messaging protocols, controls and integration platforms, and measurement and telemetry systems. This paper discusses the impact factors that contribute to the costs of automated DR systems, with a focus on OpenADR 1.0 and 2.0 systems. In addition, this report comparesmore » cost data from several DR automation programs and pilot projects, evaluates trends in the cost per unit of DR and kilowatts (kW) available from automated systems, and applies a standard naming convention and classification or taxonomy for system elements. In summary, median costs for the 56 installed automated DR systems studied here are about $200/kW. The deviation around this median is large with costs in some cases being an order of magnitude greater or less than median. Costs to automate fast DR systems for ancillary services are not fully analyzed in this report because additional research is needed to determine the total such costs.« less

Design optimization for cost and quality: The robust design approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Unal, Resit

1990-01-01

Designing reliable, low cost, and operable space systems has become the key to future space operations. Designing high quality space systems at low cost is an economic and technological challenge to the designer. A systematic and efficient way to meet this challenge is a new method of design optimization for performance, quality, and cost, called Robust Design. Robust Design is an approach for design optimization. It consists of: making system performance insensitive to material and subsystem variation, thus allowing the use of less costly materials and components; making designs less sensitive to the variations in the operating environment, thus improving reliability and reducing operating costs; and using a new structured development process so that engineering time is used most productively. The objective in Robust Design is to select the best combination of controllable design parameters so that the system is most robust to uncontrollable noise factors. The robust design methodology uses a mathematical tool called an orthogonal array, from design of experiments theory, to study a large number of decision variables with a significantly small number of experiments. Robust design also uses a statistical measure of performance, called a signal-to-noise ratio, from electrical control theory, to evaluate the level of performance and the effect of noise factors. The purpose is to investigate the Robust Design methodology for improving quality and cost, demonstrate its application by the use of an example, and suggest its use as an integral part of space system design process.

Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) Before and After Cost Study

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) undertook a retrofit of a fixed-block signaling system with a communications-based train control (CBTC) system in the subway portion of their light rail system (Muni Metro subway) in 1998. This report presents t...

Controlling groundwater pumping online.

PubMed

Zekri, Slim

2009-08-01

Groundwater over-pumping is a major problem in several countries around the globe. Since controlling groundwater pumping through water flow meters is hardly feasible, the surrogate is to control electricity usage. This paper presents a framework to restrict groundwater pumping by implementing an annual individual electricity quota without interfering with the electricity pricing policy. The system could be monitored online through prepaid electricity meters. This provides low transaction costs of individual monitoring of users compared to the prohibitive costs of water flow metering and monitoring. The public groundwater managers' intervention is thus required to determine the water and electricity quota and watch the electricity use online. The proposed framework opens the door to the establishment of formal groundwater markets among users at very low transaction costs. A cost-benefit analysis over a 25-year period is used to evaluate the cost of non-action and compare it to the prepaid electricity quota framework in the Batinah coastal area of Oman. Results show that the damage cost to the community, if no active policy is implemented, amounts to (-$288) million. On the other hand, the implementation of a prepaid electricity quota with an online management system would result in a net present benefit of $199 million.

Economic analysis of atmospheric mercury emission control for coal-fired power plants in China.

PubMed

Ancora, Maria Pia; Zhang, Lei; Wang, Shuxiao; Schreifels, Jeremy; Hao, Jiming

2015-07-01

Coal combustion and mercury pollution are closely linked, and this relationship is particularly relevant in China, the world's largest coal consumer. This paper begins with a summary of recent China-specific studies on mercury removal by air pollution control technologies and then provides an economic analysis of mercury abatement from these emission control technologies at coal-fired power plants in China. This includes a cost-effectiveness analysis at the enterprise and sector level in China using 2010 as a baseline and projecting out to 2020 and 2030. Of the control technologies evaluated, the most cost-effective is a fabric filter installed upstream of the wet flue gas desulfurization system (FF+WFGD). Halogen injection (HI) is also a cost-effective mercury-specific control strategy, although it has not yet reached commercial maturity. The sector-level analysis shows that 193 tons of mercury was removed in 2010 in China's coal-fired power sector, with annualized mercury emission control costs of 2.7 billion Chinese Yuan. Under a projected 2030 Emission Control (EC) scenario with stringent mercury limits compared to Business As Usual (BAU) scenario, the increase of selective catalytic reduction systems (SCR) and the use of HI could contribute to 39 tons of mercury removal at a cost of 3.8 billion CNY. The economic analysis presented in this paper offers insights on air pollution control technologies and practices for enhancing atmospheric mercury control that can aid decision-making in policy design and private-sector investments. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Damage Control Technology - A Literature Review

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-01

The Canadian Navy has identified the reduction of the total operating cost ( TOC ) of new ships as a priority. The major contributors to the TOC of a...Corporation, California, USA AC-CAS Group Co. Ltd., Bangkok, Thailand Apollo Fire Detectors, Hempshire, England, UK Compania Panamena de Sistemas ...National Defence DRDC Defence Research and Development Canada TOC Total Operating Cost BDCS Battle Damage Control System DC-ARM Damage Control

Rising Cost of Cancer Pharmaceuticals: Cost Issues and Interventions to Control Costs.

PubMed

Glode, Ashley E; May, Megan Brafford

2017-01-01

The rising cost of pharmaceuticals and, in particular, cancer drugs has made headline news in recent years. Several factors contribute to increasing costs and the burden this places on the health care system and patients. Some of these factors include costly cancer pharmaceutical research and development, longer clinical trials required to achieve drug approval, manufacturing costs for complex compounds, and the economic principles surrounding oncology drug pricing. Strategies to control costs have been proposed, and some have already been implemented to mitigate cancer drug costs such as the use of clinical treatment pathways and tools to facilitate cost discussions with patients. In this article, we briefly review some of the potential factors contributing to increasing cancer pharmaceutical costs and interventions to mitigate costs, and touch on the role of health care providers in addressing this important issue. © 2016 Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

Cost of dengue outbreaks: literature review and country case studies

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Dengue disease surveillance and vector surveillance are presumed to detect dengue outbreaks at an early stage and to save – through early response activities – resources, and reduce the social and economic impact of outbreaks on individuals, health systems and economies. The aim of this study is to unveil evidence on the cost of dengue outbreaks. Methods Economic evidence on dengue outbreaks was gathered by conducting a literature review and collecting information on the costs of recent dengue outbreaks in 4 countries: Peru, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The literature review distinguished between costs of dengue illness including cost of dengue outbreaks, cost of interventions and cost-effectiveness of interventions. Results Seventeen publications on cost of dengue showed a large range of costs from 0.2 Million US$ in Venezuela to 135.2 Million US$ in Brazil. However, these figures were not standardized to make them comparable. Furthermore, dengue outbreak costs are calculated differently across the publications, and cost of dengue illness is used interchangeably with cost of dengue outbreaks. Only one paper from Australia analysed the resources saved through active dengue surveillance. Costs of vector control interventions have been reported in 4 studies, indicating that the costs of such interventions are lower than those of actual outbreaks. Nine papers focussed on the cost-effectiveness of dengue vaccines or dengue vector control; they do not provide any direct information on cost of dengue outbreaks, but their modelling methodologies could guide future research on cost-effectiveness of national surveillance systems. The country case studies – conducted in very different geographic and health system settings - unveiled rough estimates for 2011 outbreak costs of: 12 million US$ in Vietnam, 6.75 million US$ in Indonesia, 4.5 million US$ in Peru and 2.8 million US$ in Dominican Republic (all in 2012 US$). The proportions of the different cost components (vector control; surveillance; information, education and communication; direct medical and indirect costs), as percentage of total costs, differed across the respective countries. Resources used for dengue disease control and treatment were country specific. Conclusions The evidence so far collected further confirms the methodological challenges in this field: 1) to define technically dengue outbreaks (what do we measure?) and 2) to measure accurately the costs in prospective field studies (how do we measure?). Currently, consensus on the technical definition of an outbreak is sought through the International Research Consortium on Dengue Risk Assessment, Management and Surveillance (IDAMS). Best practice guidelines should be further developed, also to improve the quality and comparability of cost study findings. Modelling the costs of dengue outbreaks and validating these models through field studies should guide further research. PMID:24195519

Cost of dengue outbreaks: literature review and country case studies.

PubMed

Stahl, Hans-Christian; Butenschoen, Vicki Marie; Tran, Hien Tinh; Gozzer, Ernesto; Skewes, Ronald; Mahendradhata, Yodi; Runge-Ranzinger, Silvia; Kroeger, Axel; Farlow, Andrew

2013-11-06

Dengue disease surveillance and vector surveillance are presumed to detect dengue outbreaks at an early stage and to save--through early response activities--resources, and reduce the social and economic impact of outbreaks on individuals, health systems and economies. The aim of this study is to unveil evidence on the cost of dengue outbreaks. Economic evidence on dengue outbreaks was gathered by conducting a literature review and collecting information on the costs of recent dengue outbreaks in 4 countries: Peru, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The literature review distinguished between costs of dengue illness including cost of dengue outbreaks, cost of interventions and cost-effectiveness of interventions. Seventeen publications on cost of dengue showed a large range of costs from 0.2 Million US$ in Venezuela to 135.2 Million US$ in Brazil. However, these figures were not standardized to make them comparable. Furthermore, dengue outbreak costs are calculated differently across the publications, and cost of dengue illness is used interchangeably with cost of dengue outbreaks. Only one paper from Australia analysed the resources saved through active dengue surveillance. Costs of vector control interventions have been reported in 4 studies, indicating that the costs of such interventions are lower than those of actual outbreaks. Nine papers focussed on the cost-effectiveness of dengue vaccines or dengue vector control; they do not provide any direct information on cost of dengue outbreaks, but their modelling methodologies could guide future research on cost-effectiveness of national surveillance systems.The country case studies--conducted in very different geographic and health system settings - unveiled rough estimates for 2011 outbreak costs of: 12 million US$ in Vietnam, 6.75 million US$ in Indonesia, 4.5 million US$ in Peru and 2.8 million US$ in Dominican Republic (all in 2012 US$). The proportions of the different cost components (vector control; surveillance; information, education and communication; direct medical and indirect costs), as percentage of total costs, differed across the respective countries. Resources used for dengue disease control and treatment were country specific. The evidence so far collected further confirms the methodological challenges in this field: 1) to define technically dengue outbreaks (what do we measure?) and 2) to measure accurately the costs in prospective field studies (how do we measure?). Currently, consensus on the technical definition of an outbreak is sought through the International Research Consortium on Dengue Risk Assessment, Management and Surveillance (IDAMS). Best practice guidelines should be further developed, also to improve the quality and comparability of cost study findings. Modelling the costs of dengue outbreaks and validating these models through field studies should guide further research.

Comprehensive Evaluation of Biological Growth Control by Chlorine-Based Biocides in Power Plant Cooling Systems Using Tertiary Effluent

PubMed Central

Chien, Shih-Hsiang; Dzombak, David A.; Vidic, Radisav D.

2013-01-01

Abstract Recent studies have shown that treated municipal wastewater can be a reliable cooling water alternative to fresh water. However, elevated nutrient concentration and microbial population in wastewater lead to aggressive biological proliferation in the cooling system. Three chlorine-based biocides were evaluated for the control of biological growth in cooling systems using tertiary treated wastewater as makeup, based on their biocidal efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Optimal chemical regimens for achieving successful biological growth control were elucidated based on batch-, bench-, and pilot-scale experiments. Biocide usage and biological activity in planktonic and sessile phases were carefully monitored to understand biological growth potential and biocidal efficiency of the three disinfectants in this particular environment. Water parameters, such as temperature, cycles of concentration, and ammonia concentration in recirculating water, critically affected the biocide performance in recirculating cooling systems. Bench-scale recirculating tests were shown to adequately predict the biocide residual required for a pilot-scale cooling system. Optimal residuals needed for proper biological growth control were 1, 2–3, and 0.5–1 mg/L as Cl2 for NaOCl, preformed NH2Cl, and ClO2, respectively. Pilot-scale tests also revealed that Legionella pneumophila was absent from these cooling systems when using the disinfectants evaluated in this study. Cost analysis showed that NaOCl is the most cost-effective for controlling biological growth in power plant recirculating cooling systems using tertiary-treated wastewater as makeup. PMID:23781129

Comprehensive Evaluation of Biological Growth Control by Chlorine-Based Biocides in Power Plant Cooling Systems Using Tertiary Effluent.

PubMed

Chien, Shih-Hsiang; Dzombak, David A; Vidic, Radisav D

2013-06-01

Recent studies have shown that treated municipal wastewater can be a reliable cooling water alternative to fresh water. However, elevated nutrient concentration and microbial population in wastewater lead to aggressive biological proliferation in the cooling system. Three chlorine-based biocides were evaluated for the control of biological growth in cooling systems using tertiary treated wastewater as makeup, based on their biocidal efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Optimal chemical regimens for achieving successful biological growth control were elucidated based on batch-, bench-, and pilot-scale experiments. Biocide usage and biological activity in planktonic and sessile phases were carefully monitored to understand biological growth potential and biocidal efficiency of the three disinfectants in this particular environment. Water parameters, such as temperature, cycles of concentration, and ammonia concentration in recirculating water, critically affected the biocide performance in recirculating cooling systems. Bench-scale recirculating tests were shown to adequately predict the biocide residual required for a pilot-scale cooling system. Optimal residuals needed for proper biological growth control were 1, 2-3, and 0.5-1 mg/L as Cl 2 for NaOCl, preformed NH 2 Cl, and ClO 2 , respectively. Pilot-scale tests also revealed that Legionella pneumophila was absent from these cooling systems when using the disinfectants evaluated in this study. Cost analysis showed that NaOCl is the most cost-effective for controlling biological growth in power plant recirculating cooling systems using tertiary-treated wastewater as makeup.

Decentralized stabilization for a class of continuous-time nonlinear interconnected systems using online learning optimal control approach.

PubMed

Liu, Derong; Wang, Ding; Li, Hongliang

2014-02-01

In this paper, using a neural-network-based online learning optimal control approach, a novel decentralized control strategy is developed to stabilize a class of continuous-time nonlinear interconnected large-scale systems. First, optimal controllers of the isolated subsystems are designed with cost functions reflecting the bounds of interconnections. Then, it is proven that the decentralized control strategy of the overall system can be established by adding appropriate feedback gains to the optimal control policies of the isolated subsystems. Next, an online policy iteration algorithm is presented to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations related to the optimal control problem. Through constructing a set of critic neural networks, the cost functions can be obtained approximately, followed by the control policies. Furthermore, the dynamics of the estimation errors of the critic networks are verified to be uniformly and ultimately bounded. Finally, a simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the present decentralized control scheme.

Evaluation plan for state gas heating system retrofit pilot programs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berry, L.; Vineyard, T.

This report presents a detailed plan for the evaluation of state gas heating system retrofit pilot programs. The major goals of the evaluation procedures are to document the fuel savings and cost effectiveness of (1) the programs implemented by the states and (2) the four retrofit types installed. The major tasks involved in the evaluation include identification of program-eligible households, screening for data quality, assignment of eligible households to treatment or control groups, assembling cost data, collecting pre- and postretrofit consumption data, obtainin pre- and postretrofit weather data, checking for data quality, and analyzing the data. Data analysis relies onmore » the calculation of weather-adjusted normalized annual consumption (NAC) figures for pre- and postretrofit years for treatment and control groups. The differences between the treatment and control groups' NACs for the pre- and postretrofit years are the measure of the program's impact. Cost effectiveness analysis will combine the NAC results with cost data and with a variety of assumptions concerning future fuel prices, retrofit lifetimes, and discount rates to produce benefit/cost indicators.« less

A Low Cost Microcomputer System for Process Dynamics and Control Simulations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crowl, D. A.; Durisin, M. J.

1983-01-01

Discusses a video simulator microcomputer system used to provide real-time demonstrations to strengthen students' understanding of process dynamics and control. Also discusses hardware/software and simulations developed using the system. The four simulations model various configurations of a process liquid level tank system. (JN)

Cost of Lightning Strike Related Outages of Visual Navigational Aids at Airports in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rakas, J.; Nikolic, M.; Bauranov, A.

2017-12-01

Lightning storms are a serious hazard that can cause damage to vital human infrastructure. In aviation, lightning strikes cause outages to air traffic control equipment and facilities that result in major disruptions in the network, causing delays and financial costs measured in the millions of dollars. Failure of critical systems, such as Visual Navigational Aids (Visual NAVAIDS), are particularly dangerous since NAVAIDS are an essential part of landing procedures. Precision instrument approach, an operation utilized during the poor visibility conditions, utilizes several of these systems, and their failure leads to holding patterns and ultimately diversions to other airports. These disruptions lead to both ground and airborne delay. Accurate prediction of these outages and their costs is a key prerequisite for successful investment planning. The air traffic management and control sector need accurate information to successfully plan maintenance and develop a more robust system under the threat of increasing lightning rates. To analyze the issue, we couple the Remote Monitoring and Logging System (RMLS) database and the Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) databases to identify lightning-induced outages, and connect them with weather conditions, demand and landing runway to calculate the total delays induced by the outages, as well as the number of cancellations and diversions. The costs are then determined by calculating direct costs to aircraft operators and costs of passengers' time for delays, cancellations and diversions. The results indicate that 1) not all NAVAIDS are created equal, and 2) outside conditions matter. The cost of an outage depends on the importance of the failed system and the conditions that prevailed before, during and after the failure. The outage that occurs during high demand and poor weather conditions is more likely to result in more delays and higher costs.

Solar project cost report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hale, H.J.

1978-01-01

This report provides detailed cost information for the Reedy Creek Utilities solar space heating, cooling and service water heating project located in Walt Disney World, Florida. The solar energy system cools, heats and supplies service hot water for approximately 5625 ft/sup 2/ of office space in a general office building. The system was designed as an integral part of the building at the time the building was designed. The construction costs of this solar project are presented in this report. Category costs are listed by materials, direct labor, and subcontract costs. The subcontract costs include both materials, labor, overhead andmore » profit for electrical, control and other minor subcontractors.« less

Analysis of Different Cost Functions in the Geosect Airspace Partitioning Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wong, Gregory L.

2010-01-01

A new cost function representing air traffic controller workload is implemented in the Geosect airspace partitioning tool. Geosect currently uses a combination of aircraft count and dwell time to select optimal airspace partitions that balance controller workload. This is referred to as the aircraft count/dwell time hybrid cost function. The new cost function is based on Simplified Dynamic Density, a measure of different aspects of air traffic controller workload. Three sectorizations are compared. These are the current sectorization, Geosect's sectorization based on the aircraft count/dwell time hybrid cost function, and Geosect s sectorization based on the Simplified Dynamic Density cost function. Each sectorization is evaluated for maximum and average workload along with workload balance using the Simplified Dynamic Density as the workload measure. In addition, the Airspace Concept Evaluation System, a nationwide air traffic simulator, is used to determine the capacity and delay incurred by each sectorization. The sectorization resulting from the Simplified Dynamic Density cost function had a lower maximum workload measure than the other sectorizations, and the sectorization based on the combination of aircraft count and dwell time did a better job of balancing workload and balancing capacity. However, the current sectorization had the lowest average workload, highest sector capacity, and the least system delay.

Coal supply and cost under technological and environmental uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Melissa

This thesis estimates available coal resources, recoverability, mining costs, environmental impacts, and environmental control costs for the United States under technological and environmental uncertainty. It argues for a comprehensive, well-planned research program that will resolve resource uncertainty, and innovate new technologies to improve recovery and environmental performance. A stochastic process and cost (constant 2005) model for longwall, continuous, and surface mines based on current technology and mining practice data was constructed. It estimates production and cost ranges within 5-11 percent of 2006 prices and production rates. The model was applied to the National Coal Resource Assessment. Assuming the cheapest mining method is chosen to extract coal, 250-320 billion tons are recoverable. Two-thirds to all coal resource can be mined at a cost less than 4/mmBTU. If U.S. coal demand substantially increases, as projected by alternate Energy Information Administration (EIA), resources might not last more than 100 years. By scheduling cost to meet EIA projected demand, estimated cost uncertainty increases over time. It costs less than 15/ton to mine in the first 10 years of a 100 year time period, 10-30/ton in the following 50 years, and 15-$90/ton thereafter. Environmental impacts assessed are subsidence from underground mines, surface mine pit area, erosion, acid mine drainage, air pollutant and methane emissions. The analysis reveals that environmental impacts are significant and increasing as coal demand increases. Control technologies recommended to reduce these impacts are backfilling underground mines, surface pit reclamation, substitution of robotic underground mining systems for surface pit mining, soil replacement for erosion, placing barriers between exposed coal and the elements to avoid acid formation, and coalbed methane development to avoid methane emissions during mining. The costs to apply these technologies to meet more stringent environmental regulation scenarios are estimated. The results show that the cost of meeting these regulatory scenarios could increase mining costs two to six times the business as usual cost, which could significantly affect the cost of coal-powered electricity generation. This thesis provides a first estimate of resource availability, mining cost, and environmental impact assessment and cost analysis. Available resource is not completely reported, so the available estimate is lower than actual resource. Mining costs are optimized, so provide a low estimate of potential costs. Environmental impact estimates are on the high end of potential impact that may be incurred because it is assumed that impact is unavoidable. Control costs vary. Estimated cost to control subsidence and surface mine pit impacts are suitable estimates of the cost to reduce land impacts. Erosion control and robotic mining system costs are lower, and methane and acid mine drainage control costs are higher, than they may be in the case that these impacts must be reduced.

Case Management Agency Systems of Administering Long-Term Care: Evidence from the Channeling Demonstration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemper, Peter

1990-01-01

Examines what was learned from channeling demonstration about potential of case management agency systems for administering home care benefits. Considers both advantages (substitution of lower cost for higher cost services, negotiation of lower prices for services, quality assurance) and disadvantages (difficulty controlling participation rates,…

75 FR 64684 - Cost Accounting Standards: Elimination of the Exemption From Cost Accounting Standards for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-20

... financial accounting practices and internal controls. Consistency will be better served by all companies... such as the ownership and control of the company, and whether the contractor's accounting activities... argues that there must be some type of accounting system in foreign entities to ensure that billings...

Microprocessor Control Design for a Low-Head Crossflow Turbine.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-01

Controllers For a Typical 10 KW Hydroturbine ............ 1-5 I-1 Ely’s Crossflow Turbine . ........ 11-2 11-2 Basic Turbine * * 0 * 0 11-5 11-3 Turbine...the systems. For example, a 25 kilowatt hydroturbine built and installed by Bell Hydroelectric would cost approximately $20,000 in 1978 (6:49). The...O Manual Controller S2 E- Microprocessor Controller 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 YEARS Fig. 1-2 Comparative Costs of Controllers For a Typical 10 KW Hydroturbine

Low-cost modular array-field designs for flat-panel and concentrator photovoltaic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Post, H. N.; Carmichael, D. C.; Alexander, G.; Castle, J. A.

1982-09-01

Described are the design and development of low-cost, modular array fields for flat-panel and concentrator photovoltaic (PV) systems. The objective of the work was to reduce substantially the cost of the array-field Balance-of-System (BOS) subsystems and site-specific design costs as compared to previous PV installations. These subsystems include site preparation, foundations, support structures, electrical writing, grounding, lightning protection, electromagnetic interference considerations, and controls. To reduce these BOS and design costs, standardized modular (building-block) designs for flat-panel and concentrator array fields have been developed that are fully integrated and optimized for lowest life-cycle costs. Using drawings and specifications now available, these building-block designs can be used in multiples to install various size array fields. The developed designs are immediately applicable (1982) and reduce the array-field BOS costs to a fraction of previous costs.

Cost and quality trends in direct contracting arrangements.

PubMed

Lyles, Alan; Weiner, Jonathan P; Shore, Andrew D; Christianson, Jon; Solberg, Leif I; Drury, Patricia

2002-01-01

This paper presents the first empirical analysis of a 1997 initiative of the Buyers Health Care Action Group (BHCAG) known as Choice Plus. This initiative entailed direct contracts with provider-controlled delivery systems; annual care system bidding; public reports of consumer satisfaction and quality; uniform benefits; and risk-adjusted payment. After case-mix adjustment, hospital costs decreased, ambulatory care costs rose modestly, and pharmacy costs increased substantially. Process-oriented quality indicators were stable or improved. The BHCAG employer-to-provider direct contracting and consumer choice model appeared to perform reasonably well in containing costs, without measurable adverse effects on quality.

A stochastic optimal feedforward and feedback control methodology for superagility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Halyo, Nesim; Direskeneli, Haldun; Taylor, Deborah B.

1992-01-01

A new control design methodology is developed: Stochastic Optimal Feedforward and Feedback Technology (SOFFT). Traditional design techniques optimize a single cost function (which expresses the design objectives) to obtain both the feedforward and feedback control laws. This approach places conflicting demands on the control law such as fast tracking versus noise atttenuation/disturbance rejection. In the SOFFT approach, two cost functions are defined. The feedforward control law is designed to optimize one cost function, the feedback optimizes the other. By separating the design objectives and decoupling the feedforward and feedback design processes, both objectives can be achieved fully. A new measure of command tracking performance, Z-plots, is also developed. By analyzing these plots at off-nominal conditions, the sensitivity or robustness of the system in tracking commands can be predicted. Z-plots provide an important tool for designing robust control systems. The Variable-Gain SOFFT methodology was used to design a flight control system for the F/A-18 aircraft. It is shown that SOFFT can be used to expand the operating regime and provide greater performance (flying/handling qualities) throughout the extended flight regime. This work was performed under the NASA SBIR program. ICS plans to market the software developed as a new module in its commercial CACSD software package: ACET.

Economic evaluation of a pharmaceutical care program for elderly diabetic and hypertensive patients in primary health care: a 36-month randomized controlled clinical trial.

PubMed

Obreli-Neto, Paulo Roque; Marusic, Srecko; Guidoni, Camilo Molino; Baldoni, André de Oliveira; Renovato, Rogério Dias; Pilger, Diogo; Cuman, Roberto Kenji Nakamura; Pereira, Leonardo Régis Leira

2015-01-01

Most diabetic and hypertensive patients, principally the elderly, do not achieve adequate disease control and consume 5%-15% of annual health care budgets. Previous studies verified that pharmaceutical care is useful for achieving adequate disease control in diabetes and hypertension. To evaluate the economic cost and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) of pharmaceutical care in the management of diabetes and hypertension in elderly patients in a primary public health care system in a developing country. A 36-month randomized controlled clinical trial was performed with 200 patients who were divided into a control group (n = 100) and an intervention group (n = 100). The control group received the usual care offered by the Primary Health Care Unit (medical and nurse consultations). The intervention group received the usual care plus a pharmaceutical care intervention. The intervention and control groups were compared with regard to the direct costs of health services (i.e., general practitioner, specialist, nurse, and pharmacist appointments; emergency room visits; and drug therapy costs) and the ICER per QALY. These evaluations used the health system perspective. No statistically significant difference was found between the intervention and control groups in total direct health care costs ($281.97 ± $49.73 per patient vs. $212.28 ± $43.49 per patient, respectively; P = 0.089); pharmaceutical care added incremental costs of $69.60 (± $7.90) per patient. The ICER per QALY was $53.50 (95% CI = $51.60-$54.00; monetary amounts are given in U.S. dollars). Every clinical parameter evaluated improved for the pharmaceutical care group, whereas these clinical parameters remained unchanged in the usual care group. The difference in differences (DID) tests indicated that for each clinical parameter, the patients in the intervention group improved more from pre to post than the control group (P < 0.001). While pharmaceutical care did not significantly increase total direct health care costs, significantly improved health outcomes were seen. The mean ICER per QALY gained suggests a favorable cost-effectiveness.

Synthesizing epidemiological and economic optima for control of immunizing infections.

PubMed

Klepac, Petra; Laxminarayan, Ramanan; Grenfell, Bryan T

2011-08-23

Epidemic theory predicts that the vaccination threshold required to interrupt local transmission of an immunizing infection like measles depends only on the basic reproductive number and hence transmission rates. When the search for optimal strategies is expanded to incorporate economic constraints, the optimum for disease control in a single population is determined by relative costs of infection and control, rather than transmission rates. Adding a spatial dimension, which precludes local elimination unless it can be achieved globally, can reduce or increase optimal vaccination levels depending on the balance of costs and benefits. For weakly coupled populations, local optimal strategies agree with the global cost-effective strategy; however, asymmetries in costs can lead to divergent control optima in more strongly coupled systems--in particular, strong regional differences in costs of vaccination can preclude local elimination even when elimination is locally optimal. Under certain conditions, it is locally optimal to share vaccination resources with other populations.

Design and Implementation of a Mechanical Control System for the Scanning Microwave Limb Sounder

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowden, William

2011-01-01

The Scanning Microwave Limb Sounder (SMLS) will use technological improvements in low noise mixers to provide precise data on the Earth's atmospheric composition with high spatial resolution. This project focuses on the design and implementation of a real time control system needed for airborne engineering tests of the SMLS. The system must coordinate the actuation of optical components using four motors with encoder readback, while collecting synchronized telemetric data from a GPS receiver and 3-axis gyrometric system. A graphical user interface for testing the control system was also designed using Python. Although the system could have been implemented with a FPGA-based setup, we chose to use a low cost processor development kit manufactured by XMOS. The XMOS architecture allows parallel execution of multiple tasks on separate threads-making it ideal for this application and is easily programmed using XC (a subset of C). The necessary communication interfaces were implemented in software, including Ethernet, with significant cost and time reduction compared to an FPGA-based approach. For these reasons, the XMOS technology is an attractive, cost effective, alternative to FPGA-based technologies for this design and similar rapid prototyping projects.

THE CHOICE OF REAL-TIME CONTROL STRATEGY FOR COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW CONTROL

EPA Science Inventory

This paper focuses on the strategies used to operate a collection system in real-time control (RTC) in order to optimize use of system capacity and to reduce the cost of long-term combined sewer overflow (CSO) control. Three RTC strategies were developed and analyzed based on the...

Financial Impact of Dual Vendor, Matrix Pricing, and Sole-Source Contracting on Implant Costs.

PubMed

Althausen, Peter L; Lapham, Joan; Mead, Lisa

2016-12-01

Implant costs comprise the largest proportion of operating room supply costs for orthopedic trauma care. Over the years, hospitals have devised several methods of controlling these costs with the help of physicians. With increasing economic pressure, these negotiations have a tremendous ability to decrease the cost of trauma care. In the past, physicians have taken no responsibility for implant pricing which has made cost control difficult. The reasons have been multifactorial. However, industry surgeon consulting fees, research support, and surgeon comfort with certain implant systems have played a large role in slowing adoption of cost-control measures. With the advent of physician gainsharing and comanagement agreements, physicians now have impetus to change. At our facility, we have used 3 methods for cost containment since 2009: dual vendor, matrix pricing, and sole-source contracting. Each has been increasingly successful, resulting in massive savings for the institution. This article describes the process and benefits of each model.

Stabilization for sampled-data neural-network-based control systems.

PubMed

Zhu, Xun-Lin; Wang, Youyi

2011-02-01

This paper studies the problem of stabilization for sampled-data neural-network-based control systems with an optimal guaranteed cost. Unlike previous works, the resulting closed-loop system with variable uncertain sampling cannot simply be regarded as an ordinary continuous-time system with a fast-varying delay in the state. By defining a novel piecewise Lyapunov functional and using a convex combination technique, the characteristic of sampled-data systems is captured. A new delay-dependent stabilization criterion is established in terms of linear matrix inequalities such that the maximal sampling interval and the minimal guaranteed cost control performance can be obtained. It is shown that the newly proposed approach can lead to less conservative and less complex results than the existing ones. Application examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and the benefits of the proposed method.

Improving BP control through electronic communications: an economic evaluation.

PubMed

Fishman, Paul A; Cook, Andrea J; Anderson, Melissa L; Ralston, James D; Catz, Sheryl L; Carrell, David; Carlson, James; Green, Beverly B

2013-09-01

Web-based collaborative approaches to managing chronic illness show promise for both improving health outcomes and increasing the efficiency of the healthcare system. Analyze the cost-effectiveness of the Electronic Communications and Home Blood Pressure Monitoring to Improve Blood Pressure Control (e-BP) study, a randomized controlled trial that used a patient-shared electronic medical record, home blood pressure (BP) monitoring, and web-based pharmacist care to improve BP control (<140/90 mm Hg). Incremental cost-effectiveness analysis conducted from a health plan perspective. Cost-effectiveness of home BP monitoring and web-based pharmacist care estimated for percent change in patients with controlled BP and cost per mm Hg in diastolic and systolic BP relative to usual care and home BP monitoring alone. A 1% improvement in number of patients with controlled BP using home BP monitoring and web-based pharmacist care-the e-BP program-costs $16.65 (95% confidence interval: 15.37- 17.94) relative to home BP monitoring and web training alone. Each mm HG reduction in systolic and diastolic BP achieved through the e-BP program costs $65.29 (59.91-70.67) relativeto home BP monitoring and web tools only. Life expectancy was increased at an incremental cost of $1850 (1635-2064) and $2220 (1745-2694) per year of life saved for men and women, respectively. Web-based collaborative care can be used to achieve BP control at a relatively low cost. Future research should examine the cost impact of potential long-term clinical improvements.

Implications of comorbidity on costs for patients with Alzheimer disease.

PubMed

Kuo, Tzu-Chun; Zhao, Yang; Weir, Sharada; Kramer, Marilyn Schlein; Ash, Arlene S

2008-08-01

No prior studies have used a comprehensive clinical classification system to examine the effect of differences in overall illness burden and the presence of other diseases on costs for patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) when compared with demographically matched nondemented controls. Of a total of 627,775 enrollees who were eligible for medical and pharmacy benefits for 2003 and 2004 in the MarketScan Medicare Supplemental and Coordination of Benefits Database, we found 25,109 AD patients. For each case, 3 demographically matched nondemented controls were selected using propensity scores. Applying the diagnostic cost groups (DCGs) model to all enrollees, 2003 diagnoses were used to estimate prospective relative risk scores (RRSs) that predict 2004 costs from all illness other than AD. RRSs were then used to control for illness burden to estimate AD's independent effect on costs. Compared with the control group, the AD cohort has more comorbid conditions (8.1 vs. 6.5) and higher illness burden (1.23 vs. 1.04). Individuals with AD are more likely to have mental health conditions, neurologic conditions, cognitive disorders, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes with acute complications, and injuries. Annual costs for AD patients are $3567 (34%) higher than for controls. Excess costs attributable to AD, after controlling for non-AD illness burden, are estimated at $2307 per year with outpatient pharmacy being the key driver ($1711 in excess costs). AD patients are sicker and more expensive than demographically matched controls. Even after adjusting for differences in illness burden, costs remain higher for AD patients.

Do Medicare Advantage Plans Minimize Costs? Investigating the Relationship Between Benchmarks, Costs, and Rebates.

PubMed

Zuckerman, Stephen; Skopec, Laura; Guterman, Stuart

2017-12-01

Medicare Advantage (MA), the program that allows people to receive their Medicare benefits through private health plans, uses a benchmark-and-bidding system to induce plans to provide benefits at lower costs. However, prior research suggests medical costs, profits, and other plan costs are not as low under this system as they might otherwise be. To examine how well the current system encourages MA plans to bid their lowest cost by examining the relationship between costs and bonuses (rebates) and the benchmarks Medicare uses in determining plan payments. Regression analysis using 2015 data for HMO and local PPO plans. Costs and rebates are higher for MA plans in areas with higher benchmarks, and plan costs vary less than benchmarks do. A one-dollar increase in benchmarks is associated with 32-cent-higher plan costs and a 52-cent-higher rebate, even when controlling for market and plan factors that can affect costs. This suggests the current benchmark-and-bidding system allows plans to bid higher than local input prices and other market conditions would seem to warrant. To incentivize MA plans to maximize efficiency and minimize costs, Medicare could change the way benchmarks are set or used.

Aerospace Vehicle Design, Spacecraft Section. Volume 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

Research results are presented for the following groups: Project Mars Airplane Vehicle and Reconnaissance Instrument Carrier (MAVRIC), ACME, ARES, Project ACRONYM, Mars Aircraft Recepticle with Technical Instruments, Aerobraking, and Navigation (MARTIAN), and NOMADS. Each project is described by the following areas of focus: mission planning and costs; aerobraking systems; structures and thermal control systems; attitude and articulation control systems; comman and data control systems; science instrumentation; and power and propulsion systems.

A simple and cheap system to speed up and to control the tumescent technique procedure: the Tedde's system.

PubMed

Rubino, C; Marongiu, F; Manzo, M J; Tedde, G; Madonia, M; Campus, G V; Farace, F

2014-06-01

We have devised a low cost system to quickly infiltrate tumescent solution: we call it the "Tedde's system". This low-cost system offers an improvement in quality and quantity of the infiltration because all the procedure depends on the operators, reducing also the time of the infiltration and consequently of the whole surgical procedure. Moreover, this system can be applied to other surgical procedure that requires large infiltration volumes.

Microwave power transmission system studies. Volume 3, section 8: Mechanical systems and flight operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maynard, O. E.; Brown, W. C.; Edwards, A.; Haley, J. T.; Meltz, G.; Howell, J. M.; Nathan, A.

1975-01-01

The efforts and recommendations associated with preliminary design and concept definition for mechanical systems and flight operations are presented. Technical discussion in the areas of mission analysis, antenna structural concept, configuration analysis, assembly and packaging with associated costs are presented. Technology issues for the control system, structural system, thermal system and assembly including cost and man's role in assembly and maintenance are identified. Background and desired outputs for future efforts are discussed.

Incremental healthcare resource utilization and costs in US patients with Cushing's disease compared with diabetes mellitus and population controls.

PubMed

Broder, Michael S; Neary, Maureen P; Chang, Eunice; Ludlam, William H

2015-12-01

Resource utilization and costs in Cushing's disease (CD) patients have not been studied extensively. We compared CD patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) patients and population-based controls to characterize differences in utilization and costs. Using 2008-2012 MarketScan® database, we identified three patient groups: (1) CD patients; (2) DM patients; and (3) population-based control patients without CD. DM and control patients were matched to CD patients by age, gender, region, and review year in a 2:1 ratio. Outcomes included annual healthcare resource utilization and costs. There were 1852 CD patients, 3704 DM patients and 3704 controls. Mean age was 42.9 years; 78.2 % were female. CD patients were hospitalized more frequently (19.3 %) than DM patients (11.0 %, p < .001) or controls (5.6 %, p < .001). CD patients visited the ED more frequently (25.4 %) than DM patients (21.1 %, p < .001) or controls (14.3 %, p < .001). CD patients had more office visits than DM patients (19.1 vs. 10.7, p < .001) or controls (7.1, p < .001). CD patients on average filled more prescriptions than DM patients (51.7 vs. 42.7, p < .001) or controls (20.5, p < .001). Mean total healthcare costs for CD patients were $26,269 versus $12,282 for DM patients (p < .001) and $5869 for controls (p < .001). CD patients had significantly higher annual rates of healthcare resource utilization compared to matched DM patients and population controls without CD. CD patient costs were double DM costs and quadruple control costs. This study puts into context the additional burdens of CD over DM, a common, chronic endocrine condition affecting multiple organ systems, and population controls.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of pharmacologic treatment of fibromyalgia in Mexico.

PubMed

Arreola Ornelas, Héctor; Rosado Buzzo, Alfonso; García, Lourdes; Dorantes Aguilar, Javier; Contreras Hernández, Iris; Mould Quevedo, Joaquín F

2012-01-01

To identify, from the Mexican Public Health System perspective, which would be the most cost-effective treatment for patients with Fibromyalgia (FM). A Markov model including three health states, divided by pain intensity (absence or presence of mild, moderate or severe pain) and considering three-month cycles; costs and effectiveness were estimated for amitriptyline (50mg/day), fluoxetine (80 mg/day), duloxetine (120 mg/day), gabapentin (900 mg/day), pregabalin (450 mg/day), tramadol/acetaminophen (150 mg/1300 mg/día) and amitriptyline/fluoxetine (50mg/80 mg/día) for the treatment of FM. The clinical outcome considered was the annual rate of pain control. Probabilities assigned to the model were collected from published literature. Direct medical costs for FM treatment were retrieved from the 2006 data of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) databases and were expressed in 2010 Mexican Pesos. Probabilistic Sensitivity Analyses were conducted. The best pain control rate was obtained with pregabalin (44.8%), followed by gabapentin (38.1%) and duloxetine (34.2%). The lowest treatment costs was for amitriptyline ($ 9047.01), followed by fluoxetine ($ 10,183.89) and amitriptyline/fluoxetine ($ 10,866.01). By comparing pregabalin vs amitriptyline, additional annual cost per patient for pain control would be around $ 50.000 and $ 75.000 and would result cost-effective in 70% and 80% of all cases. Among all treatment options for FM, pregabalin achieved the highest pain control and was cost-effective in 80% of patients of the Mexican Public Health System. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Delivery of antiretroviral treatment services in India: Estimated costs incurred under the National AIDS Control Programme.

PubMed

Agarwal, Reshu; Rewari, Bharat Bhushan; Shastri, Suresh; Nagaraja, Sharath Burugina; Rathore, Abhilakh Singh

2017-04-01

Competing domestic health priorities and shrinking financial support from external agencies necessitates that India's National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) brings in cost efficiencies to sustain the programme. In addition, current plans to expand the criteria for eligibility for antiretroviral therapy (ART) in India will have significant financial implications in the near future. ART centres in India provide comprehensive services to people living with HIV (PLHIV): those fulfilling national eligibility criteria and receiving ART and those on pre-ART care, i.e. not on ART. ART centres are financially supported (i) directly by the NACP; and (ii) indirectly by general health systems. This study was conducted to determine (i) the cost incurred per patient per year of pre-ART and ART services at ART centres; and (ii) the proportion of this cost incurred by the NACP and by general health systems. The study used national data from April 2013 to March 2014, on ART costs and non-ART costs (human resources, laboratory tests, training, prophylaxis and management of opportunistic infections, hospitalization, operational, and programme management). Data were extracted from procurement records and reports, statements of expenditure at national and state level, records and reports from ART centres, databases of the National AIDS Control Organisation, and reports on use of antiretroviral drugs. The analysis estimates the cost for ART services as US$ 133.89 (?8032) per patient per year, of which 66% (US$ 88.66, ?5320) is for antiretroviral drugs and 34% (US$ 45.23, ?2712) is for non-ART recurrent expenditure, while the cost for pre-ART care is US$ 33.05 (?1983) per patient per year. The low costs incurred for patients in ART and pre-ART care services can be attributed mainly to the low costs of generic drugs. However, further integration with general health systems may facilitate additional cost saving, such as in human resources.

Integrated digital/electric aircraft concepts study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cronin, M. J.; Hays, A. P.; Green, F. B.; Radovcich, N. A.; Helsley, C. W.; Rutchik, W. L.

1985-01-01

The integrated digital/electrical aircraft (IDEA) is an aircraft concept which employs all electric secondary power systems and advanced digital flight control systems. After trade analysis, preferred systems were applied to the baseline configuration. An additional configuration, the alternate IDEA, was also considered. For this concept the design ground rules were relaxed in order to quantify additional synergistic benefits. It was proposed that an IDEA configuration and technical risks associated with the IDEA systems concepts be defined and the research and development required activities to reduce these risks be identified. The selected subsystems include: power generation, power distribution, actuators, environmental control system and flight controls systems. When the aircraft was resized, block fuel was predicted to decrease by 11.3 percent, with 7.9 percent decrease in direct operating cost. The alternate IDEA shows a further 3.4 percent reduction in block fuel and 3.1 percent reduction in direct operating cost.

Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Young, John; Chapman, Katie; Nixon, Jane; Patel, Anita; Holloway, Ivana; Mellish, Kirste; Anwar, Shamaila; Breen, Rachel; Knapp, Martin; Murray, Jenni; Farrin, Amanda

2015-01-01

Background and Purpose— We developed a new postdischarge system of care comprising a structured assessment covering longer-term problems experienced by patients with stroke and their carers, linked to evidence-based treatment algorithms and reference guides (the longer-term stroke care system of care) to address the poor longer-term recovery experienced by many patients with stroke. Methods— A pragmatic, multicentre, cluster randomized controlled trial of this system of care. Eligible patients referred to community-based Stroke Care Coordinators were randomized to receive the new system of care or usual practice. The primary outcome was improved patient psychological well-being (General Health Questionnaire-12) at 6 months; secondary outcomes included functional outcomes for patients, carer outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. Follow-up was through self-completed postal questionnaires at 6 and 12 months. Results— Thirty-two stroke services were randomized (29 participated); 800 patients (399 control; 401 intervention) and 208 carers (100 control; 108 intervention) were recruited. In intention to treat analysis, the adjusted difference in patient General Health Questionnaire-12 mean scores at 6 months was −0.6 points (95% confidence interval, −1.8 to 0.7; P=0.394) indicating no evidence of statistically significant difference between the groups. Costs of Stroke Care Coordinator inputs, total health and social care costs, and quality-adjusted life year gains at 6 months, 12 months, and over the year were similar between the groups. Conclusions— This robust trial demonstrated no benefit in clinical or cost-effectiveness outcomes associated with the new system of care compared with usual Stroke Care Coordinator practice. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.controlled-trials.com. Unique identifier: ISRCTN 67932305. PMID:26152298

A process control system for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-05-10

The ITS/JPO Evaluation Program is requesting ITS costs information in order to update the ITS Costs database with current data and account for new/emerging services and technologies. If you have ITS Costs on recent ITS projects, or if you have ITS co...

An approach to the design of operations systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chafin, Roy L.; Curran, Patrick S.

1993-01-01

The MultiMission Control Team (MMCT) consists of mission controllers which provides Real-Time operations support for the Mars Observer project. The Real-Time Operations task is to insure the integrity of the ground data system, to insure that the configuration is correct to support the mission, and to monitor the spacecraft for the Spacecraft Team. Operations systems are typically developed by adapting operations systems from previous projects. Problems tend to be solved empirically when they are either anticipated or observed in testing. This development method has worked in the past when time was available for extensive Ops testing. In the present NASA budget environment, a more cost conscious design approach has become necessary. Cost is a concern because operations is an ongoing, continuous activity. Reducing costs entails reducing staff. Reducing staffing levels potentially increases the risk of mission failure. Therefore, keeping track of the risk level is necessary.

Controlling mechanisms over the internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lumia, Ronald

1997-01-01

The internet, widely available throughout the world, can be used to control robots, machine tools, and other mechanisms. This paper will describe a low-cost virtual collaborative environment (VCE) which will connect users with distant equipment. The system is based on PC technology, and incorporates off-line-programming with on-line execution. A remote user programs the systems graphically and simulates the motions and actions of the mechanism until satisfied with the functionality of the program. The program is then transferred from the remote site to the local site where the real equipment exists. At the local site, the simulation is run again to check the program from a safety standpoint. Then, the local user runs the program on the real equipment. During execution, a camera in the real workspace provides an image back to the remote user through a teleconferencing system. The system costs approximately 12,500 dollars and represents a low-cost alternative to the Sandia National Laboratories VCE.

Advancements in Combined Sewerage System Management

EPA Science Inventory

EPA National CSO Control Policy has nine minimum controls/long-term control plans: Maximization of flow to WWTP; Select CSO controls that will meet CWA requirements; Cost/performance considerations to demonstrate reasonable control alternatives; Maximization of WWF treatment at ...

Costs analysis of a population level rabies control programme in Tamil Nadu, India.

PubMed

Abbas, Syed Shahid; Kakkar, Manish; Rogawski, Elizabeth Tacket

2014-02-01

The study aimed to determine costs to the state government of implementing different interventions for controlling rabies among the entire human and animal populations of Tamil Nadu. This built upon an earlier assessment of Tamil Nadu's efforts to control rabies. Anti-rabies vaccines were made available at all health facilities. Costs were estimated for five different combinations of animal and human interventions using an activity-based costing approach from the provider perspective. Disease and population data were sourced from the state surveillance data, human census and livestock census. Program costs were extrapolated from official documents. All capital costs were depreciated to estimate annualized costs. All costs were inflated to 2012 Rupees. Sensitivity analysis was conducted across all major cost centres to assess their relative impact on program costs. It was found that the annual costs of providing Anti-rabies vaccine alone and in combination with Immunoglobulins was $0.7 million (Rs 36 million) and $2.2 million (Rs 119 million), respectively. For animal sector interventions, the annualised costs of rolling out surgical sterilisation-immunization, injectable immunization and oral immunizations were estimated to be $ 44 million (Rs 2,350 million), $23 million (Rs 1,230 million) and $ 11 million (Rs 590 million), respectively. Dog bite incidence, health systems coverage and cost of rabies biologicals were found to be important drivers of costs for human interventions. For the animal sector interventions, the size of dog catching team, dog population and vaccine costs were found to be driving the costs. Rabies control in Tamil Nadu seems a costly proposition the way it is currently structured. Policy makers in Tamil Nadu and other similar settings should consider the long-term financial sustainability before embarking upon a state or nation-wide rabies control programme.

Costs Analysis of a Population Level Rabies Control Programme in Tamil Nadu, India

PubMed Central

Abbas, Syed Shahid; Kakkar, Manish; Rogawski, Elizabeth Tacket

2014-01-01

The study aimed to determine costs to the state government of implementing different interventions for controlling rabies among the entire human and animal populations of Tamil Nadu. This built upon an earlier assessment of Tamil Nadu's efforts to control rabies. Anti-rabies vaccines were made available at all health facilities. Costs were estimated for five different combinations of animal and human interventions using an activity-based costing approach from the provider perspective. Disease and population data were sourced from the state surveillance data, human census and livestock census. Program costs were extrapolated from official documents. All capital costs were depreciated to estimate annualized costs. All costs were inflated to 2012 Rupees. Sensitivity analysis was conducted across all major cost centres to assess their relative impact on program costs. It was found that the annual costs of providing Anti-rabies vaccine alone and in combination with Immunoglobulins was $0.7 million (Rs 36 million) and $2.2 million (Rs 119 million), respectively. For animal sector interventions, the annualised costs of rolling out surgical sterilisation-immunization, injectable immunization and oral immunizations were estimated to be $ 44 million (Rs 2,350 million), $23 million (Rs 1,230 million) and $ 11 million (Rs 590 million), respectively. Dog bite incidence, health systems coverage and cost of rabies biologicals were found to be important drivers of costs for human interventions. For the animal sector interventions, the size of dog catching team, dog population and vaccine costs were found to be driving the costs. Rabies control in Tamil Nadu seems a costly proposition the way it is currently structured. Policy makers in Tamil Nadu and other similar settings should consider the long-term financial sustainability before embarking upon a state or nation-wide rabies control programme. PMID:24587471

Development of integrated control system for smart factory in the injection molding process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chung, M. J.; Kim, C. Y.

2018-03-01

In this study, we proposed integrated control system for automation of injection molding process required for construction of smart factory. The injection molding process consists of heating, tool close, injection, cooling, tool open, and take-out. Take-out robot controller, image processing module, and process data acquisition interface module are developed and assembled to integrated control system. By adoption of integrated control system, the injection molding process can be simplified and the cost for construction of smart factory can be inexpensive.

Implementing Group Medical Visits for Older Adults at Group Health Cooperative

PubMed Central

Levine, Martin D.; Ross, Tyler R.; Balderson, Benjamin H.K.; Phelan, Elizabeth A.

2010-01-01

In a pair of randomized controlled trials in Kaiser Colorado in the 1990s, Group Visits for older adults (monthly non disease-specific group medical appointments for a cohort of patients led by primary care teams) were proven to reduce costs, decrease hospitalizations, and improve patient and provider satisfaction. As part of a translational effort, this Group Visit intervention was replicated in a delivery system in Seattle, WA, and the log of total health care costs measured in the first year of the intervention. Utilization and patient and physician satisfaction were secondary outcomes. For the cost and utilization analysis, a retrospective case-control design compared 221 case patients 65 years of age and older with high outpatient utilization in the previous 18 months with 1,015 control patient selected randomly from clinics not participating in the intervention. Controls were matched to cases on the number of primary care visits in the prior 18 months. Total costs were not statistically different for intervention patients compared to controls ($8,845 vs. $10,288, p=0.11), nor were there statistically significant differences in utilization, including hospital admissions and outpatient visits. However, patient and provider satisfaction was high. This translational effort did not demonstrate the cost savings of the original efficacy trials. Possible explanations for these divergent results may have to do with differences in those who participated and differences between the two delivery systems. PMID:20002506

Design of a Low-Cost Air Levitation System for Teaching Control Engineering

PubMed Central

Chacon, Jesus; Saenz, Jacobo; de la Torre, Luis; Diaz, Jose Manuel; Esquembre, Francisco

2017-01-01

Air levitation is the process by which an object is lifted without mechanical support in a stable position, by providing an upward force that counteracts the gravitational force exerted on the object. This work presents a low-cost lab implementation of an air levitation system, based on open solutions. The rapid dynamics makes it especially suitable for a control remote lab. Due to the system’s nature, the design can be optimized and, with some precision trade-off, kept affordable both in cost and construction effort. It was designed to be easily adopted to be used as both a remote lab and as a hands-on lab. PMID:29023381

Conceptual study of a 250 kW planar SOFC system for CHP application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fontell, E.; Kivisaari, T.; Christiansen, N.; Hansen, J.-B.; Pålsson, J.

In August 2002, Wärtsilä Corporation and Haldor Topsøe A/S entered into a co-operation agreement to start joint development program within the planar SOFC technology. The development program aims to bring to the market highly efficient, clean and cost competitive fuel cell systems with power outputs above 200 kW for distributed power generation with CHP and for marine applications. In this study, the product concept for a 250 kW natural gas-fuelled atmospheric SOFC plant has been studied. The process has been calculated and optimised for high electrical efficiency. In the calculations, system efficiencies more than 55-85% (electrical co-generation) have been reached. The necessary balance of plant (BoP) components have been identified and the concept for grid connection has been defined. The BoP includes fuel and air supply, anode re-circulation, start-up steam, purge gas, exhaust gas heat recovery, back-up power, power electronics and control system. Based on the analysed system and component information, a conceptual design and cost break down structure for the product have been made. The cost breakdown shows that the stack, system control and power electronics are the major cost factors, while the remaining BoP equipment stands for a minor share of the manufacturing cost. Finally, the feasibility of the SOFC plants has been compared to gas engines.

Airport Economics: Management Control Financial Reporting Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buchbinder, A.

1972-01-01

The development of management control financial reporting systems for airport operation is discussed. The operation of the system to provide the reports required for determining the specific revenue producing facilities of airports is described. The organization of the cost reporting centers to show the types of information provided by the system is analyzed.

Control Systems Lab Using a LEGO Mindstorms NXT Motor System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Y.

2011-01-01

This paper introduces a low-cost LEGO Mindstorms NXT motor system for teaching classical and modern control theories in standard third-year undergraduate courses. The LEGO motor system can be used in conjunction with MATLAB, Simulink, and several necessary toolboxes to demonstrate: 1) a modeling technique; 2) proportional-integral-differential…

On-board fault diagnostics for fly-by-light flight control systems using neural network flight processors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urnes, James M., Sr.; Cushing, John; Bond, William E.; Nunes, Steve

1996-10-01

Fly-by-Light control systems offer higher performance for fighter and transport aircraft, with efficient fiber optic data transmission, electric control surface actuation, and multi-channel high capacity centralized processing combining to provide maximum aircraft flight control system handling qualities and safety. The key to efficient support for these vehicles is timely and accurate fault diagnostics of all control system components. These diagnostic tests are best conducted during flight when all facts relating to the failure are present. The resulting data can be used by the ground crew for efficient repair and turnaround of the aircraft, saving time and money in support costs. These difficult to diagnose (Cannot Duplicate) fault indications average 40 - 50% of maintenance activities on today's fighter and transport aircraft, adding significantly to fleet support cost. Fiber optic data transmission can support a wealth of data for fault monitoring; the most efficient method of fault diagnostics is accurate modeling of the component response under normal and failed conditions for use in comparison with the actual component flight data. Neural Network hardware processors offer an efficient and cost-effective method to install fault diagnostics in flight systems, permitting on-board diagnostic modeling of very complex subsystems. Task 2C of the ARPA FLASH program is a design demonstration of this diagnostics approach, using the very high speed computation of the Adaptive Solutions Neural Network processor to monitor an advanced Electrohydrostatic control surface actuator linked through a AS-1773A fiber optic bus. This paper describes the design approach and projected performance of this on-line diagnostics system.

Comparative Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Three Different Automated Medication Systems Implemented in a Danish Hospital Setting.

PubMed

Risør, Bettina Wulff; Lisby, Marianne; Sørensen, Jan

2018-02-01

Automated medication systems have been found to reduce errors in the medication process, but little is known about the cost-effectiveness of such systems. The objective of this study was to perform a model-based indirect cost-effectiveness comparison of three different, real-world automated medication systems compared with current standard practice. The considered automated medication systems were a patient-specific automated medication system (psAMS), a non-patient-specific automated medication system (npsAMS), and a complex automated medication system (cAMS). The economic evaluation used original effect and cost data from prospective, controlled, before-and-after studies of medication systems implemented at a Danish hematological ward and an acute medical unit. Effectiveness was described as the proportion of clinical and procedural error opportunities that were associated with one or more errors. An error was defined as a deviation from the electronic prescription, from standard hospital policy, or from written procedures. The cost assessment was based on 6-month standardization of observed cost data. The model-based comparative cost-effectiveness analyses were conducted with system-specific assumptions of the effect size and costs in scenarios with consumptions of 15,000, 30,000, and 45,000 doses per 6-month period. With 30,000 doses the cost-effectiveness model showed that the cost-effectiveness ratio expressed as the cost per avoided clinical error was €24 for the psAMS, €26 for the npsAMS, and €386 for the cAMS. Comparison of the cost-effectiveness of the three systems in relation to different valuations of an avoided error showed that the psAMS was the most cost-effective system regardless of error type or valuation. The model-based indirect comparison against the conventional practice showed that psAMS and npsAMS were more cost-effective than the cAMS alternative, and that psAMS was more cost-effective than npsAMS.

A cost effective method of meeting emission requirements from a 50 MMscfd glycol dehydrator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gearhart, L.E.

1998-12-31

The removal of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene (BTEX) from glycol dehydration systems does not require costly equipment or elaborate controls. This paper will describe the design and installation of a 10 equivalent try glycol dehydration unit for field gas dehydration. The absorber design minimizes the absorption of VOC and BTEX by requiring 1.0 to 1.5 gallons of glycol per pound of water removed. Glycol unit VOC emissions are effectively controlled without installing vent gas condensers which require disposal of the waste condensate. The emission control system on this unit is simple to operate, meets emissionmore » standards and the dehydrator design achieves pipeline sales gas specifications at a reasonable cost. The system reduces the VOC and BTEX by adding a stripper on the glycol going to the reboiler. A 50 MMscfd dehydrator was installed in December 1995 and the results of an emission test done in April 1997 are presented in this paper.« less

The Economics of Medicare Accountable Care Organizations

PubMed Central

Blackstone, Erwin A.; Fuhr, Joseph P.

2016-01-01

Background Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been created to improve patient care, enhance population health, and reduce costs. Medicare in particular has focused on ACOs as a primary device to improve quality and reduce costs. Objective To examine whether the current Medicare ACOs are likely to be successful. Discussion Patients receiving care in ACOs have little incentive to use low-cost quality providers. Furthermore, the start-up costs of ACOs for providers are high, contributing to the minimal financial success of ACOs. We review issues such as reducing readmissions, palliative care, and the difficulty in coordinating care, which are major cost drivers. There are mixed incentives facing hospital-controlled ACOs, whereas physician-controlled ACOs could play hospitals against each other to obtain high quality and cost reductions. This discussion also considers whether the current structure of ACOs is likely to be successful. Conclusion The question remains whether Medicare ACOs can achieve the Triple Aim of “improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capita costs of health care.” Care coordination in ACOs and information technology are proving more complicated and expensive to implement than anticipated. Even if ACOs can decrease healthcare costs and increase quality, it is unclear if the current incentives system can achieve these objectives. A better public policy may be to implement a system that encompasses the best practices of successful private integrated systems rather than promoting ACOs. PMID:27066191

The Economics of Medicare Accountable Care Organizations.

PubMed

Blackstone, Erwin A; Fuhr, Joseph P

2016-02-01

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been created to improve patient care, enhance population health, and reduce costs. Medicare in particular has focused on ACOs as a primary device to improve quality and reduce costs. To examine whether the current Medicare ACOs are likely to be successful. Patients receiving care in ACOs have little incentive to use low-cost quality providers. Furthermore, the start-up costs of ACOs for providers are high, contributing to the minimal financial success of ACOs. We review issues such as reducing readmissions, palliative care, and the difficulty in coordinating care, which are major cost drivers. There are mixed incentives facing hospital-controlled ACOs, whereas physician-controlled ACOs could play hospitals against each other to obtain high quality and cost reductions. This discussion also considers whether the current structure of ACOs is likely to be successful. The question remains whether Medicare ACOs can achieve the Triple Aim of "improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capita costs of health care." Care coordination in ACOs and information technology are proving more complicated and expensive to implement than anticipated. Even if ACOs can decrease healthcare costs and increase quality, it is unclear if the current incentives system can achieve these objectives. A better public policy may be to implement a system that encompasses the best practices of successful private integrated systems rather than promoting ACOs.

Space Transportation System Availability Relationships to Life Cycle Cost

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rhodes, Russel E.; Donahue, Benjamin B.; Chen, Timothy T.

2009-01-01

Future space transportation architectures and designs must be affordable. Consequently, their Life Cycle Cost (LCC) must be controlled. For the LCC to be controlled, it is necessary to identify all the requirements and elements of the architecture at the beginning of the concept phase. Controlling LCC requires the establishment of the major operational cost drivers. Two of these major cost drivers are reliability and maintainability, in other words, the system's availability (responsiveness). Potential reasons that may drive the inherent availability requirement are the need to control the number of unique parts and the spare parts required to support the transportation system's operation. For more typical space transportation systems used to place satellites in space, the productivity of the system will drive the launch cost. This system productivity is the resultant output of the system availability. Availability is equal to the mean uptime divided by the sum of the mean uptime plus the mean downtime. Since many operational factors cannot be projected early in the definition phase, the focus will be on inherent availability which is equal to the mean time between a failure (MTBF) divided by the MTBF plus the mean time to repair (MTTR) the system. The MTBF is a function of reliability or the expected frequency of failures. When the system experiences failures the result is added operational flow time, parts consumption, and increased labor with an impact to responsiveness resulting in increased LCC. The other function of availability is the MTTR, or maintainability. In other words, how accessible is the failed hardware that requires replacement and what operational functions are required before and after change-out to make the system operable. This paper will describe how the MTTR can be equated to additional labor, additional operational flow time, and additional structural access capability, all of which drive up the LCC. A methodology will be presented that provides the decision makers with the understanding necessary to place constraints on the design definition. This methodology for the major drivers will determine the inherent availability, safety, reliability, maintainability, and the life cycle cost of the fielded system. This methodology will focus on the achievement of an affordable, responsive space transportation system. It is the intent of this paper to not only provide the visibility of the relationships of these major attribute drivers (variables) to each other and the resultant system inherent availability, but also to provide the capability to bound the variables, thus providing the insight required to control the system's engineering solution. An example of this visibility is the need to provide integration of similar discipline functions to allow control of the total parts count of the space transportation system. Also, selecting a reliability requirement will place a constraint on parts count to achieve a given inherent availability requirement, or require accepting a larger parts count with the resulting higher individual part reliability requirements. This paper will provide an understanding of the relationship of mean repair time (mean downtime) to maintainability (accessibility for repair), and both mean time between failure (reliability of hardware) and the system inherent availability.

Design study of a low cost civil aviation GPS receiver system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cnossen, R.; Gilbert, G. A.

1979-01-01

A low cost Navstar receiver system for civil aviation applications was defined. User objectives and constraints were established. Alternative navigation processing design trades were evaluated. Receiver hardware was synthesized by comparing technology projections with various candidate system designs. A control display unit design was recommended as the result of field test experience with Phase I GPS sets and a review of special human factors for general aviation users. Areas requiring technology development to ensure a low cost Navstar Set in the 1985 timeframe were identified.

Performance, Process, and Costs: Managing Service Quality with the Balanced Scorecard.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poll, Roswitha

2001-01-01

Describes a cooperative project among three German libraries that used the Balanced Scorecard as a concept for an integrated quality management system. Considers performance indicators across four perspectives that will help academic libraries establish an integrated controlling system and to collect and evaluate performance as well as cost data…

Emulation-Based Virtual Laboratories: A Low-Cost Alternative to Physical Experiments in Control Engineering Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodwin, G. C.; Medioli, A. M.; Sher, W.; Vlacic, L. B.; Welsh, J. S.

2011-01-01

This paper argues the case for emulation-based virtual laboratories in control engineering education. It demonstrates that such emulation experiments can give students an industrially relevant educational experience at relatively low cost. The paper also describes a particular emulation-based system that has been developed with the aim of giving…

Costs and benefits of urban erosion and sediment control: The North Carolina experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paterson, Robert G.; Luger, Michael I.; Burby, Raymond J.; Kaiser, Edward J.; Malcom, H. Rooney; Beard, Alicia C.

1993-03-01

The EPA’s new nonpoint source pollution control requirements will soon institutionalize urban erosion and sediment pollution control practices nationwide. The public and private sector costs and social benefits associated with North Carolina’s program (one of the strongest programs in the country in terms of implementation authority, staffing levels, and comprehensiveness of coverage) are examined to provide general policy guidance on questions relating to the likely burden the new best management practices will have on the development industry, the likely costs and benefits of such a program, and the feasibility of running a program on a cost recovery basis. We found that urban erosion and sediment control requirements were not particularly burdensome to the development industry (adding about 4% on average to development costs). Public-sector program costs ranged between 2.4 and 4.8 million in fiscal year 1989. Our contingent valuation survey suggests that urban households in North Carolina are willing to pay somewhere between 7.1 and 14.2 million a year to maintain current levels of sediment pollution control. Our benefit-cost analysis suggests that the overall ratio is likely to be positive, although a definitive figure is elusive. Lastly, we found that several North Carolina localities have cost recovery fee systems that are at least partially self-financing.

75 FR 11621 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for Extension of Currently Approved...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-11

... costs incurred for adjusting their facilities. The railroad companies must have a system for recording labor, materials, supplies, and equipment costs incurred when undertaking the necessary railroad work...: Developing and Recording Costs for Railroad Adjustments. OMB Control Number: 2125-0521. Background: Under 23...

A two-agent model applied to the biological control of the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis) by the egg parasitoid Trichogramma galloi and the larvae parasitoid Cotesia flavipes.

PubMed

Molnár, Sándor; López, Inmaculada; Gámez, Manuel; Garay, József

2016-03-01

The paper is aimed at a methodological development in biological pest control. The considered one pest two-agent system is modelled as a verticum-type system. Originally, linear verticum-type systems were introduced by one of the authors for modelling certain industrial systems. These systems are hierarchically composed of linear subsystems such that a part of the state variables of each subsystem affect the dynamics of the next subsystem. Recently, verticum-type system models have been applied to population ecology as well, which required the extension of the concept a verticum-type system to the nonlinear case. In the present paper the general concepts and technics of nonlinear verticum-type control systems are used to obtain biological control strategies in a two-agent system. For the illustration of this verticum-type control, these tools of mathematical systems theory are applied to a dynamic model of interactions between the egg and larvae populations of the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis) and its parasitoids: the egg parasitoid Trichogramma galloi and the larvae parasitoid Cotesia flavipes. In this application a key role is played by the concept of controllability, which means that it is possible to steer the system to an equilibrium in given time. In addition to a usual linearization, the basic idea is a decomposition of the control of the whole system into the control of the subsystems, making use of the verticum structure of the population system. The main aim of this study is to show several advantages of the verticum (or decomposition) approach over the classical control theoretical model (without decomposition). For example, in the case of verticum control the pest larval density decreases below the critical threshold value much quicker than without decomposition. Furthermore, it is also shown that the verticum approach may be better even in terms of cost effectiveness. The presented optimal control methodology also turned out to be an efficient tool for the "in silico" analysis of the cost-effectiveness of different biocontrol strategies, e.g. by answering the question how far it is cost-effective to speed up the reduction of the pest larvae density, or along which trajectory this reduction should be carried out. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pan Am gets big savings at no cost

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tanz, D.

Pan American World Airways' contract with an energy management control systems distributor enabled the company's terminal and maintenance facilities at JFK airport in New York to shift from housekeeping to major savings without additional cost. Energy savings from a pneumatic control system were split almost equally between Pan Am and Thomas S. Brown Associates (TSBA) Inc., and further savings are expected from a planned computer-controlled system. A full-time energy manager, able to give top priority to energy-consumption problems, was considered crucial to the program's success. Early efforts in light-level reduction and equipment scheduling required extensive persuasion and policing, but successfulmore » energy savings allowed the manager to progress to the more-extensive plants with TSBA.« less

Flight Control System Reliability and Maintainability Investigations

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-03-01

the left forward horn of the swash - plate . Pilot’s Cyclic Control Stick The conventional type control stick, mounted in the ... the requirement? 3. Acceptability - Is the effort/cost worth the gain in R&M7 These tests were applied to the flight control system speci- fication...quantitative R&M requirements on the specifications in Figure 1. Standard Components

Energy Center Structure Optimization by using Smart Technologies in Process Control System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shilkina, Svetlana V.

2018-03-01

The article deals with practical application of fuzzy logic methods in process control systems. A control object - agroindustrial greenhouse complex, which includes its own energy center - is considered. The paper analyzes object power supply options taking into account connection to external power grids and/or installation of own power generating equipment with various layouts. The main problem of a greenhouse facility basic process is extremely uneven power consumption, which forces to purchase redundant generating equipment idling most of the time, which quite negatively affects project profitability. Energy center structure optimization is largely based on solving the object process control system construction issue. To cut investor’s costs it was proposed to optimize power consumption by building an energy-saving production control system based on a fuzzy logic controller. The developed algorithm of automated process control system functioning ensured more even electric and thermal energy consumption, allowed to propose construction of the object energy center with a smaller number of units due to their more even utilization. As a result, it is shown how practical use of microclimate parameters fuzzy control system during object functioning leads to optimization of agroindustrial complex energy facility structure, which contributes to a significant reduction in object construction and operation costs.

Flight demonstration of a self repairing flight control system in a NASA F-15 fighter aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urnes, James M.; Stewart, James; Eslinger, Robert

1990-01-01

Battle damage causing loss of control capability can compromise mission objectives and even result in aircraft loss. The Self Repairing Flight Control System (SRFCS) flight development program directly addresses this issue with a flight control system design that measures the damage and immediately refines the control system commands to preserve mission potential. The system diagnostics process detects in flight the type of faults that are difficult to isolate post flight, and thus cause excessive ground maintenance time and cost. The control systems of fighter aircraft have the control power and surface displacement to maneuver the aircraft in a very large flight envelope with a wide variation in airspeed and g maneuvering conditions, with surplus force capacity available from each control surface. Digital flight control processors are designed to include built-in status of the control system components, as well as sensor information on aircraft control maneuver commands and response. In the event of failure or loss of a control surface, the SRFCS utilizes this capability to reconfigure control commands to the remaining control surfaces, thus preserving maneuvering response. Correct post-flight repair is the key to low maintainability support costs and high aircraft mission readiness. The SRFCS utilizes the large data base available with digital flight control systems to diagnose faults. Built-in-test data and sensor data are used as inputs to an Onboard Expert System process to accurately identify failed components for post-flight maintenance action. This diagnostic technique has the advantage of functioning during flight, and so is especially useful in identifying intermittent faults that are present only during maneuver g loads or high hydraulic flow requirements. A flight system was developed to test the reconfiguration and onboard maintenance diagnostics concepts on a NASA F-15 fighter aircraft.

Telerobotic controller development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otaguro, W. S.; Kesler, L. O.; Land, Ken; Rhoades, Don

1987-01-01

To meet NASA's space station's needs and growth, a modular and generic approach to robotic control which provides near-term implementation with low development cost and capability for growth into more autonomous systems was developed. The method uses a vision based robotic controller and compliant hand integrated with the Remote Manipulator System arm on the Orbiter. A description of the hardware and its system integration is presented.

Optimal regulation in systems with stochastic time sampling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery, R. C.; Lee, P. S.

1980-01-01

An optimal control theory that accounts for stochastic variable time sampling in a distributed microprocessor based flight control system is presented. The theory is developed by using a linear process model for the airplane dynamics and the information distribution process is modeled as a variable time increment process where, at the time that information is supplied to the control effectors, the control effectors know the time of the next information update only in a stochastic sense. An optimal control problem is formulated and solved for the control law that minimizes the expected value of a quadratic cost function. The optimal cost obtained with a variable time increment Markov information update process where the control effectors know only the past information update intervals and the Markov transition mechanism is almost identical to that obtained with a known and uniform information update interval.

What is system control?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hirst, E.; Kirby, B.

1999-11-01

Just as the aviation industry needs air-traffic controllers to manage the movement of airplanes for safety and commerce, so too, the electricity industry requires system operators. The electrical-system-control functions encompass a range of activities that support commercial transactions and maintain bulk-power reliability. As part of a project for the Edison Electric Institute, the authors examined the functions and costs of system control and the issues that need to be resolved in a restructured electricity industry (Hirst and Kirby 1998).

Vision & Needs for Distributed Controls: Customers for Control Systems and What Do They Value (Postprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-08-01

in engine technology 7 VS. • Military demand is growing for FADEC & control systems with expert system embedded in the S/W for fault tolerance...leverage commercial FADECs & control systems S/W & H/W. •Modular / Universal/Distributed design can reduce development time and cost. S/W could offer...baseline for military-qualified FADECs . •To promote dual use, the services must recognize the similarities between commercial applications & military

Cost-Effectiveness of a Biodegradable Compared to a Titanium Fixation System in Maxillofacial Surgery: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

van Bakelen, N. B.; Vermeulen, K. M.; Buijs, G. J.; Jansma, J.; de Visscher, J. G. A. M.; Hoppenreijs, Th. J. M.; Bergsma, J. E.; Stegenga, B.; Bos, R. R. M.

2015-01-01

Background Biodegradable fixation systems could reduce/delete the problems associated with titanium plate removal. This means less surgical discomfort, and a reduction in costs. Aim The aim of the present study was to compare the cost-effectiveness between a biodegradable and a titanium system in Maxillofacial surgery. Materials and Methods This multicenter RCT was performed in the Netherlands from December 2006 to July 2009. Included were 230 patients who underwent a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO), a Le Fort-I osteotomy, or a bi-maxillary osteotomy and those treated for fractures of the mandible, maxilla, or zygoma. The patients were randomly assigned to a titanium group (KLS Martin) or to a biodegradable group (Inion CPS). Costs were assessed from a societal perspective. Health outcomes in the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were bone healing (8 weeks) and plate removal (2 years). Results In 25 out of the 117 patients who were randomized to the biodegradable group, the maxillofacial surgeon made the decision to switch to the titanium system intra-operatively. This resulted in an Intention-To-Treat (ITT-)analysis and a Treatment-Received (TR-) analysis. Both analyses indicated that operations performed with titanium plates and screws had better health outcomes. In the TR-analysis the costs were lower in the biodegradable group, in the ITT-analysis costs were lower in the titanium group. Conclusion and Discussion The difference in costs between the ITT and the TR analyses can be explained by the intra-operative switches: In the TR-analysis the switches were analysed in the titanium group. In the ITT-analysis they were analysed in the biodegradable group. Considering the cost-effectiveness the titanium system is preferable to the biodegradable system in the regular treatment spectrum of mandibular, Le Fort-I, and zygomatic fractures, and BSSO’s, Le Fort-I osteotomies and bimaxillary osteotomies. Trial Registration Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN 44212338 PMID:26192813

Optimized design and control of an off grid solar PV/hydrogen fuel cell power system for green buildings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghenai, C.; Bettayeb, M.

2017-11-01

Modelling, simulation, optimization and control strategies are used in this study to design a stand-alone solar PV/Fuel Cell/Battery/Generator hybrid power system to serve the electrical load of a commercial building. The main objective is to design an off grid energy system to meet the desired electric load of the commercial building with high renewable fraction, low emissions and low cost of energy. The goal is to manage the energy consumption of the building, reduce the associate cost and to switch from grid-tied fossil fuel power system to an off grid renewable and cleaner power system. Energy audit was performed in this study to determine the energy consumption of the building. Hourly simulations, modelling and optimization were performed to determine the performance and cost of the hybrid power configurations using different control strategies. The results show that the hybrid off grid solar PV/Fuel Cell/Generator/Battery/Inverter power system offers the best performance for the tested system architectures. From the total energy generated from the off grid hybrid power system, 73% is produced from the solar PV, 24% from the fuel cell and 3% from the backup Diesel generator. The produced power is used to meet all the AC load of the building without power shortage (<0.1%). The hybrid power system produces 18.2% excess power that can be used to serve the thermal load of the building. The proposed hybrid power system is sustainable, economically viable and environmentally friendly: High renewable fraction (66.1%), low levelized cost of energy (92 /MWh), and low carbon dioxide emissions (24 kg CO2/MWh) are achieved.

Impact of diabetes on healthcare costs in a population-based cohort: a cost analysis.

PubMed

Rosella, L C; Lebenbaum, M; Fitzpatrick, T; O'Reilly, D; Wang, J; Booth, G L; Stukel, T A; Wodchis, W P

2016-03-01

To estimate the healthcare costs attributable to diabetes in Ontario, Canada using a propensity-matched control design and health administrative data from the perspective of a single-payer healthcare system. Incident diabetes cases among adults in Ontario were identified from the Ontario Diabetes Database between 2004 and 2012 and matched 1:3 to control subjects without diabetes identified in health administrative databases on the basis of sociodemographics and propensity score. Using a comprehensive source of administrative databases, direct per-person costs (Canadian dollars 2012) were calculated. A cost analysis was performed to calculate the attributable costs of diabetes; i.e. the difference of costs between patients with diabetes and control subjects without diabetes. The study sample included 699 042 incident diabetes cases. The costs attributable to diabetes were greatest in the year after diagnosis [C$3,785 (95% CI 3708, 3862) per person for women and C$3,826 (95% CI 3751, 3901) for men], increasing substantially for older age groups and patients who died during follow-up. After accounting for baseline comorbidities, attributable costs were primarily incurred through inpatient acute hospitalizations, physician visits and prescription medications and assistive devices. The excess healthcare costs attributable to diabetes are substantial and pose a significant clinical and public health challenge. This burden is an important consideration for decision-makers, particularly given increasing concern over the sustainability of the healthcare system, aging population structure and increasing prevalence of diabetic risk factors, such as obesity. © 2015 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Diabetes UK.

Econotherapeutics.

PubMed

Roark, M K; Reed, W E

1995-01-01

A program that represents the efforts of a hospital pharmacy management company to control drug costs is described. The program, Econotherapeutics, was developed in response to a changed health care reimbursement system that focused on the costs of products rather than the revenue generated by these products. For antimicrobial agents, a hospital-specific antibiogram is used to encourage cost-effective prescribing. A pharmacist intervention program, medical staff presentations, drug usage evaluation, management systems, and educational programs for pharmacists are all essential parts of the program. Centralized data gathering has allowed cost comparison of specific antimicrobial agents so that differences between variable cost estimates and costs based on actual use can be evaluated. Actual dose and dosage interval were used to calculate average cost per treatment day in a 121-hospital sample. Our cost data support the choice of cefotaxime over ceftriaxone.

How to justify small-refinery info/control system modernization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haskins, D.E.

1993-05-01

Information and control systems modernization can be justified by successful implementation of advanced process control (APC) in nearly all refineries, even the small ones. However, the small refineries require special solutions to meet the challenges of limited resources in both finance and manpower. Based on a number of case studies, a typical small refinery as it operates today is described. A sample information and control system modernization plan is described and the typical cost and benefits show how the project cost can be justified. Business objectives of an HPI plant are to satisfy customers by providing specific products, to satisfymore » the owners by maximizing profits and to satisfy the public by being safe and environmentally correct. Managers have always tried to meet these objectives with functions for the total plant.« less

New workers' compensation legislation: expected pharmaceutical cost savings.

PubMed

Wilson, Leslie; Gitlin, Matthew

2005-10-01

California Workers' Compensation (WC) system costs are under review. With recently approved California State Assembly Bill (AB) 749 and Senate Bill (SB) 228, an assessment of proposed pharmaceutical cost savings is needed. A large workers' compensation database provided by the California Workers' Compensation Institute (CWCI) and Medi-Cal pharmacy costs obtained from the State Drug Utilization Project are utilized to compare frequency, costs and savings to Workers' Compensation in 2002 with the new pharmacy legislation. Compared to the former California Workers' Compensation fee schedule, the newly implemented 100% Medi-Cal fee schedule will result in savings of 29.5% with a potential total pharmacy cost savings of $125 million. Further statistical analysis demonstrated that a large variability in savings across drugs could not be controlled with this drug pricing system. Despite the large savings in pharmaceuticals, inconsistencies between the two pharmaceutical payment systems could lead to negative incentives and uncertainty for long-term savings. Proposed alternative pricing systems could be considered. However, pain management implemented along with other cost containment strategies could more effectively reduce overall drug spending in the workers' compensation system.

Langley applications experiments data management system study. [for space shuttles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lanham, C. C., Jr.

1975-01-01

A data management system study is presented that defines, in functional terms, the most cost effective ground data management system to support Advanced Technology Laboratory (ATL) flights of the space shuttle. Results from each subtask performed and the recommended system configuration for reformatting the experiment instrumentation tapes to computer compatible tape are examined. Included are cost factors for development of a mini control center for real-time support of the ATL flights.

Modeling Imperfect Generator Behavior in Power System Operation Models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Krad, Ibrahim

A key component in power system operations is the use of computer models to quickly study and analyze different operating conditions and futures in an efficient manner. The output of these models are sensitive to the data used in them as well as the assumptions made during their execution. One typical assumption is that generators and load assets perfectly follow operator control signals. While this is a valid simulation assumption, generators may not always accurately follow control signals. This imperfect response of generators could impact cost and reliability metrics. This paper proposes a generator model that capture this imperfect behaviormore » and examines its impact on production costs and reliability metrics using a steady-state power system operations model. Preliminary analysis shows that while costs remain relatively unchanged, there could be significant impacts on reliability metrics.« less

Integrated Application of Active Controls (IAAC) technology to an advanced subsonic transport project: Current and advanced act control system definition study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The Current and Advanced Technology ACT control system definition tasks of the Integrated Application of Active Controls (IAAC) Technology project within the Energy Efficient Transport Program are summarized. The systems mechanize six active control functions: (1) pitch augmented stability; (2) angle of attack limiting; (3) lateral/directional augmented stability; (4) gust load alleviation; (5) maneuver load control; and (6) flutter mode control. The redundant digital control systems meet all function requirements with required reliability and declining weight and cost as advanced technology is introduced.

An economic evaluation of vector control in the age of a dengue vaccine.

PubMed

Fitzpatrick, Christopher; Haines, Alexander; Bangert, Mathieu; Farlow, Andrew; Hemingway, Janet; Velayudhan, Raman

2017-08-01

Dengue is a rapidly emerging vector-borne Neglected Tropical Disease, with a 30-fold increase in the number of cases reported since 1960. The economic cost of the illness is measured in the billions of dollars annually. Environmental change and unplanned urbanization are conspiring to raise the health and economic cost even further beyond the reach of health systems and households. The health-sector response has depended in large part on control of the Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus (mosquito) vectors. The cost-effectiveness of the first-ever dengue vaccine remains to be evaluated in the field. In this paper, we examine how it might affect the cost-effectiveness of sustained vector control. We employ a dynamic Markov model of the effects of vector control on dengue in both vectors and humans over a 15-year period, in six countries: Brazil, Columbia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Thailand. We evaluate the cost (direct medical costs and control programme costs) and cost-effectiveness of sustained vector control, outbreak response and/or medical case management, in the presence of a (hypothetical) highly targeted and low cost immunization strategy using a (non-hypothetical) medium-efficacy vaccine. Sustained vector control using existing technologies would cost little more than outbreak response, given the associated costs of medical case management. If sustained use of existing or upcoming technologies (of similar price) reduce vector populations by 70-90%, the cost per disability-adjusted life year averted is 2013 US$ 679-1331 (best estimates) relative to no intervention. Sustained vector control could be highly cost-effective even with less effective technologies (50-70% reduction in vector populations) and in the presence of a highly targeted and low cost immunization strategy using a medium-efficacy vaccine. Economic evaluation of the first-ever dengue vaccine is ongoing. However, even under very optimistic assumptions about a highly targeted and low cost immunization strategy, our results suggest that sustained vector control will continue to play an important role in mitigating the impact of environmental change and urbanization on human health. If additional benefits for the control of other Aedes borne diseases, such as Chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika fever are taken into account, the investment case is even stronger. High-burden endemic countries should proceed to map populations to be covered by sustained vector control.

An economic evaluation of vector control in the age of a dengue vaccine

PubMed Central

Haines, Alexander; Bangert, Mathieu; Farlow, Andrew; Hemingway, Janet; Velayudhan, Raman

2017-01-01

Introduction Dengue is a rapidly emerging vector-borne Neglected Tropical Disease, with a 30-fold increase in the number of cases reported since 1960. The economic cost of the illness is measured in the billions of dollars annually. Environmental change and unplanned urbanization are conspiring to raise the health and economic cost even further beyond the reach of health systems and households. The health-sector response has depended in large part on control of the Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus (mosquito) vectors. The cost-effectiveness of the first-ever dengue vaccine remains to be evaluated in the field. In this paper, we examine how it might affect the cost-effectiveness of sustained vector control. Methods We employ a dynamic Markov model of the effects of vector control on dengue in both vectors and humans over a 15-year period, in six countries: Brazil, Columbia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Thailand. We evaluate the cost (direct medical costs and control programme costs) and cost-effectiveness of sustained vector control, outbreak response and/or medical case management, in the presence of a (hypothetical) highly targeted and low cost immunization strategy using a (non-hypothetical) medium-efficacy vaccine. Results Sustained vector control using existing technologies would cost little more than outbreak response, given the associated costs of medical case management. If sustained use of existing or upcoming technologies (of similar price) reduce vector populations by 70–90%, the cost per disability-adjusted life year averted is 2013 US$ 679–1331 (best estimates) relative to no intervention. Sustained vector control could be highly cost-effective even with less effective technologies (50–70% reduction in vector populations) and in the presence of a highly targeted and low cost immunization strategy using a medium-efficacy vaccine. Discussion Economic evaluation of the first-ever dengue vaccine is ongoing. However, even under very optimistic assumptions about a highly targeted and low cost immunization strategy, our results suggest that sustained vector control will continue to play an important role in mitigating the impact of environmental change and urbanization on human health. If additional benefits for the control of other Aedes borne diseases, such as Chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika fever are taken into account, the investment case is even stronger. High-burden endemic countries should proceed to map populations to be covered by sustained vector control. PMID:28806786

The Space Station Prototype Program - The development of a regenerative life support system for extended-duration missions.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Willis, N. C., Jr.; Neel, J. M.

1972-01-01

Design concepts and test philosophies which may contribute to the development of a low-cost maintainable environmental control/life support system are examined. It is shown that the concept of producing flight prototype equipment during a developmental program can reduce the eventual cost of a flight system by incorporating realistic flight-type design requirements without imposing exacting design features and stringent controls. A flight prototype design is one that can be converted readily into an actual flight design without any conceptual change. Modularity of subsystems provides the system and the program a degree of flexibility relative to the eventual vehicle configuration and technological improvements.

7 CFR 2.28 - Chief Financial Officer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... on internal accounting and administrative control systems submitted to the President and the Congress... system for the Department and component agencies, including financial reporting and internal controls... and for the development and reporting of cost information, the integration of accounting and budgeting...

Aircraft fuel conservation technology. Task force report, September 10, 1975

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

An advanced technology program is described for reduced fuel consumption in air transport. Cost benefits and estimates are given for improved engine design and components, turboprop propulsion systems, active control systems, laminar flow control, and composite primary structures.

Lessons learned - MO&DA at JPL. [Mission Operations and Data Analysis cost reduction of planetary exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Handley, Thomas H., Jr.

1993-01-01

The issues of how to avoid future surprise growth in Mission Operations and Data Analysis (MO&DA) costs and how to minimize total MO&DA costs for planetary missions are discussed within the context of JPL mission operations support. It is argued that there is no simple, single solution: the entire Project life-cycle must be addressed. It is concluded that cost models that can predict both MO&DA cost as well as Ground System development costs are needed. The first year MO&DA budget plotted against the total of ground and flight systems developments is shown. In order to better recognize changes and control costs in general, a modified funding line item breakdown is recommended to distinguish between development costs (prelaunch and postlaunch) and MO&DA costs.

Improving the cost-effectiveness of IRS with climate informed health surveillance systems

PubMed Central

Worrall, Eve; Connor, Stephen J; Thomson, Madeleine C

2008-01-01

Background This paper examines how the cost-effectiveness of IRS varies depending on the severity of transmission and level of programme coverage and how efficiency could be improved by incorporating climate information into decision making for malaria control programmes as part of an integrated Malaria Early Warning and Response System (MEWS). Methods A climate driven model of malaria transmission was used to simulate cost-effectiveness of alternative IRS coverage levels over six epidemic and non-epidemic years. Decision rules for a potential MEWS system that triggers different IRS coverage are described. The average and marginal cost per case averted with baseline IRS coverage (24%) and under varying IRS coverage levels (50%, 75% and 100%) were calculated. Results Average cost-effectiveness of 24% coverage varies dramatically between years, from US$108 per case prevented in low transmission to US$0.42 in epidemic years. Similarly for higher coverage (24–100%) cost per case prevented is far higher in low than high transmission years ($108–$267 to $0.88–$2.26). Discussion Efficiency and health benefit gains could be achieved by implementing MEWS that provides timely, accurate information. Evidence from southern Africa, (especially Botswana) supports this. Conclusion Advance knowledge of transmission severity can help managers make coverage decisions which optimise resource use and exploit efficiency gains if a fully integrated MEWS is in place alongside a health system with sufficient flexibility to modify control plans in response to information. More countries and programmes should be supported to use the best available evidence and science to integrate climate informed MEWS into decision making within malaria control programmes. PMID:19108723

Is cost effectiveness sustained after weekend inpatient rehabilitation? 12 month follow up from a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Brusco, Natasha Kareem; Watts, Jennifer J; Shields, Nora; Taylor, Nicholas F

2015-04-18

Our previous work showed that providing additional rehabilitation on a Saturday was cost effective in the short term from the perspective of the health service provider. This study aimed to evaluate if providing additional rehabilitation on a Saturday was cost effective at 12 months, from a health system perspective inclusive of private costs. Cost effectiveness analyses alongside a single-blinded randomized controlled trial with 12 months follow up inclusive of informal care. Participants were adults admitted to two publicly funded inpatient rehabilitation facilities. The control group received usual care rehabilitation services from Monday to Friday and the intervention group received usual care plus additional Saturday rehabilitation. Incremental cost effectiveness ratios were reported as cost per quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained and for a minimal clinical important difference (MCID) in functional independence. A total of 996 patients [mean age 74 years (SD 13)] were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 496) or control group (n = 500). The intervention was associated with improvements in QALY and MCID in function, as well as a non-significant reduction in cost from admission to 12 months (mean difference (MD) AUD$6,325; 95% CI -4,081 to 16,730; t test p = 0.23 and MWU p = 0.06), and a significant reduction in cost from admission to 6 months (MD AUD$6,445; 95% CI 3,368 to 9,522; t test p = 0.04 and MWU p = 0.01). There is a high degree of certainty that providing additional rehabilitation services on Saturday is cost effective. Sensitivity analyses varying the cost of informal carers and self-reported health service utilization, favored the intervention. From a health system perspective inclusive of private costs the provision of additional Saturday rehabilitation for inpatients is likely to have sustained cost savings per QALY gained and for a MCID in functional independence, for the inpatient stay and 12 months following discharge, without a cost shift into the community. Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry November 2009 ACTRN12609000973213.

Development of an environmental chamber for evaluating the performance of low-cost air quality sensors under controlled conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papapostolou, Vasileios; Zhang, Hang; Feenstra, Brandon J.; Polidori, Andrea

2017-12-01

A state-of-the-art integrated chamber system has been developed for evaluating the performance of low-cost air quality sensors. The system contains two professional grade chamber enclosures. A 1.3 m3 stainless-steel outer chamber and a 0.11 m3 Teflon-coated stainless-steel inner chamber are used to create controlled aerosol and gaseous atmospheres, respectively. Both chambers are temperature and relative humidity controlled with capability to generate a wide range of environmental conditions. The system is equipped with an integrated zero-air system, an ozone and two aerosol generation systems, a dynamic dilution calibrator, certified gas cylinders, an array of Federal Reference Method (FRM), Federal Equivalent Method (FEM), and Best Available Technology (BAT) reference instruments and an automated control and sequencing software. Our experiments have demonstrated that the chamber system is capable of generating stable and reproducible aerosol and gas concentrations at low, medium, and high levels. This paper discusses the development of the chamber system along with the methods used to quantitatively evaluate sensor performance. Considering that a significant number of academic and research institutions, government agencies, public and private institutions, and individuals are becoming interested in developing and using low-cost air quality sensors, it is important to standardize the procedures used to evaluate their performance. The information discussed herein provides a roadmap for entities who are interested in characterizing air quality sensors in a rigorous, systematic and reproducible manner.

40 CFR 21.6 - Exclusions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... operated the water pollution control facility. This emission control equipment as an integral part of the water pollution control systems would be approvable. However, emission control equipment for a general... for water pollution control. (5) Privately owned treatment facility service or user costs...

Digital robust control law synthesis using constrained optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mukhopadhyay, Vivekananda

1989-01-01

Development of digital robust control laws for active control of high performance flexible aircraft and large space structures is a research area of significant practical importance. The flexible system is typically modeled by a large order state space system of equations in order to accurately represent the dynamics. The active control law must satisy multiple conflicting design requirements and maintain certain stability margins, yet should be simple enough to be implementable on an onboard digital computer. Described here is an application of a generic digital control law synthesis procedure for such a system, using optimal control theory and constrained optimization technique. A linear quadratic Gaussian type cost function is minimized by updating the free parameters of the digital control law, while trying to satisfy a set of constraints on the design loads, responses and stability margins. Analytical expressions for the gradients of the cost function and the constraints with respect to the control law design variables are used to facilitate rapid numerical convergence. These gradients can be used for sensitivity study and may be integrated into a simultaneous structure and control optimization scheme.

Costs and Performance of English Mental Health Providers.

PubMed

Moran, Valerie; Jacobs, Rowena

2017-06-01

Despite limited resources in mental health care, there is little research exploring variations in cost performance across mental health care providers. In England, a prospective payment system for mental health care based on patient needs has been introduced with the potential to incentivise providers to control costs. The units of payment under the new system are 21 care clusters. Patients are allocated to a cluster by clinicians, and each cluster has a maximum review period. The aim of this research is to explain variations in cluster costs between mental health providers using observable patient demographic, need, social and treatment variables. We also investigate if provider-level variables explain differences in costs. The residual variation in cluster costs is compared across providers to provide insights into which providers may gain or lose under the new financial regime. The main data source is the Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS) for England for the years 2011/12 and 2012/13. Our unit of observation is the period of time spent in a care cluster and costs associated with the cluster review period are calculated from NHS Reference Cost data. Costs are modelled using multi-level log-linear and generalised linear models. The residual variation in costs at the provider level is quantified using Empirical Bayes estimates and comparative standard errors used to rank and compare providers. There are wide variations in costs across providers. We find that variables associated with higher costs include older age, black ethnicity, admission under the Mental Health Act, and higher need as reflected in the care clusters. Provider type, size, occupancy and the proportion of formal admissions at the provider-level are also found to be significantly associated with costs. After controlling for patient- and provider-level variables, significant residual variation in costs remains at the provider level. The results suggest that some providers may have to increase efficiency in order to remain financially viable if providers are paid national fixed prices (tariffs) under the new payment system. Although the classification system for payment is not based on diagnosis, a limitation of the study is the inability to explore the effect of diagnosis due to poor coding in the MHMDS. We find that some mental health care providers in England are associated with higher costs of provision after controlling for characteristics of service users and providers. These higher costs may be associated with higher quality care or with inefficient provision of care. The introduction of a national tariff is likely to provide a strong incentive to reduce costs. Policies may need to consider safe-guarding local health economies if some providers make substantial losses under the new payment regime. Future research should consider the relationship between costs and quality to ascertain whether reducing costs may potentially negatively impact patient outcomes.

A Low Cost Mobile Robot Based on Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) Control System and Odometer for Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haq, R.; Prayitno, H.; Dzulkiflih; Sucahyo, I.; Rahmawati, E.

2018-03-01

In this article, the development of a low cost mobile robot based on PID controller and odometer for education is presented. PID controller and odometer is applied for controlling mobile robot position. Two-dimensional position vector in cartesian coordinate system have been inserted to robot controller as an initial and final position. Mobile robot has been made based on differential drive and sensor magnetic rotary encoder which measured robot position from a number of wheel rotation. Odometry methode use data from actuator movements for predicting change of position over time. The mobile robot is examined to get final position with three different heading angle 30°, 45° and 60° by applying various value of KP, KD and KI constant.

Development of an intelligent controller for power generators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maxted, Clive; Waller, Winston

2005-01-01

This paper is a description of the development of an embedded controller for high power industrial diesel generators. The aim of the project was to replace the existing discrete logic design by an intelligent versatile and user configurable control system. A prototype embedded PC controlled system was developed, capable of fully replacing the existing system, with a colour TFT display and keypad. Features include fully automatic generator control as before with status and alarm display and monitoring of engine parameters, along with data logging, remote communications and a means of analysing data. The unit was tested on the bench and on diesel generators for the core controlling functionality to prove compliance with the specifications. The results of the testing proved the unit's suitability as a replacement for the existing system in its intended environment. The significance of this study is that a low cost replacement solution has been found for an industrial application by transferring modern technological knowledge to a small business. The company are now able to build on the design and take it into production, reducing servicing and production costs.

Trauma systems and the costs of trauma care.

PubMed Central

Goldfarb, M G; Bazzoli, G J; Coffey, R M

1996-01-01

OBJECTIVE. This study examines the cost of providing trauma services in trauma centers organized by publicly administered trauma systems, compared to hospitals not part of a formal trauma system. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING. Secondary administrative discharge abstracts for a national sample of severely injured trauma patients in 44 trauma centers and 60 matched control hospitals for the year 1987 were used. STUDY DESIGN. Retrospective univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the impact of formal trauma systems and trauma center designation on the costs of treating trauma patients. Key dependent variables included length of stay, charge per day per patient, and charge per hospital stay. Key impact variables were type of trauma system and level of trauma designation. Control variables included patient, hospital, and community characteristics. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS. Data were selected for hospitals based on (1) a large national hospital discharge database, the Hospital Cost and Utilization Project, 1980-1987 (HCUP-2) and (2) a special survey of trauma systems and trauma designation undertaken by the Hospital Research and Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. The results show that publicly designated Level I trauma centers, which are the focal point of most trauma systems, have the highest charge per case, the highest average charge per day, and similar or longer average lengths of stay than other hospitals. These findings persist after controlling for patient injury and health status, and for demographic characteristics and hospital and community characteristics. CONCLUSIONS. Prior research shows that severely injured trauma patients have greater chances of survival when treated in specialized trauma centers. However, findings here should be of concern to the many states developing trauma systems since the high costs of Level I centers support limiting the number of centers designated at this level and/or reconsidering the requirements placed on these centers. PMID:8617611

Low-cost infrared glass for IR imaging applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, Amy G.; LeBlanc, Richard A.; Hilton, Ray A., Sr.

2003-09-01

With the advent of the uncooled detectors, the fraction of infrared (IR) imaging system cost due to lens elements has risen to the point where work was needed in the area of cost. Since these IR imaging systems often have tight packaging requirements which drive the optical elements to have complex surfaces, typical IR optical elements are costly to manufacture. The drive of our current optical material research is to lower the cost of the materials as well as the element fabrication for IR imaging systems. A low cost, moldable amorphous material, Amtir-4, has been developed and characterized. Ray Hilton Sr., Amorphous Materials Inc., Richard A. LeBlanc, Amy Graham and Others at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Orlando (LMMFC-O) and James Johnson, General Electric Global Research Center (GE-GRC), along with others have been doing research for the past three years characterizing and designing IR imaging systems with this material. These IR imaging systems have been conventionally fabricated via diamond turning and techniques required to mold infrared optical elements have been developed with this new material, greatly reducing manufacturing costs. This paper will outline efforts thus far in incorporating this new material into prototype IR imaging systems.

Identifying and locating surface defects in wood: Part of an automated lumber processing system

Treesearch

Richard W. Conners; Charles W. McMillin; Kingyao Lin; Ramon E. Vasquez-Espinosa

1983-01-01

Continued increases in the cost of materials and labor make it imperative for furniture manufacturers to control costs by improved yield and increased productivity. This paper describes an Automated Lumber Processing System (ALPS) that employs computer tomography, optical scanning technology, the calculation of an optimum cutting strategy, and 1 computer-driven laser...

Are You Paying Too Much? Cutting Telephone System Costs by Tracking Expenses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sachnoff, Neil S.

1990-01-01

Personnel responsible for telecommunications systems need a way to ensure pursuit of the right technology at the right time does not lead them away from considerations of the right price. A three-step method of historical and monthly reviews offers a straightforward means of regaining control of expenditures and tracking costs. (MSE)

Controlling Flows Of Two Ingredients For Spraying

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandler, Huel H.

1995-01-01

Closed-loop servo control subsystem incorporated, as modification, into system controlling flows of two ingredients mixed and sprayed to form thermally insulating foams on large tanks. Provides steady flows at specified rates. Foams produced smoother and of higher quality. Continued use of system results in substantial reduction in cost stemming from close control of application of foam and consequent reduced use of material.

Advanced Lighting Controls for Reducing Energy use and Cost in DoD Installations

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-01

OccuSwitch Wireless is a room-based lighting control system employing dimmable light sources, occupancy and daylight sensors , wireless interconnection...combination of wireless and wired control solution for building-wide networked system that maximizes the use of daylight while improving visual...architecture of Hybrid ILDC. Architecture: The system features wireless connectivity among sensors and actuators within a zone and exploits wired

Evaluating Moisture Control of Variable-Capacity Heat Pumps in Mechanically Ventilated, Low-Load Homes in Climate Zone 2A

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martin, Eric; Withers, Chuck; McIlvaine, Janet

Low-load homes can present a challenge when selecting appropriate space-conditioning equipment. Conventional, fixed-capacity heating and cooling equipment is often oversized for small homes, causing increased first costs and operating costs. This report evaluates the performance of variable-capacity comfort systems, with a focus on inverter-driven, variable-capacity systems, as well as proposed system enhancements.

Implementation of an Embedded Web Server Application for Wireless Control of Brain Computer Interface Based Home Environments.

PubMed

Aydın, Eda Akman; Bay, Ömer Faruk; Güler, İnan

2016-01-01

Brain Computer Interface (BCI) based environment control systems could facilitate life of people with neuromuscular diseases, reduces dependence on their caregivers, and improves their quality of life. As well as easy usage, low-cost, and robust system performance, mobility is an important functionality expected from a practical BCI system in real life. In this study, in order to enhance users' mobility, we propose internet based wireless communication between BCI system and home environment. We designed and implemented a prototype of an embedded low-cost, low power, easy to use web server which is employed in internet based wireless control of a BCI based home environment. The embedded web server provides remote access to the environmental control module through BCI and web interfaces. While the proposed system offers to BCI users enhanced mobility, it also provides remote control of the home environment by caregivers as well as the individuals in initial stages of neuromuscular disease. The input of BCI system is P300 potentials. We used Region Based Paradigm (RBP) as stimulus interface. Performance of the BCI system is evaluated on data recorded from 8 non-disabled subjects. The experimental results indicate that the proposed web server enables internet based wireless control of electrical home appliances successfully through BCIs.

Application of advanced technologies to small, short-haul aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Andrews, D. G.; Brubaker, P. W.; Bryant, S. L.; Clay, C. W.; Giridharadas, B.; Hamamoto, M.; Kelly, T. J.; Proctor, D. K.; Myron, C. E.; Sullivan, R. L.

1978-01-01

The results of a preliminary design study which investigates the use of selected advanced technologies to achieve low cost design for small (50-passenger), short haul (50 to 1000 mile) transports are reported. The largest single item in the cost of manufacturing an airplane of this type is labor. A careful examination of advanced technology to airframe structure was performed since one of the most labor-intensive parts of the airplane is structures. Also, preliminary investigation of advanced aerodynamics flight controls, ride control and gust load alleviation systems, aircraft systems and turbo-prop propulsion systems was performed. The most beneficial advanced technology examined was bonded aluminum primary structure. The use of this structure in large wing panels and body sections resulted in a greatly reduced number of parts and fasteners and therefore, labor hours. The resultant cost of assembled airplane structure was reduced by 40% and the total airplane manufacturing cost by 16% - a major cost reduction. With further development, test verification and optimization appreciable weight saving is also achievable. Other advanced technology items which showed significant gains are as follows: (1) advanced turboprop-reduced block fuel by 15.30% depending on range; (2) configuration revisions (vee-tail)-empennage cost reduction of 25%; (3) leading-edge flap addition-weight reduction of 2500 pounds.

Dylan Cutler | NREL

Science.gov Websites

focuses on integration and optimization of distributed energy resources, specifically cost-optimal sizing Campus team which is focusing on NREL's own control system integration and energy informatics sizing and dispatch of distributed energy resources Integration of building and utility control systems

In-Service Performance and Costs of Methods to Control Urban Rail System Noise

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-12-01

This study evaluates the acoustic and economic effectiveness of five methods of controlling wheel/rail noise and vibration on urban rail transit systems, namely: rail grinding, wheel truing, resilient wheels, ring-damped wheels, and welded vs. jointe...

Control of Entry to a Queueing System

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-11-01

being devoted to the use of queueing theory to control ard optimize the o~peration i f a system. Here, queueing analyses are used to design a system...operpting costs below somae upper bound while maximizing throughput of the queue. This more recent approach of designing or controlling a queueing system...ports designated as high density traffic airports, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) limits the number of instrument flight r’ule (IFR

Development of Arduino based wireless control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Zhuoxiong; Dyke, Shirley J.; Pena, Francisco; Wilbee, Alana

2015-03-01

Over the past few decades, considerable attention has been given to structural control systems to mitigate structural vibration under natural hazards such as earthquakes and extreme weather conditions. Traditional wired structural control systems often employ a large amount of cables for communication among sensors, controllers and actuators. In such systems, implementation of wired sensors is usually quite complicated and expensive, especially on large scale structures such as bridges and buildings. To reduce the laborious installation and maintenance cost, wireless control systems (WCSs) are considered as a novel approach for structural vibration control. In this work, a WCS is developed based on the open source Arduino platform. Low cost, low power wireless sensing and communication components are built on the Arduino platform. Structural control algorithms are embedded within the wireless sensor board for feedback control. The developed WCS is first validated through a series of tests. Next, numerical simulations are performed simulating wireless control of a 3-story shear structure equipped with a semi-active control device (MR damper). Finally, experimental studies are carried out implementing the WCS on the 3-story shear structure in the Intelligent Infrastructure Systems Lab (IISL). A hydraulic shake table is used to generate seismic ground motions. The control performance is evaluated with the impact of modeling uncertainties, measurement noises as well as time delay and data loss induced by the wireless network. The developed WCS is shown to be effective in controlling structural vibrations under several historical earthquake ground motions.

Model predictive controller design for boost DC-DC converter using T-S fuzzy cost function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Sang-Wha; Kim, Yong; Choi, Han Ho

2017-11-01

This paper proposes a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy method to select cost function weights of finite control set model predictive DC-DC converter control algorithms. The proposed method updates the cost function weights at every sample time by using T-S type fuzzy rules derived from the common optimal control engineering knowledge that a state or input variable with an excessively large magnitude can be penalised by increasing the weight corresponding to the variable. The best control input is determined via the online optimisation of the T-S fuzzy cost function for all the possible control input sequences. This paper implements the proposed model predictive control algorithm in real time on a Texas Instruments TMS320F28335 floating-point Digital Signal Processor (DSP). Some experimental results are given to illuminate the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed control system under several operating conditions. The results verify that our method can yield not only good transient and steady-state responses (fast recovery time, small overshoot, zero steady-state error, etc.) but also insensitiveness to abrupt load or input voltage parameter variations.

A Decision Support System for Planning, Control and Auditing of DoD Software Cost Estimation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-03-01

is frequently used in U. S. Air Force software cost estimates. Barry Boehm’s Constructive Cost Estimation Model (COCOMO) was recently selected for use...are considered basic to the proper development of software. Pressman , [Ref. 11], addresses these basic elements in a manner which attempts to integrate...H., Jr., and Carlson, Eric D., Building E fective Decision SUDDOrt Systems, Prentice-Hal, EnglewoodNJ, 1982 11. Pressman , Roger S., o A Practioner’s A

Automated Testing Experience of the Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment (LASRE) Controller

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larson, Richard R.

1999-01-01

System controllers must be fail-safe, low cost, flexible to software changes, able to output health and status words, and permit rapid retest qualification. The system controller designed and tested for the aerospike engine program was an attempt to meet these requirements. This paper describes (1) the aerospike controller design, (2) the automated simulation testing techniques, and (3) the real time monitoring data visualization structure. Controller cost was minimized by design of a single-string system that used an off-the-shelf 486 central processing unit (CPU). A linked-list architecture, with states (nodes) defined in a user-friendly state table, accomplished software changes to the controller. Proven to be fail-safe, this system reported the abort cause and automatically reverted to a safe condition for any first failure. A real time simulation and test system automated the software checkout and retest requirements. A program requirement to decode all abort causes in real time during all ground and flight tests assured the safety of flight decisions and the proper execution of mission rules. The design also included health and status words, and provided a real time analysis interpretation for all health and status data.

Sufentanil sublingual tablet system for the management of postoperative pain.

PubMed

Babazade, Rovnat; Turan, Alparslan

2016-12-01

Intravenous patient-controlled opioid analgesia has been an important improvement in addressing insufficient management of acute postoperative pain for over 40 years. However, there are number of weaknesses for intravenous patient-controlled analgesia, including operator and device error, intravenous line patency issues, and risk of catheter-related infection, all of which contribute to the complications and increase in cost of care. The sublingual sufentanil tablet system is a major evolution in both drug and technological management of postoperative pain. Areas covered: We reviewed the use of the sublingual sufentanil tablet system in management of moderate to severe postoperative pain in hospitalized patients, with a particular focus on the pharmacological properties of sufentanil and clinical use in different surgical patients. Expert opinion: The sublingual sufentanil tablet system can decrease intravenous opioid based patient-controlled analgesia related complications and safety issues. Current clinical studies have demonstrated this noninvasive-novel system to be safe and effective in management of acute pain in the postsurgical setting. Researchers should focus on comparing it with other available patient controlled analgesia modalities and evaluating the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the sublingual sufentanil tablet system.

Upgrading NASA/DOSE laser ranging system control computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ricklefs, Randall L.; Cheek, Jack; Seery, Paul J.; Emenheiser, Kenneth S.; Hanrahan, William P., III; Mcgarry, Jan F.

1993-01-01

Laser ranging systems now managed by the NASA Dynamics of the Solid Earth (DOSE) and operated by the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Texas have produced a wealth on interdisciplinary scientific data over the last three decades. Despite upgrades to the most of the ranging station subsystems, the control computers remain a mix of 1970's vintage minicomputers. These encompass a wide range of vendors, operating systems, and languages, making hardware and software support increasingly difficult. Current technology allows replacement of controller computers at a relatively low cost while maintaining excellent processing power and a friendly operating environment. The new controller systems are now being designed using IBM-PC-compatible 80486-based microcomputers, a real-time Unix operating system (LynxOS), and X-windows/Motif IB, and serial interfaces have been chosen. This design supports minimizing short and long term costs by relying on proven standards for both hardware and software components. Currently, the project is in the design and prototyping stage with the first systems targeted for production in mid-1993.

Candidate Mission from Planet Earth control and data delivery system architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shapiro, Phillip; Weinstein, Frank C.; Hei, Donald J., Jr.; Todd, Jacqueline

1992-01-01

Using a structured, experienced-based approach, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has assessed the generic functional requirements for a lunar mission control and data delivery (CDD) system. This analysis was based on lunar mission requirements outlined in GSFC-developed user traffic models. The CDD system will facilitate data transportation among user elements, element operations, and user teams by providing functions such as data management, fault isolation, fault correction, and link acquisition. The CDD system for the lunar missions must not only satisfy lunar requirements but also facilitate and provide early development of data system technologies for Mars. Reuse and evolution of existing data systems can help to maximize system reliability and minimize cost. This paper presents a set of existing and currently planned NASA data systems that provide the basic functionality. Reuse of such systems can have an impact on mission design and significantly reduce CDD and other system development costs.

An algorithm for control system design via parameter optimization. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sinha, P. K.

1972-01-01

An algorithm for design via parameter optimization has been developed for linear-time-invariant control systems based on the model reference adaptive control concept. A cost functional is defined to evaluate the system response relative to nominal, which involves in general the error between the system and nominal response, its derivatives and the control signals. A program for the practical implementation of this algorithm has been developed, with the computational scheme for the evaluation of the performance index based on Lyapunov's theorem for stability of linear invariant systems.

Ubiquitous Wireless Smart Sensing and Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, Raymond

2013-01-01

Need new technologies to reliably and safely have humans interact within sensored environments (integrated user interfaces, physical and cognitive augmentation, training, and human-systems integration tools). Areas of focus include: radio frequency identification (RFID), motion tracking, wireless communication, wearable computing, adaptive training and decision support systems, and tele-operations. The challenge is developing effective, low cost/mass/volume/power integrated monitoring systems to assess and control system, environmental, and operator health; and accurately determining and controlling the physical, chemical, and biological environments of the areas and associated environmental control systems.

Ubiquitous Wireless Smart Sensing and Control. Pumps and Pipes JSC: Uniquely Houston

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, Raymond

2013-01-01

Need new technologies to reliably and safely have humans interact within sensored environments (integrated user interfaces, physical and cognitive augmentation, training, and human-systems integration tools).Areas of focus include: radio frequency identification (RFID), motion tracking, wireless communication, wearable computing, adaptive training and decision support systems, and tele-operations. The challenge is developing effective, low cost/mass/volume/power integrated monitoring systems to assess and control system, environmental, and operator health; and accurately determining and controlling the physical, chemical, and biological environments of the areas and associated environmental control systems.

Can low-cost VOR and Omega receivers suffice for RNAV - A new computer-based navigation technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hollaar, L. A.

1978-01-01

It is shown that although RNAV is particularly valuable for the personal transportation segment of general aviation, it has not gained complete acceptance. This is due, in part, to its high cost and the necessary special-handling air traffic control. VOR/DME RNAV calculations are ideally suited for analog computers, and the use of microprocessor technology has been suggested for reducing RNAV costs. Three navigation systems, VOR, Omega, and DR, are compared for common navigational difficulties, such as station geometry, siting errors, ground disturbances, and terminal area coverage. The Kalman filtering technique is described with reference to the disadvantages when using a system including standard microprocessors. An integrated navigation system, using input data from various low-cost sensor systems, is presented and current simulation studies are noted.

Cost containment for the public health.

PubMed

Eastaugh, Steven R

2006-01-01

The U.S. health care system has major problems with respect to patient access and cost control. Trimming excess hospital expenses and expanding public health activities are cost effective. By budgeting well, with global budgets set for the high cost sectors, the United States might emerge with lower tax hikes, a healthier population, better facilities, and enhanced access to service. Nations with global budgets have better health statistics, and lower costs, compared to the United States. With global budgets, these countries employ 75 to 85 percent fewer employees in administration and regulation, but patient satisfaction is almost double the rate in the United States. Implement a global budget for health care, or substantially raise taxes, is the basic choice faced in this country. Key words: global budget control cost containment.

The Integration of COTS/GOTS within NASA's HST Command and Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfarr, Thomas; Reis, James E.; Obenschain, Arthur F. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

NASA's mission critical Hubble Space Telescope (HST) command and control system has been re-engineered with COTS/GOTS and minimal custom code. This paper focuses on the design of this new HST Control Center System (CCS) and the lessons learned throughout its development. CCS currently utilizes 31 COTS/GOTS products with an additional 12 million lines of custom glueware code; the new CCS exceeds the capabilities of the original system while significantly reducing the lines of custom code by more than 50%. The lifecycle of COTS/GOTS products will be examined including the pack-age selection process, evaluation process, and integration process. The advantages, disadvantages, issues, concerns, and lessons teamed for integrating COTS/GOTS into the NASA's mission critical HST CCS will be examined in detail. Command and control systems designed with traditional custom code development efforts will be compared with command and control systems designed with new development techniques relying heavily on COTS/COTS integration. This paper will reveal the many hidden costs of COTS/GOTS solutions when compared to traditional custom code development efforts; this paper will show the high cost of COTS/GOTS solutions including training expenses, consulting fees, and long-term maintenance expenses.

Decentralized coordinated control of elastic web winding systems without tension sensor.

PubMed

Hou, Hailiang; Nian, Xiaohong; Chen, Jie; Xiao, Dengfeng

2018-06-26

In elastic web winding systems, precise regulation of web tension in each span is critical to ensure final product quality, and to achieve low cost by reducing the occurrence of web break or fold. Generally, web winding systems use load cells or swing rolls as tension sensors, which add cost, reduce system reliability and increase the difficulty of control. In this paper, a decentralized coordinated control scheme with tension observers is designed for a three-motor web-winding system. First, two tension observers are proposed to estimate the unwinding and winding tension. The designed observers consider the essential dynamic, radius, and inertial variation effects and only require the modest computational effort. Then, using the estimated tensions as feedback signals, a robust decentralized coordinated controller is adopted to reduce the interaction between subsystems. Asymptotic stabilities of the observer error dynamics and the closed-loop winding systems are demonstrated via Lyapunov stability theory. The observer gains and the controller gains can be obtained by solving matrix inequalities. Finally, some simulations and experiments are performed on a paper winding setup to test the performance of the designed observers and the observer-base DCC method, respectively. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Control of accidental releases of hydrogen selenide in vented storage cabinets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fthenakis, V. M.; Moskowitz, P. D.; Sproull, R. D.

1988-07-01

Highly toxic hydrogen selenide and hydrogen sulfide gases are used in the production of copper-indium-diselenide photovoltaic cells by reactive sputtering. In the event of an accident, these gases may be released to the atmosphere and pose hazards to public and occupational safety and health. This paper outlines an approach for designing systems for the control of these releases given the uncertainty in release conditions and lack of data on the chemical systems involved. Accidental releases of these gases in storage cabinets can be controlled by either a venturi and packed-bed scrubber and carbon adsorption bed, or containment scrubbing equipment followed by carbon adsorption. These systems can effectively reduce toxic gas emissions to levels needed to protect public health. The costs of these controls (˜0.012/Wp) are samll in comparison with current (˜6/Wp) and projected (˜I/Wp) production costs.

Design and simulation of a sensor for heliostat field closed loop control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, Mike; Potter, Daniel; Burton, Alex

2017-06-01

Significant research has been completed in pursuit of capital cost reductions for heliostats [1],[2]. The camera array closed loop control concept has potential to radically alter the way heliostats are controlled and installed by replacing high quality open loop targeting systems with low quality targeting devices that rely on measurement of image position to remove tracking errors during operation. Although the system could be used for any heliostat size, the system significantly benefits small heliostats by reducing actuation costs, enabling large numbers of heliostats to be calibrated simultaneously, and enabling calibration of heliostats that produce low irradiance (similar or less than ambient light images) on Lambertian calibration targets, such as small heliostats that are far from the tower. A simulation method for the camera array has been designed and verified experimentally. The simulation tool demonstrates that closed loop calibration or control is possible using this device.

Laboratory, semi-pilot and room scale study of nitrite and molybdate mediated control of H(2)S emission from swine manure.

PubMed

Moreno, Lyman; Predicala, Bernardo; Nemati, Mehdi

2010-04-01

The effects of manure age on emission of H(2)S and required level of nitrite or molybdate to control these emissions were investigated in the present work. Molybdate mediated control of H(2)S emission was also studied in semi-pilot scale open systems, and in specifically designed chambers which simulated swine production rooms. With fresh 1-, 3- and 6-month old manures average H(2)S concentration in the headspace gas of the closed systems were 4856+/-460, 3431+/-208, 1037+/-98 ppm and non-detectable, respectively. Moreover, the level of nitrite or molybdate required to control the emission of H(2)S decreased as manure age increased. In the semi-pilot scale open system and chambers, average H(2)S concentration at the surface of agitated fresh manure were 831+/-26 and 88.4+/-5.7 ppm, respectively. Furthermore, 0.1-0.25 mM molybdate was sufficient to control the emission of H(2)S. A cost study for an average size swine operation showed that the cost of treatment with molybdate was less than 1% of the overall production cost for each market hog. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of Protection and Control Unit for Distribution Substation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iguchi, Fumiaki; Hayashi, Hideyuki; Takeuchi, Motohiro; Kido, Mitsuyasu; Kobayashi, Takashi; Yanaoka, Atsushi

The Recently, electronics and IT technologies have been rapidly innovated and have been introduced to power system protection & control system to achieve high reliability, maintainability and more functionality. Concerning the distribution substation application, digital relays have been applied for more than 10 years. Because of a number of electronic devices used for it, product cost becomes higher. Also, products installed during the past high-growth period will be at the end of lifetime and will be replaced. Therefore, replacing market is expected to grow and the reduction of cost is demanded. Considering above mentioned background, second generation digital protection and control unit as a successor is designed to have following concepts. Functional integration based on advanced digital technologies, Ethernet LAN based indoor communication network, cost reduction and downsizing. Pondering above concepts, integration of protection and control function is adopted in contrary to the functional segregation applied to the previous system in order to achieve one-unit concept. Also the adoption of Ethernet LAN for inter-unit communication is objective. This report shows the development of second-generation digital relay for distribution substation, which is equipped with control function and Ethernet LAN by reducing the size of auxiliary transformer unit and the same size as previous product is realized.

Standardized Emission Quantification and Control of Costs for Environmental Measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walter, J.; Hustedt, M.; Wesling, V.; Barcikowski, S.

Laser welding and soldering are important industrial joining processes. As is known, LGACs (Laser Generated Air Contaminants) cause costs for environmental measures during production of complex metallic components (steel, aluminium, magnesium, alloys). The hazardous potential of such processes has been assessed by analyzing the specific emissions with respect to relevant threshold limit values (TLVs). Avoiding and controlling emissions caused by laser processing of metals or metal composites is an important task. Using the experimental results, the planning of appropriate exhaust systems for laser processing is facilitated significantly. The costs quantified for environmental measures account for significant percentages of the total manufacturing costs.

Improving Control System Cyber-State Awareness using Known Secure Sensor Measurements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ondrej Linda; Milos Manic; Miles McQueen

Abstract—This paper presents design and simulation of a low cost and low false alarm rate method for improved cyber-state awareness of critical control systems - the Known Secure Sensor Measurements (KSSM) method. The KSSM concept relies on physical measurements to detect malicious falsification of the control systems state. The KSSM method can be incrementally integrated with already installed control systems for enhanced resilience. This paper reviews the previously developed theoretical KSSM concept and then describes a simulation of the KSSM system. A simulated control system network is integrated with the KSSM components. The effectiveness of detection of various intrusion scenariosmore » is demonstrated on several control system network topologies.« less

Comparative energy storage assessment item

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giudici, B.

1984-11-01

This analysis, a Space Station application study, rediscovered Integrated Power and Attitude Control (IPAC) and found the approach to have lower initial and resupply weight and lower initial and resupply cost than either battery/CMG or regenerative fuel cell/CMG systems. Preliminary trade studies were performed comparing (IPAC) with equivalent independent electrochemical power and control moment gyro (CMG) control approaches. Technologies considered to have adequate status for an initial Space Station were: (1) nickel cadmium batteries (NiCd batteries), (2) regenerative fuel cells (RFC), (3) Skylab class CMG's, and (4) state of the art IPAC using metal wheels and ball bearing suspension (SOA-IPAC). An advanced IPAC (ADV-IPAC) employing composite rotor material and magnetic suspension was included in the comparisons to illustrate a possible range of performance and cost of inertial systems. The candidates were compared on the basis of initial weight and cost and on the basis of resupply weight and cost for a 15 year mission. Thus, SOA-IPAC would appear to be an attractive approach for the initial Space Station and possible technology improvements would further the appeal for the initial and/or growth Space Station.

Comparative energy storage assessment item

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giudici, B.

1984-01-01

This analysis, a Space Station application study, rediscovered Integrated Power and Attitude Control (IPAC) and found the approach to have lower initial and resupply weight and lower initial and resupply cost than either battery/CMG or regenerative fuel cell/CMG systems. Preliminary trade studies were performed comparing (IPAC) with equivalent independent electrochemical power and control moment gyro (CMG) control approaches. Technologies considered to have adequate status for an initial Space Station were: (1) nickel cadmium batteries (NiCd batteries), (2) regenerative fuel cells (RFC), (3) Skylab class CMG's, and (4) state of the art IPAC using metal wheels and ball bearing suspension (SOA-IPAC). An advanced IPAC (ADV-IPAC) employing composite rotor material and magnetic suspension was included in the comparisons to illustrate a possible range of performance and cost of inertial systems. The candidates were compared on the basis of initial weight and cost and on the basis of resupply weight and cost for a 15 year mission. Thus, SOA-IPAC would appear to be an attractive approach for the initial Space Station and possible technology improvements would further the appeal for the initial and/or growth Space Station.

Precision vector control of a superconducting RF cavity driven by an injection locked magnetron

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chase, Brian; Pasquinelli, Ralph; Cullerton, Ed

The technique presented in this paper enables the regulation of both radio frequency amplitude and phase in narrow band devices such as a Superconducting RF (SRF) cavity driven by constant power output devices i.e. magnetrons [1]. The ability to use low cost high efficiency magnetrons for accelerator RF power systems, with tight vector regulation, presents a substantial cost savings in both construction and operating costs - compared to current RF power system technology. An operating CW system at 2.45 GHz has been experimentally developed. Vector control of an injection locked magnetron has been extensively tested and characterized with a SRFmore » cavity as the load. Amplitude dynamic range of 30 dB, amplitude stability of 0.3% r.m.s, and phase stability of 0.26 degrees r.m.s. has been demonstrated.« less

Precision vector control of a superconducting RF cavity driven by an injection locked magnetron

DOE PAGES

Chase, Brian; Pasquinelli, Ralph; Cullerton, Ed; ...

2015-03-01

The technique presented in this paper enables the regulation of both radio frequency amplitude and phase in narrow band devices such as a Superconducting RF (SRF) cavity driven by constant power output devices i.e. magnetrons [1]. The ability to use low cost high efficiency magnetrons for accelerator RF power systems, with tight vector regulation, presents a substantial cost savings in both construction and operating costs - compared to current RF power system technology. An operating CW system at 2.45 GHz has been experimentally developed. Vector control of an injection locked magnetron has been extensively tested and characterized with a SRFmore » cavity as the load. Amplitude dynamic range of 30 dB, amplitude stability of 0.3% r.m.s, and phase stability of 0.26 degrees r.m.s. has been demonstrated.« less

Phase 1 engineering and technical data report for the thermal control extravehicular life support system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A shuttle EVLSS Thermal Control System (TCS) is defined. Thirteen heat rejection subsystems, thirteen water management subsystems, nine humidity control subsystems, three pressure control schemes and five temperature control schemes are evaluated. Sixteen integrated TCS systems are studied, and an optimum system is selected based on quantitative weighting of weight, volume, cost, complexity and other factors. The selected sybsystem contains a sublimator for heat rejection, a bubble expansion tank for water management, and a slurper and rotary separator for humidity control. Design of the selected subsystem prototype hardware is presented.

Cost and benefits design optimization model for fault tolerant flight control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rose, J.

1982-01-01

Requirements and specifications for a method of optimizing the design of fault-tolerant flight control systems are provided. Algorithms that could be used for developing new and modifying existing computer programs are also provided, with recommendations for follow-on work.

Application of Motion Induced Remote-Field Eddy-Current effect to online inspection and quality examination of rolling metallic strips

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Yushi; Udpa, Satish; Lord, William; Udpa, Lalita; Ouyang, Tianhe

2001-04-01

The Motion Induced Remote-Field Eddy-Current (MIRFEC) effect was first observed in 1994. The effect was first exploited for detecting pipeline stress corrosion cracks as a part of a research project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This paper presents a new application of the MIRFEC effect for online inspection of rolling metallic strips. Currently, rolled metallic strips and sheets are inspected off-line, which is costly, time consuming and not ideal for quality control. A well-designed online diagnostic and control system for metal rolling process may be able to reduce cost, improve quality, and hence enhance competitiveness of the product. The overall objective of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of a new nondestructive measurement system for on-line diagnostics and control of metallic rolling process using the MIRFEC effect. The system can be used to monitor, in real time, metallic strips/sheets for possible anomalies, inclusions, voids, bubbles, lamination, as well as variations in its magnetic and other properties. The potential advantages of the MIRFEC system include simplicity, robustness, low cost, high reliability, quick and accurate signal classification and characterization. Such systems can be used for real-time process control, or off-line data analysis. The technique also allows operation at high temperatures, tolerates large lift-off and vibration, and high rolling speed. Results of finite element modeling of the MIRFEC effect and experimental measurement data obtained from a prototype system are presented.

LQ optimal and reaching law-based sliding modes for inventory management systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ignaciuk, Przemysław; Bartoszewicz, Andrzej

2012-01-01

In this article, the theory of discrete sliding-mode control is used to design new supply strategies for periodic-review inventory systems. In the considered systems, the stock used to fulfil an unknown, time-varying demand can be replenished from a single supply source or from multiple suppliers procuring orders with different delays. The proposed strategies guarantee that demand is always entirely satisfied from the on-hand stock (yielding the maximum service level), and the warehouse capacity is not exceeded (which eliminates the cost of emergency storage). In contrast to the classical, stochastic approaches, in this article, we focus on optimising the inventory system dynamics. The parameters of the first control strategy are selected by minimising a quadratic cost functional. Next, it is shown how the system dynamical performance can be improved by applying the concept of a reaching law with the appropriately adjusted reaching phase. The stable, nonoscillatory behaviour of the closed-loop system is demonstrated and the properties of the designed controllers are discussed and strictly proved.

Lessons from international experience in controlling pharmaceutical expenditure. III: Regulating industry.

PubMed Central

Bloor, K.; Maynard, A.; Freemantle, N.

1996-01-01

This is the third of three papers that review international policies to control spending on drugs and to improve the efficiency of drug use. This paper reviews policies regulating the supply of drugs, particularly licensing and reimbursement controls, price and profit regulation. Price and profit controls contain few incentives for improving cost effective use of drugs, and focus on cost containment and profitability of domestic industry. Carefully monitored economic evaluation could lead to improvements in efficiency and benefits to patients and the health care system. PMID:8664771

Design and control of electromagnetic clutch actuation system for automated manual transmission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ranjan, Ashish; Prasanth, S.; Cherian, Fenin; Baskar, P.

2017-11-01

There is a growing interest towards Automatic Transmission in India as it provides better comfort and drivability. But the high cost of this system is limiting itself to be successful in the Indian markets. Due to this, Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) is considered which provides a better solution towards automation as it enhances the drivability and fuel consumption characteristics of a manual transmission at lower costs. However, torque lag and comfort are major issues with AMT which can be addressed by reducing the shift time. In this paper we describe an Electromagnetic Linear Clutch Actuator as a replacement to current electrohydraulic and electromechanical actuator. A control system for the actuator is presented and a clutch engagement strategy is also implemented which reduces the engagement time to 0.78 seconds while reducing jerk and torque lag. The actuator and control system is simulated on a MATLAB Simulink and agreeable results have been obtained.

Orbit transfer rocket engine integrated control and health monitoring system technology readiness assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bickford, R. L.; Collamore, F. N.; Gage, M. L.; Morgan, D. B.; Thomas, E. R.

1992-01-01

The objectives of this task were to: (1) estimate the technology readiness of an integrated control and health monitoring (ICHM) system for the Aerojet 7500 lbF Orbit Transfer Vehicle engine preliminary design assuming space based operations; and (2) estimate the remaining cost to advance this technology to a NASA defined 'readiness level 6' by 1996 wherein the technology has been demonstrated with a system validation model in a simulated environment. The work was accomplished through the conduct of four subtasks. In subtask 1 the minimally required functions for the control and monitoring system was specified. The elements required to perform these functions were specified in Subtask 2. In Subtask 3, the technology readiness level of each element was assessed. Finally, in Subtask 4, the development cost and schedule requirements were estimated for bringing each element to 'readiness level 6'.

Quantifying the Impact of Unavailability in Cyber-Physical Environments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aissa, Anis Ben; Abercrombie, Robert K; Sheldon, Federick T.

2014-01-01

The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system discussed in this work manages a distributed control network for the Tunisian Electric & Gas Utility. The network is dispersed over a large geographic area that monitors and controls the flow of electricity/gas from both remote and centralized locations. The availability of the SCADA system in this context is critical to ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of energy, including safety, security, continuity of operations and revenue. Such SCADA systems are the backbone of national critical cyber-physical infrastructures. Herein, we propose adapting the Mean Failure Cost (MFC) metric for quantifying the cost of unavailability.more » This new metric combines the classic availability formulation with MFC. The resulting metric, so-called Econometric Availability (EA), offers a computational basis to evaluate a system in terms of the gain/loss ($/hour of operation) that affects each stakeholder due to unavailability.« less

Design and control strategy for a hybrid green energy system for mobile telecommunication sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okundamiya, Michael S.; Emagbetere, Joy O.; Ogujor, Emmanuel A.

2014-07-01

The rising energy costs and carbon footprint of operating mobile telecommunication sites in the emerging world have increased research interests in green technology. The intermittent nature of most green energy sources creates the problem of designing the optimum configuration for a given location. This study presents the design analysis and control strategy for a cost effective and reliable operation of the hybrid green energy system (HGES) for GSM base transceiver station (BTS) sites in isolated regions. The design constrains the generation and distribution of power to reliably satisfy the energy demand while ensuring safe operation of the system. The overall process control applies the genetic algorithm-based technique for optimal techno-economic sizing of system's components. The process simulation utilized meteorological data for 3 locations (Abuja, Benin City and Sokoto) with varying climatic conditions in Nigeria. Simulation results presented for green GSM BTS sites are discussed and compared with existing approaches.

Thrust vector control using electric actuation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bechtel, Robert T.; Hall, David K.

1995-01-01

Presently, gimbaling of launch vehicle engines for thrust vector control is generally accomplished using a hydraulic system. In the case of the space shuttle solid rocket boosters and main engines, these systems are powered by hydrazine auxiliary power units. Use of electromechanical actuators would provide significant advantages in cost and maintenance. However, present energy source technologies such as batteries are heavy to the point of causing significant weight penalties. Utilizing capacitor technology developed by the Auburn University Space Power Institute in collaboration with the Auburn CCDS, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Auburn are developing EMA system components with emphasis on high discharge rate energy sources compatible with space shuttle type thrust vector control requirements. Testing has been done at MSFC as part of EMA system tests with loads up to 66000 newtons for pulse times of several seconds. Results show such an approach to be feasible providing a potential for reduced weight and operations costs for new launch vehicles.

Optimal Control of Distributed Energy Resources using Model Predictive Control

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mayhorn, Ebony T.; Kalsi, Karanjit; Elizondo, Marcelo A.

2012-07-22

In an isolated power system (rural microgrid), Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as renewable energy resources (wind, solar), energy storage and demand response can be used to complement fossil fueled generators. The uncertainty and variability due to high penetration of wind makes reliable system operations and controls challenging. In this paper, an optimal control strategy is proposed to coordinate energy storage and diesel generators to maximize wind penetration while maintaining system economics and normal operation. The problem is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem with the goals of minimizing fuel costs and changes in power output of diesel generators, minimizingmore » costs associated with low battery life of energy storage and maintaining system frequency at the nominal operating value. Two control modes are considered for controlling the energy storage to compensate either net load variability or wind variability. Model predictive control (MPC) is used to solve the aforementioned problem and the performance is compared to an open-loop look-ahead dispatch problem. Simulation studies using high and low wind profiles, as well as, different MPC prediction horizons demonstrate the efficacy of the closed-loop MPC in compensating for uncertainties in wind and demand.« less

Demonstration of the Low-Cost Virtual Collaborative Environment (VCE)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowers, David; Montes, Leticia; Ramos, Angel; Joyce, Brendan; Lumia, Ron

1997-01-01

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a low-cost approach of remotely controlling equipment. Our demonstration system consists of a PC, the PUMA 560 robot with Barrett hand, and commercially available controller and teleconferencing software. The system provides a graphical user interface which allows a user to program equipment tasks and preview motions i.e., simulate the results. Once satisfied that the actions are both safe and accomplish the task, the remote user sends the data over the Internet to the local site for execution on the real equipment. A video link provides visual feedback to the remote sight. This technology lends itself readily to NASA's upcoming Mars expeditions by providing remote simulation and control of equipment.

Disease management: a leap of faith to lower-cost, higher-quality health care.

PubMed

Short, Ashley; Mays, Glen; Mittler, Jessica

2003-10-01

With managed care's promise to reduce costs and improve quality waning, employers and health plans are exploring more targeted ways to control rapidly rising health costs. Disease management programs, which focus on patients with chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, are growing in popularity, according to findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) 2002-03 site visits to 12 nationally representative communities. In addition to condition-based disease management programs, some health plans and employers are using intensive case management services to coordinate care for high-risk patients with potentially costly and complex medical conditions. Despite high expectations, evidence of both disease management and case management programs' success in controlling costs and improving quality remains limited.

TRI-SERVICE ELF COMMUNICATIONS - VOL. II, BIBLIOGRAPHY.

DTIC Science & Technology

BIBLIOGRAPHIES, UNDERGROUND ANTENNAS , ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE, UNDERGROUND , COSTS, VERY LOW FREQUENCY, LOW FREQUENCY, PROPAGATION, NOISE(RADIO)....EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCY), (*COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEMS, COMMUNICATION AND RADIO SYSTEMS), (* COMMUNICATION AND RADIO SYSTEMS, MILITARY RESEARCH

Economic Model Predictive Control of Bihormonal Artificial Pancreas System Based on Switching Control and Dynamic R-parameter.

PubMed

Tang, Fengna; Wang, Youqing

2017-11-01

Blood glucose (BG) regulation is a long-term task for people with diabetes. In recent years, more and more researchers have attempted to achieve automated regulation of BG using automatic control algorithms, called the artificial pancreas (AP) system. In clinical practice, it is equally important to guarantee the treatment effect and reduce the treatment costs. The main motivation of this study is to reduce the cure burden. The dynamic R-parameter economic model predictive control (R-EMPC) is chosen to regulate the delivery rates of exogenous hormones (insulin and glucagon). It uses particle swarm optimization (PSO) to optimize the economic cost function and the switching logic between insulin delivery and glucagon delivery is designed based on switching control theory. The proposed method is first tested on the standard subject; the result is compared with the switching PID and the switching MPC. The effect of the dynamic R-parameter on improving the control performance is illustrated by comparing the results of the EMPC and the R-EMPC. Finally, the robustness tests on meal change (size and timing), hormone sensitivity (insulin and glucagon), and subject variability are performed. All results show that the proposed method can improve the control performance and reduce the economic costs. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm on improving the tracking performance, enhancing robustness, and reducing economic costs. The method proposed in this study owns great worth in practical application.

The Design and Implementation of a Low Cost and High Security Smart Home System Based on Wi-Fi and SSL Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Chong-Yao; Zheng, Xin; Xiong, Xiao-Ming

2017-02-01

With the development of Internet of Things (IoT) and the popularity of intelligent mobile terminals, smart home system has come into people’s vision. However, due to the high cost, complex installation and inconvenience, as well as network security issues, smart home system has not been popularized. In this paper, combined with Wi-Fi technology, Android system, cloud server and SSL security protocol, a new set of smart home system is designed, with low cost, easy operation, high security and stability. The system consists of Wi-Fi smart node (WSN), Android client and cloud server. In order to reduce system cost and complexity of the installation, each Wi-Fi transceiver, appliance control logic and data conversion in the WSN is setup by a single chip. In addition, all the data of the WSN can be uploaded to the server through the home router, without having to transit through the gateway. All the appliance status information and environmental information are preserved in the cloud server. Furthermore, to ensure the security of information, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol is used in the WSN communication with the server. What’s more, to improve the comfort and simplify the operation, Android client is designed with room pattern to control home appliances more realistic, and more convenient.

New lighting and controls to save 67% at mall

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kennedy, K.

1985-06-17

A metal halide lighting system and a Staco control system that dims lighting in response to sunlight should save a Dallas hotel and office mall 67% in electricity costs. The new system replaces quartz lamps in the 160-foot-high atrium. The savings are a combination of state tax credits and lower air conditioning costs, which will pay for the $25,000 project in about 18 months. The metal halide system was chosen over sodium lighting in order to have more attractive color rendition and because it provides about twice as many lumens per watt as the quartz lamps. The Staco system willmore » dim lamps in response to outdoor light and turn lights above a skating rink on and off at prescribed times.« less

Load leveling on industrial refrigeration systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bierenbaum, H. S.; Kraus, A. D.

1982-01-01

A computer model was constructed of a brewery with a 2000 horsepower compressor/refrigeration system. The various conservation and load management options were simulated using the validated model. The savings available for implementing the most promising options were verified by trials in the brewery. Result show that an optimized methodology for implementing load leveling and energy conservation consisted of: (1) adjusting (or tuning) refrigeration systems controller variables to minimize unnecessary compressor starts, (2) The primary refrigeration system operating parameters, compressor suction pressure, and discharge pressure are carefully controlled (modulated) to satisfy product quality constraints (as well as in-process material cooling rates and temperature levels) and energy evaluating the energy cost savings associated with reject heat recovery, and (4) a decision is made to implement the reject heat recovery system based on a cost/benefits analysis.

Flight test of a full authority Digital Electronic Engine Control system in an F-15 aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barrett, W. J.; Rembold, J. P.; Burcham, F. W.; Myers, L.

1981-01-01

The Digital Electronic Engine Control (DEEC) system considered is a relatively low cost digital full authority control system containing selectively redundant components and fault detection logic with capability for accommodating faults to various levels of operational capability. The DEEC digital control system is built around a 16-bit, 1.2 microsecond cycle time, CMOS microprocessor, microcomputer system with approximately 14 K of available memory. Attention is given to the control mode, component bench testing, closed loop bench testing, a failure mode and effects analysis, sea-level engine testing, simulated altitude engine testing, flight testing, the data system, cockpit, and real time display.

Rapid Deployment of Optimal Control for Building HVAC Systems Using Innovative Software Tools and a Hybrid Heuristic/Model Based Control Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-21

for public release; distribution is unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES None 14. ABSTRACT ESTCP project EW-201409 aimed at demonstrating the benefits ...of innovative software technology for building HV AC systems. These benefits included reduced system energy use and cost as wetl as improved...Control Approach March 2017 This document has been cleared for public release; Distribution Statement A

Optimal Control of Stochastic Systems Driven by Fractional Brownian Motions

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-09

problems for stochastic partial differential equations driven by fractional Brownian motions are explicitly solved. For the control of a continuous time...linear systems with Brownian motion or a discrete time linear system with a white Gaussian noise and costs 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 4. TITLE AND...Army Research Office P.O. Box 12211 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211 stochastic optimal control, fractional Brownian motion , stochastic

Low cost space operations - Empty promise or future reality. [cost effectiveness problems of NASA programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bader, M.

1976-01-01

Organizational obstacles to the achievement of a cost-effective Space Shuttle service are examined. Among the factors considered are the difficulties of fostering concern for cost-effectiveness among the NASA research and development team and elimination of unnecessary systems and personnel. The effect of foreign or commercial competition and the extent to which governmental funding and control should be implemented are considered.

Assessing the Benefits and Costs of Motion for C-17 Flight Simulators: Technical Appendixes.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-06-01

Conference, NAECON, 1983. 4’ U-. - 182 - Instructional System Development, AF Manual 50-2, USAF, May 25, 1979. Irish , P.A., and G.H. Buckland, "Effects of...control augmentation system ; (4) the fidelity of different siirulator motion cueing alternatives; (5) a suggested methodology for assessinq the...evaluating the benefits and costs of incorporating motion systems in C-17 transport aircraft flight simulators and in developing a general framework

Design of low-cost general purpose microcontroller based neuromuscular stimulator.

PubMed

Koçer, S; Rahmi Canal, M; Güler, I

2000-04-01

In this study, a general purpose, low-cost, programmable, portable and high performance stimulator is designed and implemented. For this purpose, a microcontroller is used in the design of the stimulator. The duty cycle and amplitude of the designed system can be controlled using a keyboard. The performance test of the system has shown that the results are reliable. The overall system can be used as the neuromuscular stimulator under safe conditions.

Requirements for implementing real-time control functional modules on a hierarchical parallel pipelined system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wheatley, Thomas E.; Michaloski, John L.; Lumia, Ronald

1989-01-01

Analysis of a robot control system leads to a broad range of processing requirements. One fundamental requirement of a robot control system is the necessity of a microcomputer system in order to provide sufficient processing capability.The use of multiple processors in a parallel architecture is beneficial for a number of reasons, including better cost performance, modular growth, increased reliability through replication, and flexibility for testing alternate control strategies via different partitioning. A survey of the progression from low level control synchronizing primitives to higher level communication tools is presented. The system communication and control mechanisms of existing robot control systems are compared to the hierarchical control model. The impact of this design methodology on the current robot control systems is explored.

Stochastic Adaptive Estimation and Control.

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-10-26

Marcus, "Language Stability and Stabilizability of Discrete Event Dynamical Systems ," SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, 31, September 1993...in the hierarchical control of flexible manufacturing systems ; in this problem, the model involves a hybrid process in continuous time whose state is...of the average cost control problem for discrete- time Markov processes. Our exposition covers from finite to Borel state and action spaces and

Effective Determination of Overhead Rates for Pricing Goods and Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Christopher A.

This publication presents a system of gathering overhead data and describes several methods for assigning overhead costs to specific contract prices. It is intended to provide facility production supervisors with a means of ensuring adequate cost recovery in bid prices and gaining a measure of overhead cost control. The seven steps in the overhead…

An Investigation of Possible Discriminating Earned Value Variables in Department of Defense Major Acquisition Program Cancellation

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

distribution is unlimited 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE A 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Some major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs) are cancelled...68 VI. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR DEFENSE ACQUISITION .....................73 A . OVERVIEW...Contract Performance Report C /SCSC Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria CV Cost Variance CV % Cost Variance Percentage DAE Defense Acquisition

Case studies for GSHP demonstration projects in the US

DOE PAGES

Liu, Xiaobing; Malhotra, Mini; Im, Piljae

2015-07-01

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act , twenty-six ground source heat pump (GSHP) projects were competitively selected and carried out to demonstrate the benefits of GSHP systems and innovative technologies for cost reduction and/or performance improvement. This article gives an overview of the case studies for six of the systems. These case studies evaluated efficiencies, energy savings, and costs of the demonstrated systems. In addition, it was found that more energy savings could be achieved if controls of GSHP system are improved.

Economic evaluation of a randomized controlled trial of pharmacist-supervized patient self-testing of warfarin therapy.

PubMed

Gallagher, J; Mc Carthy, S; Woods, N; Ryan, F; O' Shea, S; Byrne, S

2015-02-01

The increase in numbers of patients requiring oral anti-coagulation testing in outpatient clinics has focused attention on alternative flexible systems of anti-coagulation management. One option is pharmacist led patient self-testing (PST) of international normalised ratio (INR) levels. PST has demonstrated improvements in anti-coagulation control, but its cost-effectiveness is inconclusive. This study reports the first cost-effectiveness evaluation of a randomized controlled trial of an automated direct-to-patient expert system, enabling remote and effective management of patients on oral anti-coagulation therapy. We conducted an economic evaluation alongside a randomised controlled trial investigating a pharmacist led PST method. The primary outcome was to determine the cost effectiveness of PST in comparison with usual care (management in a hospital based anti-coagulation clinic). Long term anti-coagulation patients were recruited to a 6 month cross over study between PST and routine care in an anti-coagulation clinic. Economic evaluation was from the healthcare payer perspective. On a per patient basis over a 6 month period, PST resulted in an incremental cost of €59.08 in comparison with routine care. Patients achieved a significantly higher time in therapeutic range (TTR) during the PST arm in comparison with routine care, (72 ± 19.7% vs. 59 ± 13.5%). Overall cost of managing a patient through pharmacist supervised PST for a 6 month period is €226.45. Additional analysis of strategies from a societal perspective indicated that PST was the dominant strategy. Pharmacist led patient self-testing is a viable method of management. It provides significant increases in anti-coagulation control for a minimal increase in cost. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Solar project cost report for Ingham County, Medical Care Facility, Okemos, Michigan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The solar energy system supplies service hot water for a 204 bed medical and geriatric care facility with laundry and kitchen. The system was designed at the time the building was designed. The 9,374 ft/sup 2/ of collectors were manufactured by Revere Copper and Brass, Inc., and are mounted at grade level behind the building. Solar heated water for use in heating service water is stored in a 5000 gallon hot water storage tank. The heaviest use of hot water occurs during the day so the requirement for thermal storage is modest. The construction costs of this solar project aremore » presented. Category costs are listed by materials, direct labor, ad subcontract costs. The subcontract costs include both materials, labor, overhead and profit for electrical, control and other minor subcontractors. The installed cost of the system was $312,825 not including prime contractor overhead and profit and general and administrative costs. (MHR)« less

Design of a control configured tanker aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, S. A.

1976-01-01

The benefits that accrue from using control configured vehicle (CCV) concepts were examined along with the techniques for applying these concepts to an advanced tanker aircraft design. Reduced static stability (RSS) and flutter mode control (FMC) were the two primary CCV concepts used in the design. The CCV tanker was designed to the same mission requirements specified for a conventional tanker design. A seven degree of freedom mathematical model of the flexible aircraft was derived and used to synthesize a lateral stability augmentation system (SAS), a longitudinal control augmentation system (CAS), and a FMC system. Fatigue life and cost analyses followed the control system synthesis, after which a comparative evaluation of the CCV and conventional tankers was made. This comparison indicated that the CCV weight and cost were lower but that, for this design iteration, the CCV fatigue life was shorter. Also, the CCV crew station acceleration was lower, but the acceleration at the boom operator station was higher relative to the corresponding conventional tanker. Comparison of the design processes used in the CCV and conventional design studies revealed that they were basically the same.

Effect of Reaganomics on the U.S. health-care system.

PubMed

Enright, S M

1982-07-01

Health care under President Ronald Reagan is discussed as it relates to consumers, third-party carriers, hospitals, and hospital pharmacists. The Reagan Administration's goals are to: (1) promote cost containment and quality control through competition, and (2) shift the major elements of program control to the state and local governments and the competitive private sector. Described are the regulatory and legislative initiatives of the Administration, such as the Omnibus Reconciliation Budget Act, Block Grant Programs, Medicare and Medicaid cuts, and procompetition legislation. Under increased competition in the health insurance system, the locus of responsibility for costs will shift from employers and unions to employees. Incentives for greater cost sharing will force hospitals to restrain costs. Multihospital systems are likely to proliferate. Proposed ancillary service caps will increase competition for resources among hospital departments. Pharmacy departments must implement strategic long-range planning to withstand the pressures for reductions in staff and services. Clinical pharmacy services will become increasingly difficult to implement without full documentation. As a result of all these changes, consumer demand for health-care services may decrease, and the way such services are delivered will probably shift.

Data-Based Predictive Control with Multirate Prediction Step

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barlow, Jonathan S.

2010-01-01

Data-based predictive control is an emerging control method that stems from Model Predictive Control (MPC). MPC computes current control action based on a prediction of the system output a number of time steps into the future and is generally derived from a known model of the system. Data-based predictive control has the advantage of deriving predictive models and controller gains from input-output data. Thus, a controller can be designed from the outputs of complex simulation code or a physical system where no explicit model exists. If the output data happens to be corrupted by periodic disturbances, the designed controller will also have the built-in ability to reject these disturbances without the need to know them. When data-based predictive control is implemented online, it becomes a version of adaptive control. One challenge of MPC is computational requirements increasing with prediction horizon length. This paper develops a closed-loop dynamic output feedback controller that minimizes a multi-step-ahead receding-horizon cost function with multirate prediction step. One result is a reduced influence of prediction horizon and the number of system outputs on the computational requirements of the controller. Another result is an emphasis on portions of the prediction window that are sampled more frequently. A third result is the ability to include more outputs in the feedback path than in the cost function.

Development of a framework for the assessment of capacity and throughput technologies within the National Airspace System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, Elena

The demand for air travel is expanding beyond the capacity of the existing National Airspace System. Excess traffic results in delays and compromised safety. Thus, a number of initiatives to improve airspace capacity have been proposed. To assess the impact of these technologies on air traffic one must move beyond the vehicle to a system-of-systems point of view. This top-level perspective must include consideration of the aircraft, airports, air traffic control and airlines that make up the airspace system. In addition to these components and their interactions economics, safety and government regulations must also be considered. Furthermore, the air transportation system is inherently variable with changes in everything from fuel prices to the weather. The development of a modeling environment that enables a comprehensive probabilistic evaluation of technological impacts was the subject of this thesis. The final modeling environment developed used economics as the thread to tie the airspace components together. Airport capacities and delays were calculated explicitly with due consideration to the impacts of air traffic control. The delay costs were then calculated for an entire fleet, and an airline economic analysis, considering the impact of these costs, was carried out. Airline return on investment was considered the metric of choice since it brings together all costs and revenues, including the cost of delays, landing fees for airport use and aircraft financing costs. Safety was found to require a level of detail unsuitable for a system-of-systems approach and was relegated to future airspace studies. Environmental concerns were considered to be incorporated into airport regulations and procedures and were not explicitly modeled. A deterministic case study was developed to test this modeling environment. The Atlanta airport operations for the year 2000 were used for validation purposes. A 2005 baseline was used as a basis for comparing the four technologies considered: a very large aircraft, Terminal Area Productivity air traffic control technologies, smoothing of an airline schedule, and the addition of a runway. A case including all four technologies simultaneously was also considered. Unfortunately, the complexity of the system prevented full exploration of the probabilistic aspects of the National Airspace System.

The business case for the reduction of surgical complications in VA hospitals.

PubMed

Vaughan-Sarrazin, Mary; Bayman, Levent; Rosenthal, Gary; Henderson, William; Hendricks, Ann; Cullen, Joseph J

2011-04-01

Surgical complications contribute substantially to costs. Most important, surgical complications contribute to morbidity and mortality, and some may be preventable. This study estimates costs of specific surgical complications for patients undergoing general surgery in VA hospitals using merged data from the VA Surgical Quality Improvement Program and VA Decision Support System. Costs associated with 19 potentially preventable complications within 6 broader categories were estimated using generalized, linear mixed regression models to control for patient-level determinants of costs (eg, type of operation, demographics, comorbidity, severity) and hospital-level variation in costs. Costs included costs of the index hospitalization and subsequent 30-day readmissions. In 14,639 patients undergoing general surgical procedures from 10/2005 through 9/2006, 20% of patients developed postoperative surgical complications. The presence of any complication significantly increased unadjusted costs nearly 3-fold ($61,083 vs $22,000), with the largest cost differential attributed to respiratory complications. Patients who developed complications had several markers for greater preoperative severity, including increased age and a lesser presurgery functional health status. After controlling for differences in patient severity, costs for patients with any complication were 1.89 times greater compared to costs for patients with no complications (P < .0001). Within major complication categories, adjusted costs were significantly greater for patients with respiratory, cardiac, central nervous system, urinary, wound, or other complications. Surgical complications contribute markedly to costs of inpatient operations. Investment in quality improvement that decreases the incidence of surgical complications could decrease costs. Copyright © 2011 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transportation Systems Center Bibliography of Technical Reports, July 1970 - December 1976,

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-04-01

Systems Center. AD-733-763 Judith Gertler, Herbert Glynn, Vivian Hobbs, Frederick Interim Report. June 1971. 16p. Woolfall. AD-733-764 Air Traffic Control...of Deployment Cost Analysis .. .......... FAA-76-20 Airspace Control Environmnent Simulator - Final Report.... ............ .. TSC-131.3 *All- Wether

Educational Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haag, Daniel; Munari, Silvio

1979-01-01

Includes 410 annotated citations arranged as follows: systems analysis; management in the public sector; policy, strategy and planning; organization; control and evaluation; costs and financing; information and decision-making systems. (JEG)

cost and benefits optimization model for fault-tolerant aircraft electronic systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The factors involved in economic assessment of fault tolerant systems (FTS) and fault tolerant flight control systems (FTFCS) are discussed. Algorithms for optimization and economic analysis of FTFCS are documented.

A New Control Paradigm for Stochastic Differential Equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmid, Matthias J. A.

This study presents a novel comprehensive approach to the control of dynamic systems under uncertainty governed by stochastic differential equations (SDEs). Large Deviations (LD) techniques are employed to arrive at a control law for a large class of nonlinear systems minimizing sample path deviations. Thereby, a paradigm shift is suggested from point-in-time to sample path statistics on function spaces. A suitable formal control framework which leverages embedded Freidlin-Wentzell theory is proposed and described in detail. This includes the precise definition of the control objective and comprises an accurate discussion of the adaptation of the Freidlin-Wentzell theorem to the particular situation. The new control design is enabled by the transformation of an ill-posed control objective into a well-conditioned sequential optimization problem. A direct numerical solution process is presented using quadratic programming, but the emphasis is on the development of a closed-form expression reflecting the asymptotic deviation probability of a particular nominal path. This is identified as the key factor in the success of the new paradigm. An approach employing the second variation and the differential curvature of the effective action is suggested for small deviation channels leading to the Jacobi field of the rate function and the subsequently introduced Jacobi field performance measure. This closed-form solution is utilized in combination with the supplied parametrization of the objective space. For the first time, this allows for an LD based control design applicable to a large class of nonlinear systems. Thus, Minimum Large Deviations (MLD) control is effectively established in a comprehensive structured framework. The construction of the new paradigm is completed by an optimality proof for the Jacobi field performance measure, an interpretive discussion, and a suggestion for efficient implementation. The potential of the new approach is exhibited by its extension to scalar systems subject to state-dependent noise and to systems of higher order. The suggested control paradigm is further advanced when a sequential application of MLD control is considered. This technique yields a nominal path corresponding to the minimum total deviation probability on the entire time domain. It is demonstrated that this sequential optimization concept can be unified in a single objective function which is revealed to be the Jacobi field performance index on the entire domain subject to an endpoint deviation. The emerging closed-form term replaces the previously required nested optimization and, thus, results in a highly efficient application-ready control design. This effectively substantiates Minimum Path Deviation (MPD) control. The proposed control paradigm allows the specific problem of stochastic cost control to be addressed as a special case. This new technique is employed within this study for the stochastic cost problem giving rise to Cost Constrained MPD (CCMPD) as well as to Minimum Quadratic Cost Deviation (MQCD) control. An exemplary treatment of a generic scalar nonlinear system subject to quadratic costs is performed for MQCD control to demonstrate the elementary expandability of the new control paradigm. This work concludes with a numerical evaluation of both MPD and CCMPD control for three exemplary benchmark problems. Numerical issues associated with the simulation of SDEs are briefly discussed and illustrated. The numerical examples furnish proof of the successful design. This study is complemented by a thorough review of statistical control methods, stochastic processes, Large Deviations techniques and the Freidlin-Wentzell theory, providing a comprehensive, self-contained account. The presentation of the mathematical tools and concepts is of a unique character, specifically addressing an engineering audience.

Proprietary hospitals in cost containment.

PubMed

Jones, D A

1985-08-23

Any effort to control the rise in health care costs must start with analyzing the causes, which are really quite simple. Most cost control efforts fail because they do not address the causes. The causes are large subsidies in several forms that send a false message that health care is free and should be used abundantly, and expansive reimbursement programs that reward inefficient providers with higher payments. This combination of demand stimulation and cost-plus reimbursement produced the world's most expensive health care delivery system and strident calls for reform. A long overdue change in public policy took effect October 1, 1983, when Medicare payments moved from cost-plus reimbursement to fixed, prospectively determined prices. Because it addressed one of the causes of medical inflation, this change has been effective in slowing the rise in Medicare expenditures. Sponsorship of a hospital is not a determinant of its cost-effectiveness. There are examples of efficient and inefficient hospitals in both the voluntary and the investor-owned or taxpaying hospitals. The determining factor is the will of management to keep costs under control.

Quadratic Programming for Allocating Control Effort

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Gurkirpal

2005-01-01

A computer program calculates an optimal allocation of control effort in a system that includes redundant control actuators. The program implements an iterative (but otherwise single-stage) algorithm of the quadratic-programming type. In general, in the quadratic-programming problem, one seeks the values of a set of variables that minimize a quadratic cost function, subject to a set of linear equality and inequality constraints. In this program, the cost function combines control effort (typically quantified in terms of energy or fuel consumed) and control residuals (differences between commanded and sensed values of variables to be controlled). In comparison with prior control-allocation software, this program offers approximately equal accuracy but much greater computational efficiency. In addition, this program offers flexibility, robustness to actuation failures, and a capability for selective enforcement of control requirements. The computational efficiency of this program makes it suitable for such complex, real-time applications as controlling redundant aircraft actuators or redundant spacecraft thrusters. The program is written in the C language for execution in a UNIX operating system.

Simulation of Greenhouse Climate Monitoring and Control with Wireless Sensor Network and Event-Based Control

PubMed Central

Pawlowski, Andrzej; Guzman, Jose Luis; Rodríguez, Francisco; Berenguel, Manuel; Sánchez, José; Dormido, Sebastián

2009-01-01

Monitoring and control of the greenhouse environment play a decisive role in greenhouse production processes. Assurance of optimal climate conditions has a direct influence on crop growth performance, but it usually increases the required equipment cost. Traditionally, greenhouse installations have required a great effort to connect and distribute all the sensors and data acquisition systems. These installations need many data and power wires to be distributed along the greenhouses, making the system complex and expensive. For this reason, and others such as unavailability of distributed actuators, only individual sensors are usually located in a fixed point that is selected as representative of the overall greenhouse dynamics. On the other hand, the actuation system in greenhouses is usually composed by mechanical devices controlled by relays, being desirable to reduce the number of commutations of the control signals from security and economical point of views. Therefore, and in order to face these drawbacks, this paper describes how the greenhouse climate control can be represented as an event-based system in combination with wireless sensor networks, where low-frequency dynamics variables have to be controlled and control actions are mainly calculated against events produced by external disturbances. The proposed control system allows saving costs related with wear minimization and prolonging the actuator life, but keeping promising performance results. Analysis and conclusions are given by means of simulation results. PMID:22389597

Simulation of greenhouse climate monitoring and control with wireless sensor network and event-based control.

PubMed

Pawlowski, Andrzej; Guzman, Jose Luis; Rodríguez, Francisco; Berenguel, Manuel; Sánchez, José; Dormido, Sebastián

2009-01-01

Monitoring and control of the greenhouse environment play a decisive role in greenhouse production processes. Assurance of optimal climate conditions has a direct influence on crop growth performance, but it usually increases the required equipment cost. Traditionally, greenhouse installations have required a great effort to connect and distribute all the sensors and data acquisition systems. These installations need many data and power wires to be distributed along the greenhouses, making the system complex and expensive. For this reason, and others such as unavailability of distributed actuators, only individual sensors are usually located in a fixed point that is selected as representative of the overall greenhouse dynamics. On the other hand, the actuation system in greenhouses is usually composed by mechanical devices controlled by relays, being desirable to reduce the number of commutations of the control signals from security and economical point of views. Therefore, and in order to face these drawbacks, this paper describes how the greenhouse climate control can be represented as an event-based system in combination with wireless sensor networks, where low-frequency dynamics variables have to be controlled and control actions are mainly calculated against events produced by external disturbances. The proposed control system allows saving costs related with wear minimization and prolonging the actuator life, but keeping promising performance results. Analysis and conclusions are given by means of simulation results.

Integrated Application of Active Controls (IAAC) technology to an advanced subsonic transpot project-demonstration act system definition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hanks, G. W.; Shomber, H. A.; Crumb, C. B.; Flora, C. C.; Macdonald, K. A. B.; Smith, R. D.; Sassi, A. P.; Dorwart, R. J.

1982-01-01

The 1985 ACT airplane is the Final Active Controls Technology (ACT) Airplane with the addition of three-axis fly by wire. Thus it retains all the efficiency features of the full ACT system plus the weight and cost savings accruing from deletion of the mechanical control system. The control system implements the full IAAC spectrum of active controls except flutter-mode control, judged essentially nonbeneficial, and incorporates new control surfaces called flaperons to make the most of wing-load alleviation. This redundant electronic system is conservatively designed to preserve the extreme reliability required of crucial short-period pitch augmentation, which provides more than half of the fuel savings.

Designing Ratchets in Ultra-cold Atoms for the Advanced Undergraduate Laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hachtel, Andrew; Gillette, Matthew; Clements, Ethan; Zhong, Shan; Ducay, Rey; Bali, Samir

2014-05-01

We propose to perform ratchet experiments in cold Rubidium atoms using state-of-the-art home-built tapered amplifier and imaging systems. Our tapered amplifier system amplifies the output from home-built external cavity tunable diode lasers up to a factor 100 and costs less than 5,000, in contrast to commercial tapered amplifier systems, which cost upward of 20,000. We have developed an imaging system with LabVIEW integration, which allows for approximately 2 millisecond exposures and microsecond control of experimental parameters. Our imaging system also costs less than 5,000 in comparison to commercial options, which cost between 40-50,000. Progress toward implementation of a one-dimensional rocking ratchet is described. We gratefully acknowledge funding from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund and Miami University. We also acknowledge the Miami University Instrumentation Laboratory for their invaluable contributions.

Cost-effectiveness of an exercise intervention program in perimenopausal women: the Fitness League Against MENopause COst (FLAMENCO) randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Carbonell-Baeza, Ana; Soriano-Maldonado, Alberto; Gallo, Francisco Javier; López del Amo, María Puerto; Ruiz-Cabello, Pilar; Andrade, Ana; Borges-Cosic, Milkana; Peces-Rama, Antonio Rubén; Spacírová, Zuzana; Álvarez-Gallardo, Inmaculada C; García-Mochón, Leticia; Segura-Jiménez, Víctor; Estévez-López, Fernando; Camiletti-Moirón, Daniel; Martín-Martín, Jose Jesús; Aranda, Pilar; Delgado-Fernández, Manuel; Aparicio, Virginia A

2015-06-17

The high prevalence of women that do not reach the recommended level of physical activity is worrisome. A sedentary lifestyle has negative consequences on health status and increases health care costs. The main objective of this project is to assess the cost-effectiveness of a primary care-based exercise intervention in perimenopausal women. The present study is a Randomized Controlled Trial. A total of 150 eligible women will be recruited and randomly assigned to either a 16-week exercise intervention (3 sessions/week), or to usual care (control) group. The primary outcome measure is the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. The secondary outcome measures are: i) socio-demographic and clinical information; ii) body composition; iii) dietary patterns; iv) glycaemic and lipid profile; v) physical fitness; vi) physical activity and sedentary behaviour; vii) sleep quality; viii) quality of life, mental health and positive health; ix) menopause symptoms. All outcomes will be assessed at baseline and post intervention. The data will be analysed on an intention-to-treat basis and per protocol. In addition, we will conduct a cost effectiveness analysis from a health system perspective. The intervention designed is feasible and if it proves to be clinically and cost effective, it can be easily transferred to other similar contexts. Consequently, the findings of this project might help the Health Systems to identify strategies for primary prevention and health promotion as well as to reduce health care requirements and costs. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02358109. Date of registration: 05/02/2015.

Use of chromium picolinate and biotin in the management of type 2 diabetes: an economic analysis.

PubMed

Fuhr, Joseph P; He, Hope; Goldfarb, Neil; Nash, David B

2005-08-01

This paper addresses the potential economic benefits of chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) use in people with Type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The economic model was developed to estimate the impact on health care systems' costs by improved HbA1C levels with chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome). Lifetimes cost savings were estimated by adjusting a benchmark from the literature, using a price index to adjust for inflation. The cost of diabetes is highly dependent on the HbA1C level with higher initial levels and higher annual increments increasing the cost. Improvement in glycemic control has proven to be cost-effective in delaying the onset and progression of T2DM, reducing the risk for diabetes-associated complications and lowering utilization and cost of care. Chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) showed greater improvement of glycemic control in poorly controlled T2DM patients (HbA(1C) > or = 10%) compared to their better controlled counterparts (HbA(1C) < 10%). This improvement was additive to that achieved by oral hypoglycemic medications and correlates to calculated levels of cost savings. Average 3-year cost savings for chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) use could range from 1,636 dollars for a poorly controlled patient with diabetes without heart diseases or hypertension, to 5,435 dollars for a poorly controlled patient with diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Average 3-year cost savings was estimated to be between 3.9 billion dollars and 52.9 billion dollars for the 16.3 million existing patients with diabetes. Chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) use among the 1.17 million newly diagnosed patients with T2DM each year could deliver lifetime cost savings of 42 billion dollars, or 36,000 dollars per T2DM patient. Affordable, safe, and convenient, chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) could prove to be a cost-effective complement to existing pharmacological therapies for controlling T2DM.

A Low-Cost EEG System-Based Hybrid Brain-Computer Interface for Humanoid Robot Navigation and Recognition

PubMed Central

Choi, Bongjae; Jo, Sungho

2013-01-01

This paper describes a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) technique that combines the P300 potential, the steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP), and event related de-synchronization (ERD) to solve a complicated multi-task problem consisting of humanoid robot navigation and control along with object recognition using a low-cost BCI system. Our approach enables subjects to control the navigation and exploration of a humanoid robot and recognize a desired object among candidates. This study aims to demonstrate the possibility of a hybrid BCI based on a low-cost system for a realistic and complex task. It also shows that the use of a simple image processing technique, combined with BCI, can further aid in making these complex tasks simpler. An experimental scenario is proposed in which a subject remotely controls a humanoid robot in a properly sized maze. The subject sees what the surrogate robot sees through visual feedback and can navigate the surrogate robot. While navigating, the robot encounters objects located in the maze. It then recognizes if the encountered object is of interest to the subject. The subject communicates with the robot through SSVEP and ERD-based BCIs to navigate and explore with the robot, and P300-based BCI to allow the surrogate robot recognize their favorites. Using several evaluation metrics, the performances of five subjects navigating the robot were quite comparable to manual keyboard control. During object recognition mode, favorite objects were successfully selected from two to four choices. Subjects conducted humanoid navigation and recognition tasks as if they embodied the robot. Analysis of the data supports the potential usefulness of the proposed hybrid BCI system for extended applications. This work presents an important implication for the future work that a hybridization of simple BCI protocols provide extended controllability to carry out complicated tasks even with a low-cost system. PMID:24023953

A low-cost EEG system-based hybrid brain-computer interface for humanoid robot navigation and recognition.

PubMed

Choi, Bongjae; Jo, Sungho

2013-01-01

This paper describes a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) technique that combines the P300 potential, the steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP), and event related de-synchronization (ERD) to solve a complicated multi-task problem consisting of humanoid robot navigation and control along with object recognition using a low-cost BCI system. Our approach enables subjects to control the navigation and exploration of a humanoid robot and recognize a desired object among candidates. This study aims to demonstrate the possibility of a hybrid BCI based on a low-cost system for a realistic and complex task. It also shows that the use of a simple image processing technique, combined with BCI, can further aid in making these complex tasks simpler. An experimental scenario is proposed in which a subject remotely controls a humanoid robot in a properly sized maze. The subject sees what the surrogate robot sees through visual feedback and can navigate the surrogate robot. While navigating, the robot encounters objects located in the maze. It then recognizes if the encountered object is of interest to the subject. The subject communicates with the robot through SSVEP and ERD-based BCIs to navigate and explore with the robot, and P300-based BCI to allow the surrogate robot recognize their favorites. Using several evaluation metrics, the performances of five subjects navigating the robot were quite comparable to manual keyboard control. During object recognition mode, favorite objects were successfully selected from two to four choices. Subjects conducted humanoid navigation and recognition tasks as if they embodied the robot. Analysis of the data supports the potential usefulness of the proposed hybrid BCI system for extended applications. This work presents an important implication for the future work that a hybridization of simple BCI protocols provide extended controllability to carry out complicated tasks even with a low-cost system.

Closed-loop control for power tower heliostats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Convery, Mark R.

2011-10-01

In a Power Tower solar thermal power plant, alignment and control of the heliostats constitutes one of the largest costs of both time and money. This is especially the case in systems where individual heliostats are small (~1m2). I describe a closed-loop control system that generates the required feedback by inducing small mechanical vibrations in the heliostat reflector surface using piezoelectric actuators. These vibrations induce time-dependent changes in the reflected wavefront that can be detected by photosensors surrounding the thermal receiver target. Time and frequency encoding of the vibrations allows identification of a misaligned heliostat from among the thousands in the system. Corrections can then be applied to bring the reflected beam onto the receiver target. This technique can, in principle, control thousands of heliostats simultaneously.Outdoor testing of a small-scale model of this system has confirmed that such a system is effective and can achieve milliradian tracking accuracy. If such a system were implemented in a commercial plant, it could relax the accuracy specification required of the heliostats as well as provide an automated alignment and calibration system. This could significantly reduce the installed cost of the heliostat field.

Offset Printing Plate Quality Sensor on a Low-Cost Processor

PubMed Central

Poljak, Jelena; Botella, Guillermo; García, Carlos; Poljaček, Sanja Mahović; Prieto-Matías, Manuel; Tirado, Francisco

2013-01-01

The aim of this work is to develop a microprocessor-based sensor that measures the quality of the offset printing plate through the introduction of different image analysis applications. The main features of the presented system are the low cost, the low amount of power consumption, its modularity and easy integration with other industrial modules for printing plates, and its robustness against noise environments. For the sake of clarity, a viability analysis of previous software is presented through different strategies, based on dynamic histogram and Hough transform. This paper provides performance and scalability data compared with existing costly commercial devices. Furthermore, a general overview of quality control possibilities for printing plates is presented and could be useful to a system where such controls are regularly conducted. PMID:24284766

Propulsion controls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harkney, R. D.

1980-01-01

Increased system requirements and functional integration with the aircraft have placed an increased demand on control system capability and reliability. To provide these at an affordable cost and weight and because of the rapid advances in electronic technology, hydromechanical systems are being phased out in favor of digital electronic systems. The transition is expected to be orderly from electronic trimming of hydromechanical controls to full authority digital electronic control. Future propulsion system controls will be highly reliable full authority digital electronic with selected component and circuit redundancy to provide the required safety and reliability. Redundancy may include a complete backup control of a different technology for single engine applications. The propulsion control will be required to communicate rapidly with the various flight and fire control avionics as part of an integrated control concept.

Analysis, design, and testing of a low cost, direct force command linear proof mass actuator for structural control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slater, G. L.; Shelley, Stuart; Jacobson, Mark

1993-01-01

In this paper, the design, analysis, and test of a low cost, linear proof mass actuator for vibration control is presented. The actuator is based on a linear induction coil from a large computer disk drive. Such disk drives are readily available and provide the linear actuator, current feedback amplifier, and power supply for a highly effective, yet inexpensive, experimental laboratory actuator. The device is implemented as a force command input system, and the performance is virtually the same as other, more sophisticated, linear proof mass systems.

Input-output analysis and the hospital budgeting process.

PubMed Central

Cleverly, W O

1975-01-01

Two hospitals budget systems, a conventional budget and an input-output budget, are compared to determine how they affect management decisions in pricing, output, planning, and cost control. Analysis of data from a 210-bed not-for-profit hospital indicates that adoption of the input-output budget could cause substantial changes in posted hospital rates in individual departments but probably would have no impact on hospital output determination. The input-output approach promises to be a more accurate system for cost control and planning because, unlike the conventional approach, it generates objective signals for investigating variances of expenses from budgeted levels. PMID:1205865

Applications in Robotics and Controls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Youcef-Toumi, Kamal

2008-06-01

Recent industry trends have set new standards in business dealings and trades. Issues such as time to market, shoter market wondows, product performance, rapid increase of product complexity, costly mistakes, costly late introductions, and customer expectations have changed significantly. These trends have also influenced to a great extend the academic world. Some of these trends will be illustrated through examples which include automated systems, robotics, biotechnollogy, and nanotechnology. The examples will include concepts and prototypes of engineering systems in the macro, micro and nanodomains. The presentation also amphasizes the merging of the traditionally segregated disciplines into one multidisciplinary modeling, design, optimization and control approach.

Case-based reimbursement for psychiatric hospital care.

PubMed

Sederer, L I; Eisen, S V; Dill, D; Grob, M C; Gougeon, M L; Mirin, S M

1992-11-01

A fixed-prepayment system (case-based reimbursement) for patients initially requiring hospital-level care was evaluated for one year through an arrangement between a private nonprofit psychiatric hospital and a self-insured company desiring to provide psychiatric services to its employees. This clinical and financial experiment offered a means of containing costs while monitoring quality of care. A two-group, case-control study was undertaken of treatment outcomes at discharge, patient satisfaction with hospital care, and service use and costs during the program's first year. Compared with costs for patients in the control group, costs for those in the program were lower per patient and per admission; cumulative costs for patients requiring rehospitalization were also lower. However, costs for outpatient services for patients in the program were not calculated. Treatment outcomes and patients' satisfaction with hospital care were comparable for the two groups.

Using patient classification systems to identify ambulatory care costs.

PubMed

Karpiel, M S

1994-11-01

Ambulatory care continues to increase as a percentage of total hospital revenue. Until recently, reimbursement for ambulatory care was provided on a cost basis. However, payers are attempting to exert more control over reimbursement for ambulatory care. The Health Care Financing Administration, for example, is expanding the use of prospective payment to cover more forms of outpatient care. Thus, in order to ensure the financial viability of their organizations, healthcare financial managers will need cost-accounting tools, such as patient classification systems, to ascertain the direct and indirect costs of emergency or outpatient visits and thereby to refine pricing, contracting, staffing, productivity, and profitability analyses for ambulatory care.

Reusable experiment controllers, case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buckley, Brian A.; Gaasbeck, Jim Van

1996-03-01

Congress has given NASA and the science community a reality check. The tight and ever shrinking budgets are trimming the fat from many space science programs. No longer can a Principal Investigator (PI) afford to waste development dollars on re-inventing spacecraft controllers, experiment/payload controllers, ground control systems, or test sets. Inheritance of the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) from one program to another is not a significant re-use of technology to develop a science mission in these times. Reduction of operational staff and highly autonomous experiments are needed to reduce the sustaining cost of a mission. The re-use of an infrastructure from one program to another is needed to truly attain the cost and time savings required. Interface and Control Systems, Inc. (ICS) has a long history of re-usable software. Navy, Air Force, and NASA programs have benefited from the re-use of a common control system from program to program. Several standardization efforts in the AIAA have adopted the Spacecraft Command Language (SCL) architecture as a point solution to satisfy requirements for re-use and autonomy. The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) has been a long-standing customer of ICS and are working on their 4th generation system using SCL. Much of the hardware and software infrastructure has been re-used from mission to mission with little cost for re-hosting a new experiment. The same software infrastructure has successfully been used on Clementine, and an end-to-end system is being deployed for the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) for Johns Hopkins University. A case study of the ERIM programs, Clementine and FUSE will be detailed in this paper.

Event-Triggered Distributed Approximate Optimal State and Output Control of Affine Nonlinear Interconnected Systems.

PubMed

Narayanan, Vignesh; Jagannathan, Sarangapani

2017-06-08

This paper presents an approximate optimal distributed control scheme for a known interconnected system composed of input affine nonlinear subsystems using event-triggered state and output feedback via a novel hybrid learning scheme. First, the cost function for the overall system is redefined as the sum of cost functions of individual subsystems. A distributed optimal control policy for the interconnected system is developed using the optimal value function of each subsystem. To generate the optimal control policy, forward-in-time, neural networks are employed to reconstruct the unknown optimal value function at each subsystem online. In order to retain the advantages of event-triggered feedback for an adaptive optimal controller, a novel hybrid learning scheme is proposed to reduce the convergence time for the learning algorithm. The development is based on the observation that, in the event-triggered feedback, the sampling instants are dynamic and results in variable interevent time. To relax the requirement of entire state measurements, an extended nonlinear observer is designed at each subsystem to recover the system internal states from the measurable feedback. Using a Lyapunov-based analysis, it is demonstrated that the system states and the observer errors remain locally uniformly ultimately bounded and the control policy converges to a neighborhood of the optimal policy. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the developed controller.

Demonstration of relaxed static stability on a commercial transport

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rising, J. J.; Davis, W. J.; Willey, C. S.; Cokeley, R. C.

1984-01-01

Increasing jet aircraft fuel costs from 25 percent to nearly 60 percent of the aircraft direct operating costs have led to a heavy emphasis on the development of transport aircraft with significantly improved aerodynamic performance. The application of the concept of relaxed static stability (RSS) and the utilization of an active control stability augmentation system make it possible to design an aircraft with reduced aerodynamic trim drag due to a farther-aft cg balance. Reduced aerodynamic parasite drag and lower structural weight due to a smaller horizontal tail surface can also be obtained. The application of RSS has been studied under a NASA-sponsored program to determine ways of improving the energy efficiency in current and future transport aircraft. Attention is given to a near-term pitch active control system, an advanced pitch active control system, and an operational overview.

Distributed Control Architecture for Gas Turbine Engine. Chapter 4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Culley, Dennis; Garg, Sanjay

2009-01-01

The transformation of engine control systems from centralized to distributed architecture is both necessary and enabling for future aeropropulsion applications. The continued growth of adaptive control applications and the trend to smaller, light weight cores is a counter influence on the weight and volume of control system hardware. A distributed engine control system using high temperature electronics and open systems communications will reverse the growing trend of control system weight ratio to total engine weight and also be a major factor in decreasing overall cost of ownership for aeropropulsion systems. The implementation of distributed engine control is not without significant challenges. There are the needs for high temperature electronics, development of simple, robust communications, and power supply for the on-board electronics.

On a stochastic control method for weakly coupled linear systems. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kwong, R. H.

1972-01-01

The stochastic control of two weakly coupled linear systems with different controllers is considered. Each controller only makes measurements about his own system; no information about the other system is assumed to be available. Based on the noisy measurements, the controllers are to generate independently suitable control policies which minimize a quadratic cost functional. To account for the effects of weak coupling directly, an approximate model, which involves replacing the influence of one system on the other by a white noise process is proposed. Simple suboptimal control problem for calculating the covariances of these noises is solved using the matrix minimum principle. The overall system performance based on this scheme is analyzed as a function of the degree of intersystem coupling.

Corrective Control to Handle Forecast Uncertainty: A Chance Constrained Optimal Power Flow

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roald, Line; Misra, Sidhant; Krause, Thilo

Higher shares of electricity generation from renewable energy sources and market liberalization is increasing uncertainty in power systems operation. At the same time, operation is becoming more flexible with improved control systems and new technology such as phase shifting transformers (PSTs) and high voltage direct current connections (HVDC). Previous studies have shown that the use of corrective control in response to outages contributes to a reduction in operating cost, while maintaining N-1 security. In this work, we propose a method to extend the use of corrective control of PSTs and HVDCs to react to uncertainty. We characterize the uncertainty asmore » continuous random variables, and define the corrective control actions through affine control policies. This allows us to efficiently model control reactions to a large number of uncertainty sources. The control policies are then included in a chance constrained optimal power flow formulation, which guarantees that the system constraints are enforced with a desired probability. Lastly, by applying an analytical reformulation of the chance constraints, we obtain a second-order cone problem for which we develop an efficient solution algorithm. In a case study for the IEEE 118 bus system, we show that corrective control for uncertainty leads to a decrease in operational cost, while maintaining system security. Further, we demonstrate the scalability of the method by solving the problem for the IEEE 300 bus and the Polish system test cases.« less

Corrective Control to Handle Forecast Uncertainty: A Chance Constrained Optimal Power Flow

DOE PAGES

Roald, Line; Misra, Sidhant; Krause, Thilo; ...

2016-08-25

Higher shares of electricity generation from renewable energy sources and market liberalization is increasing uncertainty in power systems operation. At the same time, operation is becoming more flexible with improved control systems and new technology such as phase shifting transformers (PSTs) and high voltage direct current connections (HVDC). Previous studies have shown that the use of corrective control in response to outages contributes to a reduction in operating cost, while maintaining N-1 security. In this work, we propose a method to extend the use of corrective control of PSTs and HVDCs to react to uncertainty. We characterize the uncertainty asmore » continuous random variables, and define the corrective control actions through affine control policies. This allows us to efficiently model control reactions to a large number of uncertainty sources. The control policies are then included in a chance constrained optimal power flow formulation, which guarantees that the system constraints are enforced with a desired probability. Lastly, by applying an analytical reformulation of the chance constraints, we obtain a second-order cone problem for which we develop an efficient solution algorithm. In a case study for the IEEE 118 bus system, we show that corrective control for uncertainty leads to a decrease in operational cost, while maintaining system security. Further, we demonstrate the scalability of the method by solving the problem for the IEEE 300 bus and the Polish system test cases.« less

Space station systems technology study (add-on task). Volume 1: Executive summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

System concepts were characterized in order to define cost versus benefits for autonomous functional control and for controls and displays for OMV, OTV, and spacecraft servicing and operation. The attitude control topic focused on characterizing the Space Station attitude control problem through simulation of control system responses to structural disturbances. The first two topics, mentioned above, focused on specific technology items that require advancement in order to support an early 1990s initial launch of a Space Station, while the attitude control study was an exploration of the capability of conventional controller techniques.

Timing characterization and analysis of the Linux-based, closed loop control computer for the Subaru Telescope laser guide star adaptive optics system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dinkins, Matthew; Colley, Stephen

2008-07-01

Hardware and software specialized for real time control reduce the timing jitter of executables when compared to off-the-shelf hardware and software. However, these specialized environments are costly in both money and development time. While conventional systems have a cost advantage, the jitter in these systems is much larger and potentially problematic. This study analyzes the timing characterstics of a standard Dell server running a fully featured Linux operating system to determine if such a system would be capable of meeting the timing requirements for closed loop operations. Investigations are preformed on the effectiveness of tools designed to make off-the-shelf system performance closer to specialized real time systems. The Gnu Compiler Collection (gcc) is compared to the Intel C Compiler (icc), compiler optimizations are investigated, and real-time extensions to Linux are evaluated.

Acquisition and cruise sensing for attitude control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pace, G. D., Jr.; Schmidt, L. F.

1977-01-01

Modified wideangle analog cruise sun sensor coupled with changes in optic attitude correction capabilities, eliminate need of acquisition and sun gate sensors, making on-course navigation of spacecraft flying interplanetary missions less risky and costly. Operational characteristics potentially make system applicable to guidance and control of solar energy collection systems.

A Controlled Environment System For Measuring Plant-Atmosphere Gas Exchange

Treesearch

James M. Brown

1975-01-01

Describes an inexpensive, efficient system for measuring plant-atmosphere gas exchange. Designed to measure transpiration from potted tree seedlings, it is readily adaptable for measuring other gas exchanges or gas exchange by plant parts. Light level, air and root temperature can be precisely controlled at minimum cost.

In-Service Performance and Costs of Methods to Control Urban Rail System Noise : Second Test Series Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-10-01

The goal of the project is to provide sufficient information to allow a transit system with given track and car conditions and budgetary constraints to determine the mix of available noise control methods which will result in the greatest overall ben...

Programmable calculator as a data system controller

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barth, A.W.; Strasburg, A.C.

Digital data techniques are in common use for analysis of analog information obtained in various tests, and systems have been developed which use a minicomputer as the central controller and data processor. Now, microprocessors allow new design approaches at considerably less cost. This report outlines an approach to system design based on the use of a programmable calculator as the data system controller. A block diagram of the calculator-controlled data system is shown. It was found that the programmable calculator provides a viable alternative to minicomputers or microprocessors for the development laboratory requiring digital data processing. 3 figures. (RWR)

Innovative Airbreathing Propulsion Concepts for Access to Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitlow, Jr., Woodrow; Blech, Richard A.; Blankson, Isaiah M.

2001-01-01

This paper will present technologies and concepts for novel aeropropulsion systems. These technologies will enhance the safety of operations, reduce life cycle costs, and contribute to reduced costs of air travel and access to space. One of the goals of the NASA program is to reduce the carbon-dioxide emissions of aircraft engines. Engine concepts that use highly efficient fuel cell/electric drive technologies in hydrogen-fueled engines will be presented in the proposed paper. Carbon-dioxide emissions will be eliminated by replacing hydrocarbon fuel with hydrogen, and reduce NOx emissions through better combustion process control. A revolutionary exoskeletal engine concept, in which the engine drum is rotated, will be shown. This concept has the potential to allow a propulsion system that can be used for subsonic through hypersonic flight. Dual fan concepts that have ultra-high bypass ratios, low noise, and low drag will be presented. Flow-controlled turbofans and control-configured turbofans also will be discussed. To increase efficiency, a system of microengines distributed along lifting surfaces and on the fuselage is being investigated. This concept will be presented in the paper. Small propulsion systems for affordable, safe personal transportation vehicles will be discussed. These low-oil/oilless systems use technologies that enable significant cost and weight reductions. Pulse detonation engine-based hybrid-cycle and combined-cycle propulsion systems for aviation and space access will be presented.

Human-Agent Teaming for Multi-Robot Control: A Literature Review

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-01

neurophysiological devices are becoming more cost effective and less invasive, future systems will most likely take advantage of this technology to monitor...Parasuraman et al., 1993). It has also been reported that both the cost of automation errors and the cost of verification affect humans’ reliance on...decision aids, and the effects are also moderated by age (Ezer et al., 2008). Generally, reliance is reduced as the cost of error increases and it

Contribution of blood oxygen and carbon dioxide sensing to the energetic optimization of human walking.

PubMed

Wong, Jeremy D; O'Connor, Shawn M; Selinger, Jessica C; Donelan, J Maxwell

2017-08-01

People can adapt their gait to minimize energetic cost, indicating that walking's neural control has access to ongoing measurements of the body's energy use. In this study we tested the hypothesis that an important source of energetic cost measurements arises from blood gas receptors that are sensitive to O 2 and CO 2 concentrations. These receptors are known to play a role in regulating other physiological processes related to energy consumption, such as ventilation rate. Given the role of O 2 and CO 2 in oxidative metabolism, sensing their levels can provide an accurate estimate of the body's total energy use. To test our hypothesis, we simulated an added energetic cost for blood gas receptors that depended on a subject's step frequency and determined if subjects changed their behavior in response to this simulated cost. These energetic costs were simulated by controlling inspired gas concentrations to decrease the circulating levels of O 2 and increase CO 2 We found this blood gas control to be effective at shifting the step frequency that minimized the ventilation rate and perceived exertion away from the normally preferred frequency, indicating that these receptors provide the nervous system with strong physiological and psychological signals. However, rather than adapt their preferred step frequency toward these lower simulated costs, subjects persevered at their normally preferred frequency even after extensive experience with the new simulated costs. These results suggest that blood gas receptors play a negligible role in sensing energetic cost for the purpose of optimizing gait. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Human gait adaptation implies that the nervous system senses energetic cost, yet this signal is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that the blood gas receptors sense cost for gait optimization by controlling blood O 2 and CO 2 with step frequency as people walked. At the simulated energetic minimum, ventilation and perceived exertion were lowest, yet subjects preferred walking at their original frequency. This suggests that blood gas receptors are not critical for sensing cost during gait. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Solar power satellite system definition study, phase 2.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

A program plan for the Solar Power Satellite Program is presented. The plan includes research, development, and evaluation phase, engineering and development and cost verification phase, prototype construction, and commercialization. Cost estimates and task requirements are given for the following technology areas: (1) solar arrays; (2) thermal engines and thermal systems; (3) power transmission (to earth); (4) large space structures; (5) materials technology; (6) system control; (7) space construction; (8) space transportation; (9) power distribution, and space environment effects.

Cost-Effective CNC Part Program Verification Development for Laboratory Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Joseph C.; Chang, Ted C.

2000-01-01

Describes a computer numerical control program verification system that checks a part program before its execution. The system includes character recognition, word recognition, a fuzzy-nets system, and a tool path viewer. (SK)

Millimeter wave radar for automobile crash avoidance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huguenin, G. Richard

1994-08-01

Low cost, millimeter wave, forward looking radar sensors for applications in Autonomous Collision Warning and Autonomous Intelligent Cruise Control systems will be described. These safety related systems promise the largest payoff in preventing highway crashes.

[Pursuit of economic efficiency in the hospital laboratory--full automatic re-test system of clinical chemistry, hematology, immunology and cost control system].

PubMed

Chiba, M

2000-10-01

Further business improvement is requested due to finance-based fluctuation and the influence of the revision in the medical treatment law. Therefore, new laboratories are needed. To achieving this in our hospital, economic efficiency is being pursued. The first issue is the use of space, the second issue is labor-saving. The third issue is the simplification of business procedures. There is individual quality control by the zonal verification method that we developed, as well as the quality control of the batch method using controlled substances. The four issue is cost control. By controlling the delivery and use of reagents and materials including the term of validity control, we made an effort to abolition defective stock. The fifth issue is correspondence to circulation style society. The disposal of laboratory garbage is a major issue. We controlled garbage that occurs unnecessarily. Furthermore, we are improving the demand for reagents that exceeds the specification and use reagent containers.

Video control system for a drilling in furniture workpiece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khmelev, V. L.; Satarov, R. N.; Zavyalova, K. V.

2018-05-01

During last 5 years, Russian industry has being starting to be a robotic, therefore scientific groups got new tasks. One of new tasks is machine vision systems, which should solve problem of automatic quality control. This type of systems has a cost of several thousand dollars each. The price is impossible for regional small business. In this article, we describe principle and algorithm of cheap video control system, which one uses web-cameras and notebook or desktop computer as a computing unit.